When Do Fish Sleep?

by David Feldman

  Why Is Cheddar Cheese Orange?

  Unless they’ve been breeding some pretty strange cows in Wisconsin, we would expect cows to produce white milk. All the folks in the dairy industry assured us that they haven’t bred a mutant race of cows just to produce orangeish cheddar cheese.

  Cheddar cheese is artificially colored with natural ingredients, most commonly annatto, a seed obtained from the tropical annatto tree, found in Central America. Kraft, the largest seller of cheese in the United States, uses a combination of annatto and oleoresin paprika, an oil extraction of the spice paprika, to color its cheddar cheese. Depending upon the natural color of the milk and the amount of annatto added, cheese can be turned into a bright orange color or a more natural-looking yellow shade.

  The only reason why cheesemakers color their product is because consumers seem to prefer it. Regional tastes differ, though. Some areas of the eastern United States prefer white cheese, while most of the rest of the country favors yellow. Kraft even makes white “American Singles,” although the artificially colored yellow slices far outsell them.

  Submitted by Christoper S. von Guggenberg of Alexandria, Virginia.

  What Is the Circle Adjacent to the Batter’s Box on Baseball Fields?

  This area is known as the fungo circle. Coaches stand in the fungo circle during pregame practice and hit balls to infielders and, more frequently, outfielders.

  Why confine the coach to stand in one small area? So he won’t wear out the grass on the field!

  Submitted by Terrell K. Holmes of New York, New York. Thanks also to Ronald C. Semone of Washington, D.C.

  What Exactly Is One Hour Martinizing?

  Countless millions have passed dry-cleaning stores with the words ONE HOUR MARTINIZING emblazoned on the sign and wondered: What the heck is “Martinizing”? Can it really be done in one hour? Is it painful, and if so, can an anesthetic be administered?

  Don’t worry. Be happy. Martinizing is a service mark of Martin Franchises, Inc., the largest chain of franchised dry-cleaning establishments in the United States. Martinizing was first registered with the U.S. Patent Trademark Office in 1950 by the Martin Equipment Corporation, a manufacturer of dry-cleaning machines.

  The equipment business and trademarks were later sold to the American Laundry Machinery Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, also a manufacturer of cleaning equipment. Although Martinizing was once part of the sales division of the American Laundry Machinery Company, it has spun off into a separate entity, still located in Cincinnati.

  Today if an aspiring dry cleaner wants the know-how and name recognition that a franchise can provide, he or she will likely choose Martin, since it is the best-known name in the dry-cleaning field, and start-up costs are relatively low.

  What’s special about One Hour Martinizing? As far as we can tell, nothing. They use the same chemicals, solvents, and cleaning methods as other dry cleaners, and can “Martinize” in one hour, just as most dry cleaners can handle a job in one hour.

  The folks are relying on the notion that if you patronize another establishment, you can say your clothes have been dry cleaned but you can’t brag that they’ve been Martinized.

  Submitted by Dominic Orlando of Arlington, Texas. Thanks also to Peter B. Child of Seattle, Washington.

  What Flavor Is Bubble Gum Supposed to Be? Why Is Bubble Gum Usually Pink?

  Although in Imponderables we managed to ascertain the main flavors in Juicy Fruit gum, we have failed miserably at obtaining the constituents in bubble gum. Perhaps we are losing our powers of persuasion. The best we have been able to wangle from our sources is that “regular” pink bubble gum is a mixture of several natural and artificial fruit flavors.

  We thought that the pink color of bubble gum would provide clues to the identity of the flavors, but we were disappointed again. Bubble gum was invented in 1928 by a long entrepreneur, Walter Diemer, who was an accountant from Philadelphia. From the very beginning, Diemer artificially colored his gum pink. Why? “Because it was the only coloring I had handy at the time!” So much for the sanctity of pink bubble gum.

  Now, of course, with Bubble Yum coming in flavors like Bananaberry Split and Checkermint, pink bubble gum looks old hat. But not quite yet. Good old pink bubble gum is still the best seller by far.

