Why don't we just boil seawater to get freshwater? I've wondered about this for years. | AskScience Blog

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Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Why don't we just boil seawater to get freshwater? I've wondered about this for years.

Why don't we just boil seawater to get freshwater? I've wondered about this for years.


Why don't we just boil seawater to get freshwater? I've wondered about this for years.

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 01:58 PM PST

If you can't drink seawater because of the salt, why can't you just boil the water? And the salt would be left behind, right?

submitted by /u/Epitome_Of_Godlike
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Why did the Sahara Desert enter an arid-green cycle?

Posted: 06 Mar 2019 04:27 AM PST

How did amber encapsulations happen?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 08:42 AM PST

I saw a picture of an amber encapsulated praying mantis picture. How did the encapsulation occur? If it came from above I would suspect the weight of the liquid sap would have been greater than the strength of the praying mantis' antenna causing them to bend (as you can clearly see, they are not bent in the slightest) if it came from below you would assume there would be other trash or contents in the amber or sap.

submitted by /u/Funkytown1177
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How did the rabies virus evolve to cause the death of its host so quickly? From an evolutionary point of view, that appears counter productive?

Posted: 06 Mar 2019 05:12 AM PST

Most of the natural hosts of rabies virus only survive for a few weeks. How did the virus evolve this characteristic ? Isn't that a poor evolutionary trait? Why didn't it evolve to cause the host a mild encephalitis and irritable state where the animal would show a degree of aggression but not perish in a week or so?

submitted by /u/balloontrap
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Is "quantum probability" the same as "real probability"?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 09:32 PM PST

If I roll a die, as it's rolling, there's a probability if it being a 6 (1/6). This isn't actually whats happening, because we can theoretically analyze the conditions of the roll to determine the result before it stops rolling. Just when I roll it, im not perfectly examining it, so there's a probability.

If I set up an quantum experiment, is the same "type" of probability happening? If we could theoretically analyze everything without interfering with the particles, could we determine the result? Or are superpositions literally and physically a particle splitting into multiple other particles?

submitted by /u/cedericdiggory
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Ask Anything Wednesday - Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science

Posted: 06 Mar 2019 07:11 AM PST

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Physics, Astronomy, Earth and Planetary Science

Do you have a question within these topics you weren't sure was worth submitting? Is something a bit too speculative for a typical /r/AskScience post? No question is too big or small for AAW. In this thread you can ask any science-related question! Things like: "What would happen if...", "How will the future...", "If all the rules for 'X' were different...", "Why does my...".

Asking Questions:

Please post your question as a top-level response to this, and our team of panellists will be here to answer and discuss your questions.

The other topic areas will appear in future Ask Anything Wednesdays, so if you have other questions not covered by this weeks theme please either hold on to it until those topics come around, or go and post over in our sister subreddit /r/AskScienceDiscussion , where every day is Ask Anything Wednesday! Off-theme questions in this post will be removed to try and keep the thread a manageable size for both our readers and panellists.

Answering Questions:

Please only answer a posted question if you are an expert in the field. The full guidelines for posting responses in AskScience can be found here. In short, this is a moderated subreddit, and responses which do not meet our quality guidelines will be removed. Remember, peer reviewed sources are always appreciated, and anecdotes are absolutely not appropriate. In general if your answer begins with 'I think', or 'I've heard', then it's not suitable for /r/AskScience.

If you would like to become a member of the AskScience panel, please refer to the information provided here.

Past AskAnythingWednesday posts can be found here.

Ask away!

submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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How does salt (from waters, eg the sea) find its way into the air?

Posted: 06 Mar 2019 02:59 AM PST

As a matter of fact, there is salt in the air at and near the sea. But how?

I would claim that, once in the air, the salt is not gaseous but solved in droplets of liquid water aka air moisture.

But how does a solved salt leave its solution? H2O, be it from the sea or not, can obviously evaporate, but the salt surely doesn't subliminate / follow the water in the process in any other way (or else I might not have completely understood the principle of distillation)..?

Last guess - do droplets of liquid water with solved salt get into the air when the sea water is shaken due to waves? That I could grasp.

