Question - Why do window panes block infrared and UV rays but
permit visible light?
Visible light wavelengths are in between these two part of the EM spectrum.
The wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation – whether U.V., visible, or
infra red and beyond is full of windows that will allow the transmission of
the radiation, and absorptions that prevent the transmission of the
radiation. The wavelengths at which these holes and absorptions occur depend
on the detailed chemistry and physics of the particular substance. Glass
happens to absorb U.V. radiation shorter than approx.
300 nm and longer than about 700 nm, but is transparent to wavelengths in
between.
On the damn blinds note, put up black curtains in the winter and white curtains (beware the see-through variety… unless you are a hot female neighbor of mine, then go for it, but otherwise) in the summer.
When you are cold, put on a sweater, don’t put the heating on. My Gran used to say that, then again I prefer to have he heating on than wear a sweater with an icicle hanging from my nose.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
MrChill wrote:
mike08042 wrote:
Invest in some good blinds or drapes, so in summer, you keep the windows and shades closed on windows that the sun is shining on. You can change this based on the time of day, of course I work all day but I keep the shades closed usually all day with the windows open on the opposite side to keep it cool.
Slightly off topic, and of course cannot be applied in real life, but aren’t blinds or drapes useless if used inside? Once the heat gets through the window, doesn’t it stay trapped in?
Most blinds and curtains have a white lining to reflect the energy out.
It works.[/quote]
yeah it totally works. as does opening the windows @ night with and upstairs window fan blowing out. just close the windows @ 6am before it gets hot.
[quote]PGJ wrote:
Never buy expensive shoes, watches, tires or protein powder. The cheaper versions will do the exact same thing. [/quote]
A good place to find good quality, name brand shoes at great prices is Ross if you have one in your area. You can get Adidas, Reebok, Nike, Asics, or any other top-end shoe for $35 or less.
Personally, I go for the Avias, which IMO, are every bit as good as any of the above mentioned brands at half the price. The pair I wear to train in cost me $17 and change 2.5 years ago, and they are not even begining to fall apart.
Ditto just about all other clothing at Ross or a Bealle’s Outlet.
Don’t buy expensive ‘ribbed’ condoms, just buy an ordinary one and slip a handful of frozen peas inside it before you put it on.
Don’t waste money buying expensive binoculars. Simply stand closer to the object you wish to view.
Thicken up cheap runny low-fat yoghurt by stirring in a spoonful of lard.
INCREASE the life of your carpets by rolling them up and keeping them in the garage.
OLD contact lenses make ideal ‘portholes’ for small model boats.
WHEN reading a book try tearing out the pages as you read them. This saves the expense of buying a bookmark, and the pages can later be used for shopping lists.
SAVE electricity by turning off all the lights in your house and walking around wearing a miner’s hat.
[quote]Meddyg Stigg wrote:
Don’t buy expensive ‘ribbed’ condoms, just buy an ordinary one and slip a handful of frozen peas inside it before you put it on.
Don’t waste money buying expensive binoculars. Simply stand closer to the object you wish to view.
Thicken up cheap runny low-fat yoghurt by stirring in a spoonful of lard.
INCREASE the life of your carpets by rolling them up and keeping them in the garage.
OLD contact lenses make ideal ‘portholes’ for small model boats.
WHEN reading a book try tearing out the pages as you read them. This saves the expense of buying a bookmark, and the pages can later be used for shopping lists.
SAVE electricity by turning off all the lights in your house and walking around wearing a miner’s hat.
[/quote]
LOL! And only plug in your clock when you need to know the time.
There was actually a country that issued this as an edict during an energy crisis. Saw it on Ripley’s Believe It or Not in the 80’s that Jack Palance hosted.
[quote]Meddyg Stigg wrote:
Don’t buy expensive ‘ribbed’ condoms, just buy an ordinary one and slip a handful of frozen peas inside it before you put it on.
Don’t waste money buying expensive binoculars. Simply stand closer to the object you wish to view.
Thicken up cheap runny low-fat yoghurt by stirring in a spoonful of lard.
INCREASE the life of your carpets by rolling them up and keeping them in the garage.
OLD contact lenses make ideal ‘portholes’ for small model boats.
WHEN reading a book try tearing out the pages as you read them. This saves the expense of buying a bookmark, and the pages can later be used for shopping lists.
SAVE electricity by turning off all the lights in your house and walking around wearing a miner’s hat.
[quote]Sonny S wrote:
I figured we could start a thread on ways to save money easily. I stress the word EASY. For example, making and preparing your own food doesn’t qualify because that involves actually shopping and cooking and effort.
Here are 3 of mine:
1- Make and bring your own coffee and drinks. You make coffee anyway in the morning, so just bring enough for the rest of the day with you. I love Snapple, but at 1.25-1.79 a bottle depending where I purchase it, it adds up. So I use Crystal Lite and bring it with me. I save even more money when I use the supermarket brand of instant iced tea.
If you want to be super cheap, screw regular coffee and use caffeine tabs. Walgreen’s brand of NoDoz is 6.99 for 200 tabs which is 400 cups of coffee.
