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What changed that allowed SpaceX to go from crashing rockets on barges to a 3 for 3 success rate?
[ "Every crash is a learning opportunity.\n\nThey weren't crashing because they didn't know WTF. There's a ton of very complicated stuff to work out to land a rocket, and getting it even a tiny bit wrong usually results in an explosion. Rockets don't really do rough landings. It's either perfect, or kaboom.\n\nSo eve...
Why can't fresh water fish survive in salt water, and vice versa?
[ "Many fish can, and do. Salmon, for example, make babies in fresh water. The babies swim out to sea and grow up and get big and strong, and then they come back to fresh water and make more babies. They have this ability because over millions of years, they were able to have more babies in freshwater than saltwat...
Why is there ice in the mens urinals
[ "Ice cools the urine which reduces odor. Ice also melts, which produces water and flushed the urinal. Much more popular back in the days before auto-flush systems.", "I'd also say that they put it there as 'entertainment' and and as a way for people to keep it in the urinal. (they'll want to try melt it)", "...
What is a "housing bubble" and why did it crash a few years ago?
[ "A housing bubble is when the price of homes in a market rises unsustainably. Banks started loaning money to people who realistically weren't going to be able to pay the mortgages back. Too many of them failed to pay their mortgages, and were foreclosed on, and it crashed the market. This problem was exacerbated, b...
How do other animals cut their nails in nature? Do they even have to? Also, how did humans cut their nails in the past?
[ "Usually just using them makes them eroded and they are as long as you need them. In nature, animals and humans use their nails for lots of things, and there is where they are \"cut\": every time they are used, they are a little bit shorter, making up for their growth. If they grow too much, they can be scratched a...
EL5 Why we have a two party system.
[ "I have a beautiful youtube video just for you! \n\n_URL_0_" ]
why do people with accents lose their accents when singing?
[ "Because when they sing, they are consciously controlling their voice and producing a particular phonetic effect. Like you would if you're imitating birdsong. They are in very good control of their voice, and can produce specific desired sounds rather than speaking/singing in their natural accent." ]
In movies that take place during 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries in America, characters are often depicted as speaking with an English accent. When did American born citizens actually shed the English accent and adopt geographically identifying accents like in the north east and south?
[ "Each area of america was settled by different ethnic groups. These ethnic groups shaped the way English sounded in a given region. The southern accent is actually closest to what the old English settlers would have spoken.", "Actually the English accent of today wasn't around until after the United States was ...
Why we still label circuits based upon "conventional" current when we know that current actually flows in the opposite direction?
[ "Pretty much, everything was defined before the discovery of, say the electron. Scientists, being positively minded and optimistic, decided it would probably be the positive charge moving around. Note also how stuff like Capacitance is measured in Farads, which is a huge unit and you usually use micro or nano farad...
What's the fastest way to cool hot liquid? Is it faster to cool hot liquid by pouring it over a cup of ice or by pouring ice into the hot liquid?
[ "So cooling is all about surface area. You want the hot liquid to be as exposed as possible to the thing its bleeding its heat into.\n\nWhether you pour the ice or liquid in first is unimportant. What's important is the amount of the ice's surface that's exposed to the liquid. If the ice is in a single block, it wi...
How do tattoo's work?
[ "The tattoo is a hollow needle that basically stabs you over and over really fast and drips colorful ink into the place it's stabbed you. It has to go deep to the dermis (below the epidermis) because that's the permanent part of your skin, you keep it for life. You're constantly shedding little bits of your epiderm...
How can I simply explain to my friend that two outcomes doesn't mean a 50% chance of one happening?
[ "I would simply say that your odds of winning the lottery are not 50/50, even though there are 2 outcomes: you either win, or you lose.", "Play a game with him. Roll a 20 sided die. If it lands on 1 he gets a dollar. If it lands on anything else you get a dollar. By his logic there would not be a significant exc...
Why do Stores and restaurants in US cities, often in lower income area, all have a very similar style?
