Recent comments in /f/askscience

PlantLover1869 t1_j6a0llf wrote

Reply to comment by read_with_a_slash_s in Why can an adult’s GI tract expel C. botulinum spores while an infant can’t? by curiousnboredd

You aren’t actually going to flush out the bacteria by flushing out fecal matter. Obviously you will lose some. But you’re still going to have lots and lots adhered to your gut walls. Your gut wall has lots of folds in it to increase surface area. Bacteria are going to hide in these books and crannies. And well as are adapted to adhering or sticking to your gut wall.

Generally bacteria biomes in the gut change when you kill them off with antibiotics. Or they slowly change over time with a chronic disease like diabetes.

But flushing your system clear with a laxative should have a much smaller effect

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Chemomechanics t1_j6a0bhx wrote

Reply to comment by jonnyclueless in In the absence of cosmic radiation, would an object placed in space eventually cool to absolute zero? by IHatrMakingUsernames

>absolute zero is impossible because you lower a temperature, you need something below that temperature.

Fortunately, this isn't the reason, because it's not true. If you've ever been in 35°C weather or hotter, you lowered your own temperature without there being anything below that temperature. You probably didn't even think about it!

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Chemomechanics t1_j69zwi7 wrote

Reply to comment by buff-equations in In the absence of cosmic radiation, would an object placed in space eventually cool to absolute zero? by IHatrMakingUsernames

As a side point, it's not. Such counters click down from 0 to the maximum count since they can't represent a negative. Temperature is different—arguably, the more fundamental parameter is the reciprocal 1/T, which is positive in most familiar systems but can in some circumstances swing below zero. This implies (very weirdly) that the temperature shoots up to ∞ and then to -∞. Again, it takes special effort to construct such a system; it won't occur around the house.

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