Yesterday was the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society.
I was reading an article yesterday in which ten people each posited a question they would like science to answer. So, do you have a question/s that you want answered?
These are the ten in the article, see the link for further details:
What is consciousness?
What happened before the big bang?
Will science and engineering give us back our individuality?
How are we going to cope with the world’s burgeoning population?
Is there a pattern to the prime numbers?
Can we make a scientific way of thinking all pervasive?
How do we ensure humanity survives and flourishes?
Can someone explain adequately the meaning of infinite space?
Will I be able to record my brain like I can record a programme on television?
Can humanity get to the stars? Article link
Colourful eyes, you've been watching the Flintstones! : )
So no one has any questions they would like to see answered?
I would like to know;
What's happening to the bees?
And more importantly,
When I accidentally drop my toast why does it always land buttered side down?
Colourful eyes, you've been watching the Flintstones! : )
So no one has any questions they would like to see answered?
I would like to know;
What's happening to the bees?
And more importantly,
When I accidentally drop my toast why does it always land buttered side down?
I'll come back to your other questions after but I shall answer these ones right now.
Nothing really is happening to the bees. If you are talking about the pollination process then we are basically messing with the bees by getting rid of normal flowers and creating artificial flower beds in our lawns and parks.
The side of the toast with butter is slightly heavier than the side without the butter. So when you drop it, the toast is not really flat horizontally hence the the side with the tilt falls faster and before you know it the toast turns because of the extra weight.
^ Libran is kind of right about the toast question, basically due to the uneven mass distribution the toast doesn’t flip…it rotates. But, the distance from kitchen counter to the floor will stop the rotation at it’s half way point which is when the toast is butter side down.
About the bee question…bees are dying out. The problem is mainly with honey bees though and not other species. One of the main reasons is due to the widespread phenomena of colony collapse disorder (CCD) which can be caused by parasites, pathogens and other diseases etc. We don’t really know the exact cause behind CCD, but it’s probably a multitude of factors. So basically bee colonies are just dying out…
That being said we had a swarm of honey bees in our back garden one summer…apparently it’s really rare to get that. It looked something like this (yep those are all bees):
Syraa is partially right about the toast except for the heavy side will always face down regardless of the distance. The toast filps because of the heavier side pushes down more than the lighter side (non butter). Once the heavier side is down the lighter one can't flip it again.
If you read this then it seems like saira is right. Author of this article mentions one thing : “In our typical early morning scenario, the toast slips off the side of the table and is given a slight rotation as it starts to fall.”
In this case it depends mostly on the rotation and how big/small is the rotation and how many times the toast can rotate during the fall.
