Category: Physics

Do Disney rides go faster at night? Zipping around on a roller coaster in the dark is great fun—and it may be just imagination, but we think it feels like Thunder Mountain goes faster at night. Because it’s so pretty at night, that’s our preferred time to ride, but you won’t miss too much if […]

Is a screwball a real pitch? A screwball is a baseball and fastpitch softball pitch that is thrown so as to break in the opposite direction of a slider or curveball. Depending on the pitcher’s arm angle, the ball may also have a sinking action. Why is a knuckleball so hard to hit? The trick […]

What is the strength of the electric field at point 4 cm from the center? Explanation: A) At point 4 cm from the center, strength of the electric field is 0. Why does a dipole produce an electric field? Instead, on one surface the dipole heads create a positive surface charge, while at the opposite […]

Why do O and B type stars have weaker hydrogen absorption lines? So, most of the electrons in hydrogen are stuck on the ground orbit because they cannot absorb the lower energy light. This results in weaker absorption lines, because very few hydrogen atoms are participating. You cannot measure the temperature of the star based […]

What is the biggest challenge facing farmers over the next decade? The following five challenges to the future of agriculture and food security exist on almost every continent in one form or another: constraints on resources from fossil fuel to water to phosphorus; land management problems resulting from tillage to monoculture to improper grazing practices; […]

What are the major issues facing American federalism today? What issues most influence American Federalism today? Today political debates over how the United States will best address key policy areas – poverty, homeland security, environmental protection, immigration, and health care – drive changes in our federal system. How has the power of federal government developed […]

Is Mud and water a heterogeneous mixture? Answer: Muddy water, on the other hand is a heterogeneous mixture because mud can settle, leaving the mixture with much less mud at the top of the bucket than the bottom. Why is coffee a heterogeneous mixture? Is coffee a homogeneous or heterogeneous? White coffee is certainly heterogeneous […]

How can I not believe in astrology? Realize that horoscopes are just for fun and do not mean anything. Check your horoscope (hopefully for the last time). Look at what your horoscope says. Then look at a different sign’s horoscope. If you find yourself thinking that you need to change to fit a horoscope, you […]

Can you have a magnetic field without an electric field? No you can have a magnetic field without an electric field. Consider a rod with an equal number of positive and negative charges (such that they are equally spaced). This will result in a magnetic field but no electric field. How do moving electric charges […]

What can we learn from radial velocity? The radial velocity technique is able to detect planets around low-mass stars, such as M-type (red dwarf) stars. This is due to the fact that low mass stars are more affected by the gravitational tug of planets and because such stars generally rotate more slowly (leading to more […]