Quickie Questions - Humans and the Things They Do

Quickie Questions - Humans and the Things They Do - Other Scientists

Date Answered Questioner (age, location) Question Answer

August 19, 2008 Ronald (age 12, worcester,Ma) Is it really true that the end of the world is going to be on December 21,2012 and will there be any chance that you scientists could destroy that asteroid? Or safe the earth from this horrible thing ? Please try to safe earth. and are there going to be life on earth or will there be a place to stay until the air clears out? or can you guys tell us exactly where the comet is going to land? is there any chance that you guys can safe like a couple of people? and please choose me first and my family please1 This article should answer your question. Ask your parents to read it and discuss it with you. Anyway, let me quote the last three paragraphs: "But scholars doubt the ancient Maya extrapolated great meaning from anticipating the alignment — if they were even aware of what the configuration would be. Astronomers generally agree that "it would be impossible the Maya themselves would have known that," says Susan Milbrath, a Maya archaeoastronomer and a curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History. What's more, she says, "we have no record or knowledge that they would think the world would come to an end at that point." University of Florida anthropologist Susan Gillespie says the 2012 phenomenon comes "from media and from other people making use of the Maya past to fulfill agendas that are really their own."

June 19, 2008 jay (age , ) In the middle of wide discussions about quantum mechanics, Schrödinger proposed the example of a living entity to illustrate how bizarre it was. This was not a real experiment. This is what Schrödinger wrote: "One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts. It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks."

March 14, 2008 francis (age , ) what is the 1543 cannon that made the light dawn in the center? It was Copernicus who figured out that the Sun was in the center of the solar system (light dawned in the center) and not the Earth.

January 15, 2008 Caleb (age 13, United States of America) how old was Niels Bohr when he died in 1963 Niels Henrik David Bohr lived to be 77 years old, from October 7, 1885 to November 18, 1962.

October 18, 2007 celeste (age 11, california) can you tell me important facts about galileo Among many other things, Galileo studied the motion of uniformly accelerated objects (now taught in nearly all high school and introductory college physics courses), he discovered the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons), and also dedicated some time to the observation and analysis of sunspots.

July 20, 2007 michel(age 14, philippines) place of birth of
albert enstien
Albert Einstein was born March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany.

July 11, 2007 Aderonke (age 15, england) how is john dalton's work link into the work of two other scientists? Dalton's ideas influenced many scientists, from Guy-Lussac to Antoine Lavoisier and William Higgins.

May 5, 2007 janine (age 14, Cebu, Philippines) Who was the British scientist who “discovered” the seasonal Antarctic ozone hole in
the 1980s?
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists who discovered the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985 were Joseph Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin.

April 13, 2007 Elizabeth (age 12, Utha) Who is Johannes Kepler? What did he do? Johannes Kepler's primary contributions to astronomy/astrophysics were his three laws of planetary motion, derived by studying the observations of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe.

February 8, 2007 Hayden (age 11, Canada) what is the solar system theory of Hipparchus? Hipparchus was a Greek astronomer who lived between 190-120 B.C. He created the first accurate star map and kept a catalogue of over 850 stars with their relative brightnesses. He also developed the system of epicycles (where everything in space moved in perfect circles) for the planets that both agreed with observation, and preserved the Earth-centered universe of Aristotle. Perhaps the discovery for which Hipparchus is most famous is the discovery of precession which is due to the slow change in direction of the axis of rotation of the earth. Abundant information about this Greek astronomer can be found at our web page Hipparchus, and in this detail biography.

January 7, 2002 Alice (age 11, California, USA) I need any info on Robert Goddard. Here's a page on Goddard - picture and all!

November 10, 2000 Chris (age 11, Michigan, USA) I need to know the history of Stephen Jay Gould. Here's a short little history on Gould.

October 31, 2000 Kristen (age 14, New Mexico, USA) Who was Ernest Rutherford? What did he do? Where did he die? Here's Ernest Rutherford!

