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Saturday, June 25, 2016

Is there any biological reason why some people sing better than others?

Is there any biological reason why some people sing better than others?


Is there any biological reason why some people sing better than others?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 10:00 PM PDT

Mouse Utopia: Were the results ever replicated in other experiements?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 06:22 PM PDT

I recently learned about John Calhoun's mouse Utopia, and despite the numerous trials he did with the rats; was the experiment results ever obtained in other similar experiments? If so, was the experiment with rats or other animals? If not- would it be unethical by today's standards to replicate the experiment in a different setting?

submitted by /u/Swordsx
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If I'm in an elliptical orbit around a black hole with my periapses on or inside of the photon sphere, what would happen?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 09:26 PM PDT

In order for me to continue past the periapses "as normal", I would have to be going faster than the speed of light, which is not possible. Would my spacecraft slowly approach the speed of light and gradually accelerate slower, or hit the "speed limit" and stop accelerating abruptly? Assume that there is no debris/acceleration disk orbiting the black hole and that I will not be instantly spaghettified close to the black hole.

submitted by /u/tuckjohn37
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Why are most heatwaves broken by a storm?

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 07:54 AM PDT

I am curious about how the events that would most likely lead to a storm forming after a heatwave.

submitted by /u/Thimblethumb
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What is the furthest traveling organism in proportion to their size?

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 07:47 AM PDT

How far do they go in respect to humans and does anything come close to lunar or even mars travel? If so what are their adaptations?

submitted by /u/Bhoffman330
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Why do musical instruments get sharp (higher pitched) as they warm up?

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 07:44 AM PDT

This one is from my mum who teaches flute and conducts a wind band.

As you play, the instrument warms up, and the pitch it plays the same note goes up; this is exacerbated further in warm weather. In order to compensate, you lengthen the tube to make the note lower again.

What confuses us, is that surely the expansion of the metal as the instrument warms up causes the tube to become longer; so why does the pitch go up?

submitted by /u/Naf623
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Why do we use aluminum/aluminium to massively manufacture liquid containers?

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 07:34 AM PDT

I just think this statement sounds funny: "We extract metal from the earth and process it just so we can have it temporarily hold a liquid before being discarded or recycled". To me it sounds funny when you consider there is a period of time where we just used ceramic/clay containers to hold our liquid which are really easy to produce on the small scale because it doesn't require a whole lot of technology.

Anyways do we use aluminum because it's cheaper and easier to massively produce or is it something else?

submitted by /u/PM_ME_UR_BoobsOrButt
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Are all body parts proportional to each other in any way?

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 06:56 AM PDT

I mean this as, for example, if you were to measure the height of two different people, and then proceeded to compare it to their respective arm length, would the proportion be somewhat the same despite different numbers?

submitted by /u/TheDartron123
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Why does the solubility of helium act differently in the 20º-30ºC range?

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 06:44 AM PDT

As seen in this picture (http://docs.engineeringtoolbox.com/documents/1148/solubility-he-water.png) why does the solubility of helium actually go back up and then drop again within that range?

submitted by /u/JollyGarcia
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As acceleration increases, so does required energy. In an electric car with regenerative breaking, does quicker deceleration produce more energy than gradual?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 05:25 PM PDT

If I'm standing on earth and use a stand mounted laser to point to one planet, then push a button for it to immediately pan to another planet, what happens to the actual beam?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 05:33 PM PDT

I'm talking about speed of light. Let's say I point to an area that takes 1 minute for light to travel to it. I see the beam on the planet then pan the beam to another spot that is also 1 light minute away, but the distance between those two objects are 3 light minutes apart...would the beam travel faster than light to make the trip? I'm not sure how to word this into google.

submitted by /u/destin325
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How do birds innately know how to build nests?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 03:12 PM PDT

From my understanding of genetics and inheritance, DNA produces proteins which have different "tasks" in bodily functions. My question is how can a bird know how too build a nest through proteins, or is there another part of the picture I am not aware of.

