Quirky Science Facts!

[DougF]

you forgot the U= underwater ;)

self-contained underwater breathing apparatus

 

The term SCUBA arose during World War II and originally referred to United States combat frogmen's oxygen rebreathers' date=' developed by Dr. Christian Lambertsen for underwater warfare.[2'][3][4] Today, scuba typically refers to the in-line open-circuit equipment, developed by Emile Gagnan and Jacques-Yves Cousteau, in which compressed gas (usually air) is inhaled from a tank and then exhaled into the water. However, rebreathers (both semi-closed circuit and closed circuit) are also self-contained systems (as opposed to surface-supplied systems) and are therefore classified as scuba.

 

Although the SCUBA is an acronym for "self-contained underwater breathing apparatus", usage is mainly as a normal word "scuba", it has become acceptable to refer to scuba as "scuba equipment" or "scuba apparatus"

Scuba diving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Moontanman]

You have

 

LIES, DAMN LIES and PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY!

 

New Laser Weapon

 

US boasts of laser weapon's 'plausible deniability' - tech - 12 August 2008 - New Scientist Tech

[Moontanman]

Speaking of Eunuchs...I just came across this quirky factoid...

 

"Gang Bing" was Patron Saint of Eunuchs in China, who castrated himself to demonstrate his loyalty to emperor Yongle.

 

How'd he get a name like that?

Eunuch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Maybe his name was Gang Bang originally and then he changed it after the big demonstration!

[Donk]

Fact: No matter its size or thickness, no piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times.

 

Does anyone know the science behind this? :)

Many years ago I was working with punched paper tape, which came in reels about an inch wide and a foot across. I thought about the folding-paper problem and wondered how it would work on a very long thin strip, all folds going the same way.

 

The reel contains about 125 metres (= 125000mm) of paper. How hard could it be to fold it and keep on folding?

 

A quick bit of measurement showed that the tape was about .2mm thick. It goes like this

 

              layers       length     thickness        side
fold 1	          2       62,500.0        0.4            0.0
fold 2           4       31,249.6        0.8            0.4
fold 3           8       15,623.6        1.6            1.2
fold 4          16        7,809.0        3.2            2.8
fold 5          32        3,898.5        6.4            6.0
fold 6          64        1,936.9       12.8           12.4
fold 7         128          943.2       25.6           25.2
fold 8         256          420.8       51.2           50.8
fold 9         512          108.4      102.4          102.0

 

At each stage you have to allow for the fact that some of the length is going up the side. A minor factor at the start, but becoming increasingly important after a few folds. The ninth fold leaves a block 108.4mm long x 102.4mm thick - almost square, and impossible to fold again. To get to 10 folds you have to multiply the original length by 4, then by 4 again for 11, and so on. 1000km gets you to 15 folds. A half million kilometres would just about get you to 20.

 

Doing it again with cigarette paper, about a tenth the thickness of normal paper:

              layers       length     thickness        side
fold 1	          2       62,500.0        0.0            0.0
fold 2           4       31,250.0        0.1            0.0
fold 3           8       15,624.9        0.2            0.1
fold 4          16        7,812.2        0.3            0.3
fold 5          32        3,905.5        0.6            0.6
fold 6          64        1,951.5        1.3            1.2
fold 7         128          973.2        2.6            2.5
fold 8         256          481.5        5.1            5.1
fold 9         512          230.6       10.2           10.2
fold 10      1,024           94.8       20.5           20.4
fold 11      2,048            6.5       41.0           40.9

 

You get to 11 folds, but the last one looks kinda chunky! 1000km gets to 17 folds. 20 would need about 80,000km of tape.

 

Gold leaf is very thin - about 1/2000 the thickness of ordinary paper. You only need about 300 kilometres of it to get to 20 folds.

 

I did all this with pen and paper. Excel? Give me a break - this was in the dark ages before even Visicalc!

