How does a self-cleaning surface work? There are two basic ways to make something self-cleaning. You can make it superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic. Both of these methods will use water to clean the object. Self-cleaning surfaces are very useful for places that are difficult to get to and manually clean, such as the windows on the […]
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What caused the US dust bowl? The dust bowl was caused by a combination of factors including bad farming practices, drought, high winds, and the economy. The dust bowl was named in 1935 by a reporter called Robert Geiger, but it was a phenomenon that had started in 1930, with causes going back long before
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How does our night vision work? We have night vision because our eyes can use their rods, which are more sensitive to light. Night vision is technically called scotopic vision, which comes from the Greek skotos, which means darkness, and opia, which means sight. Our eyes have two ways of detecting light. We have rods
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What is the difference between coal, coke, and charcoal? Charcoal is made from wood, but coal and charcoal are both sedimentary rocks that are processed differently to produce different results. Charcoal, coal, and coke all have different advantages, disadvantages, and uses. Let’s look at them one by one. Charcoal is made from wood. If you
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Why are there only the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal? There are only the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal because they are at the two points in the world where shipping distances can be greatly reduced. No other canal would make enough of a difference to be worth the price of building it.
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Where did Christmas trees come from? The idea for Christmas trees came from Germany in the 16th century. They were introduced into North America in the early 18th century, but they didn’t spread to England until the 19th century. The origins of having an evergreen tree, or part of one, in the house, go back
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Is there such a thing as true altruism? It depends on how you look at it. You could say no because people benefit through feelings of pleasure, and animals benefit by furthering the gene pool. You could say yes because people and animals make sacrifices that don’t benefit them personally. This is a very difficult
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What is the Myers Briggs personality test? The Myers Briggs personality test is a psychological test that categorizes people into one of 16 different personality types. It is a fun test to take, but it is not scientifically accurate. It’s official name is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The MBTI is named after Katharine Cook
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How do submarines navigate? Submarines navigate using a mix of sonar, inertial navigation systems, and GPS. There are a lot of naval and civilian submarines in the world. The number of civilian submarines would probably be easier to work out than the number of military ones because most countries keep that number a secret. Or,
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Why did the war in Syria start? The Syrian war started because the President, Bashar al-Assad put down a peaceful demonstration with violence. The Syrian war started on 15th March 2011 and is still going on. So far, roughly 600,000 people have been killed, 300,000 of them civilians. 6.7 million people have no place to
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