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From Wikipedia. Links will probably be out of date soon, but mathematics; ant.
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Does 5+0=908235482947578679402? -Preceding unsigned comment added by Banna ant ( talk • contribs) 16:24, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
No. ~ mazca t| c 16:35, 20 October 2008 (UTC) It does modulo 908235482947578679397. -- Tango ( talk) 18:59, 20 October 2008 (UTC) Also modulo 7 if one wants to go down that road. Dragons flight ( talk) 19:44, 20 October 2008 (UTC) Yeah, I decided minusing 5 was easier than finding a smaller number that worked! -- Tango ( talk) 20:17, 20 October 2008 (UTC) or 1288959887 or 100660949533. (Wow.) - Tamfang ( talk) 02:43, 21 October 2008 (UTC) Also: true, modulo 1. Eric. 131.215.45.87 ( talk) 22:39, 20 October 2008 (UTC) [ edit] Radiation to human via ant
--== Radiation to human via ant ==
This is a serious question and so I would like a serious answer. Is it possible to put an ant in a microwave for two seconds at the most and expect it to give you super powers?(Remember serious question) -Preceding unsigned comment added by Banna ant ( talk • contribs) 16:08, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
Yes, it is certainly possible to expect it to give you super powers. You may, however, be disappointed. FiggyBee ( talk) 16:12, 20 October 2008 (UTC) My serious question: What do you think? -- Tango ( talk) 16:23, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
No like I read Spider man last night and just wanted to know.-- Banna ant ( talk) 16:27, 20 October 2008 (UTC)Banna ant -Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 ( talk)
OK, my attempt to answer the question seriously.
( After edit conflict) First of all, microwave ovens do not emit any nuclear radiation. That's a common misconception. They work by emitting microwaves, which are just radio waves. Very similar to the radio waves used by cell phones. So all you'd wind up with is a warm ant. Secondly, even if you did expose an ant to gamma radiation (from a nuclear reactor, perhaps), and even if the ant was the kind of ant that can inject venom into people, and even if you got some radioactive venom into your blood, and even if that radioactive venom caused a mutation in your blood, what do you think the odds are that the mutation would be something that gives you super-powers? Most people, when their DNA is damaged enough to be noticable, they don't get super powers, they get cancer. Given the ratio of the number of people with cancer(millions!) compared to the number of people with super-powers(Zero?), I don't like the odds. Easier Answer : Of course not. If it was that easy, we'd all do it! APL ( talk) 16:45, 20 October 2008 (UTC) Just to get even more precise gamma radiation, microwave radiation and radio waves are all just electromagnetic waves at different frequencies, so the distinction made above is entirely unjustified. Alpha rays and beta rays are entirely different though. DJ Clayworth ( talk) 17:11, 20 October 2008 (UTC) Yes, but since frequency is related to energy (via Planck's constant), there is a fundemental difference as to the effect of these different waves on substances. Microwaves have distinctly different effect on things than do either radio, light, or gamma waves. While there is no fundemental difference in their cause, there is on the results of exposure to said waves. -- Jayron32. talk. contribs 17:16, 20 October 2008 (UTC) There's some single celled organisms that derive their energy from the decay of uranium, e.g. see[19]. And many can live in very hot and toxic conditions with high radiation like in nuclear waste. I guess you might call these superbugs but I doubt any can or even want to zip round the earth at faster than light speed and turn time back like superman. Dmcq ( talk) 19:10, 20 October 2008 (UTC) I see Deinococcus-Thermus can survive a vacuum so maybe they will eventually do that trick ;-) Dmcq ( talk) 19:26, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
I just tested it: no super-powered ant. Plasticup T/ C 19:38, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
You monster, the ants will have their revenge, you have doomed us all. Dmcq ( talk) 20:01, 20 October 2008 (UTC) I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. Deor ( talk) 22:48, 20 October 2008 (UTC) After two seconds of heating the ant didn't even seem irritated, but I'll let you know if it displays any revolutionary tendencies. Plasticup T/ C 23:07, 20 October 2008 (UTC) The serious problem with all comic-book theories that radiation will do something amazing to you is that the radiation can't possibly mutate ALL of the DNA in ALL of your cells in the exact same way. Even if there was a gene you could hit that would give you super-spider-sense, the probability of more than one or two of your gazillion cells getting that mutation is small. Imagine: unless almost all of the trillions of cells in your muscles get the mutation for super-strength - you're not going to have much more than a super-strong microscopic twitch. Even if it's an insect or a spider that gets zapped - and then it bites you - a highly specific mutation in the little bug isn't going to affect more than one or two of it's venom-producing cells - so the amount of mutated venom you'd get would be almost zero. The only real chance for a permanent useful change is in your offspring. Since each child originates from a single cell from each of it's two parents, a single mutation in the gene of a sperm or egg cell would indeed affect every cell in it's body. SteveBaker ( talk) 03:34, 21 October 2008 (UTC) Besides, two seconds of microwave radiation (in comic books, I think they usually use stronger stuff, by the way... which would be much more likely to straight-out kill the ant than endow it with any special powers) isn't going to do much. Half a minute and you'll get fried ant (mmm, mmm, eat up!), but just two seconds... nah, not going to do anything. -- Alinnisawest, Dalek Empress ( extermination requests here) 04:05, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
Unrelatedly: Guardian readers have pledged £5,500 to advertise atheism on the side of a bus, with Richard Dawkins contributing an equal amount to spread the message "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life".
