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Satisfying curiosity one question at a time. Send questions to: keepasking@howstuffworks.com.
You Asked: How do party snaps work? — Boris, New York, N.Y. Marshall Brain Answers: The video shows you party snaps, also called snap-n-pops, in action: Here’s what happens if you snap one in your mouth: Of course, most kids immediately imagine making a bomb out of them, by unwrapping the paper and combining them [...]
Why are there dots around the edges of some car windshields?
by Marshall Brain | February 18, 2011
You Asked:
Why are there dots around the edges of some car windshields? — Jim, Annandale, Va.
Marshall Brain Answers…
You Asked: What’s the difference between a commercial aircraft engine and a fighter aircraft engine? — Ganapati, Bangalore, India Marshall Brain Answers: At a high level, you can understand some of the differences between commercial and fighter aircraft engines by thinking about the differences between commercial and racing automobile engines. Commercial automobile engines tend to [...]
You Asked: What is a cutless bearing? —- Bill, The Villages, Fla. Marshall Brain Answers: A cutless bearing (also sometimes spelled cutlass, and also known as a stave bearing) is a part usually found on a boat. It holds the propeller shaft on boats with in-board engines. If you jump forward to the 1:05 point [...]
You Asked: What is Freemasonry? — Candice, Denver, Colo. Marshall Brain Answers: Here are two perspectives from members of the organization: The trade secrets of building Gothic cathedrals from massive stones without the use of mortar and with the use of geometry to turn a small drawing into enormous structure were jealously guarded secrets, secrets [...]
You Asked:
Will there be enough food to feed people in 2050? — Garry, Bristol, United Kingdom
Marshall Brain Answers:
You Asked:
How does a digital color copier work? — Harry, Hobart, Australia
Marshall Brain Answers:
Are there plants on board the International Space Station?
by Marshall Brain | January 21, 2011
You Asked: Are there plants on board the International Space Station? — Mark, Corona, Calif. Marshall Brain Answers: There are some plants on the ISS, as part of different experiment packages. Here is a description of the APEX-Cambium experiment, which grew tree seedlings on the space station: Why aren’t there more plants on the ISS, [...]
You asked: If you watch this video, the guys in plays #3 and #1 are wearing these things on one arm. What are they and why do they wear them? Marshall Brain answered: Here’s the video: If you watch closely, Stephen Jackson in shot #4 is wearing one as well. You can see Rajon Rondo’s [...]
If the world stopped revolving, would people weigh more?
by Marshall Brain | January 5, 2011
You asked:
If the world stopped revolving, would people weigh more?
Marshall Brain Answered:
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