Science Quiz

Into the wind goes farther? "lift" is a matter of creating low pressure on the top side of the structure. Minimize air flow and you minimize lift. Having a tail wind seems much less significant.
 
say what said:
Ok, here are some old ones if you're interested in answering them :D

1. Will a discus go farther if it's thrown into a moderate wind, or against it?

2. Raindrops are much bigger than mosquitos, so why don't mosquitos get flattened and killed in the rain? (this one made me laugh...only because I pictured a terrified mosquitos being killed by a godzilla raindrop)

3. If you look at a decorative water fountain, you can see, hear and feel the vertical spout pulsing, even though the water flow into it is constant. Why does that happen?

4. Most weather sytems run West to East. Why do hurricans travel South to North?

5. True or False (and Why!) Runway lights are blue because that's the colour that can be seen at the farthest distance?




I'll make sure to post the one on this Wed's show! :)
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1)into the wind
2)surface tension? I'm guessing they get pushed out of the way. Their surface polarity will also help them from being incorporated into droplets as well
3)I want to say surface tension here too! Natural inclination to go into droplets have something to do with that? Also pump design! Water pumps are made with blades. The turbulence that comes from individual partitions of water may manefest those types of phenomena further downstream.
4)Core-e-al-us affect? can't spell for shite.
5)Not to clear to me... not really sure what your asking... If my wild guess is right: false. Receding energy sources will redshift their light. -Make them lesser wavelength and less energetic. Coming closer to us will make it more blue.


How'd I do? hopefully Im wrong about something! Perspective upgrade is always a personal victory! =)
 
Stu said:
sugars don't evaporate, when they get to hot they crystallize...so I am going to go with fermentation. Somehow the rise in temp (slight cooking) activates a microbial fermentation (yeast or some other "critter")
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Metabolization! Sweet! a third option fer sure. Way to go Stu. was that is? "light" boil can certainly give that impression. What really happens there? im dying to know.
 
Rift Zone said:
[MENTION=10252]say what[/MENTION], was that close? What was the official answer?
I was thinking enzymes or something... more energy in the system could give those [hypothetical] guys enough juice to shred sugar. Then again, it could also be more about chemical reaction and build different things rather than break them down; that would make me wrong about decomposition. Any word on that?
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Have to wait until Wed for the answer :)
 
say what said:
Ok, here are some old ones if you're interested in answering them :D

1. Will a discus go farther if it's thrown into a moderate wind, or against it?

2. Raindrops are much bigger than mosquitos, so why don't mosquitos get flattened and killed in the rain? (this one made me laugh...only because I pictured a terrified mosquitos being killed by a godzilla raindrop)

3. If you look at a decorative water fountain, you can see, hear and feel the vertical spout pulsing, even though the water flow into it is constant. Why does that happen?

4. Most weather systems run West to East. Why do hurricanes travel South to North?

5. True or False (and Why!) Runway lights are blue because that's the colour that can be seen at the farthest distance?




I'll make sure to post the one on this Wed's show! :)
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ANSWERS:

1. Against it. The pressure of the wind on the underside, lifts it, and causes it to last longer.

2. Mosquitos don't drown because they are light enough to ride the raindrop and then slip off before it hits the ground.

3. It's a cycle that is occuring, the water goes to it's max height, it falls back and compresses the water, which then surges up again- it's all do to the vertical nature of the jet.

4. Hurricanes can go in any direction, but their path is subject to the winds are driving it- but in the north, you have the coriolis effect.

5. True. Blue green is in the range of wave lengths that is best for us to see.
 
say what said:
ANSWERS:

1. Against it. The pressure of the wind on the underside, lifts it, and causes it to last longer.

2. Mosquitos don't drown because they are light enough to ride the raindrop and then slip off before it hits the ground.

3. It's a cycle that is occuring, the water goes to it's max height, it falls back and compresses the water, which then surges up again- it's all do to the vertical nature of the jet.

4. Hurricanes can go in any direction, but their path is subject to the winds are driving it- but in the north, you have the coriolis effect.

5. True. Blue green is in the range of wave lengths that is best for us to see.
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1)yay

2)polarity

3)I'm going to go with pump design on this one. Given their answer, i'll assert that originates in turbulence caused by pump design. If there were no turbulence, and we can safely, theoretically say there is in fact constant pressure throughout the system then there would be no surge. The fact there is surge proves pressure variance and turbulence that ultimately originates in pump blades chopping through the volume seems the most likely cause.

4)spell check probably wont help me next time either. it's so bad, sometimes a web search of my dribble cant even locate the word i'm looking for. linguistics=human law=meh natural law rules.

5)Ah, human wavelength perception. Ya, aint that at about 410 ~ 460 angstroms? -our most sensitive region? -I think it's in there somewhere.
 
Rift Zone said:
3)I'm going to go with pump design on this one. Given their answer, i'll assert that originates in turbulence caused by pump design. If there were no turbulence, and we can safely, theoretically say there is in fact constant pressure throughout the system then there would be no surge. The fact there is surge proves pressure variance and turbulence that ultimately originates in pump blades chopping through the volume seems the most likely cause.
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They discussed it in more detail on the show, and it has to do with the actual vertical direction of the water flow - not the pump. The same pump could be used, but if the directionality of the water was slightly off from vertical, you wouldn't get this same effect.
 
say what said:
They discussed it in more detail on the show, and it has to do with the actual vertical direction of the water flow - not the pump. The same pump could be used, but if the directionality of the water was slightly off from vertical, you wouldn't get this same effect.
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Not convinced. I'd like to see that experiment done with gravity feed and a tube with no sharp angles. Their take may be so. With low flow, that is certain to manifest. At reasonable rates, I'm not convinced.
 
