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Nothing But QuestionsIts better to know a few questions than all the answers August 27 Why don't they put little wings on aircraft tires?From what I understand of how an aircraft lands, is that at first touch down, the tires touch the ground while barely rotating. That accounts for the sound you hear when the tires first make contact with the ground (the same sound you hear when you slam on the breaks in your car). That's the sound of rubber scraping on the asphalt. So if you spin the tires in more or less the same speed as the would when landed (depends on the speed of the aircraft) there would be a whole lot less wear on the tires. You can either spin the tires with a motor or let the air that rushes by the tires make the tires spin by putting little wings or scoops on the tire, right next to the profile. Maybe you would not be able to regulate the rate of spin very accurately, but it would be (almost) free. Do they spin aircraft tires in the newer aircrafts and do they use motors or something else? August 13 What determines the dimensions of a rainbow?I saw a rainbow today and it made me wonder if it was the same size as the last one I saw (couple of weeks ago). It looked the same size but you can't trust your own eyes, can you ;-). So what does determine the size of a rainbow, I mean, how high it is in the sky (the arch) and the width? Is it the position of the sun that determines the size of the arch? Or is a rainbow always the same size? And what about its width? Do you have slender and broad rainbows? Does it have to do with the size of the rain drops the sun light passes through? If you have any ideas or suggestions, please leave a comment. February 05 Are traffic lights the same all over world?The other day I was explaining traffic lights to my son (3). He already knew that you could go when its green and should stop when its red. He was asking his why questions (you that phase were kids just keep asking why?) and I kept explaining why there were traffic lights, why green was at the bottom and red on top and yellow in the middle.
Then I realized that my explaination could well be false for other counties in the world. All countries I've been to all have the same traffic light system, but are there countries were its a different system?
Please leave a comment if you have any thoughts on this matter. November 21 Why do we wash our hands after a visit to the bath room?The reason might be as simple as: "because we learned to do so". Think about it: I think most people take a shower every day. We are way cleaner than 50 years ago, when the whole family shared one bath tub each Saturday. Urine is sterile (I was told) so when you touch that its more the thought than anything else that will make you want to wash your hands. Assuming you don't touch your feces while wiping what is it that you should wash of your hands afterwards? Also a regularly cleaned toilet is probably cleaner than some other places around the house you touch without thought. So what's the point? Okay suppose there are bacteria on your hands when you went. Have you ever considered what you touch with those 'dirty' hands before you get to wash them? In public toilets where the chance of contamination is highest (a person usually doesn't get sick from his own germs) there are loads of items you have to touch before you can wash your hands. When you turn on the water you contaminated the handle or knob and you will touch it again when you're done and your hands are washed. How clean are your hands now when you've touched that exact same spot you touched with your dirty hands? Or the door handle? Or the toilet paper. Or the toilet seat? Or the towel you dry your hands with? If you have any thoughts on this topic please leave a comment. September 26 IS the setting sun bigger?A setting sun seems bigger than it is during the day. Is it really bigger? Does the atmosphere distort the light such that the sun appears bigger (and red!?) or do we fool ourselves because the sun seems lower to the surface of the earth and we expect things closer to us to be bigger (we see what we want to see)? If you have any thoughts on this topic please leave a comment. September 25 What is the variation in size in the drops of rain?The other day I drove through a rain shower. I first heard a soft, fine ticking on my car screen and soon bigger 'ticks' could be heard. I though I could hear both small drops and big drops on my screen. When clouds gather moisture there comes a point where the water collected is just too heavy to keep in the air. Up drafts (airflows that rise) may lift these droplets for some time but ultimately the rain must fall. How will the size (volume) of the drops vary? And why are not all drop more or less equal in size? Do drops of rain merge while there falling? If you have any ideas on this topic please leave a comment. August 30 Why are our counting words not consistent?I only know only two languages well: English and Dutch. In both these languages the counting words are not consistent. For instance eleven (11) and twelve (12) are pretty different than twenty-one (21) or twenty-two (22). But even twenty is somewhat off (two-ty?). In the tens-range the words are reversed: thirteen (13), fourteen (14), fifteen (15) -ten-ty-three, ten-ty-four, ten-ty-five?. I guess this is the heritage of days of old - when people couldn't count further than 12? Strange that we changed spelling of the words over the years but not the words themselves. If you have any ideas on this subject please leave a comment. August 23 How do the lungs of the world work?The amazon in Brazil is said to be the longs of the world. Because of the vastness of the forest it is capable of transforming a lot of carbon dioxide into oxygen. But how global is that? Would