It just seems impossible to me for a bird to be born with the knowledge of which sticks should be used, where mud should be applied to reinforce the nest, and what a proper location for a nest is. I have a minimal understanding of how neurons work and how a bird would be able to learn how to build a nest.

submitted by /u/potapeno
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What is the sand on Mars made of? Sand on Earth is made of dead sea life...so on Mars.. what is it made of?

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 05:48 AM PDT

How do stimulants like caffeine give us energy?

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 05:42 AM PDT

Why does expanding gasses become cold?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 08:31 PM PDT

I know that in an adiabatic free expansion gasses expelled into a vacuum lose heat, the question is why does it do this? Is it a function of entropy or some other mechanic?

submitted by /u/roh8880
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What goes on down in a volcano on an ordinary day??

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 03:50 AM PDT

How does our brain know what pitch a note is gonna be before we sing/whistle it?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 05:37 PM PDT

Why does water help to speed up your metabolism? Also why are some peoples metabolisms "faster" than others?

Posted: 25 Jun 2016 02:26 AM PDT

If all matter has a gravitational pull, why isn't universal expansion slowing down or reversing?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 12:44 PM PDT

I understand our best bet is the Big Bang Theory which would explain the initial acceleration and rapid expansion.

I also understand that all matter is affected by gravity. Logically speaking, the matter in the universe should slow down and stop. Eventually the matter would meet back at a center point, get extremely dense, and reactivate the Big Bang.

So what am I missing? What is the best or most logical explanation as to why this IS NOT happening?

submitted by /u/SixFootCarryTheOne
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Is there a more complete scientific explanation for electrostatic liquid deflection, or are there researches going on this subject?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 03:02 PM PDT

So, my question is about the matter on those two videos: This one from Veritasium and this response to the first one.

It seems that there's more about the electrostatic deflection of water than those videos can explain, and I can't find a more complete explanation.

That's what i want to know: Are there more complete experiments (and explanations) including pure polar and non-polar fluids, and then using ion-rich polar and non-polar fluids? And, if there's any, papers with complete data sets from experiments like those?

Thanks.

submitted by /u/guferr
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What is the maximum height or level our oceans could rise in relative to our atmosphere?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 03:50 PM PDT

What I'm basically asking is if by some force of nature all of our oceans started to rise and not stop, at what point would they stop before they hit our atmosphere?

EDIT: Which layer could it rise to physically? (stratosphere,mesosphere,thermosphere,exosphere)

submitted by /u/theLEVIATHAN06
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Friday, June 24, 2016

Why is an air bubble in your blood dangerous?

Why is an air bubble in your blood dangerous?


Why is an air bubble in your blood dangerous?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 01:45 PM PDT

Is there a rule of thumb for maximizing the magnetic field when making a solenoid?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 04:17 PM PDT

As a physicist I'm a bit embarrassed asking this, but this is something I've never "gotten." I know all about how to calculate the B-field in a solenoid, but in a practical sense I'm not sure how I would go about designing one if I want the most bang for my voltage source. For example, suppose I have a 12 V car battery (so I can max out at ~100A without running out of juice too fast). So the parameters I'm working with are: 12V, and up to 100A. That's 1200W which is a lot of heat to dissipate, but let's just ignore that factor completely. My question is: what gauge wire and how many turns should I use to most judiciously use my 12 V to generate the B field? Of course I want both high current and number of turns, but higher gauge wire will give you lower current for a given length and higher turn density, and higher gauge wire will give you lower current for a given length and higher turn density. Sure, I could go ahead and work it all out, making some really complicated formulas involving wire diameter as a function of gauge, resistance as a function of gauge and wire length, wire length as a function of solenoid thickness and length, and so on, but shouldn't there be a "solenoid-maker's rule of thumb" somewhere? After all, isn't this like, the most common calculation anyone would ever want to do regarding solenoids, so as to not waste electricity and build materials in getting the desired B-field?

submitted by /u/ididnoteatyourcat
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Is there a website where one can see the line spectra for every element?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 05:19 AM PDT

Why is lead so dense but so soft, aluminium so light but also soft, but then tungsten is very dense but incredibly hard and titanium is so light but also really hard?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 05:43 AM PDT

What's going on with the atoms that makes all these characteristics interchangeable?

