The fuzz is to slow the balls down. Tennis balls are made to exacting standards so players have a decent chance of hitting them. The fuzz makes the ball softer and less bouncy increasing wind resistance. In addition, the fuzz adds to a player’s racket control because the strings hold onto the surface of the ball longer.
(From Just Curious, Jeeves, by Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett)

Who says you can’t melt salt? Any solid will melt if the temperature is high enough. Lava is molten rock, isn’t it? If you want to melt salt, all you have to do is turn your oven up to 1474° F. Sugar, being made from a living thing, is an ‘organic’ compound and melts at a much lower temperature – 365° F. Salt, being a mineral, is inorganic. Inorganic compounds require more energy (in this case, heat) to break apart.
(From What Einstein Didn’t Know, by Robert L. Wolke)

According to the Oxford English Dictionary: ‘This use originated in the French National Assembly of 1789, in which the nobles as a body took the position of honor on the President’s right, and the Third Estate sat on his left. The significance of these positions, which was first merely ceremonial, soon became political.’
(From Return of the Straight Dope, by Cecil Adams)

There’s nothing quite like it, and all attempts to reproduce it artificially for colognes and air freshners have fallen short. It is a combination of scents from things one wouldn’t normally smell voluntarily, condensed in intensity by the size of the relatively airtight passenger compartment. The odor components that go into it include fresh primer and paint, plastic, leather, vinyl, rubber, glues, sealers, and carpeting. The smell fades with time, as residual solvents leach away from exposure to light, heat, and air.”
(From Just Curious, Jeeves, by Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett)

Actually, many of them don’t. The average life of a street tree surrounded by concrete and asphalt is only 7 to 15 years — compared to the 30 to 40 years of similar trees in the wild. Why? Tree roots are very superficial, occupying only the top three feet of soil; they spread out, not down. When the soil gets so compacted that the roots can’t get in, the tree dies. But if the roots can get into the soil (or sewer), the tree has a decent chance of getting the water and nutrients it needs to survive. People can help street trees by watering during dry periods and protecting them from dogs, bicycle chains (which can run the thin bark that covers the tree’s growth layers), bleach water from the scrub bucket, and motor oil.
(From The New York Times Book of Science Questions & Answers, by C. Claiborne Ray)

Most people assume that earthworms come to the surface during heavy rains to avoid drowning in their tunnels. In fact, worms can live totally submerged in water, so drowning isn’t the problem. But the rainwater that filters down through the ground contains very little oxygen, so the real reason earthworms come to the surface is to breathe. Once above ground, earthworms are very sensitive to light, and even a brief exposure to the sun’s rays can paralyze them. Unable to crawl back into their burrows, they eventually dry out and die on the sidewalk.
(From 101 Questions & Answers About Backyard Wildlife, by Ann Squire)

The horns of antelopes and the antlers of deer, although comparable in function, differ considerably in structure. Horns, usually possessed by both sexes, are permanent features that continue to grow throughout the animal’s life. They are bony projections from the skull, covered with keratin, which is tougher than bone. Antlers, by contrast, are pure bone and are formed and shed every year. They are normally grown only by male deer, with the exception of reindeer and caribou, whose females have them as well.
(From Can Elephants Swim?, by Robert M. Jones)

As a technical meteorological term, ‘partly sunny’ does not exist. So while you might assume that a partly sunny sky should be clearer than a partly cloudy one, the two terms signify the same condition. You have merely encountered a weathercaster who prefers to see the glass half full rather than half empty.
(From Imponderables, by David Feldman)

No. Lightning is strong enough to travel through or around the rubber. According to the Boston Museum of science, your tires would have to be solid rubber a mile thick to actually insulate you from a lightning bolt. Does that mean, then, that you should avoid your car in a thunderstorm? No, the good news is that your car is the safest place to be if you’re outside during a storm; the lightning will most likely travel around the metal shell of your car and not do any damage to you. That is, if you have a metal car and don’t park under a tree or touch the metal. The bad news is that if you have a convertible or plastic car, or if you touch the metal skin of your automobile when lightning strikes, you may be in for a profoundly shocking experience.
(From Just Curious, Jeeves, by Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett)

The magician’s table is draped with a cloth to prevent the audience from seeing a small shelf at the back of the table, upon which the bunny sits, wrapped in a large handkerchief. At the outset of the trick, the magician removes his hat and displays the inside – empty. Then he sets it, brim down, near the back of the table. While waving his wand with his right hand, he grasps both the brim of the hat and the corners of the handkerchief with his left. With a swift, graceful and unseen move, he turns over the hat. The bundle drops into the hat and with another wave of his wand – presto, he raises the rabbit into the air.
(From More How Do They Do That?, by Caroline Sutton and Kevin Markey)

No. There’s considerable overlap in the range of vision of each eye. When an eye is lost, sight is reduced by about 20%.
(From 1,000 Facts Someone Screwed Up, by Deane Jordan)

They’re the same species of orange – Citrus sinensis. The differences are a result of climate, no botany.
California oranges look more like oranges because the California nights get much cooler than Florida nights. Oranges are a winter-early spring crop, and need a little nip in the night air to develop full coloration. They do not ripen once they are picked.
Because Americans prefer orange oranges, Florida growers either color their oranges or sell them for juice. Florida oranges are plumper, juicier, and thinner-skinned than California oranges due to the moist subtropical climate. The drier, thicker-skinned California fruits are generally sold as eating oranges. Since there is a greater demand for juice oranges, Florida’s production far exceeds California’s. Oranges are also grown commercially in Texas and Arizona.
(From Why Does Popcorn Pop?, by Don Voorhees)

A carat is a unit of measurement. In gold, a carat equals one-twenty-fourth part.
Because pure gold is a very soft metal, it is frequently mixed with other metals, known as alloys, to give it greater strength and durability. Copper and silver are most often used as gold alloys. The amount of alloy added to the golf affects its color as well as its strength, with copper lending a deeper yellow or red hue, and silver giving a lighter appearance.
If a piece of jewelry is 18 parts gold and 6 parts alloy, we say it is 18-carat gold; if it has 14 parts of gold to 10 parts of another metal, we say it is 14-carat gold. 24-carat is pure gold.
(From A Book of Curiosities, by Roberta Kramer)

It’s a combination of various dyes and seasonings, and it’s the only part of Cheetos that has any cheese whatsoever in it. The main part of these snacks is cornmeal, with whey and oil added, mixed into a dough, then squeezed out into a long worm shape by an extruder. When the dough meets the cooler air, it sort of explodes or puffs like popcorn. Blades cut it into bite-sized pieces, which are then fried.
From there, the pale white morsels are shaken in colored and flavored powder. Real cheese, Yellow No. 6, annatto, and turmeric give the pieces that cheesy effect. A little more salt and vegetable oil are added to sticking power and flavor. Despite rumors, the powder coating is not toxic, but because it’s brightly colored and relatively loose, it can be lethal to furniture or clothes.

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