Why is it that a 747 starts off slowly then halfway down the runway, it’s full throttle? An A380 is full throttle from the start.
Apparently, a lot of pilots are not aware of the origin of this practice. This was not done until the 747 was introduced. Prior to the 747, when…
Why is the Martian soil considered toxic, and how does that affect growing food on Mars?
Sadly, if Mark Watney really had to try and survive by growing potatoes in his own shit, he would still be on Mars – and very dead. What Andy Weir…
Is it true that the Space Shuttle smelled quite bad when ground crews got aboard after a flight to clean and unload?
I worked as a Flight Crew Systems engineer for Lockheed Space Ops and then United Space Alliance, supporting over a hundred missions. Because some of my group took…
How can US Navy carriers that were built 3-4 decades ago be better than Chinese Navy carriers built just 2-3 years ago?
Love this question and I’ll throw my hat into the ring here. The question, for the benefit of the uninformed, is the following: Why is this ship that…
If a nuclear powered aircraft carrier was sunk in deep sea water, would the reactor be cooled enough by the sea, or would it explode?
The only time a nuclear reactor actually exploded was in Chernobyl. It happened because the operators broke a cardinal rule on thermal spectrum nuclear reactors: You NEVER, EVER…
For how long do I have to aim a laser at the moon to see a dot?
There are two possible questions here. The first is simply how long would it take for a laser to travel to the moon and back. The moon is…
What is the scariest flag to see flying on a ship?
The signal flag Lima “I have contagious disease onboard”. Not influenza, but yellow fever, cholera, plague, Ebola or something as nasty. Almost as bad are signal flags Alfa – Juliet…
How do submarines handle medical emergencies like a ruptured appendix when they’re deep underwater or in remote locations?
Approximately 1973, a USS Will Rodgers (SSBN 659B) crewman had a ruptured appendix roughly midway thought our patrol. The mission was a nuclear deterrent patrol, meaning 3 months…
Why do LED bulbs still burn out very frequently, aren’t they going to last over 10 years?
Because you are using them wrong. But it’s not your fault… Allow me to explain: For roughly ever, we used incandescent bulbs, that work by getting hot. That’s…
Why are bears the only animal that there is a panda version of? Why are there no panda donkeys?
Because this isn’t a panda at all: This is a panda: In 1879 a researcher named Alphonse Milne-Edwards examined a giant panda skeleton and decided that it was…