April 20, 2000 Shaina (age 17, Arkansas, USA) Do you know when the nobel prize winners for this year will be announced? The nobel prizes are announced in the fall every year, starting in early October.

December 10, 1999 Nolan (age 15, Canada) Was Sir Ernest Rutherford ever married? Yes. He married Mary Newton in 1900. They had one child, Eileen.

May 25, 1999 Carmen (age 13, Australia) What are sedimentary rocks used for? Sedimentary rocks can be used for a number of things. Sedimentary rocks form layers or stratifications. Each layer is layed down during a certain time period, so sedimentary rocks can be used to tell the geological record of an area. Scientists can tell when an organism lived through which layers its fossils are in. It's almost like looking back in time, pretty neat. Sedimentary rocks can also be quite beautiful. Take a look at this picture .

May 12, 1999 Codi(age 11, Oregon,USA) why isnt there gravity on other planets? Is there life on the other planets besides earth? Are you a real scientist and whats you name? Are you famous? Have you been on any other planet before? How old are you? Are you telling me the truth? Boy oh boy, you sure have a lot of questions! All planets have gravity. Some planets have more than others. Right now, we know that only Earth has life, although we are always look ing for others. Yes, I am a real scientist!(Although I just joined the Windows team recently) No, I'm not famous.... YET. I haven't been on any other planet- that I know of. I'm a lot older than you.... And of course I'm telling you the truth! Scientists don't lie!

April 23, 1999 Jo (age 15, England) Can you please tell me some information on Rutherford or John Dalton who were scientists who discovered the atomic structure. I've looked every where!! on the net but i can't find anything. Here is our page on Ernest Rutherford, and here are several other pages with information on Rutherford and Dalton.

April 8, 1999 Charles (age 22, New Jersey, USA) Did Albert Einstien have anything to do with the building of the atomic bomb. Someone told me that he was involved with the triggering mechanism. Ideas that Einstein came up with led to the creation of the atomic bomb. He theorized that mass could be converted into energy, which is the fundamental thought behind the atomic bomb.

April 5, 1999 Robin (age 11, Florida, USA) I am working on a report about marine biology and I would like to know what a marine biologist does. This page will help you out.

March 30, 1999 Teresa (age 11, New York, USA) I want to know about Leonardo DaVinci. Period of time he lived,country and what made him famous in history. Here is our page about Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance Man.

March 4, 1999 Robin (age 13, Ontario, Canada) Can you please tell me a brief life story of Archimedes? Ok, here goes...

February 16, 1999 Suzanne and Dan We would like to have information about Thomas Stafford's educational background. Here is a biography about General Stafford, astronaut.

February 12, 1999 Melissa (age 13) What is a scientist who studies Earth called? They are called geologists.

February 6, 1999 Ben (age 10, Mexico) Who invented the hydrogen bomb? A number of people contributed to the invention of the hydrogen bomb, but Edward Teller is generally called the "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb", since he lead the research sur rounding it.

January 22, 1999 Suchita (age 14) Have scientists in any way done more harm than good? Science is like any tool, and can be used either way. On the one hand we have things like pollution and the nuclear bomb...but consider all the benefits! Food production has become much more efficient and increased greatly. Advances in medicine sav e millions of lives every year. New materials are developed which are stronger, lighter and cheaper, and which improve the quality of life. And so on and on!

November 30, 1998 Steve (age 14) Who invented the light bulb? Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, as well as the movie projector and the phonograph, among other things.