carbon dioxide produced on the other side of the world (eventually) make it to the amazon and will the oxygen produced by the amazon make it to the other side of the world. Or do trees, forests and really big forests only have a local effect on the amount of oxygen in the air? If you have any thoughts on this topic please leave a comment. August 21 How many G's can flies pull?... or other flying insects? We all know about the fighter pilots in their jets that take tremendous G-forces on their body while executing dog-fighting maneuvers. These G-forces are generated by direction changes in the aircraft. If you pull up really quickly you'll experience positive G's. If you nose-dive really steep, you'll experience negative G's. Speed is also a major factor in the amount of G's generated. Ever looked closely at flies (or mosquitoes)? They can change direction really quickly so they must be experiencing G-forces. How many G's can a fly withstand (before his wings are torn off :-)? If you have any thoughts on this topic please leave a comment. July 26 Why are there no trash bins in Cars?I don't know about trucks but I've never seen a trash bin in a car. Why don't they put one in (or better two: one in the back and one in the front)? Maybe that will stop people from tossing garbage out their windows. Nothing too big, just large enough to contain some junk and hold a small plastic garbage bag. Something like the glove box; that opens up. If you have any thoughts on this topic please leave a comment. July 09 What did the first land animals eat?The evolution theory says that life evolved in the ocean and went on land (much) later on. Why did the early ocean creatures venture onto land? Probably because there was some advantage there, like food. OK, so they came to eat. But wait a minute? If all life evolved in the oceans where did all that food come from? So somewhere in evolution plants evolved too. But from what? Something preceded the first land animals and evolved into plants? If you have any ideas on this topic please leave a comment. Why is the full moon so mysterious?The wear wolf is a widely known legend of a full moon 'mystery'. But even today people contribute special powers to the moon being full. Why is the amount of sun light reflected from the moon's surface of any consequence to our behavior? Is the energy coming from a full moon so much more than a not-so-full moon? Are there any legends on the new-moon too? I know that the orbit of the moon wobbles in roughly one-year cycles and that (roughly) each year the moon is closest to the earth. If there would be any mysterious power linked to the moon it would be gravity. But there are no tales or theories of a once-a-year mystery that I know of. If you have any ideas on this topic please leave a comment. March 26 How did Instinct evolve?Instinct is hardwired knowledge. Something the being does not consciously has to think about in order to execute it. So how do beings acquire these instincts. A baby 'reflexes' (instincts?) that allows it to suckle at mothers breast right after it is born. Monkey babies have a grip-reflex to hold on to their mothers. There are numerous of examples of instincts (and reflexes). But how was this 'knowledge' gained by the species. Is there a collective memory where each species draws from? Or is there something like DNA-memory: a mechanism that stores memory into DNA and thus passing it on to their offspring. If you have any thoughts on this question, please leave a comment. Is the youth getting smarter?The other day I read an article in the newspaper that some kids (age 15-17) had solved a mathematical problem the "scientists" were not able to solve yet. It reminded me of an expression you hear now and again, that the youth is getting smarter than their parents. Could that be true? How could you measure something like that? Compare IQ statistics over a couple of generations? Suppose it is true and our children are getting smarter. How would that work? Are they just quick learners because they are exposed to a more complex society, with more stimuli than the parents were? Then they just 'peak' early but may not be smarten in their adult life on average. Or does something like DNA-memory really exist (that would also explain instincts)? If you have any thoughts on this question, please leave a comment. December 18 Why is brain capacity always measured relative to body weight?"This animal has a large brain compared to its size" you sometimes hear on wild life documentaries. Why is brain capacity expressed in 'relative size'? Okay, a big animal might need a little more brain-matter to make its body function properly but that would not be much. Some dinosaurs had tiny brains (in absolute terms) but were gigantic, so thats how much brain you need to make your body move. So an elephant for instance has en enormous brain. It needs part of that brain for its body, another part for its social skills and its said that they have a very good memory. Still it seems there is a lot left-over 'unused' brain... Humans are said to only use something like 10-20% of their brain capacity but that might be out-dated by now. Anyway, how come we evolved to where we are now and elephants, with much more brains to spare, have not? If you have any thoughts on this subject please leave a comment. July 22 Why does water expand when it freezesMost (all?) substances shrink when they get cold. Water is (as far as I know) the only subtance that expands when it freezes. For temperatures above about 4 degrees Celcius it sort of behaves normal, as all substances it expands when it gets hotter (until boiling of course) and shrinks when it cools down. Then when you cool water down below 4 degrees Celcius it expands again. What makes water do that and are there other substances that does this as well?
