Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 September 1

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September 1

Snake hips

Going through Snakehips dab page it list the hips of snakes as an entry. Is this even correct? Please see. Gotitbro (talk) 15:59, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

Since snakes are limbless, I doubt it. Mike Turnbull (talk) 16:22, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

It's arguable - most snakes do have vestigial hip bones (and sometimes vestigial leg bones), but not functional hips. --Stephan Schulz (talk) 16:37, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

I didn't know that and I had checked: our article doesn't contain the word "hip"! Mike Turnbull (talk) 16:48, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

See Pelvic spur. WP:WHAAOE. --Jayron32 17:28, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

(edit conflict) WP:WHAAOE - see pelvic spur. Alansplodge (talk) 17:30, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

Great minds... Alansplodge (talk) 17:30, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

You'd be the first to accuse me of that... ;) --Jayron32 17:36, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

It's also a term used for a fatty bulge on the snake as a symptom of obesity. Can't find a good WP:RS, but lots of examples and discussions on herp websites.DMacks (talk) 18:04, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

Would the pelvic spur article be a better target for the dab page that the OP pointed to? Mike Turnbull (talk) 19:23, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

I think it would, so I've tweaked it. Nyttend (talk) 05:44, 2 September 2023 (UTC)

There's a song whose chorus begins, "Has a chicken got lips? Does a rattlesnake have hips?" ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 22:00, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

Downsides of autogas in Australia

Given the consistently huge price difference between petrol and gas (yesterday they were around $2.00 and 80¢ per litre, respectively, near my home in southern Melbourne), I would assume that virtually all ICE cars would burn gas, rather than petrol. Since that's obviously not the case, I assume petrol vehicles have some advantage that gas vehicles don't (or gas vehicles have some downside that petrol vehicles don't), but the only problem mentioned in Autogas#Difficulties with LPG as automotive fuel is availability in remote regional areas, which doesn't matter for many or most drivers in capital cities. Google supplied me with [1], none of which appears to be relevant to driving a car, except the ignition issue, which I doubt is relevant because the other countries mentioned in the Autogas introduction are all farther from the equator than is all of mainland Australia. So...what other downsides would there be? Nyttend (talk) 20:02, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

A couple of things: cost of inspection and maintenance (I didn't check for Australia specifically, however). Space: LPG tanks require more space to accommodate the same range, thus reducing trunk space. Also, some parking garages prohibit LPG vehicles for safety reasons.^[2] I tried to find a total cost-per-mile comparison; no luck. -- 136.54.106.120 (talk) 21:16, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

From liquefied petroleum gas: However, its energy density per volume unit of 26 MJ/L is lower than either that of petrol or fuel oil, as its relative density is lower (about 0.5–0.58 kg/L, compared to 0.71–0.77 kg/L for gasoline). So the price difference is not quite as extreme if you express it per unit mass or energy content instead of per unit volume. However, that's not enough by itself to explain the whole difference. If an LPG car has a higher purchase price or requires a conversion, people may just choose the lower up-front cost. But then, according to Autogas#Australia there are also subsidies to offset the extra purchase price, and there are differences in fuel tax. Autogas#Australia mentions competition from hybrid-electric cars as a reason for decline in autogas cars. --Amble (talk) 23:09, 1 September 2023 (UTC)

Most new cars are bought by businesses, for which the fairly small cost of fuel is a tax writeoff. You'll notice that owner-operator taxis often did use LPG before the hybrid Camry took over. My wife refuses to have one becuase of the perceived danger when refuelling. Ford Falcon was sold with factory fit injected LPG, which met all emissions, passed crash,etc. I don't know how many were sold but it wasn't a success. Greglocock (talk) 00:49, 2 September 2023 (UTC)