/r/AskScienceDiscussion

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Here you can ask any question you have about being a scientist, what's new in a field, what's going to happen in a field, or are curious about how we got to this point.

Welcome to /r/AskScienceDiscussion, help the subreddit grow by subscribing!

/r/AskScienceDiscussion is the place to ask any question you have about being a scientist, what's new in a field, or what's going to happen in a field. We also:

  • Discuss reading material or other educational topics

  • Continue tangential discussions that start on /r/AskScience

  • Help users work through questions they're unsure how to phrase for /r/AskScience

  • Discuss broader questions pertaining to science or scientific fields

Rules

  • Posts and comments that are unrelated to science, promoting pseudoscience or are unscientific in nature will be removed.

  • If you are speculating, please say so.

  • Sources, especially peer-reviewed, are always helpful and appreciated.

  • We are happy to discuss controversial topics, but we expect users to maintain some level of scientific integrity. Arguments that run counter to well-established scientific concepts may be removed.

  • This subreddit is a subsidiary of AskScience and the same rules of civility apply. No troll, bots, spam, or harassment.

  • No medical advice.


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/r/AskScienceDiscussion

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1

Can anyone tell me what unit of salinity is being discussed in this paper?

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320138993_Water_quality_assessment_of_the_ecologically_stressed_Hooghly_River_Estuary_India_A_multivariate_approach

Based on the salinity regime: (i) limnetic zone (salinity = 0.0–0.3)[Tribeni (S1), Barrackpore (S2), and Babughat (S3)] (ii) brackish waterzone (salinity = 1.1–6.0) [Budge Budge (S4), Nurpur (S5) and DiamondHarbor (S6)] and (iii) estuarine water zone (salinity = 7.5–22.5) [Lot 8(S7) and Gangasagar (S8)] as demonstrated in Fig. 1. It would be worthmentioning that Gangasagar (S8) is a cyclone prone and high energyzone located in the western part of Indian Sundarban mangrove wet-land

0 Comments
2024/12/03
08:24 UTC

0

Help me remember theory I forgot

I can't entirely remember it, but something like:
"After searching through 67% of a sample set of random values, you should pick the highest of those 67%, and [spend your remaining time on that]"
The last part I'm not sure about.

The example that was given as to how you could apply it was:
"If you want to find your fiancé in 10 years, you should spend 6.7 years going on dates and then after those 6.7 years you should pick the most compatible partner, and [spend the remaining time on them]."
Again I don't remember the ending.

I think I found this on a science Youtube Channel, but I am not sure. It could also be from a book like Humble Pi.
Of course the examples are most likely not exactly like the original, but they are as close as I can remember.
If someone else have heard about this or recognise anything please comment your thoughts.

3 Comments
2024/12/03
01:18 UTC

4

Anyone got good science history book recommendations?

I'm particularly interested in books that outline some scientific discovery or theory and its implications (the more technical, the better), but also the history of how the discovery was made/who was involved. Thanks.

6 Comments
2024/12/02
13:22 UTC

38

Is it ok that I want to be a scientist just because I think it’s cool?

I’m not really that smart and struggle with learning but I think it’d be really awesome to be a scientist. It’s a long shot for someone like me but it just sounds so important, “hey what do you do for work?” “Oh I’m a scientist!” that’s just really endearing to me. I suppose I’m quite a curious person too, always having questions for things and a desire to learn even if it’s difficult for me, but I just feel like I wouldn’t be a worthy scientist just cuz I think it’s cool to be one, if that even makes sense.

40 Comments
2024/12/02
12:52 UTC

10

Instincts unique to humans?

I saw a video of a young beaver trying to build a dam, being fully raised in a home without beaver parents to teach them this mindset, like its hard coded behavior unique to a beaver. I was wondering if there are specific actions unique to humans like that, that aren't just "fear" or "want to procreate" since those are pretty common mammal instincts. Like is there something oddly specific like "Humans will always try and build something tall whenever they can" or "Humans will always find the need to collect a certain object during mating season" like some birds do?

