AskScience AMA Series: We're a group of paleontologists here to answer your paleontology questions! Ask us anything!

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• AskScience AMA Series: We're a group of paleontologists here to answer your paleontology questions! Ask us anything!
• Is there a maximum temperature a microwave oven can heat up a piece of food?
• how can oceanic dissolved oxygen decline if an increase in gas temperature usually means increase in dissolved oxygen?
• If a conductive metal in wiring for a home is in liquid/melted form, will it still conduct electricity as well or at all?
• When photons blueshift while they approach a black hole, does this mean they add more energy to the black hole than what their energy level was before being blueshifted?
• In regards to Bernoulli's principle, why do the behaviors of velocity/pressure become opposite when a fluid is traveling through an orifice at supersonic speed?
• Why do some people who contract infections show no symptoms?
• How far does electricity travel in water?
• How much snow would cover the world if an ice age occurred?
• True versus false vacuums or ground states are often explained with a certain graph. What do the axes of this graph represent in terms of QFT, if anything?
• What number would our number system have to be based on for PI to be equal to 3.2?
• There is a picture of a piece of wood under an electron microscope on the front page. If the microscope was 5x more powerful, would the picture still look the same? At what point do you reach an end to magnification where you cant see any smaller details?
• Modern CPU's have > 1 Billion transistors... are all of them actually used?
• How do I see an elliptic curve is topologically equivalent to a torus without using elliptic functions?
• How can maser emission be unpolarized?
• Can Real numbers be partitioned into two dense, uncountable partitions?
• Why would solving the ABC conjecture be of importance to us?
• What differentiates the overlap regions between Gamma & X-Rays?

AskScience AMA Series: We're a group of paleontologists here to answer your paleontology questions! Ask us anything! Posted: 16 Feb 2017 06:01 AM PST Hello /r/AskScience! Paleontology is a science that includes evolution, paleoecology, biostratigraphy, taphonomy, and more! We are a group of invertebrate and vertebrate paleontologists who study these topics as they relate to a wide variety of organisms, ranging from trilobites to fossil mammals to birds and crocodiles. Ask us your paleontology questions and we'll be back around noon - 1pm Eastern Time to start answering! ​ Answering questions today are: Matt Borths, Ph.D. (/u/Chapalmalania): Dr. Borths works on the evolution of carnivorous mammals and African ecosystems. He is a postdoctoral researcher at Ohio University and co-host of the PastTime Podcast. Find him on Twitter @PastTimePaleo. ​ Stephanie Drumheller, Ph.D. (/u/UglyFossils): Dr. Drumheller is a paleontologist at the University of Tennessee whose research focuses on the processes of fossilization, evolution, and biology, of crocodiles and their relatives, including identifying bite marks on fossils. Find her on Twitter @UglyFossils. ​ Eugenia Gold, Ph.D. (/u/DrEugeniaGold): Dr. Gold studies brain evolution in relation to the acquisition of flight in dinosaurs. She is a postdoctoral researcher at Stony Brook University. Her bilingual blog is www.DrNeurosaurus.com. Find her on Twitter @DrNeurosaurus. ​ Talia Karim, Ph.D. (/u/PaleoTalia): Dr. Karim is the Invertebrate Paleontology Collections Manager at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and instructor for the Museum Studies Program at CU-Boulder. She studies trilobite systematics and biostratigraphy, museum collections care and management, digitization of collections, and cyber infrastructure as related to sharing museum data. ​ Deb Rook, Ph.D. (/u/DebRookPaleo): Dr. Rook is an independent paleontologist and education consultant in Virginia. Her expertise is in fossil mammals, particularly taeniodonts, which are bizarre mammals that lived right after the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct! Find her on Twitter @DebRookPaleo. ​ Colin Sumrall, Ph.D.: Dr. Sumrall is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the University of Tennessee. His research focuses on the paleobiology and evolution of early echinoderms, the group that includes starfish and relatives. He is particularly interested in the Cambrian and Ordovician radiations that occurred starting about 541 and 500 million years ago respectively. submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator [link] [comments]