  Submitted by John Geesy of Phoenix, Arizona.

  Why Don’t Traffic Signal Light Bulbs Ever Seem to Burn Out? Can We Buy Them?

  To answer the second part of the Imponderable first: sure, you can buy the same bulbs that light our traffic signals. But you probably wouldn’t want to buy them.

  Yes, the bulbs found in traffic lights do last much longer than standard household bulbs. The traffic light bulbs are rated at eight thousand hours, compared to the standard one thousand hours. Incandescent lights can be manufactured to last any length of time. However, the longer life a bulb has, the less efficiently it burns. According to General Electric’s J. Robert Moody:

  The incandescent light is like a candle. If you burn it dimly, the candle will last a long time. If you burn the candle on both ends, you get a lot of light but short life. The traffic signal light must use 100 watts to get 1,000 lumens [units of light]. To obtain the same 1,000 lumens a household lamp needs only 60 watts. At an electric rate of $0.10/Kwh, the electric cost for 100 watts is $10.00 per 1,000 hours. For the 60 watts the electric cost is $6.00 per 1,000 hours. Thus, the consumer saves $4.00 per 1,000 burning hours [or 40%] by using a household light bulb rather than a traffic signal light bulb.

  Traffic signal bulbs are also specially constructed and are filled with krypton gas rather than the less expensive argon gas used in standard bulbs. Municipalities obviously feel the added expense of the special bulbs is more than offset by the cost of labor for replacing burned-out bulbs and the fewer dangerous situations created by malfunctioning traffic signals.

  We’re as lazy as the next guys, but even we figure it is worth changing bulbs to save nearly 50% on our lighting needs. Now if we could get a flashing red light, that might be worth it…

  Submitted by Michael B. Labdon of Paramount, California.

  Why Does Mickey Mouse Have Four Fingers?

  Or more properly, why does Mickey Mouse have three fingers and one thumb on each hand? In fact, why is virtually every cartoon animal beset with two missing digits?

  Conversations with many cartoonists, animators, and Disney employees confirm what we were at first skeptical about. Mickey Mouse has four fingers because it is convenient for the artists and animators who have drawn him. In the early cartoons, each frame was hand-drawn by an animator—painstaking and tedious work. No part of the human anatomy is harder to draw than a hand, and it is particularly difficult to draw distinct fingers without making the whole hand look disproportionately large.

  The artists who drew Mickey were more than happy to go along with any conceit that saved them some work. So in Disney and most other cartoons, the animals sport a thumb and three fingers, while humans, such as Snow White and Cinderella, are spared the amputation.

  And before anyone asks—no, we don’t know for sure which of Mickey’s fingers got lopped off for the sake of convenience. Since the three nonthumbs on each hand are symmetrical, we’d like to think it was the pinkie that was sacrificed.

  Submitted by Elizabeth Frenchman of Brooklyn, New York. Thanks also to R. Gonzales of Whittier, California.

  Why Don’t Migrating Birds Get Jet Lag? Or Do They?

  No, birds don’t seem to suffer from jet lag. But then again they don’t suffer from airport delays, crowded seating, inedible airline food, or lost luggage either.

  Human jet lag seems to be bound inextricably to passing rapidly through time zones. Birds usually migrate from north to south, often not encountering any time change. Veterinarian Robert B. Altman speculates that if you put a bird on an airplane going east to west, it might feel jet lag.

  But birds, unlike humans, don’t try to fly from New York to Australia in one day. Some migrations can take weeks. Bi
rds don’t stretch their physical limits unless they have to (such as when flying over a large body of water). If they are tired, birds stop flying and go to sleep, while their human counterparts on the airplane choose between being kept awake by a screaming baby or the one movie they have assiduously avoided seeing in its theater or cable presentations.

  Humans are particularly susceptible to jet lag when they travel at night. As a rule, migration doesn’t upset birds’ natural sleeping patterns. They sleep when it is dark and awaken when it is light. On airplanes, humans fall asleep only immediately preceding the meal service or the captain’s latest announcement of the natural wonders on the ground.

