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Tuesday, June 5, 2018

If light doesn't dissipate with travel distance and the universe is infinite, why isn't the night sky bright?

If light doesn't dissipate with travel distance and the universe is infinite, why isn't the night sky bright?


If light doesn't dissipate with travel distance and the universe is infinite, why isn't the night sky bright?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 11:49 PM PDT

I read that in vacuum light doesn't dissipate so it travels infinitely. If the universe is infinite as well though there should be an infinite amount of stars visible on the night-sky or if you want to amount for light pollution, there should be when you're watching from Space.

I have a few theories why it could be (finite amount of light spread too thin, infinite amount of planets/asteroids getting in the way...) but let's hear it from someone who actually kbows their shit :)

submitted by /u/SuperSchweinchen
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When a water filter (e.g. Brita filter) is past its expiration date, is it just not filtering very well anymore, or is it actively making the water worse?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 07:10 AM PDT

What causes a plane to make that "divebombing" sound when it nosedives towards the ground?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 04:50 AM PDT

How does a pop-fliter for a microphone work?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 12:01 AM PDT

Why does water that is sitting in a metal water bottle have a metallic taste?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 06:53 AM PDT

I just drank out of my metal water which had water sitting in it for about a week, it tastes metallic. Why? What is the mechanism ?

submitted by /u/didujustcthat
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What breaks objects, the force, or the energy?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 06:33 PM PDT

Given a scenario where i have a ceramic tile and a rock, when i place the rock onto the tile it doesn't break, but when i drop the rock from a height it does, but in the scenario the force(weight) doesn't change, the only thing that does is its height and therefore its gravitational potential energy.

submitted by /u/mikey10006
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Why do proteins contain only the L isomers of amino acids and not the D?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 07:21 AM PDT

Is there a universal unit for measurement of mass?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 05:55 AM PDT

Time can be measured by 9,192,631,770 cycles of the radiation from a cesium atom. This should be essentially the same no matter where you are in the universe. This is something that in the far future, no matter where you are from (e.g. another planet) the measurement remains the same.

Mass on the other hand is measured in kg or lbs. These are relative to the Earth's gravity, thus not a "universal" unit of measurement.

My thoughts would be something along the lines of a gravity well displacement or a measurement of Higgs field interaction? These would not rely on understanding of our home planet's gravity well, but would allow for description of an object at any size or density.

If it doesn't exist, how would you go about calculating a new unit of measurement??

submitted by /u/ignanima
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Can you donate your blood once you're dead much like you can your organs--or can it not be used?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 05:51 PM PDT

How can something be strong and brittle like tungsten, isn't that contradictory?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 04:46 AM PDT

Like I hear so much that "tungsten is strong" but it's also brittle like how the hell is that possible?

submitted by /u/RamboCreativity
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Why do forklifts use propane as fuel as oppose to another fuel?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 01:33 PM PDT

At work, we have multiple forklifts that use propane as the fuel. They run out of fuel quite often and I have only heard of propane being used for cooking. What properties make it ideal for forklifts? Does is burn differently that other fuels?

Thank you.

submitted by /u/Schiffty5
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Was Earth's orbital period always the same through it's history?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 07:36 AM PDT

We know that around 1.4 billion years ago day used to last only 18 hours or so. What about Earth's orbital period, was it always the same length of time or it also changed through history. If yes, how big of a change was it from beginning of Earth to now and do we even know?

submitted by /u/Marcipanas
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How do spiders spin up a really long horizontal web between two bushes?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 03:06 PM PDT

Whenever I've hiked along a trail and torn apart a spiders web, I've always wondered that to myself. Often times it's just a single strand. How does a spider manage to cross two bushes with a web, seemingly building a bridge between them?

submitted by /u/225millionkilometers
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Does hormonal birth control affect fecundity in later life after cessation, since they prevent ovulation which leads to more eggs in the ovaries?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 07:15 PM PDT

Are the two electrons in the Helium atom in the same energy state?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 05:00 AM PDT

Are the two electrons in the same energy like two non-interacting electrons in a hydrogen atom (hypothetical) where the groundstate is degenerate due to spin? Or are the two electrons in different energy levels due to Coulomb repulsion?

submitted by /u/MaoGo
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How do scientists know Mars' (and other planets) air and soil's compositions, air pressure, etc.?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 04:58 AM PDT

A few days ago, a small asteroid burned up in the atmosphere; what happens to the matter?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 07:03 PM PDT

Does it just settle to earth? Or is it somehow ejected back into space?

submitted by /u/popegonzo
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What device could I use to measure both Electric and Magnetic Fields?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 03:20 AM PDT

May be an odd question but I'm looking for a device that would be able to measure up to 10,000V/m and up to 1,000uT.

