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Monday, October 9, 2017

AskScience AMA Series: We are a plant ecology research lab working on the fate of abandoned cranberry bogs. Ask Us Anything!

AskScience AMA Series: We are a plant ecology research lab working on the fate of abandoned cranberry bogs. Ask Us Anything!


AskScience AMA Series: We are a plant ecology research lab working on the fate of abandoned cranberry bogs. Ask Us Anything!

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 05:00 AM PDT

Hi Reddit!

We are a plant ecology research lab at Monmouth University. We recently conducted a study investigating community succession after abandonment in abandoned cranberry bogs within the New Jersey Pinelands. Since the 1860's, the cultivation of the native American cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon, has been a major agricultural practice in the New Jersey pinelands. The pinelands have been well suited for cranberry production due to the sandy, organically rich soil and abundant sources of freshwater. Although cranberry agriculture can represent over a third of wetlands in the pinelands, the industry has been on the decline as it has moved to other regions of the country. As a result, many bogs have been abandoned. The effects of abandonment have not been investigated thoroughly.

In this study, we explored the fate of bogs and examined bog succession after abandonment from time zero (an active cranberry bog) to 60 years abandoned in flooded and unflooded communities. A full inventory of plant and invertebrate species were collected from cranberry bogs of different ages from three locations. Community diversity and structure were determined from the inventories and a chronosequence for bog succession was developed. When a cranberry bog was left to dry, conversion from a wet savanna to either a mesic mixed forest or wooded swamp was observed. A cranberry bog that remained flooded transitioned to a lake, spung, or pond. With this information, recommendations can be made onto how the lands should be managed in the future in order to maintain healthy and native communities.

Ask us your ecological questions and we'll be on around 1pm Eastern Time (17 UT) to start answering! Ask us anything!

submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator
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Would you be able to walk on lava, or sink slightly?

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 01:57 AM PDT

If you stood on lava would you go in even a tiny bit, or would it be like walking on something solid?

submitted by /u/sykemavel
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How does Gravitational Potential vary beneath the Earth's surface?

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 07:03 AM PDT

I know that beneath a uniform body's surface, the gravitational field strength decreases linearly from a maximum magnitude (at the surface) to zero at the centre.

However, I am yet to come across anything that describes how gravitational potential varies beneath the surface of the Earth. To my knowledge, if the Earth were a point mass, the potential would keep decreasing (relative to the infinite-distance reference point), and would have a value of -infinity at the centre.

Given that the Earth is spherical (and assuming you could travel straight through the planet), how would the gravitational potential vary inside the planet? And what would the gravitational potential be at the centre?

submitted by /u/ThatCosmicGuy
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If all trees and plants convert CO2 to O2 at different rates, is there a "best" one to plant that does this faster than average?

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 07:53 AM PDT

If I had to guess, it would be some kind of algae that converts CO2 to O2 the fastest. What determines this in a plant?

submitted by /u/SecretLifeOfANerd
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What's the deepest aquifer in the world?

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 07:14 AM PDT

Does the sound/type of an alarm you wake up to affect the way you perceive your sleep quality?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 03:53 PM PDT

*Assuming you sleep for the exact same time

For example, if you wake up to your phone's alarm ringing or someone knocking at your door, would your sleep quality change?

Thanks!

submitted by /u/ianccoco
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Why do cucumbers become a darker shade of green when they get picked?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 09:31 PM PDT

Are Sociopaths aware of their lack of empathy and other human emotions due to environmental observation of other people?

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 07:43 AM PDT

Ex: We may not be aware of other languages until we are exposed to a conversation that we can't understand; at that point we now know we don't possess the ability to speak multiple languages.

Is this similar with Sociopaths? They see the emotion, are aware of it and just understand they lack it or is it more of a confusing observation that can't be understood or explained by them?

submitted by /u/staticzen
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Is it possible to solidify a pure noble gas?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 01:10 PM PDT

How does releasing of 10 satellites in one go works?

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 07:15 AM PDT

SpaceX just released 10 Iridium satellites from Falcon 9 second stage in orbit. Doesn't it mean that all of them will travel in a cluster together? Isn't the point of communication satellites is to be spread-out evenly to provide continuous coverage like GPS?

submitted by /u/HideQ
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Why don't children or get BO the same as adults until after puberty?

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 07:14 AM PDT

Are there any insects that pass through both a caterpillar stage and a nymph stage?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 09:07 PM PDT

Is there any reason why the most stable elements in the periodic table are all gases?

