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Friday, November 2, 2018

How does alcohol suppress the immune system?

How does alcohol suppress the immune system?

How does alcohol suppress the immune system?

Posted: 02 Nov 2018 07:01 AM PDT

The fundamental unit of electrical energy is the photon, not the electron? - "Misconceptions Spread By Textbooks for Electricity"

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 07:15 PM PDT

I found this resource "Misconceptions Spread By Textbooks for Electricity".

I've read through it all and it says a lot of interesting stuff that I cannot confirm, one of which is the title. I can't ask just one question as they are all related, so I will provide some statements from it, so that you can hopefully tell me if they are legit.

How accurate is this resource? How accurate are these statements? It goes against everything I've learned.

  • Electric current is NOT a flow of energy, it is actually a flow of matter. ELECTRIC CHARGES are a physical substance. ELECTRIC ENERGY is a wave that travels via a column of charge. ELECTRIC CURRENT is a flowing motion of the charge already present.

  • "Charge" is the stuff inside wires, but usually nobody tells you that ALL METALS are full of charge. Always. A hunk of metal is like a tank full of water, and the "water" is the movable electric charge inside it. In physics classes we call this "the electron sea" or even "electric fluid." This charge is part of all metals. In copper, the electric fluid is the outer electrons of all the copper atoms. The movable charge-stuff within metals gives them their silvery color. We could even say that charge-stuff is like a silver liquid (at least it is silver when it's in metals.)

  • Amperes Are Not a Flow of Energy. The joules of energy flow ONE WAY, down BOTH wires. The battery created them, and the light bulb consumed them. This was not a circular flow. The energy went from battery to bulb, and none returned. At the same time, the charge-stuff flowed slowly in a circle within the ring. There you have the difference between amperes and watts. The coulombs flow slowly in a circle, while the joules flow rapidly from an "energy source" to an "energy sink". Amperes are slow and circular, while watts are fast and one-way. Amperes are a flow of copper charges, while watts are a flow of energy created by a battery or generator. But WHAT ARE JOULES? That's where the electromagnetism comes in. When joules of energy are flying between the battery and the bulb, they are made of fields. The energy is partly made up of magnetic fields surrounding the wires. It is also made from the electric fields which extend between the two wires. The electrical ENERGY flows in the space around the wires, while the electric CURRENT flows inside the wires.

  • The charge-stuff flows extremely slowly through the wires, slower than centimeters per minute. Amperes are an extremely slow, circular flow. Inside the wires, the "something" moves very, very slowly, almost as slowly as the minute hand on a clock. Electric current is like slowly flowing water inside a hose. Very slow, so perhaps a flow of syrup. Even maple syrup moves too fast, so that's not a good analogy. Electric charges typically flow as slowly as a river of warm putty. And in AC circuits, the moving charges don't move forward at all, instead they sit in one place and vibrate. Energy can only flow rapidly in an electric circuit because metals are already filled with this "putty." If we push on one end of a column of putty, the far end moves almost instantly. Energy flows fast, yet an electric current is a very slow flow.

  • What then is electrical energy? It has another name: electromagnetism. Electrical energy is the same stuff as radio waves and light. It is composed of magnetic fields and electrostatic fields. A joule of radio waves is the same as a joule of electrical energy. How is electric current different than energy flow? Let's take our copper ring again; the one with the battery and the light bulb. The battery injects joules of energy into the ring, and the light bulb takes them out again. Joules of energy flow between the battery and the bulb. They flow at nearly the speed of light, and if we stretch our ring until it's thousands of miles long, the light bulb will still turn off immediately when the battery is removed. Well, not IMMEDIATELY. There will still be some joules moving along the wires, so the bulb will stay on for a tiny fraction of a second, until all the energy arrives. Remove the battery, and the light bulb goes dark ALMOST instantly.

submitted by /u/8483
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what are strings in string theory?

