What is Mystery: Definition and 912 Discussions

Mystery is a fiction genre where the nature of an event, usually a murder or other crime, remains mysterious until the end of the story. Often within a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character is often a detective (such as Sherlock Holmes), who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Some mystery books are non-fiction. Mystery fiction can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.
Mystery fiction can involve a supernatural mystery in which the solution does not have to be logical and even in which there is no crime involved. This usage was common in the pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, whose titles such as Dime Mystery, Thrilling Mystery and Spicy Mystery offered what were then described as complicated to solve and weird stories: supernatural horror in the vein of Grand Guignol. That contrasted with parallel titles of the same names which contained conventional hardboiled crime fiction. The first use of "mystery" in that sense was by Dime Mystery, which started out as an ordinary crime fiction magazine but switched to "weird menace" during the later part of 1933.

View More On Wikipedia.org
Recent contents Top users
  1. A

    A Penrose Process: Unlocking the Mystery

    Hi everyone, I am a bit confused about the Penrose Process. Let's say a particle with energy E at infinity arrives in the ergoregion of a Kerr black hole and then it decays into two photons. One of them has L_1<0 and E_1<0 and hence it falls towards the singularity, while the other has L_2>0...
  2. H

    I Standing Waves w/ 2 Free Ends: Exploring the Mystery

    Hi everyone! As we all know standing wave of 2 fixed ends formed by the combination of coming wave and reflection wave. But I wonder why there still have a reflection wave combinating with coming wave to form standing wave of 2 free ends? Many thanks.
  3. TheQuietOne

    FTL Collisions in Star Wars: Fact or Fiction?

    I am a big Star Wars fan and I was just wondering what would happen if two Star Destroyers collided during lightspeed? could it be possible to go so fast you could go through something without destroying it?
  4. deathbystereo

    Mystery Clouds: Uncovering the Enigma

    Can you explain this?
  5. G

    MHB Solving the Mystery of the Table: Explaining $g = (123)$

    Could someone please explain how they're getting the answers in the table, for example $g = (123)$.
  6. T

    B Exploring the Mystery of Energy Released in Nuclear Explosions

    I'm reading about the interesting data that suggests a new heavy particle about 750 GeV. It talks about the energy being the mass times the velocity of light squared and is indicated by the two photons as the particles decay. I guess it's the same with this and a nuclear explosion which...
  7. Marcin H

    Solving the Mystery of Non-Crossing IV Curves

    Homework Statement So I have to plot 2 sets of IV curves for my lab and find the operating points of where they cross. Problem is, they don't cross! I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but my professor isn't responding to my emails so here it is. This is what the circuit looks...
  8. vetgirl1990

    Music Mystery: 2(Vsound) for the 2nd Harmonic?

    Homework Statement A guitar player is plucking a strong of length 30cm. How fast must the player move towards or away from the stationary observer, in order for the observer to mistake the fundamental frequency for the second harmonic? ANSWER: 2(Vsound) towards the observer Homework...
  9. wolram

    Unraveling the Mystery of the Photon Torpedo

    How is the photon torpedo supposed to work?
  10. S

    Unlocking the Mystery of Black Holes

    It appears that black holes do exist in our universe, in the sense that there are objects so massive and so small that there must be an event horizon. Is it generally accepted that there is "really" a singularity inside these event horizons, or that we just don't know, and may never know?
  11. B

    Chemistry Solving the Mystery of 76 moles of P4O10

    Homework Statement When a problem says 76 moles of P4O10 contains how many moles of P. I can't seem to see why 76 moles of this molecule would contain more moles in it. Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution I know the answer is 76 moles of P = 76 * 4 but how could a compound P4O10 that...
  12. C

    Riddle to mystery location

    Hi, Every year, my youth group goes on a summer trip, the location of which is kept a complete secret from us until a certain deadline. Before the deadline, our leaders usually give us a riddle to the location of our trip. Specifically, one of our leaders, who has a degree in Physics from the...
  13. B

