to sleep through the night.
And does warm milk promote sleep any better than cold milk? It does if you believe it does, but none of the experts we consulted could provide a single logical reason why it should.
Submitted by R.W. Stanley of Bossier City, Louisiana .
Why Doesn’t Glue Get Stuck in the Bottle?
There are two basic reasons:
1. In order for glue to set and solidify, it must dry out. Latex and water-based glues harden by losing water, either by absorption into a porous substrate (the surface to be bonded) or by evaporation into the air. The glue bottle, at least if it is capped tightly, seals in moisture.
2. Different glues are formulated to adhere to particular substrates. If the glue does not have a chemical adhesion to the substrate, it will not stick. For example, John Anderson, technical manager for Elmer’s Laboratory (makers of Elmer’s Glue-All), told us that the Elmer’s bottle, made of polyethylene, does not provide a good chemical adhesion for the glue.
Even when the cap is left off, and the glue does lose water, the adhesion is still spotty. We can see this effect with the cap of many glue bottles. In most cases, dried glue can and does cake onto the tip after repeated uses. But Anderson points out that the adhesion is “tenuous,” and one can easily clean the top while still wet and remove the glue completely. Likewise, if you poured Elmer’s on a drinking glass, it might adhere a little, but you could easily wipe it off with a cloth or paper towel, because the glue cannot easily penetrate the “gluee.”
Submitted by Jeff Openden of Northridge, California .
Why Don’t People in Old Photographs Ever Seem to Smile?
Sometimes, the more you delve into an Imponderable, the murkier it becomes. We asked about twenty experts in photography and photographic history, and the early responses were fairly consistent: The subjects in old photographs weren’t all depressed; the slowness of the exposure time was the culprit. In some cases, the exposure time in early daguerreotypes was up to ten minutes. Typical was the answer of Frank Calandra, secretary/treasurer of the Photographic Historical Society:
Nineteenth-century photographic materials were nowhere near as light-sensitive as today’s films. This meant that instead of the fractional second exposure times we take for granted, the pioneer photographers needed several minutes to properly set an image on a sensitized plate. While this was fine for landscapes, buildings and other still-lifes, portraits called for many tricks to help subjects hold perfectly still while the shutter was open. (The first cameras had no shutter. A cap was placed over the lens and the photographer would remove it to begin the exposure and replace it when time was up.)
Holding a smile for that length of time can be uncomfortable; that’s why you see the same somber look on early portraits. That’s what a relaxed face looks like.
It that’s so, Frank, we’ll look jittery, anytime.
Of course, the problem with trying to hold a smile for a long period of time isn’t only that it is difficult. The problem is that the smile looks phony. Photographer Wilton Wong told Imponderables that even today.
A good portraitist will not ask subjects to smile and have them hold it even for more than a few seconds, as the smile starts looking forced. With the long exposures of old, the smiles would look phony and detract from the photo. Look at yourself in the mirror with a thirty-second smile on your face!
The stationary of the Photographic Historical Association depicts a head clamp, which, although it looks like an instrument of torture, was used during the early days of photography to prevent a subject’s head from moving while being photographed. In order to avoid blurring, subjects were forced to fix their gaze during the entire session. Iron braces were also utilized to
And does warm milk promote sleep any better than cold milk? It does if you believe it does, but none of the experts we consulted could provide a single logical reason why it should.
Submitted by R.W. Stanley of Bossier City, Louisiana .
Why Doesn’t Glue Get Stuck in the Bottle?
There are two basic reasons:
1. In order for glue to set and solidify, it must dry out. Latex and water-based glues harden by losing water, either by absorption into a porous substrate (the surface to be bonded) or by evaporation into the air. The glue bottle, at least if it is capped tightly, seals in moisture.
2. Different glues are formulated to adhere to particular substrates. If the glue does not have a chemical adhesion to the substrate, it will not stick. For example, John Anderson, technical manager for Elmer’s Laboratory (makers of Elmer’s Glue-All), told us that the Elmer’s bottle, made of polyethylene, does not provide a good chemical adhesion for the glue.
Even when the cap is left off, and the glue does lose water, the adhesion is still spotty. We can see this effect with the cap of many glue bottles. In most cases, dried glue can and does cake onto the tip after repeated uses. But Anderson points out that the adhesion is “tenuous,” and one can easily clean the top while still wet and remove the glue completely. Likewise, if you poured Elmer’s on a drinking glass, it might adhere a little, but you could easily wipe it off with a cloth or paper towel, because the glue cannot easily penetrate the “gluee.”
Submitted by Jeff Openden of Northridge, California .
Why Don’t People in Old Photographs Ever Seem to Smile?
Sometimes, the more you delve into an Imponderable, the murkier it becomes. We asked about twenty experts in photography and photographic history, and the early responses were fairly consistent: The subjects in old photographs weren’t all depressed; the slowness of the exposure time was the culprit. In some cases, the exposure time in early daguerreotypes was up to ten minutes. Typical was the answer of Frank Calandra, secretary/treasurer of the Photographic Historical Society:
Nineteenth-century photographic materials were nowhere near as light-sensitive as today’s films. This meant that instead of the fractional second exposure times we take for granted, the pioneer photographers needed several minutes to properly set an image on a sensitized plate. While this was fine for landscapes, buildings and other still-lifes, portraits called for many tricks to help subjects hold perfectly still while the shutter was open. (The first cameras had no shutter. A cap was placed over the lens and the photographer would remove it to begin the exposure and replace it when time was up.)
Holding a smile for that length of time can be uncomfortable; that’s why you see the same somber look on early portraits. That’s what a relaxed face looks like.
It that’s so, Frank, we’ll look jittery, anytime.
Of course, the problem with trying to hold a smile for a long period of time isn’t only that it is difficult. The problem is that the smile looks phony. Photographer Wilton Wong told Imponderables that even today.
A good portraitist will not ask subjects to smile and have them hold it even for more than a few seconds, as the smile starts looking forced. With the long exposures of old, the smiles would look phony and detract from the photo. Look at yourself in the mirror with a thirty-second smile on your face!
The stationary of the Photographic Historical Association depicts a head clamp, which, although it looks like an instrument of torture, was used during the early days of photography to prevent a subject’s head from moving while being photographed. In order to avoid blurring, subjects were forced to fix their gaze during the entire session. Iron braces were also utilized to
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