Posted: 02 Nov 2018 03:52 AM PDT

I was reading this article https://brainspacescience.blogspot.com/2018/11/what-are-strings-in-string-theory.html. where I came to understand that the whole is depending on some kind of vibrating string. I am a computer science student, but I want to ask that is it really true that everything we see is made up of some vibrating string. and also one more thing that I know that there 3 dimension. everything we see is in 3 dimensions, but why string theory talks about 9d or 11d? what are those extra dimension in the string theory? geeks please help me understand. if this is mathematical construct, how they are helping us to understand the universe?

submitted by /u/badassbilla
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Could our universe actually have 4 spatial dimensions, but our local area of space just be perfectly lined up on a 4-dimensional plane?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 05:42 PM PDT

Perhaps this "lining up" could happen through a similar mechanism to what causes a star system to be pretty much flat, or simply by random chance.

Whatever the reason, if I understand the math of such a situation correctly (center of mass of every object is on the same 4-dimensional plane, and the initial velocities of every object are also limited to that plane), then no collision between any objects could lead to getting "knocked out" of that 4-dimensional plane.

For example, when you simulate 2d physics for a game, you don't need to consider the third dimension at all - every object in the game is lined up on the same 2d plane, so no collision can lead to an object changing its 3rd coordinate in such a way that it leaves the 2d plane. To observers living in such a space, everything would seem to work as if there are only 2 spatial dimensions.

I'm not really sure how the length of objects along this extra dimension affects things, in a game things can have no thickness at all and be perfectly flat, so perhaps in the real world some of the mass of every lined up object would have to be symmetrically spread out on both sides of the plane.

At the same time, if other areas weren't lined up like this, objects would seem to appear out of nowhere and disappear into nothingness, but we could also be pulled out of alignment by these objects if gravity worked normally along all 4 dimensions, because it extends indefinitely.

Just a funny sci-fi idea that's been bouncing around in my head for a while now, but I'm not sure if something in physics would break if it were true. So the TL;DR of this question is whether anything in physics depends on our universe having no more and no less than 3 spatial dimensions.

submitted by /u/Tattek
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What causes chapped lips and how does lip balm help?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 02:29 PM PDT

Like how reflective index is c÷n, is there a formula which connects the gravitational field of an object and the time experienced on that object, for example in a black hole?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 09:22 PM PDT

Let's say we're in a black hole. Massive gravitational field strength, to the point that even light cannot escape and time slows down. Is there a formula connecting these 2 variables?

Edit: if it is as compared to in a vacuum with no affecting gravitational field for example

submitted by /u/TheBroDingo
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I always see representations of how bees see the word or how birds see the world etc. How do we know what and how other creatures see?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 08:40 AM PDT

What exactly is an inertial platform?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 09:37 PM PDT

While trying to understand gyroscopes and it's applications, I've come across this term several times. Is it as simple as a platform with a gyroscope? Thanks for the help.

submitted by /u/kaaaaal
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What makes glass reflective?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 12:17 PM PDT

Why does the strong nuclear force switch?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 01:14 PM PDT

Why does the strong nuclear force switch from being a repulsive force close up to being an attractive one? In terms someone who hasn't done any physics in a decade can understand please.

submitted by /u/satrapofebernari
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How do Orangutans teach their young how to survive and pass skills through the generations if they can’t talk?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 07:51 AM PDT

I was watching a documentary and learned that orangutans pass down vital skills to the next generation, such as shelter construction and climbing. How does this work, or another way, in what manner do they communicate to teach these skills?

submitted by /u/Parisean
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[Economics] If my country (Canada) switched to a 4 day work week, or a 6 hour work day, would prices for things like food and gas go down?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 06:56 AM PDT

I've heard lots of talk and research about the benefits of a 4 day 8 hour work week, or a 5 day 6 hour week. If the whole country switched to this would wages have to go up to compensate, or would the price of everything drop because everyone is getting paid less?

submitted by /u/PlatinumDice
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My understanding is that electrons repel due to exchange of photons and conservation of momentum. If this is the case, how do they attract? Or is my initial understanding just way off?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 10:25 AM PDT
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Thursday, November 1, 2018

If you were to fall down a skyscraper's elevator shaft, would the Coriolis effect cause you to hit the sides?