[ "In the US, there is not a strong tradition of going to the nearest store, rather than the one you think will serve you best. So stores are trying to draw in new customers who only pass by occasionally. Extremely bold and informative signage has proven to work." ]
Why are there different sized stars? Once enough mass is gathered to commence fusion shouldn't additional gasses be blown away from the star?
[ "The gas clouds that stars form from collapse into a disc shape pretty early on in the formation process.\n\nThe big-ish protostars blast most of their early heat of formation out in polar jets that never cross that disc, so the incoming matter doesn't meet the outflowing energy until the star is well formed.\n\nIt...
Why do online job application systems force me to attach my resume and then also fill out their own resume system?
[ "The parts you have to fill in will be run through their HR system, which can make a preselection. With how many people apply to some jobs, there simply is no time for them to check out all resumes, so they have to select them some way.\n\nOnce you are through the preselection, your actual resume makes it onto the ...
If cold humid air is more cold than dry air, but hot humid air is hotter than a dry heat, what is the tipping point?
[ "A person's perception of temperature is a bit complicated by several factors.\n\nExcept for extreme heat, your temperature is going to be lower than the air temperature, so it is a matter of how much energy it takes to warm the air up and cool you off. At low humidity, the air requires very little energy to change...
Why do so many people hate Piers Morgan?
[ "I don't watch his show, so I don't have any strong feelings about him. From what I have heard from other people, there are two major complaints:\n\n1) Back when he was in the UK, he had a reputation for publishing inaccurate, sensationalist content as news.\n\n2) On his show in the US, he is viewed as arrogant an...
Traditionally, Where does the responsibilities of the CIA and Pentagon begin and End in relation to each other?
[ "Accountability and Authority. \n\nCIA is responsible for Intelligence abroad (FBI handles this within US borders), as well as clandestine operations. \n\nThe Military is a large scale force that requires Congressional oversight and is expected to follow strict protocols such as the UCMJ and things like the Geneva ...
I notice a marked difference between my ability to think and word things when I use double spacing as opposed to single spacing when writing, say, a paper for a project. Is there a particular reason for this at all?
[ "Probably related to your expectations about how your double-spaced writing will be evaluated (as different than single-spaced).\n \nGuessing you expect the double-spaced content will be more thoroughly reviewed, not just ideas, but sentence structure and individual words. \n\nDouble spacing provides more room for...
Since there is no "air" in space, what do spacecraft thrusters push against?
[ "Thrusters, rockets, engines, etc push against the spacecraft, not the air. The force of the material being expelled creates an equal and opposite reaction on the spacecraft.", "Same concept as the backpack on ice, but you can try this if you can't find any ice. Imagine you're standing still on a skateboard or so...
How does Apple own the Beatles?
[ "[The Beatles sold the rights to their catalog of music back in the 1960s.](_URL_1_) It's been owned by many people, most famously by Michael Jackson, who made almost as much money on Beatles royalties as on his own music.\n\nI don't know if Apple Computer has any ownership in Beatles music, but you might be confus...
How does the software "Tor" work?
[ "Here is a little diagram to start off with:\n_URL_0_\n\nThe (very!) basic gist of it: You connect to the network which proceeds your request along a randomized route through network-relays using data encryption, before it transmits your request to the final destination. Backtracking is extremely hard, since the ra...
Why is it often recommended to fully charge electronics before using them for the first time?
[ "Imagine that your battery is an opaque water bottle. \n\nWhen you first get it, it has some amount of water in it. You have no idea how much water is actually in it because you can't see the water. It has a weight to it but that doesn't tell you anything because you have no reference. For all you know, it could...
Why are symptoms more potent in the morning and evening when you are sick?
[ "In the morning it's usually because you've been dehydrated due to sleep or if symptoms just arose, you aren't used to it. In the evening, because of being tired and talking all day, you get worn out. Just think of going to a sporting event all night yelling then getting home and having a sore throat. Wear and tear...
How did the alpine tunnel makers ensure that when they bored through the mountains they came out where they intended or met the other diggers coming from the other side before the days of GPS?
