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Friday, September 8, 2017

Is everything that we know about black holes theoretical?

Is everything that we know about black holes theoretical?


Is everything that we know about black holes theoretical?

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 06:47 AM PDT

We know they exist and understand their effect on matter. But is everything else just a theory?

submitted by /u/tthatoneguyy
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What are p-values? What would it mean to go from a p-value of 0.05 to 0.005?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 05:19 PM PDT

A month ago, Nature made waves by publishing a commentary that the standard p-value should be changed from 0.05 to 0.005. If my intro to statistics covered p-values, I have completely forgotten, and the description in the commentary is abstract for me.

  • What are p-values? Is the last panel of this XKCD comic accurate?
  • Why is the standard 0.05? Is it related to the fact that 95% of a normal distribution is within two standard deviations from the mean?
  • What would the new standard mean in practical terms? Would it wreak havoc with the current social sciences?

(cross-poted to /r/explainlikeimfive/ and /r/askscience)

submitted by /u/comtedeRochambeau
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Earthquake/Tsunami Megathread

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 07:30 AM PDT

Hi everyone!

We're getting a lot of questions related to the recent earthquake and tsunami waves off the western coast of Mexico. Ask your questions about those here! Panel members will be in and out throughout the day so please do not expect an immediate answer. For hurricane questions, please direct them to our hurricane megathread instead.

Useful links:

submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator
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How do whitening strips affect your teeth chemically?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 02:53 PM PDT

I read recently that Jupiter itself is shrinking by 2cm per year. Does this mean it will eventually dissapear? How will this work?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 03:44 PM PDT

How do we know Pangaea existed? Do we have any hard proof or is an education guess/conclusion?

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 05:28 AM PDT

Not much to say. I'm just genuinely curious.

submitted by /u/Wolvenfire86
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Blue stars burn hotter than yellow or red stars, if that's the case will that increase the habitable zone around those stars?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 01:05 PM PDT

What would the atmosphere be like on this planet and what could we theorize the day or night cycle would be like on a habitable planet with a different colored sun?

submitted by /u/son_of_noah
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Can tidally locked planets become untidily locked?

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 01:01 AM PDT

What would the amount of force to spin it be? Obviously it would be very very hard to do but is it possible? And would spinning it throw its rotation off. Assuming you could get it to spin, would the planet continue to spin or would it eventually overtime slow back down and become relocked?

submitted by /u/I_am_Master_Cmander
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Does every liquid have a solid state?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 08:15 PM PDT

At what speeds to hydrogen atoms become deadly?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 10:46 PM PDT

I recently read this article about how traveling at light speed in science fiction would kill human travelers as the hydrogen atoms, when struck at these speeds, would give off an extremely fatal dose of radiation.

Pardon my ignorance here, but at what speeds does this occur? Say the hypothetical vehicle is moving at 75% light speed instead of 99% - is the dose of radiation less? Is it an all or nothing sort of thing or would it be the sort of thing that ramps up over time?

Say our hypothetical space ship is slowly gaining speed to approach 99% lightspeed. At what point do they start getting bombarded with this fatal radiation? Would it be like hitting a sudden radioactive brick wall or would it be more akin to a slow creep? How do they work out exactly when these reactions occur in these hydrogen atoms?

Thanks for your time!

submitted by /u/Krytenton
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Why are fires a major problem in the western United States but not so much in the forests of the east or midwest?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 09:56 AM PDT

At first I was thinking it may be related to moisture levels, but the PNW is obviously having serious fires right now, where it rains frequently. Is it the sheer expanse of forest present out west that raises the chances of serious fires?

submitted by /u/FoggyTitans
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How do we know the how old the universe is?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 08:28 PM PDT

Heard my prof mention it today in our lecture and it got me thinking as to how the hell we were able to measure that.

submitted by /u/youguesseditt
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Can solar flares affect the earths tectonic plates?

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 05:56 AM PDT

I noticed there was a solar flare last night that hit earth and then a couple hours later a massive earthquake occured in mexico. could these events be related in any way and if so how?

submitted by /u/Structuresaurus
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Does underground nuclear testing have an effect on tectonic plates? Such as, North Korea testing a hydrogen bomb causing an earthquake in Mexico.

