Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 3]

[SpeckledJim]

Mr Trophy said:

When filling up your car, how does it know it's full & to stop?

There's a breather pipe in the end of the filler which stops the flow when it can't suck air.

[iambeowulf]

Dodgy geezers and crims' on the run in Spain and other such bolt-holes like South America, Asia: if they're wanted in their home country how do they renew their passport, assuming the passport office has a list of wanted felons, and refuse to issue a new one?
Like that Great Train robber bloke.

Do they just not bother renewing or what?

I ask as I'm in Spain and there's a fair few teak stained shady "gangsters" around these parts

[scarble]

ShiningWit said:

On Topgear why does Richard Hammond get addressed by his surname Hammond, but May gets called by his forename - James?
You never get James or Jeremy calling him simply 'Richard'.

I don't think it's unique to Hammond, it seems to happen to Richards a lot.

[AstonZagato]

iambeowulf said:

Dodgy geezers and crims' on the run in Spain and other such bolt-holes like South America, Asia: if they're wanted in their home country how do they renew their passport, assuming the passport office has a list of wanted felons, and refuse to issue a new one?
Like that Great Train robber bloke.

Do they just not bother renewing or what?

I ask as I'm in Spain and there's a fair few teak stained shady "gangsters" around these parts

I think it is against various treaties an Human Rights commitments to make someone stateless so you have to renew a passport. However, I don't see why they can't say, "you can collect it at Heathrow from a PC who may also want to ask you some difficult questions".

[CRA2Y]

Ok, so the Universe at the moment is infinite, but it is expanding - so how big is it now (5 seconds later, and how big was it 10 minutes ago, and in 10 minutes time). Since it is obviously smaller / bigger and must be a different size, how is this expressed?

[amusingduck]

CRA2Y said:

Ok, so the Universe at the moment is infinite, but it is expanding - so how big is it now (5 seconds later, and how big was it 10 minutes ago, and in 10 minutes time). Since it is obviously smaller / bigger and must be a different size, how is this expressed?

Infinite, for all of your examples.

You cannot have infinite+1, simply infinite.

[marshalla]

CRA2Y said:

Ok, so the Universe at the moment is infinite, but it is expanding - so how big is it now (5 seconds later, and how big was it 10 minutes ago, and in 10 minutes time). Since it is obviously smaller / bigger and must be a different size, how is this expressed?

It's still infinite, but the things in it are further apart.

[walm]

This is a very tricky topic.
No one knows the size of the universe - it may be infinite it may not.
The "observable universe" is c.45bn light years in radius despite the age of the universe generally thought to be just 13.8bn years and starting from a singularity - which is clearly counter-intuitive.
The problem is that space-time itself was expanding faster than the speed of light (called inflation and note - space-time NOT objects) thus allowing the radius>age.

As to what is happening now - I think most agree it is continuing to expand.
However what is more interesting is what happens over time.
There are three options IIRC which depend on the density of the universe:
- Expands forever.
- Expands then collapses.
- Expands asymptotically (to a limit).

I guess it may be able to expand then collapse a little then expand again on a very small localised level (imagine a comet passing close by and then heading back out) or a "big crunch" (total collapse) leading to the next big bang.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_expansion_of_s...
http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/how-can-the-dia...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_fate_of_the_...

[Shaolin]

There was an Horizon (or similar) on infinity some time ago, one rather amazing idea is that some infinities are bigger than others.

I won't try to explain it but it' fascinating stuff, here's a couple of examples:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/strange-...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilbert's_paradox_of_...

[P-Jay]

CRA2Y said:

Ok, so the Universe at the moment is infinite, but it is expanding - so how big is it now (5 seconds later, and how big was it 10 minutes ago, and in 10 minutes time). Since it is obviously smaller / bigger and must be a different size, how is this expressed?

I don't think it's actually infinite, it can't be if it's supposedly expanding as others said you can't have infinite plus one.

We might be wrong about a Big Bang followed by Cosmic inflation anyway, they sort of proved it last year, but the same people have changed their mind now.

[walm]

Shaolin said:

There was an Horizon (or similar) on infinity some time ago, one rather amazing idea is that some infinities are bigger than others.

In maths you can do some perfectly reasonable things with infinity.
For example - there are an infinite number of positive integers and and infinite number of positive AND negative integers.
But obviously the second one is TWICE the size by most reasonable assumptions.
Therefore one infinity (positives AND negatives) divided by another (just positives) gives the answer TWO not ONE.

If you really want to get confused look up "aleph null" and read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleph_number

[The Don of Croy]

P-Jay said:

CRA2Y said:

Ok, so the Universe at the moment is infinite, but it is expanding - so how big is it now (5 seconds later, and how big was it 10 minutes ago, and in 10 minutes time). Since it is obviously smaller / bigger and must be a different size, how is this expressed?

I don't think it's actually infinite, it can't be if it's supposedly expanding as others said you can't have infinite plus one...

Buzz Lightyear agrees.

[Issi]

Why is it that despite Birmingham being the second biggest city in the UK, but you very rarely see or hear a Brummie in the media?

There are loads of celebrities/bands from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester etc, but the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

[wilfandrowlf]

Question from my 8 year old son.....
Why are most modern fire engines automatic, but most normal trucks aren't?

[mattdaniels]

CRA2Y said:

Ok, so the Universe at the moment is infinite, but it is expanding - so how big is it now (5 seconds later, and how big was it 10 minutes ago, and in 10 minutes time). Since it is obviously smaller / bigger and must be a different size, how is this expressed?

This doesn't answer your question, but it's a great explanation of the relative sizes of the planets and stars and galaxies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q

[SpeckledJim]

Issi said:

Why is it that despite Birmingham being the second biggest city in the UK, but you very rarely see or hear a Brummie in the media?

There are loads of celebrities/bands from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester etc, but the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

Provided your own answer to that one!

[Patch1875]

What are the little yellow shapes on road signs next to the town names usually a triangle or circle?

[Patch1875]

What are the little yellow shapes on road signs next to the town names usually a triangle or circle?

[marshalla]

Patch1875 said:

What are the little yellow shapes on road signs next to the town names usually a triangle or circle?

Emergency diversion route markers : http://www.cbrd.co.uk/articles/emergency-diversion...

[StevieBee]

Issi said:

Why is it that despite Birmingham being the second biggest city in the UK, but you very rarely see or hear a Brummie in the media?

There are loads of celebrities/bands from Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester etc, but the Midlands is like a cultural black hole.

Pretty much every major rock band of any note are from the Midlands. Led Zep, ELO, Black Sabbath, Saxon..... Adrain Chiles and Frank Skinner seem to have done OK.

It's not as bad as you make out IMO. And I'm southerner!