Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, as well as all related concepts, including energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.

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Do “liquid solar blankets” work to stop heat from escaping a swimming pool?

There are products on ther market that claim to spread a thin layer of proprietary transparent liquid over the surface of your pool to reduce evaporation and thus retain heat. One product is ...
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90 views

Is everything in the universe quantum-entangled? [closed]

Considering the Hugh Everett hypothesis that there exists a single wavefunction for all the universe, and assuming that there is nothing "external" from the universe to decohere that wavefunction, ...
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187 views

Graphene “heat sink” sticker for your mobile phone battery

This product (Japanese language) is claimed to cool down your smartphone, etc, battery by two degrees centigrade - see the photo a little way down the page. It claims to be a graphene-based material, ...
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1answer
410 views

Is D-Wave Systems's “D-Wave One” a quantum computer?

D-Wave Systems claim to have produced the first commercial quantum computer: The company's flagship product, the D-Wave One, is built around a novel type of superconducting processor that uses ...
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303 views

Does physics give a climate sensitivity to carbon dioxide of about 3°C?

A letter to the editor of the Economist from Professor Anders Levermann of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research stated the following: The IPCC’s range on sensitivity is supported by, ...
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1answer
379 views

Time traveling machine invented?

Yesterday a news said that an Iranian scientist claims to have invented a 'time machine' that will allow one to 'travel' up to 8 years into the future to predict with 98% accuracy the future for any ...
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3answers
827 views

Misconceptions about electric theory

Electric misconceptions This is a fairly big question, and is divided into three parts. One part is a separate question. The site lists several common misconceptions, and what the correct way of ...
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1answer
352 views

Can HAARP warp space-time? [duplicate]

According to this article A brilliant physicist published a revolutionary paper citing 30 other scientific papers that reveal HAARP has incredible powers far beyond what most investigators of the ...
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2answers
447 views

Can a loudspeaker make water stream form a zig-zag flow?

If you watch this Amazing Water & Sound Experiment #2 YouTube video, you can see an amazing effect with water, a sinusoidal signal and a woofer. Is this a true effect due to vibration of the ...
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1answer
19k views

Did Canadian company HyperStealth invent an invisibility cloak?

This seemingly legitimate camouflage design company says it invented an invisibility cloak called Quantum Stealth that works by bending light "without cameras, batteries, lights or mirrors." ...
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1k views

Is there any data on how efficient Tesla wireless power transmission was?

It's widely believed that Nikola Tesla not only demonstrated wireless power transmission but his works in this field were very successful. Wikipedia only says this The electric energy transmitted ...
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1answer
400 views

Can the useful lifespan of razor blades be extended by stroking them over jeans?

This article and this video, amongst others, claim that you can extend the useful lifespan of razor blades for a substantial amount (months), if you regularly stroke them over jeans, immediately after ...
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2answers
269 views

Is there an iPhone app that can make corn kernels pop?

I have seen a video on YouTube that clearly shows corn kernels popping when a certain iPhone app is used and the kernels are placed on the iPhone. A friend of mine at work said it is fake. Now, I ...
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321 views

Does HEATTECH heat-generating clothing work?

Uniqlo sells HEATTECH heat-generating clothing. Is this just a marketing gimmick or does this fabric generate heat as advertise?
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1answer
645 views

Did/does the US government keep secret papers by Nikola Tesla?

A popular conspiracy theory holds that Tesla invented a free energy device, but that the powers that be prevented him from publishing it, because it would hurt their investments. Of course, free ...
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2answers
2k views

Does a column of marching soldiers have to break their rhythm while crossing a bridge to prevent its collapse?

I recently stumbled across this article "Why are soldiers ordered to break their marching steps while crossing a bridge?" (The Times of India) where a claim is made: When soldiers march in three ...
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1answer
268 views

Is it possible to gain an edge in roulette through physics?

I just stumbled across the following article: http://genuinewinner.com/science.html, which makes the following claim: There's no way of knowing exactly which number will spin next. And there's ...
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1answer
374 views

Did the Large Hadron Collider end up costing 10 billion dollars?

According to the Los Angeles Time (Massive proton collider is a great big hit after all) and The New York Times (European Collider Begins Its Subatomic Exploration) the Large Hadron Collider did end ...
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88 views

Is every 13th wave larger then the rest? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Is the ninth wave the largest? In the movie Kon-Tiki, the crew relies crucially on the claim that every 13th wave (over a reef) is larger then the rest, I have heard ...
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471 views

Is the electric chair painless? [closed]

Almost everybody thinks that execution by electrocution is one of the most painful and horrible ways to die. But is it true ? Different sources cite that any current bigger than 0.1 mA is lethal in ...
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716 views

Can the EmDrive produce thrust for a spacecraft without propellant? [closed]

This article and the paper “Net Thrust Measurement of Propellentless Microwave Thruster” in the June edition of the journal Acta Physica Sinica published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences talk about ...
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193 views

does observation affecs reality? [closed]

I was watching "the universe series" when one of the presenters was talking about Quantum experiments where they "proved" how observation affected the outcome of certain events, for example when they ...
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1answer
296 views

Can a universe emerge from nothing? [closed]

If the Universe is flat and the total energy of the universe can be zero (we don't know if it is, but it can be) then is it possible that all matter in the universe could have emerged from nothing? If ...
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1answer
349 views

Does the Eneloop battery have lower self-discharge?

In the following pages: What's eneloop? Self-Discharge it is mentioned that the Eneloop battery has has an even lower self-discharge […] in comparison with other high quality ...
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1answer
873 views

Is it possible to stack liquids of different density scale on top of each other?

