Ask Chromus

Phred · Post by **Phred** » Wed Mar 05, 2003 11:03 pm

yay! something i can answer!
fire is a decomposition of a hydrocarbon(combo of hydrogen and carbon) and oxygen!
HxCx+O2=CO2+H2O
or is that double displacement? oh well i bet chromus knows more details
oops, its neither, combustion is its own thing

Zornak · Post by **Zornak** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 12:06 am

You might have the same aggisnment notebook as I, Jo o_O

chromus · Post by **chromus** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:55 am

Zorn, Phred: While fire may be a byproduct of a chemical reaction, it itself is not a chemical. The flames you see are the light and heat given off by the breakdown of hydrocarbons, as Phred pointed out. The pieces of ash and soot you see flying off are just hydrocarbons that haven't fully reacted yet.

Zorn: That better have not been a real question...

DT: The questions that really throw me off are those that I can't back up. For example: Is there a god? Do we exist? Etc...

Jo: Goosebumps are a throwback from early forms of humanity. Back when we had hair on our skin, and I mean a lot of it, goosebumps served to bunch all the hair together for a few purposes. In cold weather, the hair bunched up served as a better insulator than normally, and in situations where you are scared, the bunched up hair made you seem larger than you actually were, because your hair was standing straight out. Now that we've evolved without the hair, the goosebumps don't serve much of a purpose anymore.

Jo-chan · Post by **Jo-chan** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 4:04 pm

Zornak wrote:You might have the same aggisnment notebook as I, Jo o_O

That sure would be freaky. o_o Does it have that stupid "Sharpen the saw", "Win-Win situation" crap in it? Is it made by the Premier company? Does the March calendar have a kid with glasses with a thoughtful expression on his face on it?

Post by **Pez-Man** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 8:25 pm

Uhh.. I don't think Chromus can answer those! Ehehehehehe.

Whats with timezones? Why do hours change and not minutes?

Zornak · Post by **Zornak** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 9:22 pm

The dude with glasses looks asian...

The world is flat!

btw chromus,

btw, anyone ever noticed the word "alphabet"
is you put the first two letters of the greek alphabet and take the "A" off of beta, you get alphabet...is it made that way?

Jo-chan · Post by **Jo-chan** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 11:15 pm

Zorn, it's official. We do have the same assignment book. Creepy. o_o;;;;;

Hrm...oh, I got a question! Why does cracking your knuckles make them get bigger over time? (A nasty habit of mine...I can crack my thumbs, knuckles, toes, back, neck, and knees. o_O;;)

chromus · Post by **chromus** » Thu Mar 06, 2003 11:20 pm

Pez: Time zones were invented to make it easy for travelers to keep time properly, so the sun would rise everywhere in the world at the same hour on the clock.

Zorn: Yes, it's intentional. In fact, the first two letters of Hebrew are Aleph and Bet, which are very close to the Greek letters. This just goes to show how language is related all over the world.

Post by **Pez-Man** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 12:06 am

But... that doesn't answer my question. And you didn't even address Jo-Chan's question!

chromus · Post by **chromus** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 11:08 am

Oops... I was really tired last night, so I guess I missed a few things.

Pez: More history to answer your question. Before clocks were invented, any person on Earth could tell what time it was by looking at the sun. If the sun was at it's highest point, it was noon, and so on. Once clocks were invented, people no longer had to look at the sun to figure out what time it was. This caused a problem, however. Everyone wanted noon to be the time when the sun was at it's highest point, above them. To solve this problem, scientists divided up the world into 24 time zones, one for each hour. Dividing it up by hour made it easier than dividing it up by minutes, since you would only have to manage changes in hour. Since there are 24 time zones, and the earth has 360 degrees longitude, it would make sense for each time zone to be 15 degrees wide. Unfortunetly, it would be wierd if a town was split right in half by a time zone barrier. This was solved by making each country decide on their own time zones. That's why the US time zones are somewhat jagged. The reason to not do this all in minutes is because it would create havok. With 60 minutes for each of 24 hours, there would be 1440 time zones instead of 24. This would be .25 degrees longitude for each time zone, which isn't very much space, and would easily throw off everyone.

Jo: This is actually an old wives tale. It doesn't really do that. Cracking your knuckles is harmless. There are many different theories on what causes the "pop" but the most prevalent one is this: In a joint, you have two bones, connected by tough ligaments, and inside the space between them, you have a fluid which contains gas. By cracking your knuckle, you are releasing pressure on the fluid, which allows small bubbles of gas to form and quickly pop. This is a seemingly harmless activity.

Phred · Post by **Phred** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 6:00 pm

there are 25 timezones, you forgot newfoundland time, which is a half hour back from atlantic time

Jo-chan · Post by **Jo-chan** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 6:55 pm

Well, chro. I've got a little something for ya. No, it's not a question - it's a "Thank You" for all the neat-o information you share with us. Enjoy!! ^_^

Post by **Pez-Man** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 9:54 pm

Said it once, I'll say it again. Darn good pic!

Zornak · Post by **Zornak** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 10:20 pm

wow...i wish i could draw like that...so instead, i'll make chromus a spritesheet...if he dosen't already have one

btw, chromus, can you explain about MS-DOS? it's an ancient technology to me and I forgot how it works

Jo-chan · Post by **Jo-chan** » Fri Mar 07, 2003 10:37 pm

Yes, and speaking of MS-DOS, how come my DOS-based programs don't play sound through my speakers anymore, only through the PC's dinky speaker?