Questions You Always Wanted to Ask


Kids ask the craziest questions. Adults feel ashamed to do so. So it was kind of amusing to read two books that give serious answers to such seemingly weird questions, one on economics and the other on science.

The Economic Naturalist by Robert Frank provides answers to seemingly illogical practices in the marketplace. Some of the more interesting answers included:
-          Why are the sizes of DVD and CD covers different even though the disc is the same size? (Answer: To fit the same shelf space that was used for their ancient predecessors, the video cassette and the vinyl record respectively).
-          Why do women’s and men’s shirts have buttons on different sides? (Answer: It’s a continuation of the ancient practice where men dressed themselves whereas women were dressed by maids; and so the buttons were positioned for ease of the man and the maid).
-          In the West, why are child safety belts mandatory in cars while you can carry your kid in your lap on a plane? (Answer: The cost of a plane ticket is just too high; so most people are willing to take that slight risk on a plane. Besides, you’d probably die in a plane crash either way).
Though this be madness, yet there is method in it…

What If? by Randall Munroe provides “serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions”. Examples include:
-          What happens if you throw a ball at 90% the speed of the ball? (Answer: A nuclear explosion! You’ve got to read the entire answer to get this one.)
-          What happens if you try to fly a plane above different solar system bodies? (Answer: Fascinating answer wherein you also learn of the gas composition and gravities of the different bodies).

Both books are very informative and have their moments when you go Aha! The economics based book takes the approach of explaining a certain economic principle and then applies that to answer multiple questions. The science-y book just shows how unbelievable things get when you combine stuff you know in totally new (idiotic?) scenarios.

So is this proof that there is no such thing as a dumb question? Nah, because the science-y book does have a list of “weird (and worrying) questions” that it refuses to answer, including:
-          Given current knowledge and technology, can we build a new star? (Methinks someone is watching too much of Star Wars!)
-          What is the total nutritional value (calories, fat, vitamins etc) of the average human body?

Comments

  1. Ramiah KumarSeptember 7, 2018 at 4:27 PM

    There are interesting points in this blog.

    One or two points did not jell for me.
    1) why are child safety belts mandatory in cars while you can carry your kid in your lap on a plane?
    To this question, I actually got a different answer actually, without asking for it. Geetha was carrying a baby in the Air France flight in 1980 and the baby had no seat. Seeing Geetha holding the baby in hand, the Air Hostess rushed back and brought a little belt for the baby! This belt got latched on to Geetha's belt and buckled on to the baby! Cute. That made me realize that there is a provision but many hostesses may not be aware such things exist. I am sure Japanese or German air hostesses would know too, knowing citizens of these countries have a reputation for being systematic and meticulous.

    2) This point made no sense to me! Maybe there is some typo error:
    What happens if you throw a ball at 90% the speed of the ball? (Answer: A nuclear explosion! You’ve got to read the entire answer to get this one.)

    Why should a ball at 100% of speed goes happily, but the same ball at 90% of that speed produces a nuclear explosion?

    If by chance the speed is having velocity of light as the reference, once again the science has its ways - only if matter is encountered, the nuclear explosion possibility may happen. Why should a ball in space with no matter (vacuum except for quantum fluctuations) should produce nuclear explosions, no matter what is its speed? So, the book must be having certain assumptions to produce the nuclear explosion business. It is not coming out in the blog, which is understandable.

    ReplyDelete

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