Often times, with humanity, it is not the efficiency that matters, merely the enjoyment of the action.
Anywho, did you know that bananas (well, potassium rich ones at least) produce a positron (antielectron) on average every 45min? It’s via a cool process that I’m not good enough at quantum physics to actually proof out, so I’ll to throw out the basic principle: conversion of quarks and other leptons means you can convert an up quark to a down quark and vice versa, allowing a proton to be converted to a neutron. This (thanks to conservation of charge and sign) means that another positive must go away, by conversion into a neutrino. Where this gets fun, is that this can happen via electron capture, in which the little guy ends up too close to the nucleus, or via an electron/positron pair getting created, then see above. The second option leaves a little positron to be ejected (thanks electromagnetism) until it promptly hugs a nearby electron and they both say to BELGIUM WITH THIS and nope off into energy.
What was all this info for? Someone actually did the math, then published, the requirements to make a banana powered antimatter reactor. Thank you, Wired.
TDBYIL that some species of hyenas have indistinguishable genders. It’s because the female has a very high concentration of testosterone, which gives them a combat advantage in aggressivity and some sort of pseudogenitalia. The latter obviously doesn’t fulfill any reproductive function, but a social one apparently.
I enjoy learning about deep learning and general machine learning, and this bit of insanity right here (and the attached paper, but for those who don’t like reading scholarly articles the video should work just fine) shows just how genius creating complexity with a simple system actually is.
RIL (Recently I Learned) about the basics of electronics and Arduino. Every electronic device has a circuit, a route for electrons to pass through. It goes from the highest peak of potential energy (POWER +) to the lowest (GROUND -).
Now, unlike what is shown the picture, a circuit should ALWAYS have a resistor. If you don’t put one in the picture above, it will cause a short circuit, which can be dangerous. To calculate the resistance, voltage or intensity, please refer to the formula below.
R = \frac{V}{I}
Where R is the resistance in \Omega (Ohms), V is the tension or voltage in Volts (V) and I is the intensity of the current in Amperes (A). According to the Official Arduino book, tension is the difference of energy between point A and point B, intensity is the amount of (electrons?) going through a point and resistance is… well resistance (how much does a component slow down the current).
Notes:
Each component will convert energy from one type to another. They are called transducers and are divided in two categories: sensors and actuators. Sensors convert a type of energy into electricity (e.g. temperature sensor) and actuators convert electricity into another type of energy (e.g. motor).
Electrons follow the path that gives the least resistance. So if you give two paths for electrons by providing the former with one resistor and the latter with two, they will choose the former.
It is how much charge passes through a surface per unit of time. 1 A = 1 C s⁻¹, one electron having a charge of -1,602 176 634e−19 C. So yes, it can also be considered to be a measure of the amount of electrons passing through a surface (there could be other charge carriers like ions, though, but generally not in copper wires).
Wait, weren’t Incas the guys whose leader was never to set foot on Earth because he was deemed to pure for it, thus lifted all the time? Also would only marry relatives? Where the ruler’s riches would still be legally his after death? And whose society was finally ended by taking advantage of a civil war within the imperial family?
Related fun fact, we had another unique reign, lasting for the whole life of a monarch, from birth to death. All of this within 5 days.
Meet Jean 1er the posthumous.
Deathwake
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Ehh their government was stupid but their economy was great and moneyless.
It was unique indeed, but I’m pretty sure you are idealizing it haha. There’s a great book that covers precolumbian America, entitled 1491. However, I must confess I’d need to refresh my memory about all of this.
Deathwake
(i nuked zenzone and will never let him forget it)
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