Science and Technology Quiz 3

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I'm not allowed to answer, but of course I know the answer ;)

You are of course assuming the axiom of choice for your joke ;)
 
Those 3 are equivalent of course ;)
 
I'd give it to sanabas myself.

EDIT: The next question I mean, not sexual favours ;)

EDIT2: Re- 2 person spamfest: dutchfire was the only one attempting the question and he needed some encouragement I think, it was a difficult q.
 
I'd give it to sanabas myself.

Fair enough, I don't think anyone else will be able to give a better answer. I already feared it might be a bit too specific.

The Banach-Tarski paradox says that you can divide a ball into separate pieces, rotate and move these pieces, and then put them together to form 2 identical balls. The proof of this theorem however relies on using the choice axiom. link So some people say this axiom is false. However, using in allows many very important mathematical proofs, so most people use the axiom anyway.

An anagram is just like dividing and reassembling a ball, so according to this theorem, you should be able to get the name twice :)

/hopes this explanation is good enough for the mathematicians here :p
 
Well, yes, it has to do with balls.

Yes, I know. I just wasn't feeling coherent enough to type anything longer. :p

The previous question looked interesting too.

Anyway, time for one that doesn't scare off the non-maths geeks.

Chemistry needs to work on looking more interesting, get some more people in. So I've made up a new poster boy for organic chem. What molecule is it?

 
Auxins are a sort of hormone - they regulate growth the growth of neighboring cells. Specifically, they augment [get the connection?] growth. When you pinch back the apical meristem, a flood of auxins is released into the surrounding tissue, and the tree will 'bud back': fresh buds will appear further down the trunk / branch.
 
Darn - I always make the mistake of answering a question even if I don't have a question in mind...

:hmm:

There is a convention in electrical engineering such that a battery's negative terminal is indicated with a "-" symbol, and the positive with "+".

Who came up with this, and what is curious about it?

Spoiler inspiration for the question, as well as the answer - so don't look!! But I felt I had to give credit where credit was due :) :
http://xkcd.com/567/
 
Well from the cartoon, I'll say it comes from vacuum tube experiments using a glass tube and the generation of static electricity (made by friction).

I'll guess Coulomb. If not him, I'll say Kirchoff.
 
Electrons flow from positive to negative = what's curious?
 
Well electrons are negative so should be repelled by negative/flow towards positive.
 
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