dryan

Well, I was taking apart this computer monitor for fun. I took the back cover off, detached the screen from the front frame, and started popping the wires out of the connector headers. I got two or three off, then turned the monitor to reach some other ones. I looked down to see a huge capacitor, the size of a can of food. 400V 390uF. From taking apart disposable cameras, I've found its not too pleasant to touch the leads of high voltage capacitors. So, out of curiosity, what would this one do to me? And how can I discharge it safely (assuming its charged now), a MOhm resistor? Thanks!

Well, most of them can be attributed to the messed up English language. For the others: -Why do you get in trouble for blocking an exit? In the case of an emergency, wouldn't you run out, therefore NOT be blocking the exit. True, if it is an emergency exit. If it is just an exit, then people may need to get by. -Why, on a phone, is 0 after and not before 1? Back in the days of pulse tone, one pulse = 1, two pulses = 2, and so on. But you can't have zero pulses, so when you dial "0," it would send ten pulses. Think of a rotary telephone, the dial mechanically pulses the line, the more you turn the dial, the more pulses, so zero was put last. -If a missing person sees their picture on a poster that offers a reward, would they get the money? If the missing person has information that leads to the capture of a kidnapper or something, then I would say so. I'm not sure who puts up reward money for missing persons, but presumably their families, in which case it wouldn't matter. -Why on Earth does flammable and inflammable mean the same thing? The prefix "in-" does not indicate negation, it comes from the word "inflame." -Why isn't there mouse flavoured cat-food? Does the mouse really care? Most people aren't very fond of mice, so it's not very good advertising. -Why do mattresses have designs on them? Aren't they going to be covered with sheets? You've got to keep the padding together anyway, so the stitching is necessary. As for the patterns and printed designs, it's just advertising. People are more likely to buy it if it looks nice. -If scientists were going to figure out something about time travel, wouldn't we be seeing scientists from the future? http://www.mkaku.org/articles/phys_time_travel.shtml - Michio Kaku It's very funny, worth a read. -How come car keys, are the only keys that have teeth on both sides? Other locks have teeth on both-sides, and are actually more secure (harder to pick). Many [older] cars have only one set of teeth. -Who gets to keep the coins thrown in a wishing well? Many times they go to charities, but it depends who owns it. -Can a person cry under water? I've heard that you can, but have never tried it. -You know Roadrunner, the cartoon? If Acme's stuff doesn't work, why does the coyote still buy from them? I think the Acme stuff works, only the coyote isn't very good at using it. He doesn't make very good connections when hooking up the Trinitrotolulene. After he sticks his face down next to it and jiggles the wires, it detonates properly. -Why does a round pizza come in a square cardboard box? Circular cardboard boxes are hard to make. -If CD's in a CD player were spun backwards, would it say everything backwards? I don't think so, because the CD has other instructions on it in order to tell the cd player how to "act." These instructions wouldn't be understood backwards. This does work for vinyl, however. -If lava melts rock ,then why doesn't it melt the volcano itself? It does, to an extent. But you have to consider that the liquid lava is already close to its melting temperatures, so it doesn't have much energy to give to the surrounding rock (solid lava). If you take solid water (ice) and pour liquid "ice-water" on it, not much of the ice will melt. The same is true with solid and liquid lava. -If a criminal turns him or herself in, shouldn't he or she get the reward money? I don't think so. You lose some of your rights when you commit a felony. -Why do birds bob their heads while they walk? Birds with eyes on the sides of their heads have a wide range of vision. However, their field of vision from each of their eyes overlaps with the other by very little. Therefore, they bob their heads to gain depth perception, by viewing the same thing from two different angles. -What would happen if all the people in the world were to flush their toilets all at the same time? I'm betting it wouldn't be a good idea. -Why isn't the letters Q and Z included on the normal telephone? They aren't used very much in the english language, so they were omitted whenever they set up the phone system. However, they are being "squeezed in" on most cellular phones nowadays. -According to the saying "easier said than done', is there anything easier done than said? Most of your body processes. Chewing food, swallowing it, digesting it, absorbing it. But the biggest of all: Thinking. Because we can't explain it, but we do it all the time. -Do fish ever get thirsty? Fish "drink" water all the time and extract oxygen for their cells. So I guess you could say they get "thirsty" when taken out of water or in water with low oxygen content.

Oxygen (O2), whether liquid or gas, is a Lewis Acid, because it accepts electrons.

There are Windows emulators for Macs: Virtual PC RealPC WinTel 1.0.1 (works with OSX)

When you say "seeling", does that mean ceiling? You need to make an equation for profit, and find when the derivitive (with respect to pounds) equals zero. This will give you relative maximums and minimums for the equation. (Check endpoints for abs max and min to satisfy the Endpoint Extrema Thrm)

I bet some other civilization will destroy the earth to form a super-highway across the universe.

I agree with the "banned for sports (and body-building), regulated for personal use." Steriods do have an important role for the treatment and prevention of asthma and allergies, and aren't just used for body building.

Shocked, yes. I've had my share of that. I'm going to try the rubber gloves trick.