  Of course, migration isn’t without some perils of its own. The National Audubon Society sent Imponderables an article detailing the migration habits of shore birds along the Delaware Bay. Many of these shore birds travel from their breeding ground in the Arctic to the southern tip of South America. The round trip can be in excess of fifteen thousand miles.

  When the birds land in warmer climes, they engage in a feeding frenzy not unlike a season-long Thanksgiving dinner. The birds found in the Delaware Bay, who had often flown more than five thousand miles with little rest, often doubled their body weight in two weeks. An official of the New Jersey Division of Fish, Game and Wildlife is quoted as saying that the birds “get so fat they can hardly even fly.” New York Times reporter Erik Eckholm describes these fatted birds as bouncing along “like an overloaded airplane when trying to take off.”

  Submitted by Chris Whelan of Lisle, Illinois.

  Why Do Some Hard-Boiled Egg Yolks Turn Gray or Green When Soft-Boiled Eggs Don’t Discolor?

  The discoloring is caused by iron and sulphur compounds that accumulate when eggs are overcooked. Although gray egg yolks lack eye appeal, the iron and sulfur don’t affect the taste or nutritional value of the eggs.

  Probably the most common way of overcooking eggs is to leave the eggs in hot water after cooking. The American Egg Board recommends that after eggs are cooked either cold water should be run over them or they should be put in ice water until completely cooled. Cooling eggs in this manner will not only avoid overcooking but will also make the shells much easier to peel.

  Why Are Tennis Balls Fuzzy?

  The core of a tennis ball is made out of a compound consisting of rubber, synthetic materials, and about ten chemicals. The compound is extruded into a barrel-shaped pellet that is then formed into two half shells.

  The edges of the two half shells are coated with a latex adhesive and then put together and cured in a double-chambered press under strictly controlled temperature and air-pressure conditions. The inner chamber is pressurized to thirteen psi (pounds per square inch), so that the air is trapped inside and the two halves are fused together at the same pressure.

  Once the two halves have been pressed together to form one sphere, the surface of the core is roughened so that the fuzz will stick better. The core is then dipped into a cement compound and oven-dried to prepare for the cover application.

  The fuzzy material is felt, a combination of wool, nylon, and Dacron woven together into rolls. The felt is cut into a figure-eight shape (one circular piece of felt wouldn’t fit as snugly on a ball), and the edges of the felt are coated with a seam adhesive. The cores and edges of the two felt strips are mated, the felt is bonded to the core, and the seam adhesive is cured, securing all the materials and for the first time yielding a sphere that looks like a tennis ball.

  After the balls are cured, they are steamed in a large tumbler and fluffed in order to raise the nap on the felt, giving the balls their fuzzy appearance. Different manufacturers fluff their balls to varying degrees. The balls are then sealed in airtight cans pressurized at twelve to fifteen psi, with the goal of keeping the balls at ten to twelve psi.

  The single most expensive ingredient in a tennis ball is the felt. Many other sports do quite well with unfuzzy rubber balls. In the earliest days of tennis, balls had a leather cover, and were stuffed with all sorts of things, including human hair. So why do tennis ball manufacturers bother with the fuzz?

  Before the felt is added, a tennis ball has a hard, sleek surface, not unlike a baseball’s. One of the main purposes of the fuzz is to slow the ball down. The United States Tennis Association maintains strict rules concerning the bound of tennis balls. One regulation stipulates, “The ball shall have a bound of more than 53 inches and less than 58 inches when dropped 100 inches upon a concrete base.” The fluffier the felt, the more wind resistance it offers, decreasing not only the bound but the speed of the ball. If the felt were too tightly compacted, the ball would have a tendency to skip on the court.

  A second important reason for fuzzy tennis balls is that the fluffy nap contributes to increased racket control. Every time a tennis ball hits a racket the strings momentarily grip the ball, and the ball compresses. With a harder, sleeker surface, the ball would have a tendency to skip off the racket and minimize the skill of the player.

