The "ask a silly question, get a sensible answer" thread

Silly question - if Reaper 392 could actually type faster would he still answer questions after someone else...?



:p
 
Ok then. I get there and it's full of ****ed up Grays from Zeta Reticuli. I then hear that Rigel has a cracking resort on its fifth planet and off I go at the same velocity.

How long would it take me to to travel the approximate 856 light years distance factoring in a half hour stop at a Little Chef for a cup of tea and a pasty.
 
He's how you would work it out:

One light year is 5.87849981 x10^12 miles, so multiply that by the distance in light years. Divide that by the speed in MPH will give you hours. Divide until a useful measurement of time :)

Answer is around 8,206,124,979 years. 8.2 billion years minus your pasty & toilet stops.
 
paddy said:
What depth of snow would prevent my postman delivery the letter post?
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That depends on how far you live from delivery hubs. When even a modest few inches of snow falls, vehicles will be the first to stop (depending on gritters/snow ploughs). Therefore, those more than a 10-20 miles from delivery hubs will likely see loss of service first. Postmen have access to spiked footwear for urban delivery on foot, so it would take more snow near the hubs to stop deliveries.

I can't be too specific, but I think more than 4-6 inches of laying snow would likely stop extra urban deliveries and perhaps more than 9 inches would stop all deliveries, depending on the other conditions such as if it's still snowing, whether there are blizzards and the forecast for the coming days.

The wind will also cause snow drifts that would make even low amounts of snowfall more of an issue on extra urban routes.
 
Curio said:
OK, this might fail miserably, but we have a wide selection of brainy people in various fields on GD, so it might work out...

Think of some silly hypothetical question, and let’s see if we can come up with a sensible and valid stab at the answer.

I’ll start. If the Pacific Ocean had a standard bath/sink plug hole installed on the sea bed, and one was to pull the plug, how long would it take for the ocean to drain completely? You must show your working. Extra points for diagrams, charts or graphs!

Obviously ignore the various problems with this question – it’s silly and hypothetical, remember? :)

Over to you. <fingers crossed>
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I have to ask first, where would the water go? Are you implying that the centre of the Earth has a Tardis inside?

My post may or may not be a question in relation to your thread's premise.
 
Why isn't sea water desalinated using the sun??
What is stopping a hot country with high sunlight, from creating a machine that focuses mirrors on a tank, boiling the water inside, and also the boiling water can be used to spin turbines to create electricity.

Why Ocuk Why?
 
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ChroniC said:
Why isn't sea water desalinated using the sun??
What is stopping a hot country with high sunlight, from creating a machine that focuses mirrors on a tank, boiling the water inside, and also the boiling water can be used to spin turbines to create electricity.

Why Ocuk Why?
Click to expand...

1st, it is, 2nd, inefficiency, profitability, space required.
 
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