The copper strip connecting to the housing (made of plastic?!) has to connect to what? Could I run a wire from that copper strip to the transformer or whatever it used to connect to, and have it work?

I was taking apart a disposable camera, to see how it worked, and I was curious to see if i could seperate the flash from the circuit board with wires and still get it to fire. I didn't have much luck with that. I just cut/desoldered the two connections where the bulb attached, and ran wires to the board and to the leads of the bulb. I don't see why it shouldn't flash, (I can hear it charge...), except I think the wires might have too much resistance. Is this possible? I know the bulb requires very large voltage, so maybe the voltage drop is too great from the resistance of the wire? (The two wires are about 2.5 feet each.) By the way, if you try this at home you might want to be careful. I wish I had read more online before I started. The one-hand rule is a good one to follow--the capacator "bit" me six times... And it is not advisable to connect the two ends of the capacator together, because it makes a big bang . I tested this three times (by accident, of course) to eliminate experimental error. Thanks!

When you say you want HNO3 -- why do you want it? If you want a strong acid, then you have to find a source of hydrogen ions. The nitrate is inconsequential in an acid solution (unless reacting with Cu which will reduce the NO3- to form a NOX gas) Consider the following reaction: HNO3 + NaOH -> H20 + NaNO3 That nitrate salt won't help you much in getting back to H+ from H20.

He is correct about that definition, sorry. The other definition of derivative is: lim [u]f(x)-f(a)[/u] x->a x-a As you can see on both of these definitions of the derivative, you are calculating the slope when the change in x is approaching zero. So in these instances, you come very close to "dividing by zero."

0^0 is an indeterminate form. On the graph of f(x)=x^x at x=0, the graph is undefined: lim x->0+ f(x) does not equal lim x->0- f(x) For more information: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sci-math-faq/specialnumbers/0to0/

I'm not sure, I've only taken Calc I, so I've only done a few differential equations, (only separable ones). You have a lot of variables in there, but the only way I would know how to do it is integration by parts, u=x^a and dv=e^... but that wouldn't help much. I'm not sure you're two equations match, unless you've integrated one of the parts... You had two integrals before?

I don't really feel like reading all that stuff right now, but it looks convoluted to me...was that the question?

I agree with Iglak, I'm a junior in highschool, and we use TI-89s in PreCalc and above. In my Calculus class, we aren't allowed to use them on tests or quizes, and on homework we have to show work and the calculator wouldn't help much anyway. We use calculator for: Graphing, especially complex things like integrals, Number crunching - when a decimal answer is needed, Integrating, especially when you are doing volume created by a function around a horizontal or vertical line. The calculator can't set up those integrals anyway. To tell the truth, I use the calculator more in AP Chemistry than in Calc BC. I love the 89 because of "pretty print" - I can insure I've entered something correctly. Also, I like the calculator to have the ability to solve equations and to integrate - it's a timesaver when I'm allowed to use it, like in the calculator section of the AP test. If you have students going to take the test, I'd say the calculator free response would be much harder if a student didn't have the 89. (On the calculator multiple choice, I barely used my calculator for anything but number crunching, though.) For Algebra, Geometry, Trig, Stat(?) - I'd say the TI-83 is more than sufficient.

You also have to understand infinity. Infinity is not a quantified number, it is a "range". You can have different "degrees" of infinity; some infinities get bigger faster than other infinities as x approaches a number. The "divide by zero" concept is applied in calculus to calculate derivitives - the slope - of a line. lim [u]f(x+h)-f(h)[/u] h->0 h This gives you the slope at point x in the function f(x). Basically, You are computing change in f(x) divided by change in x. As the change in x approaches zero, you find the instantaneous change in the curve. As for dividing by zero in a simple sense, thats pretty tricky. You learn simple division in elementary school - "If you have 9 coins and want to put them into three separate stacks, how many go in each pile?--three" But if you want to put them in zero stacks, you're going to have some trouble making them disappear...

Do I need to make a voltage regulator? How do I keep a consistant voltage over two or three motors? Can I make a 3v output and a 6v output, all from a 7.2vLiION battery?

I'm building a VDG right now, and am just looking for a motor. I'm going to go find a variable speed drill for cheap, so i can change the speed of my VDG without too much trouble with pulse width modulators and so on. My rollers are nylon66 and HDPE. The belt is cut from a copy machine belt. I haven't tried this, but i'll let you know how it turns out when I finish.

Do you understand that the site isn't real?? That reproductive cloning is NOT occurring. It is illegal.

Ammonia, a polar molecule (NH3), has a melting point of -77`C. If liquid ammonia at -50`C was kept at this temperature, is it possible to dissolve ice (H2O) in it? (or dissolve solid H2O in any polar liquid, for that matter...)

But this light bounces around the room between cycles, yes?

haha, I said I'd look for them. Thanks for your help. Can you point me to a site, or tell me what "DCROM" stands for? Diode....

So when it is said that the universe is expanding, they mean the objects in the universe are spreading apart? Is there a word for 'everything,' including the universe? A bigger area than a 'universe,' per se?