Jul 31, 2008

today's questionable links

Jason Rosenhouse asks, "What is multiplication, really?"

Nick Bilton asks, "What natural food, other than eggs, turns from a liquid to solid, when heated?"

Mark Olson asks, and I paraphrase, For a Christian, does animal extinction have a moral dimension?

Peter Wall asks
, "So what does it mean when a city council 'slaps' a mayor?"

Bill Pickert asks, "Would you forfeit your capacity to make decisions regarding how you live your life in return for a guaranteed place in Heaven?"

Tara Smith asks, "Dinosaur soft tissue--just bacterial biofilm?"

Geoff Baker asks
, "When's the last time two pitchers of record in the same game were on different teams the following day?"

Katherine Mangu-Ward asks, rhetorically, "Who says materialism is a bad thing?"

2 comments:

Kelsey said...

Nick Bilton's original claim, that eggs are a liquid, ignores some of the basic biochemistry at work. An egg, which is a single cell, contains, like most cells, a solution with suspended proteins. In fact, an egg might even be a colloid (like milk). The heat causes two factors which result in the appearance of the solid (not the creation of the solid). First, water escapes as gas, leaving the protein unsuspended. Second, the proteins denature, falling out of solution.

Its the same principle as boiling salt water- the salt precipitates out of solution. Milk proteins would eventually curdle in the same way, it just takes more heating. However, it does not qualify as a phase change- what you eat was never a true liquid.

Jim Anderson said...

Great. Next you're going to tell me that glass isn't a solid.