Is there a maximum temperature a microwave oven can heat up a piece of food? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 06:51 PM PST More specifically, will it heat up 1 pound of chicken and one pound of pie to the same (max) temperature, or will one inherently get hotter than the other? What determines the maximum temperature, and what item do we think could get the absolute hottest due only to a microwave oven? Thanks! submitted by /u/MrHanSolo [link] [comments]

how can oceanic dissolved oxygen decline if an increase in gas temperature usually means increase in dissolved oxygen? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 03:51 PM PST submitted by /u/masahawk [link] [comments]

If a conductive metal in wiring for a home is in liquid/melted form, will it still conduct electricity as well or at all? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 11:28 PM PST If the wiring in a house, copper for example was melted but still held in a linear form within the rubber insulation, would it still conduct electricity as well? submitted by /u/RavioliMaster [link] [comments]

When photons blueshift while they approach a black hole, does this mean they add more energy to the black hole than what their energy level was before being blueshifted? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 01:31 PM PST submitted by /u/empire314 [link] [comments]

In regards to Bernoulli's principle, why do the behaviors of velocity/pressure become opposite when a fluid is traveling through an orifice at supersonic speed? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 02:56 PM PST submitted by /u/cmnd_ctrI [link] [comments]

Why do some people who contract infections show no symptoms? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 05:28 PM PST How are some (most) cases of influenza, etc asymptomatic? Does this mean the body has fought and removed the virus without giving symptoms? submitted by /u/vsbobclear [link] [comments]

How far does electricity travel in water? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 04:43 PM PST No clue why this just popped into my head but i was wondering how far any given current can travel in water. or how you might be able to calculate. i'm sure the salinity also has something to do with it too! submitted by /u/ackley14 [link] [comments]

How much snow would cover the world if an ice age occurred? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 08:19 AM PST How much snow would cover the world if the entire world went in to a severe ice age? How much of the evaporated water that is already in the air would cover the ground? After so long of it being freezing outside all the moisture would forever be frozen and no more water could evaporate? submitted by /u/UniqueUsername789 [link] [comments]

True versus false vacuums or ground states are often explained with a certain graph. What do the axes of this graph represent in terms of QFT, if anything? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 11:45 PM PST The kind of graph in question looks like this: False Vacuum Graph Often a metaphor of placing a ball somewhere on the graph and letting it roll is used to explain true and false vacuum, metastability, and other such things. This is a great way to make things intuitive, but I'm having trouble understanding what it actually means for the ball to move on the graph. The y-axis seems to be some measure of energy, but what's the x-axis? (or what does it 'represent' if the value isn't necessarily a scalar)? submitted by /u/AlphaModder [link] [comments]

What number would our number system have to be based on for PI to be equal to 3.2? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 09:14 PM PST submitted by /u/sgasgdsgbdsg [link] [comments]

There is a picture of a piece of wood under an electron microscope on the front page. If the microscope was 5x more powerful, would the picture still look the same? At what point do you reach an end to magnification where you cant see any smaller details? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 06:26 PM PST submitted by /u/EveSaintRaven [link] [comments]

Modern CPU's have > 1 Billion transistors... are all of them actually used? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 11:51 AM PST Just because there exists a transistor on the chip, that doesn't necessarily mean the chip itself is designed to use the transistor, right? If this is the case, we should see either more complex CPU's and/or more efficient CPU's as niche solutions are given hardware space, right? submitted by /u/GregoryPanic [link] [comments]

How do I see an elliptic curve is topologically equivalent to a torus without using elliptic functions? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 09:00 AM PST submitted by /u/swapwaspspaw [link] [comments]

How can maser emission be unpolarized? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 08:44 AM PST I was reading that: However, unlike Galactic sources such as W3(OH), the emission is unpolarized and the 1667 MHz line is stronger than the 1665 MHz line. but how is this possible? Does not the 1665 MHz line and 1667 MHz line correspond to a particular transition and dipole moment? Won't emitted photons naturally have a polarization? Furthermore, they state: The characteristics of the λ18 cm OH mega-maser emission differ from those of Galactic maser sources, such as the main line intensity ratio (T1667MHz/T1665 MHz > 1), large linewidth (>100 km s−1), and unpolarized emission. But why is unpolarized emission expected from extragalactic masers (arising near AGN) and not galactic ones (arising in circumstellar and interstellar environments)? submitted by /u/CallMeDoc24 [link] [comments]

