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Science geek brain teasers

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  • G Gregory Gadow

    Indeed. And I can sing most of the songs from Schoolhouse Rock, too. My earliest clear memory is the Apollo 11 landing: it was launched four days after my second birthday. Yes, I'm old ;P

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    jeron1
    wrote on last edited by
    #45

    "Conjunction junction what's your function...."

    Gregory.Gadow wrote:

    My earliest clear memory is the Apollo 11 landing: it was launched four days after my second birthday.

    I was three, guess that makes me old too. :-D

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    • W wout de zeeuw

      Ok, suppose it would be constant, then you could not orbit. An orbit implies that the gravitational field is circular!

      Wout

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      CPallini
      wrote on last edited by
      #46

      I never agreed with the orbit argument. Anyway the orbit implies a radial field. :)

      If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
      This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
      [My articles]

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      • A Andrew Rissing

        Here's a simple one. A scientist is measuring the temperature of a substance, but the label for the units on the thermometer has worn off. At what temperature, would it not matter if it was in Celsius or Fahrenheit?

        modified on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 3:34 PM

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        CPallini
        wrote on last edited by
        #47

        At whatever temperature if we don't care about... :-D

        If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
        This is going on my arrogant assumptions. You may have a superb reason why I'm completely wrong. -- Iain Clarke
        [My articles]

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        • A Andrew Rissing

          Here's a simple one. A scientist is measuring the temperature of a substance, but the label for the units on the thermometer has worn off. At what temperature, would it not matter if it was in Celsius or Fahrenheit?

          modified on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 3:34 PM

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          Single Step Debugger
          wrote on last edited by
          #48

          Minus forty?

          The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.

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          • L Lost User

            That belt is only trying to move it backwards though, and the airplane is not connected to the belt, so while the wheels will spin faster than normally, why would anything out of the ordinary happen? (from the airplanes point of view, he just needs a very high ground-speed to get some decent air-speed)

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            Dan Neely
            wrote on last edited by
            #49

            Thank you for the clear explanation.

            3x12=36 2x12=24 1x12=12 0x12=18

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            • S Single Step Debugger

              Minus forty?

              The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.

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              Andrew Rissing
              wrote on last edited by
              #50

              *Ding* Correct.

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              • C Chris Maunder

                I was thinking that there's enough geeks here - maths, computing, physics, you name it - that we could easily put together a bunch of questions that are answerable by most, but a little tricky. I'll start the ball rolling: Q. In a constant graviational field, how can you accelerate while keeping a steady speed? Hmm - just found braingle.com[^]. There goes a productive day...

                cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                0x3c0
                wrote on last edited by
                #51

                They aren't science geek questions, but are probably close enough ;) Q. Assuming a system which uses physical addressing mode (no virtual address space of any sort) and operates in Virtual 8086 mode, what would be the result of writing to a null pointer? Q. Where in physical memory can the RSDP be located?

                OSDev :)

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                • S Single Step Debugger

                  No, the airplane will move forward and eventually take of regardless the conveyer belt, because his wheels have nothing to do with the airplane movement.

                  The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.

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                  Phil Martin
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #52

                  Well.... thats not strictly true. They are stopping the bottom of the plane scraping on the ground, which would increase the friction coefficient quite a bit I'd imagine ;P

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                  • L Lost User

                    Q. What alcohol and in what quantities will bring Mick to a stand still?

                    Michael Martin Australia "I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible." - Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004

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                    Phil Martin
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #53

                    Double.MaxValue?

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                    • A Andrew Rissing

                      Here's a simple one. A scientist is measuring the temperature of a substance, but the label for the units on the thermometer has worn off. At what temperature, would it not matter if it was in Celsius or Fahrenheit?

                      modified on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 3:34 PM

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                      LeonardLay
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #54

                      -40 degrees is the same for F and C

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                      • C Chris Maunder

                        I was thinking that there's enough geeks here - maths, computing, physics, you name it - that we could easily put together a bunch of questions that are answerable by most, but a little tricky. I'll start the ball rolling: Q. In a constant graviational field, how can you accelerate while keeping a steady speed? Hmm - just found braingle.com[^]. There goes a productive day...

                        cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                        DarthDana
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #55

                        By assuming in an orbit.

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                        • C Chris Maunder

                          I was thinking that there's enough geeks here - maths, computing, physics, you name it - that we could easily put together a bunch of questions that are answerable by most, but a little tricky. I'll start the ball rolling: Q. In a constant graviational field, how can you accelerate while keeping a steady speed? Hmm - just found braingle.com[^]. There goes a productive day...

