Hidden Infections and Changing Environments

0000-0001-7279-715XThe file attached is the Accepted/final draft post-refereeing version of the article

A4_7 Would The Odyssey Fly?

The feasibility of the Odyssey being used as a hot air balloon is assessed. The buoyancy force required to lift the Odyssey off the ground is calculated to be 7.051 ×10^6 N , meaning the density of the heated air inside the balloon would need to be -14.97 kgm −3 . This means the Odyssey would not be able to fly, if it were acting as a hot air balloon

A4_6 Leap Years

In this paper we assess the feasibility of using a rocket to push the Earth into an orbit with aperiod of exactly 365 days, thus eliminating the need for leap years. Assuming circular orbits, we find that moving the Earth into an orbit of the desired period would require a change in velocity of 6.3989 ms^-1. A rocket with a specic impulse of 400 seconds would need to consume 9.735x10^21 kg of propellent to produce this velocity change, meaning that the idea is not feasible using current rocket technology

A4_8 How To Float

In this paper, we resolve the vertical forces acting on a 70 kg person to determine that if their lungs are entirely full of helium gas they would feel between 5.24 - 8.73 grams lighter; this is assuming that their surroundings are at a temperature of 20 ◦C and at a pressure of 1 atm. Taking the density of a human body to be 1010 kgm−3 [1], we also calculate that in order to be lifted upwards in air, they must inhale a volume of 129 m3 of helium gas. Finally, we discuss the feasibility of inhaling helium gas as a means to achieve the ability to reach suspension in air.

A4_2 How Many Lies Could Pinocchio Tell?

The 1940 animated lm `Pinocchio' tells the story of a puppet who, having been brought magically to life, finds that his nose grows whenever he tells a lie. In this paper, we attempt to determine the effect that this growth might have on Pinocchio's balance. By comparing Pinocchio's apparent size to that of his creator, Geppetto, we estimate his approximate dimensions. We then examine the rate of growth of his nose as shown in the film and calculate the displacement of his centre of mass from its original position after each successive lie he tells. Based on this, we then determine that the maximum number of lies Pinocchio can tell without compromising his balance is five

A4_1 How Hungry Was The Very Hungry Caterpillar?

The very hungry caterpillar follows the story of a caterpillar on its journey from hatching to becoming a butterfly. Over the course of a week the caterpillar eats through a variety of foods, by approximating the caterpillar as a sphere the final mass of the caterpillar was calculated to be 1849g with a radius of 68.3mm.By extrapolating data of the mass of butterflies versus their wing length, the wing length of the butterfly created by the caterpillar was calculated to be 55m, approximately the same size as a Boeing 747 [6]

A4_3 The Great Flood

The Great Flood is a biblical event, said to have occured to cleanse the Earth. The magnitude of this flood and the disasterous affect it would have are explored and it is found 3.875 × 10 18 m 3 of water is needed to fill the Earth to the height of Mount Everest. It is found the temperature of the Earth would increase greatly due to the lower albedo of the planet and the increase in greenhouse gases

A4_9 Buffalo Wings

'Buffalo wings' are a popular type of fried chicken wings. In this paper we examine the differencein size between these wings and the hypothetical wings that an actual buffalo would need in orderto be able to fly. Using a fixed wing approximation, we determine that to produce suffcient lift abuffalo would need a pair of wings 31 times larger than those of a chicken, or 31 separate pairs ofchicken-sized wings

A4_5 Abolishing Height Inequality

In this paper, we use the theory of special relativity to calculate that the tallest man recorded inhistory must be moving away from the Earth at 0.97c in order to be observed on Earth as thesame height as the shortest man recorded. We also calculate that for every period of 24 hours thatpasses on Earth, he will experience only 4.85 hours. Finally, we calculate that the energy neededto accelerate him to this velocity is 4.20 x 10^20 J. We discuss the feasibility of using this methodas a means to homogenise human height