Thanks for solving - haha - this 'mistery' for me!

submitted by /u/Ebenberg
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If the incidence (and severity) of complications due to vaccines approaches the incidence of complications due to the diseases they vaccinate against, is there still a moral obligation to vaccinate?

Posted: 06 Mar 2019 04:26 AM PST

I'm far from an antivaxxer, but this question came to my head when I read about the protester whose child got intussusception as a complication of the rotavirus vaccine. I understand the ideal of eliminating a virus from the planet, but on a individual level I can't find a justification for obligatory vaccinations once the incidence of complications evens out.

submitted by /u/cteno4
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Can earthquakes occur in places away from tectonic plate boundaries?

Posted: 06 Mar 2019 03:45 AM PST

Why does the pH scale have 7 base layers and 6 acidic layers?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 07:25 PM PST

The pH scale that I am being taught has 14 layers with 7 being neutral. I noticed that this would mean that there are 6 acidic layers, 1-6, and 7 base layers, 8-14 and I can't seem to find why they aren't equal and nobody I asked knew either.

submitted by /u/Worldbuildingstuff
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What specific isotopic enrichment method is used to separate Pu-238 from other isotopes after U-238 decay?

Posted: 06 Mar 2019 01:13 AM PST

I can't find a source that mentions an enrichment method used for Pu-238 from it's other isotopes. I'm not sure if i'm searching the wrong thing so any clarifications about what i should search for would be helpful. Also is molybdenum-99 enriched using the same process as Pu-238? Because i know that Mo-99 is produced is a similar manner to Pu-238 but i can't find documentation about it.

Any help will be appreciated.

submitted by /u/TamzidZ
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If it's now possible to remove entire organs or limbs, why is it that some cancerous tumours are considered inoperable?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 06:03 PM PST

Why do some diseases confer immunity, but others do not?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 03:11 PM PST

It's often said that you cannot get the same disease twice, because your immune system "remembers" fighting it and will defeat it before it starts. When someone does get sick with the same disease twice, it is often said to be a different strain, like how there are many cold viruses that circulate.

However, when reading about certain diseases, such as gonorrhea, food poisoning, and malaria, it seems that these diseases don't result in long term immunity. Is this true? Can you get sick with the same thing twice, and if so, why is that?

For that matter, how does acquired immunity actually work? I have heard that it often diminishes with time, which is why we need booster shots for vaccines. Why are some diseases like smallpox and measles "immune for life" whereas you need a tetanus shot every 10 years?

submitted by /u/AntiFascist_Waffle
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What bodily structures allow insects to physically move?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 05:21 PM PST

I study wildlife and fisheries at university but I've never taken an entomology course. What structures in insects would be the equivalent to muscle, tendons, ligaments, etc that allow animals to move? Like for example, what structures/mechanisms allow the stinkbug crawling up my wall to move its legs? Is it similar to animals?

submitted by /u/BigBore69
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What is the 'excited' state of an atom or a particle and how does it occur?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 03:44 PM PST

How many parameters are required for a simulation of global climate?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 07:34 PM PST

I am a physicist and was just wondering what types of model parameters are placed into models of large scale weather patterns? I find the study of complex systems fascinating and was hoping to begin writing some my self.

submitted by /u/jimbob691234
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Is there a way to calculate how far two stars or constellations are from each other as opposed to their respective distances from Earth?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 09:06 AM PST

All of the information I could find on any given celestial bodies only give distances in terms of light years from the Earth, but is there a way to estimate their distances from one another while leaving us out of the equation entirely?

For example, I've been trying to find out how far apart Luyten's Star and Ross 128b are from one another, but I can only find that they're roughly the same distance from Earth. I have no idea in what direction they are from us, or how to make the necessary calculations even if I did know.

If anyone could point me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance for your time.

submitted by /u/HeyyyyYouGuyyyys
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Has most most of the Earth's gold been found and mined or is it likely we've only found a fraction of what's there?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 08:55 AM PST

What temperature is space naturally at and why?

Posted: 05 Mar 2019 08:02 AM PST

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