Anyone got really stupid questions that someone else on here might be able to answer?

[AlaskaElfForGin]

I only ask because I have a really stupid question but haven't asked in case you talk about me ...

So if someone else could ask something ridiculous first that would be great!

Okay I have one. There is approximately the same amount of water on earth all the time, in oceans/ice/rain.

So when there is a drought here, where does that missing rain go to?

Most maps are the Mercator projection with the countries all out of proportion but you can get different ones including the Peters projection which shows the to the right scale.

I have a map of the world which is the correct way up - New Zealand is at the top which is, of course, precisely where it should be

What happens with conjoined twins, when one of them committs a crime and has to go to prison?

Also, how do they have sex? Assuming the place where they're joined doesn't actually render intercourse impossible, you'd run a mile if somebody you were about to get intimate with said "Oh, my brother will also be there in bed with us"; how does it work if you have no choice in the matter?

Also, what happens when one twin dies? I suppose that, depending on which organs they share, they might die at the same time - but what if they otherwise have independently-functioning organs apart from the fact of being joined? However devoted you'd been to your twin, it really can't be very nice or practical having to live the rest of your own life attached to a dead person.

@TerpsichoreanMuse (on question from @Crimboitis ) - looking at this list, it appears we have observed individual stars even further away. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_most_distant_astronomical_objects There's a star there which is 9 billion light years away. But as that list shows, we've observed galaxies from much closer to the beginning of the universe, 13 or so billion light years away.

Stars last for billions of years, so the ones we can see with the naked eye, even a far one like the massive Deneb 1600 light years away, are almost certainly still there, even if we are seeing what they looked like centuries ago.

So when there is a drought here, where does that missing rain go to?

Oh I've wondered this too and I don't know the answer! I've presumed that the water evaporates and disappears back up to the clouds which redistribute that water elsewhere that there isn't a drought. Please don't mock if this is wrong!

Apologies. I haven't read the whole thread yet
But why do we only see Robin's at Christmas. Do they fly south for summer?

ChillyKiwi "Most maps are the Mercator projection with the countries all out of proportion but you can get different ones including the Peters projection which shows the to the right scale."

Yes, the different projections can really mess with your head if you compare them to the one we usually know and rely on (mercator).

And this site is fascinating to compare the real size of countries to each other too: thetruesize.com/

@Spied robins are here all year. We have one or two in our garden and we see them every season. I guess you spot them more clearly in winter as there is less foliage to hide in and other birds have migrated so fewer birds are visible, the robin being one.

Do bees wee? Baffled me since childhood.

@SantaBeckett I can't see that you've had a reply to the blue traffic cones q. They mark overhead dangers like power lines or bridges which might be difficult to see from the cab of construction plant.

A small minority of robins do migrate, some from Russia come here and a few from Scandinavia and here go further south in Europe for the winter.

This is what the world really looks like

Do other people see the same colours that you do?

For example, I know an orange is the colour orange, you know that an orange is the colour orange. But is the colour you see as orange, the same colour I see as orange? Or is what I see as orange the colour you see as purple but as far as you are concerned that IS the colour orange.

But

@SendCoffeeASAP no bees don’t wee bit they do poo.

*but

Mileymiley - that's an interesting question, but does it even make sense to ask it? If a light source is radiating light with a wavelength of 680 nanometres (which can be objectively measured) then in general anyone seeing it would say it was red (leaving aside colour-blind people for the moment).

So in every observer's brain the experience / memory of the colour red is being activated, but what would it mean to say your experience of red is like my experience of blue? I would literally have to swap my brain for yours, but then my consciousness is my brain, so how would I be experiencing you? It's not as if red colours literally flash up inside your head, it is a series of neuron firings that in your brain means red, and a different series of firings in my brain that also mean red.

@steppemum - in Scotland Santa Claus has always been used. The Scots and Irish took it to America.

Father Christmas is more of an English phrase than a UK phrase.

spied I think that robins tend to be more visible in winter because they are in breeding colours, so red chests are redder, therefore they stand out as 'robins' rather than 'any other small brown bird'.

in Scotland Santa Claus has always been used. The Scots and Irish took it to America.

Here we go again...where's me popcorn

in Scotland Santa Claus has always been used. The Scots and Irish took it to America.

Oh god no, please, did you not see the thread on this last week?? Utter carnage ...

(However, as a Scot myself, I can confirm that the above statement in bold is correct).

@aliasname.. the water goes to Scotland, keeps us from getting cocky about anything more than a two week summer.

when there is a drought here, where does that missing rain go to?

Wales

What happens with conjoined twins, when one of them committs a crime and has to go to prison?

Also, how do they have sex? Assuming the place where they're joined doesn't actually render intercourse impossible, you'd run a mile if somebody you were about to get intimate with said "Oh, my brother will also be there in bed with us"; how does it work if you have no choice in the matter?

I think one twin "zones out". There are documented cases of conjoined twins who have had relationships whilst conjoined.

Also, what happens when one twin dies? I suppose that, depending on which organs they share, they might die at the same time - but what if they otherwise have independently-functioning organs apart from the fact of being joined? However devoted you'd been to your twin, it really can't be very nice or practical having to live the rest of your own life attached to a dead person.

I don't think the rest of your life is very long....

@DadDadDad

Interesting. Now I have a proper computer to type on rather than my iPad I'll have another go.

Firstly the philosophical - I think what @Crimboitis's father was telling him / her was interesting even if not likely to be true. A star could have disappeared and we wouldn't notice for thousands (if not millions) of years.

Secondly I think a star that is visible to the naked eye now could be far enough away that it's possible that it goes supernova. This estimates that the furthest star visible to the eye is about 2.6 million light years away:
physics.stackexchange.com/questions/45759/what-is-the-farthest-away-star-visible-to-the-naked-eye

And reading on supernovae e.g. here - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova - a star in the Milky Way has / is like to go supernova. And the furthest star in the Milky Way is about 850,000 light years, so not as far as our furthest visible star.

So we could be viewing a star today that is no longer there (gone supernova for a few months, which we will see in the future, and then faded.)

I agree that in general the patterns of stars you see in the sky are likely to be there - but the edge case where one (most likely faint and distant) might not be is interesting and starts me thinking about some of the strange effects of the finite and bounded speed of light, which I find fascinating.

I have a really stupid one
Does the Queen vote ?
Obviously she has her views, I would love to know if she spoilt her ballot paper.
I do not wish to vote for any of the above