 

I showed off my brilliant calculations to a co-worker, telling him it proved that you can't fold a sheet or a strip of paper 12 times. He put 12 folds in a strip of tape, zigzag fashion, and handed it to me with a grin on his face. The moral of this story: when describing a problem, Clarity and Precision are all-important. :hyper::doh::)

[Donk]

Octopuses have two legs and six arms

A study by scientists at Sea Life centres across Europe found that the invertebrates move across the sea bed using their two rearmost limbs, leaving the other six free for the important business of feeding.

[Michaelangelica]

Octopuses have two legs and six arms

A study by scientists at Sea Life centres across Europe found that the invertebrates move across the sea bed using their two rearmost limbs, leaving the other six free for the important business of feeding.

And other important business

Octopuses have two penesis (boys) two vaginas (girls)

 

All knuckle-dragging comments gratefully received.

[Boerseun]

System meltdowns happened - no joke!

 

Undefined Behavior Causes CPU Meltdown in IBM PC's!

The suggestion of undefined software behavior causing CPU meltdown isn't as farfetched as it first appears.

The original IBM PC monitor operated at a horizontal scan rate provided by the video controller chip. The flyback transformer (the gadget that produces the high voltage needed to accelerate the electrons to light up the phosphors on the monitor) relied on this being a reasonable frequency. However, it was possible, in software, to set the video chip scan rate

to zero, thus feeding a constant voltage into the primary side of the transformer. It then acted as a resistor, and dissipated its power as heat rather than transforming it up onto the screen. This burned the monitor out in seconds.

 

Voilà: undefined software behavior causes system meltdown!

[Michaelangelica]

Lots of science trivia books for Christmas.

 

Enough to annoy you all for a year or more

 

One of the better ones is "Zoo Pub Ammo 1001" PLB media ND

Unfortunately no index. I hate books without indexes. It can be done almost automatically these days so publishers are just being mean and lazy by not having an index

eg

"You can't snore in space"

Hmm. . ., really, even aboard the space station?

 

"Snails can sleep for three years"

Not in my garden!

 

"The most common medical procedure conducted by US military surgeons during WW2-even at the height of fighting- was circumcision."

Why? Two for one? A Japanese secret weapon?

 

"Surgeons who play video games make 37% less mistakes"

How did they double-blind, placebo test this?

Were they playing the games while operating?!

 

"64% of all spam servers are in Taiwan"

So if the Chinese nuke the place they will be doing us all a favour?

 

"Men select rockmellons that are the same size as their girlfriend's breasts according to supermarkets"

Rubbish

Have you seen the size of Australian Rockmellons?

 

"Soy beans cause more farting than any other type of beans"

No more silky tofu? Soy milk? O no!

 

"The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as a substitute for plasma."

Should be handy for Hollywood "marooned" /plane crash, type writers.

 

"The word 'testify' comes from the Roman courts where men would swear on their testicles"

We might get more honesty than swearing on the bible.

 

The book does accept a lot of USA trivia as fact which is unfortunate and questionable like bananas travelling thousands (6?) of miles before they get to you. Many backyards around me grow bananas and 1,000 k north they are grown commercially

 

But of course I am going to do the Geek thing and point out where they went wrong

(Don't book editors hate that -good-:evil:)

Can't find the exact words- no index is there?

But they say Afghans are the dumbest dogs

Two problems

1. Afghan Hounds are not dogs; they are Hounds like grey-hounds. A very different animal from dogs

2. Afghans are anything but dumb. They just don't see why they need to do anything you want them to do.

They may consider your request when they have finished what they are doing.

 

They hunt in M/F pairs, love play, have a sense of humour and can solve the most complex of problems co-operatively. Problems which a mere dog would have no hope solving.

 

To really see how intelligent Afghans can be, even as puppies, read the Muir books "What a Mess"

[Moontanman]

But of course I am going to do the Geek thing and point out where they went wrong

(Don't book editors hate that -good-:evil:)

Can't find the exact words- no index is there?

But they say Afghans are the dumbest dogs

Two problems

1. Afghan Hounds are not dogs; they are Hounds like grey-hounds. A very different animal from dogs

2. Afghans are anything but dumb. They just don't see why they need to do anything you want them to do.

They may consider you request when they have finished what they are doing.

