thethirdmoose

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TROPHY CASE


  • Two-Year Club

What's a good place to visit by yourself? by Keylynnin Ohio

[–]thethirdmoose 3 points4 points ago

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The Cleveland Museum of Art is pretty great, and it's free admission.

Does thinking (your brain) use a detectable/large amount of energy from your body? by boss1000in askscience

[–]thethirdmoose 3 points4 points ago

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From a biologist's perspective, this answer is useless, but it's an interesting application of a really cool part of information theory.

Suppose I give you a list of random numbers, and ask you to sort them. It's possible to put a theoretical lower bound on the amount of energy you're burning by sorting them.

Start by measuring the change in entropy. The entropy of n random numbers is -Kb * ln(1/(# states)), where Kb is the Boltzmann constant = 1.38*10-23 J/K, and the number of states = n!.

The entropy of n sorted numbers is -Kb * ln(1), since there is only one sorted state. ln(1) is zero, so the change in entropy by sorting the numbers is Kb * ln(1/n!). This is a negative number, since ln(x) < 0 if x < 1.

According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, the total entropy of the universe must increase - that means, if the entropy of the part of your brain that stores these numbers decreases, the entropy somewhere else has to increase by at least the same amount!

So we know that your brain has to heat up at least enough to increase its thermal entropy by Kb * ln (1/n!). The thermal entropy change of a system is equal to the heat dissipated * the temperature. So we multiply our entropy by room temperature (around 300K), and after plugging some numbers into our calculator, we derive that the total energy dissipated by sorting 100 numbers, whether in our brain, a computer, or anywhere else, must be at least 1.510-18 joules, or 310-19 thermal calories, or 3*10-24 nutritional calories.

I am a female who recently underwent TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) for depression, and it worked! AMA. by tmsgirlin IAmA

[–]thethirdmoose 1 point2 points ago

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This isn't like a "magnetic bracelet" - the magnetic fields generate eddy currents in the brain and materially affect the neurons. Regardless of whether or not it cures cancer, it certainly has an effect.

If you placed a battery operated light source on a timer in a perfectly sealed, perfectly reflective container... by [deleted]in askscience

[–]thethirdmoose 2 points3 points ago

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It would still have the light traveling in it. There is a device called an optical cavity, or optical resonator, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_cavity) that operates on this principle - it is used in lasers, for example, and has two parallel mirrors, each very highly reflective and very slightly transmissive. So by shining a light at one of the mirrors, you build up really high optical power inside the cavity, since if the cavity length is a multiple of the wavelength of the light, you build up really high optical power (lots of photons). If you have a gain medium, like in a laser, you get lots of stimulated emission, which means a whole lot more photons, all in phase. Now, if you remove one of the mirrors, you get a huge burst of light.

How can I test the double slit experiment at home? by quantum_foamin askscience

[–]thethirdmoose 36 points37 points ago

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I did this by taking a piece of glass and holding it over a candle to get a nice thick layer of black soot on it, then holding two x-acto knife blades parallel to each other and scraping two nice thin lines right next to each other in the soot.

Can police officers traveling the other direction on a divided highway clock your speed? by uvasfinestin AskReddit

[–]thethirdmoose 0 points1 point ago

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He got there faster when he was driving calmly.

Stupid parents right? by carolinafeverin funny

[–]thethirdmoose 1 point2 points ago

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Aluminum deforms really easily, leaving everyone I know with a macbook with the misaligned screen problem, where the top half and bottom half are out of alignment, and some people with worse problems, like ethernet ports that don't work because the aluminum has deformed around them. Plastic is a much better material because it doesn't deform - if it's put under too much stress, it cracks, which believe it or not is better than permanently bending.

Stupid parents right? by carolinafeverin funny

[–]thethirdmoose -2 points-1 points ago

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incredible chassis

Aluminum is probably the worst material for a laptop chassis. It's possible that there are worse materials, like lead, or maybe cardboard, but I'm pretty sure cardboard is more impact resistant.

How can a solar sail provide thrust If photon's are largely considered to be Massless? by SureillBuildThatin askscience

[–]thethirdmoose 1 point2 points ago

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For a cool demonstration of this, check http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cey-JBeHrww

Why can't batteries be grounded? by EtaoinGuitardluin askscience

[–]thethirdmoose 2 points3 points ago

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Current is the flow of charge.