If you were to fall down a skyscraper's elevator shaft, would the Coriolis effect cause you to hit the sides?

If you were to fall down a skyscraper's elevator shaft, would the Coriolis effect cause you to hit the sides?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 03:59 PM PDT

question on the movie interstellar (which I am told is fairly scientifically accurate), if time on the water planet moves so slowly, what would someone on the shuttle observe with a really good telescope?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 07:59 AM PDT

So if I recall, massive gravitational forces slow time, and in the movie, they depicted 1 astronaut remaining on a ship out of range, but within view (perhaps with a super large telescope)

​

So theoretically, if this is remotely scientificly accurate, what would the person on the space shuttle see when they looked down at the planet? would they see a person moving at super slow speeds?

submitted by /u/constantino1
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Why does the pattern of color change seen in Releigh and Tynal scattering reverse in deep water?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 04:08 AM PDT

I understand that blue gets scattered more when the particles are smaller than the size of the wavelength of light, but I'm struggling to understand why (I'm guessing absorption) takes over in liquid water and this pattern is effectively reversed - especially so dramatically.

submitted by /u/OCMule
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What is it about silver (Ag) that gives it antimicrobial properties?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 10:35 PM PDT

I've been reading that it has something to do with the ions, but I'm finding it hard to find a straight answer.

submitted by /u/paisleygray
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How does a vacuum pump operating in the ISS airlock work?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 07:47 PM PDT

I'm aware there is a vacuum pump that takes the air out of the airlock once the astronaut is inside to reduce air pressure to 0kPa. What kind of vacuum pump is it and how does it work?

submitted by /u/ikillee
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[Astrophysics]Whats the limit a photon can be redshifted? What are a wavelengths theoritical maximum amplitude and period?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 09:50 PM PDT

Can it be red shifted out of existence?

Can a wavelength have a period greater than the observable universe?

I have so many questions lol. Thank you for taking the time to read, and especially if you take the time to formulate an answer!

submitted by /u/InfiniteSteel
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Why do most dogs, despite constantly licking everything and eating weird stuff they find, rarely get sick?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 02:28 PM PDT

I'm pretty sure if a human went around licking everything they would end up catching something fairly quick...

submitted by /u/wyatt19
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Under the same temperature, will brownian movements take a random particle further away from its starting point in low pressure/high volume or the opposite conditions (or neither...)?

Posted: 01 Nov 2018 08:00 AM PDT

So here's the situation: two balloons, same amount of the same gas, in perfect-gas-conditions. One balloon is under significant more atmospheric pressure than the other, but with the same room temperature. If we tracked a given particle inside each of the balloons, would it cover significantly less space in one case than in the other? Or would pressure difference compensate difference in volume (available space)?

submitted by /u/boothepixie
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I read that Iceland has glaciers that cover volcanoes, how do these glaciers not melt or the lava not cool down or freeze?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 02:56 PM PDT

Do gravitational waves create their own gravitational waves?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 05:21 PM PDT

Hi r/askscience. I was thinking about how gravitational waves are ripples of energy propagating through spacetime. Does this mean that the gravitational waves emit gravitational waves of their own? If so, do those gravitational waves emit gravitational waves? Does this cycle ever end?

Additionally, is there ever a case where a gravitational wave could get captured by it's original source? Say two supermassive black holes were orbiting each other and they emit gravitational waves. Could the gravity from the supermassive black holes ever be large enough to "recapture" the energy they just lost? Or would it not be possible because the "escape velocity" of the gravitational wave is technically the speed of light.

