Good Question: Fitbit, DWI Fines & Helium
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Morrie from Amery asks: How do fitness bands track your steps?
According to Fitbit, it's looking for intensity and motion patterns that would show a person is walking or running. Therefore, the steps need to be large enough (you need to accelerate enough) for it to be counted as step.
This is also why steps are sometimes mistakenly counted on a bumpy car ride.
Joan wants to know: Where does the Minnesota DWI fine money go?
According to the Minnesota Judicial Branch, the $3 million taken in last year ended up a few different places. It depends on where the DWI happened, who prosecuted it and which law enforcement agency made the arrest.
If the State Patrol made the arrest, part of the money goes to the city (if it happened in a city), part to the state general fund and part to a special account for trunk highways and railroad crossing safety. If an agency beside the State Patrol arrested someone, there's a split between the county or the city and state general fund. That split depends on the county and city.
If the offense is a felony, 100 percent of the fine is credited to the state general fund.
Nancy asks: Why does helium make your voice sound funny?
Let's start with how we make sound. When we talk, air comes up from the lungs to the vocal cords, which cause them to vibrate. That vibration excites the air molecules in our vocal tract, so when we move our mouth, out comes sound.
Helium is lighter than air and changes the gas molecules in our vocal tracts. That speeds up the sound of a person's voice and influences its timbre or quality.