[ "Not only from the days before GPS but GPS does not work inside tunnels so they still have the same problem. The way you do this today is that you use lasers to measure the distance and angles of the tunnel walls. You put down special reflectors into the walls of the tunnel and measures their position to the other ...
How to people find amber with preserved life inside?
[ "It’s just random. They mine the amber and then upon examining it and cutting it up to sell, find what’s inside" ]
Why does 80 degree water feel so much colder than 80 degree air?
[ "Water absorbs much more heat per volume. So water touching your skin aborbs more of your body's heat compared to air of the same temperature.", "Water has a much higher specific heat and massively more weight than air. What you perceive as hot and cold are usually heat transfers rather than actual temperatures....
Ugly power lines, poles, transformer cylinders and other mess of stuff cloud my neighborhood. But my well-off parents' neighborhood has not a single wire in site. How?
[ "All those things can be run underground, but it can cost up to 10 times more than overhead systems. This cost means that they tend to only be put underground in regions where people are willing to pay that price, ie wealthy neighborhoods.", "Lots of comments about the price which is true. One other factor I want...
Congratulations ELI5 on 300,000 subscribers! And thank you!
[ "I enjoy seeing the questions people post. Sometimes, i feel like just replying \"google it,\" but then i realize that a lot of times, even if you do google it, the answers you find require you to either know a lot about the topic to begin with, or are so buried that you may never find the answer you are looking fo...
Why is it so hard to spot this "Planet Nine" when we can easily observe and photograph light years far off celestial bodies?
[ "Well first of all, we can't easily observe and photograph most celestial bodies that are lightyears away.\n\nThe ones we can photograph tend to be either giant flaming balls of light, clouds full of giant flaming balls of light, or a collections of billions of giant flaming balls of light.\n\nYou might notice the ...
How does paying for windows 10 work? What's their plan, im confused by the whole thing.
[ "Microsoft wants everyone in their app selling environment more than they want to cling to the idea of home users paying to upgrade windows. The app environment sells things like google play or the itunes thing. Those environments are huge money makers", "Consumers paying for Windows 10 isn't that useful to the...
What exactly happens if Russia is proven to have tampered with the voting process (ex: Brexit, US elections)?
[ "The UK has mechanisms to force a new vote. So they could \"revert\" things fairly easily if the public decides to do that. \n\nThe US does not have such a mechanism. They could impeach Trump for it which would leave Pense being President. They could also theoretically impeach Pense as well since he was on the same...
What is it that specifically makes the new car smell and why is it the same in every car?
[ "Offgassing plastics. There is some concern that plasticizers and solvents released from many industrial products, especially plastics, may be harmful to human health. All the car companies use the same types of plastics so thats why the smell is the same.", "Working in the car industry I can ensure that this sme...
Why is Netflix Throttling such a controversial issue?
[ "It's when the ISP is hand picking what websites are fast or slow that really gets people. It's an incredible amount of power where companies that used to be just neutral pipes to turn into places that hand pick what websites can or can't exist. \n\nThe fact that many of the largest ISPs are media companies and the...
Why did Chairman Mao kill so many people including teachers? What could he have been trying to accomplish?
[ "He was trying to purge China of The Four Olds as these were seen to only further the exploitation of the classes. The Four Olds are old customs, old habits, old culture, and old ideas. \n\nA lot of teachers were executed publicly, monks were humiliated in the streets, a great number of Kung Fu masters took to the ...
how can PPI (pixels per inch) be different across certain devices? Aren't inches and pixels a set size?
[ "an Inch is a measuring unit. \n\na Pixel is an object. It can be any size. \n\nA display's resolution describes how many pixels it has. 1080p means it has 1080 pixels on the short side. \n\nSo, obviously, to fill a 42\" 1080p TV and a 5\" 1080p phone with the same number of pixels is going to require differently s...
How will TTP copyright laws affect people in non-signing countries?
