Do we know about any objects that travel at large fractions of the speed of light? | AskScience Blog

Pages

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Do we know about any objects that travel at large fractions of the speed of light?

Do we know about any objects that travel at large fractions of the speed of light?


Do we know about any objects that travel at large fractions of the speed of light?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 06:03 PM PDT

We know that many particles travel at the speed of light, and sometimes I hear descriptions such as "these particle travel at roughly 0.5% of the speed of light" (paraphrasing, obviously). Do we know of any particles or phenomena that travel at, say. 50% of the speed of light, or some significant fraction?

submitted by /u/OLTARZEWSKT1
[link] [comments]

Why have CPU clock speeds stopped going up?

Posted: 29 Sep 2019 07:06 AM PDT

You'd think 5+GHz CPUs would be everywhere by now.

submitted by /u/jjake101
[link] [comments]

How do quantum dots (>20nm) absorve and release vidible light (<400nm) if they are smaller than the visible light wavelength?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 06:46 PM PDT

Actually as I'm writing this question I also don't understand how we see materials, we do obviously see them but the atoms are smaller than the wavelength we see, so what is happening?

Can atoms emit wavelengths bigger than their size? How?

Or do we just see the cristaline structure of a bunch of atoms?

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

Since HIV-infected patients have such high levels of antibodies, how does the virus make progress at all?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 08:21 PM PDT

My understanding of how HIV progresses is something like this (please correct me if I get something wrong):

Shortly after infection, patients experience flu-like symptoms for a few weeks. They feel better after that time because their body has produced a sufficient number of antibodies to prevent the virus from killing them. Untreated patients then feel fine for a long period of time (years or even decades) before developing opportunistic infections resulting from AIDS. These infections usually kill the patient within a few years.

My question is this: given that the human body seems to be capable of preventing the virus from destroying its host's immune system for several years, how does the virus make any progress? Why do the HIV-specific antibodies slow down the progression of the disease, but not stop it?

(Side note: With most viruses I'm familiar with, either the virus is eliminated or the host dies from the infection, with the main exception I can think of being the herpes virus. Does herpes stick around in the body for similar reasons? Or is this just a coincidence?)

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

Is sexual orientation defined by genes? If so, how does it affect twins? If one of them is, say, homosexual, will the other be homosexual too?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:13 PM PDT

What is so unique with HCl, why does it seems so versatile?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:03 PM PDT

I use to just stereotype HCl (Hydrocholirde) as a cleaning agent (bleach) but recently came across to a lot of HCl derivatives especially in meds (Meperidine HCl, Isoxsuprine HCl, Hydralazine HCl to name a few)

How exactly does this work? What is with HCl?

submitted by /u/Zephynx4476
[link] [comments]

How does Google know ‘what I mean’ when I misspell a word?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 05:23 PM PDT

When testing rocket engines how are the engines secured so they don’t go flying off?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 08:39 PM PDT

Whenever I see a video of a rocket engine being tested it's horizontal to the ground. How do they attach something that generates that much force/thrust to the ground so that it doesn't break the connection or fly off?

submitted by /u/bmh55
[link] [comments]

Would traveling with a shockwave at the speed of sound do more damage to your vehicule/yourself than if it went through you?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:42 PM PDT

I've been wondering about this for a while and can't find a proper answer. Sorry if I'm in the wronf subreddit!

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

What is stopping us from building gamma microscopes?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 06:07 PM PDT

They would have higher resolution than electron microscopes, which may give further gains in science.

I was also wondering if they would be able to see atoms.

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

Why does ice taste different to water?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:54 PM PDT

This includes water that has just melted from ice. It has a very specific and recognisable ice-taste.

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

Do Palm Trees of All Varieties Have Long Strandy Leaves Because They Survive Tropical Storms Better?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:12 PM PDT

Do Palm trees and other plants with similar leaves (and a strange lack of branches) actually survive tropical storms better than plants like oaks or maples whose leaves are more likely to catch wind and fall over? Or is it a coincidence?

submitted by /u/jim10040
[link] [comments]

How strong is the pull of the Vacuum of Space?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:07 PM PDT

A common cliche I've seen in space stories is the event of a breech in a ship's hull that leads to the empty vacuum of space and people have to hold on or get pulled through. My question is: How strong IS this pull? I feel it would be much stronger than what a normal human can resist with their bare hands. Does the size of a hole effect the pull or is it all the same pull? I would like to know the actual pull strength (if that's even measurable) of space's vacuum.

