I just dropped a can of root beer... does tapping on the lid actually fix the liquid/gas equilibrium? | AskScience Blog

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Sunday, January 24, 2016

I just dropped a can of root beer... does tapping on the lid actually fix the liquid/gas equilibrium?

I just dropped a can of root beer... does tapping on the lid actually fix the liquid/gas equilibrium?

I just dropped a can of root beer... does tapping on the lid actually fix the liquid/gas equilibrium?

Posted: 24 Jan 2016 05:55 AM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>It seems to have worked for me in the past, but I&#39;ve heard from some people that it&#39;s just an urban legend. </p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

why don't the stars appear red near the horizon?

Posted: 24 Jan 2016 03:03 AM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>Since the light being scattered in the atmosphere causes sun to appear yellow/red during sunset/sunrise, why we don&#39;t see this effect for other objects, for example the moon or the stars?</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

What's going on with technetium?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 05:39 AM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>Technetium, with 43 protons/electrons, is the first element in the periodic table with <em>no</em> stable isotopes. But it&#39;s surrounded by perfectly normal elements, the next smallest completely unstable element is promethium, which is a lanthanide, and radioactive elements don&#39;t start coming with any frequency until polonium, which has nearly twice as many protons/electrons as technetium. What gives?</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Why does the sound of &quot;nails on a chalkboard&quot; trigger a viscerally negative reaction in many people?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 09:06 AM PST

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If you've lost a limb like a hand or foot, what do your muscles do when your brain sends the signal to move that limb?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 06:53 AM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>Obviously there&#39;s no hand to move but is there still muscle contraction? Will the &quot;stump&quot; (for lack of a better word) move slightly? Will it hurt?</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Did the Zika virus mutate in South America or are people of SE Asia descent naturally not affected by microcephaly due to this virus? or are there other confounding factors?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 03:27 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>seems like Zika virus has been around for a while. why is it now a problem in Brazil but not in the past in SE Asia?</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

What do we know about the nocturnal behavior of northern birds in winter?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 07:43 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>My son asked and I was at a loss - I&#39;ve never seen winter birds at night. Do they have specific resting spots they return to time and time again? Do they disperse or stick together? Do they huddle? What kind of spot do they look for?</p> <p>How much are their normal winter sleep behavior affected by bird feeders?</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

This question is way out there, I hope it's not against any rules: We live in 4 dimensions, 3 are spatial, one is temporal. Is it possible there are other dimensions that neither? That we can not experience?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 04:44 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>This question might be very flawed to start with. Is it possible that there could be more than space -time? I&#39;m just a curious guy.</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

How would we perceive dilated time if it was part of our environment?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 05:32 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>Hopefully I worded that title correctly for what I&#39;m asking...</p> <p>I was reading <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2073577-black-hole-sun-could-support-bizarre-life-on-orbiting-planets/">this article</a> and was thinking about it. If we were able to inhabit a planet that was close enough to a black hole for time to be dilated, how would we perceive the time? </p> <p>Let&#39;s assume that, in undilated time, we were on an identical orbital period, and rotation speed as earth. Would we perceive the passage of time as normal, but believe days to be longer, or would we perceive events as being slowed? </p> <p>Hopefully I&#39;ve asked this correctly... I&#39;m not quite a physicist, so I don&#39;t quite understand the effects, but posting and reading here has helped me learn quite a bit. </p> <p>My hypothesis: we perceive passage of time as normal, but days appear to be longer</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Everyone hates mosquitoes, but would there be any negative side effects if we got rid of them all?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 01:43 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>I&#39;m pretty sure most of us heard that scientists are looking into the extinction of mosquitoes by breeding the male mosquitoes to be sterile. I was just wondering would there be any negative effects of this happening or if it&#39;s all just one big positive?</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Is a linearly polarized laser made up of equal parts spin up and spin down photons?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 02:42 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>Or is it composed of photons all in the same superposition of up and down? Can it be a mixture of both?</p> <p>Background: Spin in the classical picture of electromagnetism is a circulating flow of electromagnetic energy, measurable in circularly polarized light, but not in linearly polarized light. Spin in the quantum mechanical picture is a <a href="http://people.westminstercollege.edu/faculty/ccline/courses/phys425/AJP_54(6)_p500.pdf">circulating flow of energy in the wavefield of the photon</a>. An individual photon can be spin up, down, or a superposition of the two (linear polarization being a superposition in which the argument of the two complex coefficients in front of spin up and down are the same). </p> <p>Since photons are bosons, it is completely allowed for any number of them to be in the exact same state. The correspondence principle allows the interpretation of (classical) circularly polarized light as the macroscopic observation of a collection of photons all of which have the same spin (up or down).</p> <p>But it seems to me ambiguous as to how to get linearly polarized light. Either: (1) we can sum individual photons each with the same superposition, or (2) we can sum individual photons, half of which are spin up, and half of which are spin down, or (3) a mixture of (1) and (2).</p> <p>Are both (1) and (2) possible? If so, which is produced by, for instance, a diode laser? </p> <p>My intuition says both are possible, and that (1) is the natural output of a laser. However, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photon_polarization#The_nature_of_probability_in_quantum_mechanics">this discussion</a> appears to imply that (2) is not possible. Yet I can imagine combining a laser beam that is RCP (right hand circularly polarized) with one that is LCP (left). In this case, is there a substantive difference between the combined laser beam (which, statistically, is linearly polarized) and the laser beam that is &quot;naturally&quot; linearly polarized (composed of &quot;linearly polarized&quot; photons)?</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Why does sweat have salts in it?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 02:57 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>Since salts are so valuable, it doesn&#39;t seem like a good idea to sweat them out. And since the point of sweating is the evaporation, is it necessary to have salts?</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Do black holes have an effect on the expansion of the universe?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 01:10 PM PST