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 06:48 AM PDT

Can the impact of an asteroid ignite a gas gaint?

Posted: 09 Oct 2017 05:51 AM PDT

If a big enough asteroid hit a gas gaint cause enough heat to ingite the entire planet?

submitted by /u/ApeBombSkate
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Does a Fetus have the same blood type as the mother when it is in the womb?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 11:40 AM PDT

I've read that proteins that trigger shellfish allergies are present in cicadas. Are they present in other insects? What about spiders?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 09:52 PM PDT

How much does the toothpaste you use really affect your dental hygiene?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 10:43 AM PDT

Besides water, are there any other materials that are less dense when solid than when liquid?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 11:30 PM PDT

How do we perceive various sounds simultaneously?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 12:01 PM PDT

To clarify, I am talking about the auditory system.

I understand that sound vibrations resonate the tympanic membrane, then the ossicles, etc. However, we are able to hear many different sounds, even at the same time.

How do all those sounds and all those frequencies not "mush together" during its vibrational travel within the ear (particularly in the fluid of the cochlea)? How do we separate the frequencies and perceive their individual sounds despite them vibrating the structures of the ear simultaneously?

Perhaps this questions relates more to physics than of physiology?

submitted by /u/ProjectCyan
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Why do all species DNA helixes spin the same direction?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 10:55 AM PDT

Does the Hubble Telescope have a variable depth of field or just a very deep one?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 11:12 PM PDT

Did Menopause happen a lot earlier when the average lifespan was drastically shorter?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 10:15 AM PDT

Sunday, October 8, 2017

Is it possible to put my bare foot on the moon?

Is it possible to put my bare foot on the moon?


Is it possible to put my bare foot on the moon?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 08:57 AM PDT

Why do nuclei weigh less than their protons and neutrons, but protons and neutrons themselves weigh more than quarks?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 07:36 PM PDT

I've been told by my teacher that the mass of a nucleus is always lower than that of its constituent parts - if you added up 6 protons and 6 neutrons you'd get a number larger than the mass of a carbon-12 nucleus. I've also been told this is due to the nuclear binding energy, which is released when the nucleus is brought together from its constituent parts. (I guess a sub question I have is where the nuclear binding energy come from, is it taken from the neutrons and protons' masses, which results in the decrease?)

I've also been told by the same teacher that nucleons are much heavier than the quarks which make them up, and this mass is energy that comes from the strong force. This seems like the same scenario as the previous one... But why does the mass increase here?

Why do nuclei get lighter when brought together from constituent parts, whereas neutrons and protons themselves get much heavier when created from their own constituents (quarks)?

I know there's something I'm missing here but I really can't figure it out. Thanks in advance!

submitted by /u/5000staples
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If you placed wood in a very hot environment with no oxygen, would it be possible to melt wood?

Posted: 08 Oct 2017 06:27 AM PDT

When food enters the stomach, does it stay there for a certain amount of time, or does it stay there until the stomach "senses" that this stage of digestion is complete and THEN it moves on?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 04:04 PM PDT

And does this translate to hastened or delayed "stomach stage" digestion for people with conditions that affect gastric acidity/pepsin/etc?

submitted by /u/undergreyforest
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What would happen if you made a branch in a superconducting wire?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 06:48 PM PDT

What would happen if I had a superconducting wire that split into two, then reconnected down the line? How would the current be split up? What if one branch was longer? What if one branch was thicker?

submitted by /u/Mattster3517
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How do we know so much about planets that are hundreds of light-years away?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 04:46 PM PDT

All other things equal, does a human burn more calories if they are taking a test and thinking really hard vs. just staring at a wall?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 04:22 PM PDT

Why doesn't ozone form as a 'triangle'?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 10:29 AM PDT

O3 forms a bent shape, with two single bonds, each of which are double bonds half the time. Wouldn't each of them being connected in a triangle of single bonds be far more stable?

submitted by /u/Iwasahipsterbefore
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With Mars' lesser gravity would we be able to build a space elevator there with current materials?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 11:15 PM PDT

I am under the impression that the weight/strength issue is what hinders this project on earth; and that carbon nano-tubes(fibers?) seem to be the only promising solution that we hope for....I'm fond of the idea of industrial spider-silk myself...