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 04:10 AM PDT

What if any effect would an underground nuclear test have on the tectonic plates? Could the recent hydrogen bomb test have any connection to the earthquake in Mexico?

submitted by /u/canyodaddypaymyrent2
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What are "Earthquake Lights" and what causes them?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 11:46 PM PDT

Video Example from last night's 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Mexico.

submitted by /u/boxheaddude
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[Seismology] Someone on twitter was claiming the earthquake in Mexico might be related to Houston, Tx sinking 2 cm, is there any truth in this?

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 01:04 AM PDT

Obviously, I have no idea about seismology, so I need to ask the question in a number of phases

  1. Would City sized areas of the earth sink noticeably (a couple cm) under flood water? Does it happen?

  2. If that is possible, did Houston really sink 2 cm (or any other measurable value that we figured out)

  3. Would such a sinking possibly cause an earthquake?

  4. Bonus: If Houston did indeed sink, or if any other city sinks after flooding, does it ever rise back up?

Thanks

submitted by /u/c0d3M0nk3y
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How do distant neurons know to connect with each other to create new pathways?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 06:59 AM PDT

To be clear I'm talking about distant unconnected neurons, not just a change in dendrite strength or spine quantity.

Reading through various wikipedia articles, I understand that a neurons axiom sends out growth cones and that these cones are guided to a new neuron via chemical signalling.

But how does a neuron know to send out a growth cone, and how does the receiving neuron know to send out chemical signals to guide it?

Is it a case of luck? Something like: a neuron is receiving unusual stimulation due to a novel circumstance so it puts out signals to say come hither. Meanwhile another neuron is not generating the response it wants and sends out the growth cones. Thus if you are learning to kick a ball at the same time as speak mandarin you might find in future that you speak Mandarin better when kicking a ball because the connections got a bit mixed up.

If this is the case then what defines the difference between the neuron that sends the cone and the receiver? How does a neuron know that it is not generating the response that it needs and so sends out the cone or chemical signals?

submitted by /u/SystemicPlural
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If the sun emits white light and is extremely hot, why does light bulbs that emits white light not fry us?

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 03:48 AM PDT

Why does it not fry me when I am just a few meters away like I would with the Sun?

Am I missing something in the equation that affects how much heat is produced?

submitted by /u/AoiMizune
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How are islands like the ABC islands formed?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 01:52 PM PDT

There are no volcano's anywhere around them so... How did they get there? Here is a picture

submitted by /u/frendion
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Is it possible for the frequency/severity of earthquakes to be affected by climate change?

Posted: 08 Sep 2017 01:26 AM PDT

I mean, I understand the basics - earthquakes are shifting tectonic plates rubbing against each other and that. I'm wondering if there's any connection at all to climate change though - for example, IF they're affected by volcanic activity and IF that is somehow affected by climate change, there could potentially be a link?

submitted by /u/Eggerslolol
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How do we know what comprises the insides of the Sun?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 08:29 PM PDT

so was watching this recent Kurzgesagt vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0ldO87Pprc ... which got me thinking, how can we possibly know how the Sun is layered? obviously no human has gone to the Sun, much less bored thru to the center. no machine is capable of doing that either for obvious reasons. so what sort of a super xray telescope (if theres such a thing) do they use to see what's inside of any given star or planet or any other object moving thru space? are these are best guesses/estimates based on what we know of our own planet? are these guesses based on several stages dead stars/white dwarfs? I'd be very interested to know if someone could ELI5.

submitted by /u/redditor787
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Do any of the photons emitted from the Sun that reach Earth come directly from fusion reactions, or are all of them emitted by the outer plasma as thermal radiation?

Posted: 07 Sep 2017 08:25 AM PDT

So, being that nuclear fusion only happens at the Sun's core, do the photons emitted from those reactions ever escape the sun, or do they all crash into something on the way out, and any light we get is from regular thermal radiation in the sun's outer plasma?

submitted by /u/Vidyabro
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