submitted by /u/MrWillWalker
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Can a charged metal object be accelerated with an electric field the same way rail guns use magnetic fields?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 04:48 AM PDT

For example: if I had a ball bearing with a net charge, and it was held in a vacuum, could I push it along without touching it by using an increasingly strong electric field? And could I do the reverse, slowing it down? How efficient would this be, since it's frictionless?

submitted by /u/Zirbs
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What causes people to act different when drinking than when sober?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 12:25 PM PDT

Whats stopping us from using H2O electrolysis as energy storage for solar arrays?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 10:57 PM PDT

I know that one of the bigger costs in solar energy is finding a way to store all the energy you gather during the day for later use, so my question is, why use batteries?

Is it feasible to try and electrolyse water from the electricity created by your solar array, storing the oxygen and hydrogen gas to be used in the future via a voltaic cell setup to produce electricity for a household?

As a bonus, these personal reservoirs could be used as fuel for a fuel cell vehicle theoretically.

What do you think? Would it be feasible? Or is there some huge issue with it that im not aware of?

submitted by /u/saladtossing42
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How have the nutritional value of crops such a wheat changed over the last 1000 years and why?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 06:25 AM PDT

Why does water put out fire?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 06:22 AM PDT

Okay...... you're probably reading the title and thinking it's a stupid question. but scientifically, why does it?

fire is the product of combustion (most often), and in combustion, it forms water. so is it because of le'chattliers principle?

submitted by /u/aaa111sss222
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Why do teeth tend to revert towards their old alignment once you stop wearing braces?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 05:54 AM PDT

As far as I'm aware, there is new growth of bone pertaining to the new alignment through bone remodeling.

So what factors force the alveolar bone to go back to it's older configuration?

submitted by /u/portmantoux
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If I was to be in space next to Pluto, and my speed relative to the Sun was stopped, how long would it take me to fall into it and how fast would I be going?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 07:16 PM PDT

If my speed relevant to the Sun was to be stopped completely, how long would it take for me to fall into the Sun because of gravity?

submitted by /u/Liveonafarm
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Why is flu fatal?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 07:25 AM PDT

Everyone gets the sniffles occasionally. So what makes the flu occasionally epidemic and more importantly deadly? (Spanish flu killed more than any disease in a single go!!)

The internet says that flu suppresses the immune system and becomes fatal because of the prevailing condition such as asthma, kidney patients etc.

It also says that children and the elderly are more prone.

However, I remember (and later verified) a news report saying that the first victim of the Swine flu that hit in 2009 was a healthy young woman and so were the next few victims.

So what is it exactly??

submitted by /u/pratha1994
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How does climate change affect violence... and why is there seemingly more violence in hotter locations?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 07:24 AM PDT

I wanted to get some good opinions on this article from people who know more about biology, sociology, and climate science.

I lived in Ghana for a year and having lived in that heat, humidity, and lack of seasonal changes in temperature and sunlight, i have a personal interest in knowing if theres anything to the theories presented in this article.

So...anyone can explain to me any other good reasons why there seems to be more violence in hotter locations?!

Many thanks!

submitted by /u/Coolfuckingname
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Can sleeping in a draft cause you to become sick?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 07:20 AM PDT

I've heard the argument that being cold can depress your immune system and make you more likely to get sick. however when I google it, I find many popular science sources saying it's not true. I haven't been able to find any studies, and would greatly appreciate it if people could provide some evidence either way!

submitted by /u/heapsofsheeps
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Do we know why the mumps virus targets the parotid gland over any others?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 03:24 AM PDT

What causes certain types of brain tumors to affect children rather than adults?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 07:02 AM PDT

I've read about medulloblastomas affecting young children at a rate of 10x that of adults, and also that pilocytic astrocytoma is primarlily found in children.

What causes this? Are the tumors very fast growing? Are they formed in embryo? Do they not follow the typical carcenogenesis route?