Can Real numbers be partitioned into two dense, uncountable partitions? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 09:24 AM PST I have just started taking a Real Analysis course and the prof. introduced the concept of dense sets. And every example given in the class split R into two dense partitions of different sizes. So I was wondering if breaking R into two equal partitions violates some fundamental result? submitted by /u/MutedBanshee [link] [comments]

Why would solving the ABC conjecture be of importance to us? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 05:58 AM PST Hi all I am most definitely not a certified mathematician but I really enjoy reading about math and number theory (perhaps in another life I would have liked to have been one). Anyhow, why would solving the ABC conjecture be of importance to us? And also why is the proof given by Shinichi Mochizuki so difficult to peer review and confirm? Is it not possible that the math gets so abstract and convoluted after ten's of pages with proofs building on proofs made in the same text, that close to anything can be solved by using enough back and forth math (my layman's proposal here)? Or is the incredibly complicated proof to this relatively simple looking conjecture (from a layman's perspective) a whole new level of genius? submitted by /u/georgelappies [link] [comments]

What differentiates the overlap regions between Gamma & X-Rays? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 07:42 AM PST On the EM spectrum there is an overlap region between Gamma & X-Rays, how do we differentiate the two? What are different about them? submitted by /u/Theroberto9009 [link] [comments]

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What is the mistake in this mathematical proof?

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• What is the mistake in this mathematical proof?
• In a nuclear weapon, how do the explosive lenses create a supercritical mass out of a subcritical mass, when the actual mass of the fissile material remains the same?
• In Quantum Mechanics, why is the de Broglie–Bohm theory (Pilot-Wave theory) not as popular as the Copenhagen interpretation?
• Ask Anything Wednesday - Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science
• If liquid helium is the coldest substance we have commercially available to us today, how did we first cool helium down to that temperature without the use of something colder?
• What would the evolutionary benefits be for male mammals' testicles being located in such a vulnerable location instead of being inside the body?
• Does the diffusion current have an upper limit?
• What's the highest frequency laser?
• I recorded some electromagnetic fields, is what I am seeing in the spectral frequency the pulses of electrical communication?
• What is it called when snow forms a very light crystalline layer on the top? And how is it formed?
• Does orbital localization in a molecular wavefunction imply time dependence?
• Why do the "biggest stars in the Universe" basically all appear in the Milky Way?
• How does the fusion of 4 hydrogen atoms create helium and not beryllium?
• At what point does the first radio signal from earth just become an indistinguishable part of the background?
• Why does the Wu experiment prove that parity is not symmetric?
• Is it possible for Hubble to image Voyager?
• Why is it when you handle some foods (like onions) the smell will stay on your hands for several hours, even if you wash your hands more than a couple times?
• Are neutrons the only things that can actually physically touch?
• Do magnetic fields carry information?

What is the mistake in this mathematical proof? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 02:08 AM PST From Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions by Martin Gardner a=b+c multiply both sides by a-b a2 -ab=ab+ac-b2 -bc move ac to the left a2 -ab-ac=ab-b2 -bc factor: a(a-b-c)=b(a-b-c) divide both sides by a-b-c a=b He says that this is a fallacy, but can't you just say that c=0? submitted by /u/Booty-Zipperooni [link] [comments]

In a nuclear weapon, how do the explosive lenses create a supercritical mass out of a subcritical mass, when the actual mass of the fissile material remains the same? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 08:58 AM PST Say you start with 3kg of plutonium in a hollow sphere shape, prior to detonation. After the explosive lenses are detonated, you (very briefly) have a solid sphere of plutonium created by the explosion. However the mass of the plutonium is still 3kg - exactly the same as the original mass. So I guess my real question is this: is the term "critical mass" a misnomer? Should it be instead, "critical density", or "critical mass per unit volume"? submitted by /u/musicmunky [link] [comments]

In Quantum Mechanics, why is the de Broglie–Bohm theory (Pilot-Wave theory) not as popular as the Copenhagen interpretation? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 06:56 AM PST My understanding of these interpretations is pretty slim overall, so please try to ELIinHighSchool. I don't understand why the modern Pilot Wave theory isn't as accepted as the Copenhagen interpretation when it avoids paradoxes such as Schrodinger's cat. If you notice that I have some kind of misconceptions of these theories please clarify them for me. Thank you in advance! submitted by /u/Runedweller [link] [comments]

Ask Anything Wednesday - Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science Posted: 15 Feb 2017 07:05 AM PST Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Engineering, Mathematics, Computer 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 [link] [comments]