[ "It would mean that any web service that operates in those countries would be subject to the new copyright terms. As a person using a web service that operates in one (or more) of those countries, you are also indirectly affected by the new copyright terms because presumably all the content made available though th...
What is 'Trickle Down Economics' and why or why not is it bullshit?
[ "Trickel-Down economics is the idea cutting taxes on the wealthy will lead to higher overall economic growth---more than enough not only to help the economy, but also to make up for any lost revenue to the government for the tax cut. \n\nWhen the idea originally came to prominence, top tax rates where extremely hig...
What does the successful vote to allow the sale of people's browsing history mean for the average person and what is the scope of this?
[ "It really doesn't mean much. The rules that this vote seeks to overturn haven't gone into effect yet. Everything will stay as it is. \n\nIt's also important to add the the senate vote is what just happened. For it to mean anything at all the house must vote to approve it and then the president must sign it. That w...
why they call dark matter "matter"
[ "Because as far as we can tell it is matter. It's just a special type of matter which doesn't interact at all with the electromagnetic force, so we can't directly see it.\n\n**Edit:** Something I want to add, matter that doesn't interact much with EM isn't actually all the strange. For example, neutrinos interact v...
With the attacks going on right now, why has France been the target for so many terrorist attacks?
[ "They, like all the old European powers, had colonies in the lands that are now terrorism hot spots. They treated millions of people very badly.", "Many Islamic groups are pissed that France outlawed the Hijab (or whatever you call the head covering Muslims use)" ]
Does my way of doing this math problem make any sense?
[ "All you did is multiply both sides by the denominator in the x fraction, and then rearrange terms a bit.\n\na/b = x/c\n\nc * a/b = x\n\nc * a * 1/b = x\n\nc/b * a = x" ]
Why is destructive interference unnoticeable, say if you have two sources of light and you move them around?
[ "The wavelength of light is smaller than the smallest thing a human eye can see, by far. So these effects are too fine in scale for us to see." ]
why carbon monoxide is so poisonous to breathe when carbon dioxide is not.
[ "Carbon monoxide binds very strongly to hemoglobin, the molecule that carries oxygen in your blood. When it does so, it stops hemoglobin from binding to oxygen, and limits your body's capacity to get oxygen in the process.\n\nCarbon dioxide, which is almost completely non-reactive, doesn't do that.", "Just becaus...
How do they turn old black and white photos into color photos?
[ "Unless the negative is preserved, they literally just color it. Think of it as a coloring book. I've tried photo colorization, and while choosing correct colors isn't that hard, getting the blending to work out realistically is much harder. For video, when it's a single shot, you can use tracking software so you d...
What exactly does vigilante justice mean?
[ "In the simplest terms, it means justice administered by individuals (or angry mobs), outside of the legal system.\n\nIt could be a single person \"taking the law into their own hands\" and attacking a person who committed a crime against them. It could also be a person cruising around trying to punish criminals in...
Why can speakers be blown out? Couldn't manufacturers just prevent the volume controls from going that high?
[ "Speakers don't affect volume. They can support a maximum volume without blowing out.\n\nIf you connect speakers to an amplifier that boosts the volume you can blow out the speakers. But they are made by different manufacturers. The speaker company doesn't know you're plugging into to an 800W amplifier. The amp...
How do gemologists tell lab-grown gems from natural gems when the crystal structure is the same?
[ "Naturally formed gems are not perfect. \n\nThey have atoms of other elements dispersed within their crystal structure. \n\nWhen a gem is grown in the lab, it is usually 100% pure. There are no imperfections, (or nearly none). So when a gemologist observes the crystal structure, and they see no impurities, it is al...
Fire... does it push things or exert force?
[ "Fire itself does not, no. However, fire heats up the air (and other fluids) around it which can increase the pressure that they exert. \n\nFor example, have you ever seen ash from a newspaper (or something similar) floating out of a fire up into the air? It's not doing that because the fire is pushing it, but the ...
Why are religious texts open to interpretation if they are the word of god?