And also, why does this phenomenon seem to be isolated to brain tumors? Why don't we see similar juvenile liver cancer? Or lung cancer?

submitted by /u/NorthBus
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Do (Can we determine if) binary stars revolve in opposite directions?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 04:34 PM PDT

We are able to photograph Sol and see its sunspots traveling across its surface, indicating rotation. Do we have any way of determining the rotational direction of other stars? I've read the majority of stars are binaries. If they rotate in opposite directions, is it reasonable to suspect a mass traveled through the accretion cloud, when the stars were forming, causing two eddies, counter-rotating?

submitted by /u/chung_my_wang
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As an adult, is it possible to hook up your belly button again to an artificial 'umbilical cord' for life support like when you were in the womb?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 06:06 AM PDT

Just wondering if the connections for life support are still inside your body or if they deteriorate as you grow up after birth.

submitted by /u/Gern1
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Can LIGO pinpoint the position of black hole collisions?

Posted: 24 Jun 2016 02:11 AM PDT

With the possible news about LIGO and dark matter (Did LIGO detect dark matter?), I was led to wonder: When LIGO detects something like a black hole collision, is there any way to figure out where the collision happened? I know there are two detectors--are they far enough apart to do some kind of parallax computation? Would pinpointing the location give evidence for or against the primordial black hole hypothesis?

submitted by /u/BanskiAchtar
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What would an observer see when a distant object (such as a star) approached the speed of light?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 05:14 PM PDT

Would it appear frozen in time, or would its life cycle appear to speed up? Also would the rate of dark matter expansion accelerate to this speed?

submitted by /u/ThorpedoUnicorn
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Would having a star which emits more radiation cause evolution to happen faster?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 05:18 PM PDT

GPS failure without relativity?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 05:50 PM PDT

So I understand that relativity has been proven time and again. I have a decent working knowledge of physics and understand time dilation (is that the right word?) based on relative velocity and proximity. But how would a lack of that understanding prevent my car from telling me where to go? I guess my question is more how does the Global positioning satellite system work with respect to relativity? I don't understand the necessity for the application of relativity at short distances and slow velocity (compared to ly and c).

submitted by /u/LegendofPisoMojado
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When clown-fish change gender, what actually happens to them?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 07:55 AM PDT

I recently heard that if a group of clown-fish is lacking a female, one of the males will change gender. What actually happens in their body, do they already have reproductive organs of both genders, or do they grow them when they change. Also what happens in their DNA, does it change?

Thank you

submitted by /u/twolt
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Thursday, June 23, 2016

Science AMA Series: Hi, I’m Dr. Kerry Assil, Eye Surgeon For The LA Kings And Founder Of The Assil Eye Institute, AMA!

Science AMA Series: Hi, I’m Dr. Kerry Assil, Eye Surgeon For The LA Kings And Founder Of The Assil Eye Institute, AMA!


Science AMA Series: Hi, I’m Dr. Kerry Assil, Eye Surgeon For The LA Kings And Founder Of The Assil Eye Institute, AMA!

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 05:00 AM PDT

Hi reddit!

I'm a renowned eye surgeon, researcher and lecturer who has worked with the LA Lakers, Kings, numerous other Gold-metal athletes and A-list celebrities.

I have spent the last 20+ years of my career working with the most advanced and cutting edge technologies to improve vision and eye health. I know what works, what doesn't, the newest implantable lenses, the biggest myths & fears of so many Americans that may be avoided, if they only had the right information.

June is Cataract Awareness Month and it's always been associated as a grandma's issue – well, no longer. Cataracts are now affects Americans as young as their late 40s and 50s!

I'll be back at 3:30 pm EST (12:30 pm PST, 8:30 pm UTC) to answer your questions, ask me anything!

submitted by /u/Dr_Kerry_Assil
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If there are a finite number of atoms in the entire universe, that means there is still a finite number of permutations of atoms possible. Can our very existence occur again then on a infinite time scale if we are just made out of a certain permutation atoms?

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 07:20 PM PDT

How does the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution allow us to solve the probability of particular particle arrangements over a given of time?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 05:18 AM PDT

I have been reading Max Tegmark's book "Our Mathematical Universe" and in later chapters he briefly discusses that the Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution shows that the probability of a particular arrangement of molecules, such as the exact molecular structure of your brain, complete with all your thoughts and memories is more likely to occur in other regions of space and/or other universes (Many-Worlds interpretation of Quantum Mechanics) than through evolution.