Initially, your ground has some potential (say 0V), your - terminal has some other potential (say 5V), and your + terminal has a third potential (14 V).

What happens when you connect your - terminal to ground? The charges in the battery see a path to a lower potential - so they take that path. As this happens, the potential on the battery decreases. So there's a very short period where the charges move (in this case the electrons move from the ground to the battery), but after they're done moving, the ground and the - terminal of the battery are at the same potential - so there's no reason for the electrons to move, so there's no current.

A battery, on the other hand, is a charge pump. This means that it maintains a potential across the terminals - so if you put a wire between the terminals, as electrons move from - to +, the battery pushes more electrons down to -, using chemical energy.

Science Fail followed by Science Win by JavaLSUin pics

[–]thethirdmoose 1 point2 points ago

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Pound is a unit of weight/force (see: pounds/square inch compares to newtons/square meter), so foot-pounds compares with joules, and joules wins. But we also have things like BTU and calorie for energy.

Can someone please explain to me the vendetta against smokers? (of tobacco) by cmortellin AskReddit

[–]thethirdmoose 0 points1 point ago

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They probably tell you to fuck off because there's no such thing as a non-specific immune response?

Google Labs tool charts word usage over time. by perceived_patternin books

[–]thethirdmoose 5 points6 points ago

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http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=fuck,+suck&year_start=1701&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3 explains that phenomenon pretty well. old s's were written like f's.

Hey reddit, what are your favorite pseudo-intellectual statements, or point of views that make your blood boil? by raketin AskReddit

[–]thethirdmoose 0 points1 point ago

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"Point of view" is one of those cool phrases that gets pluralized in the middle, like this: "This is one of my favorite points of view".

Some kid hijacked my paypal, bought shit. I have his name and address. what should I do. by disposablehappyslapin AskReddit

[–]thethirdmoose 3 points4 points ago

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Live well. It is the greatest revenge.

I need advice. Or someone to just lie to me and tell me its all going to be alright. by Alterego21213in AskReddit

[–]thethirdmoose 8 points9 points ago

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Actually, you're going to die whether or not you develop AIDS.

Canadians often get made fun of for being polite...Well fuck you. I like living in a polite society. It's nice. by [deleted]in self

[–]thethirdmoose 0 points1 point ago

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Is anyone else reading this entire thread in a thick canadian accent?

Why aren't further away objects dimmer? by SpeakMouthWordsin askscience

[–]thethirdmoose 5 points6 points ago

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RobotRollCall's answer is partially correct, but there's more. Our eyes measure luminous flux, which is the intensity of the light times the angle over which it falls. If a source of light is farther away, you have 1/r2 photons hitting 1/r2 pigment molecules on your retina, so it cancels out and looks "as bright". This doesn't work for stars because they are basically point particles, since the width of the star is such a small fraction of the distance from you.

This person needs to write more articles about games. by tg989in gaming

[–]thethirdmoose 16 points17 points ago

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I hear the Union won. No word on when troops will leave the South, though.

IAmA lifetime vegetarian. I have never tasted meat. AMA by [deleted]in IAmA

[–]thethirdmoose 3 points4 points ago

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We were also evolutionary designed to run around the savanna clubbing gazelles to death.

I'll stick with my supermarket, thanks very much.

Have you ever misunderstood song lyrics, and then been disappointed by the real lyrics? by alias08in AskReddit

[–]thethirdmoose 1 point2 points ago

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It happened to me with the fourier series representation of floor(x), though it's still an awesome way to get the frequency space representation of a function.

Reddit: Why does simply placing cords near each other seem to get them tangled as shit? by fosskersin AskReddit

[–]thethirdmoose 47 points48 points ago

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Entropy - basically, there are way more tangled states than nicely arranged states. Since it doesn't take a lot of energy to tangle cords, jostling puts them into a random state, which is more likely to be tangled than untangled.

What is your favorite phrase in the English language? by blagobungin AskReddit

[–]thethirdmoose 7 points8 points ago

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Cellar door.

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