graebot

graebot t1_j5yj1aq wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in How hot is the steam coming out of nuclear power plants? by ivy-claw

Clouds are water vapour, but I wouldn't refer to them as steam. Technically, steam is invisible, and exists above 100 C at 1 atmosphere. Only once it drops below the vapour point (100C @ 1 Atm) does it start condensing into water vapour. Water vapour is not steam, it's just liquid water droplets suspended in air.
When steam is used to do work, it starts as high pressure, high temperature, and as it does work, the pressure reduces, and the temperature with it, and after doing work you're usually left with water vapor as the spent product.

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graebot t1_j30yk7p wrote

Reply to comment by Triairius in Molecularly, what make pine pitch sticky? by orangegore

If there's no atmosphere, then there's no pressure to press things together. Suction cups, for instance, do not work in a vacuum. They require atmospheric pressure to press the cup to the surface. If part of tar's stickiness comes from the suction effect in an atmosphere, then at least some of that "stickiness" must disappear

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graebot t1_j02qw99 wrote

Reply to Why does normal pain medicine helps you with a headache for a few hours but not make you immune to all pain? by popolvar

Pain is super complicated. There are loads of different pathways and only some drugs can reduce pain in some pathways to some extent, either directly or indirectly. If you took a drug that could stop pain signals from reaching the brain, you also run the risk of stopping signals coming from the brain, or signals in vital organs. So, you could successfully stop all pain, but at the same time you'd stop breathing and your heart would stop beating. That sort of thing happens in opiate overdoses. As the user's brain gets accustomed to the weak signals to and from the brain, it overcompensates (pain gets stronger) as the drugs wear off, so the user is stuck in a cycle of pain relief until something vital fails.

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