Science Question for June

It's  a clear day, and Xavier is standing on a plateau in Wyoming. As he looks into the sky, an object about the size of the Starship Enterprise whizzes past at an altitude of 2640 feet above ground level and at the speed of light (300,000,000 meters per second). Xavier has 20-20 vision, and he is looking directly at the path of the Enterprise. What does he see?

Leave your answer in the comment section. All responses are moderated to insure G rating.

Invitation for Homeopathic Science Question for June

Got an idea for a science question that's been vexing you? If it's science that is common around the house, give us a recommendation for the June question. Use the comment section. Thanks!

Science Question for May

X wants to know what is the loudest noise that can be made using household devices. How would you measure the loudest noise you could make? The best answer will win a copy of Scientific American or Nuts and Volts. Explain your answer in the comment section.

There were 5 answers to the May science question, and congratulations to the winner, Edison Thomas, who gave a good answer, a practical measurement technique, and an environmentally conscious plan. Edison wins the September 2012 copy of Nuts and Volts magazine, featuring cool audio projects. The winner of the "Bonehead" prize is Rebel, who missed the point altogether. Thanks to all.

Science Question for April 2013

X is interested in the storage capacity of the human brain. It's probably unknown as to the ultimate capacity of the brain, but this April question is about something really possible.

Say you had 100,000 people from all 50 states, all adult age groups, all cultural backgrounds, all economic backgrounds, and they all had IQs of at least 100. Given a study period of 8 hours, how many digits of pi would each person be able to recite from memory? Say there was a really good prize for each person in the top 1% of reciters.

How many digits of pi do you think people in the winning 1% group could recite?

• Overall champion __________ digits
• Average of the 1% group__________digits
• Lowest score in the 1% group__________digits

Briefly, how did you decide on your answers?
Put your answers in a comment at the bottom of this post.

Science Question for March 2013

Say you had a bunch of fruit jars, and you had a different chemical element in each jar. How many distinctly different compounds could you make? Assume you had the best lab in the world. Just stick to the known elements.

Questions:

1. What's the limit to how many compounds you could make?
2. Do you think one of the compounds would be the strongest material in the world?
3. Do you think one of the compounds would cure cancer? Diabetes? Hunger? Arrogance?

Answer in the comment section. There's a prize for every right answer.

Science Question for February, 2013

Say you had 250,000 miles of rope on a big spool. You tied one end of the rope to Tacony Palmyra bridge (Philadelphia, Delaware River) and you got an astronaut to tie the other end of the rope to a big rock on the moon.

1. What roadblocks would you run into in early phases of the mission?
2. What would happen then?
3. How high could you climb up the rope? Could Chuck Norris climb to the moon?

Leave your answers in the comment section. Good luck!

Science Question for January 2013

1. Assume you could drill a 2" diameter hole from your back yard down to the center of the Earth.
2. Assume you screw 995,406-21 foot lengths of 1" galvanized threaded pipe together using couplings, and let the assembly down the hole as you screw it together. You put a cap on the first pipe at the bottom end before letting it down in the hole.
3. Since the pipe assembly is 3,959 miles long, it reaches the center of the Earth.
4. Now, assume you take a garden hose, and fill the pipe with water. Leave the top of the pipe open to the atmosphere.
5. What do you know about the water pressure in the pipe?
6. What would happen to a worm that fell into the top of the pipe? Hint...worms sink in water.
7. What else would happen?

Get the right answers and win a jargoneering.com tee shirt. Leave your answers in the comment section.