However, the balance of research shows that religion makes people happier and brings other benefits to societies. Ergo, not only are their actions going to cause less good than giving the money to Oxfam (or me, or possibly Bradford & Bingley) but they're possibly going to do more harm than putting "Yay! God is nice!" on the side of a bus. Some reading:
Evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson on religion
Jared Diamond reviews Darwin's Cathedral
Critical of Dawkins's ideas on religion
Does religion make you happy?
psychwww.com
Times article
Reuters
Pro-Christian blog
More sceptical analysis from National Bureau of Economic Research
Does 5+0=908235482947578679402? -Preceding unsigned comment added by Banna ant ( talk • contribs) 16:24, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
No. ~ mazca t| c 16:35, 20 October 2008 (UTC) It does modulo 908235482947578679397. -- Tango ( talk) 18:59, 20 October 2008 (UTC) Also modulo 7 if one wants to go down that road. Dragons flight ( talk) 19:44, 20 October 2008 (UTC) Yeah, I decided minusing 5 was easier than finding a smaller number that worked! -- Tango ( talk) 20:17, 20 October 2008 (UTC) or 1288959887 or 100660949533. (Wow.) - Tamfang ( talk) 02:43, 21 October 2008 (UTC) Also: true, modulo 1. Eric. 131.215.45.87 ( talk) 22:39, 20 October 2008 (UTC) [ edit] Radiation to human via ant
--== Radiation to human via ant ==
This is a serious question and so I would like a serious answer. Is it possible to put an ant in a microwave for two seconds at the most and expect it to give you super powers?(Remember serious question) -Preceding unsigned comment added by Banna ant ( talk • contribs) 16:08, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
Yes, it is certainly possible to expect it to give you super powers. You may, however, be disappointed. FiggyBee ( talk) 16:12, 20 October 2008 (UTC) My serious question: What do you think? -- Tango ( talk) 16:23, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
No like I read Spider man last night and just wanted to know.-- Banna ant ( talk) 16:27, 20 October 2008 (UTC)Banna ant -Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.115.175.247 ( talk)
OK, my attempt to answer the question seriously.
- Microwave ovens to not create ionizing radiation, indeed microwaves are less energetic than ordinary visible light wave; and thus are unlikely to create any sort of crazy genetic mutations. What microwaves do do is get absorbed by substances with a defined dipole moment and cause the molecules of those substances to go nuts, that is, to heat up. At best, microwaving an ant will cause the internal water in the critter to boil. He'll basically just pop.
- Even a creature who has been effected by Ionizing radiation, such as the high energy radiation eminating from a nuclear decay source, is unlikely to be able to pass on any damaging effects of that radiation, unless the have directly ingested the source. It is entirely possible for, say, an ant to ingest some Plutonium, and then for you to eat the ant and thus take the plutonium into your body. Do not do this. Radiation sickness is one of the most horrific and painful ways to die. However, if the ant has been irradiated by the normal means, such as merely being in the presence of ionizing radiation, and then they were to bite you, it would have no way of passing on any radiation sickness it had to you. Radiation sickness is not contageous.