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How come i can't drink everything that is in my cup?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 02:27 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>There&#39;s always a little drop of whatever i am drinking in my cup no matter how hard i try to drink all of it. </p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

How can audio speakers play more than one sound at the same time?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 07:10 AM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>I don&#39;t really understand how a speaker can vibrate to produce 2 different (for example) songs at the same time</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Can gravitation between atoms or subatomic particles be tested experimentally?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 07:31 AM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>A quantum theory of gravity remains one of the central problems in physics today. Relativity accurately describes the macro-scale workings of the planets and celestial bodies. Quantum physics explains the inner working of atoms and fundamental particles. But to explain gravity on the subatomic scale, no theories have yet to surmise how- or if- gravity takes part at this scale. </p> <p>Gravity is observed easily every day, and can become strong enough under the correct circumstances to break apart and fuse atoms themselves inside common stars. Neutron stars and hypothesized "quark stars", at their cores, could possibly contain "quark-gluon" plasma. Yet, gravity can be easily overcome with the other 3 fundamental forces in everyday life. But at the center of stars and black holes, gravity can and does overcome the other 3 forces. </p> <p>Mass attracts to mass through gravity, and we see this at macro scales. Protons and neutrons are known to have mass. Particle accelerators routinely smash these together at high energies to produce heavier than natural elements and observe new particles. The paths the particles take are easily seen and mapped. Which brings me to my actual question.</p> <p>What if two atoms were accelerated towards each other, but offset laterally? Would the atom's individual gravity be enough to affect the path of the oncoming atom?</p> <p>The equivalent at the macro scale would be two asteroids approaching each other in straight lines, but not on a collision course. Their masses would bend each other's trajectories around each other in an easily observable way. But is this behavior observable at an atomic scale? </p> <p>Many factors would have to be accounted for. The mass of the container would generate its own gravity, along with the Earth's natural field. Microgravity would be the ideal test condition for this exercise, as then natural gravity fields would not affect the atom's paths. Tracking the path of individual atoms would of course be difficult, but this technology exists already. </p> <p>To generate a larger result it would perhaps be ideal to use one "heavy" atom, like uranium, and one "light" atom, like hydrogen. That way the hydrogen path would be severely affected by the uranium's mass. Hypothetically. Now of course if this behavior was in fact observed, the process could be repeated at the subatomic scale. For instance, one proton and one neutron. The heavier proton would deflect the neutrons path, hypothetically. That would give us an idea as to where the "graviton" or other explanation might possibly reside. Knowing the internal structures of neutrons and protons, we would know what differences lead to the different masses, and how much of a gravity field those masses produce. Which would hopefully point towards which fundamental particle either emits or is the graviton. </p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Why doesn't fullerene c60 conduct electricity despite the fact that it has a similar structure to graphene (which is conductive)?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 02:01 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>fullerene c60: <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/C60a.png">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/C60a.png</a></p> <p>graphene: <a href="http://www.nanocarbon.cz/Images/3d_test_3_persp1.png">http://www.nanocarbon.cz/Images/3d_test_3_persp1.png</a></p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Are there any prion diseases known that affect only prokaryotes or specific pathogens?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 02:13 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><ol> <li><p>It seems to me that if we could find (or create) a prion that affects only a section of prokaryotes or pathogenic eukaryotes, this could be a powerful antibiotic that is <em>resistant to</em> antibiotic resistance. </p></li> <li><p>If resistance did develop, this could help us to understand how to treat prion diseases. </p></li> <li><p>It seems it would still be <strong>possible</strong>, but very unlikely, that prions could exist that affect only a specific virus or set of viruses as well.</p></li> <li><p>If we look at all of the known prions, from a biochemical level, do we see similarities that could lead these particular proteins to become pathogenic? </p></li> <li><p>Do we understand the mechanism of prion diseases well enough to say <strong>how</strong> a prion converts a properly folded protein into another copy of the misfolded prion? </p></li> <li><p>Lastly, do we know anything about the conditions which may promote the misfolding of a protein into a prion? This may help us to create prokaryote or pathogen-specific prions.</p></li> </ol> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

Is it a rule for gas giants to be made mostly out of hydrogen and helium?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 03:01 AM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>I was wondering, is it possible to form gas giant type planet with atmosphere, made of some other gas or combination of gasses? Or maybe we already have discovered some interesting exoplanet examples? </p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by

What is spin?

Posted: 23 Jan 2016 05:24 AM PST

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Why do we feel different types of pain, instead of just one generic &quot;pain&quot;?

Posted: 22 Jan 2016 11:21 PM PST

<!-- SC_OFF --><div class="md"><p>I assume the different sensory nerve are also contributing to the pain, and I can certainly see an evolutionary benefit, I&#39;m just wondering what all contributes. Also, are there different types of p-factor?</p> </div><!-- SC_ON --> submitted by
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