Is there a reason all the planets orbit the sun in approximately the same plane and direction? | AskScience Blog

Pages

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Is there a reason all the planets orbit the sun in approximately the same plane and direction?

Is there a reason all the planets orbit the sun in approximately the same plane and direction?


Is there a reason all the planets orbit the sun in approximately the same plane and direction?

Posted: 03 Jan 2017 03:52 AM PST

Is it more energy efficient to leave the heater on low when nobody is home, or to heat it up from cold when you get back?

Posted: 03 Jan 2017 01:50 AM PST

So this morning as I was the first to walk back into my freezing office after the holiday, I was reminded of an argument I used to have with my roommate when I lived in a drafty old house in upstate New York. We would both leave the house for one to two weeks every Christmas, turning the thermostat down to something like 5C while we were away, and when we returned we would have to run the furnace full blast for about three days to get the house up to 22C again. I would always suggest that it would be better leave the thermostat on something in the middle while were gone, like 15C, but he thought it was a waste of energy. I argued that it took just as much energy to run the furnace continually for those three days when we returned than it did to maintain a modest temperature while we were away. In reality, I have no idea, but I just hated those three days of feeling cold.

Obviously, this depends on lots of factors, like how cold it is outside and how long we are gone. But in general, ignoring issues like pipes freezing, does it use more energy to maintain a moderate temperature for a long time and then heat it up for a short time, or to let something cool way down and then heat it up all the way?

submitted by /u/NerdWithoutACause
[link] [comments]

To travel back in time wouldn't you need to increase the entropy of the entire universe at every point?

Posted: 03 Jan 2017 05:27 AM PST

And since info is lost in black holes and thus cannot be "rewound" to a prior state, doesn't that disprove the possibility of reverse time travel?

submitted by /u/eaglessoar
[link] [comments]

If you lay or sit in a position that causes a limb to "go to sleep," would you then be able to amputate that limb painlessly?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 11:57 AM PST

If Earth had a huge equatorial ocean like it did in the past, would it be possible we'd observe persistent hurricanes lasting months or even years, like a mini-version of Jupiter's great red spot?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 01:24 PM PST

What about rocky planets larger than Earth or planets completely covered in ocean? Might permanent or semi-permanent weather-features exist there, or are such storms a rarity even among gas giants?

submitted by /u/Taman_Should
[link] [comments]

Do engineers at CERN have to repair the Large Hadron Collider after every "explosion" that happens? [Physics]

Posted: 03 Jan 2017 02:20 AM PST

Tried googling it but a bunch of old 2012 articles came up focusing on the "black hole" thing. But, are the explosions large enough to cause that type of damage? I get that they're not "explosions" like a bomb, but they're still particles slamming into each other at nearly the speed of light, so I would imagine some thinking could be damaged.

submitted by /u/turtlecam_son
[link] [comments]

How much of the world's air is trapped in bubble wrap?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 07:28 PM PST

How do oxygen meters measure oxygen level externally through the thumb or index finger?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 08:23 PM PST

I was recently in the hospital for a respiratory illness and the nurse measured my oxygen level with a thing that clipped to my index finger. How does it work? Does it have to do with pulse?

submitted by /u/potatopigs
[link] [comments]

Why is there only one Hubble Ultra Deep Field image?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 03:03 PM PST

You always see that same image floating around. The Hubble space telescope was pointed in one direction for 4 months or so, gathering a bunch of data before eventually generating that beautiful image of the distant galaxies. That image blows my mind every time. What makes it even crazier is that the field of vision of the telescope to generate that image was pointed at a super small portion of the sky (I've heard it described as being the same relative size as a tennis ball on the other side of a football field)

BASICALLY, my question: Why haven't astronomers taken more pictures in other directions in the sky, to generate even more incredible images of all sorts of different galaxies, stars, and colors? It seems like we cling on this single image like it's the only one we are able to generate.

submitted by /u/yenzy
[link] [comments]

Why did we evolve the inability to eat raw meat safely?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 04:24 PM PST

Assuming that we evolve beneficial traits over time and that our ancestors were likely able to eat raw meat. Why would we evolve to not be able to eat raw meat? Surely that's disadvantageous?

submitted by /u/TRFKTA
[link] [comments]

Is the water at the bottom of the Mariana Trench just as salty as the water at the surface?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 03:31 PM PST

Why no matter how bad a relationship was do our brains always focus on the good memories rather than the bad after a breakup?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 08:30 PM PST

[physics] Why does the texture of icecream change when melted and refrozen?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 09:44 PM PST

I was eating some sorbet (not icecream I know but the same thing happens to icecream), and I made the mistake of taking a post-sorbet nap without putting it back. It melted, I refroze it, and now i'm eating it again to find that the texture is no longer soft, it's like a frozen slushie now, full of hard icy flakes. Why is that?

submitted by /u/Danyerue
[link] [comments]

How did early computers display characters in languages where the letters are more complicated than English-type (and languages that use the same characters)?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 09:28 PM PST

Like with Japanese characters, was it difficult to fit all the little markings of each character? Even with English characters in very basic fonts, it seems like there is little wiggle room and that the characters had to be carefully designed (and yes I know the characters are not specific to English, I just don't know what to call it). Does anyone have any examples of how it was done it languages with more complex letters/characters?

submitted by /u/muzwim
[link] [comments]

Why does the moon appear to tilt on its axis over the course of its transit across the sky each night?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 09:23 PM PST

This is a question that has plagued me since I was a teenager and I could never find someone to answer or knew how to phrase it for an online search.

In the instance of a quarter moon for example, when I first see it it may appear to be standing up "vertically" like I could draw a straight line through the terminator and down to the horizon. Then a few hours later that same terminator might appear to be at an angle.

What's going on here? I know the moon isnt tilted. Is the shadow what's actually moving and not the moon itself?

Thanks!

submitted by /u/foxwox
[link] [comments]

What is an estimate of the population that the earth could sustain?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 01:47 PM PST

How do laboratories make chemicals?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 07:24 PM PST

Not really sure how to explain what I mean, but here goes. How do scientists make chemicals and stuff themselves? For example, when a lab is working on developing a new painkiller, or their own version of a hormone or chemical naturally made in the human body, how do they make it? How do they make something with a specific chemical structure and composition? I hear about medications and chemicals being developed all the time, but I don't have any idea how the actual chemical gets created.

submitted by /u/mimib14
[link] [comments]

Why do we produce so much mucus when we are sick?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 02:12 PM PST

If mosquitoes can transmit Ebola and other viruses, can they also transit HIV?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 04:04 PM PST

After the Big Bang the Universe cooled down and eventually formed planets, stars, etc. How is this not a decrease in entropy?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 02:50 PM PST

Or is the entire universe considered an isolated system so there was a significant increase elsewhere?

submitted by /u/Ademptis
[link] [comments]

Is raising bison better for the environment than raising cows?

Posted: 02 Jan 2017 11:02 AM PST

I've read from a few less-than-trustworthy sources that bison farming is more environmentally friendly than farming cows for beef. I've tried searching around online, but I haven't found any sources that really clear this up. What I want to know is:

  • Pound for pound, as the industry currently stands, is bison more environmentally friendly than beef?
  • If the US meat industry were to tone down its beef farming and increase production of bison meat, creating the need for larger bison farming enterprises, would bison still have an environmental advantage over beef?
  • Are fish and poultry more environmentally friendly than bison regardless?
submitted by /u/hrbuchanan
[link] [comments]

No comments:

Post a Comment