The Straight Dope 09/16/2005

The Straight Dope -- By Cecil Adams
http://www.straightdope.com

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THE STRAIGHT DOPE 09/16/2005

Dear Cecil:

I've just finished reading about how researchers have
concluded that Mars was never warm based on analysis of a
meteor--found on earth. More distantly you'll remember that
they were debating whether a fossil of a living organism had
been found in a martian meteor found in Antarctica. My
question: How do they know these meteors came from Mars? Are
they labeled? Have they found meteors from other planets
that they recognize? Why waste all this money and time on
the space program if there are rocks from these planets just
lying around earth? --Kent, Birmingham, Alabama

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Cecil replies:

The rocks were found on earth, Kent, so they're meteorites,
not meteors. (Meteors are space rocks that fry in the
atmosphere; meteorites are the remnants that make it all the
way down.) Once you get that straight, try chewing on this:
Scientists think the martian meteorites came from Mars
because--I realize the nontechnical mind won't find this
entirely persuasive--they couldn't plausibly have come from
anywhere else.

The Martian meteorites--34 have been identified to date--are
collectively known as the SNC (pronounced "snick") group.
The letters stand for three related categories of
geologically unusual meteorite: shergottites, the prototype
of which fell in 1865 near the town of Shergotty in India;
nakhlites, named for a rock that dropped on Nakhla, Egypt,
in 1911; and chassignites, so called because of the specimen
thatlanded in Chassigny, France, in 1815.

For years it was assumed that the SNC meteorites were hunks
of asteroid like pretty much every other space rock. Then in
1979 . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050916.html

STAFF REPORT

Dear Straight Dope:

Why do photographers tell you to say "Cheese!" before you
get your picture taken? -- Ike

SDSTAFF Hawk replies:

The reason photographers tell you to say "cheese!" is that
it forces the face into a smile. Try it yourself in front of
a mirror. When you say the word, the cheeks tend to lift,
the corners of the mouth tend to turn up, and the teeth tend
to show. The same thing happens with the words "whiskey,"
"breeze," and "ready." One photographer I work for has
people say "money." You'll notice the words all end in the
long "e" sound, which is key. If you merely said "eee,"
you'd get the same effect.

For more, see: 
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msaycheese.html

STRAIGHT DOPE CLASSIC - 12/25/1987

Dear Cecil: 

I have an old apartment complete with old pipes and I've
noticed an annoying phenomenon when I turn on the hot water.
At first it comes blasting out, but within a short time it
slows to a trickle, as though a poltergeist were under the
floor squeezing the pipe. What gives? The pipe stays the
same and I assume the water pressure does too. Is there some
law of fluid dynamics that causes this? It doesn't seem to
happen to cold water pipes. --Mike P., Dallas, Texas  

Dear Mike:  

Cecil would love to tell you there's some mind-boggling 
phenomenon at work here involving gravitons
and the strong nuclear force, but, unfortunately, no can do.
According to my Plumbing Repairs Made Easy . . .

For more, see:
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_394.html

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