  A third contribution of fuzz is the least important to a good player but important to us refugees from hardball sports like racquetball and squash. When you get hit hard by a fuzzy tennis ball, you may want to cry, but you don’t feel like you’re going to die.

  Submitted by Dorio Barbieri of Mountain View, California.

  What Causes Floaters, or Spots, in the Eyes?

  The innermost part of the eye is a large cavity filled with a jellylike fluid known as vitreous humor. Floaters are small flecks of protein, pigment, or embryonic remnants (trapped in the cavity during the formation of the eye) that suspend in the vitreous humor.

  The small specks appear to be in front of the eye because the semitransparent floaters are visible only when they fall within the line of sight. Most people might have specks trapped in the vitreous humor from time to time but not notice them. Eyes have a way of adjusting to imperfections, as any eyeglass wearer with dirty lenses could tell you. Floaters are most likely to be noticed when one is looking at a plain background, such as a blackboard, a bare wall, or the sky.

  What should one do about floaters? An occasional spot is usually harmless, although sometimes floaters can be precursors of retinal damage. Most often, a home remedy will keep floaters from bothering you. The American Academy of Ophthalmology suggests:

  if a floater appears directly in your line of vision, the best thing to do is to move your eye around, which will cause the inside fluid to swirl and allow the floater to move out of the way. We are most accustomed to moving our eyes back and forth, but looking up and down will cause different currents within the eye and may be more effective in getting the floaters out of the way.

  Although you may be aware of their presence, it is often surprisingly difficult to isolate floaters in your line of vision. Because the floaters are actually within the eye, they move as your eyes move and seem to dart away whenever you try to focus on looking at them directly.

  Submitted by Gail Lee of Los Angeles, California.

  Does It Ever Really Get Too Cold to Snow?

  Having withstood a few snowy midwestern winters in our time, we’re not sure we would want to test this hypothesis personally. Luckily, meteorologists have.

  No, it never gets too cold to snow, but at extremely low temperatures the amount of snow accumulation on the ground is likely to be much lower than at 25 degrees Fahrenheit. According to Raymond E. Falconer, of the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, SUNY at Albany, there is so little water vapor available at subzero temperatures that snow takes the shape of tiny ice crystals, which have little volume and do not form deep piles. But at warmer temperatures more water vapor is available, “so the crystals grow larger and form snowflakes, which are an agglomerate of ice crystals.” The warmer the temperature is, the larger the snowflakes become.

  What determines the size of the initial snow crystals? It depends upon the distribution of temperature and moisture from the ground up to the cloud base. If snow forming at a high level drops into much drier air bel
ow, the result may be no accumulation whatsoever. In the condition known as “virga,” streaks of ice particles fall from the base of a cloud but evaporate completely before hitting the ground.

  Submitted by Ronald C. Semone of Washington, D.C.

  Why Do Dogs Have Black Lips?

  You would prefer mauve, perhaps? Obviously dogs’ lips have to be some color, and black makes more sense than most.

  According to veterinarian Dr. Peter Ihrke, pigmentation helps protect animals against solar radiation damage. Because dogs don’t have as much hair around their mouths as on most parts of their bodies, pigmentation plays a particularly important role in shielding dogs against the ravages of the sun.

  According to Dr. Kathleen J. Kovacs, of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the gene for black pigment is dominant over the genes for all other pigments, so the presence of black lips is attributable to hereditary factors. If two purebred dogs with black lips breed, one can predict with confidence that their puppies will have black lips too.

  Not all dogs have black lips, though. Some breeds have nonpigmented lips and oral cavities. James D. Conroy, a veterinary pathologist affiliated with Mississippi State University, told Imponderables that some dogs have a piebald pattern of nonpigmented areas alternating with pigmented areas. The only breed with an unusual lip color is the Chow Chow, which has a blue color. Conroy says that “the blue appearance of the lips and oral cavity is related to the depth of the pigment cells within the oral tissue.”