NASA has revealed a stunning first photo of the distant world of Ultima Thule, the most distant object that humanity has ever explored. Was it as they expected?
his is the back side of Jupiter’s moon Callisto: A dark, icy, cratered ball. Pretty much what they expected. And possibly the last thing in the Solar System that looked…
If water is made up of 2 atoms of hydrogen & 1 atom of oxygen, then why can’t we manufacture water?
We can! Here is a giant water-making machine in action, making 1.8 tons of artificial water every second: At this moment, 200 kg hydrogen and 1600 kg oxygen…
Why does the Earth rotate? Why doesn’t it stop?
Planets do not have to rotate. Look at Venus. It rotates so slowly that it might as well not be rotating. It rotates backward as well. You might…
If you lit a match on Jupiter, would the planet explode?
Jupiter is 90% hydrogen, but the remaining 10% is mostly helium. A match is composed of carbon, which reacts with heat to combine with oxygen to create CO2….
If I was in a room made of mirrors, and I shut off the lights, why wouldn’t the residual light continue to bounce off the mirrors and illuminate the room?
No. Because no mirror is 100% efficient. Every time it reflects light it absorbs a small amount of photons. Also, once you start to look, the room will…
How deep is the sand of the Sahara? What is below it? Is it a gradual transition, or is it like pure sand dumped directly on some previous flat surface?
The Sahara, Arabic for desert, stretches across North Africa. The Sahara is the world’s largest non-polar desert, over 9,000,000 km² (3,500,000 mi²), which is about the same size as the…
What is something that seems scientifically impossible but is completely true?
I’ve always liked this one. I’m not sure where I saw if first, but this image is from Reddit. The buckets sitting on the table are holding it…
What makes some rocket engines more powerful than others?
There are a few things. The most obvious is size. A physically larger engine can pull in more fuel and oxygen per second than a smaller engine –…