[ "because they're arguably the word of an infallible being, but they've been written down by a man. I think the bible even recognizes this fact at one point, or it was just my religious education teacher that pointed it out.", "Orthodox Jew with a B.A. in Anthropology here. Depending on your religious text, relig...
Why are newer smartphones so much easier to break than "old" ones?
[ "The big change has been making the entirety of one side a fragile glass screen. \n\nThe decision to make the bezels thin means that there is little space to absorb impacts without putting the forces onto that large, fragile glass panel. They try to make the phone strong instead, but the desire to make the phone as...
How did we discover Pluto? It's so little and our solar system is so huge.
[ "Random chance.\n\nWe thought, incorrectly, that Neptune's orbit was being influenced by another body. We did some math based on that incorrect assumption and came up with some areas to look at. Then took thousands of long exposure photographs. At least two were taken of each small area of the sky on separate night...
Is it actually possible for Korea to 'reunite'?
[ "Yes, it is possible. Just as it was possible for East and West Germany to go back to being Germany. \n\nThat doesn't mean it would be easy, however. There are a lot of practical problems with merging the two states. Even if you assume that the North collapses and the South just takes control (rather than trying t...
Why does hearing a song lots make us dislike it?
[ "I think you can relate this in a similar way to drugs. When you take a dose of drugs or listen to pleasant music, your brain is simulated and releases signals that it is happy with whatever you consumed. However, over time the same stimulus will result in lower and lower stimulation in the brain, as it becomes us...
if someone comes on your property without your permission and they slip or get attacked by a dog, can you be held liable if they sue?
[ "That fully depends on the country/state that you live in. In some places you can be held accountable for any injury, in some you can be held accountable if there was injury due to your negligence (lack of maintenance, lack of warning sign, etc), and in some their trespassing negates all rights to sue you for any i...
Why is the US West Coast a desert
[ "The west coast is nice and green, but then there are several mountain ranges. Air that is pushed over the mountains is cooled and forced to drop most of its water vapor, so it is much less moist. This means less rainfall beyond the mountains and more desert conditions.", "There is temperate rainforest down the w...
do antibiotics target individual infections and if so how?
[ "Yes you get certain antibiotics for certain infections. When a cut on your foot gets infected you will get one set of antibiotics, and when you get a tooth infection you get another set. \n\n\n\n\nAlso you can use antibiotics from your cut foot incident to help with your tooth infection. Antibiotics will help brin...
Why are there poor Conservatives?
[ "Don't you ever wonder why there are so many rich Liberals, too?\n\nAll this \"what it means to be Conservative / Liberal\" crap that you get poured into your head by the media and your school system and your party-liners is just a bunch of bullshit establishment lies.\n\n\"Poor\" and \"Rich\" have nothing conseque...
What happens to the body when you donate one of your kidneys? Does it become less able to filter stuff out of your body?
[ "When you donate one kidney, or one kidney fails, the other will pick up the slack.\n\nWhen functional, both kidneys are not operating at the fullest capacity.", "Yes and no. \n\n\"Yes\" in that your total renal capacity will obviously go down.\n\nBut \"No\" in that most people don't make full use of their kidney...
Why do Dutch people eat spaghetti with knife and fork, instead of spoon and fork?
[ "American of partial Italian ancestry here, what would you even use the spoon for? why not just a fork?", "It's easier to eat that way. I'm an American but I've never seen anyone eat spaghetti without a fork\n(Incidentally my Dutch grandmother eats it with a fork and spoon, so that's the way I learned)" ]
why does cleaning your ears cause gag reflex?
[ "It does? \n\nIf it actually does, I would say it’s because the ear, nose and throat are all connected.", "That is a pretty atypical response in my experience. I’m no doctor, just a paramedic, but I’ve never ran across any anatomy books, or patients, that’ve mentioned that.\n\nGagging is usually caused by larynge...
Why do browsers replace spaces in the URL with %20?
[ "It's because URL's are split up and processed in such a way that there's no guarantee any space character(s) will be accurately preserved. Instead, the space character is explicitly stated by %20.\n\nJust as an example, loading _URL_0_ sends the following header to the _URL_1_ server:\n\n``GET /r/explainlikeimfiv...
