The quiz thread. Test your knowledge.

[PlasmaBomb]

Saturn V (pronounced "Saturn Five".)



As far as I know, there's no limit. You just get farther into the radio band. Well, maybe a standing wave with a wavelength the diameter of the universe is the limit.

Reminds me of a joke, which I don't remember well enough for it to be funny, about a guy who gets lost in the woods with a very-long-wave radio. He calls for help, but because it's a long-wave radio, he can only reach receivers thousands of miles away. So he calls Japan to get the ranger station 10 miles away to rescue him or something like that.

The equation for the energy associated with a photon is -

So I would think that as the wavelength approaches the speed of light the energy approaches Planck's constant. Since Planck's constant is the minimum discrete amount of energy that would limit the wavelength... to the speed of light (specifically 1 light second?).

 

[Locut0s]

What is the largest wavelength of light possible?

Depends on how you define light. Humans can see into the deep red part of the spectrum but no further. So for us the wavelength that corresponds to the deepest red we can still make out. However other animals can see into the infrared so for these animals parts of the infrared spectrum would be considered "light". And anyway there is nothing special about "light" as we call it. It's just a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum that we humans are sensitive too. Radio waves are carried by the same photons just at a longer wavelength. So looking at it this way radio waves are a form of light. Radio telescopes could be considered "eyes" and could be considered to "see" in the radio spectrum.

 

[Locut0s]

In 1991 Terry Pendleton of the Atlanta Braves won the National League MVP by just 15 points. Whom did he keep from winning an unprecedented four consecutive MVP awards?

Spoiler

He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates at the time.

Spoiler

Later, he did win four in a row.

Spoiler

With the San Francisco Giants.

Ugg sport again.

Name the rocket which sent Neil Armstrong to the moon. Pic:

Spoiler

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ap10-KSC-69PC-110.jpg

The booster was the Saturn V.

Everyone knows Steve Jobs. Who's the other Steve who co-founded Apple?

Spoiler

AKA Woz.

Steve Wozniak. not sure about spelling and I think his fist name was steve to but I could be wrong

What's the primary compound in chalk?

Spoiler

Antacids, too.

Spoiler

CaCO3.

Calcium Carbonate

In the Genesis story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, who pleads with God not to destroy the cities if even so many as ten righteous men can be found in them?

Spoiler

The father of Isaac.

Spoiler

An American president was named after him.

Isaiah?

What was the first production car to use a carbon fiber chassis?

Spoiler

It went on sale in 1992 for approximately one million dollars.

Spoiler

It's still the fastest naturally aspirated production car in the world.

No not I the answer to this question.

What was the first music video ever played on MTV?

Spoiler

By The Buggles.

Music is not my forte.

Who won an Olympic gold medal in boxing and was 31-0 with 21 knockouts in his pro career, never even having been knocked down, before being destroyed in 91 seconds and never fighting again?

Spoiler

June 27, 1988.

Spoiler

At the hands of one Michael Gerard Tyson.

Yipee another sports question

^^

 

[Locut0s]

@angminas You do realize that your spoilers instantly become visible when you go to reply to a thread right?

 

[Locut0s]

Interesting answers.




What is a notochord?

I believe this is the evolutionary precursor to the spinal cord in invertebrates.

What is an orchidometer and what does it do?

Detects orchids?

What was the original usage of the term "Planet X" in reference to, why was its existence theorized, and what happened to it?

I know it was a theorized planet beyond those known at the time. It was theorized to exist based on perturbations in the orbit, from what one would expect from gravitational calculations, of the farthest known plant at the time. What I'm not 100% sure on is whether this planet ended up being Pluto or Neptune. I'm going to guess Pluto.


What are the names of Mars' moons?

FUUUUUCK I know this but it's not coming to mind.

What is phrenology?

The quack since of studying the morphology of the skull and the belief that one can glean info on the brain underneath and aspects of the person from this.

Chemically, what is the difference between starch and cellulose?

Something to do with cell walls? Not sure.

What are Tanner Stages?

Que?

What drug does Sherlock Holmes use most often?

