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Ice Cubes
Posted by Dr. Science on 11/23/2012
Why do some of the ice cubes pop right out while other ones stick to the side of the tray? Mom said you would know.
———- from Jenny Feldmann ofCross Villiage, MI
Making generalizations about ice cubes is insulting to the ice cube and reflects just as poorly on your level of enlightenment as making generalizations about different races or cultures. An old ice cube adage goes “16 cubes in a tray, 16 different rhomboids”. Another goes “No angle is really 90 degrees, especially when you deal with water”. No one ever said ice cubes were poetic, but they do have a tolerance for diversity that you apparently lack. Maybe if you could see things from an ice cube’s perspective it would help you escape from the narrow prison of your own mind. Find a walk in freezer and spend a few minutes with the door shut, imagining life in an indented blue plastic tray.
Making generalizations about ice cubes is insulting to the ice cube and reflects just as poorly on your level of enlightenment as making generalizations about different races or cultures. An old ice cube adage goes “16 cubes in a tray, 16 different rhomboids”. Another goes “No angle is really 90 degrees, especially when you deal with water”. No one ever said ice cubes were poetic, but they do have a tolerance for diversity that you apparently lack. Maybe if you could see things from an ice cube’s perspective it would help you escape from the narrow prison of your own mind. Find a walk in freezer and spend a few minutes with the door shut, imagining life in an indented blue plastic tray. Map Colors
Posted by Dr. Science on 11/21/2012
Most maps printed before 1950 show the British Empire in pink and the French Union in green. Why is this?
———- from John Andrew and Marc Petrequin of The Internet
Before the invention of sunscreen in 1950, your typical Englishman in a tropical colony would turn bright pink in the noonday sun. The French did their share of colonizing countries near the equator, but their rich cuisine would often induce nausea in such a balmy climate. Consequently, both English and French colonials spent most of their time in bed, delirious. Map makers may have had to guess when it came to remote topography, but the color to use on each empire was common knowledge to both oppressor and oppressed.
Before the invention of sunscreen in 1950, your typical Englishman in a tropical colony would turn bright pink in the noonday sun. The French did their share of colonizing countries near the equator, but their rich cuisine would often induce nausea in such a balmy climate. Consequently, both English and French colonials spent most of their time in bed, delirious. Map makers may have had to guess when it came to remote topography, but the color to use on each empire was common knowledge to both oppressor and oppressed. Sleep in Eyes
Posted by Dr. Science on 11/19/2012
What causes the “sleep” I sometimes find in my eyes upon awakening?
———- from John C Lienhart of Portland, OR
If you wear contact lenses, it’s simply the dissolved plastic being drawn by osmotic pressure towards your cheeks. If not, then it’s usually discarded brain cells, especially the heavier brain cells from the medulla. Dead or dying cortical cells, with their frothy nature, float upward and find release as dandruff. If, for some reason, you don’t get your usual amount of sleep for a few days, when you do catch up you’ll find the amount of sleep in your eyes to be much greater. This is an example of the second law of Thermodynamics in action. Your brain cells are keenly aware of these laws, even if they’re dead.
If you wear contact lenses, it’s simply the dissolved plastic being drawn by osmotic pressure towards your cheeks. If not, then it’s usually discarded brain cells, especially the heavier brain cells from the medulla. Dead or dying cortical cells, with their frothy nature, float upward and find release as dandruff. If, for some reason, you don’t get your usual amount of sleep for a few days, when you do catch up you’ll find the amount of sleep in your eyes to be much greater. This is an example of the second law of Thermodynamics in action. Your brain cells are keenly aware of these laws, even if they’re dead. Those in N-Dimension
Posted by Dr. Science on 11/16/2012
Please explain the Northern Lights. Also, I’ve heard an explanation of what we would look like to someone from N-dimensional space, but I haven’t heard what a person in N-dimensional space would look like to us?
———- from Ken Beeson of Seattle, WA
Most people in N dimensional space look like the late actor Cary Grant. When they look at us, we appear to be a smeared pizza, one of those thin crust jobs that has been dropped on its side by an incompetent delivery person. Most people in N dimensional space wish they were here, but they can’t get visas or work permits. To answer the first part of your question, the Northern Lights was a TV series that got cancelled a while back. I’ve heard that it was so popular among some atmospheric scientists that they named an electrical phenomenon after it.
Most people in N dimensional space look like the late actor Cary Grant. When they look at us, we appear to be a smeared pizza, one of those thin crust jobs that has been dropped on its side by an incompetent delivery person. Most people in N dimensional space wish they were here, but they can’t get visas or work permits. To answer the first part of your question, the Northern Lights was a TV series that got cancelled a while back. I’ve heard that it was so popular among some atmospheric scientists that they named an electrical phenomenon after it. Face to Face Resistance
Posted by Dr. Science on 11/14/2012
You have two samples, one of silicon dioxide, the other of polimide. The size of the samples is 1 mm squared, by 1 mm long. What is the resistance from face to face?
———- from Dave Engle of Marshalltown, IA
It depends on the maximum voltage that could be impressed across the material. If the sample were gold plated, then the capacitance could be considerable. And, if we’re talking alternating current here and I assume we are, then we’d have to worry about inductance. I don’t know about you, but I hate inductance. It ruins everything. How many times have I described a perfectly workable circuit, only to find when it’s off the schematic diagram and onto a breadboard that inductance crept in and changed all the parameters? Just say no to alternating current. Edison was right. Direct is best. Tesla was insane. I know that now.
It depends on the maximum voltage that could be impressed across the material. If the sample were gold plated, then the capacitance could be considerable. And, if we’re talking alternating current here and I assume we are, then we’d have to worry about inductance. I don’t know about you, but I hate inductance. It ruins everything. How many times have I described a perfectly workable circuit, only to find when it’s off the schematic diagram and onto a breadboard that inductance crept in and changed all the parameters? Just say no to alternating current. Edison was right. Direct is best. Tesla was insane. I know that now. 