As you know, progress does not stand still and almost every day in the world someone makes new scientific discoveries. It would seem that along with the development of world science, the general level of people's education should also grow.
However, statistics show that modern people, surrounded on all sides by the latest technology, are terrible ignoramuses and can not give a clear answer to the questions known to any student.
Obviously, despite the previously unprecedented availability of information, mankind has yet to overcome a lot on the way to achieving at least the minimum scientific literacy for most people living on Earth.
10. What is the principle of operation of magnets?
For several centuries, magnets were considered almost magical objects. However, with the development of science, people still realized that the principle of operation of these interesting gizmos is quite simple.
The properties of a magnet are determined by its magnetic field, in which many electrons rotate in a certain direction. Electrons tend to connect with their own kind, and iron, in turn, has many "single" charged particles.
This mechanism provides attraction of metal objects to the magnet. By the way, objects that are attracted to magnets are called ferromagnets.
9. Can the sun go out?
According to scientists, the source of light and heat on Earth will cease to exist in 5.5 billion years. Then the Sun, like any other star, will run out of hydrogen in the core, so it will begin to burn hydrogen in the surrounding layers.
This process will mark the end of the existence of the Solar System - the core of the star will decrease, and the outer layers, on the contrary, will increase. As a result, the Sun will acquire unprecedented dimensions and, flaring up, will destroy all nearby planets.
8. Why does water evaporate at room temperature?
Those of us who attended physics classes at school should remember that there is no absolute statics in this world. Even those objects that seem motionless to us, all the same, are a cluster of molecules moving at different speeds.
For example, if you consider water at the molecular level, you will see that its molecules move at an incredible speed.
When the air in the room is too dry, they can combine with air molecules.
Because of this, over time, in the absence of changes in external factors, the contents of the cup will gradually decrease until it disappears altogether.
7. What are clouds made of?
Clouds are masses of vapor transported through the air. In addition, they are also an element of the system of the water cycle in nature - a process by which freshwater reserves do not run out on Earth.
6. How old is our earth?
Over the past thousand years, scientists have repeatedly tried to find a way to determine the exact age of our planet. However, this was possible only at the moment when humanity learned about radioactivity.
Calculations based on this method allowed us to determine the age of rocks, as well as samples of meteorites and moonstones. Using this technology, scientists were able to find out that the Earth was formed about 4.54 billion years ago.
5. What is the essence of natural selection?
The founding father of the theory of evolution is the famous English biologist, Charles Darwin. Natural selection is one of the central concepts of the theory of evolution. Its meaning is quite simple.
Evolution is a long process, as a result of which the living organisms that inhabit our planet undergo many changes. And in most cases, these transformations become widespread if they contribute to increasing the survival rate of the species.
4. Why is the sky blue?
The sun's rays pass through the Earth’s atmosphere, consisting of a variety of gases and particles, which are kind of barriers.
If you are familiar with the principle of refraction of a beam of light passing through a prism, then you know that the light actually consists of several colors having different wavelengths.
Blue has a short wavelength compared to others, so it’s much easier for it to go through all layers of the atmosphere. That is why the sky is perceived by the human eye as a solid blue substance. However, it must be clarified that this happens only in clear weather.
When the sun rises or falls below the horizon, its light travels a much greater distance. This gives us the opportunity to see other colors.
3. Why are the bubbles round?
Bubbles are just layers of a liquid in which structural particles are held together by cohesion - a property that allows surface tension to be ensured.
In addition, air molecules exert pressure on the bubble from the outside. The only way the liquid layer can withstand these forces is to take the most optimal shape - spherical.
Interestingly, scientists have long found a way to give bubbles a different shape. There is not much practical benefit from this, but a similar technique is often used to give unusual bubble shapes to soap bubbles.
2. What causes a rainbow?
This beautiful and mysterious phenomenon is only an optical effect due to the accumulation of water in the atmosphere that appears after rain.
The density of water particles varies with the density of air, so the sun's rays, passing through these small droplets, are divided into composite wavelengths, and then reflect them back.
The result is an arc with clear multi-colored stripes of the visible spectrum. Observe this phenomenon from the ground at an angle of about 40 degrees. It is also interesting that if you look at the rainbow from the airplane window, it will take the form of a disk.
1. What is the theory of relativity?
The generalized term "theory of relativity" usually means two theories - special and general, which at the beginning of the last century were developed by the greatest physicist Albert Einstein.
The theory suggested measuring the motion between different bodies moving in space at a constant speed in relation to each other, and not as it was before - accepting them as an absolute reference frame.