Answers update

Here at Answers we’re always working on new features and enhancements for the site, but we also recognise sometimes things do go wrong and need fixing. Earlier this week we addressed a number of outstanding bugs that we know have been bothering many of you. They are:

  • Emails are now sent to your contacts when you submit a question. When you receive an email about a new answer, the text properly describes the answer.
  • We have significantly enhanced the breadth of the dictionary in the spell check function when asking and answering a question.

We are committed to fixing the outstanding bugs on Answers, as well as developing other new features, but in the meantime we wanted to share this news with you and thank you all for your patience while we addressed them.

Regards,

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

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The wonder of water

As the so-called British “summer” demonstrated, water is all around us. It’s a molecule few of us think twice about, it’s that mundane and every day. It’s just O and two H’s, right?

But water, for such a simple compound, has several interesting and ultimately massively influential properties. For example, you can’t squash it. If you could, there’d be no waves in the sea nor would puddles splash. The reason is fluids don’t compress well, as Jim H explains:

“Atoms or molecules in a gas are not bound to others and are widely separated and thus can be compressed. In water, the molecules are close together and the electric fields of the electrons make it difficult to compress… Water can be compressed, but not much and not easily. Given enough pressure, however, any matter can and will compress.” More>

Another unusual property of water is that for every given molecule when it gets colder it gets larger. This is odd as heat is vibration and usually as molecules get colder they vibrate less, so are able to get closer. Yet when water freezes is turns into (solid) ice, which is less dense that (liquid) water. Mr Jeffy321 explains why…

“The reason why water expands upon freezing is due to the intermolecular forces of attraction which exist between the water molecules, in particular, hydrogen bonding. As water freezes, the molecules begin to slow down.”

“As the molecules slow down they become less and less able to break free of these attractive forces and begin to align themselves in a position which takes the least energy. Due to the geometry of the water molecule, this least energy position forms a lattice that just happens to be larger than if the molecules were in the liquid state.” More>

So this explains why ice cubes float in your drink: they’re less dense than the water they’re sitting in. Another “phenomenon” water is associated with is the Coriolis effect, where water in different hemispheres goes down a sink in opposite directions (clockwise or anti-) in different hemispheres. The thing is, turns out it’s an urban myth. Nemesis explains:

“It has always been popular myth that water flows down the plug-hole in an opposite direction to what it would do if located in the opposite hemisphere. This myth even made it into the Simpsons (Bart vs Australia).

The truth is that the direction of flow is more likely to be influenced by more immediate factors e.g. the shape of the basin.” More>

So there you have it: it gets bigger when it gets cold, it causes puddles to splash and confuses Bart and Homer. And there’s yet more. For protecting fish from lightning and the meaning of life, see our links below…

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers

Five quick water questions:

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Yahoo! and you

We all enjoy connecting and communicating with friends and peers. Answers empowers you to gain experiential knowledge from the community but while it’s great for research and problem solving, sometimes when the urge to connect, chat or canvas opinion strikes, other parts of Yahoo! are a far better fit.

First there is Yahoo! Mail, which we’re all familiar with. If a person has turned on his communication settings on Answers, then you can also contact him by email. Messenger is also a great tool to connect live with your friends 24/7. There’s also Yahoo! Groups, with thousands of subject areas to choose from.

If you’re into polling there is also another Yahoo! destination site you might want to try. Bix.com is a place to “create, enter, and judge.” You’ll find contests for anything from top 10 cutest dogs to all time greatest Superhero.

The next time you want to find out what is the best sand structure or the most annoying celebrity why not check out Bix.com for yourself and put your creative skills to the test in a friendly face-off. You could even enter a sponsored contest and win prizes!

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Answers update

Here at Answers HQ we’re always working on improvements and new features to ensure you, the community, get the most out of Answers. Today is no different.

Starting today and running over the next two months or so, we’re going to be testing an exciting new feature on the UK & Ireland Answers homepage for a lucky few of you. We wanted to let you know, just in case you’d noticed some slight changes.

So who are the “lucky few?”  If you’re a UK & Ireland Answers user who’s Level 2 or above and are signed-in, you might see something different with the questions you see on the Homepage.

Don’t worry, it’s nothing drastic: you should just see the order, that some of the questions on the Homepage appear, slightly change. You might find the questions are more suited to your interests and areas of expertise, rather than those most recently posted.

We wanted to blog about this to allay any fears you might have of the new behaviour on the site and to ensure you were all aware of the feature. We hope you like it: if you see it and would like to send us some feedback, please do so to the official UK & Ireland Answers team account y_answrs_team_uk@yahoo.co.uk.

Many thanks!

– Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers team

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How can I invite my contacts?

We know you are all knowledge savvy. We know you like to be surrounded by masterminds and locate some of the smartest people on Answers. But what about those geniuses you meet in the street, or maybe have known for years?

What could be better than having them on Answers, just a couple of clicks away, answering your questions?

Why don’t you invite them to participate on Answers and join your network? It will take you just a minute and you’ll be sure all your friends, family and colleagues are there to answer your queries… and to have fun as well!

1. Log in to Answers
2. Click on My Profile
3. Click Invite contacts

4. Enter the details (name and email) of the person you want to invite. As you can see, you have room for 3 people, but you can repeat this process as many times as you want.

5. You can also modify the invite message, adding a more personal note.

6. If you want to browse the people from your address book, just click on “Find people on my Contact List”. You’ll see all the people you’ve added to your Yahoo! Address Book. Select all the contacts you want to invite.

7. When you finish, click Invite.

Enjoy!

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