An excellent talk on Intelligent Design and humans at the limits of their understanding. He closes with an interesting point. 85% of the National Academy of Science rejects the idea of God. These are the brightest minds of our time. But that's not the story. Tyson asks, why do 15% of these brilliant people NOT reject the idea?
What the public knows or believes can be a wild card, but when even your most learned and gifted don't agree, that's the real discussion. As Tyson asks, why is that number 15% and not 0? There's your story.
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01:59 PM
Marvin McInnis Member
Posts: 11599 From: ~ Kansas City, USA Registered: Apr 2002
Here's another simple 13-question science quiz from The Smthsonian Institution and The Pew Research Center. It's hard to believe that 80% of Americans don't know the predominate element comprising ~80% of the Earth's atmosphere. Anyone who doesn't get all 13 out of 13 questions right needs to go back to high school (or junior high) and retake the introductory general science class.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 02-14-2014).]
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02:02 PM
TheDigitalAlchemist Member
Posts: 12443 From: Long Island, NY Registered: Jan 2012
Wonder how most science teachers would fare on that exam...
But if it's one thing we REALLY need to do is to inform kids (and young adults) That they aren't so damn smart, just because they can Google, or know "gossip" news.
Not that I know what's actually important, but I know damn sure what's NOT...
edit: 13/13. (thank god)
[This message has been edited by TheDigitalAlchemist (edited 02-14-2014).]
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02:15 PM
lurker Member
Posts: 12351 From: salisbury nc usa Registered: Feb 2002
Since the article lacked any sources, I went hunting. I saw a difference picture.
Twenty questions used a true-or-false format. These included:
(1) “Hot air rises” (T) Europe correct: 91%, United States correct: 95%
(2) “The continents have been moving for millions of years and will continue to move in the future” (T) Europe correct: 86%, United States correct: 80%
(3) “The oxygen we breathe comes from plants” (T) Europe correct: 83%, United States correct: 94%
(4) “The gene is the basic unit of heredity of living beings” (T) Europe correct: 82%, United States correct: 82%
(5) “Earth’s gravity pulls objects towards it without being touched” (T) Europe correct: 79%, United States correct: 80%
(6) “Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but only changed from one form to another” (T) Europe correct: 66%, United States correct: 80%
(7) “Almost all microorganisms are harmful to human beings” (F) Europe correct: 63%, United States correct: 56%
(8) “Generally speaking, human cells do not divide” (F) Europe correct: 63%, United States correct: 58%
(9) “The earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs” (F) Europe correct: 61%, United States correct: 43%
(10); “Plants have no DNA” (F) Europe correct: 60%, United States correct: 64%
(11); “The greenhouse effect is caused by the use of nuclear power” (F) Europe correct: 58%, United States correct: 47%
(12) “All radioactivity is a product of human activity” (F) Europe correct: 56%, United States correct: 62%
(13) “Ordinary tomatoes, the ones we normally eat, do not have genes, whereas genetically engineered tomatoes do” (F) Europe correct: 54%, United States correct: 48%
(14) “It is the father’s gene that determines a newborn baby’s sex, whether it is a boy or a girl” (T) Europe correct: 52%, United States correct: 75%
(15) “Lasers work by sound waves” (F) Europe correct: 48%, United States correct: 54%
(16) “The light that reaches the Earth from the sun is made up of a single color: white” (F) Europe correct: 44%, United States correct: 55%
(17) “Today it is not possible to transfer genes from humans to animals” (F) Europe correct: 41%, United States correct: 43%
(18) “Atoms are smaller than electrons” (F) Europe correct: 38%, United States correct: 50%
(19) “Antibiotics destroy viruses” (F) Europe correct: 36%, United States correct: 47%
(20) “Human stem cells are extracted from human embryos without destroying the embryos” (F) Europe correct: 29%, United States correct: 54%
Average: Europe: 59%, United States 63.35%
Two additional questions used a multiple choice format. These asked about:
(21) whether the sun moves around the Earth, whether the Earth moves around the sun (correct), or neither the sun nor the Earth moves Europe correct: 80%, United States correct: 82%
(22) whether light travels faster than sound (correct), sound travels faster than light, or whether they travel at equal speed Europe correct: 74%, United States correct: 78%
It looks like we're getting better...
... Maybe not in biology though.
Graphic of the above plus and minus a few data.
This was nice to see: EDIT: Because I expected it to be more people wanting faith than science.
