Ask a physicist anything. (5)

[Exiledoomsayer]

It's all pressure, m'dear. With the two holes, water is filled up regardless of the size of the holes - the pressure is the same. But with the hose, if you partially block the exit, you have all this high pressure water building up, forcing water to exit faster, and thus travel further.

In general terms, all things being equal, fluid travels faster through narrower cross-sectional areas. Bottles with holes in aren't the same system as garden hoses with varying cross-sectional areas - so operate differently.

I am not sure I understand.

Why is it the presure in the hose increases when in both cases the same action appears to happen. The exit getting smaller.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

I am not sure I understand.

Why is it the presure in the hose increases when in both cases the same action appears to happen. The exit getting smaller.

Because in the case of the bottles, the exit isn't getting smaller: the water is free to spill out of its own accord. If you had absurdly high pressures, you'd get some strange effects like various distances of expelled water. But filling up water with a tap, the water is under equal pressure. Once the hole is completely covered with water (i.e., the waterline isn't 'on' the hole, but 'above' it), then you'd get minuscule differences.

 

[Cabal]

The pill would likely be compressed into a hard pellet of powdered cereal and meat - depending on the size difference and method of compression, it'll probably heat up and burn to a crispy black piece of bleh.

Though a 100x compression... that can't be good for the molecules. It'll heat up. And burn. And your intestines would burn.

Either that, or it would explode. Meat and cheese and tomato and pizza-y goodness EVERYWHERE.

YouTube - peter sure does have to poop

 

[Steffenfield]

Okay.

Say you have two standard electrical cords.

You cut each one in half and tied them together so a plug would be on both ends.

What would happend if you plugged them both into a wall outlet at the same time?

Overlook such things as cicruit breakers and other back up safety whatevers.

 

[Cabal]

Okay.

Say you have two standard electrical cords.

You cut each one in half and tied them together so a plug would be on both ends.

Gnhngnhn...

WIRE them together, man!

What would happend if you plugged them both into a wall outlet at the same time?

Overlook such things as cicruit breakers and other back up safety whatevers.

Nothing, in theory, if the lives, neutrals, and earths are connected. Current only flows through a conductor when there's a voltage difference between one end and the other.

The nasty one is if you short circuit the live and the neutral (or earth), as you have a very large voltage difference across a conductor that likely can't handle that level of power in it, thus, melting etc.

 

[Steffenfield]

So electricity can never oppose itself due to the need of there being a difference in potenial in order for it to flow?

 

[Cabal]

So electricity can never oppose itself due to the need of there being a difference in potenial in order for it to flow?

Yup. The mains live wire in and of itself is not a source of electrical power. You need a circuit, and the neutral completes the circuit.

 

[Steffenfield]

Okay. I'm bored so I thought a little trivia might keep things moving here.

Explain this effect in the sky.

 

[dewaddict84]

flare from the lens?

 

[Steffenfield]

Nope.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

I've seen these, they're 'light pillars', caused by the same thing as the lunar halos - ice crystals reflecting light from the Sun (or even a large, distant, man-made light) back towards our eyes.

When the Sun is low, rare forms of low-lying clouds create unusual horizontally-orientated planar ice 'sheets' in the sky, that reflect the Sun's light. Light directly above the Sun is sufficiently angled that its reflection off these sheets can be seen, while other angles cannot - so you get this column of light.

Cities can sometimes make forests of them:

As for lunar halos, light emitted at 22° with respect to the observer is reflected by ice crystals high up in the sky back towards us, creating this 'ring' of light, similar to these light pillars.

 

[Steffenfield]

Yeup!

I figured that probably was going to be an easy question for ya.

Good job bro.

 

[Steffenfield]

I just caught this site....
RSOE EDIS - Emergency and Disaster Information Service

Not sure what to make of it.

Actually, I guess you could say I'm a little spooked by it all.

I had no idea there are so many earthquakes that happen in the world.

What are some of your guy's opinions?

Has the world always behaved similar to this or is the junk finally coming down?

 

[Wiccan_Child]

I just caught this site....
RSOE EDIS - Emergency and Disaster Information Service

Not sure what to make of it.

Actually, I guess you could say I'm a little spooked by it all.

I had no idea there are so many earthquakes that happen in the world.

What are some of your guy's opinions?

Has the world always behaved similar to this or is the junk finally coming down?

That website's pretty cool isn't it Most of those earthquakes are little tremors. Even in the UK we get little 'quakes, most people don't even know about them. It's only the maaaaasive ones that make headline news.

 

[Cabal]

I'm curious as to what they mean by "hazmat" - especially seeing as there was one a couple of hours ago in Kent - but I'm assuming it refers to a case of a more-serious-than-usual-disease, like TB or maybe even H5N1.

 

[Steffenfield]

By the way, this is for Wiccan Child...

I was a punk and Googled your response about the light pillars, and yeah, it was definitely in your own words.

You didn't copy and paste it from somewhere else.

Huge respect on your answer given!

 

[mzungu]

OK here's a question that begs attention.

If the universe were to collapse into a singularity and that singularity contacted a parallel dimension then would it not spew matter in the form of a big bang into the said dimension?

 

[Wiccan_Child]

OK here's a question that begs attention.

If the universe were to collapse into a singularity and that singularity contacted a parallel dimension then would it not spew matter in the form of a big bang into the said dimension?

Depends on how singularities contact parallel dimensions. Maybe it's like a deep-sea high-pressure fish coming up to the surface: the difference physics cause it to explode. Maybe a singularity from a dead universe finds its way into a pocket of proto-universe, and explodes.

I've always wondered what would happen if a particle from our universe went through a black hole and suddenly found itself in another universe with completely different laws of physics. Considering what happens when you, say, open a video in notepad, the results might be catastrophic

 

[Wiccan_Child]

By the way, this is for Wiccan Child...

I was a punk and Googled your response about the light pillars, and yeah, it was definitely in your own words.

You didn't copy and paste it from somewhere else.

Huge respect on your answer given!

Hah, I've checked a few people's posts before... the giveaway is when their English goes from a few poorly-parsed sentences to whole reams of poorly-formatted but properly spelt paragraphs

 

[Steffenfield]

Is it possible that the upper U.S. is going to super freeze within the next two weeks?

I've heard that it has been called the "Iceman cometh" or something super weird like this.

I just reinstalled Windows XP on my computer so I can't find the link again.

Apparently, there are some scientists who believe that cities like Chicago won't even get a high temperature for the day above 0 degrees Farenheit later this month.

I'm not so sure if I'm quite ready for such a blowfest like this.