1

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / bar magnet into ring magnet?

« on: 26/09/2009 23:28:31 »

Hi.

If I take a longish bar magnet and bent it into a circle, connecting North to South, what then happens to the poles positions? Do they cancel out and it stops being magnetised or do they change positions? If its the latter then why?

All I've got is a bar magnet and no strength to bend it so I hope spinach is not the answer. []

2

Just Chat! / Good evening and a hello from me

« on: 23/08/2009 21:14:27 »

Hi folks, hope all is well with you. []

After a long break from TNS I am happy to say I'm back for a while and look forward to posting some replies in the forums again. Although I've not been posting I have visited occasionally as its one of my favourite sites with some great people on-board. Lots of new peoples here too and I notice the humour is still around as well.

My grandson Lewis had his first birthday last week and I will try and get some recent photo's of him posted soon for you baby lovers.. Oh yeah, I'm also his chef and make all his foods. [] No jars or tinned stuff only fresh wholesome food and he loves it.

Now, some catching up to do. []

Bernard

3

Geek Speak / free live linux cd for notebooks

« on: 30/09/2008 20:58:04 »

I have made a Linux live cd that is dedicated for notebooks or small screen laptops that you can download for free. Its just under 500mb and can be used live, burnt to cd or transferred to memory stick using UNetbootin. You can then install it if wanted.

Its based on xubuntu so its light, small and basic but you can then add the programs you want.

It has: firefox but no flash for web(you must install that your self due to license agreements), audacious for music, vlc player for video, ristretto image viewer, cheese for webcam support and Abiword word processor. Err, and that it!
It don't have: Extra Language packs, some fonts, games, email client, printer libs/drivers and most of the other stuff that a normal dist has but those can be added later.

Here are some screenshots:







And here is the link to the iso:

http://files.nischg.com/msiwind/customdist_23-09-08.iso


For those that don't know a live cd does not need installing as it runs from the cd into ram and does not touch the harddrive. Networking will also work in live mode. Any work done in live mode that needs saving can be saved to a usb stick.

Try it live first and if you do decide to install then be aware that it may seem to hang at 94% but don't worry just give it 5 minutes and it will then be installed. After install shut down and reboot without the disk in.

It may be handy for some and as its linux you may do what you want with it, copy, hack, change, give it away etc.

4

General Science / what causes "bobbles" on clothing when washed......

« on: 29/09/2008 22:13:38 »

I have had a sweatshirt top for several months now and have noticed its starting to get bobbles on it. By "bobbles" I mean tiny round bits that are on the surface of the material but made from the same stuff.

This seems to happen to some types of clothes after repeated washing and gets worse over time.

What causes this? Is it the the washing powder, the type of material washed, the washing machine or a bobble fairy?


PS: I tried shouting "I don't believe in fairies" at the washing machine but it still happens! []

5

Just Chat! / I'm now a grandad!

« on: 10/08/2008 16:06:14 »

 []

My grandson was born at 1am this morning.

Mother and baby are doing fine but the baby is in an incubator as he was 6 weeks premature. So far he has no name as being early they still had not decided on one.  []

I can now relax a bit and just hope that all goes well for him over the next few weeks. I shall be visiting later tonight and may see him and hopefully take a photo.

6

Physiology & Medicine / why food cravings when pregnant

« on: 05/08/2008 20:23:16 »

I have just been to see my daughter-in-law who will be presenting me with a grandson in around 6 weeks time.  []

She has food cravings and was munching on; Pickled gherkins, celery and beetroot to be followed by strawberry ice cream. I remember when the missus was pregnant that she seemed to like almost the same foods, pickled beetroot in particular and also strawberry jam, condensed milk sandwiches as well! Some strange combinations of food.

Did anyone here have them while pregnant and what was the craving for?

Does the body naturally produce the cravings to make up for any deficiency in minerals etc?

Do they know what causes the food cravings as it seems to be common at some stage in a woman's pregnancy?

It all seems a wonderful mystery to me.

7

Just Chat! / dimensions

« on: 05/08/2008 00:29:37 »

Wow!

Someone passed on this link to me earlier.

http://www.dimensions-math.org/

I'm only just downloading it and as yet have not seen them, only fragmented bits. It may be aimed at kids but that's fine as I'm still one. []

The site is taking a lot of hits so it may be slow so if you have a bit torrent client use that and download the lot!

Creative Commons License at its best.

8

Physiology & Medicine / How does quinine benefit night time cramps?

« on: 21/07/2008 01:54:23 »

I have been prescribed 200mg quinine sulphate tabs for night cramps.

Trouble is, I also get them during the day. []

I have been taking them for 4 days now and there seems to be no change in my condition except they leave a bad bitter taste in the mouth that seems to stay for ages.

Has anyone had any experience in taking them as I'm not sure about the time scales in taking them and how long it takes for them to be effective. Trouble is with the UK surgeries now you never seem to get to see the same doctors and each seems to have their own ideas. Wiki can also be a bad thing to use as it can be a bit scary on some subjects, 27,300 hits on why its bad! so..

Any info from anyone taking them would be appreciated as I'm not sure if I want, or should carry on with them.

Thanks.

9

Just Chat! / Nick Boing......a ram at home

« on: 14/07/2008 21:01:23 »

Just for ewe neilep.  []


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7504433.stm


 []

10

Physiology & Medicine / How are antidotes to poisons made from poisons?

