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The original post: /r/askscience by /u/atomfullerene on 2024-11-15 00:06:43.

The Mediterranean basin mostly dried out and later reflooded. When dry, it would have formed an enormous basin reaching far below sea level.

Are there other cases in the geological record where we suspect something similar happened to form large dry basins below sea level? Are any suspected to have been bigger in extent?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/MetalTop169 on 2024-11-14 14:22:50.

Take two parallel wires with current in both wires flowing in the same direction. Eschewing a mathematical treatment, simply apply the right hand rule. The magnetic field lines between the wires will be in opposing directions and, if I understand correctly, cancel out. Push the wires together in a coil and apparently the magnetic fields constructively interfere, creating a magnet out of the coil with a north pole and south pole at the coil terminals. How do we account for this? What am I misunderstanding?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/MrDirtNP on 2024-11-13 20:52:52.

I have three trains (X, Y and Z) of equal proportions on separate parallel tracks in space. Each train is equipped with measurement tools to keep track of the speed, length and direction of the other trains.

Train X stands still while Train Y goes with 50% light speed in one direction while Train Z goes with 50% light speed in the opposite direction. How fast is Train Y relative to Train Z? What would happen when we add even more speed to each train? (Train X is just an anchor point)

Common sense would say 0.5c+0.5c=1.0c but then 0.6c+0.6c=1.2c and that's impossible, is it?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Pechugo83 on 2024-11-13 15:42:43.

I understand the general make up of baryons. 3 valence quarks, each of a different color, plus a bunch of quark-antiquark pairs and gluons, the sea of quarks. But, just how many sea quarks are there? I've been looking around I've seen answers ranginf anywhere from a handful to like a googol.

So do we have any approximation at all? How many do physics equations allow for? And if we have no clue, why not?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/AutoModerator on 2024-11-13 15:00:57.

Welcome to our weekly feature, Ask Anything Wednesday - this week we are focusing on Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science

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The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Both_Boat_1635 on 2024-11-13 11:59:19.

I saw the US East Coast drought is caused by a shift in the jet stream out over the Pacific Ocean and there was a beautiful animated model forecast of it. But how is it measured? Weather balloons? Radar?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/EatPrayLoveLife on 2024-11-12 17:49:37.

If a rope was tied to two foot poles on the opposite sides of an ocean, would the rope somehow follow the curvature of the earth and stay two feet above the water, or would the tight rope take a shortcut through the ocean in a straight line? Essentially, would the rope be completely straight or follow the earths curve? I don’t know how to even begin to Google this question.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/mishaljez7 on 2024-11-11 13:45:03.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Severinofaztudo on 2024-11-11 04:07:33.

So alligators are large to medium large predators as I understand the flux of energy in any ecosystems ensures the numbers of predators will always be smaller than the number of preys. The only exception I know about that is the the fito Zoo Plankton.

But in the small territory of Florida there are more than 1 million of them. How do they get so much energy to to sustain a large quantity of predators. The number of lions in the whole world is less than 50thousand, saltwater water crocodile(much bigger and a reptile) are on the 200 thousand worldwide.

Are these numbers thanks to their very low metabolism or something? Does the everglades just produces a shitamount of food fo them to feed on?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/BrokenKeys94 on 2024-11-10 23:06:41.

Could it be possible for multiple (2 or more) Super Continents to exist on one planet? How big would a planet have to be to be able to hold multiple of such large landmass?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/minergirl778 on 2024-11-10 19:40:00.

Basically what it says on the tin. If I was a biologist. and I wanted to weigh a bug. how would i do that? Thanks!

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/suzasuzasuza on 2024-11-11 02:05:58.

I understand that scientists can use methods like spectroscopy to learn what's on a planet atmosphere or in its surface. But the other day I saw a diagram of Mercury's inner core, which I found quite fascinating. How do astronomers even know something like that?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/ToeNo6889 on 2024-11-10 21:01:35.

Polytetrafluoroethylene is used in myriad products from dental floss to lubricant, and it is a fluoropolymer that can be manufactured from perfluorooctanoic acid—a known carcinogen.

Why and how is polytetrafluoroethylene safe for human use and consumption?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/A7med_gomaa on 2024-11-10 08:03:44.

What is the precise reason that cells lose their ability to regenerate over time? And which genes primarily control the process of cellular regeneration? Are these genes present in each cell individually? If so, why do cells in the body not vary in their regenerative capacity with age according to the nature of each cell and the conditions it is exposed to? In fact, we observe that cells age at nearly the same rate, with little variation between them in this regard. Or is it that the genes driving aging in different cells of the body act synchronously and share the same nature, which is why we see a simultaneous aging process across cells? Alternatively, is cellular regeneration directed by a central mechanism that guides all body cells toward this process? If so, where is this central system located? Is it in the brain, or is it in another organ?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/HighlightFun8419 on 2024-11-10 05:46:10.

Imagine you take a really deep breath and exhale all the air from your lungs. Then, you are relaxing and only take casual breaths. Is the old air still in your lungs?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Playful_Economics713 on 2024-11-10 03:38:46.

I feel like this is a dumb question, but I genuinely want to know. How do scientists find out how many organisms or just tiny things in large quantities in general are there? If you look up “how many organisms are in the human body?” It’ll say 39 trillion. If you look up “why do cats have a good sense of smell?” It’ll tell you they have 200 million olfactory receptors.

How did they count that? How did they round it to that? I’ve asked google this questions in multiple different ways but I don’t get the exact answer. I’m sorry if this seems like a dumb question ! I hope it doesn’t.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Jefflenious on 2024-11-10 13:34:27.

This might be slightly political, I live in Iran and as you might've heard Iran's been claiming to "develop their nuclear program" for a few years now

From what I've seen/heard, nuclear weapons use the depleted resources of a nuclear reactor which is supposed to produce insane amounts of power, but meanwhile Iran is really struggling with their power production and there seems to be no trace of any nuclear power production anywhere (Could be wrong)

Now ofc a lot of stuff could be happening that we don't know but my question basically is: Is it possible to efficiently develop nuclear weapons without going after nuclear reactors? Does it make sense in terms of economics? Because we've at least been expecting the energy crisis to end after this whole nuclear deal

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/15MinuteUpload on 2024-11-09 22:43:35.

For example, what would hurricanes have been like when all the land was congregated into Pangea? Would they just raged across the ocean uninhibited by any land masses? Would dinosaurs and giant arthropods have experienced tornadoes? And how strong would these natural disasters have been compared to modern times?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/7thPanzers on 2024-11-09 06:52:30.

I mean if we follow the evolution theory, we all evolved from the same ancestors.

Is that partly why genetic defects can still happen at smaller risk even if the offspring in question was not made between two closely related (by blood) individuals?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Milo359 on 2024-11-09 06:10:22.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/needmoresleeep on 2024-11-09 05:19:57.

Side question: Does the entire asteroid belt have the same orbital year, or is it different for smaller asteroids versus bigger asteroids?

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/wqferr on 2024-11-09 17:15:36.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/Hidden_fantasy232 on 2024-11-08 11:29:15.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/NateNandos21 on 2024-11-08 11:10:11.

The original post: /r/askscience by /u/sasquatch6197 on 2024-11-08 09:45:05.

Dingoes have been in Australia for over 4000 years and have embedded themselves into the ecosystem playing the important role of predator. Additionally, horses evolved in North America and went extinct over 11000 years ago and were re introduced by Europeans a few centuries ago.