If liquid helium is the coldest substance we have commercially available to us today, how did we first cool helium down to that temperature without the use of something colder? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 04:16 PM PST submitted by /u/the_quassitworsh [link] [comments]

What would the evolutionary benefits be for male mammals' testicles being located in such a vulnerable location instead of being inside the body? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 06:33 PM PST Being such an important organ (perhaps most important, considering an animal's ultimate goal in life is reproduction) what would/could be the reasons why mammals have not evolved in parallel to have testicles located in a much safer location inside the body rather than exposed in the way they are? I just noticed the obvious vulnerability of the organs as I am watching the AKC dog show right now, and every male dog has incredibly vulnerable jewels. Thanks! submitted by /u/g_eazybakeoven [link] [comments]

Does the diffusion current have an upper limit? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 02:40 AM PST What happens if I completly compensate the built-in voltage of a pn-junction? There should only be a finite amout of current, due to the finite amout of electrons/holes right? If anyone has a satisfying answer I would be much obliged. submitted by /u/Allimania [link] [comments]

What's the highest frequency laser? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 05:58 PM PST I've been playing the game Stellaris which has a late-game technology you can research, gamma-ray lasers, which got me thinking about laser frequencies. The wikipedia page for gamma-ray lasers certainly makes them sound like a difficult research project, not something in production. The graphic they have for commercial lasers by frequency seems to imply the highest-freq commercially available laser is pretty solidly ultraviolet. Are there higher-freq research laser, and if so, what are they used for? Is the trouble in producing higher frequencies finding an appropriate gain medium? If so, what research is there in finding such materials? If not, what IS the main obstacle? Further questions: if we had such a laser (gaser?) what would be some of the research, industrial, commercial, and military applications that we couldn't do with a UV laser? In particular, would this have applications in laser fusion? Also, searching this subreddit, I found this question about doubling a lasers frequency, which doesn't sound that hard in the thread. Could this method, or some other method of raising a lasers frequency, other than the brute force approach of just accelerating the emitting device relative to the target, be used in production of a high-freq laser? How does this apply to the above? submitted by /u/zelmerszoetrop [link] [comments]

I recorded some electromagnetic fields, is what I am seeing in the spectral frequency the pulses of electrical communication? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 02:16 AM PST http://imgur.com/a/hZEyK I was wondering what these lines are in the spectral frequency viewer Here is the recording - http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/tXLQQLeY/file.html is a recording from a modem router, monitor, speaker, lights. just stuff in my room. submitted by /u/ni-ten-ichi-ryu [link] [comments]

What is it called when snow forms a very light crystalline layer on the top? And how is it formed? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 02:16 PM PST I was in Utah and went snowshoeing when I noticed that the top layer of snow was formed of millions of small crystals. It almost looked like really short grass made of ice was covering the snow. It reflected a rainbow of colors as I looked around. I wanted to know more about this phenomenon so I could learn more about it. submitted by /u/im_not_my_real_dad [link] [comments]

Does orbital localization in a molecular wavefunction imply time dependence? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 08:58 PM PST This may get somewhat lengthy... but I've been wondering about a few properties of localized orbitals in molecular wavefunctions. It is typically argued that any arbitrary unitary transformation can be applied to canonical orbitals, because such a transformation will leave the overall wavefunction and all observables unchanged. This is typically accompanied by the interpretation that there is no "best" way to set up the orbitals, and any set obtained from a unitary transformation is as good as any other. However, that actually raises two questions for me. Let's assume we obtained a wavefunction from a typical Hartree-Fock calculation. A localization procedure will generally form linear combinations of canonical orbitals (thus, eigenfunctions) to different energy eigenvalues of the Fock operator. But doesn't that mean that the localized orbitals are basically a superposition of eigenstates, which is not a stationary solution to the (time-independent) Fock operator anymore? Nobody talks about localized orbitals as a time-dependent concept, which makes me feel that my assumption may be wrong for some reason. Tapping into an old battlefield of MO and Valence Bond theories: Some people like to use the photoelectron spectrum of methane to highlight the correct symmetry behavior of the canonical molecular orbitals. This symmetry is obviously broken if we localize the orbitals in order to willfully represent four equivalent C-H bonds. So, my question is: How does the argument uphold that any unitary transformation leaves the orbitals just as viable, if localization can introduce such an obvious contradiction to reality? Would a time-dependent interpretation as a non-stationary superposition state be able (or perhaps, even necessary) to reconcile theory and experiment? submitted by /u/RapidCatLauncher [link] [comments]