This is known as the Boltzmann Brain and is a hypothesized self aware entity which arises due to random fluctuations out of a state of chaos.

submitted by /u/Kaoslogic
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If pi stops having any practical use after it reaches a finite number of digits, how can mathematicians discover the digits that come after this limit?

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 05:20 PM PDT

Sources like this ( http://gizmodo.com/5985858/how-many-digits-of-pi-do-you-really-need ) claim that the "the circumference of the observable universe" can be measured "to within the width of a single hydrogen atom" with only about 39 digits of pi. So how can any more specific calculations of pi be accurately measured?

submitted by /u/MaxHasThisThing
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Does the Moon's gravity have a tidal effect on bodies of liquid that are underground?

Posted: 23 Jun 2016 06:56 AM PDT

The Moon's gravitational pull is known to cause the tides in the world's oceans, which got me wondering whether or not underground bodies are similarly affected, eg. aquifers/water courses, water in cave systems, oil fields etc. The Moon's gravity affects liquids on the surface from 384,000km away, so surely it isn't inconceivable that this effect is also going on simultaneously under the surface?

submitted by /u/big_mad_andy
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Are the physics in Total Recall correct?

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 01:53 PM PDT

For those who haven't seen the movie, it features a tunnel between Australia and Britain, which allows fast travel in a giant vehicle that is dropped down the shaft, to emerge at the other side. I'm fine with that part (and ignoring the impossibility of constructing such a thing), what I'm questioning is the forces experienced by the people in the vehicle.

For the 'downward' leg of the journey, while the vehicle is in freefall, they seem to experience gravity just the same as if they were standing on the surface. When they near the core (going past it rather than directly through), there is a period of weightlessness, then on the 'upward' part of the journey they appear to experience normal gravity again, in the other direction (the seats rotate so they aren't upsidedown).

So, is this correct?

submitted by /u/Fellowship_9
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Can photons be used as propulsion?

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 11:07 AM PDT

Can photons or light be used as propulsion? If so, how would we create propulsion with photons and how efficient would it be?

submitted by /u/Shiloh_the_dog
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One of the most fundamental principles taught is that everything wants to be in the lowest energy state possible. Why is this the case?

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 08:54 AM PDT

Is there a subatomic explanation? Or is this just the way it is for this dimension?

submitted by /u/TheBiclops
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If, during a fusion event, the binding energy per nucleon is increased dramatically, how can energy also be released from the event?

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 07:37 AM PDT

Ask Anything Wednesday - Economics, Political Science, Linguistics, Anthropology

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 08:05 AM PDT

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Economics, Political Science, Linguistics, Anthropology

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 significantly is light affected by moving through a medium that is in motion?

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 10:53 AM PDT

For example, (and please excuse the crudeness of this diagram and of my handwriting), would photons get stuck here, where they're swimming upriver just as fast as the current is flowing, so to speak.

submitted by /u/milkdrinker7
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Can water be compressed?

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 08:09 AM PDT

For example, if I had a cylindrical container half full (or half empty =p ) of water, and I also had a piston that perfectly fit the container, enough so that no water could escape through the crack, would the water be compressed into denser water? Would the water turn into steam? Would the piston not be able to push down onto the water? If said piston wasn't able to push down onto the water, what if I had an infinitely strong piston pushing down onto the water as well as an infinitely strong container holding the water?

submitted by /u/oddonesmishapenhead
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Would a dobule pendulum, in vacuum and a system with no friction, if released from the top eventually do a full circle area?

Posted: 22 Jun 2016 06:51 AM PDT

If all the dots combined would be equall the the number of all the dots in a circle with the area of 2rpi with r the lenght of the pendulum?

submitted by /u/Beshtija
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How come in sword fights, one sword can not slice through another?

Posted: 21 Jun 2016 10:53 PM PDT

With both swords swinging at each other with great force, and both have extremely sharp edges, how is it that neither be chopped or broken by the other?

submitted by /u/Mathkushd
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