I have a device that can do both but it maxes at at 2000V/m and 100uT.

Any help would be massively appreciated!

submitted by /u/CamsGraphics
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How does salmonella cause homeostatic imbalance?

Posted: 05 Jun 2018 03:05 AM PDT

My teacher in class was talking about homeostasis and she gave an example of salmonella as something which causes homeostatic imbalance. How is this so, since salmonella only stays in your digestive system, or does it spread to other body systems as well?

submitted by /u/nk7gaming
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Can we estimate where the barycenter of the universe is?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 10:11 AM PDT

Could volcanic eruptions eventually deplete the Earths core?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 08:29 PM PDT

Why is New York colder then London in the winter even though London is a lot further north and New York is on the same latitude as Spain?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 01:50 PM PDT

Monday, June 4, 2018

Why are there so many volcanic eruptions recently? Are they somehow connected or is it a coincidence? Or is it just new media coverage?

Why are there so many volcanic eruptions recently? Are they somehow connected or is it a coincidence? Or is it just new media coverage?


Why are there so many volcanic eruptions recently? Are they somehow connected or is it a coincidence? Or is it just new media coverage?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 04:42 AM PDT

Why do quantities like brain-structure-mass-to-neuron ratio affect animal cognition?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 07:03 AM PDT

Hi AskScience,

I've been reading about Dr. Herculano-Houzel's brain soup method after following some popular science articles. It appears that in various brain structures, the mass-to-neuron ratio for primates deviates from other groups of mammals and presumably that is at least one factor which causes increased cognition (though I could be wrong, so please let me know if so!). Why should that be the case?

As a side question, have any studies been done on other mammals such as whales and dolphins? A quick google search didn't yield anything in that realm.

Thanks!

submitted by /u/themeaningofhaste
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Can high solar activity affect Contactless communication (RFID type in payment cards or smartphones) ?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 04:20 AM PDT

Is WISE 1828+2650 habitable at all?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 08:17 AM PDT

I just found out recently, via a temperature of the universe info graphic, that WISE 1828+2650 has an surface temp of 80F/27C.

Is there a maintainable orbit where the radiant temp would be appropriate for human living conditions? What about the surface directly? Other than lack of oxygen, is there anything inherently toxic about the environment that would need to be overcome?

submitted by /u/keef0r
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What is the density of dark matter?

Posted: 04 Jun 2018 06:11 AM PDT

I saw in book that the observed density of dark matter is round about 4 eV per KMH-Photon. What does KMH-Photon mean? Never saw that unit. Neather could I find any more information about the density of dark matter. How exact do we know the density?

submitted by /u/Spac3junkie
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Does old blood get phased out of circulation after a certain amount of time or does it circulate until a laceration?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 05:29 PM PDT

Why are tardigrade so resilient and how CAN they be killed?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 03:41 PM PDT

How do we know what an animal’s field of vision looks like? I.e. how can we tell that rodents see in yellow hues and that certain insects can see UV light?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 04:32 PM PDT

Can Pilot Wave Theory be expanded to incorporate relativity? What are the current barriers to its expansion?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 02:00 PM PDT

Why does gold have a smaller atomic radius than lead?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 04:54 PM PDT

So, just from a discussion, I was thinking about Gold being denser than lead, to which I figured it largely has to do with atomic radius and bond lengths. Now I could be wrong here, only having an advanced high school level understanding of chemistry, but I remember being taught that generally radius decreases across a period due to a stronger nuclear effect. Is this incorrect or is there something else at play here causing this? I assume this question occurs elsewhere on the table, but gold and lead were just the notable examples here.

submitted by /u/NYbeast
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If a box made of mirrors is filled with photons that bounce forever, is the box heavier than if it was empty? If so, why?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 01:48 PM PDT

What happens to bullets shot straight up into the air?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 08:50 PM PDT

Do they go up into space or eventually come back down? Where would they land?

submitted by /u/vl1234567890
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What is the Structure at the Center of the Tevatron?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 06:37 PM PDT

My understanding was that the beam only had functions around the outside of the circle. What is the purpose of the tower at the center of the Tevatron? I did some searching but was unable to find details on it. Not a great image but here's a link to maps.

https://goo.gl/maps/2rqcALKR1JA2

submitted by /u/cjgroh
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How are proteins in our body powered?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 11:34 AM PDT

I was watching this video by Veritasium and I'm mind-blown by the complexity.

The proteins that move; How do they do it? What is making them move and how is the energy they use distributed to them?

