Qs people asked me on science and my replies to them - Part 168

Q: What is third hand smoke? How can it efffect us?

Krishna: People can carry hazardous compounds from cigarette smoke that cling to their bodies and clothes and then release those compounds into non-smoking environments—exposing people nearby to cigarettes' adverse effects.

Third-hand smoke has been described as the residual contamination from cigarette smoking that adheres to walls and other surfaces in places where smoking has previously occurred. This third-hand smoke can travel in large quantities into indoor, non-smoking environments by way of humans. The research suggests that even if someone is in a room where no one has smoked, that person could still be exposed to many of the hazardous chemical compounds that make up cigarette smoke, depending on who else had entered the room or previously visited it. The results were published March 4 in Science Advances.

People are substantial carriers of third-hand smoke contaminants to other environments. So, the idea that someone is protected from the potential health effects of cigarette smoke because they're not directly exposed to second-hand smoke is not the case.

Third-hand smoke was long considered stationary. Now, a new study shows people can carry it with them and transport it to other locations. 

"Despite regulations preventing people from smoking indoors, near entryways, and near air intakes, hazardous chemicals from cigarette smoke are still making their way indoors.

The amount of these hazardous and reactive gases wasn't trivial. The gas emissions were equal to that of being exposed to 1-10 cigarettes of secondhand smoke in a one-hour period. These emissions and air concentrations peaked upon audience arrival of people inside a room and decreased over time.

 The researchers also found a predominance of nitrogen-containing compounds from cigarettes, which would have migrated from people to other indoor surfaces.

"In particular, tehy noticed that nicotine was the most prominent compound by far.

The researchers said these results on human transport of third-hand smoke now help to explain why previous studies had found notable quantities of nicotine on surfaces in numerous non-smoking environments.

Q: How can we get all three phases of water at one point?
Krishna:This is the answer given by Edward Rayne, Physics Undergraduate Student, Cambridge UK

Water exists in three distinct phases at something called the triple point. Zero degrees celsius is defined by the triple point of water which is 273.16K at 611.2 Pa.

At this temperature water is in the process of changing from a solid state into the liquid phase or visa versa. Molecules in the liquid phase can loose a bit of energy and solidify whilst solid water (ice) can gain some energy and melt. This can be seen in melting ice where the solid ice exists for some time while the exposed surface melts.

Molecules in a liquid don't all have the same energy. The energies of the molecules can vary from a finite minimum, which would mark the transition back to a solid phases, up to an infinite energy (although the probability of this occuring is infinitely small). The average energy of the molecules gives us the temperature of the liquid. Statistical thermodynamics can map out the energy distribution of the water molecules. At a certain energy molecules will have enough energy to evaporate, even if the water temperature is 0 degrees C.

Because of these two effects it is possible for the water to exist as solid, liquid and gas at the same time.

Source: How can water co-exist at three phases (solid, liquid and gas)?

Q: Is everything other than science an illusion?

Krishna : Yes, undoubtedly.

Scientific principles that govern this universe are the only reality.

The study with which we try to understand this universe can sometimes go wrong because of the limitations of the human mind. This ’s what ‘s used by several people to criticize science. But that is not the fault of the ‘science’ this universe is made of

Only when what we find really tally with the universal scientific principles, ‘genuine science’ gets established.

People forget this and say science is an illusion. It is not. Human mind gets into an illusionary state when we refuse to see the scientific facts this universe runs on and treat only what we study is science.

Natural laws are scientific. Universal laws are scientific. That is the only reality. Rest all is illusion!

Q: Does science have a moral dimension?

Q: Why does the weather stall?

Krishna: Why does the weather stall? New theories explain enigmatic ‘blocks’ in the jet stream.

Few weather phenomena are as widely experienced—but poorly understood—as an atmospheric block. When a block arises, typically at the western edge of a continent, the jet stream splits, trapping a blob of seemingly static air thousands of kilometers across. Such blocks can last for weeks, and drive heat waves, drought, and winter cold snaps. At the same time, the persistent flows around the edges of a block can route storm after storm to the same spot. A block “has very different impacts in different seasons.

Several new theories are offering answers. A leading idea links blocking to the behavior at high latitudes of the Coriolis force, an effect of Earth’s rotation that can cause the jet stream to meander and contort. The theory, developed by Harvard University atmospheric scientist Lei Wang, is unlikely to be the full picture, but it has a sobering implication. As the world warms, the jet stream is likely to move to higher latitudes, which could lead to even more blocking events.

Scientists did have a standard explanation for what sustains blocks. Published in 1983, the idea stems from a close study of a single block in 1976 that led to drought in Europe. Once the block was established, the split jet stream seemed to shear later weather systems apart. The energy of these atmospheric eddies then fed into the slowly rotating trapped airmass, creating a feedback loop that reinforced and sustained the block.

More here: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/why-does-weather-stall-new-...

Q: Even after scientists like Niels Bohr, who quoted Vedas to be his inspiration, why are Indians so ready to disassociate it with science?