( After edit conflict) First of all, microwave ovens do not emit any nuclear radiation. That's a common misconception. They work by emitting microwaves, which are just radio waves. Very similar to the radio waves used by cell phones. So all you'd wind up with is a warm ant. Secondly, even if you did expose an ant to gamma radiation (from a nuclear reactor, perhaps), and even if the ant was the kind of ant that can inject venom into people, and even if you got some radioactive venom into your blood, and even if that radioactive venom caused a mutation in your blood, what do you think the odds are that the mutation would be something that gives you super-powers? Most people, when their DNA is damaged enough to be noticable, they don't get super powers, they get cancer. Given the ratio of the number of people with cancer(millions!) compared to the number of people with super-powers(Zero?), I don't like the odds. Easier Answer : Of course not. If it was that easy, we'd all do it! APL ( talk) 16:45, 20 October 2008 (UTC) Just to get even more precise gamma radiation, microwave radiation and radio waves are all just electromagnetic waves at different frequencies, so the distinction made above is entirely unjustified. Alpha rays and beta rays are entirely different though. DJ Clayworth ( talk) 17:11, 20 October 2008 (UTC) Yes, but since frequency is related to energy (via Planck's constant), there is a fundemental difference as to the effect of these different waves on substances. Microwaves have distinctly different effect on things than do either radio, light, or gamma waves. While there is no fundemental difference in their cause, there is on the results of exposure to said waves. -- Jayron32. talk. contribs 17:16, 20 October 2008 (UTC) There's some single celled organisms that derive their energy from the decay of uranium, e.g. see[19]. And many can live in very hot and toxic conditions with high radiation like in nuclear waste. I guess you might call these superbugs but I doubt any can or even want to zip round the earth at faster than light speed and turn time back like superman. Dmcq ( talk) 19:10, 20 October 2008 (UTC) I see Deinococcus-Thermus can survive a vacuum so maybe they will eventually do that trick ;-) Dmcq ( talk) 19:26, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
I just tested it: no super-powered ant. Plasticup T/ C 19:38, 20 October 2008 (UTC)
You monster, the ants will have their revenge, you have doomed us all. Dmcq ( talk) 20:01, 20 October 2008 (UTC) I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords. Deor ( talk) 22:48, 20 October 2008 (UTC) After two seconds of heating the ant didn't even seem irritated, but I'll let you know if it displays any revolutionary tendencies. Plasticup T/ C 23:07, 20 October 2008 (UTC) The serious problem with all comic-book theories that radiation will do something amazing to you is that the radiation can't possibly mutate ALL of the DNA in ALL of your cells in the exact same way. Even if there was a gene you could hit that would give you super-spider-sense, the probability of more than one or two of your gazillion cells getting that mutation is small. Imagine: unless almost all of the trillions of cells in your muscles get the mutation for super-strength - you're not going to have much more than a super-strong microscopic twitch. Even if it's an insect or a spider that gets zapped - and then it bites you - a highly specific mutation in the little bug isn't going to affect more than one or two of it's venom-producing cells - so the amount of mutated venom you'd get would be almost zero. The only real chance for a permanent useful change is in your offspring. Since each child originates from a single cell from each of it's two parents, a single mutation in the gene of a sperm or egg cell would indeed affect every cell in it's body. SteveBaker ( talk) 03:34, 21 October 2008 (UTC) Besides, two seconds of microwave radiation (in comic books, I think they usually use stronger stuff, by the way... which would be much more likely to straight-out kill the ant than endow it with any special powers) isn't going to do much. Half a minute and you'll get fried ant (mmm, mmm, eat up!), but just two seconds... nah, not going to do anything. -- Alinnisawest, Dalek Empress ( extermination requests here) 04:05, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
Unrelatedly: Guardian readers have pledged £5,500 to advertise atheism on the side of a bus, with Richard Dawkins contributing an equal amount to spread the message "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life".
However, the balance of research shows that religion makes people happier and brings other benefits to societies. Ergo, not only are their actions going to cause less good than giving the money to Oxfam (or me, or possibly Bradford & Bingley) but they're possibly going to do more harm than putting "Yay! God is nice!" on the side of a bus. Some reading:
Evolutionary biologist David Sloan Wilson on religion
Jared Diamond reviews Darwin's Cathedral
Critical of Dawkins's ideas on religion
Does religion make you happy?
psychwww.com
Times article
Reuters
Pro-Christian blog
More sceptical analysis from National Bureau of Economic Research