2- Join Costco. You’ll save money on food and other items like crazy, regardless of whether you’re single or have a family. A few examples include: the savings on cartons of 1/2 and 1/2 alone pay for the yearly $50 membership fee; I saved $80 on contacts; fish oil and Rogaine are unbelievably cheap.
3- Drink before you go out to a nightspot. You can start drinking right before leaving (if the place is closeby) or if the place is farther away start drinking right before arriving at the club OR in the car after you’ve parked.
Not only do you save money, but you can also easily taper off the alcohol as the night goes on. I start drinking a lot of water 1/2 way through the night, so by the time its time to go home, my buzz is wearing off or gone. Plus all the water keeps me hydrated and lessens the possibility of hangovers.
Let’s hear some of yours[/quote]
Also, along with # 3, you can invest in a flask. I always pre-drink before I go to the bar. Before I leave the house I fill my flask with vodka. From there all you have to do is order diet coke’s and spike them in the bathroom! A lot of places will give you the soda free, if you tell them you’re the D.D.
For the fellow college students that are buying textbooks: e-mail your profs, find out the texts and half.com that shit. Serously, the campus bookstoresa are taking you for a ride.
I’ve probably saved 600-800 dollars in two semesters by buying textbooks online.
[quote]jedidiah wrote:
For the fellow college students that are buying textbooks: e-mail your profs, find out the texts and half.com that shit. Serously, the campus bookstoresa are taking you for a ride.
I’ve probably saved 600-800 dollars in two semesters by buying textbooks online. [/quote]
You can get used books on Amazon too or do what I used to do and photocopy the relevant bits. Is that copyright infringement ? I suppose the educated person benefits the economy more than the revenue to said publisher.
Always check your tire pressure at LEAST once a month, preferably once a week. Poorly inflated tires can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as 20%. Also, if you’re within a reasonable distance (short enough that your perishable food won’t go bad on the way home from the summer heat) from a grocery store, ride a bike or walk there. The farmer’s walk on the way home is a nice recovery workout.
[quote]Panther1015 wrote:
Always check your tire pressure at LEAST once a month, preferably once a week. Poorly inflated tires can reduce fuel efficiency by as much as 20%. Also, if you’re within a reasonable distance (short enough that your perishable food won’t go bad on the way home from the summer heat) from a grocery store, ride a bike or walk there. The farmer’s walk on the way home is a nice recovery workout. [/quote]
Get some kind of thick wrapping (towel) or whatever you’d like so that your fingers don’t lose blood circulation and fall off.
[quote]MrChill wrote:
Slightly off topic, and of course cannot be applied in real life, but aren’t blinds or drapes useless if used inside? Once the heat gets through the window, doesn’t it stay trapped in?[/quote]
Heat doesn’t get through the window (least not very efficiently if it’s double paned glass). Light does, or more correctly light of the visible spectrum. Once that light enters your room and hits something that is non-transparent, a part of the energy in the visible light is “absorbed” while a much larger portion is usually relfected (well, unless your room is 100% jet black.)
The visible light that was “absorbed” was actually really just “knocked down” to a low energy level of light on the spectrum. ie: infrared light aka. “heat”. This infrared light then does the lions share of actually raising the temperature of the surrounding materials.
So, the main job of your curtains would be to immediately REFLECT almost all of the incoming visible light back outside, instead of having it bounce around off multiple objects in your home. (Remember I said the largest portion of light hitting a substance is reflected instead of being absorbed. However, each time light hits something, well more and more of it becomes heat.)
Do bartenders just give you the drinks for free whenever you order them and say you are D.D. or do you have to imply something like “I’m D.D. do I still have to pay or should I take my drunk friends to XX bar where it’s free for D.D.'s?” I guess you just have to make sure they don’t see you all plastered later on.
[quote]X-Factor wrote:
Do bartenders just give you the drinks for free whenever you order them and say you are D.D. or do you have to imply something like “I’m D.D. do I still have to pay or should I take my drunk friends to XX bar where it’s free for D.D.'s?” I guess you just have to make sure they don’t see you all plastered later on.[/quote]
Only if you move really slowly and look them in the eye for 6.23 seconds exactly.
Ahhh americans, lots of transport options without mentioning the obvious:
Buy a push-bike. Use it for local trips of under 30 mins.
Walk to local shops. Think of it as a farmers walk.
Don’t use a tumble dryer and minimise air con/heating.
You arent aware of some basic things: The amount of a “serving” (i guess we would call it) of basic items like washing powder are larger in america then say in Australia, even though its the same item. Be aware of this.
Gambling, smoking, and excess drinking are not essentials. Don’t drink, it might even help you pick-up.
Car-pool
How many of you REALLY need broadband?
Utilise electronic banking.
Men should pay more attention to “specials” on clothes, especially essentials like socks.
What good is saving a few dollars, if you risk your life riding around in one of those ‘Soap Box Derby’ cars? This is a case of ‘Penny wise and Pound Foolish’. Spend the money and get a real car.