What is In Common?

Last Question:

Why do you get Goose bumps? What purpose do they serve?

Answer:

Goose bumps are your body’s attempt to retain heat when you get cold. Small muscles raise the hair on your arms and legs in order to trap an insulating layer of warm air near your skin and prevent heat loss. Humans aren’t as hairy as in prior centuries. This biological response is probably not as effective as it was for our distant ancestors.

Today’s problem:

What is the common link between these words:

threshold, taciturn, signature, redress, misspelling, lambaste, hockey, decoration

Goose Bumps

Last question:

What causes avalanches?

Answer:

An explosion or perhaps a gunshot can rigger an avalanche, but it is more likely the result of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Stepping, skiing, or snowmobiling across a weak spot in the snow can cause a huge slab of snow to split off and tumble down the slope.

Today’s Question:

Why do you get Goose bumps? What purpose do they serve?

Avalances

Last Question:

Will you will get sick if you go outside in the cold with wet hair.

Answer:

No, not necessarily.

You will feel very chilly, but you can’t catch a cold or flu just from going outdoors with wet hair. The common cold is caused by more than 100 kinds of viruses, not by feeling cold. Coming down with the sniffles was formerly thought to result from exposure to cold weather, a belief probably traceable to the fact that people tend to crowd together indoors when it’s chilly outside, causing a more efficient transmission of virus from person to person.

Today’s Question:

What causes avalanches?

Should You Go Outside in the Cold With Wet Hair Today?

Last Question:

Is it really true that storing batteries in the refrigerator will make them last longer?

Answer:

Yes.

Storing batteries in the refrigerator can make them last a little. Keeping alkaline batteries in cold storage will extend their life by less than 5 percent, so it’s probably only worthwhile to do so if you live in a particularly hot climate. Batteries do lose their charge faster in high temperatures.

On the other hand, NiMH and NiCd batteries self-discharge at a much faster rate than alkaline batteries at room temperature. Storing them in the refrigerator will extend their life. You will need to bring them back to room temperature to use them.

Today’s Question:

Will you will get sick if you go outside in the cold with wet hair?

Batteries

Last Question:

Is the following true or false?

When making ice cubes, using hot tap water rather than cold water will make them freeze faster.

Answer:

False

While under certain conditions, warmer water will freeze more quickly than cold water, this occurs only in specific conditions in a laboratory, not in your freezer at home. If you want to make ice cubes more quickly, use cold water, not hot tap water.

Today’s Question:

Is it really true that storing batteries in the refrigerator will make them last longer?

Make Ice Cubes

Last question:

Is it really true that no two snowflakes are exactly alike?

Answer:

Yes. Most snowflakes look alike as you watch them fall from the sky. What you see under a microscope is something entirely different. The size, shape, and texture of snowflakes are determined by a wide variety of factors including temperature, humidity, and other atmospheric conditions at the time it is formed.

At a molecular level, the number of possible variations is huge. The possibility that any two snowflakes will be exactly alike, even when formed under similar conditions, is virtually zero. I suppose you could try and find two snowflakes that are alike, but they would probably melt before you could validate your finding!

Today’s Question:

Is the following true or false?

When making ice cubes, using hot tap water rather than cold water will make them freeze faster.

Snowflakes

Last Question:

Can burning wood in a fireplace can make the inside of a house colder?

Answer:

Yes. A fire in the fireplace may evoke feelings of warmth and coziness, but in actuality it can be an inefficient way to heat your home. The design of most traditional masonry fireplaces creates a draft that pulls air out of the room to fuel the fire and causes the majority of the heat generated by the fire to go up the chimney. This, in turn, can draw cold air in through other leaks in your home, making it colder rather than warmer.

I personally do use a fireplace to heat my home in the winter. The fireplace is very efficient, so heat pours into the house which warms us up every morning in the winter.

Today’s question:

Is it really true that no two snowflakes are exactly alike?

Fireplaces

Last Question:

President Franklin Roosevelt once said,

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

Answer:

No, Franklin Roosevelt never said this, but it is a great quote. Summers in San Francisco are cool and unruly. Most people do not know this and tourists who visit in the summer are usually in for a huge shock. I suspect sales of sweaters in San Francisco during the summer are brisk.

Today’s Question:

Can burning wood in a fireplace can make the inside of a house colder?