Despite not having pondered a question, it can still possess an answer. Does that statement seem confusing? Well, it shouldn’t because it indeed makes sense. Still, you probably didn’t consider questioning its logic, did you? However, the response to this unthought question is affirmative. Is this bewildering your mind at this moment? Is your brain throbbing? It ought to. And the throbbing is bound to get even more intense. A majority of questions on this catalog are scientifically based, unlike the just mentioned philosophical or wordplay ones. You might have never conceived the mere thought of questioning most of these. Although few might have, it requires a unique degree of geekiness and reflection to actually generate some of these questions.
For example, if during the middle of the Titanic’s voyage, right before it struck the iceberg, you instantaneously removed all of the water in the ocean, how long would it take the Titanic to hit the bottom of the ocean. In other words, how long would it take the Titanic to free fall to the bottom of the ocean if the ocean suddenly disappeared? Get ready for some more of the same. These are 25 answers to hard questions you never asked!
Featured Image: pixabay
Could someone do an actual "bullet catch"?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: pixabay Although this is famously done in magic tricks, it is theoretically possible, especially if you were significantly higher than the shooter (in elevation) and you caught the bullet at the apex of its journey.
What is the farthest any man-made object has traveled?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: wikipedia Using the sun as a frame of reference, this would probably be the earliest human tools (the first man-made objects). Made over 2 million years ago, they have traveled nearly 250 light years (because the Earth is orbiting the sun).
What if the Atlantic Ocean disappeared and the Titanic fell instead of sank...how long would it take to reach the bottom?
Source: reddit, Image: wikipedia About 30 seconds.
Would the energy expended to build the pyramids be enough to get to the moon?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: wikipedia No, the fuel in a Saturn V rocket contains enough energy to stack about 20 pyramids on top of each other.
Could wind cause raindrops to break your windshield?
Image: wikipedia It might sound like it if you’ve ever driven through hard rain, but assuming average size raindrops, they would have to be traveling at about the speed of sound to break your windshield. Luckily, neither them, nor you are anywhere near that speed.
What if all the oceans disappeared?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: pixabay This will eventually happen as the Sun gets hotter, but to make a long story short, Earth would turn into Venus.
Would it be possible to start a fire using a magnifying glass and moonlight?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: wikipedia No, you couldn’t. The short answer is that you can’t use a magnifying glass to make something hotter than the source. The sun is really hot, and that is why you can use it to start a fire. The moon just isn’t hot enough. In more scientific terms, the rays emitted by the moon just don’t have enough energy.
What is the largest natural vertical drop on Earth?
Image: wikipedia Mount Thor in Canada.
What would happen if your car could travel at the speed of sound?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: pixabay If it didn’t have the air foils that Formula One vehicles are known for, it would take off. That’s right, your sedan generates lift. Since it doesn’t have any way of steering once airborne you would most likely tumble a bit in the air and crash.
What if you dumped all of Earth's water on Mars?
Image: pexels Since Mars is smaller, it would be almost completely covered in ocean (much deeper than on Earth). There would be a few islands, however, one of which would be Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the Solar System. And just to give you an idea of how big it is – even with Mars covered in all that water it would still rise 10km above sea level.
What would it be like to stand on the surface of Jupiter?
Source: NASA, Image: pixabay This is a hard question. The problem is that Jupiter most likely doesn’t have a solid demarcation between its gaseous outer layers and its solid, molten core. The immense pressure just keeps building until the gasses become extremely compressed (supercritical). This eventually gives way to a layer of metallic hydrogen sitting above the molten core.
Interested in more fascinating questions? Check out 25 Of The Most Mind-Boggling Questions You Will Ever Read.
What if a day was only a second long?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: pixabay This means that it would only take Earth 1 second to turn on its axis. It also means that at the equator you would be moving at about 1/10 the speed of light. Put simply, the Earth would pull itself apart.
What would 500 mile per hour wind look like?
Image: pixabay Let’s just say it would tear up the pavement.
When will Facebook have more dead profiles than living ones?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: pixabay Depending on how popular Facebook continues to be and how many new users it gets, this could be anywhere from the middle of this century to the middle of the next one.
If you kept digging, what would happen?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: wikipedia Well, depending on what sort of tools you have (breathing apparatus, etc) and where you are digging, the temperature would be lethal after few kilometers.
Who was the most isolated person in history?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: wikipedia Besides the obvious “island exile” scenario, this distinction would likely fall to the Apollo astronauts, specifically the ones that stayed behind on the command module while their mates went to the surface. This command module ended up going around the far side of the moon where all contact with both the Earth and the astronauts’ buddies was lost.
What would happen if the moon were a black hole?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: wikipedia If the moon collapsed into a black hole, it would have the same mass but it would just be smaller than a grain of sand. So…you just wouldn’t see it anymore. It’s gravitational effects would by and large remain unchanged.
What if you could throw/shoot something at just under the speed of light?
Image: pixabay Long story short, you would cause a nuclear explosion. The object would be traveling so fast that it would destroy even the air molecules with which it collides.
What if kids didn't stop growing?
Source: Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: adrigu via Flickr Apart from the all of the health issues (bones not being able to support us, heart not being able to pump blood, etc), they would reach nearly 12 meters by the age of 20.
How long could humanity survive on cannibalism?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe People have actually tried to calculate this, as grim as it sounds. Assuming that half of humanity would eat the other half every time they got hungry…a little less than 2 years.
When did the Sun finally set on the British Empire?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: wikipedia It still hasn’t. The United Kingdom is still in possession of so many random islands around the world (14 territories) that it is always sunny somewhere in the kingdom.
Where does space start?
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia Officially, at 100km. This is known as the Kármán line, and at higher elevations, you would need to achieve escape velocity in order to maintain lift.
If everyone on Earth jumped at the same time would the Earth's orbit be affected?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: pixabay No. Even if we were all in one spot, the Earth is simply too massive. We wouldn’t budge it.
What would it be like to swim on the moon?
Source: What If? by Randall Munroe, Image: wikipedia Underwater, not much would change. Above water, everything would change. To make a long story short, you would be able to propel yourself into the air like a whale. Also, according to some research, you may be able to run on the surface.
What is the farthest from Earth that anybody has ever died?
Source: wikipedia, Image: wikipedia The three Soviet cosmonauts on Soyuz 11 died at a height of 167 kilometers. They are the only people to have ever died in space.