Why do the "biggest stars in the Universe" basically all appear in the Milky Way? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 05:18 PM PST I was looking at a list of the biggest stars in the universe and they were all relatively close to earth. It doesn't seem possible that with so many stars in the universe, most of the largest ones would be located within our own galaxy. Can we not see stars in other galaxies? Obviously I know these are just the biggest stars that have been observed, and that this is not a definitive list, but something doesn't make sense to me. submitted by /u/harrybro [link] [comments]

How does the fusion of 4 hydrogen atoms create helium and not beryllium? Posted: 15 Feb 2017 04:50 AM PST At about 8min15sec in this video, we are told that 4 hydrogen atoms going through nuclear fusion creates a helium atom. Why is it not beryllium if there are 4 protons? submitted by /u/dilirst [link] [comments]

At what point does the first radio signal from earth just become an indistinguishable part of the background? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 03:27 PM PST Given the strength of the first radio signal, how far did/will it go in space without dissipating to the point where it is indistinguishable from noise? How have modern signals changed to differ in their longevity in terms of viable distance traveled, and why? submitted by /u/AnArmyOfWombats [link] [comments]

Why does the Wu experiment prove that parity is not symmetric? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 10:26 PM PST I believe I understand the experiment, that the magnetic moment of Co60 atoms were lined up in the same direction, and the direction of electron emission during beta decay measured. What I don't understand is why this proves the universe has a handedness, and not just that the weak force and magnetic moment are interrelated, or some smaller structure influences both the weak force and magnetic moment. I mean, given a changing electric field, you can predict the direction of a magnetic field, but all that means is that they are aspects of the same process, not that some basic quantity isn't conserved. submitted by /u/MapsAreCool [link] [comments]

Is it possible for Hubble to image Voyager? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 04:00 PM PST submitted by /u/amisamiamiam [link] [comments]

Why is it when you handle some foods (like onions) the smell will stay on your hands for several hours, even if you wash your hands more than a couple times? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 02:23 PM PST submitted by /u/jarferama33 [link] [comments]

Are neutrons the only things that can actually physically touch? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 02:03 PM PST I know people can't actually ever touch each other, they just feel the repulsive force of electrons on a macro scale. Since neutrons have no electromagnetic attractive or repulsive force, can they actually fully come into contact? submitted by /u/ThatTallDude326 [link] [comments]

Do magnetic fields carry information? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 07:08 PM PST I know that radio waves (or any EM radiation) generates a magnetic field along with the E field, but I cant find out if the magnetic field somehow carries that same information. (for example, would the magnetic field of a radio transmission carry the same information in it as the transmission itself?) submitted by /u/FoggyDonkey [link] [comments]

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When they repave a road, where do they send the old asphalt and what is its environmental fate?

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• When they repave a road, where do they send the old asphalt and what is its environmental fate?
• We know that people have the ability to have a "perfect pitch" with their hearing. Is there such phenomena with other senses? If not, what is so special about hearing?
• Special Relativity: If an object accelerates at a constant rate, does the progressively increasing time dilation cause an asymptote for the moving objects time?
• How does light frequency work on medium interchange?
• Can you feel very strong radiation?
• What does it mean if a wave function equals 1, independent of position (x)?
• How did they take this picture (link in text) of the sun without the ridiculous intensity of light obscuring the image?
• Why do people's urine come out at different strengths?
• If UV light is invisible, why do UV LEDs (on blacklights etc.) have that unique violety-blue colour?
• What is missing from the theoretical model of physics that prevents us from replicating everything as a simulation? (something along the lines of the matrix)
• What's at the bottom of the ocean?
• Why does a neutron star collision gamma ray burst last only seconds?
• Do species which exhibit sexual dimorphism also exhibit higher degrees of behavioral difference between sexes?
• What is the current state of light based computing? What are the problems holding us back?
• What does the mexican hat have to do with higgs field?
• Could someone explain the purpose of the ideal gas law (PV=nRT) to me?
• What is the effect of gravity on an ideal gas?
• Why/how do single nucleotide mutations and errors occur? Wouldn't a miss pair be energetically and electrically unstable?
• How do eyes adapt when you place tinted goggles/glasses over them?
• Are There Ancient Temples In North America?
• Does cold work cause tin pest?

