Ask Lori a Science Question

[madlori]

Well, everyone...it's been a few months, so it's time for another round of...

Ask Lori a Science QuestionYou know the rules, sing right along

Comments

[authentichris]

Hi Lori-

Not science, but I will get you a $25 gift card for answering/doing. In excel, i need to find all rows with duplicate entries (cell fields) and delete them. So if C3 = J3 J3 is gone, C3 remains.

Deduplication wizard doesn't want to work.

So how do we do this?

[madlori]

I have no idea. Anyone able to help Chris?

[rawonderland]

My lord, my computer is having issues with me replying. I don't know now to set it up to delete the duplicate cells, but this website that I found teaches you how to format all of your cells to highlight duplicates or highlight starting at the second one. That would at least show you where they are so you could delete them manually much easier than searching an entire row/column/document.

the website is:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HA011366161033.aspx?pid=CL100570551033

I'm sure there is a formula that you could come up with that would delete duplicates, I just don't know what that would be.

I hope that helps you!

[rookie131]

I recently read a Ben Bova book in which they were building a tower that would go through the atmosphere to allow for space travel to be more economical. In the book, the tower was enormous and was built using buckeyball cable and the people traveled in an elevator-type-thing. I think it sounds like an incredible idea, but it also seems unreasonable that it could ever happen, but I know that there has been discussion of this happening in the past.

So, my question is, could a tower exist that goes through the atmosphere that carries people to a space station?

[madlori]

Well, I'm no architect, but there are a lot of things working against it.

1. Weight. The taller a building the heavier, and the further you have to sink the foundation to support it. That tall of a building would seem to require a prohibitively deep and wide foundation.

2. Wind. Tall skyscrapers are built to sway with the wind a little...if they're too stiff they become unstable. Many very tall buildings have a kind of counterweight system built into them to balance them. That tall of a tower would have to have so much sway built in that the top floors would be like being on a roller coaster, and the tensile stresses on the structure would be enormous.

Any architects out there want to add to this?

[rookie131]

It seems that someone has borrowed my copy of the book (Mercury), but I found a synopsis online that says "visionary engineer Mance Bracknell made his own attempt to help man progress into space by building a stepladder to the stars: a glistening tower stretching thousands of miles into the air, anchored to a satellite in geosynchronous orbit." So, it sounds to me like it was more of an Eiffel Tower kind of structure than a building. I also find it interesting that it is attached to satellite in orbit.

[thymidinekinase]

As I understand it, objection 1 may be avoided with a suitable counterweight, placing most of the space elevator under tension; this is why buckytubes feature so prominently in the conceptual designs - they're strong under tension.

[snowqueenofhoth]

What's the difference between oil and gas? As in, kerosene is oil? Because I realize it's not gas in the vapor sense, but I thought it was a form of gasoline? Or something?

In other words, my heater makes my apartment smell most obnoxious, and I think a gas heater would be better. But now I'm curious about the differences.

Although maybe electric is really the way to go.

Anyway. Gas. Oil. Kerosene. Yeah. Help? :)

[madlori]

Well, that's kind of tricky, because crude oil (petroleum), gasoline and kerosine are all kind of versions of the same thing.

Petroleum is what they pump out of the ground. It consists mostly of various hydrocarbons of varying lengths and sizes. It's refined through a series of distillations into other products.

Gasoline is comprised of part refined crude oil (the octane component) and part other organic compounds like benzene, toluene, naphthalene and other things to make the engine run smoothly.

Kerosene isn't such a hodgepodge...it's pretty much pure refined crude oil, but it's a different component than gasoline in that the individual carbon chains are generally a little bit longer than in gasoline.

Don't confuse gasoline with natural gas, which is mostly methane and vaporous, and is not derived from petroleum. Natural gas is what gas stoves and gas heaters run on, not gasoline. Propane heat is also common (propane is also a gas, as in a vapor, and is just a slightly larger molecule than methane).

[snowqueenofhoth]

Wow. Interesting! Um. Are there diagrams of the hydrocarbon chains and molecules or whatnot? I don't know if I'd understand now, but I kind of liked that stuff in high school...

And thus, follow-up question. What's safer to use?

[madlori]

Here's a diagram you might find interesting that diagrams the components of crude oil as it's refined. Ask if you want some clarificiation on the distillation process.

[pastelprincess4]

*de-lurks*

This is more of a biology question, and also a little gross, but with the below-freezing temperatures lately I've wondered... why does your nose run when you're outside in the cold? I can think of no obvious reason for this.

[madlori]

Generally speaking, your nose runs when the mucuous membranes are irritated. This can be biological, as in when you have a cold and your nose runs as a histamine response, or physical, as in when you breathe in dust or pepper and your nose runs. Cold is an irritant, too, and your mucous membranes don't like it, so your nose runs.

Incidentally, the evolutionary theory as to why people of European descent have larger, more arched noses than people of Asian or African descent is about cold adaptation. A larger nasal cavity allowed for the incoming cold air to be warmed before entering the lungs.

[pastelprincess4]

Yay, thanks! I've wondered about that for a while. Also, interesting side note there... I've never thought about that.

[danafromcanada]

Is exercise also an irritant? My nose always runs when I'm exercising.

[photosinensis]

Ah, science questions!

What's the best remedy for a sore throat? I mean, I know about the entire inflammation process, but at the same time, that doesn't help me when I don't have a whole lot in the way of resources. Currently, I'm spending too much money on orange juice, and have switched to hot tea.

...That's all I've got.

[madlori]

Well, this is hardly a scientific answer, but in my experience the best sore throat remedy is hot tea with lemon and honey. Preferably some mint or citrus tea.

[chaneen]

If you get sick of tea, another excellent sore throat remedy is to take about a half a packet (depending on the size of your mug) of sugar free Jello (or generic equivalent) and dissolve it into some hot water. You drink it like any hot beverage, and since it's a bit thicker than water, it coats your throat a little.

You have to use sugar free Jello for this, since the sugared kind has a lot more powder. You really only need a little bit (add it to taste, but about half the envelope usually works, no matter the mug size).

[schnoogle]

Generally speaking, I find dairy things soothing. The theory is that it coats your throat a little. Sweet, hot drinks are good, too (like hot chocolate with a little honey - yum). I once drank a cup of custard when I had a sore throat, which worked a treat but isn't really something you can drink a lot of.

I can't find a site with any good information/pictures, but here in Australia there are lozenges called Butter-Menthols which I LOVE. They're made by Allens, who are owned by Nestlé. They're basically butter and menthol, I guess. Plus sugar. :D

I get sore throats a lot. ^^