Here's another simple 13-question science quiz from The Smthsonian Institution and The Pew Research Center. It's hard to believe that 80% of Americans don't know the predominate element comprising ~80% of the Earth's atmosphere. Anyone who doesn't get all 13 out of 13 questions right needs to go back to high school (or junior high) and retake the introductory general science class.
My only gripe with that quiz, is that we frack for oil and gas, not just gas.
EDIT: I got 13/13, I'm just saying that I didn't like the question. It still works because we don't frack for coal, et al. I just don't like it.
[This message has been edited by theBDub (edited 02-14-2014).]
13/13 (even if I disagree with one of the questions. I know what is believed and taught) Science class, science answers.
I don't really understand the nitrogen tire inflation thing. From what I know, the benefit is that nitrogen is a larger atom and it is less likely to leak through rubber. Also that nitrogen is supposed to keep tire temperatures down. Maybe so. I can understand both.
But the fact remains, regular old atmospheric air is already 79% nitrogen. Just how much better is pressure retention and temperature control with an additional 21% of nitrogen? Is this a real deal or a snake oil thing?
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02:55 PM
Pyrthian Member
Posts: 29569 From: Detroit, MI Registered: Jul 2002
From what I know, the benefit is that nitrogen is a larger atom and it is less likely to leak through rubber.
That explains why tires go flat over night, every night. Don't you hate that? Linda leaves for work at 5:30. I have to be up at 4;30 to fill her car tires with regular old air.
quote
Also that nitrogen is supposed to keep tire temperatures down. Maybe so. I can understand both.
But the fact remains, regular old atmospheric air is already 79% nitrogen. Just how much better is pressure retention and temperature control with an additional 21% of nitrogen? Is this a real deal or a snake oil thing?
Text from the above quoted website: The "nitrogen upgrade" was a $69 item on the supplemental window sticker. Another forum member later posted that his dealer was charging $179 for this same "upgrade."
Any dealer wishing to charge me for nitrogen filled tires on a vehicle purchase would find me walking out their door.
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05:30 PM
rogergarrison Member
Posts: 49601 From: A Western Caribbean Island/ Columbus, Ohio Registered: Apr 99
I mentioned it before, but one of my old friends emphatically believed the earth was only 2,000 years old and dinosaurs only died out just before the middle ages in Europe. He thought evolution of man was preposterous.
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05:38 PM
dratts Member
Posts: 8373 From: Coeur d' alene Idaho USA Registered: Apr 2001
I answered all correctly. Thank you Mr. Hall! (My 7th grade Science teacher.)
I couldn't remember whether it was the fathers or the mothers gene that determines the sex of the fetus. 50/50 chance that I would have been 100% on all of them.
The way it was explained to me is the nitrogen does not expand and contract due to temp changes like "regular air" does, or at least is not as much. So just more stable and less hassle. Never heard of it controlling temperature. I use air myself. Heh, if you have a leak in your tire you have a problem that needs attention. I find it hard to believe that the molecule is going to slow it down any.
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07:49 PM
PFF
System Bot
Tony Kania Member
Posts: 20794 From: The Inland Northwest Registered: Dec 2008
The way it was explained to me is the nitrogen does not expand and contract due to temp changes like "regular air" does, or at least is not as much.
I forgot to say anything about expansion when air in tires gets hot. Drive 75 miles down here in late July or August the tires expand so much they look like Oprahs' butt. I am afraid they will all blow up at the same time and shoot the car up in the air. Going to get the air replaced in the morning.
Michael Savage was discussing this topic today. REALLY put me out he didn't mention a thing about evolving from other species. I wanted to call in and address that, but we have dinner reservations in a bit and I had to wash the new sheets I got her before she got here. No time for waiting on hold.
Michael Savage was discussing this topic today. REALLY put me out he didn't mention a thing about evolving from other species. I wanted to call in and address that, but we have dinner reservations in a bit and I had to wash the new sheets I got her before she got here. No time for waiting on hold.
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08:28 PM
TheDigitalAlchemist Member
Posts: 12443 From: Long Island, NY Registered: Jan 2012
Michael Savage was discussing this topic today. REALLY put me out he didn't mention a thing about evolving from other species. I wanted to call in and address that, but we have dinner reservations in a bit and I had to wash the new sheets I got her before she got here. No time for waiting on hold.
Probably because he doesn't believe we did. I like some of what he says, but he sometimes (often) gets into these areas where It almost hurts to keep listening. Can't put a finger on it ATM.