When they repave a road, where do they send the old asphalt and what is its environmental fate? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 05:20 AM PST submitted by /u/HeilHitla [link] [comments]

We know that people have the ability to have a "perfect pitch" with their hearing. Is there such phenomena with other senses? If not, what is so special about hearing? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 06:12 PM PST submitted by /u/IAmTrident [link] [comments]

Special Relativity: If an object accelerates at a constant rate, does the progressively increasing time dilation cause an asymptote for the moving objects time? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 05:17 PM PST So, I was looking at what would happen as an object accelerated at a constant rate - say, 300 km/s2. From what it would appear from my math, the object would experience increasing levels of time dilation (from the perspective a stationary observer). A system of (relatively) stationary observers would watch the clock on this accelerating object, and would record slower and slower increments of time. It looks like this would create an asymptote, or a point in time that the moving object will never reach. So two questions: 1) Is my math correct here? Will this object accelerating at 300 km/s 2 approach a time that it will never actually reach in my frame? 2) If so, I'm having trouble interpreting the results. In order for the stationary frame to not be "special", the moving object needs to be able to potentially reach any time within its future... but doesn't this mean there is no corresponding X,Y,Z coordinate that this object will exist in when the clock passes the time I've calculated as the limit? Wouldn't this mean that this moving object cannot exist in my universe at that time? Either way, where the heck is it at that time? It seems like this would create a contradiction.... submitted by /u/AgentSmith27 [link] [comments]

How does light frequency work on medium interchange? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 02:50 AM PST Hi I'm a chemistry trained teacher tackling a senior physics class. I have a good general knowledge of all science and have studied physics at university. However a question has stumped me regarding light waves. The textbook question asks what would the frequency be for violet light (420nm) as it passes through window glass, refractive index given as 1.51. When calculating the answer I adjusted the speed of light through glass then used v=f*lambda formula to calculate the frequency. However the text book answer has used the speed of light as 3 x 108. After quick research I found something stating the frequency would stay the same crossing the interface but the wavelength and speed change proportionally meaning you can simply calculate the frequency using the speed of light through air/vacuum. So what is this magic? The answers I found didn't explain it well enough or too well. submitted by /u/niamedregel [link] [comments]

Can you feel very strong radiation? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 12:53 AM PST Hello scientists I read about a thing called the Elephants Foot, it's from the Chernobyl disaster. It is said that 300 seconds of exposure to its radiation would mean certain death after a few days shortly after the meltdown. Its radiation has weakened, but still is very dangerous, but I was wondering if you would feel the radiation if you stood next to it shortly after the meltdown, and if so what it would feel like? submitted by /u/Twixbr0 [link] [comments]

What does it mean if a wave function equals 1, independent of position (x)? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 04:33 AM PST I have been looking at wave functions on MIT's YouTube channel (I'm not studying a course, or anything) and there's one thing that seems so weird. If you take the rootnorm of a wave function eikx you get the probability which is in this case 1. I've gotten that through my own calculations and they confirm it in the MIT lecture. However, my interpretation is that, whatever position (x-value) you enter you get 1, and therefore all the positions in the universe have probability of finding the particle with 100% success rate. It doesn't matter where you look, because the probability is suddenly independent of the position, and even stranger, is always 1. But that doesn't make sense!! In the lecture they just say that there's an even probability everywhere and therefore no position has a favor, but they're not mentioning that the probability is 1 everywhere and that the particle should therefore certainly be everywhere (for real, not like the uncertainty principle). I'm guessing it's safe to assume that the professor in the lecture is right and my amateur interpretation is incorrect, but could anyone explain how I have misunderstood this 100% probability of finding the particle everywhere? submitted by /u/Rubic-Cube [link] [comments]

How did they take this picture (link in text) of the sun without the ridiculous intensity of light obscuring the image? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 09:22 PM PST https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012100/a012144/SDO_Year6_HCblend_8k.jpg submitted by /u/Sickuvurshit [link] [comments]

