Questions tagged [everyday-life]
Concerns the application of the laws of physics to analyze common situations encountered in everyday life.
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How does the distribution of floor choices of your co-passengers affect your time of arrival in an elevator?
Note: This is a wiki post.
Suppose you are late for a meeting and you have to take an elevator. The floor choice of your fellow passengers influences how late you will reach your destination. If ...
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Why are we able to observe seemingly "inertial objects" in our day to day life? (apparent paradox from Newton's second law)
On the table and near to the computer where I write this question on, is my phone, and in my observation, it is completely still. Now, by Newton´s first law, since it is inertial, there is no net ...
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How does a seatbelt help in a car crash? [closed]
If you are in a car crash, you will likely have on a seatbelt because they are supposed to help you from getting injured/harmed. But, I don't think they are that much of a help. First of all, say you ...
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When a bus goes around a corner, does the person sitting at the back travel further distance than the person sitting at the front?
This is a bit of childish question.
When a bus goes around a corner, does the person sitting at the back travel further distance than the person sitting at the front?
My thought is no because the bus ...
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Does glass slowly (invisibly) degrade until it breaks?
(This question is about non-tempered glass.)
I broke my favorite glass (tumbler) today, dropping it in my (ceramic) sink while trying to refill it. :(
I'm kind of a klutz - that's far from the first ...
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Can I get burned with warm air?
If temperature is the "average" result of measuring a mix of hot and cold air particles, then I can be in a room of some warm temperature but being hit with both extremely hot particles and ...
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Does the fingernail test for detecting two-way mirrors really work?
I was looking for the working of a two way mirror when I came across this video. The person says that if you place your finger on the mirror and there's no gap between the image and the finger, then ...
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How does a Magic Mirror work?
I recently found out about the Magic Mirror. Both sides of the mirror look the same, and it appears to be dark, if looked at closely, like sunglasses (but lighter in colour) but looks like a normal ...
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Would a giant ball on earth roll towards the poles?
The radius of the earth is higher at the equator than at the pole. Would it mean then, that if I put a giant ball at the equator, it would roll up towards the pole? Why, why not?
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Microwave oven efficiency and conservation of energy
Wikipedia says that microwave ovens can be around 50-64% efficient at converting electricity into microwaves. Where does the energy lost at this stage go? And how much of the energy that is ...
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On a tinted (reflective) window, why do I need to look from up close to see inside?
I've noticed that on a really tinted window, when looking from farther (and even pretty close just not touching the window), you cannot look inside, but when you put your head so close to the window, ...
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Physics of paintings created by the orbit of swinging buckets filled with paint
I am intrigued about the physics behind these paintings, which are created by swinging a bucket with a hole filled with paint from a rope (here it is another example).
In principle, it seems to be a ...
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Ultrasonic whistling
My friend from physics who doesn't know whistling says he is good at whistling, but the resonant frequencies are ultrasonic so others cannot hear it.
Could this be right, or is he just bluffing?
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Why does the defroster make the windshield even more foggy at first?
I have noticed that sometimes when I use the defroster, at first the windshield becomes even more foggy, almost impossible to see through. Then, after a while the defroster starts having effect and ...
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Why cookies don't soak linearly in function of temperature?
I like to soak cookies in large coffee mug for breakfast. As a direct result of this, sometimes I try to soak the cookie in too quickly. The whole story is this:
When I try to soak the cookie in and ...
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