Why do pilots seem to stabilize engines at around 50% thrust before pushing to full takeoff power?
The 777 engines are simply massive, with the GE-90’s generating upto 115,000lbs of thrust, per side. When cleared for take-off we run the engines to 55% N1 and…
Why aren’t car windshields made out of transparent aluminum?
When I read the question, my first impulse was to say “price.” But I didn’t really know how much aluminium oxynitride costs; that was just a hunch. So…
What if Tsar Bomba was dropped in the middle of the United States?
The geographic centre of the (edit: contiguous 48 states of the) US is a little north of a small burg called Lebanon, Kansas. A Tsar Bomba at operational yield would…
If you run a gasoline engine indefinitely with unlimited fuel, what will be the first cause of failure?
I ran numerous stationary engines for a water company years ago. We had a number 455 CI Oldsmobile engines sitting out in an open field running irrigation water…
If Earth orbited a blue supergiant star at the habitable zone, would going to the beach be a bad idea no matter what? Would people get sunburned within seconds?
No. Sunburn would not be a risk. Ozone layers don’t just shield against ultraviolet radiation, they are also created by ultraviolet. Specifically, ozone layers are created by higher…
Why didn’t anyone come up with an artificial diamond?
They have. They’ve been able to do this for many years now. The problem is artificial GEM grade diamonds. Diamonds, regular diamonds, are common as hell. They’re used…
How will Trump’s reign of terror end?
I suspect that the US will end up in civil conflict. They may break apart, The average age of an empire is 250 years. So, unless Trump is…
Did the U.S. Navy build a secret submarine base to hide from Russia?
During the Cold War, the US could not build secret bases capable of housing capital assets like submarines without the Soviets finding out about it. That being said,…
What is the most likely catastrophe to occur to the United States within the next 50 years?
One that no one here has mentioned yet, but everyone should be talking about: The U.S. will run out of easily mineable domestic deposits of phosphorus within the…
If a plane crash is imminent, are the passengers informed?
As Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) Flight 182 took a 19-second plunge to the ground after colliding in mid-air with a Cessna, the 727’s captain warned over the cabin…