What Does the Moon Smell Like?: 151 Astounding Science Quizzes (19 page)

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Are We There Yet?

Gazing up at the moon, it’s impossible to tell how far Q

away it is. It took the Apollo astronauts about three days to get there — but then again, they were flying at an average speed of approximately 5,500 km/h HIGH

(3,400 mph). Impressive, eh? But does it give you MOON

a sense of how far away the moon really is? Not me. I’ve never experienced spaceflight, but I can definitely relate to being in a car. How about taking the ultimate imaginary road trip: driving a car all the way to the moon! Let’s say that the moon is

suspended in a time warp, and standing still while the car, which defies the laws of gravity, barrels toward it at 120 km/h (74.5 mph). There’s no stopping for food, or restroom breaks, or to sleep.

How long would it take to drive to the moon?

a) 3 weeks

b) 6 weeks

c) 2.5 months

d) 4.5 months

251

Are We There Yet?

How long would it take to drive to the moon?

A

a) 3 weeks

b) 6 weeks

c) 2.5 months

HIGH

d) 4.5 months

MOON

CORRECT ANSWER:

d) 4.5 months

It would take about four and a half months of non-stop driving at 120 km/h (74.5 mph) to get to the moon on your imaginary road trip. By pinging the mirrors on the moon, scientists know that its average distance from Earth is about 385,000 kilometres (239,000 miles). If you want to do the math, divide the distance to the moon by the speed at which

you’re travelling. Whether you’re calculating in kilometres or miles, it comes to about 3,208 hours travel time. Next, divide 3,208 by 24 hours, which comes to 133.6 travel days. That’s about four and a half months.

Think of how many sandwiches you’d have to make.

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PLANET OF THE CARS

Symbols of Excess

There are about 240 million cars in the United States.

Q

That’s enough to give one to every man woman and child in Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K., as well as every person on all the islands of the Caribbean (excluding the tourists).

America is one of the largest countries in the world, so even though there are almost as many cars as people, there are still a few parking spaces left. What about countries that aren’t as big? When it comes to how many cars there are per square kilometre or mile in any given country, the U.S.A. is not number one in the world (for a change).

Which country has the most passenger cars per

square kilometre or mile?

a) Germany

b) Italy

c) Japan

d) U.K.

253

Symbols of Excess

Which country has the most passenger cars per

A

square kilometre or mile?

a) Germany

b) Italy

PLANET

c) Japan

d) U.K.

OF

THE

CARS

CORRECT ANSWER:

c) Japan

Japan was number one, with about 160 per square kilometre (256 per square mile), when researchers crunched the numbers for the density of cars in the G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.). Germany had the second highest density of cars, followed by Italy, the U.K., and France. The U.S. was second to last with about 25 cars per square kilometre (40 cars per square mile). Canada had the fewest cars by area, about 1.9

per square kilometre (3 per square mile). There were roughly 900 million cars on the planet in 2007. By now, there are probably 1,000 million, or more.

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Symbols of Success

You probably know what these

Q

symbols mean. When we’re familiar with them, symbols and logos are shorthand for our brains, and deliver a lot of information at a glance. A recognizable PLANET

symbol, or logo, is money in the bank in the business world. Luxury items are almost always associated OF

with memorable, classic logos. You may recognize the THE

logos and link them to a brand, but do you know CARS

what the symbols stand for?

What does the Mercedes logo represent?

a) earth, wind, and fire

b) land, air, and water

c) peace

d) prosperity

255

Symbols of Success

What does the Mercedes logo represent?

A

a) earth, wind, and fire

b) land, air, and water

c) peace

PLANET

d) prosperity

OF

THE

CORRECT ANSWER:

CARS

b) land, air, and water

The Mercedes logo may be associated with prosperity in our minds, but that’s not what it represents. Before his engines were successful, Gottlieb Daimler sent his wife a postcard on which he’d drawn a three-pointed star, and written that one day the star would

“shine over our triumphant factories.” Daimler

believed that his engines should be used for land, air, and water, and that’s what the three points of the star represent. After Daimler’s death, when the Mercedes needed a trademark logo, his sons remembered the star and, in 1910, the symbol adorned the grille of a Mercedes for the first time. The logo has been

updated over the years, but if you saw the very first one, you’d probably recognize it.

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The World’s Most Expensive Cars

From the beginning, the desire for greater speed and Q

more luxury has driven the development of the automobile. Even back in the earliest days, there was a market for luxury vehicles. They were the most tech-PLANET

nically advanced cars and were built with the rich in mind, often to the buyer’s specifications. At the 1921

OF

Berlin Motor Show, a car that would be individually THE

designed for every buyer debuted. No two would be CARS

exactly alike. In 1929, the same car maker introduced the first automobile with a v12 engine, and then in the early 1930s, a super-luxury 5.5-metre (18 ft) long version of this car was made.

What was this super-luxury car called?

a) Jaguar

b) Koenigsegg

c) Rolls-Royce

d) Zeppelin

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The World’s Most Expensive Cars

What was this super-luxury car called?

A

a) Jaguar

b) Koenigsegg

c) Rolls-Royce

PLANET

d) Zeppelin

OF

THE

CORRECT ANSWER:

CARS

d) Zeppelin

Karl Maybach, the son of Daimler’s partner, was building engines for Zeppelin airships and other aircraft in 1909. He was also making cutting edge car engines that he couldn’t sell, so he decided to build the best cars of the era himself. He made fewer than 2,000

Maybach luxury cars in all, and of those, 183 were Zeppelins. Each one cost more than 30 regular cars.

