Answers To Hard Questions You Never Asked

Just because you never thought of a question, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an answer. Woah, does that even make sense? The answer is that it does. But you never even thought of asking whether a statement you hadn’t thought of made sense did you? But the answer to the question you never thought of was yes. Is your mind being blown right now? Does your brain hurt? It should. And it’s about to hurt a lot more. Most of the questions on this list are based on science (and not on wordplay/philosophy as you just saw). The thing is that you probably never even thought to ask most of these questions. Maybe some of you did, but it takes a special level of nerdiness and introspection to actually come up with 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!

Could someone do an actual "bullet catch"?

Although this is famously done in magic tricks, it is theoretically possible, especially if you were significantlyhigher than the shooter (in elevation) and you caught the bullet at the apex of its journey.

What if the Atlantic Ocean disappeared and the Titanic fell instead of sank…how long would it take to reach the bottom?

About 30 seconds.

Could wind cause raindrops to break your windshield?

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?

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?

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 would happen if your car could travel at the speed of sound?

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?

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.

If you kept digging, what would happen?

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.

What would happen if the moon were a black hole?

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?

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?

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?

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.

Where does space start?

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.

What would it be like to swim on the moon?

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?

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.