Which questions at the Cafe have you found the most interesting?

I actually find all of them interesting. I am amazed how many questions people have about very common phenomena involving the Sun, Moon and Earth, Seasons and Eclipses. I am also surprised how few questions people have about the stars and the Milky Way.

I enjoy questions about cosmology and black holes, especially about the fundamental properties and issues behind the theories. I do not enjoy answering questions about what it is like falling into a black hole, or whether we can travel faster than the speed of light. I am surprised there are not more questions about the conditions near the Big Bang and what might have happened 'before' this event. I am thankful there are not many questions about string theory because the general public should not be asking such things! Not even professional astronomers understand the theory at a technical level!

The most interesting question I recall answering is how gravitons can get out from inside a black hole to produce the gravitational field we see outside the event horizon. My least favorite question was whether anyone has had sex in space yet.


Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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