How do high-rise buildings manage to pump water all the way up to the top floors with...?

A 1,000-foot column of water exerts over 430 pounds of pressure. If a skyscraper used a single pipe, that crushing force would instantly blow its ground-floor faucets straight off the wall. Beca…

Top stories for Long   How do high-rise buildings manage to pump water all the way up to the top floors without breaking the pipes from too much pressure? OpenBlueprint • Updated June 10 A 1,000-foot column of water exerts over 430 pounds of pressure. If a skyscraper used a single pipe, that crushing force would instantly blow its ground-floor faucets strai... Read more » 240 6   Why did St. Louis, once one of the major cities in the US, experience such a significant decline? SepiaGlyphs • Answered May 3 In 1904, St. Louis was America's fourth-largest city, proudly hosting the Olympics and the World’s Fair. Today, its population is less than half its 1950 peak. What hollowe... Read more » 1K 183   Why do pancakes at restaurants like Denny's or IHOP taste better than homemade ones? Terry Lo, A foodie, former restaurateur, and a not bad home cook. • Updated October 8, 2022 Both of them have their methods, with one being a bit surprising to me, and the other that makes sense. (from Curiosity Group) So first up is IHOP, who claims that they’re do... Read more » 4.7K 412   Why do batters obey an unwritten rule that you don't swing on a 3-0 count? Why not swing at the fattest pitch you are likely to see if you are trying to win a game? HalftimeLedger, Sports analysis and commentary • Updated June 10 A 3-0 fastball straight down the middle is the fattest pitch in baseball. Yet for decades, swinging at it wouldn't just break an unwritten rule—it would get you benched by ... Read more » 147 26   Is it true that the Boeing 797 will be a B-757/B-787 hybrid (narrow bodied version of B-787)? Rodra Hascaryo, studied Aerospace and Aeronautical Engineering at University of Illinois at Urba... • Answered June 13 I’m fresh back from an aviation conference in San Diego and this is what I’ve heard from one of the good folks at Boeing (via one of my friends, who is officially one of th... Read more » 237 49   Why do some golfers leave the flag in the hole for their putt? Ron Brown, I play a lot of golf! • Updated June 5 As others have said, the rules of golf changed in 2019 to allow golfers when putting while on the green to leave the flagstick in (prior to that, there was a penalty if a p... Read more » 13   Why isn't it biologically possible for someone to live to be 200 years old? NovaPrism • Answered May 30 Even if science cured all disease tomorrow, you wouldn't reach 200. The ultimate ceiling on human life is dictated by a microscopic countdown clock ticking inside nearly ev... Read more » 2.4K 166   What was it about the typical 1950s diet and lifestyle that kept people from becoming obese, despite having homemade desserts and snacks? MosaicPalate • Answered May 23 1950s families devoured meat, butter, and daily homemade pie, yet obesity rates were a fraction of today's. The secret wasn't a magical metabolism—it was a vastly different... Read more » 793 95   The Hunt for Red October (1990 movie): Is it true that if one submarine comes in behind another submarine's propeller "he's deaf as a post"? Babus Abus, former Lt Cdr (S) (SM) at Royal Navy (1971-1996) • Answered August 2, 2018 I was serving in nuclear submarine during the era the film was shot. Whilst operating off the Azores in company with a hunter killer SSN we actually had our towed array cut... Read more » 1.3K 53   How do train drivers know exactly when to brake when the train takes such a long distance to stop? Steve Baker, Senior Software Engineer (2013-present) • Answered April 29 It’s a little known fact that train drivers get paid more than airline pilots. They go through a lot of training - and a good part of that is learning the routes they’ll be ... Read more » 404 41   How do cemeteries stay in business? If you think about it, they’re not burying people every day, and though it’s not cheap to bury someone, it’s not as if they collect rent on graves. MetroDispatch • Answered May 20 Cemeteries sell a plot exactly once, but are legally bound to mow the grass and pave the roads forever. To survive this paradox, they don't collect rent—they collect intere... Read more » 672 67   Why do PCs gradually get slower with usage? Norrin Radd, Consultant for I.T.-Infrastructure, Network Admin (2008-present) • Answered July 31, 2019 There’s 4 main reason for this, but only 2 of them are genuinely noticeable unless it’s a severe case of the latter reasons. Here are they by rank of likely hood. With the ... Read more » 3.3K 193 Read more in your feed

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