BUT with the lesser gravity on Mars, perhaps we don't need to develop anything new? Maybe we could build an operational Martian space elevator using the same synthetic(the name of which eludes me) that's replacing aluminum in aircraft construction?

submitted by /u/hesDahveed
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How large are the prime numbers used in modern encryption? Does it vary? How are they generated within the encryption algorithm, from a known list or some other method?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 07:36 AM PDT

Or does my question betray a fundamental misunderstanding of cryptography?

submitted by /u/pwisnutsnuts
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How do the orbitals of a single atom of hydrogen orient themselves in space if there is nothing in his surrounding? And can the single atom and/or the orbitals rotate?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 10:15 AM PDT

How does a magnetic fuse on a mine detect changes in the magnetic field?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 10:22 PM PDT

And a small secondary question - what is the maximum theoretical range to detect changes?

submitted by /u/nwidis
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Is Archimedes' principle somehow related to the fact that fluids take the shape of the container?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 11:49 PM PDT

Robots and Radiation? details below

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 10:37 PM PDT

How can high exposure to radiation from nuclear disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima, fry the circuit boards of robots sent for investigation?

I have seen some articles where some robots which were sent to investigate the meltdown of the nuclear reactor 'died' when they got close to the reactors. The stated reason was wiring damage, so how exactly this type of radiation destroy the wiring?

submitted by /u/_F1r3Fly_
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Regarding hurricane Nate(or any hurricane), at what point near the coast does it stop gaining strength, and at which point does it start losing strength?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 02:21 PM PDT

More specifically, the center of circulation is barely offshore. But almost half the storm is over land. With the center of circulation currently 50 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi, it's probably over very shallow and brackish water. Does that make a difference as to whether or not it can continue to absorb energy from the ocean?

Second question. What part of the storm is responsible for sucking up energy from the ocean and which part is responsible for distributing energy?

submitted by /u/GeorgieWashington
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What would happen to a laser bouncing perpendicularly off of a flat mirror vibrating in phase with it?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 09:11 PM PDT

Why does the moon rise only 35 minutes later each day around the autumn equinox?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 07:20 AM PDT

On average, each moonrise is delayed of about 50 minutes from the previous one. I've heard it explained that this delay is only about 35 minutes around the autumn equinox (at mid latitudes) because of the angle between the ecliptic and the horizon but I don't get why should this angle vary along the year.

Edit: this is the article that spawned my doubts: http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/harvest-moon-2

submitted by /u/planeflyingdog
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How far away can the Earth's night lights be seen from?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 11:56 AM PDT

I was looking at some videos of Earth from space at night (or since you're in space, I guess it's more about what side of the planet you're on rather than what time of day it is) and I wondered how far these lights can be seen from. Can you still see them when you're halfway to the moon?

submitted by /u/MrZipZap
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Do human eyebrows have a purpose?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 09:42 AM PDT

Why do we have them? Have they served some function throughout evolution?

submitted by /u/ima_rabbit_et_cetera
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How and why do we produce harmonic frequencies when singing?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 01:28 PM PDT

Let's consider we want to produce 440Hz sound waves, or the note A4. So our brain tells the muscles in our larynx to open and close the vocal folds 440 times a second. However, the larynx, being mechanical, does this job imperfectly.

1) Let's assume we have a direct current of air (DC).

2) Every 1/440 seconds, or 0.0023s our folds should close. This hits the air molecules.

3) Between the 1st and 2nd hit, the affected air molecules essentially bumped into the folds (and each other) twice in 0.0046 seconds, or at a rate of 1/440 seconds. Yippee! A4 is produced. This displacement of them hitting the folds and then into each other, and then back into the folds over 0.0046 seconds, is wave-like in nature.

These sound waves then travel up the vocal tract, and are further affected by resonators, which somehow give the voice timbre because they affect the sound frequencies to produce different pitches.

Questions:

1. Some say the vocal folds produce harmonic frequencies, but how is this possible if they vibrate at say 440Hz, that they can also produce sound waves at 220Hz, 880Hz or 1320Hz. Do these get produced in the mouth resonators?

2. If so, what is so special about them? On the spectrum, we see that there are virtually all frequencies present, then why are there peaks at other frequencies that aren't A4, and instead are integer multiples of them? How is this explained with what goes on in the vocal tract.

submitted by /u/OutstandingA
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What makes things smell?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 04:45 PM PDT

After thinking about mass and how much mass something looses over time, I came across the question, "Do things things lose mass, and the lost particles are odor?"

submitted by /u/Jaynautic
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According to Issac Asimov's "The Last Question," Humanity moved from coal and Uranium to a mile-large solar panel in space. Would this be enough to satisfy our current energy demands?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 01:15 AM PDT

The energy of the sun was stored, converted, and utilized directly on a planet-wide scale. All Earth turned off its burning coal, its fissioning uranium, and flipped the switch that connected all of it to a small station, one mile in diameter, circling the Earth at half the distance of the Moon. All Earth ran by invisible beams of sunpower.

