What if...?

- What would happen if everyone on earth stood as close to each other as they could and jumped, everyone landing on the ground at the same instant?
- When, if ever, will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than of living ones?
- What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?
- What if a rainstorm dropped all of its water in a single giant drop?
- ...

This are examples of reader questions, which Randall Munroe answers on his blog "What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions.” [English puts the period inside the quotation mark.  The same is true when you have a comma -- it would go inside the quotation marks.]

Admittedly, the hypothetical questions are in some cases kind of far-fetched and may not exactly be world shaking (you could also write world altering but world shaking is fine). But the scientific based answers are definitely fun to read. Munroe, who worked as a contract programmer and roboticist for NASA before he became a writer and cartoonist, uses physics and math to answer the questions. His explanations are very understandable and humorously expressed.

When I was a child I used to ask questions of exactly this sort. In doing so, I nearly drove my mother crazy. She developed a serious allergy to w-words. How beautiful had it would have been to have someone like Randall Munroe around who had would patiently answered to all my questions...

Munroe has also written a book with the same title as the blog, which contains a collection of some of the most popular answers from the blog. The book would probably not be the best source to prepare for your physics exam. But you can learn from the way he approaches the questions.

I really like the way he explains and I'm sure you will too. Have a look at this video from his TED talk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I64CQp6z0Pk

Outstanding writing Drea!  It’s also a very interesting topic.  Well done!

What if...?

- What would happen if everyone on earth stood as close to each other as they could and jumped, with everyone landing on the ground at the same instant?
- When, if ever, will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than of living ones?
- What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched  at 90% the speed of light?
- What if a rainstorm dropped all of its water in a single giant drop?
- ...

These are some examples of the type of questions posted that Randall Munroe had answered on his blog, "What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions".

Admittedly, these hypothetical questions are in some cases kind of far-fetched and may not exactly be of any significance/ world shaking. But the scientifically based answers to them are definitely fun to read. Munroe, who used to work as a contract programmer and roboticist at NASA before he became a writer and cartoonist, uses physics and math to answer the questions. His explanations are very understandable and humorously expressed.

When I was a child, I used to ask questions exactly of this sort. In doing so, I nearly drove my mother crazy. She developed a serious allergy to w-words. How beautiful it has been to have someone such as Randall Munroe around -- who had patiently provided  the answers to all my questions...

Munroe had also written a book with the same title as his blog, in which contains a collection of some of his most popular answers from his blog. The book would probably would not be the best source to prepare for your physics exam, but you can learn from the way he approaches these questions.

I really like the way he explains, and I'm sure you will too. Have a look at this video from his TED talk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I64CQp6z0Pk