Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 April 29

= April 29 =

Tummy Upsets
Request for medical opinion and advice removed, see top of page "We don't answer (and may remove) questions that require medical diagnosis or legal advice", as well as WP:Disclaimer. μηδείς (talk) 05:09, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

A bit of folk wisdom from Satchel Paige: "If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cool thoughts." ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 09:25, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Wheels and axles; earliest basic design and diagrams
I am looking for the most basic design and diagrams of unassembled and assembled wheels and axles and chariots. Currently, Wikipedia has articles with diagrams but no indication of the different pieces or how the pieces fitted together. I feel that everyone is taking for granted that the wheel and axle and chassis is so simple, a two-year-old could understand it intuitively, like a hammer and nail.Alice&#39;sleftfoot,esq (talk) 13:48, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Chinese war chariot, Irish chariot, ancient Egyptian chariot. AllBestFaith (talk) 18:16, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Articulated open parking
On a recent road journey I passed a number of lay-bys with parked lorries. Nothing unusual about that, in the evening. What was different was that a significant proportion had one or both rear doors open - some were empty, others seemed to have some cargo. I have some hypotheses, but does anyone know why this is done?

All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 14:08, 29 April 2016 (UTC).


 * The usual explanation seems to be that it is a way of showing that there is nothing of value in the trailer - thereby discouraging potential thieves from forcing the locks or slashing the side curtains to have a look. 81.132.106.10 (talk) 14:57, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Thanks, this was my prime hypothesis. My secondary one was that it stopped them being woken by immigration control in the middle of the night.
 * All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 01:42, 30 April 2016 (UTC).

Eponymous weapons
I am interested in weapons named for a specific person who may or may not have actually invented them or used them.I'm looking for names of weapons most people would recognize, not just specialists or collectors. Examples are the Molotov cocktail, the Stalin organ,the Kalishnikov rifle, the Browning Automatic Rifle and the Bowie knife. This does not include ships or military installations named after someone such as USS Dwight D. Eisenhower or Fort Knox. It could include modern weapon systems named to honor someone from the past (such as the Sherman tank). This would not include mere brand names such as "Smith and Wesson pistol", but it should be a specific notable model of weapon which is well known. Thanks. Edison (talk) 14:24, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Jarmann rifle, Krag–Petersson rifle, Krag–Jørgensen rifle, Vetterli rifle... there are a lot of weapons named after their inventors. Category:Early rifles is one place to start, but virtually every subcategory of Category:Weapons have some examples. WegianWarrior (talk) 14:38, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Tommy gun invented by John T. Thompson.


 * Gatlin gun. StuRat (talk) 16:38, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Ahhh, would you believe that's Gatling gun? --69.159.61.172 (talk) 23:15, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I must not have heard it clearly because I was under the cone of silence at the time. StuRat (talk) 02:02, 30 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Colt 45 handgun (the gun that won the west) shares its name with the company founder Samuel Colt. -- Jayron 32 18:05, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
 * But it's also a brand name, which the original post said to exclude. How are these to be counted? The same applies to Maxim gun and presumably others on this list. --69.159.61.172 (talk) 23:17, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
 * He wanted to avoid mere brand names, where the brand was not the common name of a specific weapon or weapons system. The Colt 45 meets his requirements just fine, TYVM.  -- Jayron 32 04:57, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Henry rifle, named for inventor Benjamin Tyler Henry. -- Jayron 32 18:06, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Maxim gun, after its inventor Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim. Akld guy (talk) 18:14, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Vickers machine gun, named after the company that was started by Edward Vickers. Akld guy (talk) 18:20, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Luger pistol (although that was never an official name), Glock pistol (after Gaston Glock) and many more. Rgds ✦  hugarheimur 18:21, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Lewis gun, after its inventor Isaac Newton Lewis. Akld guy (talk) 18:25, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Churchill tank, named after either Winston Churchill or one of his ancestors, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Akld guy (talk) 18:34, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Lots of tanks - Cromwell, Valentine, Matilda, Sherman, Grant, Lee, Stuart, Chaffee, Pershing, Patton, Sheridan, Abrams. 81.132.106.10 (talk) 21:33, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Guillotine, which seems to fit our definition of weapon. SemanticMantis (talk) 18:54, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Spencer rifle, invented by Christopher Miner Spencer. SemanticMantis (talk) 19:06, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Lee-Enfield (rifle), after the designer of its bolt action, James Paris Lee. Akld guy (talk) 19:09, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Uzi, from Uziel Gal, and the Armstrong Gun. SemanticMantis (talk) 19:11, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Not to be confused with the Galil, designed by Yisrael Galil. Iapetus (talk) 20:33, 4 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Chekhov's_gun... It's specific and notable but whether it's a "model" is debatable :) SemanticMantis (talk) 19:13, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Webley revolver, after P. Webley & Son. Akld guy (talk) 20:17, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Derringer, after Henry Deringer (sic). Akld guy (talk) 20:20, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Hobart's Funnies 81.132.106.10 (talk) 21:25, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Perhaps not fitting the strictest interpretation of the criteria above, but worth a mention is the Holman Projector, made by the famous drill-makers Holman Brothers of Camborne, Cornwall. DuncanHill (talk) 21:33, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Re your reference to Kalishnikov rifle: More and more I hear TV journalists giving it that pronunciation, but it's dead wrong.  It's Ka-LASH-nikov, not Ka-LISH-nikov.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  22:28, 29 April 2016 (UTC)


 * Sten gun. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 02:02, 30 April 2016 (UTC).


 * Getting more obscure we have the Mills bomb, the Stokes mortar, the Livens projector, the Boys anti-tank rifle, the De Lisle carbine, the Smith gun, the Northover projector and the Blacker Bombard. Finally the Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife. Alansplodge (talk) 12:45, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Nearly forgot the Congreve rocket of Star Spangled Banner fame. Alansplodge (talk) 16:30, 30 April 2016 (UTC)


 * SKS = samozarjadny karabin Simonova, Simonov self-loading carbine. —Tamfang (talk) 08:53, 1 May 2016 (UTC)
 * Going way back, we have the Ulfberht swords. Iapetus (talk) 20:33, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Why doesn't this jawbreaker burn?
this video is quite hypnotic, but why doesn't the jawbreaker burn? 50.81.42.27 (talk) 23:30, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
 * Combustion requires oxygen. The flame is already probably consuming most of the oxygen from the air around it (that is, the combustion of whatever the fuel in the torch is).  So there isn't any oxygen left to burn the sugar in the jawbreaker.  As a result, the jawbreaker melts rather than burns.  Melting sugar with a torch is a common cooking technique.  Look up how creme brule is often made, for example.  -- Jayron 32 03:05, 30 April 2016 (UTC)