Would this supply enough power to replace all current energy generation on earth at the moment? If not, how large would the panel need to be if it operated at 100% efficiency?

submitted by /u/EI_Doctoro
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Saturday, October 7, 2017

If my 60 GB phone is full or empty, is there any difference in weight at the nano level?

If my 60 GB phone is full or empty, is there any difference in weight at the nano level?


If my 60 GB phone is full or empty, is there any difference in weight at the nano level?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 04:10 PM PDT

If most weather patterns and storms move Eastward in the U.S., why do all the Hurricanes seem to travel Westward?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 05:37 PM PDT

Why solar panels don’t work with infrared waves?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 03:52 AM PDT

Does a listening to a radio broadcast weaken the signal?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 06:38 AM PDT

I use broadcast signal as an example of a non-rival good when teaching economics. And on a reasonable scale it is non rival: one person listening to a station does not make the signal weaker. But what about micro/nano scale: does tuning a receiver to a station consume the signal in any way? I understand about the signal being absorbed by physical barriers, but does this increase if we choose to consume the signal?

submitted by /u/nongaussian
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What are specific impulse and thrust in rocket engines, and how does the relationship between the two affect rocket performance?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 02:45 PM PDT

I'm not entirely sure about the different between a rocket engine's specific impulse and its thrust. But more importantly, I want to understand how these two parameters affect the performance of a rocket. How and why is a rocket with high specific impulse and low thrust different from a rocket wit low specific impulse and high thrust (but equal power?)

submitted by /u/Tiger3546
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Why is Xenon banned in sport?

Posted: 05 Oct 2017 07:27 AM PDT

Recently I saw an article dating 2014 saying that WADA had banned the use of Xenon and Argon then I saw a 2017 article saying there's still no test for either of them from what I've read athletes, mainly long distance runners and cyclists inhale the gas and it enhances their performance but how? My understanding is that both are inert/noble gases which means they are unreactive so how do they enhance performance

Edit: Thanks for all the replys I have a good understanding of it now

submitted by /u/big_guy_124
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Could the ITER be used to manufacture lithium?

Posted: 07 Oct 2017 02:47 AM PDT

As we know, lithium ion batteries have become indispensable to modern life. I recently saw a documentary which featured a guy who had invented a new type of battery - the electrolyte was plastic, so it was much safer than lithium ion, and he could therefore use solid lithium as one of the electrodes, so it also had a much higher energy density. It seemed to be all improvements with no drawbacks, except one (not brought up by the presenter) - if they became popular it would massively increase world lithium consumption, which is already straining production. So I thought - lithium is the third element on the periodic table, it may be a common fusion product. The biggest fusion project currently underway is ITER in France - this is an experimental device and not intended for power production. But could it just be used to churn out lithium instead?

submitted by /u/dubitobot
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You are constantly very very close to biting your own tongue. Why doesn’t it happen more often?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 06:33 AM PDT

Can a material be thermally conductive but not electrically conductive?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 06:19 PM PDT

Even theoretically, if not physically.

submitted by /u/EvilVargon
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If someone is born with only one arm or hand is it possible to be dominant with their missing arm/hand?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 01:04 PM PDT

For example if someone is born without a right hand, would it be possible that they are actually right hand dominant?

submitted by /u/trifoo
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Do animals recognise themselves in a mirror or a photograph?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 09:32 AM PDT

When food particles get stuck between our teeth, what causes the surrounding gum to swell up and become tender ?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 11:15 AM PDT

Can someone explain "resonance continuum"?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 09:40 AM PDT

Taken from the ACS Organometallics Vol 28

In the Introduction, it discusses the "resonance continuum".