Cocaine

two men are walking towards each other alongside a railway. A freight train overtakes one of them in 20 seconds and exactly 10 minutes later reaches the other man coming in the opposite direction. The train passes this man in 18s. How long after the train has passed the second man will the two men meet? (Constant speeds are assumed throughout)

Forgotten my basics

^^

 

[Locut0s]

The name's right. Pick a location.

After that, what constellation was it in?

I'm going to go with the Large Magellanic cloud. Both galaxies are not visible from the Northern Hemisphere so it would have been in a southern constellation. I'm not sure which one it was but I'll guess Draco since it takes up probably the largest area in the sky.

 

[Locut0s]

Well, since someone answered the last math problem, here's a geometry one:

You're a ball-bearing manufacturer. You've just gotten a good deal on 1cmx1cmx1cm inflexible cubic boxes to ship your ball bearings in. What's the maximum number of 1mm-diameter spherical ball bearings can you fit inside each box?

I want to say 1000 but that's way too easy. I think I remember reading something about a math proof about optimal packing that was just like this. Something about reading that makes me want to say the answer is 1001. Optimal packing is almost a while field of study.

 

[elbosco]

What is the difference between sucrose and fructose?

In what order, and what are the distances respectively, for an Ironman Triathlon?

2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bicycling, 26.2 mile run.

Not as fun as I thought it would be.

 

[Locut0s]

The equation for the energy associated with a photon is -

So I would think that as the wavelength approaches the speed of light the energy approaches Planck's constant. Since Planck's constant is the minimum discrete amount of energy that would limit the wavelength... to the speed of light (specifically 1 light second?).

??

Wouldn't the wavelength be:

Lambda = (hc)/E

h and c are both constants here. I don't see anything there that gives a maximum bound on the wavelength. However large you want the wavelength to be just assume a small enough value for its energy.

 

[epidemis]

??

Wouldn't the wavelength be:

Lambda = (hc)/E

h and c are both constants here. I don't see anything there that gives a maximum bound on the wavelength. However large you want the wavelength to be just assume a small enough value for its energy.

But he just wrote the minimum amount of energy possible is h, so regardless wavelength can't exceed the length traveled by a photon in vacuum in 1 second.

 

[Locut0s]

But he just wrote the minimum amount of energy possible is h, so regardless wavelength can't exceed the length traveled by a photon in vacuum in 1 second.

Ok that makes more sense.

 

[Ken g6]

I'm going to go with the Large Magellanic cloud. Both galaxies are not visible from the Northern Hemisphere so it would have been in a southern constellation. I'm not sure which one it was but I'll guess Draco since it takes up probably the largest area in the sky.

Right cloud. :thumbsup:

Wrong constellation. :sneaky: My old hint still applies to the correct answer.

P.S. You wouldn't believe how many stupid little constellations there are in the southern hemisphere! It's because they were named by northerners, and until explorers like Lacalle went south, they couldn't see them.

I want to say 1000 but that's way too easy. I think I remember reading something about a math proof about optimal packing that was just like this. Something about reading that makes me want to say the answer is 1001. Optimal packing is almost a while field of study.

That's right...Optimal packing is almost a whole field of study.

No, I can fit more than 1001 ball bearings in that box.

Spoiler

Brush up on your trigonometry.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

??

Wouldn't the wavelength be:

Lambda = (hc)/E

h and c are both constants here. I don't see anything there that gives a maximum bound on the wavelength. However large you want the wavelength to be just assume a small enough value for its energy.

You missed the point where Planck's constant is theoretically the smallest quanta of energy possible (6.62606957×10^−34 J·s).

Thus you solve for the smallest quanta of energy possible E = h.

Lambda = hc/h
Lambda = c

Clever no?

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Right cloud. :thumbsup:

Wrong constellation. :sneaky: My old hint still applies to the correct answer.

P.S. You wouldn't believe how many stupid little constellations there are in the southern hemisphere! It's because they were named by northerners, and until explorers like Lacalle went south, they couldn't see them.


That's right...Optimal packing is almost a whole field of study.

No, I can fit more than 1001 ball bearings in that box.

Spoiler

Brush up on your trigonometry.

