AskScience AMA Series: I’m Sean Carroll, physicist and author of best-selling book THE BIG PICTURE. Ask Me Anything about the universe and what it means! |
- AskScience AMA Series: I’m Sean Carroll, physicist and author of best-selling book THE BIG PICTURE. Ask Me Anything about the universe and what it means!
- If I heat up an iron rod to the point where its glowing, is the iron rod emitting photons or is it just reflecting a higher amount of photons that it normally does at room temperature?
- What makes a stealth plane 'stealth'? What is the technology involved and why can these planes be invisible to radars etc?
- What makes Damascus steel so special?
- When was it first known and/or confirmed that Mars was another planet and not a star?
- Why do humans wear clothes and when did we began?
- How can an emotion -such as stress- affect the physical body?
- What is the structure of the Australopithecus Afarensis hand?
- Does any thing ever appear to exceed the speed of light?
- Do objects in space cast shadows on the aurora?
- What observational evidence is there for calling electron positions "shells"?
- How do objects leaving Earth overcome their rotational momentum due to the Earth's rotation?
- [Mathematics] How can we know the last digits of Grahams Number, but not the first digits?
- Are there any species of octopi that rear their young like mammals and birds do?
- How did civilizations that don't share a common language start to communicate?
- What is the best way to reduce the weight of a metal beam while maintaining its structural integrity?
- If it is recommended to pasteurize fresh squeezed juice, why can I eat the fruit as-is without the same concern for bacteria?
- How is it possible to convert weight into mass?
- Is GP120 found anywhere besides the exterior of an HIV molecule? If yes, where? If no, what traits of the HIV molecule prevent the development of an effective GP120 inhibitor?
- What happens to the growth process of a plant when there are multiple equal light sources?
- In reproductive cloning, does Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer require that the surrogate be different than the somatic cell donor and the oocyte donor to produce a "healthy" clone?
- Why do voltage/current spikes occur when connecting or disconnecting an electrical connection?
| Posted: 25 May 2016 05:00 AM PDT I'm a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, and the author of several books. My research covers fundamental physics and cosmology, including quantum gravity, dark energy, and the arrow of time. I've been a science consultant for a number of movies and TV shows. My new book, THE BIG PICTURE, discusses how different ways we have of talking about the universe all fit together, from particle physics to biology to consciousness and human life. Ask Me Anything! AskScience AMAs are posted early to give readers a chance to ask questions and vote on the questions of others before the AMA starts. Sean Carroll will begin answering questions around 11 AM PT/2 PM ET. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 May 2016 04:27 PM PDT |
| Posted: 24 May 2016 05:04 PM PDT |
| What makes Damascus steel so special? Posted: 24 May 2016 04:11 PM PDT I'm not talking about the modern pattern I mean the stuff ancient steel swords were made of that we can't replicate [link] [comments]  |
| When was it first known and/or confirmed that Mars was another planet and not a star? Posted: 24 May 2016 06:13 PM PDT In everything I've read trying to answer this question, Mars is referred to as either a heavenly body or a planet. When did Mars go from being a bright spot in the sky to being recognized as another place like Earth? If there's a big dumb obvious answer for this that I'm missing, the same question would apply to Venus. [link] [comments]  |
| Why do humans wear clothes and when did we began? Posted: 24 May 2016 04:58 PM PDT Do humans wear clothes because we lost our fur or did we lose fur because we began wearing clothes. [link] [comments]  |
| How can an emotion -such as stress- affect the physical body? Posted: 24 May 2016 05:49 PM PDT According to this article here , stress can damage DNA. How is this? Isn't stress just an emotion that is purely in the brain and not quantifiable? [link] [comments]  |
| What is the structure of the Australopithecus Afarensis hand? Posted: 24 May 2016 04:29 PM PDT Can someone please explain the structure of the hand, and how it worked and its different types of grips. [link] [comments]  |