« on: 18/04/2008 20:07:32 »

You may have seen pictures of snake milking where the snake is made to express its venom in a container.

The venom gets collected and is modified so it can then be used as an antidote for someone who has been poisoned by the same type of snake. It seems strange to me to use the same poison to treat a poisoning even though it has been altered in some way.

How does this work and what happens to make it an effective "antidote" ?

I have to admit, I know little about this and have done no research at all as it was a just thought prompted by another thread.

11

Just Chat! / just a reminder, we spring forward

« on: 29/03/2008 21:06:28 »

That time again where we spring 1 hour into the future as British Summertime begins Sunday at 01:00 GMT.

So don't forget to set the clocks tonight.

Early to bed me thinks.. []

When does your Summertime begin if outside the UK? if you have such a thing.

12

Physiology & Medicine / scalp transplants

« on: 23/03/2008 22:13:49 »

I this sense I mean having a donor persons healthy head of hair and scalp transplanted to your own head.

There have been several successful face transplants carried out recently so I am presuming that it would be possible to do.
I'm sure there would be many willing to pay to undertake such an operation.

Do you think it will ever happen and/or become acceptable to donate or use someone else's head of hair?

By donate I mean after death.. []

13

Just Chat! / last nights UK earthquake?

« on: 27/02/2008 15:26:54 »

Well that was a good one, started at 00:58 and lasted around 10-15 seconds.

Anyone else experience it?

A few seconds of rumble beforehand, windows shook and some things fell of the bathroom shelf into the bath. Some minor damage to properties and people mainly from falling chimneys.

Where I live in Sheffield is on the edge of a fault line and I rocked in bed! (so that's what bedrock is)  []

14

Chemistry / Are there any chemicals that become colder when they react?

« on: 21/02/2008 16:47:27 »

There are plenty of chemical reactions that can produce a quantity of heat but..

Are there any that can produce a cold reaction (lowering of temperature) under normal conditions?

If not why not?

Er,,,,,forget the above and look below at paul.fr's post. [:I]

15

Chemistry / sodium persulphate

« on: 13/12/2007 23:57:58 »

I have recently been doing a lot of electronics design and have been etching printed circuit boards using sodium persulphate.

This is the first time in using it as I have used ferric chloride etchant in the past.

The solution starts out clear and over time the build up of dissolved copper in it turns it a nice blue colour.



Sodium Persulphate after some use.



I have to add that this is NOT the bottle it is stored in but just used for the photo because it was clear.

Now, I had a mark on a bit of copper board and decided to help the etch by scraping the surface of the board with a steel blade.

This happened to the blade after a few minutes.



As you can see, it has been coated with copper!

The copper coating builds up easily and can be peeled off into a deposit.



Once the copper is peeled off the blade looks black.



But after dipping in the etchant the copper builds up and can be scraped off again.



This I would think is not electroplating as that uses current and electrodes, so what is happening.

It must be some chemical reaction but does anyone know what?

The more copper dissolved in the solution make the solution weaker so, If I keep doing this and recover the copper would I be right to suggest that the solution would get stronger?

If so then this could be an economical way of copper recovery on "old" circuit boards, or perhaps its already used?

Taps head and thinks for a change......

 []

Bee

PS sorry, I hope the photos are not too big!

16

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / Where is the proton

« on: 17/09/2007 21:31:57 »

Hi, hope you can help!

As I understand it the neutron is at the centre of the atom, so where is the proton placed?

Does the proton have momentum or is it stationary?

Bee

17

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / photon pairs

« on: 28/07/2007 21:04:38 »

Sorry, mainly questions!

Is there any evidence of photon pairing?

If photons have no mass and can occupy the same space at the same time could they initially be produced in pairs?

In other words, could the photon have a double but because the double occupies the same space we don't notice?

Thanks in advance... []

Bee

18

Chemistry / ink + bleach = heat?

« on: 11/06/2007 18:03:55 »

I go my fingers messy while filling up the printer cartridges (didn't use gloves) and using soap did little to clean them so, I used a bit of bleach!

As soon as the bleach touched the ink stained bits there was a noticeable heating effect on the skin and adding more water seemed to make it hotter.

The mix of ink and bleach seems to create a heating effect so, what reaction is causing that?

Bee

19

Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology / magnetizing an iron nail

« on: 03/06/2007 18:02:25 »

I think most peoples know how to magnetize an iron nail using a magnet, obviously the nail becomes magnetised but what happens internally to the nail when I do that. 

What am I doing to the iron?
Is the magnet changing the structure of the iron and rearrangeing its atoms?
Does the magnets magnetism get weaker as the iron gets magnetised or is there no change in the magnet?
How come I create 2 poles on the iron and yet only used one to magnetise it?


Bee

20

Physiology & Medicine / animal dreaming

« on: 07/05/2007 00:44:35 »

OK, not sure if this is the right place but:

Most of us dream but why do some animals also dream?

My now departed dog Edith used to dream, her legs would go as if running and her body would twitch. Sometimes she would give out a muffled bark as she dreamt!
Similar things with the cat, his whiskers and face will twitch and sometime his legs do the same.

I thought dreaming was to do with being human, so what do animals dream of and why?

Bee