    Net Force on 5.32 x 10^4 kg Airplane: Solve the Mystery

    Homework Statement An airplane with a mass of 5.32 x 10^4 Kg accelerates down the runway at 1.76 m/s^2 [forward]. Calculate the net force acting on the airplane. Homework Equations Fnet=ma The Attempt at a Solution I did this by multiplying the two given values, but my answer was 93632N...
  14. C

    The Grand Pepper Shaker Mystery

    So we have this pepper shaker made of glass with a print on it. One fine dinner, it ran out of pepper, so I opened the lid to fill it in and noticed a peculiar thing – small particles of pepper dust were stuck to the inside glass walls but only in places, where the print wasn’t present on...
  15. anorlunda

    The Mystery of Elements in the Sun's Primordial Dust Cloud

    Today's APOD http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160125.html Shows this fascinating table. What a pity that is doesn't show isotopes. Strange are Ba, La, Ce which are shown as large star but not supernova. The article says that the origin of Cu is not well known. Fascinating. I'm curious about the...
  16. R

    Unraveling the Mystery of DNA in Neuron Cells & Vision

    Hi I want to know whether DNA inside our brain neuron cells helps us process images of what we see through our eyes.
  17. S

    Solving the Mystery of the Missing Term in the Compton Effect Formula

    Hello everyone, I have a question regarding a formula which can be derived from conservation of momentum and energy in the Compton effect. From conservation of momentum and energy during the collision of a photon with an electron, it is possible to get two expressions for the final energy E of...
  18. wolram

    Cosmic Mystery: Was There Baryonic Matter During Radiation Domination?

    Radiation dominated the universe 4,700yrs to 378,000yrs, do the facts in the literature mean there was no baryonic matter between those yrs or was there still plasma or some sort of mass?
  19. S

    Why Do Nails Change Color with Temperature?

    Hello everyone. The title of my question may look a bit silly, but I think it is quite interesting. Before a couple of days, my aunt told me that she found a paint? for her nails, which had the following feature: her nails would have a specific color when she was in her house and a different...
  20. B

    The Mystery of the Couple's Children: Eye Color Edition

    Hello, In the picture above a couple are shown with their children. Or are they actually their children? Is it possible for them, having green (?) and hazel (?) eyes, to get 1 child with blue eyes and 3 children with brown eyes?
  21. Greg Bernhardt

    Bring Back MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000

    An official kickstarter campaign has been made! I remember watching this show as a kid and crying laughing so hard! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mst3k/bringbackmst3k
  22. S

    Solving a Rope Tension Mystery

    Homework Statement Homework Equations My assumption:- if one of the ropes have been cut, it mean the object just hang VERTICALLY with one rope with 5N load on it.Is it my assumption is correct? The Attempt at a Solution Tension of the other rope = 5N (is it correct)?? base on my assumption...
  23. N

    Unraveling the Mystery of Heat: What is it and How Does it Transfer?

    I know heat as the average kinetic energy of the particles in a system, is this correct? And that heat is transferred by transferring energy, which causes particles to go slower/faster, is this correct? But what exactly is heat? Is heat made up of smaller particles, such as light is photons? I...
  24. B

    Entropy: The Mystery Behind ∫dQ/T

    hey guys,Entropy is supposed to be a measure of disorder in a a system then why is the formula ∫dQ/T used.I can understand why entropy increases with the energy in the system but why is the absolute temperature of the system relevent, is it a proportionality constant ? please enligthen me on...
  25. mfb

    NASA NASA to Announce Mars Mystery Liquid water today

    That's the title of the NASA press release (I added the date). 8 a.m. PDT = 3 p.m. UCT = 5 p.m. CEST (Central European Summer Time) The panel includes an expert for the HiRISE experiment, a high-resolution telescope in Mars orbit. Whatever they have, apparently images of some area are highly...
  26. Passionate Eng