If you offset the second layer of ball bearings, so that they sit in the dent created, the height of a layer is no longer the diameter of the spheres...

 

[Locut0s]

If you offset the second layer of ball bearings, so that they sit in the dent created, the height of a layer is no longer the diameter of the spheres...

Fuck I thought of that. But didn't think for some reason that the hight of the spheres would be decreased, which of course they would be.

 

[Ken g6]

You missed the point where Planck's constant is theoretically the smallest quanta of energy possible (6.62606957×10^−34 J·s).

Thus you solve for the smallest quanta of energy possible E = h.

Lambda = hc/h
Lambda = c

Clever no?

No.

My first clue was that an SI unit, 1s, was part of the answer - this is improbable at best.

The problem is h is in units J*s, where E is just J. Substituting h into E leaves Lambda = c, meters = meters per second. Doesn't work.

 

[artikk]

As far as I know, there's no limit. You just get farther into the radio band. Well, maybe a standing wave with a wavelength the diameter of the universe is the limit.

Correct but without a valid reason. The reason there's no limit to wavelength or frequency is because of the red and blue shift effects. Depending on if an object is accelerating away or towards you the light emitted can scale up or down in wavelength. A possible limit for wavelength is size of the universe but there's no concrete reason for this especially since it's constantly expanding and accelerating as well.

Source

 

[angminas]

@angminas You do realize that your spoilers instantly become visible when you go to reply to a thread right?

No, I don't know what you mean. They still show blacked out for me. Clearly I'm missing something. Can you explain more clearly?

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

The equation for the energy associated with a photon is -

So I would think that as the wavelength approaches the speed of light the energy approaches Planck's constant. Since Planck's constant is the minimum discrete amount of energy that would limit the wavelength... to the speed of light (specifically 1 light second?).

You have units mixed up. Remember that Planck's constant is in units of J.s, c is in units of ms^-1, and lambda is in units of m.

Put another way: the Planck constant describes the minimum total energy of a wave. It does not describe the minimum rate of transfer of that energy.

Well, since someone answered the last math problem, here's a geometry one:

You're a ball-bearing manufacturer. You've just gotten a good deal on 1cmx1cmx1cm inflexible cubic boxes to ship your ball bearings in. What's the maximum number of 1mm-diameter spherical ball bearings can you fit inside each box?

You can fit at least 1024 in each box.

 

[Locut0s]

No, I don't know what you mean. They still show blacked out for me. Clearly I'm missing something. Can you explain more clearly?

Oh right forgot you aren't using Chrome right? Are you using IE? The way vB is coded the WYSIWYG editor seems to work to its fullest only in IE. In Firefox I think you still see the inline images as images. But in most other browsers you see everything as tags. So the spoiler warnings aren't black bars anymore when you go to reply to a thread. they apear as spoiler tags.

 

[angminas]

Oh right forgot you aren't using Chrome right? Are you using IE? The way vB is coded the WYSIWYG editor seems to work to its fullest only in IE. In Firefox I think you still see the inline images as images. But in most other browsers you see everything as tags. So the spoiler warnings aren't black bars anymore when you go to reply to a thread. they apear as spoiler tags.

I'm using Firefox atm. Are you saying that, if I make any kind of reply in this thread at all, all my spoilers are unmasked to Chrome users?

 

[Locut0s]

I'm using Firefox atm. Are you saying that, if I make any kind of reply in this thread at all, all my spoilers are unmasked to Chrome users?

No I mean when you go to reply to a thread with spoiler tags in them you get to see what's under the spoiler tag when you go to reply. So you see this:

 

[angminas]

Ah...so...is there a better way I can hide hints?

 

[Locut0s]

Ah...so...is there a better way I can hide hints?

Don't give them Anything you post will be fully visible in one of the major browsers or another. Only way around it I can think of is to post it as a link but that's too much trouble.

 

[angminas]

Ah, but without hints, it can be very difficult to figure the answer out or make an educated guess, and figuring it out is a lot more fun than actually knowing. If somebody doesn't want to see the hint, methinks they could reply without quoting. Thanks for the info though.