Date Answered	Questioner (age, location)	Question	Answer

August 19, 2008	Ronald (age 12, worcester,Ma)	Is it really true that the end of the world is going to be on December 21,2012 and will there be any chance that you scientists could destroy that asteroid? Or safe the earth from this horrible thing ? Please try to safe earth. and are there going to be life on earth or will there be a place to stay until the air clears out? or can you guys tell us exactly where the comet is going to land? is there any chance that you guys can safe like a couple of people? and please choose me first and my family please1	This article should answer your question. Ask your parents to read it and discuss it with you. Anyway, let me quote the last three paragraphs: "But scholars doubt the ancient Maya extrapolated great meaning from anticipating the alignment — if they were even aware of what the configuration would be. Astronomers generally agree that "it would be impossible the Maya themselves would have known that," says Susan Milbrath, a Maya archaeoastronomer and a curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History. What's more, she says, "we have no record or knowledge that they would think the world would come to an end at that point." University of Florida anthropologist Susan Gillespie says the 2012 phenomenon comes "from media and from other people making use of the Maya past to fulfill agendas that are really their own."
June 19, 2008	jay (age , )		In the middle of wide discussions about quantum mechanics, Schrödinger proposed the example of a living entity to illustrate how bizarre it was. This was not a real experiment. This is what Schrödinger wrote: "One can even set up quite ridiculous cases. A cat is penned up in a steel chamber, along with the following device (which must be secured against direct interference by the cat): in a Geiger counter there is a tiny bit of radioactive substance, so small, that perhaps in the course of the hour one of the atoms decays, but also, with equal probability, perhaps none; if it happens, the counter tube discharges and through a relay releases a hammer which shatters a small flask of hydrocyanic acid. If one has left this entire system to itself for an hour, one would say that the cat still lives if meanwhile no atom has decayed. The psi-function of the entire system would express this by having in it the living and dead cat (pardon the expression) mixed or smeared out in equal parts. It is typical of these cases that an indeterminacy originally restricted to the atomic domain becomes transformed into macroscopic indeterminacy, which can then be resolved by direct observation. That prevents us from so naively accepting as valid a "blurred model" for representing reality. In itself it would not embody anything unclear or contradictory. There is a difference between a shaky or out-of-focus photograph and a snapshot of clouds and fog banks."
March 14, 2008	francis (age , )	what is the 1543 cannon that made the light dawn in the center?	It was Copernicus who figured out that the Sun was in the center of the solar system (light dawned in the center) and not the Earth.
January 15, 2008	Caleb (age 13, United States of America)	how old was Niels Bohr when he died in 1963	Niels Henrik David Bohr lived to be 77 years old, from October 7, 1885 to November 18, 1962.
October 18, 2007	celeste (age 11, california)	can you tell me important facts about galileo	Among many other things, Galileo studied the motion of uniformly accelerated objects (now taught in nearly all high school and introductory college physics courses), he discovered the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons), and also dedicated some time to the observation and analysis of sunspots.
July 20, 2007	michel(age 14, philippines)	place of birth of albert enstien	Albert Einstein was born March 14, 1879 in Ulm, Württemberg, Germany.
July 11, 2007	Aderonke (age 15, england)	how is john dalton's work link into the work of two other scientists?	Dalton's ideas influenced many scientists, from Guy-Lussac to Antoine Lavoisier and William Higgins.
May 5, 2007	janine (age 14, Cebu, Philippines)	Who was the British scientist who “discovered” the seasonal Antarctic ozone hole in the 1980s?	The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) scientists who discovered the Antarctic ozone hole in 1985 were Joseph Farman, Brian Gardiner and Jonathan Shanklin.
April 13, 2007	Elizabeth (age 12, Utha)	Who is Johannes Kepler? What did he do?	Johannes Kepler's primary contributions to astronomy/astrophysics were his three laws of planetary motion, derived by studying the observations of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe.
