Flare Sci-Fi Forums: forget history, here's a science quiz

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Posted by Fructose (Member # 309) on :

Ok, a little chemistry and physics. Ready.... GO!

1. Why does Coca-Cola taste sweet when you open it and taste wattery when it goes flat?

2. Does pure water conduct electricity?

3. If you mix hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, what do you get?

4. How does a microwave work?

5. Where did they get the name "laser" from?

6. What is a half life and what is more dangerous, a short one or a long one?

I'll give partial credit too.

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Posted by Aethelwer (Member # 36) on :

1. Er...maybe the corn syrup breaks down. Not sure about this one.

2. Yup.

3. HCl+NaOH=HOH+NaCl (water and salt)

4. You press a button, and...instant popcorn! Or maybe it sends microwaves through food, but that doesn't sound right.

5. It's an acronym.

6. Half-life refers to the amount of time it takes for half of a sample of atoms to decay. A shorter half-life would mean something would decay faster, sending out more alpha/beta/gamma rays during a given time, so I'm guessing that's more dangerous.

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Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

1. Why does Coca-Cola taste sweet when you open it and taste wattery when it goes flat?

Well, I would assume it has something to do w/ the lack of CO₂ bubbles when it's flat, but maybe not...

2. Does pure water conduct electricity?

Well, by specifying "pure", I think you gave it away. Of course not. It's all those little impurities that the electrons jump between...

3. If you mix hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide, what do you get?

Salt water?

4. How does a microwave work?

I didn't realize a microwave worked at all. It's just a fairly high-frequency bit of electromagnetism...

5. Where did they get the name "laser" from?

Light Amplified by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.

6. What is a half life and what is more dangerous, a short one or a long one?

It's the amount of time that it takes half of a radioactive substance to decay. I'm not sure which is more dangerous, though. A short half-life means you're going to get balsted by all the radiation really quickly. But, then, a long half-life means the stuff is going to sit around a slowly irradiate you for a long time. I guess you just have to pick which one you like better... *L*

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Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :

1. The fizz numbs your tongue, I guess.
2. Actually, it doesn't. When you dissolve or dissociate materials in it, it can.
3. Water and NaCl, of course. Not to mention a lot of energy, usually in the form of heat.
4. Microwaves excite the water molecules in materials, causing heat when the energy is released.
5. I think TSN has it.
6. A half-life of a material is the time it takes for half of the sample will break down(not just radioactive material, but chemical reactions follow this principle as well). The halflife is always the same no matter what the size of the sample.

Short halflives are safer because they don't last long, leaving less radioactive energy exposing the body. Many medical techniques use radioactive material that have short halflives, like Iodine.

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Posted by Fructose (Member # 309) on :

Let's see, the only one you haven't gotten was the coke one. It's sweet because the CO₂ actually dissolves into the water. When it does that it can combine with water to make H₂CO₃ which is an acid and acids taste sweet. With time the H₂CO₃ turns back to CO₂ in water and that bubbles off, so all that's left is more water, thus wattered down. And a shorter half life is considered more dangerous because you get more radiation in given amount of time. It's like sunbathing. If you do it all day, you get fried. But do it a little at a time and you get a nice tan. But I wouldn't recomend trying to tan with plutonium.

Oh, and you do need stuff dissolved in water for it to conduct.

You guys want some harder questions?

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It doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing as long as you look good doing it.

[This message has been edited by fructose1 (edited July 05, 2000).]

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Certainly... :-)

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"I'm sick of you little girl and boy groups: all you do is annoy me, so I have been sent here to destroy you..."
-Eminem, "The Real Slim Shady"

Posted by Fructose (Member # 309) on :

Ok, I'll pull out my astronautics book and my space chem book to review a little.

I'll keep it within reason though.

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It doesn't matter if you don't know what you're doing as long as you look good doing it.

Posted by Saiyanman Benjita (Member # 122) on :

You didn't give much time for someone to answer your first question (since noone got it right.) I had the answer to the first one, and its the real reason I hate soda (and if it's flat, forget it.)

Yeah, give us some harder ones, though.

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Jack Nicholson vs. Clint Eastwood, Shortest debate in history, all Jack will have to say is "How can you debate me, you haven't opened your goddammed eyes in twenty years."