20 Comments
2024/12/02
07:48 UTC

1

Is thermal expansion/contraction considered "strain"?

In mechanical engineering, strain is stress divided by modulus. This equation implies that strain is only a function of stress, that is without stress there is no strain. However, the definition of strain is simply dL/L, being a function of length and the change of length.

So now I think of an isotropic homogenous body in free space that undergoes uniform temperature change with accompanying volume change. Since this body has and does not experience stress since it's always in its equilibrium state without external influence, is it or has it suffered strain?

9 Comments
2024/12/01
16:54 UTC

3

Could the oceans undergo a sort of limnic eruption on a global scale due to human-induced GHG's?

I was reading about limnic eruptions in Africa, when I wondered, could the oceans do a similar thing if it's had enough of our GHG emissions?

4 Comments
2024/11/30
20:57 UTC

5

How do large storms store energy?

So I know the basic idea behind what powers large storms - hot, moist air raises. As the water condenses it releases more heat, powering further updrafts. The movement of air can bring in more warm moist air, continuing the cycle.

But large storms like hurricanes appear to behave like they have a sort of inertia - they can accumulate strength. A hurricane grows and then moves over land. Once separated from its supply of warm, moist air it quickly begins to diminish - for a certain definition of quickly. They can last a day or two, still blowing strong winds. As I understand it those strong winds are created by the updraft. What’s maintaining the updraft when there is no fresh moist air?

Is there a built up collection of steam that is still condensing? Are hurricanes close enough to the warm ocean they still can pull air and if they fully went “out of range” they would disperse nearly instantly?

Is the length of a cycle (the time it takes a unit of air to get pulled into the eye and raise to the top of the storm) longer than I’m giving it credit for, and it actually can take a day?

Basically trying to understand what mechanism gives large storms an inertia that builds up and then has to diminish over time when they leave favorable conditions. Thanks!

4 Comments
2024/11/30
16:07 UTC

2

What would it take to make a planet (whether we assume its habitable or not) a single biome?

Normally I would go ask another sub dedicated to writing but, since I want to keep things in my recent sci-fi story as “hard science” as possible I decided it might be better to ask here instead. It’s a relatively common trope in sci-fi, from books to games, that planets have a single or “dominant” biome. We know, at least as far as Earth is concerned, this isn’t or at least likely shouldn’t be the case since planets are complex objects with a lot of precise (or at least well tuned) features all working together to make up all the various environments, biomes and regions we see on our own little piece of stellar real-estate.

So realistically speaking, outside of the planet being basically dead like Mars or being terraformed in some manner by insert super science technology here are there any natural processes that could possibly cause a planet to be entirely one biome? Could you, for example, have a whole planet be like the dust bowl that afflicted the USA’s Mid-West nearly a century ago purely by natural process and still be viable to support life, or would it turn into Mars 2.0 at that point? Could a whole planet theoretically be like the Amazon Jungle or have a Mediterranean climate? Could a planet be so volcanically active it’s basically a giant ball of magma without asteroids bombarding it hourly?

21 Comments
2024/11/30
12:12 UTC

0

Can an Object Inherit Orbital Speed from the ISS After Collision?

I’m exploring a rocket-free satellite launch idea: use a high-altitude drone or balloon to carry a payload to 30-40 km altitude, then launch it towards the ISS. The object collides with the ISS, attaching via a "sticky" mechanism, inheriting its orbital velocity (7.8 km/s). The object then releases a mini satellite into orbit.

Is it feasible for the object to inherit the ISS’s orbital velocity after collision? Could this method deploy a satellite successfully? Looking for insights from aerospace experts and orbital mechanics enthusiasts!

34 Comments
2024/11/30
11:50 UTC

3

Do caged pets, like guinea pigs or goldfish, get bored just hanging around in a small space doing nothing?

