I learned this today. Graphene is a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice. It is incredibly thin and incredibly strong. In 1859, Benjamin Brodie noticed that graphite oxide contained lots of layers. In 1947, P. R. Wallace published a paper on the band structure of graphite and theorized that a single […]
#109 What is graphene and why is it so important? Read More »
I learned this today. The International Prototype of the Kilogram, kept in Paris, is not accurate enough to be the standard for all kilograms around the world. Different measures for different things have been used around the world since people began measuring things. These measurements were usually related to the human body or common things
#108 Why is the official kilogram in France no longer used? Read More »
I learned this today. The Milky Way Galaxy orbits the barycenter of the Local Group. The barycenter is the center of mass of two bodies that orbit each other. It is the point that they orbit around. The word comes from Ancient Greek and means “heavy center”. When two objects orbit each other, there is
#106 What does the Milky Way Galaxy orbit? Read More »
I learned this today. Light can’t escape from a black hole because of the curvature of space caused by gravity. In physics, gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental forces. The forces are gravity, the electromagnetic force, and the strong and weak forces that exist in atoms. Isaac Newton described gravity as a force
#101 Why can’t light escape from a black hole? Read More »
I learned this today. Flight or fight, the stress response, was first described by Walter Bradford Cannon in 1915. In 1915, Cannon published Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear and rage. He noticed that when cats were threatened, their bodies released the hormone adrenaline / epinephrine, which lead to a series of other bodily changes.
#100 Who came up with the phrase “flight or fight”? Read More »
I learned this today. Cold fusion is not possible because atoms repel each other and thermo energy on the scale of millions of degrees is necessary to overcome this repelling force and drive them together. Nuclear fusion is the reaction that takes place in stars. It is the process by which they burn their fuel,
#98 Why is cold fusion not possible? Read More »
I learned this today. Absolute zero is zero Kelvin, which is -273.15℃, but it is impossible to reach. Absolute zero is considered to be the lowest temperature possible. At this point, there is no energy left in a solid. In any object, the molecules are moving. In my fingers. In the keyboard I am typing
#93 Is it possible to get absolute zero? Read More »
I learned this today. The Large Hadron Collider accelerates particles to close to the speed of light by using electric fields and radio waves. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was built between 1998 and 2008 for CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. I know you are thinking that should be EONR, but CERN comes
#89 How does the Large Hadron Collider work? Read More »
I learned this today. Quartz watches are far more precise than mechanical clocks because they make quartz crystals oscillate at a very precise frequency. A mechanical watch has an accuracy of ±5 seconds a day. Quartz watches have an accuracy of about ±5 seconds a month. For comparison, an atomic clock has an accuracy of
#83 How does a quartz watch work? Read More »
I learned this today. Our skin can allow sweat out, but it doesn’t let water in thanks to a thin layer of fat between the outermost layers of skin cells. The skin is said to be the largest organ in the human body. Actually, by surface area, it is the second largest because the inside
#82 Why is skin waterproof? Read More »
