What will happen if a person lands on Pluto?
It has a solid surface and we actually, thanks to New Horizons, have mapped a large part of it. So it is actually possible to land there, unlike…
What is the scariest real picture of the ocean or anything in it?
1. Sitting on the edge of an underwater cliff 2. A fisherman holding a deep sea Wolf Eel 3. A whale graveyard lies silently as Anna Von Boetticher…
If a black hole the size of an atom appeared in the same room as me, what would happen?
You’d be torn apart. A black hole the size of even the smallest atom (around 0.03 nanometre radius) would have a mass of 2×10162×1016 kg. At a distance of, say,…
How does a human body decompose in space?
Unlike decomposition on Earth, governed by bacteria, insects, and a host of environmental factors, the process out there unfolds in an entirely alien way. Forget about putrefaction as…
Electricity can’t be stored, so when I turn on a light, the power station must immediately produce some extra electricity. How is this possible? From an engineering perspective, how are power stations designed to handle continually varying loads?
First of all, the electricity you use in your house doesn’t “Come from a power station”. It comes from a transformer located maybe 300 feet from your house….
Why is Hiroshima habitable now when the half life of uranium-235 is 700 million years?
“Half-life” means “half of the atoms have decayed after this time”. So a very long half-life means that the atoms rarely decay – meaning that it’s not actually…
What made the Rocky Mountains if they’re not on a plate boundary?
The Rocky Mountains are the biggest geological feature in North America, and they don’t behave like any other mountains. Buckle up. This is a pretty good geologic detective story, and…
Does the planet Jupiter actually have a terrestrial surface to it, like Earth?
Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is often referred to as a gas giant due to its composition, which is predominantly hydrogen and helium. Unlike Earth,…
Why when summiting Mount Chimborazo (the tallest mountain from the center of the Earth, being the closest to space) not require oxygen to be worn for hikers at the top, but Mount Everest does?
Both can be scaled without oxygen. The atmosphere-to-sea-level ratio determines how dangerous things get. Everest climbs to 29,029 feet (8,848 meters), while Chimborazo’s peak is 20,548 feet (6,263…
When the Sun finally eats us, what will the last days on Earth be like?
My friend, Earth will be a hell hole long before we meet the true end. You see, the Sun ain’t getting any younger. It’s a middle-aged star slowly…