Rift Zone said:
Not convinced. I'd like to see that experiment done with gravity feed and a tube with no sharp angles. Their take may be so. With low flow, that is certain to manifest. At reasonable rates, I'm not convinced.
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But it's a constant flow of water out of the pump, the surge comes from the pressure of the water falling back and compressing the water - like a plug....it's like a cycle, because once there is enouch internal pressure, it pushes the water plug back out and up, which again falls back and starts the process again. Because they state that it's a constant flow, I think they're not asking about the functions of the pump, and more on the process of water flow.
 
say what said:
5. True. Blue green is in the range of wave lengths that is best for us to see.
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Then why aren't runway lights blue?

Runway lights are predominantly white or yellow. Some marker lights are red or green - threshold lights tend to be green but are some times a little bluish, like a teal color.

Taxiway lights are either blue for edge lights, green for center lights, or yellow for intersections with the runway.

Runway lights are not blue, it's against regulations. There's a standard for this that is easy to look up. I knew it before google because I'm interested in airplanes and flying but I've verified this and it is true.
 
sprinkles said:
Then why aren't runway lights blue?

Runway lights are predominantly white or yellow. Some marker lights are red or green - threshold lights tend to be green but are some times a little bluish, like a teal color.

Taxiway lights are either blue for edge lights, green for center lights, or yellow for intersections with the runway.

Runway lights are not blue, it's against regulations. There's a standard for this that is easy to look up. I knew it before google because I'm interested in airplanes and flying but I've verified this and it is true.
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I listened to the show again this morning, and he said one of the people wrote in and said exactly that- universally, runway lights are white. So he corrected to say that taxi lane is what he meant!

As for why runway lights are white? I imagine it's to see in adverse weather..?? I know red and blue waves are the easiest for us to register without any interference - but it's likely they don't like red, as red signals warning.

However, with runway lights you'd need to be able to see them at a distance, against other light sources (if it's in a city), and with cloud covering or snow...I imagine white or yellow is the best for that!
 
Here is the proof:
Runway lights. Clearly yellow. Red markers, green threshold lightbar.
2cmx6r4.jpg


Airport at night: Clearly yellow runway lights. Very blue taxiway lights to the sides. Green with a touch of blue threshold light bar.
vqpkaq.jpg
 
say what said:
I listened to the show again this morning, and he said one of the people wrote in and said exactly that- universally, runway lights are white. So he corrected to say that taxi lane is what he meant!

As for why runway lights are white? I imagine it's to see in adverse weather..?? I know red and blue waves are the easiest for us to register without any interference - but it's likely they don't like red, as red signals warning.

However, with runway lights you'd need to be able to see them at a distance, against other light sources (if it's in a city), and with cloud covering or snow...I imagine white or yellow is the best for that!
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Ah ok. Well that's an easy mistake I guess. Still makes the question technically false. -.-

Blue might be easy to register but I don't know if the entire technical explanation is true either because you can see in the night picture I just posted, the yellow lights are a LOT more obvious than the blue ones.
 
Oh...so the questions aren't even right. No wonder I cant figure the answers out.
 
[MENTION=10252]say what[/MENTION]
I think I figured it out.

Blue is easy to distinguish, but it is not the strongest color for contrast or carrying over a distance which is important at night.

So I think the taxiway lights are blue so that if you can see the blue, you easily know that ISN'T the runway because blue is not used on the runway. But for finding the runway, yellow is probably better.
 
When we look at the universe in infra-red, we can see through dust clouds, nebula etc... I have to assume the longer wave lengths reds, orange, yellows make it easier to see the light through fog and clouds than it would be with the shorter ones like blue. Not a statement of fact, just a guess.
 
Eventhorizon said:
When we look at the universe in infra-red, we can see through dust clouds, nebula etc... I have to assume the longer wave lengths reds, orange, yellows make it easier to see the light through fog and clouds than it would be with the shorter ones like blue. Not a statement of fact, just a guess.
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That's actually a good guess.

Longer wavelengths travel through atmosphere much easier. This is why sunlight gets through the atmosphere but the blue gets separated due to scattering and makes the sky look blue. The sky looks like that because the short wavelengths get absorbed and scattered around and there's some blue left over, but it is no longer focused, it's diffuse all over.

This is called Rayleigh scattering. Blue actually scatters the most which means when you're beaming it over a distance through atmosphere, blue is going to end up the most scattered. Green will stay more together than blue, yellow and red are significantly better over distances. And of course white is just all the colors.

Edit: well violet scatters more than blue but still.
 
Eventhorizon said:
Oh...so the questions aren't even right. No wonder I cant figure the answers out.
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Bob has a lot to do!!!! He's a local star!!!! (I must toot my own horn and say that he recently moved in across the hall from my office - we're practically besties!!!!!)

He's a busy man and only human- naturally he might get a few things mixed up (likely due to his age as well.......)

DON'T YOU TALK BAD ABOUT MY BOB!! YOU HEAR ME!!!?!?! ;)
 
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