Imponderables(R): Science电子书

Cover

Title Page

Contents

Introduction

What is the difference between “partly cloudy” and “partly sunny” in a weather report?

Why do straws in drinks sometimes sink and sometimes rise to the surface?

Why can’t you see stars in the background in photos or live shots of astronauts in space?

Why do sonic booms often come two at a time?

Why do wintergreen Life Savers sparkle in the dark when you bite into them?

How did Romans do the calculations necessary for construction and other purposes using Roman numerals?

What accounts for the great difference in climate between the Atlantic Coast and Pacific Coast of the U.S.?

If water is composed of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, both common elements, why can’t droughts be eliminated by combining the two to produce water?

Why does your voice sound higher and funny when you ingest helium?

Why don’t tornadoes ever seem to hit big buildings or big cities?

Why does rinsing with hot water “set” a stain? Why is rinsing with cold water more effective in eliminating the stain?

How are the first days of winter and summer chosen?

Why do astronomers look at the sky upside down and reversed? Wouldn’t it be possible to rearrange the mirrors on telescopes?

Why does grease turn white when it cools?

Why does menthol feel cool to the taste and cool to the skin?

Why does heat lightning always seem far away? And why don’t you ever hear thunder during heat lightning?

When glass breaks, why don’t the pieces fit back together perfectly?

Why does wood “pop” when put on a fire?

Why does a fire create a crackling sound? Is there any reason why a fire cracks most when first lit?

Who decides where the boundary line is between oceans? If you’re on the ocean, hodo you know where that line is?

Why do weather thermometers use red chemical instead of the silver mercury found in medical thermometers?

Why does shampoo lather so much better on the second application?

Why don’t cigarette butts burn? Is there a particular barrier between the tobacco and the filter that prevents the burn?

Why are the oceans salty? What keeps the oceans at the same level of saltiness?

Does it ever really get too cold to snow?

Why does granulated sugar tend to clump together?

Why are rain clouds dark?

Where does the wax go in dripless candles?

If heat rises, why does ice form on the top of water in lakes and ponds?

Why do the clearest days seem to follow storms?

Why do whips make a cracking sound when snapped?

Why don’t planets twinkle at night?

If water is heavier than air, why do clouds stay up in the sky?

What does 0º in the Fahrenheit scale signify?

What does each one-degree increment in the Fahrenheit scale signify?

Why does just about everything look darker when it gets wet?

If all time zones converge at the North and South Poles, how do they tell time there?

How do you tell directions at the North and South Poles?

What are we smelling when it “smells like rain is coming”?

Why do unopened jars of mayonnaise, salad dressing, fruit, and many other foods stay fresh indefinitely on the shelf but require refrigeration after being opened?

How can hurricanes destroy big buildings but leave trees unscathed?

Why does the Moon appear bigger at the horizon than up in the sky?

When you are driving your car at night and look up at the sky, why does it seem that the Moon is following you around?

Why is seawater blue and tap water clear? Why does the color of the ocean range from blue to red?

How can the relative humidity be under 100 percent when it is raining?

Why does the difference between 75 degrees and 80 degrees in water temperature feel quite severe when a five-degree difference in the ambient air barely registers?

What is the official name of the Moon?

What in the heck is a tumbleweed? Why does it tumble? And how can it reproduce if it doesn’t stay in one place?

Why do other people hear our voices differently than we do?

If you dig a hole and try to plug the hole with the very dirt you’ve removed, why do you never have enough dirt to refill the hole?

Why is it that what looks to us like a half-moon is called a quarter-moon by astronomers?

What precisely is sea level? And how do they determine exactly what it is?

Why do peanuts in the shell usually grow in pairs?

Does the Moon have any effect on lakes or ponds? If not, why does it only seem to affect oceans’ tides? Why don’t lakes have tides?

What kind of container holds the rain measured by meteorologists?

Why are cities warmer than their outlying areas?

Why do people look up when thinking?

Why do we itch?

What is the difference between a “mountain” and a “hill”?

What is one hearing when one hears a house “settling” or creaking?

Why do some ice cubes come out cloudy and others come out clear?

What’s the difference between a lake and a pond?

What’s the difference between an ocean and a sea?

What is the technical definition of a sunset or sunrise? How is it determined at what time the sun sets or rises? Why is there natural light before sunrise and after sunset?

What accounts for the varying amounts of static electricity from day to day? Why is there more static electricity in the winter than during the summer?

Why don’t trees on a slope grow perpendicular to the ground as they do on a level surface?

Why are lakes windier at midday than during morning or night?

Where does the moisture go when wisps of clouds disappear in front of your eyes?

Why is the bark of a tree darker than the wood inside?

If nothing sticks to Teflon, how do they get Teflon to stick to the pan?

Why doesn’t glue get stuck in the bottle?

Will Super Glue stick to Teflon?

Why doesn’t a clinical thermometer register room temperature when you take it out of your medicine cabinet?

How do they measure the vitamin content of foods?

Help!!!

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