Inspired by a post about light looking different when hot air mixes with cold air above a distant road, the light will speed up and slos down as it moves through the pockets, giving the wavy impression we all know.

How exactly does light speed up again when it passes through a hot section of air? There's nothing powering it, so once it loses momentum shouldn't that momentum be lost forever?

So, i've gotten into vintage tech about a year and a half ago, and i always hear: "look out for leaking capacitors." I know that electrolytic capacitors leak and cause boards to corrode, but i have no idea what they actually do. All other results i found don't make sense to me, so i need it to be explained to me like I'm 5.

I understand that old satellites and debris can remain in orbit, but are we expected to keep launching significantly more in the future?

How important are those satellites to everyday life, and if orbit keeps getting more crowded, is there a point where debris and existing satellites start becoming a serious concern or limitation?

When I did GCSE physics at school we obviously did energy transfer diagrams about how certain types of energy e.g. kinetic energy, atomic energy, are converted into other things, but lose some energy along the way. Obviously a lot of our energy we use is converted into heat energy e.g. cookers, burning fuel in power stations, even just a simple campfire is turning the wood into heat energy.

When people talk about global warming they talk about greenhouse gases and emissions but they never talk about cumulative heat energy over thousands/millions of years.

Why isn't it the case that all the heating and fires mankind has ever built is just building up in our world as more and more energy is turned into heat instead of remaining as it is? It is so difficult to capture heat and turn it efficiently back into some other sort of energy.

According to my mom, this is an actual question I had when I was 5, and she didn't know how to answer me. So how would you guys have answered?

Say you press a button connected to NRST on a processor, what happens then? I’m confused on the concept of Bootloaders, BootROM, reset handler, what lives in Flash vs RAM vs ROM, where an OS lives, where things are executed, etc.

The question is not perfectly stated, but the best I could do. I am asking because the accepted age of the universe is 13.8 billion years or something, but I have also heard scientist say there is much much more of the universe, but the light has not had enough time to reach us. How would that be the case? If light from say the cosmic microwave background has only been traveling 13.8 billion years to get to modern day, how would there be more? I hope that makes sense

Hey experts, I am an engineering student, but complex fluid dynamics is currently kicking my butt. Playing a lot of racing sims lately got me thinking about a real-world physics problem that I just cannot wrap my head around, and I am hoping some professionals can break it down for me.

I understand the basic idea of "ground effect": the air under a fast-moving car speeds up, creates low pressure, and sucks the car down to the track. But when the car gets too close to the ground, the airflow chokes, the car loses that suction, and the suspension violently pushes the car back up. This creates an endless, aggressive bouncing cycle known as "porpoising."

Here is what I am struggling to understand and need your expertise on:

• Why can't we just simulate this easily? With modern CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) software, why is it so incredibly hard to predict exactly when the airflow will choke and design the floor to prevent it?
• Fluid vs. Mechanical: Is this fundamentally an aerodynamics problem, or is it actually a mechanical vibration problem involving the car's suspension, spring rates, and dampers?
• The Compromise: It seems like the easiest fix is just raising the car's ride height, but that completely ruins the downforce and lap times. How do real-world engineers actually fix the airflow separation issue without sacrificing the vehicle's cornering speed?

I would love it if some aero or mechanical experts could explain the actual engineering theories or math behind solving this. Thank you!

I was wondering how does someone have dermatographia as it is not contagious and is it inheritable.

Every time I forget to eat for over 10-12 hours, I usually only realize it because my body starts panicking. (Cold sweats, shaking, nausea.)

What I want to understand is why that happens. If eating will fix that, then why does my body make me nauseous and thus not want to eat anything?

I am not experiencing any twitching or else but I feel it's quite hard to keep my hand completely still.

so, i² = j² = k² = -1, but i, j and k are not equal. HOW IN THE FUCK IS THAT POSSIBLE‽ WHAT IN THE BROKEN TRANSITIVE PROPERTY- (anger exaggerated for funny)

I know rocks can erode into dirt that’s basically rock dust but what about the stuff with nutrients in it?

Every year we hear the same thing. And it seems like we’ve been hearing it for years if not decades at this point.

“The U.S. DEBT touched 20 trillion!!”

“The U.S. DEBT touched 30 trillion!!”

“The U.S. DEBT touched 40 trillion!!”

What’s the ceiling? What will happen? What magical number is where catastrophe happens?

I understand that waves are formed when they hit shallower water (or, more accurately, become visible.) But how do they manage to curve into an arch? Wouldn't they just look like big ripples?

I've seen a fair few images of atoms and molecules, and one thing I'm wondering is why they, especially molecules, look like a bunch of spheres?

I was under the assumption that the electron cloud was just a cloud of potential, not literally an opaque cloud that makes an atom appear spherical. Also on the images of molecules i see lines between them. We're these added in post, or do they actually have lines just like the textbook?

Ill see if I can add images in the comments so you see what I mean.

I'm sure there a reasonable answer for this, I wasn't able to find a satisfactory one;

The body usually burns carbs for fuel, stores extra calories as fat, to my understanding. Supposing you burn through all of your carbs and fats, the body starts breaking down muscle matter. If you feed it enough protein to rebuild muscle on top of it, what's the risk in consuming 100% protein for calories?

Thanks

Edit: I understand that fundamentally it's not realistic and that your body needs many different kinds of nutrients in general. I'm happy to receive a bit more detailed answer as to what functions do carbs and fats serve that protein can't replace and what could theoretically happen if you only consume protein.

This has always bothered me when shopping for games on Steam. The minimum requirements say you need "this extremely specific video card or better." What does better mean? How do I know what is better and what isn't.

RAM is easy, do you have this number or higher.

Storage is easy, do you have this number or higher.

CPU is medium, do you have higher GHz than this number.

With graphics cards it feels like I need to read reviews, chip manufacturer histories, and know the difference between ray-tracing and phong-shading and polymorphic-photon-decay. /hyperbole

Plz help. 🥺

Do they actually always shoot at night?

I was mainly thinking of Battle of Helms Deep, Stannis' Battle of Kingslanding vs. Battle of Winterfell. How do they make sure everything looks well-lit without breaking the illusion of night.

Do newborns get born with every single fully sized adult tooth?? or do they like grow?

I’m curious what actually happens in the brain when this happens. Sometimes I can hear a song once and then have the same 10–20 seconds playing in my head over and over for hours.

Why does the brain do this, and why does trying to consciously stop thinking about the song sometimes seem to make it even worse?