    Unveiling the Mystery of our Spiral Galaxy

    How did we know that our galaxy is spiral?!
  27. M

    High Spin: Unraveling the Mystery of Mono Atomic Gold

    What does 'high spin' mean? I have heard of mono atomic gold having unusual properties. What is going on inside the atom?
  28. D

    Exploring the Mystery of Blank Spaces in Quantum Mechanics

    So, I am kind of learning QM on my own, and through my chemistry book. It doesn't explain any further than the shapes of orbitals, and I am wondering did anyone found out why is space in the orbitals between the clusters of probability blank.
  29. Gh778

    Solving the Mystery of a Mechanical Device: Where is the Error?

    Hi, I imagined this device and I don't understand where is the error. I posted here because it's a simple mechanical device, I have trouble with the sum of torque. The potential energy must be constant. I think I forgot a torque, if you see where ? A torus turns counterclockwise around the...
  30. gracy

    Solve the Mystery of Equational Division in Cell Division

    Homework Statement First question of this particular page http://www.hourlybook.com/ncert-questions-pmts-cell-cycle-cell-division/ Homework Equations the answer is given as C. The Attempt at a Solution But i didn't understand because in last phase i.e D dna content is again reduced to 2c.But...
  31. J

    Music My Daughter's Mystery: Watching 'The Sound of Music

    I was watching 'The sound of Music' for the nth time with my 11 year old daughter. There is a scene at the beginning, the Reverend mother tells Maria to go to the Captain's house. My daughter insists the reverend mother says "the captain's wife died seven years ago". And when the kids's names...
  32. J

    Unraveling the Mystery of Spin Connection in an Expanding Universe

    Hello, I've worked through most of Carroll's appendix on the non-coordinate basis. I see and agree how the spin connection and tetrad one-forms are useful while calculating. However as an example he sets out to apply the formalism to a spatially flat, expanding universe. ds^2 = -dt^2...
  33. T

    Bending Space: Unraveling the Mystery

    As I hold a paper back book and bend it, I do not understand this idea of bending space. If I suppose the book and the air around it are really space, when I bend the book, that part of "space" goes into other parts of "space". Further, there must be space where the bending space once ways. What...
  34. I

    My 27kJ capacitor bank seems to be only 27J. Need your help.

    So, I've been doing a lot of spot welding and research/development of this manufacturing process I came up with a while ago, both of which involve high-energy capacitor discharges, and my previous 2.3kJ capacitor bank just wasn't cutting it anymore. So, I invested in 100 "Green-Cap" 2.7v 100F...
  35. cnh1995

    The Bicycle Inventor's Mystery: How Did They Know?

    I'm wondering how the inventor of bicycle knew the fact that it would be possible to maintain balance on two wheels. Most kids fall off and bruise themselves in the beginning and there's no way of learning a bicycle other than trial and error. How did the inventor figure this out?
  36. Natanijel

    Solve the Audio Jack Mystery with Nat

    Hello everyone :) I came across a strange situation today when I was listening to my music with my headphones on. When I pressed play to a song, the instrumental intro started off fairly normally (although the audio sounded a little "thinner" than usual, as if compressed), and then, when...
  37. Stephanus

    Unravelling the Mystery of Gravity's Speed & Bend

    Dear PF Forum, I realize that there are 4 basic forces in our universe. Two of them are gravity and electromagnetic force. Electromagnetic travels at the speed of light. And it seems that Gravity travels/propagates at the speed of light also. Light is bent by gravity. What about gravity? Is...
  38. Stephanus

    Music Unraveling the Mystery of Music Intervals

    Dear PF forum, Do anyone know, why music interval is always \sqrt[12]{2}?
  39. T

    Solving the Mystery of a Frictionless Ramp & Spring

    So this sounds homework question but I promise its not. At least its not mine. I saw it on a website because someone made it funny because of what they answered (drew an elephant if you know the one I'm talking about) Anyway, so the problem was a block of mass m = 5 kg falls starting at rest at...
  40. R