"Just as there is inconsistency in the ways that metal−NHC bonds are drawn in the literature, representation of the metal−NHP interaction has proven problematic (see Chart 2 for the ways that group 9 and 10 metal complexes have been drawn, and Chart 4 for various generic representations). Although a range of descriptions is warranted on the basis of differences in structure and reactivity, and therefore a universally applicable drawing is impossible, historical representation of the metal−NHP interaction appears to be complicated by the ligand's carbene-like nature, formal positive charge, dual bonding modes, and capacity for strong π-back-bonding. The representations in Chart 4 may be considered to be on the same "resonance continuum", sometimes by deconvolution of the dative bond, D→A, to its charge-separated, valence bond representation, D+−A−,(40) but these diagrams have different chemical meanings and should have significant implications in interpreting and predicting the structures and reactivity of the NHP complexes they represent. For example, it should be possible to substitute the phosphenium ligand in A, and B should contain a trigonal pyramidal phosphorus center with a lone pair (as in Chart 3), but it has been used in the literature to represent coordinated planar phospheniums."

Is the passage trying to state that the molecules are indeed resonance structures? Or is it that they aren't but just resemble each other when drawn in a 2D format?

submitted by /u/Krokod1l
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How long does it take the human body to replace lost blood? Is there any difference depending on how the blood was lost?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 02:21 PM PDT

How does a ferromagnetic rod lose energy through hysteresis when in a magnetic field?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 08:45 PM PDT

I understand that there will be a torque applied to the rod such that the magnetic energy is converted to mechanical energy. Although is this system losing energy in the form of mechanical energy from something simple such as friction with a material that is in contact with the rotating ferromagnetic rod? Or is there friction intrinsic in the ferromagnetic material due to different domains in the rod having domains with different directions of magnetization; thus domains are rotating in different directions (i.e. not necessarily parallel), and losing energy via heat/self-friction from its own domains even if the ferromagnetic rod was to be exposed to the magnetic field in a vacuum?

submitted by /u/CallMeDoc24
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Are there any known differences (other than color) between eye colors?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 10:42 AM PDT

When we drink beverages dark in color (coffee, wine, dark beer, etc.), our pee still comes out clear/yellow. Where does all the pigment and dark color from the beverage go? Is it hard on our bodies to filter dark colored liquids?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 08:52 AM PDT

What would orbital mechanics be like if gravity scaled with distance cubed? Or to the power of 7? Or any exponent other than 2?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 09:02 AM PDT

Hi guys,

I play Space Engineers, which is an early access multiplayer sandbox-survival game. Also it's a space sim but barely - it simulates planetary gravity that decreases with distance7. How does this affect the trajectory of satellites that move around these planets? I know that the real distance2 gives (using the Newtonian model) conic sections for orbits, but how do things look when this exponent changes?

submitted by /u/MrMcGowan
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Since photons do not experience time themselves because they are going at the speed of light according to relativity. But since gravity pulls on light, thus slowing it down, does that mean all light experiences time?

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 12:38 PM PDT

One of the listed potential side effects of taking Klonopin (clonazepam) is respiratory infection. How does simply taking a medication cause a viral infection? (If this is the wrong place to ask this please kindly redirect).

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 08:35 AM PDT

Edit: not asking because I have any symptoms, just trying to understand the mechanism behind it, scientifically.

submitted by /u/EmeraldJaneWW
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Are reaction mechanisms very simplified? (Details in text.)

Posted: 06 Oct 2017 06:13 PM PDT

Do very commonly accepted (as in very commonly accepted by the scientific community to be highly likely to be what happens at the molecular level in the real reaction after enough ruling out of alternatives mechanisms by probability/impossibility and evidence towards the mechanism come up) reaction mechanisms, especially named, like Aldol Condensation, SN2, Fischer Esterification, SN1, Wittig, E2, Mannich, Aldol Addition, Michael, E1, etc. have some sort of large simplifications, as to comparing to what happens in the real life reaction at the molecular level, or are they essentially what is really happening at the molecular level in their corresponding reaction? This is mainly referring to what bonds are being broken and formed in the steps chronologically in the pathway, disregarding the reversibility, as that is just shuffling the pathway back and forth, partial and formal charges, intermediates and their structures, and major transition states. These "simplifications" don't count things like showing H+ instead of an acid itself or protonated solvent molecule like in reality, showing curved arrows for the movement of electrons instead of colliding/contacting orbitals/clouds of electron probability like in reality, the reversibility of steps in mechanisms, solvent affects, lines being used to represent bonds instead of overlapping orbitals like in reality, etc. as all these listed things and on can easily be inferred by the person looking at the mechanism or are even often shown/hinted at in the mechanism, like reversibility.

submitted by /u/Three-Oh-Eight
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