Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
What is the purpose of humans having emotions?	[ "Emotions guide us in the Darwinian process of the survival of the fittest. So love makes us bond with partners and family to help us survive and propagate while hate guides us to strike down competitors etc." ]
How does sand become glass?	[ "Quartz sand doesn't become glass. It becomes fused silica, but you'd need an oxygen jet in your campfire, since silica won't melt until around 3,000F degrees.\n\nHowever, if you first mix sand with other chemicals, borax, lime, or baking soda for example, the quartz sand will dissolve in the melted borax etc. ...
How can shows such as House Of Cards have differing writers and directors every few episodes, yet still remain consistent in tone and feel?	[ "On the writing staff, there is someone who serves as what they call the Showrunner. This is the person with ultimate authority over the script. They're in charge of the writing room when coming up with story ideas, they're in charge of handing out writing assignments for each episode. And they often re-write the o...
how do people graduate/finish school early	[ "They don't complete 12 years of school, that's how.\n\nThey do some school, and everyone involved agrees it would be a waste of time to have them sit through the same stuff as everyone else, so they skip them past several grades.\n\n16 isn't really that crazy, I graduated high school at 17, and I went through ever...
What's the difference between these two laptop network cards?	[ "Wifi, or Wireless is what you use you connect (without wires) to your home network and the internet. It is the same for both of them\n\nEthernet is the way you do it with a wire. The plug looks a bit like a large phone plug. Not many people do this in their homes anymore with laptops but a lot of businesses sti...
how does CPR help someone who has been drowning?	[ "I'm not a doctor, just a paramedic, but this is my basic understanding of how it works. Not all drowning victim have water in their lungs due to involuntary laryngospasm. But either way, the lack of oxygen to the brain and other organs causes unresponsiveness and cardiac arrest. Once the person has been removed fr...
why it takes less time to fly from west to east compared to flying from east to west	[ "In really high altitudes there is moving air called \"Jetstreams. In the northern hemisphere the jetstream generally moves from west to east. The planes can ride this jetstream giving the plane more thrust, vs if the plane travels east to west it has to overcome the drag created going against it. \nThink of it lik...
Why do most live performers remove their in ear moniters when they perform? If it affects their performance, why do they wear it in the first place?	[ "> As a professional musician for over a decade, the simple answer is this: In-ear monitors are excellent for keeping a fine tuned ear on what is being played, hearing click tracks, and getting cues. When someone takes out one (or sometimes both) of their in-ears, it's to either REALLY hear the ambient sounds aroun...
How can people not get source code for a game even though they have the exe and files	[ "The .Exe just contains the compiled code, which is pretty hard to reverse engineer into source code. This compiled code is what the computer actually reads and for the most part is just long strings of numbers and next to impossible for a human to read fluently. The problem with reverse engineering compiled code i...
How do forensics assess whether someone was raped before or after being killed?	[ "Rape tends to damage tissue a lot. If alive when damage is inflicted, the body immediately reacts to the damage in various ways, causing bruises. Plus when there are rips and tears, the man or woman who has been raped will bleed if alive. If dead, there won’t be any bleeding because the heart isn’t pumping, and mi...
Why do some computer mice cost as much as $120?	[ "Because money goes into design, research of technology, parts, marketing and ofg course lots of profits. When people spend a lot of time playing games, they want their connection the the computer, of which a mouse is one, to be the best.", "I use a mouse that has 14 extra buttons, I use various utilities to cus...
How do the mico transactions work in the new Battlefront, and why is everyone freaking out about not being able to play as Darth Vader? Noob here.	[ "Only a couple of heroes are unlocked by default, the rest have to be bought with in game money. You can earn in game money by playing the game or buying it with real money. many people feel the rate at which you earn in game money is reduced to such a level as to be frustrating to obtain and that this is done inte...
How did the current state of Israel come into existence?	[ "Israel was established mostly because of the pity many Western nations had towards the Jews by the end of WWII. Countries like the UK and the US thought the Jews needed their own nation in order to prevent a slaughtering like the slaughtering of the Jews by the Germans during WWII. \n\nThe choice for the region i...
Knockouts and concussions, what and why does it happen, and what is the difference?	[ "I am a high school level soccer coach in Colorado, which means I am required to take a concussion course every year that I am active, which for me is 3 years. I have some input on this.\n\nA concussion is your brain twisting or impacting the inside of your skull much like what has already been said. This will resu...
What is the joke behind "Runway 37"	[ "Runway numbers only go from 1-36. They are basically numbered for their magnetic heading (0-360 degrees) divided by 10.\n\n_URL_0_", "Found it! Runways are numbered by the compass direction they face, rounded to the nearest ten, with the last digit dropped. So a runway pointing to 311 degrees would be Runway 31....
