WHY CORNERWHY CORNERWHY CORNER answers our why, how and what queries with informative and educational articles. It is all about answers, general knowledge, education and news stories. Articles
Do you know why pregnant women crave for pickles and icecreams?
2007-08-07 14:39:00 Prof. Know Why explains: Pregnant women are famous for their midnight yearnings for pickles and ice-creams. And the desire for chocolates is the stuff of legend. It?s tempting to believe ?as many people do ?that cravings are the body?s way of telling us that we are lacking a certain nutrient which the food we crave can supply. Chocolates, as the belief goes, might soothe a broken heart by replacing compounds lost in oceans of tears. But pregnant women might crave ice-creams because they need calcium or pickles because they lack sodium. Pregnant women rarely crave for fruits and vegetables. More often, they yarn for foods that are very sweet, spicy or salty. From an evolutionary standpoint, this makes sense. A craving for highly palatable foods may have been nature?s way of boosting calorie intake, ensuring a healthy pregnancy. So would-be fathers ?get ready for your sweet-heart?s sudden demand of a chocolate-ice-cream in the wee hours of the night. Visit http://why-... More About: Women , Pickles , Pickle , Crave
Do you know why stars twinkle?
2007-08-07 14:33:00 Prof. Know Why explains: On a clear, dark night, our eyes can see about 6,000 or so stars in the sky. They seem to twinkle, or change their brightness, all the time. The scientific name for this twinkling of stars is stellar scintillation or astronomical scintillation. Stars seem to twinkle when we see them from the Earth's surface, because we are viewing them through thick layers of turbulent (moving) air in the Earth?s atmosphere. The Earth's atmosphere comprises of layers of gases surrounding the Earth. It?s composed of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and other gases. These gaseous layers insulate the Earth from extreme temperatures and block the Earth from much of the Sun?s incoming ultraviolet radiation. As light of a star travels through these layers of the Earth's atmosphere, it is bent or refracted many times and in random directions (it happens whenever it hits a change in density - like a pocket of cold air or hot air). This rando... More About: Prof , Twinkle
Do you know why we suffer from blocked ears?
2007-08-07 14:30:00 Prof. Know Why explains: While travelling by aeroplane or climbing mountains we might have temporary ear blockage, which is not associated with loss of hearing though. This happens due to an imbalance in air pressure. Let?s see how it happens. Ear comprises of three parts ?external, middle and internal ear. And for normal hearing, we need to have proper air balance in the middle as well as the external ear. The ?hearing mechanism? works like this: A membrane called Tympanic membrane separates the middle ear from the external ear. The middle ear is connected with the upper part of the Pharynx by a tube called the Eustachian tube. Now, when we breathe in, a portion of the air enters the middle ear through this tube. So to balance the pressure within the ear for normal hearing, some amount of air also enters the external ear through the external auditory canal. But when in a flight or on higher altitudes, the atmospheric pressure inside the middle ear remains the same, whil... More About: Ears 1, 2, 3 |
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