2 Comments
2024/11/30
05:45 UTC

4

About lack of trust in science

I'm not 100% sure this belongs here, but I want to try and ask anyway. I've been arguing with this one person about trans issues (with them making the typical arguments that trans women are not women because they lack x quality) and mentioned that scienctific consensus seems to generally confirm the experiences and identities of trans people, and that concepts like sex are much more complex than we used to think and it's not actually easy to quantify what a woman is - especially since it's also, to some degree, a question of philosophy. They, in turn, start ranting about how science is untrustworthy and how researchers are paid to publish results that support the political narrative and whatnot.

After some back and forth arguing, they produced several articles and a video by Sabine Hossenfelder mentioning how the pressure of "publish or perish" and other issues have caused a lot of bad science to be produced nowadays, some of which passes the peer review process because the reviewers are not doing their jobs. And because of that, we can't trust anything from after 1990 or so, because it is a miracle for something to not be fraudulent (their words, not mine). And while I know that's nonsense, I'm kind of stumped on what to say.

There's a notable difference between a lot of bad science being published and there being practically no good science anymore, and I doubt that the state of academia is so bad that this bad science has made it into scientific consensus without getting dismissed, and even with all its flaws, academia is still the best source of knowledge we have, but I'm not sure what to do when talking to someone who is clearly not arguing in good faith. Stop, ideally, but as that conversation is in a public forum I also don't just want to leave misinformation unanswered when it might influence others. So how are I and others meant to deal with a lack of trust in science of this level? Apologies for the length of this question, I felt I should give some context on where I am coming from here.

59 Comments
2024/11/29
13:47 UTC

0

Please help with names of extremely small numbers in scientific notation?

I've been trying to find the names for the various really tiny numbers used in scientific notation. This site gives the notation names for numbers down to 10^-24, which is a yocto-whatever, but what I'm trying to find, is what would more of them, down to around 10^-50 or so, would be. Honestly, I'm trying to find out what you'd call 10^-43 seconds, other than the Planck Time.

7 Comments
2024/11/28
20:55 UTC

0

Why don't astronaughts wear suits that provide mechanical pressure?

Current spacesuits operate using air to provide pressure against skin. However, mechanical pressure equivalent to 1 ATM on the body would provide the same effect. Why don't astronaughts wear swimsuit-style spacesuits, with only the head area pressurised? You would reduce the risk of depressurisation due to punctures.

3 Comments
2024/11/28
15:21 UTC

0

Would new physics make the possibility of vaccum decay zero instead of unlikely?

I was wondering if new physics discoveries would make the universe stable and vaccum decay impossible, and if the conditions of the early universe should've triggered FVD if the universe was metastable? I've been anxious about vaccum decay for a while so I'd like to put it to rest.

9 Comments
2024/11/28
13:01 UTC

2

Can we view the gravitational effects of particles in superposition?

I understand that gravity doesnt seem to necessarily cause waveform collapse. But since all matter has gravity, would we be able to measure the gravitational effects of something in superposition? Would this theoretically allow us to measure all of its locations without collapsing the wave function?

51 Comments
2024/11/27
18:48 UTC

0

Are we at the limits of Battery technology?

Seems like there hasn't been a breakthrough in this century. Nothing revolutionary, like even when Li Ion was first introduced.

Graphene fizzled out. Solid state battery seems to be a dream too. Superconductors at room temperature seems to be science fiction.

Is this it? The best we will get at battery tech?

13 Comments
2024/11/27
14:57 UTC

1

Does a current carrying superconductor wire experience a force in an external magnetic field?

Generally speaking, a current carrying wire experiences a force in an external magnetic field (F=I L x B). Superconductors expel magnetic fields (Type I SC anyway). So if you have a SC carrying current, the actual region where current is flowing shouldn't have any magnetic field in it (the magnetic field lines would divert around the wire). Would the SC wire still experience a force?

2 Comments
2024/11/27
14:37 UTC

0

Does SN 1054 (Crab Nebula Supernova) still contribute to cosmic radiation above the Earth's atmosphere?

1 Comment
2024/11/27
11:47 UTC

6

What was the middle stages of butterfly evolution?