Sorry for a bunch of questions all rolled into one, but this has really got me thinking! Any information, technical or not, would be helpful! Thanks for your time.

submitted by /u/InsideAvocado
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Why is sound-proofing so much harder than light-proofing? Both are waves, right? KINDA?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 07:52 PM PDT

Like why isn't there a paint that does to sound what vantablack does to light? Why can a sheet of tinfoil block basically all light but there isn't a material that does the same thing to sound? Is sound just higher energy than visible light and I am comparing sound waves to the wrong types of EM radiation?

submitted by /u/ThereWillBeSpuds
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Why does high tide happen twice a day?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 04:33 PM PDT

I know high tide on the side of the Earth closest to the Moon is caused by the Moon's gravitational pull, but why does this happen on the other side aswell? This is the one aspect of tides I have failed to understand.

submitted by /u/TitanFallout
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For birds that fly in a classic V formation, are there birds that always fly on the left arm and others that only fly on the right arm?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 03:39 PM PDT

I'm assuming the birds, except the first, use their immediate neighbor to the front as reference, and I was wondering whether there is a type of "handedness" in birds where some like to have their neighbor in their right field vision (or others the left).

submitted by /u/rumborak
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How can we accurately determine the size and distance of stars?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 02:43 PM PDT

From our perspective, our sun is approximately the same size as our moon. Yet we know they are very different in size. How are we able to accurately determine, not just the size of a star, but how far away it is as well?

Just a question that stems from curiosity.

submitted by /u/Canteverthinkofone
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Do insects get cancer?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 10:57 AM PDT

Are insulation and conduction of heat dependant on the specific heat capacity of an object?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 06:20 AM PDT

If so, then won't the equation

Q = m.c.d (where m is the mass, c is the specific heat capacity, d is the change in temperature and q is the energy required or released) be incorrect as the change in temperature also depends on whether the object's insulation/conduction coefficient (If that is a thing).

Please explain why the equation is correct or not and also shed some light on insulation and conduction

​

submitted by /u/SARWANdev
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Does an Electro-static discharge produce a magnetic field?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 01:06 PM PDT

If so, how strong of a field?

Would this be enough to disrupt un-shielded cables/electronics?

submitted by /u/ferretpaint
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When animals hibernate is it possible for some of them to have trouble falling asleep?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 04:02 PM PDT

When did people realize that there is no oxygen in space?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 10:15 AM PDT
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Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Does dyslexia occur in blind people, for instance when reading braille text?

Does dyslexia occur in blind people, for instance when reading braille text?

Does dyslexia occur in blind people, for instance when reading braille text?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 02:45 PM PDT

RIP Kepler Megathread

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 10:27 PM PDT

After decades of planning and a long nine years in space, NASA is retiring the Kepler Space Telescope as it has run out of the fuel it needs to continue science operations.We now know the Galaxy to be filled with planets, many more planets existing than stars, and many very different from what we see in our own Solar System. And so, sadly we all must say goodbye to this incredibly successful and fantastic mission and telescope. If you have questions about the mission or the science, ask them here!

submitted by /u/AskScienceModerator
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Why can we take the square root of a negative number, which is nonsensical, and call it a "complex number," but we can't represent a division by zero, a similarly nonsense operation, with some other type of number?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 11:04 PM PDT

Does light have a temperature? If so can it change?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 05:09 AM PDT

If the Hubble telescope can see 10-15 billion lightyears away, wouldn't that mean it could witness the universe before the Big Bang?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 01:20 AM PDT

If light travels at the speed of light, and the Hubble is able to see objects 10-15 billion lightyears away, wouldn't light from that 10-15 billion years be what it would witness?

If the Big Bang happened 13.5 billion years ago, then how would the Hubble be able to (essentially) see light from 15 billion years ago?? And could this be used to witness the early stages of the Big Bang?

submitted by /u/DismalAlternative
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Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 08:12 AM PDT

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology

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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[Mathematics] Equivalent of the maximal torus theorem for finite groups?

Posted: 31 Oct 2018 04:52 AM PDT

In the theory of Lie groups there's a really nice theorem which states that if G is a compact connected Lie group, and T<G is a maximal torus, then every element of G is conjugate to an element of T.

