Today I found out how an LED works. An LED or “Light Emitting Diode” is basically as the name describes; it is a special type of diode that is specifically optimized to give off light, usually in the visual or infrared spectrum, as electricity is passed through it. A diode is a special type of semiconductor that has many uses. One of […]
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Today I found out what happens when you stick your head into a particle accelerator. Exhibit A: Anatoli Petrovich Bugorski, a Russian scientist who has the distinction of being the only person to ever stick his head in a running particle accelerator. Shockingly, he also managed to survive the ordeal and, all things considered, came out without too much damage. […]
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Today I found out the Sun is white, not yellow. For you graphics people or web developers out there, the exact color of the sun is #fff5f2. The reason the Sun looks yellow to us on Earth is that our atmosphere scatters light from the Sun; so the apparent color of the sun changes. This same scattering effect is why […]
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Today I found out that baking soda makes a good teeth whitener. Specifically it works by breaking down stains in your teeth caused by such things as dark sodas, wine, smoking, coffee, etc. Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, when dissolved in water gives off free radicals which penetrate the surface of your enamel, combining with the stains in […]
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Today I found out that poinsettias are not poisonous, contrary to popular belief. The belief that they are poisonous originally seems to have started around 1919 when a two year old child of a U.S. Army officer died after supposedly eating poinsettia leaves. The poinsettia leaves were blamed for the death, even though there was never any actual evidence that […]
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Today I found out that there isn’t any difference between fur and hair; it’s all just hair. We tend to refer to a lot of animal hair as “fur”, while referring to our own hair as just “hair”. It turns out though that hair and fur are chemically indistinguishable, both made up of keratin. The argument that is often cited […]
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Today I found out that sitting too close to the TV will not damage your vision, contrary to popular belief. So why do parents the world over still say this to their kids? Surprisingly, there was actually a very brief period of time where sitting close to the TV could damage your eyes, assuming you owned a General Electric TV […]
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Today I found out that the 7-11 Double Big Gulp holds about twice the amount of fluid than the average adult human’s stomach. The average adult human’s stomach can hold comfortably about 32 ounces at any given time (edit: excepting we Americans who, judging from the comments, apparently can hold about 138 times that amount despite science’s official averages). The […]
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Today I found out five interesting things you learn from being a paramedic. This article is a little change of pace from my normal articles, but I couldn’t resist posting it, as it is very interesting and entertaining. Here are five interesting things I learned from a paramedic working at a fire station. Below is written by said paramedic, namely […]
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