The entire transformation mechanics could not appear in single mutation. So, what were the in-between stages that made animal transform into different kind of animal instead of just growing up? Maybe, some of those in-between stages currently exist in some species?

9 Comments
2024/11/27
11:06 UTC

3

in search of a source

I know that dragonflies have the highest successful hunt/kill rate in the animal kingdom but i cannot find anything other than a website that states this. I am trying to use this fact in a paper but cannot find an academic source for it? Any help would be very much appreciated

2 Comments
2024/11/25
00:24 UTC

4

I read in a paper that a river water's potable salinity limit is 250 ppm for a particular water treatment plant. Why is the potable limit so low, when most world agencies consider <600 ppm to be good water quality?

Please help me resolve this query.

5 Comments
2024/11/24
10:27 UTC

0

how does the color of a star impact visible light nearby?

So, as a preface to this, I'm not entirely sure if this counts as too hypothetical or not. To my understanding, there are certain base principles at play that determine all this in a fairly clear manner and I'm just not educated enough to be able to fill in the gaps, to apply the science as it is understood. In this context, I would expect the same "rules" could be applied with any given variation, even ones that are not known to appear in nature. For context, I have been basically handed a worldbuilding project with an unnatural purple star and I'm curious how, if you run it through the determinant things, what changes. This question applies broadly though, and works even with known stars like red and blue that differ from our own sun and encounter similar issues. Now, this is my understanding:

Our star is a whitish star. It may give out some more in particular areas, but it's a "white" star. Not all stars do this, some stars are red, some are bluer. Yellowy stars might be sat in the middle of the spectrum. Green and purple stars do not naturally exist.

Because our sun is white (or "yellow") and gives off a lot of greenish light, we have green plants. Because the sun is white, the moon appears white, our skies appear blue, sunsets are red, and the visible light spectrum is the rainbow. This is where my understanding starts to break down a little: If our star was blue, would sunset not be red because there's not enough red light being given off? Or would the sheer brightness of the star mean that it does so anyway? If it was red, would our sky still be blue even for a relative absence of blue light? Would the moon change color with the star?

I ask for purple because I've been, in effect, handed a writing situation with a purple star. It is explicitly unnatural, but it's there. The reddish purple of a ripe plum is the exact words I have. So, to my understanding: the sky is blue, but a richer blue for the lack of a green/yellow to "whiten" it. The sunsets are red, and emphatically so. The moon? Would a moon like earth's be purple to match the star? Blue, because of blue scattering? Would it shift?

And, more interestingly - if we assume that the natives are plain humans able to see the color spectrum just like we do, would the color green be allowed to exist at all on this world? The sun isn't giving off green light, except perhaps as a matter of being so bright via being a star that it gives off an amount of "white" light, but would this be enough that the color green could exist on the world? If something green was brought from off-world, a car or something, what would it look like here? And would the sun in the sky look reddish with a blue sky filtering it a bit? Or would it just look very pale like ours does, although people say it's yellow because of that blue filter, I still think it looks white tbh.

These are, I believe, questions possible to answer by people who actually know how these effects work, and limited to theory only because no known examples exist rather than some extreme impossibility. Like, the principles that define this all are still just in place the same as always, right? It's just a matter of changing the source color, and running it through the same stuff?

To sum up, I believe my fundamental question can be broken down thusly: How much of an impact does the apparent color of a star have on the visible spectrum nearby? Are stars bright enough that they're all basically some degree of "white" that overrides it, or is the impact profound? What actually changes here? The sky? The moon? The color of the star in the sky? In these color-skewed stars, can opposite tones (red for a blue star, vice versa) and middle tones (green/yellow) be seen regardless?

Thank you for your consideration, everyone who reads this.

14 Comments
2024/11/23
17:04 UTC

7

What's a good (and modern) textbook for an introduction to climate change?

I own atmospheric physics/science textbooks as well as a climatology textbook (Global Physical Climatology), but they're either not really focused on climate change or rather old editions that are not up to date. What is the best textbook to start understanding this problem a recent (as much as possible) perspective?

