How did we discover viruses? Viruses were first theorized in the 1890s, but they wouldn’t be seen until electron microscopes were invented in the 1930s. The word virus comes from Latin and originally meant poison or poisonous liquid. It entered English in the late 14th century and was used by physicians to describe infectious or
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Is an air bubble in an IV dangerous? An air bubble in an IV can be dangerous, but it depends on how much air there is and how quickly it is introduced. We have all seen movies where people are killed when someone injects an air bubble into their IV line. But is this actually
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When did people discover that electrons carry electricity? People generally discovered that electrons carried electricity at the very end of the nineteenth century and the start of the twentieth. Electricity is a collection of phenomena involving electric charges. One of these is electric current, which is the movement of electric charge through a material. There
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Where did Halloween come from? Halloween is the shortened form of All Hallows’ Eve, and it probably originated with the Irish Gaelic harvest festival called Samhain. The traditions of Samhain and All Hallows Eve were carried across to the United States by Irish and Scottish immigrants. Modern Halloween probably has roots in the Irish harvest
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How did travelers exchange money before modern banks? Before banks, travelers had different ways of getting money at their destination. They could carry gold and silver; they could sell goods; they could swap coins; they could use a letter of credit, or they could use an early form of a traveler’s check. These days, if
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How deep could a space probe travel into Jupiter? No one knows for sure, but a space probe using modern materials could possibly get several hundred kilometers into Jupiter’s atmosphere before being destroyed by the enormous pressure and heat. The only probe that has been launched into the atmosphere of Jupiter was the Galileo probe
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What causes nuclear winter? A nuclear winter is caused by soot, ash, and other particles being kicked up into the atmosphere by a nuclear war. These particles block out sunlight, and the temperature on the surface of Earth would be drastically reduced. A nuclear winter caused by nuclear weapons has thankfully never happened. We have
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Did Wyatt Earp have the law on his side at the OK Corral? A lot of people at the time might have disagreed, but Wyatt Earp acted legally during the Gunfight at the OK Corral. The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral happened on October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona. Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and
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Was the Iron Maiden ever actually used? Despite its terrifying reputation, there is no credible evidence that the iron maiden was used as a medieval torture device. The familiar spiked cabinet appears to have been invented much later, during the 19th century. The iron maiden is probably one of the most famous medieval torture devices
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Why do some chemical reactions give off heat and others don’t? The answer depends on the amount of energy absorbed when chemical bonds are broken compared with the amount released when new bonds are formed. There are two types of chemical reactions: endothermic and exothermic. Endothermic reactions are those that require energy, and exothermic reactions
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