Stupid questions...

[REASON]

Originally Posted by Boerseun

What's a "pysicist"?

Sounds definitely medical to me...

"Hand me the urine sample, you old pysicist, you..."

uhh.....yeah.....umm.....right, well, I was trying to make the question seem even stupider.....yeah, that's what it was. Supider!

[Qfwfq]

Originally Posted by REASON

Is there a similar low grade contempt that exists between mathematicians and pysicists, such as you'll find between architects and engineers?

I can imagine the one between architects and engineers, there is a complicated one between mathematicians, theoretical pysicists, experimental pysicists and engineers!

[Boerseun]

I knew the answer (or an attempt at an answer, I dunno) to this one long, loooong ago, but have since forgotten it.

Nevertheless, having been stung by a bee yesterday, this question crossed my mind:

What on Earth could be the evolutionary benefit to the little barb-thingy on a bee's stinger that makes it croak after the first sting?

I understand that not all victims will pull the barb out, so bees can sting more than once. But once the barb is hooked, the bee dies. So why would it develop the barb in the first place?

It seems to me that bees without barbs on their stingers will be much more successful at protecting their hives than those with barbs, and should, theoretically, be selected for?

Whazzup wi' this?

[freeztar]

Why do colors run when paint drips?

[Qfwfq]

Originally Posted by Boerseun

So why would it develop the barb in the first place?

Once it is hooked, it is a greater problem for the critter that it punctured. If it did evolve that way, then be sure it isn't a great disadvantage. The single worker bee that has the barb is as dispensible as each cell in your body, the organism is the hive. A queen bee doesn't have the barb and they duel each other to the death, one per hive, they don't face the intruder.

[paigetheoracle]

Why do you sometimes get unfrozen water in glacial ice, if all water freezes at the same temperature?

If water is clear, why do bubbles appear white?

[sanctus]

1)inclinaison towards sun? Or some salt transported by wind?

2)no idea

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by paigetheoracle

Why do you sometimes get unfrozen water in glacial ice, if all water freezes at the same temperature?

Ummm...does it have to do with melting?

If water is clear, why do bubbles appear white?

Gas in water, bubbling up, what makes it visible?

Is it the result of leprechaun-ish qubits?

[Pyrotex]

Originally Posted by paigetheoracle

Why do you sometimes get unfrozen water in glacial ice, if all water freezes at the same temperature?

If water is clear, why do bubbles appear white?

The temperature at which water freezes is variable -- according to what and how much is disolved in the water. The story goes that Mr. Farenheit calibrated his thermometer by setting 100 as the temp of his armpit (the book didn't say which one) and setting 0 as the temp of a mixture of water, ice and a salt (I forget which one) at solutic and thermal equilibrium.

Needless to say, that was 32 degrees F BELOW the freezing point of pure H2O. Therefore, it is entirely likely that impure water would freeze, the solubles getting more and more concentrated into a shrinking bubble, until the remaining liquid had a freeze point way too low for the temperature.

Many air bubbles in water are tiny. I mean really tiny. And they act like a microscopic dust and scatter light. This makes the ice go opaque and white. Larger solitary bubbles don't always have a smooth surface on the inside. After the bubble froze, residual water vapor slowly deposited on the inside of the bubble like a frost. Ergo--white bubble.

[Boerseun]

Why, sometimes, do gas hurt so much?

When a bubble of gas takes a corner in your gut and gets stuck somewhere, it hurts like hell. Some people have even been taken up in the Emergency Room, mistaking an internal fart for a heart attack!

So, why do you have sensing nerves around your gut? What could the possible use of that be? Or is it simply the gut expanding and putting pressure on an adjacent organ, and what you feel is the other organ being shoved out the way to make way for your inner fart?