Misc From Magazine Articles

Question 0

What is the normal electric charge of a bee?

Answer 0

Positive

• Popular Mechanics, Jul-Aug 13

Question 1

What is the normal charge of a flower?

Answer 1

Negative

• Popular Mechanics, Jul-Aug 13

Question 2

How might bees use electric charge?

Answer 2

They feel the flowers’ electrical charge when static electricity bristles their body hair.

• Popular Mechanics, Jul-Aug 13

Question 3

How is electric charge changed when a bee lands on a flower?

Answer 3

The flower’s charge is temporarily changed, possibly alerting other bees that the flower has been tapped.

• Popular Mechanics, Jul-Aug 13

Question 4

What is a “wandering meatloaf?”

Answer 4

The nickname for a gumboot chiton, a “marine snail” that can grow to over a foot long.

• Popular Mechanics, Jul-Aug 13

Question 5

Why are battery scientists interested in gumboot chitons?

Answer 5

Their hard, regenerating, magnetic teeth.

• Popular Mechanics, Jul-Aug 13

Question 6

How do LCDs work?

Answer 6

Basic liquid crystal displays like calculators use liquid crystal to control the flow of light between two pieces of polarized glass. Add current and the liquid crystal aligns, block the light and a black bar is created. Color displays apply the same concept to thousands of tiny dots, known as pixels, each with a red, green and blue subpixel. Adding voltage filters a white backlight into a colored dot. Enough pixels can create a picture.