    Mystery Generation of Dust Patterns from Grinding Wheels -- I can't explain it

    I'm not sure where to post this, but I wanted to show this just because of the incredible nature of the phenomenon. It's just the dust from a slow running wet grindstone. I assume just vibration, but the more carefully you look the more unbelievable it becomes. As the grindstone ran, some of...
  41. J

    Solving the Mystery of Wavelength Refraction: A Thin 200nm Film of Oil

    Homework Statement http://lon-capa.bd.psu.edu/res/psuerie/gwb6/physics/optics/e1p4.png A thin 200nm film of oil (n = 2.0) floats on water (n = 1.33). To a normal human, what wavelength will the film appear when viewed from above (nearly perpendicular to the film)? Homework Equations for...
  42. U

    What is this mystery particle - LHC?

    Homework Statement (a) Draw the feynman diagram for ##p \bar p \rightarrow## reaction. (b) Find an expression for mass of the particle. (c) Find an expression for number of ##\mu^{+} \mu^{-}## produced. (d) Find an expression of ##n_{jj}## in terms of ##m_{inv}## and its spin. (e) Deduce the...
  43. mooncrater

    Unraveling the Mystery of an Unusual Compound

    Homework Statement I found out this reaction series in my textbook which is as: ##2Cu(NO_3)_2+2Na_2S_2O_3 \longrightarrow Cu_2(NO_3)_2 +Na_2S_4O_6+2NaNO_3## ## Cu_2(NO_3)_2+Na_2S_2O_3 (excess) \longrightarrow Na_4[Cu_6(S_2O_3)_5] ## Though it is not balanced(latter one) but my question is about...
  44. B

    GPS Altitude Mystery at Sea Level - Solved?

    I'm a programmer/electronics student and I recently bought a GPS which I hooked up serially with my laptop. I didn't get into much detail of encoding the string which is output from the TX/RX pins of the GPS so I downloaded, a ready made program called "ublox 6". Longitude and latitude are...
  45. copypacer

    Solve the Mystery of Force 2 on a 2.43 kg Box

    Homework Statement There are two forces on the 2.43 kg box in the overhead view of the figure but only one is shown. For F1 = 20.0 N, a = 11.4 m/s2, and θ = 33.0°, find the second force (a) in unit-vector notation and as (b) a magnitude and (c) a direction. (State the direction as a negative...
  46. Swetha.M.L

    Unravelling the Mystery of Higgs boson and Light Particles

    from a malayalam language newspaper i read about Higgsboson that is according to standard model the Higgsboson is the piece of the atom that endows all the other piece with their mass. when electrons,quarks,etc are associated with higgs field they get mass. the light particle called photons have...
  47. B0b-A

    Mystery of Young Yoda Appears in Medieval Manuscript

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/star-wars/11547237/Young-Yoda-turns-up-in-medieval-manuscript.html']http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/03272/yoda2_3272229a.jpg http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/star-wars/11547237/Young-Yoda-turns-up-in-medieval-manuscript.html
  48. V

    Unveiling the Mystery of Invisible Spider Webs

    Hello everyone, I recently encountered that dreaded moment when walking where you get a face full of an seemingly invisible spider web. It got me thinking about why these webs are so difficult for humans to distinguish; unless of course we see them at the correct angle. Do they somehow bend...
  49. D

    The Mystery Behind Atoms Vibrating & Sound Creation

    Hi Likely a stupid question. If atoms vibrate with heat, why don't hot objects make a sound, i.e transferring vibrations to the surround atoms (air) into our eardrums? They vibrate on ultra-infra sound? Or it's a extremely weak sound? or this is not the same vibration as the cause for sound? or...
  50. Garth

    Mystery of strange radio bursts from space

    DISCRETE STEPS IN DISPERSION MEASURES OF FAST RADIO BURSTS (emphasis mine) And no, this wasn't published in April 1st! Link to New Scientist article: Is this ET? Mystery of strange radio bursts from space. Garth
Back
Top