| Does any thing ever appear to exceed the speed of light? Posted: 24 May 2016 01:14 PM PDT I'm currently reading Hawking's famous book, A Brief History of Time. Two related questions have popped into my head: Firstly: From the point of view of a photon, or anything else, does any object, particle or wave - any thing - ever appear to exceed the speed of light? If not, would the answer be "yes" if, by magic, we could see beyond the "curtain" the limits of the observable universe impose upon us? For example, in an expanding universe, would some distant galaxy appear to be, or actually be, moving away from us faster than light, if we could see to the edge of the universe? Or, perhaps, would we see particles flung outward by the Big Bang in the early nanoseconds of the Universe moving faster than light, if our telescopes could probe such impossible depths of space (and time?) Secondly: It is my understanding that, due to small fluctuations on the quantum scale, things that would be impossible on the macro scale do happen on the quantum scale. Is it possible, then, that a photon ever actually - not appears to - moves just slightly faster than the speed of light, even for an unimaginably brief period of time? *For this second question, let's forget about any magic I referred to in the first, such as being able to see straight to the edge of the universe. [link] [comments]  |
| Do objects in space cast shadows on the aurora? Posted: 24 May 2016 05:50 PM PDT Would an object like a satellite passing above an aurora interrupt the solar wind? [link] [comments]  |
| What observational evidence is there for calling electron positions "shells"? Posted: 24 May 2016 04:05 PM PDT I know the old Bohr model had them as orbits/rings/etc. And now we think of them as shells of statistical probability. But when we say "higher" does that just mean energy, or does the shell actually take up space further away from the nucleus? If so, can we observe that? [link] [comments]  |
| How do objects leaving Earth overcome their rotational momentum due to the Earth's rotation? Posted: 24 May 2016 07:47 PM PDT I couldn't find the answer on google because I can't really phrase my question right. This started with me thinking about what if the Earth stopped rotating? Everything would be thrown in a certain direction due to the momentum from the rotating Earth... But what about rockets for example? While they are within the atmosphere, they should still be rotating along with the Earth, but once they leave the atmosphere I imagine they shouldn't be affected so much by the Earth- but still retain some momentum? Maybe they lose their rotational momentum slowly and have negligible rotational momentum by the time they leave the atmosphere, or is it some other reason? Thanks for reading! [link] [comments]  |
| [Mathematics] How can we know the last digits of Grahams Number, but not the first digits? Posted: 24 May 2016 07:55 AM PDT |
| Are there any species of octopi that rear their young like mammals and birds do? Posted: 24 May 2016 03:24 PM PDT |
| How did civilizations that don't share a common language start to communicate? Posted: 24 May 2016 04:29 PM PDT Also how would we communicate with aliens? I assume in a similar way. Assuming they communicate through sound and not some other method. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 May 2016 03:48 PM PDT Me and my friend are trying to reduce the weight of a metal arm in order to decrease the moment of inertia. Our plan is to drill holes in it, and we were wondering what the most efficient way to do that is. A few large holes, lots of small hole, a combination of the two? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 May 2016 11:04 AM PDT |
| How is it possible to convert weight into mass? Posted: 24 May 2016 09:39 PM PDT From what I understand mass and weight are two completely different measurements, however according to google 1 pound = 453.592 grams. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 May 2016 03:36 PM PDT |
| What happens to the growth process of a plant when there are multiple equal light sources? Posted: 24 May 2016 01:09 PM PDT Like, plants always grow towards the sun but what direction do they grow in when there are 2 or more light sources on other sides of the plant? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 May 2016 12:02 PM PDT Edit: I'm wondering what is the minimal number of animals of the same species you need to clone for viable offspring. Could you take an egg and somatic cell from a female and use it as its own surrogate? [link] [comments]  |
| Why do voltage/current spikes occur when connecting or disconnecting an electrical connection? Posted: 24 May 2016 01:49 PM PDT |
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