The proteins that create for example microtubules; How do they get the "building blocks" they use?

submitted by /u/Lord_Banzai
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How has a tardigrade survived at -273 Celsius when (I assume) most elements reach their freezing/boiling/melting point at those temperatures?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 05:11 PM PDT

How does lightening "know" what it "wants" to hit?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 01:44 PM PDT

From what I understand lightening hits things that offer the least resistance, but how does lightening know to hit those things? (Sorry to personify) When I was looking this is up the Internet kept saying things about positive lightening too, which I've never heard of. Please, someone explain the mystic workings of the Big Sky Fire to me.

submitted by /u/lizzardlass9000
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Why can we see satellites orbiting the earth?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 10:36 AM PDT

It doesn't seem like they would have bright lights on them.

submitted by /u/buy_one_get_one_jk
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Helium has a melting point of -272 degrees Celsius, and boiling point of -269: how is this possible?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 08:03 AM PDT

Seems odd to me that a gas would have a melting and boiling point very close to each other, at a near extreme cold - how?

submitted by /u/PsychMarketing
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What is the smallest possible size of a nuclear fusion reactor?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 05:00 AM PDT

Obviously it couldn't be the size of Tony Stark's Arc Reactor but how small could we make a nuclear fusion reactor, at least with modern technology?

submitted by /u/The-Author
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Do CT scans increase the risk of cancer noticably?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 07:50 AM PDT

Doctors often say not to do them unneccesarily due to the radiation involved, but is there a noteable increase in the risk of cancer after having one and if so how long does that increase stay noticable?

Wasn't quite sure what to flair this as...

submitted by /u/WhiskersCleveland
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Why do they specifically swab your nose and groin when screening for MRSA?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 05:47 AM PDT

What specifically about these areas makes them the place to swab, does MRSA have some affinity for the Nose/Groin? And if so, why? The two areas don't seem to share that much in the way of common characteristics.

submitted by /u/NewbieWithARuby
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Sunday, June 3, 2018

When it rains, do flies or other flying bugs dodge raindrops? And if not, is each impact like being hit by a gigantic missile of water?

When it rains, do flies or other flying bugs dodge raindrops? And if not, is each impact like being hit by a gigantic missile of water?


When it rains, do flies or other flying bugs dodge raindrops? And if not, is each impact like being hit by a gigantic missile of water?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 02:13 PM PDT

What is the clear difference between carpal tunnel and a trapped nerve?

Posted: 03 Jun 2018 04:07 AM PDT

Is the barycenter of a double system (Pluto-Charon, for example) another type of Lagrange point?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 11:40 PM PDT

Would a satellite stay there with a little stationkeeping like other points, or does the Pluto-Charon L1 lie somewhere else?

submitted by /u/wattwatwatt
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Are there reasons/guidelines to how pills have to be shaped?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 03:29 PM PDT

Do pills made of the same stuff have to have a different form if they're being sold by a different company? Do certain pills have to have an easily recognizable form that's the same internationally?

submitted by /u/Psyman2
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Why certain medicines are recommended after the meal and not before and on empty stomach? And vice versa.

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 10:00 PM PDT

As per my understanding if you take medicines in empty stomach the medicine will quickly go to the small intestine and the large intestine where The assimilation happens. Wouldn't that be more effective?

submitted by /u/ancientshadow
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Why does air get trapped in the middle of ice?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 01:53 PM PDT

How does air become trapped in the middle of ice, surely there is no air pockets in the liquid so where does it come from?

submitted by /u/the_dying_punk
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When Deuterium and Anti-Hydrogen Annihilate, What Happens to the Extra Neutron?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 05:22 PM PDT

According to Star Trek lore, Federation starships are powered by matter-antimatter reactions, but more specifically, this reaction is canonically said to be between deuterium and anti-hydrogen. Given that every atom of deuterium has a neutron in it that hydrogen (and anti-hydrogen) atoms lack, what would happen to this neutron in real life if an atom of deuterium were to annihilate with an atom of anti-hydrogen?

submitted by /u/Ennui_Enthusiast
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How do the mountains turn blue on a Coors Light can?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 03:33 PM PDT

Why are Osmium and Iridium the densest elements, instead of a heavier element like Gold or Bismuth?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 10:55 AM PDT

How do we know the universe is expanding? And what is it expanding into?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 05:03 PM PDT

How are fireworks “programed” to set off certain explosions at certain times?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 04:11 PM PDT

Does adrenaline have any effect on the amount of oxygen that our bodies use?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 03:57 PM PDT

If Water Is Molecularly Weaker Than Rock, How Can Rivers Wear It Down Over Time?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 09:34 AM PDT

Do leafless trees keep photosynthesising?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 02:26 AM PDT

Just wondering how deciduous trees, when they lose their leaves, keep up their nutrients. Do they go dormant in this phase?

submitted by /u/borislugosi
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What is the consistency of lava? Could you compare it to something that I'd know?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 12:28 AM PDT

Do taller and shorter people have higher and lower heart rates than people with average heights?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 12:15 AM PDT

It's late (as of typing this) and I'm wondering stuff.. Also I guess an extension of the question is "Are taller people more susceptible to high blood pressure?"

submitted by /u/grandMjayD
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What happens to the infrastructure after lava demolishes it?

