Stuff you've always wondered about...

[Devilman]

Remember when you were a kid and everything was fascinating? WHere did boogers come from? Why did the whirlpools in water always go the same way? How many licks DID it take to get to the bottom of a tootsie roll pop?

Well, let your inquisitive nature reawaken and Post questions that you've always wondered about. If anyone knows the answer, they can post it 4 you.

I always wondered where brainfreezes come from, so I went looking online last night....

http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/314/7091/1364


that offers a pretty detailed explaination.

[Phil Clark]

Dude. You have way too much free time on your hands. :D

[HMG]

I tried looking for the most perplexing mystery in my formative years without luck.

Water is made from Hydrogen and Oxygen, two of the most combustible elements, yet water will not burn....Why?

[Mike]

I don't get brain freeze.

[Popninja]

I've always wondered how come some people have to brush their tongue, yet others don't. When I was a kid, my sister told me I had to brush my tongue to have fresher breath. Of course this would always lead to me gagging, and sometimes actually throwing up.

I went on to master tongue brushing. However, when I met my wife, she told me she has NEVER brushed her tongue, and her breath is perfect.

What gives with tongue brushing?

[Exiter]

Originally posted by pclark
Dude. You have way too much free time on your hands. :D
exactely

[Tory]

Originally posted by Devilman
Remember when you were a kid and everything was fascinating? WHere did boogers come from? Why did the whirlpools in water always go the same way? How many licks DID it take to get to the bottom of a tootsie roll pop?



Did you know they have made a device that actually counts licks? I saw it in a store once.

[Spidey]

I dont get brain freezes either, I get like chest freezes...

[Inkthinker]

Originally posted by HMG
I tried looking for the most perplexing mystery in my formative years without luck.

Water is made from Hydrogen and Oxygen, two of the most combustible elements, yet water will not burn....Why?

For the solution to this and many other amazing questions, I direct you to The Straight Dope (http://www.straightdope.com) by Cecil Adams.

Specifically on the subject of why water doesn't burn:



Dear Cecil:

Why doesn't water burn? It's made of hydrogen, which is flammable, and oxygen, a necessary component of flame. Yet every time I put this question to someone who knows about chemistry their eyes roll back in their head and they nearly pass out, and when they come to they give some explanation that is so complicated and incomprehensible I have to lock them in the trunk and drive them around town for a while to make them shut up. I'm appealing to your brilliance to help me live a more settled life. --Sean Cearley, via the Internet

Cecil replies:

Sean, this kind of behavior is just not nice. At least it never works for me. Besides, there's an easy answer to your question. Water doesn't burn because it's already burnt.

Oh, sure, it doesn't look burnt. Nonetheless, it's one of the chief products of combustion. Light a candle, gas jet, whatever, and what do you get? Mainly carbon dioxide and water. We started off with a hydrocarbon and the hydrogen oxidized. The result is water, a substance far more stable and thus less flammable than an unburnt mixture of hydrogen and oxygen.

Still, if you try hard enough you can get even water to burn. Try torching the stuff in the presence of fluorine gas. You get a nice hot flame that produces oxygen and hydrogen fluoride, which are more stable than water plus fluorine. That's about as simple as I can make it, pal. Hope it brings you inner peace.

--CECIL ADAMS




Amazing!!

:D

[Devilman]

hell yeah! that's what i'm talking about, Inkthinker! I am so happy to know that now. *not being sarcastic*


Did you guys know that there is actually a science devoted to finding out why ash forms? I saw something on Nova about it years back talking about a weird carbon atomed structure that looked like a soccerball that they called something like the "buckiball".

Being that years have past, i wonder if they've come any closer to discovering what they were looking for with this buckiball.