I have some questions regarding orphanages in 1980's-90's America for my novel. I have trouble finding answers online, some help?
[ "There weren't that many orphanages in the US in the 1980s and 90s. Orphanages were phased out by the 1950s and instead kids were sent into private homes for foster care, overseen by social services such as child protective services, where social workers monitored the children's environment with periodic checks. D...
The 4 basic assumptions in financial reporting
[ "Economic Entity - The company is a separate legal entity from its owners with its own finances\n\nGoing Concern - The business is operating with no planned shutdown period. In other words - it's going to keep operating\n\nMonetary Unit - All reports are done in a single currency\n\nPeriodicity - These reports are...
Why do humans/mammals bleed from the mouth after head/chest trauma? Why is this always the imminent death factor in movies?
[ "Think of what the mouth connects to - your lungs, stomach, and the passageways to your nose and ears. Head/chest trauma can lead to bleeding into one of those areas, which is usually a sign things are going pretty wrong.", "No, it is not a sure sign of death. As mentioned, your mouth is connected to your lungs, ...
Why does it take so long for a country to develop nuclear warheads/ weapons? E.g. Iran and N. Korea.
[ "It depends on how many resources they want to put into it.\n\nNorth Korea is a very poor country so they can't spare the same amount of resources that the US put into the manhattan project.\n\nAdditionally usually people who are developing nuclear weapons programs are doing it against the will of the wider interna...
Why don't we pronounce the name of a country like the natives do?
[ "We don't speak the same language they do! The English name is often simply different from the native name. The idea that things should be rendered precisely as in the language of origin is very modern. When people were more internationally oriented and less particular about the country they were from, it used to b...
Why are we so worried about a plane that has gone missing? Couldn't it be assumed that it's in the ocean as no one on that flight has spoken out?
[ "It's a fairly new plane and they have no idea why it went down. If it was a design flaw it could happen again. If they don't know what the design flaw is, how can we be sure that in the next planes we start building the same flaw isn't there? Or if it was the pilot's fault for whatever reason, knowing why and inve...
The recent changes to US healthcare and the changes happening in the near future
[ "**What happens under the Affordable Care Act:**\n\n*if you already get health insurance through your job*: Your children can stay on your health plan until they turn 26. Other than that, nothing else changes.\n\n*if you don't get insurance through your job*: You are required to have health insurance one way or ano...
Why does rain make the internet slow?
[ "Depends on type of connection the wifi uses, if it is through cable to wifi then the signal will be okay, if the wifi is connected through antenna the connection will get worse because the rain is blocking the signal from travelling from the signal emmiter which causes data loss along the way, so the data needs to...
Why are "normal" bodily functions we all do such taboo topics or exceedingly gross when it's someone else's?
[ "It happened through evolution. A lot of germs or viruses can be transmitted through poop or blood or snot and many other things. If they are your own, you do not run much risk since you already have those germs/viruses within you. But from someone else's: that's like playing the lottery.\n\nI say it happened throu...
The DNA being patented case in the USA.
[ "A patent is a license from the government that says that no one can use your invention without your permission. You are allowed to make people pay you for the permission. If they don't want to pay, you can ask a judge to make them pay.\n\nTo get a patent, you have to show 1) that you invented something useful, an...
What specifics are there when war is declared? Is there a start date? Is there a specific region that is designate as warzone, and are there boundaries? I know modern warfare is a little more complex than this.
[ "It has always been quite nebulous and needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.\n\nAs a modern example, the Iran-Iraq War started with a downgrade of diplomatic relations and persecution/deportation of civilians of the opposing country. This was followed by small skirmishes in disputed territory, then a full-...
Why are some meats edible undercooked/raw?
