I learned this today. There are three different types of run-flat tires. Ones that can self-seal a hole, ones that can still support the weight of the car when flat, and ones that have an insert on the wheel rim that can support the weight of the car. Self-sealing tires have a layer of sealant […]
#151 How do run-flat tires work? Read More »
I learned this today. Polaris is the star that is known as the North Star because it is usually over the North Pole. Polaris is not the brightest star in the night sky. That honor belongs to Sirius, also known as the Dog Star. However, Polaris is fairly bright, and it makes up the end
#150 What is Polaris? Read More »
I learned this today. Cats sleep as much as they do to conserve energy. Something we should probably learn from. Not that it’s today’s topic, but humans are the only animals that intentionally restrict their sleep. Cats sleep between 16 and 20 hours a day. However, not all of that sleep is deep sleep and
#149 Why do cats sleep for so long? Read More »
I learned this today. A tokamak is a device that uses a strong magnetic field to keep a gas plasma in a donut shape in order to achieve nuclear fusion. Tokamaks were invented in Russia in the 1960s and the word comes from Russian. It means “toroidal chamber with magnetic coils”, which is тороидальная камера с магнитными катушками
#148 What is a tokamak? Read More »
I learned this today. The Bronze Age started because people discovered that combining copper and tin made a stronger alloy called bronze. In the three-age system of the world that we use, the Bronze Age technically follows the Stone Age and is in turn followed by the Iron Age. However, it isn’t quite that clear
#147 Why did the Bronze Age start? Read More »
I learned this today. Gas masks work by blocking bacteria and viruses, or by absorbing or altering chemicals. Gas masks have to be effective against bacterial, viral, and chemical agents. Bacteria and viruses are technically the easiest because all the gas mask has to do is block them. This is done with a filter. The
#146 How do gas masks work? Read More »
I learned this today. The Portuguese royal court moved to Brazil in 1807 to avoid being deposed by Napoleon. Spain and Portugal both started exploring the Southern Americas from the late 15th century. Portugal claimed the area that is now Brazil for the King of Portugal in 1500. The Portuguese explorer who claimed Brazil for
#145 Why did the Portuguese royal family end up in Brazil? Read More »
I learned this today. There are two ways to work out the age of the universe. The first is to calculate the age of the oldest stars. The second way is to work out how fast the universe is expanding and cooling and extrapolate backwards. The universe is thought to be 17.772 billion years old,
#144 How do people know the age of the universe? Read More »
I learned this today. The first drink put in a can was beer in the 1930s, but it took a while before drink canning could be perfected. The process of canning was invented by Nicolas Appert in France in 1809. He was responding to a challenge by Napoleon Bonaparte for anyone that could come up
#143 When did people start putting drinks in cans? Read More »
I learned this today. Venus and Uranus spin in the opposite directions to the other planets possibly because Venus flipped over and Uranus was hit by another planet. Our sun rotates anticlockwise, and it takes about 27 days to complete one rotation. Because the sun rotates anticlockwise, all of the planets in our solar system
#142 Why do Venus and Uranus spin the wrong way? Read More »
