ASK THE EXPERTS

Everyone’s got a question they’d like answered—basic stuff like “Why is the sky blue?” Here are a few more questions, with answers from the world’s top trivia experts.

 

TANKS A LOT

Q: Do water towers actually hold water?

A: “One might expect, in this modern age, that the water tower has run its course as a useful device and is now strictly ornamental. Most towns draw their water from wells, rivers, or lakes. Water towers draw water to serve as reservoirs that come in handy when water is in high demand (such as in the early morning, when people are getting ready for work and school) and the town’s pump can’t keep up by adding its supply to the flow. When demand drops, the globes fill back up.

“The higher the tower, the more water pressure builds up, and the farther and faster the pipes can deliver water to surrounding areas. This is one reason why water remains available during a power outage: The pumps are down, but water towers, which use gravity and water pressure as power, keep delivering (they contain about a day’s worth). It is also why you often see water towers perched atop the highest point in the area or on the tops of buildings.

“So water towers still serve a purpose, though it might not be long before they recede into history. More and more cities are going to electric pump systems to deliver their water. And that’s a real shame. How can you paint a titanic ‘Look Up To Jesus’ message (Gem, Indiana) on an electric pump?” (From Why Do Men Leave the Seat Up? 150 Questions We Aren’t Afraid to Answer, by Apandisis Publishing)

 

DIY

Q: Why aren’t shoes laced up when you try them on in stores?

A: “We learned how to tie our shoes when we were four. But no one ever taught us how to lace up a shoe from scratch. Our assumption was that this shoe store practice was simply to annoy and humiliate us, but indeed, the experts we consulted named four reasons for leaving shoelaces unlaced:

1.Lacing shoes is labor-intensive and can’t be done by machine. Therefore, it would be an added expense.

2.Different customers have special preferences in lacing techniques. Shoe consultant and historian William Rossi told us that ‘shoes are left unlaced to allow the buyer to choose his or her own lacing “style.”’

3.It allows customers to try on shoes with easy entry. Some buyers interpret any difficulty in putting on a shoe as indicating that the shoe is too small.

4.Perhaps the most important consideration is psychological. Florsheim’s N. B. Albert indicates that, subliminally, the unlaced shoe is ‘brand new.’ Stan Sterenberg, owner of Athlete’s Foot store in New York City, reports that a few customers refuse to buy any shoes that are already laced. After all, who knows who’s been trying on the shoes before you?” (From What Are Hyenas Laughing at, Anyway?, by David Feldman)

Gerbils communicate by stomping their feet.

 

HERE COMES THE SUN

Q: Do solar panels have to be so darn big? How come we can’t harness the sun’s energy in a material that’s not so…cumbersome?

A: “Today, most solar panels are made from silicon—a semiconducting material that absorbs solar radiation and converts it into electrons. To get a current, you need something called an electrical junction, which passes the electrons into a circuit. Now with a single junction you can only absorb the light from one part of the spectrum, so even the best laboratory solar cells made this way are only about 25 percent efficient. (That’s why they have to be so large.) But there are some very high efficiency cells that get over 40 percent by using multiple electrical junctions, fed by multiple layers of semiconducting materials capturing light from different parts of the spectrum. These are complex structures built for powering satellites and they’re expensive. But there’s interest in using those in solar concentrators—you focus high concentrations of solar radiation on a small area and you can cut your costs because you’re only using a small amount of material. We’ve all seen the panels bolted on to houses, but can you imagine buildings of the future where the building fabric itself is actually generating electricity?” (From The Big Questions of Science: The Quest to Solve the Great Unknowns, by Hayley Birch, Mun Keat Looi, and Colin Stuart)

 

THERE…

Q: Why does the consistency of an egg change from liquid to more or less solid as it cooks?

A: “The important change is in the arrangement of the protein molecules. A protein molecule is a long chain of smaller molecules, called amino acids. The amino acids are linked by strong bonds between atoms. Those chains are not likely to break while you’re cooking an egg, but another change happens when you turn on the heat under a raw egg.

10 names considered for Disney’s seven dwarfs and rejected…

“In a raw egg each protein molecule is folded up into a compact ball. There are weak bonds between atoms that hold the protein molecule in its folded-up position. When you heat the egg, you increase the tiny random joggling motion of the molecules. In any material warmer than absolute zero, the atoms and molecules move around at random. Higher temperature means faster random motion. As the egg heats, the random motion gets fast enough to break the bonds that keep the proteins folded up. So the protein molecules unfold. The kind of weak bonding that once held the protein molecules in a folded position now works in another way. Here and there, a loose end of one protein molecule comes alongside a loose end of another. The loose proteins form a mesh, with water filling in the spaces within the mesh. As more protein molecules unfold and connect to each other, the mesh gets stronger. And the egg becomes more solid.” (From Why Socks Disappear in the Wash, by Don Glass)

A TIP FROM UNCLE JOHN

Omelets are one of the more difficult ways to prepare eggs. (There’s a reason proper omelet prep is traditionally one of the first things taught in culinary school.) Here’s a cheat to making a better omelet. Crack two or three eggs into a resealable plastic bag, add fillings, shake it up, and place the closed bag into a pot of simmering water. Let it cook until the eggs solidify.

 

…AND BACK AGAIN

Q: Can you unboil an egg?

A: “Scientists might not have figured out how we can live on the Moon, but they have solved one of breakfast’s most important mysteries. Yes, it is possible to unboil an egg—at least the white part of it.

“Eggs are protein-rich, and these proteins, like others, are made of amino acids—building blocks arranged in a specific way, giving the protein its unique shape and useful properties. When these proteins are subjected to an increase in temperature, the connections are disrupted, causing the protein to unravel and tangle. This is what causes an egg to go from clear to white when boiled.

“At the University of California, Irvine, research chemists added a urea substance to cooked egg whites. This waste product chewed away at the whites, returning the solid egg to a liquid. They then used a special vortex fluid device, which stressed the proteins back into their original formation. These scientists weren’t trying to figure this out just for fun. Research into reversing or preventing the misfolding process caused when proteins are formed has lots of underlying implications for cutting the costs of food production and for cancer treatments, among other things.” (From Who Knew? Questions That Will Make You Think Again, by Sarah Herman)

…Chesty, Tubby, Burpy, Deafy, Hickey, Wheezy, Jumpy, Gabby, Baldy, and Awful.