[ "You can get [Trichinella spiralis](_URL_0_) from undercooked pork, it can cause intense muscular pain, difficulty breathing, weakening of pulse and blood pressure, heart damage, and various nervous disorders. Not something you want." ]
pizza gate
[ "A group of people have read through some of the various hacked emails from the Clintons, their friends, and their foundation.\n\nThey believe that they have located in those emails evidence of a ring of pedophiles, led by the Clintons, that operate primarily out of a pizzeria in Washington, DC. The evidence of al...
The controversy with Gabby Douglas' hair.
[ "It's not pulled back tight enough, it looks like it was haphazardly thrown together. It's not really a controversy so much as people just paying too much attention to a women's looks yet again. :\\ It's something people with more experience with black hair (read: black people, esp. black women and mothers) and are...
what does polishing shoes actually do?
[ "There are leather conditioners to keep leather hydrated so it doesn't crack and peal,\nThen you can buff a shoe with special brushes or swab type implements (or a clean rag) to remove light scratches or marks and go over it with a polish that matches the tone of the shoe to restore the richness of color and even i...
How do artillery spotting work?
[ "They're called Forward Observers, 13Fs, FISTERs. \n\nUsing a compass, map, protractor, lasers - you can determine the direction and distance to a target, from the Forward Observer's position. Now this is important, the FO has to relay his exact position, since all corrections to the artillery fire will be made fro...
why does the show "Power Rangers" still have monsters that look like rubber costumes?
[ "Young children are not especially critical of shitty special effects.", "Because they are trying to make the shows as cheaply as possible. Their core audience are kids like my 4 year old son, who is not bothered at all by their cheap ass production values." ]
Why are certain types of plastic non-recyclable?
[ "In addition to economics, there are two main types of polymers. [Thermosets](_URL_1_) are irreversibly cured: once they are formed they can't be re-formed. While these can't be recycled into new plastics, they may be re-purposed for other uses once their primary useful lifespan ends. What makes these materials una...
why is water able to evaporated below the boiling point? I was always taught 212F (100C) was when water could turn into a gas.
[ "First let me say, if you have the time, ignore my answer and read the first chapter of the feynman lectures here: _URL_0_ Absolutely ELI5, great stuff.\n\nHere's my explanation.\n\nPeople found that liquid water is made of a huge number of tiny molecules. These attract and repel each other (too close and they repe...
Why do we get headaches?
[ "There are many things that factor into headaches, and there are different types of them. Dehydration can be a contributing factor. The most common type of headache is a \"tension\" headache. These are muscular in nature,( yes we have muscles in our faces/scalp) several muscles also attach to the back of our head (...
How does patient zero get a sexually transmitted disease?
[ "A disease evolves from something else. Usually that is from an other disease on the same animal (then this is easy - it is just there) or on a different animal.\n\nIf it is evolving on a different animal, that diesease suddenly developt capabilities to infect humans (due to mutation and similar mechanisms) Now it ...
Why does certain fast food give us diarrhea?
[ "It doesn't, unless you're *very* unaccustomed to greasy food.\n\nFood poisoning is always a possibility, but it's pretty rare with fast food, since the stores usually either don't handle raw meat at all (Taco Bell comes to mind) or raw meat goes directly from frozen to the grill.", "it irritates the stomach whic...
How floating point numbers are represented as bits. You know, mantissas and exponents and such.
[ "A floating point number has a dot in it like this 11.31234124. If this were money that could be 11 dollars and 31 cents\n\nHow to express this in binary bits, 1's and 0's? \n\nFirst let's decide to limit the binary representation of our floating point number to 32 bits. Why? Because it turns out we won't need a lo...
Considering they are related to Wolves. When a Dog is playing fetch, what does it think it is doing?
[ "It simulates hunting prey. That's why dogs like squeaky toys, they sound like injured animals." ]
If I have to poo but hold it, when the sensation goes away (and it doesn't come back) what happens to my poo!? Does my body absorb some waste?
[ "It's sits in your intestine, being compressed by the new shit piling up. If you hold it too long you'll get constipated.", "The nervous system in your innards isn't directly under your control, but it understands context. When your lower bowel gives you the signal that it's time to poop, it isn't a command, it's...
