Archive for August, 2008

How long does it take food to digest?

Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 Posted in Biology | No Comments »

As the average person's stomach will hold less than two quarts, it only stays in this stage of the digestive process for three to five hours. The stomach slowly releases ... Read more..

What animal has the longest gestation period?

Sunday, August 24th, 2008 Posted in Animal Life, Biology | No Comments »

You might think the animal with the longest gestation period would be one of the larger mammals, but in fact it is the Alpine black salamander. It is a viviparous ... Read more..

Why does water boil at a lower temperature at a higher altitude?

Saturday, August 23rd, 2008 Posted in Chemistry, General Science | No Comments »

In short, a liquid's boiling temperature is dependent on its composition and the atmospheric pressure on the boundary between the liquid and the air above it. For water, the boiling ... Read more..

What is Doppler Radar?

Thursday, August 21st, 2008 Posted in Physics, Weather | No Comments »

What does Doppler radar mean and how is it different from other radar? RADAR, an acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging, operates by transmitting a ... Read more..

How many galaxies are there?

Sunday, August 10th, 2008 Posted in Astronomy | No Comments »

I saw a couple of good posts on this from astronomycafe.net on their ask the astronomer page. The general consensus of all the answers out there seems to be that ... Read more..

How did the zebra get its stripes?

Friday, August 8th, 2008 Posted in Animal Life, Biology | No Comments »

Another interesting question to first consider is: is a zebra a light animal with dark stripes, or a dark animal with light stripes? It's generally believed that a zebra is ... Read more..

Why do stars twinkle?

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 Posted in Astronomy | No Comments »

Actually, the intensity of the stars themselves doesn't fluctuate, rather it is the light they emit that appears to brighten and dim as it passes through the air in our ... Read more..