                          cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                          Fabio Franco
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #56

                          Knowing that the distance from Earth to the center of the galaxy is approximately 2.5704*E17 km, is it possible to travel to the center of the galaxy during a lifetime at the speed of light? If it is, how long would it take?

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                          • I Ian Shlasko

                            Bah, too easy... This site is full of geeks... Everyone should know this already... Circular orbit = Constantly accelerating toward the center of the circle, causing speed to remain constant (Only direction changes). Now, if you said constant VELOCITY, then there would be no answer :)

                            Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
                            Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

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                            tsafdrabytrals
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #57

                            personnally i would have said : "run around in circles" ;-)

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                            • C Chris Maunder

                              I was thinking that there's enough geeks here - maths, computing, physics, you name it - that we could easily put together a bunch of questions that are answerable by most, but a little tricky. I'll start the ball rolling: Q. In a constant graviational field, how can you accelerate while keeping a steady speed? Hmm - just found braingle.com[^]. There goes a productive day...

                              cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                              Euhemerus
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #58

                              Here's one that I don't personally have an answer to, but which has had me wondering for years. Why is the speed of light limited to 186,000 miles/second. Why this particular speed - what is the determining factor, and why can't the speed of light be exceeded?

                              With knowledge comes responsibilty; just think of splitting the atom as an obvious example.

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                              • P Phil Martin

                                The classic that is far too easy to google for now. If you have an aircraft on a conveyor belt. The air craft attempts to take off and the conveyor belt runs in the opposite direction matching the speed of the air craft. Does the plane take off?

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                                DarthDana
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #59

                                No. An airplane requires relative airspeed, not groundspeed. Unless the wind is blowing real hard in the opposite direction there is none so the plane will not take off.

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                                • C Chris Maunder

                                  I was thinking that there's enough geeks here - maths, computing, physics, you name it - that we could easily put together a bunch of questions that are answerable by most, but a little tricky. I'll start the ball rolling: Q. In a constant graviational field, how can you accelerate while keeping a steady speed? Hmm - just found braingle.com[^]. There goes a productive day...

                                  cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                                  TXDC
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #60

                                  Travel in a circle. Speed is distance per unit time (e.g. miles per hour). Acceleration is a change in speed OR direction. Traveling in a circle requires a constant change in direction hence a constant acceleration. I used the short explanation so as not to become too boring.

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                                  • S Sandeep Mewara

                                    Yes always switch... probability of winning has just doubled after what host has done... :cool:

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                                    RickRoc
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #61

                                    You don't actually have to switch your choice. The fact that door #3 was shown automatically improves your odds to now be 50/50. :cool: Give me ambiguity or give me something else!

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                                    • P Phil Martin

                                      And the even more classic Monty Hall problem: Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He then says to you, "Do you want to pick door No. 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice?

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                                      RickRoc
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #62

                                      Yeah but.... what if I WANT the goats?? :laugh: Give me ambiguity or give me something else!

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                                      • C Chris Maunder

                                        I was thinking that there's enough geeks here - maths, computing, physics, you name it - that we could easily put together a bunch of questions that are answerable by most, but a little tricky. I'll start the ball rolling: Q. In a constant graviational field, how can you accelerate while keeping a steady speed? Hmm - just found braingle.com[^]. There goes a productive day...

                                        cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

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                                        jmtangent
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #63

                                        Ok, this is a fun one. Just jump in your car on a Sunday morning, find a big empty parking lot, crank the wheel just enough so that you can complete a circuit without crashing into anything, and set your cruise control to 5MPH. This will keep you in a constant gravitational field (near the surface of the Earth), a steady speed (courtesy of your cruise control), and under constant acceleration because you will be constantly changing direction (acceleration is defined as a change in speed or direction).

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                                        • I Ian Shlasko

                                          Bah, too easy... This site is full of geeks... Everyone should know this already... Circular orbit = Constantly accelerating toward the center of the circle, causing speed to remain constant (Only direction changes). Now, if you said constant VELOCITY, then there would be no answer :)

                                          Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
                                          Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

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                                          Exbuhe
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #64

                                          Not quite right. You could have reached terminal velocity (eg. sky-diving), and so your velocity would be constant (no change in speed or direction). Unless you don't count that as a constant gravitational field because you're getting closer to earth, and therefore it's getting stronger ;P

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