Why do we instinctively seem to hit machines / devices that aren't functioning properly? Where did this come from?
[ "It's called \"Percussive maintenance\" and it's related to the old mechanical and analogue systems that used to drive machines where if they got stuck sometimes a sharp jolt to the machine could cause the stuck pieces to jump into their proper places.", "People are mentioning mechanical throwbacks, but I think c...
How can a drink (Monster / Coke / etc.) have zero calories?
[ "Protein, Fat, Carbohydrate are all converted to energy and energy is measured in calories. Almost every drink, whether it be fruit juice or sodas contain a ton of sugar which is where all the calories come from. \n\nDrinks with 0 calories replace the sugar with sweeteners, most commonly aspartame. Research shows t...
why is there not an app or website for voting?
[ "It's a horrible idea. A virus, a hack or a DDOS attack could destroy the integrity of the whole system. Many people are against even using electronic voting machines because they leave no paper trail, doing it online is a no go.\n\n...and it would be nearly impossible to keep it anonymous which is a *critical* p...
Why are campaign funds correlated with winning an election? Why don't people just vote for who is the best person for the country?
[ "Because marketing is everything. If you don't know somebody exists, how do you vote for them?", "One theory behind the correlation between fundraising and winning elections is that the money follows success, not vice versa. People are more likely to donate to candidates that they like, so the most popular candi...
Why do those "pan-tilt" photos make things look like models?
[ "I'll try and actually explain this as easily as possible.\n\nThe quickest reason for this miniature illusion is depth-of-field, which is the blurry background or foreground effect you see in photography when an object is in sharp focus.\n\nDepth-of-field is usually not achieved in photographs that are taken in lan...
How can a car detect that a Windows has been broken and sound the alarm?
[ "Most car alarms are vibration sensitive, which is why they go off when someone bumps into the car.\n\nBecause you will require a significant force to smash a window, the car will register the hit and sound the alarm." ]
Why is chloroform not used as a sleeping medication?
[ "Because chloroformed sleep is a sedated, unnatural state of unconsciousness. The compound depresses the central nervous system and too much can easily kill a person.", "The main components in chloroform, at least the most common way to make chloroform chemically, is with acetone and bleach. Neither of these are ...
who decided that vulgar language was vulgar?
[ "This is a bit like asking who decided what is polite and what is kind and what is mean - they are bound to culture, context and they ebb and flow with social norms. While we can talk about how and why words get put on lists that the MPAA uses in ratings, or that are OK or not OK on broadcast televition, it's near...
Film: what does a producer and executive producer do?
[ "From Wikipedia: \n\n* Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or with associated legal issues (like copyrights or royalties).[1] In films, the executive produ...
How does forcing car companies to sell through dealers "protect the consumer"?
[ "It's from back in the days where trying to hold an out of state car company liable (e.g., if there were any problems with the car) was pretty much impossible for the average person. The dealer exists partially because in that era it was important to have somebody nearby to hold responsible for the car you bought."...
Why are modern day toys and electronics so flimsy compared to, say 15 years ago?
[ "Consumers would rather pay less and buy devices more often. If there was more profit to be found by charging more and being durable, that's what you would see. \n\nThe obsolescence curve for many technologies is also getting faster, so manufacturers can more safely assume their product will have a shorter life any...
Imagine we wanted to nuke Russia at midnight tonight. What military movements would need to be made, how many people would have to sign off on it, etc?
[ "The exact processes are kept pretty secret, but you'd be surprised how simple the process would be.\n\nThe President can order the strike. The Secretary of Defense confirms the identity of the President and passes the order down the chain to the leg of the triad that will be conducting the attack. \n\nWe have thre...
Why does time move at the speed it does?
[ "How would you know the difference if it ran at any other speed? It would still be \"normal\" to you.", "Time is moving at a speed set by humans. Seconds, mintues and hours are arbitrary. Things don't move in slow or fast motion because we are used to this speed.", "The word is spacetime, one word. Basically sp...