I came across q picture on the net and now I'm skeptical that it's possible. I know liquids from different density scale wouldn't mix easily but stacking them on top of eachother with perfectly ...
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2answers
2k views

Can a man fall faster than the speed of sound?

I have heard that a man can fall faster than the speed of sound, and survive, by jumping from 36,000 meters; a free fall that, it seems, lasts ten minutes after the jump. Is it true?
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596 views

Do ocean waves come in sets of 7?

I have heard the claim that "Ocean waves travel in groups of seven, and the seventh wave is the biggest of the bunch." Is this fact of fiction?
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620 views

Do commercial airliners go into flat spins if they lose electronics?

In movies and television, commercial airliners that have lost electronics often go into flat spins and inevitably crash. Is this what would really happen? Would the plane be able to glide to a ...
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1answer
2k views

Is NASA working on warp drive?

I am cynical about a report on Gizmodo that NASA is developing Warp Drive. This was trending on Google Plus tonight and gathering a bit of attention. ...
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1answer
348 views

What was the Earth rotation when it was formed? [closed]

In an answer to another question, it was claimed that: The magnitude of tidal friction depends on the arrangement of the continents. In the past, the continents were arranged such that tidal ...
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1answer
504 views

Do tea cosies keep a pot of tea warm?

Wikipedia claims, without attribution, that a tea cosy: ... insulates a teapot, keeping the contents warm The purveyor's of these teapot covers follow a similar vein: Pretty, original and ...
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139 views

Could a solar flare cause economic collapse? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Will the Sun's magnetic activity disrupt electronics on Earth? It seems that solar flares are one of the few things that have any factual weight among the possible ...
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2answers
494 views

Does Quantum Teleportation Transmit Information?

Recently I've been reading about advances in quantum mechanics, particularly in the field of quantum teleportation. It's a difficult subject to understand, and for that reason I explicitly don't ...
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1answer
1k views

Can science explain how bicycles work?

From 8 Simple Questions You Won't Believe Science Can't Answer: Bicycles have to designed by almost entirely by intuition and experimentation Physical concepts used to explain them (gyroscopic and ...
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427 views

Does the color magenta exist? [closed]

I just heard part of a discussion that had to do with the color magenta. The discussions was on whether the color really exist. There are several websites claiming that magenta is not part of the ...
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1answer
481 views

Does putting a dorodango in the fridge aid evaporation, or just compress the dirt?

Background Dorodango is the art of making shiny mud spheres, such as these: To make a dorodango, you collect a core of dirt (optionally mixing in color powder), mold it into a sphere, and then ...
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1k views

Can you breathe underwater using bubbles of air?

A very popular videogame character, which is famous for his sonic speed, is depicted breathing underwater by using air bubbles. Now since I've never heard anyone complaining about this, despite the ...
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3answers
2k views

Do you get less wet walking through a vertical rainstorm than running through it?

My brother claims that a person will get less wet walking through rain that is falling vertically than running through it. He says that when running less rain may fall on top of the head and ...
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1answer
2k views

Did an F-15 airplane successfully land with just one wing?

I've just been forwarded a video about a jetfighter landing with just one wing and I wonder if this could indeed be true. Here's the link to the video: One-Winged F 15 Crash Landing Video (landing ...
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1answer
1k views

Is the pale blue dot Earth?

Is the pale blue dot Earth in the image taken by Voyager? What I'm wondering is, why is there no other thing visible in the frame(like sun, other planets etc.,). How is the camera able to capture only ...
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1answer
2k views

Does paper blunt scissors?

It is widely believed that paper blunts scissors. But it is difficult to imagine why paper should be more harmful than say hair. Is paper really any worse for scissors than hair, or any other object? ...
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1answer
1k views

Is the ninth wave the largest?

This famous painting by Ivan Aivazovsky is called The Ninth Wave: Wikipedia tells about the origin of the name: Both English and Russian titles refer to the nautical tradition that waves grow ...
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1answer
542 views

Will the Sun's magnetic activity disrupt electronics on Earth?

I recently came across a claim that the earth's geomagnetism will change and all the electronics devices will be disrupted due to the Sun's magnetic pole change, as described in this video. ...
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3answers
955 views

Evidence for the absolute speed of light

I'm wrapping my mind over Einstein's Special Relativity. He postulates an abolute speed of light which concludes (in my perspective) to several illogical paradoxes. Is there any evidence, that the ...
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1answer
448 views

Do radiometric dating labs throw out 8 of 10 specimens, and are the samples blinded?

I think that my question regarding KNM-ER 1470's and the change from previously believed "good dates" from methods other than the fossil record might be too broad. There is an aspect of the question ...
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1answer
631 views

Does the radioactivity on Hiroshima's soil affect radiometric dating?

I heard several times from creationists that now, if scientists would examine the land in Hiroshima, it will tell them it is millions of years old all because of the atom bomb. And because of that ...
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1answer
509 views

If gas expands then how are stars formed from collapse of gas and dust?

I do have a good understanding of how stars form. Mass exerts gravity and gases will collapse together and when the density crosses a certain limit, the fusion starts in the core. I was reading the ...
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2answers
1k views

Will opening a car door at high speed cause a flip? [closed]

Driving in the car with a friend, I was bored and did the "Batcar" game. If you're not familiar, this essentially ends in the passengers of the car opening their doors while the car is moving if the ...
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1answer
539 views

Is this arrangement of coins possible? [closed]

Uh, like the question says. Is this arrangement possible or is it obviously Photoshopped?
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530 views

Can turbines on the front of cars ever pay off? [closed]

This news article is proving to be quite controversial here. Basically it's an electric car with a turbine bolted onto the front. On the face of it sticking a turbine on the front is going to increase ...

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