 

They hunt in M/F pairs, love play, have a sense of humour and can solve the most complex of problems co-operatively. Problems which a mere dog would have no hope solving.

 

To really see how intelligent Afghans can be, even as puppies, read the Muir books "What a Mess"

 

I know what you mean I keep Bassett hounds, people think they are so stupid but they are very smart, when it comes to something they want it's almost impossible to keep them from it. Only when you are trying to force them to do something you want them to do do they seem stupid, they just don't give rats *** what you want. motivating them is difficult but once you figure them out they can do anything. They naturally hunt in packs, they call to each other while they are hunting, to coordinate their attack on bigger or faster animals, other dogs who think they are going to attack one and not have to fight the whole pack are sadly mistaken! And they love people, that last is probably the only really dumb thing they do. I admit they do look rather stupid :naughty:

[belovelife]

there are a bunch of ant colinies that collect leaves, grow fungus on the

and basically cultivate

and there is the other ant type that has animal husbandry

with catapillars

[Michaelangelica]

there are a bunch of ant colinies that collect leaves, grow fungus on the

and basically cultivate

and there is the other ant type that has animal husbandry

with catapillars

Macquarie University has been looking at some Australian ant-stings as novel sources of anti-biotics.

 

Some garden ants "milk" aphids like cows.

Get rid of the ants and you will get rid of the aphids (Ants hate the smell of garlic)

[Michaelangelica]

Definition of Condensation Nuclei:

 

Nucleus means a central body around which something may grow, collect or concentrate.

Nuclei is the plural, meaning many.

These are simply particles (usually dust) in the air/atmosphere that moisture can cling to as it condenses from vapor in the air into liquid water.

That means raindrops, which we tend to think of as just droplets of pure water, are actually dripping wet, soaked particles of dust.

They come down from the clouds when there's just too much water on the particulate to stay floating on the drafts of air in the upper atmosphere.

Condensation Nuclei

I remember reading somewhere (I can't remember where and it might be rubbish anyway) that trees, when they get thirsty, release Condensation Nuclei and so, thus, get a drink. This had been discovered in the Amazon

Any truth in this do you think?

[Michaelangelica]

Continetal drift.

 

it wasn't until the 60's that scientists realised that the continents were not locked in place on the surface of the globe.

 

Continents drift around the surface of the globe at roughly the speed that your fingernails grow- about 5-10cm per year

SOURCE Science is Golden, Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, Harper Collins, 2008

 

Women sweat at a higher temperature than men do, and women also generate less sweat.

SOURCE Science is Golden, Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki, Harper Collins, 2008

[Hill]

It wasn't until the 60's that scientists realised that the continents were not locked in place on the surface of the globe.

 

I happened to be a geology student right on the cusp of the change in theory. During the first year or two of my undergraduate study we were taught about geosynclines as the source of mountain building. It didn't really make a lot of sense to me, but I finally began to accept it as the only model there was. Buy the time I reached my final years as geology major, we were being introduced to the exciting and what seemed to be much more provable theory of plate tectonics.

 

BTW, Steve Dutch, who's site I referenced, has a great web site about geology.

[Michaelangelica]

Hill

It is lovely to hear personal experiences like that. You must be an oldie (but a goodie) like me.

 

So hence your Hypography name? Not Mountain? :)

[Michaelangelica]

Glass melts at?

Standard soda lime glass (the most common kind of glass) melts at something on the order of 1500 °C, or about 2700 °F,

while top drawer silicon oxide has a glass melting point of in excess of 2300 °C, or some 4200 °F.

-wiki answers. WikiAnswers - What is the melting point of glass

 

The ABC Four Corners show tonight showed car glass windows c. 100+M (c. 100+ Yards) away from the Victorian Firestorm, melted.

 

What sort of glass is car-widow & windscreen glass?

[Michaelangelica]

• Women use 20,000 words a day while men only use 7,000
  
• Globally women account for the majority of people aged over 60 and over 80
  
• Globally women comprise 42% internet users (Italy 37% ... US & Canada 51%)
  
• 56% of women who voted supported Obama compared to only 49% of men voted for Obama
  

International Women's Day 2009