EDIT

As some people have pointed out, my use of the word "pull" should be "suction," as a vacuum doesn't pull so much as suck air out, which is what a person must fight to resist being sucked out into space. Also, in the question of pressure and air, it would say the conditions are identical as that found on the International Space Station.

submitted by /u/UndeadPriest94
[link] [comments]

Can pregnancy hormones make straight hair curly or curly hair straight - all the way to long ends and not just the new growth?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:01 PM PDT

I have been told and have also read many times that this is a possibility. But here is my problem with a blanket statement like that coming from a parenting article or my hair dresser: I understand that lots of things can change the shape of the hair follicle, which in turn changes the texture and curl pattern of the hair shaft. However, if a person already has longer hair ( mine, for example, is a few inches past my shoulders) I cannot understand how the shift in hormones under a less than one year time span, can affect the shape and texture of the hair shaft all the way to the bottom. New growth, yes. I can understand that. But now at 7 months pregnant, my hair is very wavy (about a 2B on the curl pattern chart) and is a shock to me and others who know me. But my thought is that it must have been leaning towards wanting to be wavy for years and I've only just decided to start encouraging the process and therefore, it has now seemingly sprung in to curls. Or, since the beginning of this pregnancy, the hormones have caused a shift in the shape of my hair follicle, therefore increasing the curl tendency in my new growth, which is helping to support the wave tendency in the rest of my long hair.

Is it possible for hormones to change curl structure all the way to the ends of hair which could have been growing for multiple years, and couldn't be affected by a hormonal change at the scalp in a short time period?

This is the most scientific article I could find on the topic, and it doesn't address the idea of long hair, just need growth from the follicle.

https://www.scienceworld.ca/blog/can-hair-change-straight-curly

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

Does each unique action (moving an arm, moving a leg, breathing) correspond to a unique brainwave?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 06:58 PM PDT

Or is it more like, he is moving a limb type specific?

submitted by /u/IanGuard7000
[link] [comments]

Is c÷(average wavelength) the same as the (average frequency) of a spectrum?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 01:00 PM PDT

So, I'm having a little trouble here. I want to know the average energy of the photons emitted by a LED. What I have is the graph of intensity by wavelength.

I know that each point in the graph is actually the intensity integrated over a small interval near that point (analogous to a displacement vs time graph where each point is the displacement during a small time interval around that time).

But say that instead of that I had an actual continuous power distribution function, a graph now analogous to a velocity vs time graph. I must integrate the function over an interval of λ to find the intensity on that interval.

I'll call that function i(λ) (lowercase 'i' because that's not an intensity now but rather a "density")

I want to convert it to a function i(f) in such a way that the integrated intensity over an equivalent interval is the same, in other words

i(f)df = i(λ)dλ

Once f = c/λ -> df = (-c/λ²)dλ -> i(f)*(-c/λ²)dλ = i(λ)dλ -> i(f) = -(λ²/c)i(λ)

So I might choose i(λ) = kλ for example. 'k' is a constant that will deal with the units. And I might choose an λ interval from a to b meters. The integral of i(λ) will be (k/2)(b²-a²)

The frequency-domain function will be i(f) = -kλ³/c = -kc²/f³

The primitive integral of of that function is (kc²/2)/f² + C. Integrating from c/a to c/b (the equivalent interval in the frequency domain) the the result is (kc²/2)*[1/(c/b)²-1/(c/a)²]= (kc²/2)*[b²-a²]/c²
= (k/2)(b²-a²)

This is the same result and shows that the the power distributions check - They give the same total intensity for the same interval. Being that, obviously, each function have different units once they have different domains, but the units of the integrated intensity will be the same.

Now for the average value of wavelength and frequency:

i(λ)*λ = kλ² -> integral over the interval a to b = (k/3)(b³-a³)

dividing by the integral intensity we have (k/3)(b²-a²)/[(k/2)(b³-a³)] -> λ(av) = (2/3)(b³-a³)/(b²-a²)

i(f)*f = -kc²/f² -> integral over the interval of c/a to c/b = kc(b-a)

dividing by the integral intensity we have kc(b-a) /[(k/2)(b³-a³)] -> f(av) = 2c(b-a)(b²-a²)

If I took λ(av) and found the equivalent frequency, I'd have c/λ(av) = c(3/2)(b²-a²)/(b³-a³), which is not the same as 2c(b-a)(b²-a²)

For example, choosing a=100 m and b=300 m ->
λ(av) = (650/3) m,
c/λ(av) = 1383657.50 Hz, and
f(av) = 1498962.29 Hz.

They are reasonably close to each other but not equal

Is that how it should be?

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

Can we send radio signals at a fast enough speed or frequency so that they are in the visible light spectrum?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 06:54 PM PDT

Have any studies tried to find correlation between heigh and average sunlight exposure?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 06:13 PM PDT

I wondered if one exposed to more sunljght than a group with below average exposure, controlling for nutrition, in the ages of 14-18 would have found larger vertical growth over time, and potentially the ratio of sunlight to growth.

Vitamin D could be isolated for experimentation on height because currently the largest propagandist source for it is that it's from 'genetics' or DNA with no real credible sources viably identified as being the main source.

Thank you.

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

Does schizophrenia alter the brain physically?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 05:34 PM PDT

I'm thinking something along the lines of Alzheimer's or any other sort of neuro-degenerative disease. Does schizophrenia have any physical impact on the brain?

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

How does a stem cell transplant help with HIV treatment?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 08:02 PM PDT

I heard that two patients were cured of HIV after radiotherapy and a stem cell transplant using a donor's stem cells? How does that cure the HIV? Could they have used their own stem cells rather than a donor?

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

Is E. coli Turing complete?

Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:39 PM PDT

No comments:

Post a Comment