Does this theorem also hold for finite groups? (Replacing maximal torus with maximal Abelian subgroup). I'm interested in particular in the case of the finite symplectic group over GF(p) where p is a prime. I've looked hard into the literature, but it's pretty dense so if somebody could point me to where to find the answer, it would be super useful!

submitted by /u/fuckwatergivemewine
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If we know what kind of bacteria causes the majority of cavities, why don't we just make an antibiotic that targets them and distribute it like a vaccine at a doctor's office?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 10:31 AM PDT

If I took a picture of a sunrise over the ocean and a sunset over the ocean, is there anyway for someone else to tell which picture is which?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 02:18 PM PDT

What is still?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 10:08 PM PDT

When people study time travel they always reference the movement of the earth in the solar system and the solar systems movement in the galaxy but how do we know what is or isn't moving, since the only reference points we have are other objects?

The ISS is orbiting earth, which is orbiting the sun, which Is part of material that is orbiting a theoretical supermassive black hole in space. Anytime we move in a ship or suit we state out movement speed in metered per second usually. These speeds are all relative to other celestial bodies though. Such as moving 1000 kilometers per hour away from earth.

When floating in space, no matter the speed, without anything moving past us, wouldn't we theoretically think we were sitting still? Additionally, is there some kind of test to tell if matter has any directional force of if it is completely still? If all of this is a thing, what is it called?

submitted by /u/Drewbixtx
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Can quantum effects be observed on a macroscopic scale?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 11:50 AM PDT

For example, is there an extremely small probability that all of the particles in one object become entangled with all the particles of a different object? Does the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle apply to large objects? Sorry for my poor understanding of quantum mechanics.

submitted by /u/Zetavblitz
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Why do humans tend to raise their pinky finger while holding items like bottles or cups?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 07:17 PM PDT

I noticed it's sort of a joke to be "fancy" by raising your pinky finger, but I catch myself and others doing it instinctively all the time when drinking or holding objects in a like manner. Why do we do it, and does everyone do it if they aren't paying attention?

submitted by /u/cinimontoescronch
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Why does everything in our solar system orbit the sun on the same plane? Does the whole universe act this way?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 10:05 PM PDT

How does the moon create ocean waves?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 03:14 PM PDT

Given that white reflects heat/sunlight, would standing on a white floor, outside, make you hotter than any floor color would?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 11:54 AM PDT

Why are reactive materials often stored under argon but rarely ever helium?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 07:27 PM PDT

Both gases are fairly cheap (argon is 1% of the atmosphere and helium is widely available.), so cost likely isn't a factor. Does it have to do with atom size and helium being able to more easily "escape" than argon?

submitted by /u/GalliumGames
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Can photons bounce off one another?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 09:55 AM PDT

Polarizing filters are useful in normal environments- so why isn't the polarization of the environment random to begin with?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 06:49 PM PDT

You can use a polarizing filter to reduce some glare from the sun off the surface of a lake. Why would the light from the sun all have the same polarity to begin with? Why would the rocks under the surface of the lake be reflecting sunlight not matching the polarity of that of the surface? Is the surface itself preferentially reflecting one polarity, and if so, why?

edit: I don't find it so strange for hard surfaces that might have preferred directions, some grain or fiber... but water, how?

submitted by /u/dungpuck
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Why doctors prescribe beta blockers for heart insufficiency or heart failure? It seems counterintuitive to give drugs that further decrease the heart pulse and power.

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 12:08 PM PDT

Why is language gender a thing in some languages but not others?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 06:39 AM PDT

I'm a native English speaker, but I am now starting to learn Spanish. English doesn't have [many?] gendered words (other than pronouns like "he" and "she"), but Spanish is full of gendered words -- even "a" = "un" and "una", and "the" = "el" and "la".

Why do some cultures develop gendered words while others do not?

submitted by /u/Bullgrit
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How important is water to the composition of lava?

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 05:15 PM PDT

A friend and I recently got into a debate on lava composition (of all things). He stressed in his argument that "lava is made of water," while I argued that "lava is for all intents and purposes made entirely of molten rock." Google searches told me that there is some water vapor dissolved in magma, but is it really so significant a component to say that "lava is made of water?"

Thanks in advance for your help!

submitted by /u/enigmaticRing13
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What is a redshift? I was just looking at the Sloan digital survey and I'm curious. Thanks

Posted: 30 Oct 2018 01:13 PM PDT
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