Law degree

Nasa is relying on the existence of Lagrangian points between every set of planetary bodies it intends to explore in order to implement its plan of successful interplanetary space exploration. Although this at first may seem to be a vague and mystical concept, foreign to all but trained astrophysicists, in fact it is really quite simple to understand.

The Lagrangian in physics is merely nothing more than a set of two simpler equations that can be used as an alternative for Newtons second law; force equals mass times acceleration. A Lagrangian point between two bodies exerting competing forces on a body is therefore a point at which the forces are equal and opposite. According to Newton’s third law, if the net force on a body is zero, it will stay at rest if at rest and if in motion it will stay in motion.

In mathematical terms, visualize a graph of a big bowl. The Lagrangian point is the point at the very bottom of the bowl. This point represents the point at which the maximum energy, the energy from the bottom of the bowl to the top, must be supplied to kick the body out of the bowl in order to prevent the body from rolling back down to the bottom of the bowl and returning to its energy minimum. Therefore, the point at the minimum of the bowl represents the point of maximum stability in terms of preventing the influence of a net imbalance in the forces of the two gravitational forces on it from disturbing it. This point in question is the orbit which has the most stable velocity and angular momentum. The body acted on could be a space station between two large masses such as the earth and the moon or any two interplanetary bodies of significantly greater mass than the spacecraft.

How this relates to Nasa and its plans for future space travel is that they have the ability to use the Lagrangian formulas to calculate the Lagrangian points between different planetary bodies and therefore to determine the location of these orbits. Therefore, it is possible to build space stations as stepping stones between the earth and the moon, the moon and Mars, and on and on as far as you want to go. As it would be unrealistic to expect any spacecraft to be able to return to earth from far out in space in the case of an emergency or the need to make repairs, this makes the possibility of extending space travel outwards into the solar system and theoretically beyond feasible within the constraints of our technology and budgetary considerations.

Sources:

1) NASA Reveals New Plan for the Moon, Mars & Outward
By Leonard David; Senior Space Writer - Space.com

David Craig;

Nasa and General Astronomy Information;
M.S. - Physics: University of Minnesota;
B.S. - Computer Science: University of Oregon;

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Do you think you have what it takes to pursue a legal education and practice the noble profession of law? Perhaps a closer look at this area of learning can provide you with some clues.

In a nutshell, a legal education is simply the education of individuals who intend to become attorneys and judges or some other legal professional. It is also pursued by those who intend to use a law degree towards some end, such as a career in politics or the academe, or another end which has no relation to law, such as business entrepreneurship..

A legal education covers both academic and vocational studies. A main requirement is for students to acquire an academic grounding in the legal system of their jurisdiction before they can obtain a law degree. For many, this is the hardest part of pursuing law as it entails endless hours of study and analysis, which is not a natural inclination of many students.

Before they can practice as lawyers, law students are required to demonstrate that they have learned professional skills such as advocacy and analysis. For instance, in many countries, law is an undergraduate degree and graduates of such a program can only become lawyers by passing the country’s equivalent of a bar exam. There are post-graduate programs available to help students specialize in a particular area of law.

In contrast, law is a graduate degree in the United States which students can only undertake after completing an undergraduate degree is some other field, whether related to law or not. Most American lawyers hold bachelor’s degrees in the humanities and social sciences. In many cases, law schools are an autonomous entity within a larger university.

Meanwhile, in Canada and other Commonwealth countries as well as in many other places around the world, a law school is referred to as a faculty of law, which is distinguished from a law school in the sense that a faculty is a subdivision of a university and is on the same rank with other faculties.. Also, in other countries, the final stages of a vocational legal education required to qualify to practice law are carried out outside the university system.

Jonathon Hardcastle writes articles on many topics including Education, Science, and Employment

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One of the most puzzling things in the United States educational system is why most colleges do not offer a bachelor degree in law. In most colleges if you want to become a lawyer someday, you have to major in something else and then go on to get your actual law degree from an accredited law school. So what’s up with that?

A lot of the answers to this question are mostly speculation as this “restriction” isn’t clearly spelled out, especially when it isn’t standardized throughout the nation. So what you’re going to read is merely some educated guesses based on a few facts.

In the United States, to become a lawyer, you only have to do one thing. Pass your bar exam. A person can actually do this without having any formalized training or schooling whatsoever. That’s right. A person can walk in off the street, insist on being able to take a bar exam and if they pass, they’re legally allowed to practice law in whatever state they took the bar in. So, if you’re a self educated person and think you can pull this off, there is nothing legally preventing you from doing this.

Because of this simple fact and also because there is really so much involved in preparing to practice law, most colleges probably feel that they are ill equipped to prepare a person for doing this and still have that person take all the electives and other requirements that are needed to actually get a degree from that institution. Therefore, a bachelor degree in law is not offered.

Another reason may very well have to do with economics and politics. Because preparing for a career in law is so involved, special colleges have been set up specifically for this purpose. They’re called law schools. These schools charge a lot of money to get in. If regular colleges were to offer law degrees and actually prepared somebody for a career in law, there would be no need for law schools. Obviously, this would be an academic nightmare for the law schools themselves. When you start bringing politics into the mix, that’s when it becomes quite unlikely that a regular four year college is going to offer a comprehensive program for law and a bachelor degree to go along with it.

So, what does a person major in if they want to go on to be a lawyer someday? Well, most students major in political science. While this is by no means a requirement that they do so, it is probably the one degree that will best prepare them for a career in law because of the material that’s covered. Still, there are students who major in psychology and other disciplines, figuring that it doesn’t really matter since ultimately they have to go to a law school in order to prepare for their bar exam, which is what this all boils down to.

And it’s funny; with all the requirements we put on getting certified to practice law in this country, you’d think we’d have better lawyers than we do.

Michael Russell

Your Independent Bachelor Degree guide.

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