Easy Questions?

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

You were planned,  It won't hurt a bit, Not until we were married, Of course Mum/Dad loves grandparent on opposite side of family, You can be anything you want to be if you work hard enough.

Don't forget the #1:  Mommy & daddy still love you, of COURSE it's not your fault we are separating ...

[Sibling Chatty]

AH, I never went through that one. Mom and Dad stayed together because of the kids. The court fight over which one would have to take us would have lasted for a decade.

[Griffin NoName]

So far, scores zero !!  It's fibs we are after not lies !

[Sibling Chatty]

Tooth Fairy, Santa/Father Christmas, Easter Bunny, Veruca Gnome? and The Government Knows What It's Doing.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

So far, scores zero !!  It's fibs we are after not lies !

Oh!

I don't have the slightest idea WHAT the difference between a "fib" and a "lie" is, sorry! * 

I suppose I'm too literal-minded for most things ... 






________________________

* I grin, because it's true:  I really don't. Not to disparage on what you're asking, it's ME that's screwed up... 

[Swatopluk]

Possibly just a matter of size.

Another of those "easy" questions: Do fish sleep?

[goat starer]

a tricky one as it relies on a definition of sleep. Fish do nothing for periods which seems to equate in effect to sleep / rest but does not have the same brain state as sleep.

so I guess fish do not sleep (which means you cannot 'sleep with the fishes') but do chill out in a way that has sleep like effects. The difference between resting to regain energy and sleeping is pretty analagous

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Possibly just a matter of size.

Another of those "easy" questions: Do fish sleep?

As Goat said, depends on "sleep".

I used to keep fish in aquariums of various sizes.  One of the more interesting aspects, is some of the nocturnal bottom-fish I had.  Many times, I'd get up in the wee-hours of the night, to see the activity of these critters. 

And, I observed, the 'day' fish in a very low state of activity-- barely moving, etc.  First time I saw that I thought some of 'em had died, and not "floated" yet. 

But, based on this observation, I would say, "yes" fish sleep--- in a fishy sort of way.  Since their brains are so much less complex than that of mammals, so too, their sleep is far less complex.

[Swatopluk]

Why is it colder on the top of a high mountain than on sea level (ignoring the wind)?

With the Earth flatter on the poles and thicker at the equator, why doesn't all the water flow "downhill" to the poles?

How does a mole find its way and prey?

Do migrating birds sleep in-flight?
Same question for the wandering albatross

Penguins can be found up the the equator on the southern hemisphere. Why don't they cross it towards the north?

[The Meromorph]

How does a mole find its way and prey?

A combination of smell, touch, and electrical field sensors (like Platypuses and sawfish).

[Sibling Chatty]

I know the penguin one.

They don't want to have to explain that they can't get their ear pierced, because they don't have 'regular' ears.

(Old sailor's tradition.)

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I know the penguin one.

They don't want to have to explain that they can't get their ear pierced, because they don't have 'regular' ears.

(Old sailor's tradition.)

No, it's that there USED to be penguins north of the equator, in the arctic in fact.  But they were all eaten by polar bears.

It was a lesson the southern cousins never forgot ... 

(I'm kidding .. I really have zero idea..  )

[Sibling Chatty]

Personally, I think we're to be lauded for adding a new...perspective to scientific inquiry.

After all, not EVERYTHING has to make sense!!

[Bluenose]

Why is it colder on the top of a high mountain than on sea level (ignoring the wind)?

Now, digging down deep into my met classes back when I was a young man...

Generally speaking the lower part of the atmosphere cools with altitude at what is called the adiabatic cooling rate which is a direct application of Boyle's Law.  BTW, I think, if I remember correctly, that this is about 5^oC per thousand feet.  In other words if you take a sample of air at sea level and raise it up to the altitude of the top of your mountain, the reduction in temperature caused by the expansion of the gas (lower pressure due to there being less air above you "pressing" down under the force of gravity) will reflect that observed at the mountain top.  Obviously there are a whole lot of local effects that determine what the actual temperature is on any given day, but overall, when averaged out, this is how the atmosphere behaves - at least in the lower part, the troposphere.  Once you get up into the stratosphere, however, the temperature stays the same at around (from memory) minus 60^oC until you begin to reach the upper atmosphere then all bets are off and other, mainly kinetic effects take over and "temperature" is a bit of an academic point, for although the temperature can be very high, there is very little heat in it up there, what with there being so little air around to hold it.

With the Earth flatter on the poles and thicker at the equator, why doesn't all the water flow "downhill" to the poles?

Because the water is effected by the same force that causes the Earth to be flattened at the poles and the local water surface remains perpendicular to the sum of the two forces, gravity and cetrifugal "force".  Thus there is no "downhill" to flow down.  In a way, this is the same as what happens when you fill a bucket with water and swing it over your head.  Even though gravity is still pulling it down, the centrifugal "force" keeps it in the bucket, as it does all the way around.  If you could conduct this experiment smoothly enough, you would see the water surface tilting from side to side in your bucket, twice for each revolution as the two vectors change relative direction.

How does a mole find its way and prey?

He buys a street directory, just like everyone else.  Churches are marked so he can find somewhere to pray. 

Sibling Bluenose

[Swatopluk]

The earth explanation would fall a bit flat, if the Earth would not spin (no centrifugal force). I think one would have to calculate the potential energy level everywhere on the surface. Any local difference would create a flow towards the lower level.
Extreme case: what would happen with water on a nonspinning disk?
My guess is that it would give an elevated level at the center and a decreased level at the edges (something like 1/(x²+1) [general form, not specific solution]).

How would water distribute on a toroid planet (bagel form)? (either spinning or not spinning).