Why do people's urine come out at different strengths? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 07:56 PM PST Spent too much time thinking how to phrase this question, so I just went with it. What I mean is that when we pee, we shoot urine out of our bodies seemingly at different strengths, why is that? Also, is there a correlation between urinating-strength and age? submitted by /u/Beezlebug [link] [comments]

If UV light is invisible, why do UV LEDs (on blacklights etc.) have that unique violety-blue colour? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 03:54 AM PST Just wondering why you can see that unique colour if UV light is meant to be invisible. Is it actually the colour on the cutoff of the spectrum where it turns into UV? submitted by /u/patternboy [link] [comments]

What is missing from the theoretical model of physics that prevents us from replicating everything as a simulation? (something along the lines of the matrix) Posted: 13 Feb 2017 04:04 PM PST What sort of computing power would you need for that kind of simulation? submitted by /u/Two_Skill_invoker [link] [comments]

What's at the bottom of the ocean? Posted: 14 Feb 2017 02:45 AM PST submitted by /u/davidgreenoptions [link] [comments]

Why does a neutron star collision gamma ray burst last only seconds? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 12:42 PM PST I just want to know why the collision and formation of a black hole will only produce this burst for such a tiny amount of time? Is that two seconds detectable, or does it have a two second emission time? submitted by /u/WhatIsMyGirth [link] [comments]

Do species which exhibit sexual dimorphism also exhibit higher degrees of behavioral difference between sexes? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 08:14 PM PST submitted by /u/bruisedprune [link] [comments]

What is the current state of light based computing? What are the problems holding us back? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 10:36 AM PST I know the idea of light based logic has been around for decades and researched for just as long, but I hear little about it. With Moore's law starting to get caught up in physics problems, it seems like the logical way forward. Has light based computing even been prototyped? Is there no currently visible way forward? Whats holding us back? submitted by /u/ItsDijital [link] [comments]

What does the mexican hat have to do with higgs field? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 08:11 PM PST I've seen the mexican hat explaination for the higgs field but all the explanations never delve into what it represents. I think the vertical axis represents the potential of a particle? Does the horizontal plane represent the wave function of a particle at a point? Does the mexican hat explain how mass arises or is that something else? submitted by /u/TejasEngineer [link] [comments]

Could someone explain the purpose of the ideal gas law (PV=nRT) to me? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 12:09 PM PST I don't fully understand the application of this law, I have a general idea of its variables however I am confused as to its uses, could someone explain it to me? submitted by /u/Limekilnlake [link] [comments]

What is the effect of gravity on an ideal gas? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 06:44 PM PST I have a friend who is a high school chemistry teacher who just randomly asked me (summarized) "If you increased the gravity of gas particles of an ideal gas, why does the temperature spike and you get variable results for pressure?" I guess her students were working with a simulation and they decided to crank the gravity up to max. I'm EXTREMELY out of practice but I told her that my best guess was most likely that introducing gravity means that you are now implying that the particles have some non negligible mass thus you would have to account for their various interactions. You would have to go to a more complex equation of state like Van Der Waals or the Redlich Kwong. Am I on the right track? Her question has me curious on what the right answer is and I can't seem to find a direct answer through Google. Thanks! submitted by /u/OSUfirebird18 [link] [comments]

Why/how do single nucleotide mutations and errors occur? Wouldn't a miss pair be energetically and electrically unstable? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 05:04 PM PST So why would these even happen in nature? submitted by /u/3statechamp [link] [comments]

How do eyes adapt when you place tinted goggles/glasses over them? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 04:50 PM PST When I put on tinted goggles my vision will have a tinted color and after a while my vision goes back to normal. Is this my brain ignoring it like how our nose is ignored or is there another reason? submitted by /u/OrangesAreVile [link] [comments]

Are There Ancient Temples In North America? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 12:55 PM PST I know there are temples and pyramids down in mexico and some places in the USA. But in the vast expanses of Canada, I expect there to be things hidden under the trees and hills. I have been finding artifacts all my life, but I have always felt like there must be more. Does anyone have any interesting information regarding this? submitted by /u/Mr--Night [link] [comments]

Does cold work cause tin pest? Posted: 13 Feb 2017 08:04 PM PST I am rolling a cast tin bar and it gets brittle and gets darker. I was wondering if the cold work causes tin pest? Where can I find a Pressure-Temperature graph of alpha tin vs beta tin? submitted by /u/smmmsadeghi [link] [comments]

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