February 8, 2007	Hayden (age 11, Canada)	what is the solar system theory of Hipparchus?	Hipparchus was a Greek astronomer who lived between 190-120 B.C. He created the first accurate star map and kept a catalogue of over 850 stars with their relative brightnesses. He also developed the system of epicycles (where everything in space moved in perfect circles) for the planets that both agreed with observation, and preserved the Earth-centered universe of Aristotle. Perhaps the discovery for which Hipparchus is most famous is the discovery of precession which is due to the slow change in direction of the axis of rotation of the earth. Abundant information about this Greek astronomer can be found at our web page Hipparchus, and in this detail biography.
January 7, 2002	Alice (age 11, California, USA)	I need any info on Robert Goddard.	Here's a page on Goddard - picture and all!
November 10, 2000	Chris (age 11, Michigan, USA)	I need to know the history of Stephen Jay Gould.	Here's a short little history on Gould.
October 31, 2000	Kristen (age 14, New Mexico, USA)	Who was Ernest Rutherford? What did he do? Where did he die?	Here's Ernest Rutherford!
April 20, 2000	Shaina (age 17, Arkansas, USA)	Do you know when the nobel prize winners for this year will be announced?	The nobel prizes are announced in the fall every year, starting in early October.
December 10, 1999	Nolan (age 15, Canada)	Was Sir Ernest Rutherford ever married?	Yes. He married Mary Newton in 1900. They had one child, Eileen.
May 25, 1999	Carmen (age 13, Australia)	What are sedimentary rocks used for?	Sedimentary rocks can be used for a number of things. Sedimentary rocks form layers or stratifications. Each layer is layed down during a certain time period, so sedimentary rocks can be used to tell the geological record of an area. Scientists can tell when an organism lived through which layers its fossils are in. It's almost like looking back in time, pretty neat. Sedimentary rocks can also be quite beautiful. Take a look at this picture .
May 12, 1999	Codi(age 11, Oregon,USA)	why isnt there gravity on other planets? Is there life on the other planets besides earth? Are you a real scientist and whats you name? Are you famous? Have you been on any other planet before? How old are you? Are you telling me the truth?	Boy oh boy, you sure have a lot of questions! All planets have gravity. Some planets have more than others. Right now, we know that only Earth has life, although we are always look ing for others. Yes, I am a real scientist!(Although I just joined the Windows team recently) No, I'm not famous.... YET. I haven't been on any other planet- that I know of. I'm a lot older than you.... And of course I'm telling you the truth! Scientists don't lie!
April 23, 1999	Jo (age 15, England)	Can you please tell me some information on Rutherford or John Dalton who were scientists who discovered the atomic structure. I've looked every where!! on the net but i can't find anything.	Here is our page on Ernest Rutherford, and here are several other pages with information on Rutherford and Dalton.
April 8, 1999	Charles (age 22, New Jersey, USA)	Did Albert Einstien have anything to do with the building of the atomic bomb. Someone told me that he was involved with the triggering mechanism.	Ideas that Einstein came up with led to the creation of the atomic bomb. He theorized that mass could be converted into energy, which is the fundamental thought behind the atomic bomb.
April 5, 1999	Robin (age 11, Florida, USA)	I am working on a report about marine biology and I would like to know what a marine biologist does.	This page will help you out.
March 30, 1999	Teresa (age 11, New York, USA)	I want to know about Leonardo DaVinci. Period of time he lived,country and what made him famous in history.	Here is our page about Leonardo da Vinci, Renaissance Man.
March 4, 1999	Robin (age 13, Ontario, Canada)	Can you please tell me a brief life story of Archimedes?	Ok, here goes...
February 16, 1999	Suzanne and Dan	We would like to have information about Thomas Stafford's educational background.	Here is a biography about General Stafford, astronaut.
February 12, 1999	Melissa (age 13)	What is a scientist who studies Earth called?	They are called geologists.
February 6, 1999	Ben (age 10, Mexico)	Who invented the hydrogen bomb?	A number of people contributed to the invention of the hydrogen bomb, but Edward Teller is generally called the "Father of the Hydrogen Bomb", since he lead the research sur rounding it.
January 22, 1999	Suchita (age 14)	Have scientists in any way done more harm than good?	Science is like any tool, and can be used either way. On the one hand we have things like pollution and the nuclear bomb...but consider all the benefits! Food production has become much more efficient and increased greatly. Advances in medicine sav e millions of lives every year. New materials are developed which are stronger, lighter and cheaper, and which improve the quality of life. And so on and on!
November 30, 1998	Steve (age 14)	Who invented the light bulb?	Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, as well as the movie projector and the phonograph, among other things.

Last modified February 21, 2008 by Eduardo Araujo-Pradere.
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