Probably because he doesn't believe we did. I like some of what he says, but he sometimes (often) gets into these areas where It almost hurts to keep listening. Can't put a finger on it ATM.
He accepted and sited the study as "science" yet completely skipped this portion. It was absolutely furthering an agenda, which he often claims he has no intention of doing. Upsetting as I like him and he just got moved to "drive time" in my area.
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09:00 PM
williegoat Member
Posts: 19334 From: Glendale, AZ Registered: Mar 2009
I thought all the nitrogen was in tires. You mean it isn't? Only one I missed. It has been a long time since anyone asked.
I used to work with a guy who swore the dealer was filling his tires with hydrogen. Me: “Ray, I think you mean nitrogen.” Ray: “No, hydrogen!” Me: “Are you sure?” Ray: “Yes, of course!” Me: “Ray, please don't park next to me, OK?”
Of, course Ray also told me that the U.S. Constitution would fill an entire room and take far too long to read. I printed him a copy.
The way it was explained to me is the nitrogen does not expand and contract due to temp changes like "regular air" does, or at least is not as much.
Nitrogen, like all of the other gases in the atmosphere, behaves according to the Ideal Gas Law: pv = nRT (at least at reasonable temperatures and pressures).
Nitrogen expands with temperature just the same as oxygen, or any mixture of the two, or dry air. The presence of water vapor in air (or in nitrogen, for that matter) can be problematic, though, since it is condensable at ordinary ambient temperatures and pressures. Actually, that is the primary advantage of using nitrogen rather than locally-compressed air: the bottled nitrogen is "dry" ... i.e. guaranteed to be free of water.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 02-15-2014).]
I used to work with a guy who swore the dealer was filling his tires with hydrogen. Me: “Ray, I think you mean nitrogen.” Ray: “No, hydrogen!” Me: “Are you sure?” Ray: “Yes, of course!” Me: “Ray, please don't park next to me, OK?”
He got better mileage than you, though, because of that lighter than air thing.
[This message has been edited by heybjorn (edited 02-15-2014).]
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08:14 AM
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System Bot
Blacktree Member
Posts: 20770 From: Central Florida Registered: Dec 2001
Here's another simple 13-question science quiz from The Smthsonian Institution and The Pew Research Center. It's hard to believe that 80% of Americans don't know the predominate element comprising ~80% of the Earth's atmosphere. Anyone who doesn't get all 13 out of 13 questions right needs to go back to high school (or junior high) and retake the introductory general science class.
The scary part is that a few people managed to get all of them wrong!
I noticed some interesting trends in that quiz. For example, the scores correlated with education level (i.e. more education = better score). And I noticed that females scored better in the healthcare related questions, but males scored better in all the rest.
So much for that stereotype about Europeans being smarter than Americans, huh?
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11:35 AM
doublec4 Member
Posts: 8289 From: Oakville, Ontario, Canada Registered: Jun 2003
Something in Nascars confused me. They went to nitrogen in tires instead of air because it didnt expand at all when heated..which made sense. BUT, when you listen to any race, you hear them always talking about the tires havent come up to temp yet and the front end is hitting the pavement. I know as a former driver myself, tires work better when hot because the rubber compound itself grips better hot. Thats a complete different issue from tires expanding when hot. So it cant be both ways...either they use nitrogen and the temp dont affect the size or it does (so why use it), or they use air and it does.
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02:45 PM
Blacktree Member
Posts: 20770 From: Central Florida Registered: Dec 2001
They went to nitrogen in tires instead of air because it didnt expand at all when heated..which made sense.
As stated above, that's incorrect. Nitrogen expands exactly the same as air when heated.
One reason to use pure nitrogen in a race car is that its density is slightly less than air. At standard conditions (68° F, 14.7 psia) the density of pure nitrogen is 0.0781 lbs per cubic foot, vs. dry air at 0.0806 lbs per cubic foot. Stated another way, pure nitrogen is about 3% less dense (i.e. lighter) than dry air. The lower density of nitrogen will result in slightly lower rotational inertia (i.e. flywheel effect) of the wheel/tire assemblies. The difference probably wouldn't be measurable in a street car, but it might on a race track ... where the engineers and crew struggle with differences in hundredths of a percent to gain competitive advantage.
[This message has been edited by Marvin McInnis (edited 02-15-2014).]
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03:40 PM
Patrick Member
Posts: 36251 From: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Registered: Apr 99