These days, a Maybach in good condition is worth anywhere from US$1–1.5 million. That’s enough to buy 30

to 50 regular cars today. Maybach succeeded in building some of the best cars of his era, and some of the priciest collectible cars of all time.

Of the luxury cars made today, these are the ones with the biggest price tags, ranging from well over US$1 million to about half a million.

The Top Ten Most Expensive Cars in the World

1. Bugatti Veyron

6. Keonigsegg CCX

2. Ferrari Enzo

7. Saleen S7 Twin-Turbo

3. Pagani Zonda C12F

8. Koenigsegg CCR

4. SSC Ultimate Aero

9. Porsche Carrera GT

5. Leblanc Mirabeau

10. Mercedes SLR McLaren

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Your Brain on Cell Phone

There you are, driving your car and talking on your Q

cell phone. Maybe you’ve heard that it’s not a good idea to use it while you’re behind the wheel, but you feel alert, the traffic is moving, and you have a hands-PLANET

free cell phone, so, no problem, right? That’s what American scientists wanted to find out when they ran OF

a driving simulator experiment, where the subjects THE

were tested while using, and while not using, cell CARS

phones. They compared the results and found that . . .

Talking on a cell phone while driving . . .

a) makes a 20-year-old’s brain function like a 70-year-old’s

b) slows reaction time by almost 20%

c) makes drivers twice as likely to be involved in a rear-end collision

d) all of the above

259

Your Brain on Cell Phone

Talking on a cell phone while driving . . .

A

a) makes a 20-year-old’s brain function like a 70-year-old’s

b) slows reaction time by almost 20%

PLANET

c) makes drivers twice as likely to be involved in a rear-end collision

OF

d) all of the above

THE

CARS

CORRECT ANSWER:

d) all of the above

The brains of 20-year-olds are sharp, and their reaction times are as fast as they’ll ever be, but when they drove while on a cell phone, their brains reacted like a 70-year-old’s. So what happened to the 70-year-old drivers in the experiment? Did their brains react like 120-year-old’s? Apparently not. The seniors in the simulators had half as many accidents as the young drivers. That could be because older drivers are more experienced or more cautious. Regardless of age, everyone’s reaction time suffered. The reason for the downturn in driving performance is something called inattention blindness, which means that you can be looking right at something but not see it because your brain is preoccupied — like when you’re on your cell phone.

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The World’s Smallest Car

In 2005, American scientists built the world’s smallest Q

car. The nanocar is just slightly wider than a strand of DNA, which means that you could park more than

20,000 nanocars, side by side, across an average PLANET

human head hair. It was built from the parts found inside a single molecule, and features a chassis, axles, OF

and pivoting suspension. The nanocar rolls along on THE

four wheels made of tiny, pure carbon spheres called CARS

buckyballs. It took the dedicated scientists eight long years to perfect the world’s smallest car.

What took so long? Figuring out . . .

a) how to attach the wheels

b) how to make it run

c) how to make it that small

d) which molecules to use for parts

261

The World’s Smallest Car

What took so long? Figuring out . . .

A

a) how to attach the wheels

b) how to make it run

c) how to make it that small

PLANET

d) which molecules to use for parts

OF

THE

CORRECT ANSWER:

CARS

a) how to attach the wheels

After almost a decade of trial and error, the persistent scientists finally figured out how to attach the wheels without destroying the car, and they proudly rolled out their microscopic vehicle. What did they use for fuel? They didn’t. They pulled it along with a non-optical microscope’s probe. Why did they build the nanocar? So they could prove that molecular

machines work, and move on to designing and building the world’s smallest nanotruck capable of carrying a payload, and the world’s smallest light-driven nanocar, of course. If you ever need an atom or molecule transported, call Rice University. The scientists there have the vehicles you need.

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MATERIAL WORLD

A Nutty Tendency

Have you ever opened a can or jar of mixed nuts and Q

noticed that the big nuts were on top, and the small nuts were on the bottom? You’d think that the biggest and heaviest nuts would sink to the bottom, not rise to the top. It’s counterintuitive, but this nutty tendency is deep physics. Mixed nuts, and some other granular materials, sort themselves the same way under the same conditions. Maybe you know something about why bigger nuts float to the top and smaller nuts sink to the bottom.

What is this tendency called?

a) Almond Dilemma

b) Brazil Nut Effect

c) Cashew Conundrum

d) Peanut Problem

263

A Nutty Tendency

What is this tendency called?

A

a) Almond Dilemma

b) Brazil Nut Effect

c) Cashew Conundrum

MA

TERIAL

d) Peanut Problem

WORLD

CORRECT ANSWER:

b) Brazil Nut Effect

Physicists don’t quite agree on how the Brazil Nut Effect works. Some think that as the cans make their way from the factory to the store and, finally, to your home, they’re shaken and jostled, which creates small gaps between the nuts. The peanuts sink into the gaps, fill up the bottom, and push the Brazil nuts to the top. This is called kinetic sieving. Others think that the shaking and jostling moves the nuts up through the middle, across the top surface, and down the sides of the container. The largest nuts are too big to slide down, so they stay on top. This is called vibration-induced convection flow. Some experts think it’s a bit of both. The Brazil Nut Effect has to be one of the deepest, darkest, mysteries of the universe, because even after 70 years of study, physicists still can’t say exactly how it works.

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Chemicals of Mass Deduction

Have you heard of a chemical called acrylamide? Too Q

much of it causes cancer and genetic mutations in lab animals, and it’s not good for humans either.