Science Forums: StringJunky - Viewing Profile - Science Forums

I thought it might be a good idea to have a thread where people can just pop in a question about any aspect of the English language that puzzles them or just want a quick answer to. The only caveat I would add is that this is an international forum, so we should be mindful and respectful of the differences in convention; American-English and British-English in particular.

Given the same dimensions and both being made from the same timber; which is stiffer? The laminated samples' layers are not so thin that the glue contributes to overall stiffness by soaking it up throughout the layers. Differing grain direction is allowed if it makes a difference.

This is with respect to guitar necks and their relative ability to resist bending under tension by the strings.

This question was raised in my mind after reading a comment from one of the most knowledgeable and experienced member's on this forum which suggested they were so dispirited by the content of some of the speculative threads that they don't want to come here as much, which is a great shame, as i have valued their input in the past. The Speculations forum was spoken about a year or two ago and I thought it was high time there was another conversation about it as I myself feel there is a need to reassess it's purpose and where the forum admin might draw the line. I don't want to say any more at the moment as I'd like to see what the poll says in terms of the distribution of opinion.

The purpose of this thread is for people to speak their minds about whether Speculations is really viable overall and if it adversely affects the scientific integrity of the forum as a whole or not.

Due to the high price of copper and increasingly punishing economic climate, the railway and electricity companies are experiencing extensive levels of copper theft according to the British Transport Police to the tune of £770m per annum or £2 million pounds a day!

I hear news quite frequently in my locality that the railway line has had a load of its signal cable nicked that runs alongside the track and my friend who lays cables himself quite often comes back to work in the morning to find the cable he has laid the day before has been pulled out necessitating replacement.

This all-to-frequent phenomenon had me mulling on ideas that could be implemented to make things difficult for thieves to to sell their ill-gotten gains so that it wasn't viable for them. Inspired by the practice of putting red dye in diesel for sole use by industries that are allowed to use it I thought maybe infrastructure copper (that used in the country's infrastructure) could be chemically treated the same way so that it could be clearly differentiated from copper from other sources. What chemical marker could be used that would be suitable without appreciably affecting its conductive properties? It should have two properties...visibly colour the metal and be easily tested and traceable, even in miniscule amounts, in the event that attempts were made to 'dilute' the infrastructure copper with copper from other permissible sources. The other thing was that only specially-designated and licensed metal re-processors, who will have fully-traceable records and accountability for all movements of this metal, should be allowed to handle it.

Responses and criticisms of my idea are invited along with any other ideas people here can come up with.

What sources/criteria do scientists here use to determine whether some methodology/idea is 'the norm' ie belongs in the Science categories and not Speculations. I understand perfectly why SFN filters like this, to make clear distinctions for learners like myself, and it slightly bemuses me why people get irate when their hypothesis gets transferred to Speculations.

Is it just an arbitrary decision between the experts here or do you have a 'bible' or institution that you can consult?