Posted: 01 Jun 2018 09:30 PM PDT

with all the news about the volcanic eruption in hawaii and all the pictures we see of hardened lava covering streets, destroyed buildings and it just being everywhere in general. what is the recovery process of this? what can the citizens of hawaii do to recover their homes? repave the streets? does this stuff break up easily? or are they forced to just move elsewhere?
i cant find answers to this anywhere

submitted by /u/rabidmonkeyman
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Saturday, June 2, 2018

How do we know there's a Baryon asymmetry?

How do we know there's a Baryon asymmetry?


How do we know there's a Baryon asymmetry?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 05:24 AM PDT

The way I understand it, is that we see only matter, and hardly any antimatter in the universe, and we don't understand where all the antimatter went that should have been created in the Big Bang as well, and this is called the Baryon asymmetry.

However, couldn't this just be a statistical fluke? If you generate matter and antimatter approximately 50/50, and then annihilate it pairwise, you're always going to get a small amount of either matter or antimatter left over. Maybe that small amount is what we see today?

As an example, let's say I have a fair coin, and do a million coin tosses. It's entirely plausible that I get eg. 500247 heads, and 499753 tails. When I strike out the heads against the tails, I have 494 heads, and no tails. For an observer who doesn't know how many tosses I did, how can he conclude from this number if the coin was fair?

submitted by /u/ComaVN
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Why do Diamagnets repel both the North pole and the South pole of an applied magnetic field?

Posted: 02 Jun 2018 06:33 AM PDT

Why are there no green stars?

Posted: 01 Jun 2018 10:02 AM PDT

Most stars are either blue, white, red, or orange, but why are there no green ones?

submitted by /u/Ic3w4ter
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What does a velocity-time graph of someone in free-fall look like?

Posted: 01 Jun 2018 07:24 PM PDT

Since the acceleration due to gravity would be decreasing until reaching 0 at terminal velocity, meaning the acceleration-time graph would be a linear decrease, the velocity-time graph would be quadratic then linear once reaching the vertex right?

submitted by /u/TheBob427
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Does this "wireless external antenna modification" actually work?

Posted: 01 Jun 2018 09:15 PM PDT

On step 5, the author claims that such a contraption can actually increase WiFi speed. Is that true?

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-2G3G4G-Wireless-Cell-Phone-Signal-Booster/

submitted by /u/darkrooftops
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If all elements have protons, and the amount of protons determine that element, why cant we just create any kind of element at will?

Posted: 01 Jun 2018 08:10 AM PDT

What does WIFI hardware look like?

Posted: 01 Jun 2018 11:37 PM PDT

I genuinely wonder what WIFI hardware looks like, the transmitting device and / or the receiving device.

It's easy to find pictures of a "wifi device" but I want to zoom in as deep as possible into the actual hardware.

And that happens to be quite difficult to find. I wouldn't even know how these pieces are called.

Can anyone find pictures of this?

submitted by /u/Nooku
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Would RBMK reactors be safe now with all we know about them?

Posted: 01 Jun 2018 01:49 PM PDT

After researching the Chernobyl disaster I can't help but come to the conclusion that the accident was caused by the operators not knowing the limitations of the reactor. Considering that these limitations are now well documented, I don't see how RBMK reactors would be unsafe.

submitted by /u/usmarine7041
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If NAC is used as the antidote to acetaminophen (Tylenol) overdose, why can't pharma companies just combine them in one capsule to prevent overdose?

Posted: 01 Jun 2018 07:11 AM PDT

N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is used to treat acetaminophen overdose. NAC is also sold as a supplement and, by all appearances, seems to be readily available. Why can't the two be combined as a safer medication?

Is there an established reason (medical, financial, or other practical concerns) why companies don't manufacture acetaminophen combined with NAC in one capsule. It seems like this combination would make Acetaminophen generally safer and would prevent (or at least mitigate) thousands of intentional and unintentional overdoses a year.

submitted by /u/wittyandinsightful
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Why do minerals occur in large groups or veins instead of being distributed equally throughout the planet?

Posted: 01 Jun 2018 02:33 AM PDT