If I have a circular disc of radius 300,000 km and made it rotate with 1 rad/s, wouldn’t a particle on the edge of that circular disc exceed the speed of light?
No. This is a very common thought-experiment – called the Ehrenfest paradox – and like most paradoxes – it isn’t a paradox at all. The problem is that you’re imagining…
What is the scariest theory known to man?
When we die and subsequently stop breathing, our brain and nerve cells die within a few minutes due to the lack of oxygen. Once a person dies though,…
Why can’t we dig deeper than 12.2 km into the Earth?
12.2 km is not a theoretical limit, it is the depth of the 1970 Russian Kola Superdeep hole project which was abandoned at that point (after 20 years)…
Is it true that Jupiter is so large that it does not orbit around the sun?
Yes! Jupiter, The biggest planet in our solar system. It is so massive that 1300 earths could fit inside of this planet. Jupiter is 2.5 times more massive…
Is Venus technically more habitable than Mars?
Venus is a hell world which has utterly annihilated everything we’ve ever sent there in minutes. The surface temperature can reach more than 800F (462C). The atmospheric pressure…
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,…
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….
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…
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…