If you have any thoughts on this question, please post a comment. July 16 Why doesn't NASA build a "G-wheel"?In several sience fiction movies you see a rotating wheel on a space ship. The rotation of the wheel produces an artificial gravity that allows astronauts to walk on the inside of the wheel. A whole range of problems exist with the human body living prolonged time in zero gravity. Each astronaut has a daily training schedule to counter some of these effects. Now that the international space station is being build, why dont they put a G-wheel on it? I think it would help the astronauts up there tremendously and it will allow them to stay longer. That would save in round tripping costs of the shuttle.
If you have any thoughts on this question, please post a comment. July 13 Why do buddhists say only sencient beings are sacred?What I understand of Buddhism is that they hold life sacred. Very nobble indeed. But they only talk about sencient beings. Probably born out of necessity to draw the line somewhere or else you'd starve to death (assuming you dont eat the very organisms you hold sacred). But who's to say what a sencient being is? Did buddhist munks meditate on this and came up with a list? What makes a being sencient? What traits should a being exhibit to qualify? As far as I can tell science has no answer for this. Science sees consiusness as a function of the brain. Research into consiusness is only just begining... If you have any thoughts on this question, please post a comment. July 11 Why do some cars have their instruments in the middle?You see more and more cars with their instruments (speed dail and such) in the middle of the car and not behind the wheel, were the driver can see them best. Is it because passengers are demanding a view into the "cockpit"? I never drove a car that has its instruments in the middle but I think I would hate it. I glance frequently at my speed dail and just looking down a bit is in my view less work than sideways. I guess its just a design-thing and these tend to work themselves out eventually... If you have any thoughts on this question, please post a comment. July 03 Why do CEO's resign when something bad happens with their company?Its expected that a CEO resigns when something bad happens with their company. It is said they take responsibility. First of all; how can you take responsibility for something you can't control. In some cases the CEO (or a minister) leaves (or has to leave) even when he/she had no control over the situation. Are they expected to have control over all the details within you company (or government) as a CEO? You can't. Second, how is it you take responsibility by running away? So you screw something up and then you leave!? Why dont they have to stay on and fix it (under supervision of the new CEO, for instance)? That is taking responsibility; saying: "I made a mistake, and I will fix it". If you have any thoughts on this question, please post a comment. July 02 Do all mammals have a belly-button?Humans do, it plain to see. But do all mammals have a belly button? I dont remember ever seeing one on a pig, or a horse, or a cat or dog...
I find it amazing how a belly button is formed. After the umbilical cord is severed, the part still sticking out of the youngser starts to die of. It will change color and shrivle and shrink. If that would happen with any other part of your body you would very alarmed (I would). After a few days it simply falls of and the youngster has the belly button it will have for the rest of its life. I used to believe that the doctor would tie a knot in it, when I was a child, but wild animals (mammals) do not have docters around to tie the knots for them...
If you have any thoughts on this question, please post a comment. July 01 Do we really share 98% of our DNA with chimps?"We share 98% of our human DNA with chimps" is a statement that goes around from the time we mapped our human DNA (and that of chimps too?). It seems that of all the endless strings of encoded DNA information, about 98% is shared between chimps and humans. Also it is believed that a large proportion of our DNA is stale (I dont know the percentage here). It has no function. It seems past DNA aquired during evolution of the species is not thrown away, but simply turned off. Why do they say that we share 98% of DNA when a lot of it is switched off. Isn't it more important to say how much active DNA we share with other organisms? Perhaps the switched off evolutionary DNA says something about the origin of the species in question, how it evolved and what species branched off, but it say nothing (well, very little) of what that species is today.
How much active DNA do we share with chimps?
If you have any thoughts on this please enter a comment. Why is the sky blue?On a clear day, when the sun is shining, you look up and you see the blue sky. We take it for granted every time we see it. But why is the sky blue?
Some say its the reflection of the ocean - earth is covered for 2/3 with water. But if that is true, you should see a different color when you standing in the middle of a large land mass, say Russia, America/Canada or Australia. The sky is always blue where ever you are on the globe. I do believe there are some subtle differnces in the shade of blue in certain places, but its still blue.
If you have any thoughts on this question, please post a comment. |
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