7 Comments
2024/11/23
12:22 UTC

0

As a new science undergraduate, I'm curious about which social media platform you find most effective for discovering science articles

2 Comments
2024/11/23
06:15 UTC

4

Are there any male terachromats?

Tetrachromacy allows people to see more colors than the average person. However, I'm only aware of the condition existing in women. Are there any documented examples of men with tetrachromacy?

11 Comments
2024/11/22
19:06 UTC

0

Civilian Science in Physics

Hello Friends,

I'm currently finishing up a BSc in Biology with plans to do graduate work next year, and potentially a PhD after that. My current end goal is a career in research somewhere. The reason I mention this is that in Biology, there is a large number of armature 'Civilian scientists' who basically do science as a hobby. These people were looked down on by the biology community for a while, but recently professional biologists are starting to collaborate more with them and they are actually really useful when collecting data (also see two-eyed seeing).

I'm wondering how common this is in other sciences, Physics specifically. I've recently been getting really interested in relativity(especially black holes), and while I'm not naïve enough to think I understand it based on a couple hours worth of youtube videos, I would potentially like to explore further.

My issue is I've already taken an extra year to graduate, and do not have time/room to pursue this academically. I am also concerned that I may be underestimating the difficulty of the math involved in these topics. The highest math course I've completed was a pre-cal/calculus supplementary course between highschool and university. I definitely think I can do better than this, because all my 'struggles' in previous math so far has been due to a lack of effort rather than ability (lazy). However I do know that physics gets really crazy.

I'd be happy not exploring unknown territory, but the dream would be to get to an understanding where I can start to explore these unknowns if I wished. Another issue I have is I'm not entirely sure where to start outside of starting another BSc in physics. (I'm not that serious)

I guess my question is: Is it feasible to do any type of physics outside of academia, or am I attempting something probably not worth the effort?

Other questions I thought about before I hit post:
What type of communications happen between physicists? Is it just people publishing papers back and forth, or is there more correspondence than that?

I learn best from taking in a bunch of stuff and then asking a bunch of specific questions. I have found it hard to do this online, and really benefit from speaking with my Professors. Is there anything like this outside of university?

While I do enjoy proofs, it's not really the part I am interested in, I prefer more interpreting the meaning of the math/equations. Is that a significant part of physics or just something mentioned in the conclusion of a paper?

Thanks for any responses.

9 Comments
2024/11/22
17:44 UTC

5

What is the ‘mechanism’ of annihilation?

What actually happens mechanistically in annihilation?

What I mean is like, take covalent bonding. In a covalent bond between two atoms, the two atoms are close enough together that they begin sharing part of the same electron cloud, and this has the effect of holding them in proximity to one another in a single system.

What is the, so to speak, “physical intuition” of what’s happening in annihilation? Is it just some excitation of the quantum fields, so that there can’t even be a physical description of the interaction? Or do the particle and antiparticle like “touch” each other, and when they touch they break down or transform or something? Do the colliding particles ‘instantaneously’ transform into the byproducts, or is there a process of transformation?

12 Comments
2024/11/22
01:11 UTC

1

If the singularity of a black hole has infinite curvature of space time, shouldn't time dilation render if basically eternal?

8 Comments
2024/11/21
15:53 UTC

2

Science Fair ideas

Hi,

I'm 15 and I'm looking to dip into the world of science fairs. I'm passionate about science and medicine so I think a science fair is a really good opportunity

I wanted to reach out to some people and ask about some day to day problems that you might be facing that need solutions. Don't get me wrong, I don't want your solutions to these problems. I just want some inspiration about some problems that I can hopefully try to solve for my project on my own.

I tried researching on the internet but figured I needed some actual human input so if I do find a potential idea thorough here I would feel more passionate since I know real people are actually looking for a solution.

I hope this is an okay thing to ask here.

Sorry if this shows up twice. I have no clue if the first one posted

5 Comments
2024/11/18
02:02 UTC

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