Questions tagged [everyday-life]
Concerns the application of the laws of physics to analyze common situations encountered in everyday life.
115
questions
2
votes
1
answer
65
views
Does a rubber mat reduce the impact to the floor below?
My lack of physics knowledge is preventing me from solving an everyday life problem. Please bear with me!
Say I have a second-floor apartment and I want to do deadlifts. I am afraid of the floor ...
0
votes
4
answers
1k
views
How does the mirror know what’s behind the paper?
I found this on social media. Although it was posted for fun, this is a valid question: How does the mirror know what’s behind the paper?
Show me how light reflected from the egg reaches the mirror.
6
votes
1
answer
127
views
Why do jet engine vortices go toward the ground?
This image was shown to us to illustrate how a tornado forms due to a low pressure region (also see Jet engine vortices).
I find it odd that the tornado always ends up at the ground, where it is a ...
0
votes
1
answer
70
views
Doubt in pitch of screw gauge [closed]
I have just started learning about screw gauge and I came across this statement about pitch
The pitch is the distance between two consecutive threads of a screw which is equal to the distance moved ...
1
vote
0
answers
103
views
Black car or white car? Let's solve this one for all
I ask this question because I do not think that in Temperature behavior over time of black or white cars in hot, sunny regions it was properly resolved. One answer is about doing calculations with ...
0
votes
2
answers
56
views
Would placing sand bags over the top of a car's strut housing reduce the jarring impact felt when the car hits a pothole? [closed]
I live in an urban area where many of the streets have pot holes and some of these streets have some very large and deep potholes. I have been wondering lately if it would be worth the effort to try ...
0
votes
3
answers
130
views
How to dry a cup?
If you wash a cup and shake it out thoroughly so there are no longer any drops of water large enough to move, it seems like the cup ought to dry faster by putting it right side up, since all drying ...
6
votes
1
answer
388
views
Why doesn't the liquid in a liquid-in-glass thermometer slide down when you turn it upside-down?
This question applies to both mercury and alcohol thermometers. I assume the answers would be similar, but maybe not. My understanding is that the capillary in a liquid-in-glass thermometer consists ...
1
vote
4
answers
146
views
General Doubt. My doubt about combustion
When we give flame to a newspaper it burns readily. What we need for a fire (fuel, heat, Oxygen) is also known as the fire triangle. But why does the paper not burn when we pour boiling water over it? ...
10
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Why does microwave take more time to heat more food?
As I understand, a microwave works by generating an electromagnetic field. As food enters this field, waves will transfer energy to those food particles that are intercepted by waves, and those ...
1
vote
4
answers
111
views
What is the difference between heating and cooling, fundamentally?
Context: My physics friend told me that heating and cooling effects are identical if you flip the vertical coordinates accordingly. If you heat a room from below, the warm air rises. Identically, air ...
3
votes
1
answer
95
views
Bicycle Uphill vs. Walking Uphill
When bicycling uphill, I have noticed it takes a enormous amount of effort compared to just walking uphill. However, when on level ground, bicycling seems to take considerably less effort than walking....
3
votes
0
answers
64
views
Can cell phones send message in the elevator?
From Gauss's theorem, a closed, hollow conductor shields its interior from fields due to charges outside, but does not shield its exterior from the fields due to charges placed inside it. So my ...
1
vote
1
answer
44
views
Why are water bubbles created at the top of the bottle if the water level is higher?
Water bubbles created at the top of the bottle if the water level is higher:
but water bubbles is not created at the top of the bottle if the water level is lower:
This question is very different ...
2
votes
0
answers
61
views
Why is it so much easier to kick a basketball when it is just bouncing back from the ground?
A basketball coach showed me that when you bounce a basketball back from the ground, it is much easier to kick it far away (actually it shoots out like a rocket), but when you want to kick it like a ...