Where can I find..
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A forum for science, education talk?
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create one yourself!!
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The Singapore Science Centre website used to have a forum for questions and answers, I'm not sure whether it's still there.
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thanks..i check it out l8rOriginally posted by F Takumi:The Singapore Science Centre website used to have a forum for questions and answers, I'm not sure whether it's still there. -
the last time i was there, i saw pri sch kids asking how many stars are there in the skyOriginally posted by F Takumi:The Singapore Science Centre website used to have a forum for questions and answers, I'm not sure whether it's still there.
then i no go liao -
According to fame astronomer and cosmologist Dr. Carl Sagan...the answer to this question is "Billions and Billions....Originally posted by FireIce:the last time i was there, i saw pri sch kids asking how many stars are there in the sky
then i no go liao -
Whats wrong with asking that? Everyone has questions wat.Originally posted by FireIce:the last time i was there, i saw pri sch kids asking how many stars are there in the sky
then i no go liao
Unless the forum gives stupid answers then i got nth to say. -
An example of the questions asked on Science Centre's website:
Question No. 20225 :
And the question was asked by a primary school student
What lies beyond the kuiper belt?
Answer:
There are nine planets in our solar system (not including the newly discovered object, sedna, that has been referred to as the tenth planet, but some scientists would not classify it as a planet because of its small size). The Kuiper Belt is a disk-shaped region beyond the orbit of Neptune, the eighth planet, extending roughly from 30 to 50 AU from our Sun. (1AU is the distance between the Sun and the Earth). Pluto, the ninth planet and also very small, is seen by some as part of the Kuiper Belt, rather than a planet. The Kuiper Belt contains many small icy bodies and acts as a source of the short-period comets.
If we were on a space ship and traveling beyond the Kuiper Belt, we would find the Oort Cloud, a vast shell containing billions of small icy bodies. Some of these icy bodies become long-period comets when they plunge towards our solar system and get close to the sun. The Oort cloud is located between 50,000 and 100,000 AU from the sun, about a quarter the distance from our sun to the nearest star, proxima centauri.
Traveling further, past the Oort cloud, we would reach proxima centauri at a distance of 4.2 light years away. This may seem a very long distance, but compared to the size of our Milky Way galaxy, which is 100,000 light years across, it is insignificant. There are a hundred billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy. Our sun, together with its nine planets, is only one of them, and quite an insignificant one at that.
Beyond our galaxy, there are again billions of other galaxies. Most galaxies are grouped in clusters, and those clusters are again grouped into super clusters of galaxies. So, we can see that there is a lot that lies beyond the Kuiper Belt. In fact, the vastness of the universe is quite unimaginable.
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This one is also quite interesting.
Question No. 20172 :
Why is the lunar cycle longer than the orbital period of the moon round the Earth?
The Lunar Sidereal Period is the time it takes the Moon to complete one orbit around the Earth with respect to the stars. The Lunar Sidereal period is about 27.3 days.
The Lunar Synodic Period is the time between successive New Moons and is about 29.5 days. This is the basis of the lunar calendar.
The Lunar Synodic Period is longer than the Lunar Sidereal Period because while the Moon orbits the Earth, the Earth also orbits around the Sun. It takes the Moon 27.3 days to complete an orbit around Earth with respect to the stars, but during this period, the Earth has also moved through 27.3 days of its orbit around the sun. For a New Moon to happen, the Sun, Moon and Earth must be aligned. But on completion of the Sidereal Period, they will not be aligned yet. Thus the moon must move on for an extra 2.2 days to catch up and re-align itself with the Earth and the Sun. -
And my favourite
Question No. 20178 :
I never understand this,"If something travels faster than light, time runs backwards." Nevertheless, I figured that if let say, I, can travel faster than light, I would see black or, simply no light, because I have beaten light, thus seeing no light. I am confused. Can you help?
The ultimate speed limit in the universe is the speed of light in vacuum (about 300,000km/s). Einstein's theory of relativity states that nothing in the universe could break that speed limit. Let us do a though experiment of racing with light in the context of current physics. Let's say you are racing side by side with a beam of light and you are traveling at a speed of 99% the speed of light. Common sense tells you that the light beam racing side by side with you will overtake you by 1% of the speed of light. But this turns out to be wrong - the light beam will still overtake you at the speed of light! Amazing but true... (see explanation below)
You may then argue that since the light beam is zapping past you at light speed and I am already traveling at 99% the speed of light, it must be traveling at higher than light speed with respect to the ground. However, this is again not valid.
The explanation for both these surprising findings is that, unlike what common sense (and Newtonian mechanics) suggests, velocity does not add up linearly, but according to the mathematical rules of Lorenz Transformations. The basic formula of velocity addition is given below:
where
R is the speed of the object with respect to the ground;
U is the speed of the same object as seen by someone speeding past with a speed of v; and
C is the speed of light
Note that the term vR/C2 becomes very small under ordinary speed (even at the speed of a supersonic aircraft) and the above equation reduces to the normal speed addition in Newtonian mechanics, that is
U = R - v
The current theory of physics forbids breaking the light speed limit. So far there are no conclusive experiments that managed to break the light speed limit. That may explain why we cannot understand what would happen if something did travel faster than light... -
not saying the qn or ans stupidOriginally posted by hypercurry:Whats wrong with asking that? Everyone has questions wat.
Unless the forum gives stupid answers then i got nth to say.
tt forum too cheem for me
and i there mostly pri and sec sch students........generation gap lah -
I jus wanted to ask what ingredients to put in muesli bar to reduce water activity...
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You could have just posted your question in the Food forumOriginally posted by alexkusu:I jus wanted to ask what ingredients to put in muesli bar to reduce water activity... -
isnt that where ppl want to know where to buy food? I thought sicence ppl go sum science forum so can ask them ma.Thanks anywayOriginally posted by F Takumi:You could have just posted your question in the Food forum