Why do scratched CD's skip while playing in my car but don't skip when playing on my laptop?	[ "Some players are better than others at ignoring the scratches. It has to do with the quality of the laser and/or sensor reading the disc.\n\nBTW, a light application of Mother's Mag Wheel polish does wonders for making scratched CDs easier for most players to read." ]
Why did Grenfell Tower not collapse after the fire?	[ "The tower is a mix of cast in place and precast concrete structure. There are 10 exterior concrete columns supporting the floors and an interior concrete shaft for lateral stability (which also partially supports the floors). Interior walls are precast concrete. \n\nConcrete structures are very resilient to catast...
How does a gun protect me in my home when I'm supposed to lock it in a safe?	[ "You put the safe near your bed, if it's a wall safe above the reach of a toddler, and you have the muscle memory to enter the code and load your gun quickly.\n\nIf you're actually concerned with home safety, you probably have a security system. That will wake you up with plenty of time to access the safe, get your...
How can Valve get away with cutting prices as much as 70% on Steam for mostly games they didn't even make? Are external game companies not getting really pissed off from missed profits?	[ "Valve has to clear such sales with the publishers who are making the money from those sales.\n\nIf your wondering how these sales work:\n\nGame X costs $10 but only sells 5 copies a week. I cut the price to $2 and now it sells 50 copies a week. I am going to make more money despite the price being lower.\n\nValve ...
Why haven't we seen any 90s Nick Game Shows (Double Dare, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Nick Arcade) rereleased? Legality issues?	[ "You don't normally see any game shows rereleased. A big part of their profitability is contributions from sponsors, which don't continue paying out in reruns and syndication.", "I will never win a huffy bicycle or that pair of hushpuppy shoes i always wanted.", "I don't understand why this is marked as exp...
why does congress have the power to completely alter a bill, changing the contents and even title, on its way through the house or senate? Why was this power created? Why has its apparent abuse not caused removal of the power?	[ "Congress, and only Congress, has the power to choose each and every word of a bill. This includes the power to edit the bill before voting, and the power to vote on the final bill. If Congress couldn't do this, who would draft, edit, and pass laws?", "That's Congress's job. They are the ones that write and edit ...
If you drain ground beef after you brown it for something like spaghetti, what is the difference between using a ground beef with more fat like 80/20 vs 90/10?	[ "If you are draining off the grease the major difference is that you will have less meat. I do not think it is the full 10% of weight difference but it can be fairly close if you cook it long enough to render out most of the fat.", "Some of the fat is still inside the meat. It also affects how the meat cooks, sin...
How does the brain decide what little stupid things to remember, like what someone said or a song you heard once?	[ "it's mostly based on the situation you're in. even if you just barely notice a balloon in the furthest corner of your view your brain could go like 'you member the time, you had that stupid little baby balloon? i member'" ]
why do auctioneers talk the way they do?	[ "It's a traditional style that not all auctions use, but it helps to keep up the energy in the room and encourages potential buyers to make quick decisions. It also gets through lots quickly, which is important when you may be auctioning dozens or hundreds of lots in a day." ]
Ir Syrian refugees are displaced by war, homeless and unable to gain access to the basics of modern life, how are they able to travel to the US?	[ "The UN has many charters on the human rights of refugees, the Syrian refugees fall well into the categories protected by this charter. They are getting to the US in all kinds of ways but mostly on transportation sponsored by private citizens, the UN, and the US government. Its the same with other countries, Canada...
What causes schizophrenia? Can it be external stimuli or is it purely genetic?	[ "It has been known to have the ability to be genetically passed, but one can go their entire lifespan without it ever surfacing. Triggers can cause the schizophrenia to surface and symptoms will become much more apparent. For example, smoking marijuana has been known to trigger schizophrenia in some, it doesn't *ca...
Polarizing filters for cameras and sunglasses	[ "Light can be thought of as a wave. Imagine each tiny bit of light as a little sine wave squiggling through the air. Each one will have a direction, perpendicular to the direction it is traveling, which the wave is wiggling in. For example, you can wave up and down, or left and right (or any mixture of these direct...
What is inflation?	[ "Money is not wealth. Money is a good whose value changes in response to supply and demand. As money gets less valuable, people will want more of it for the same good. Inflation, is generally the situation where the value of money decrease. How this affects you is that when a currency is inflating, prices of goods ...
Why are so many rap/hiphop songs still about how good the rapper is?	[ "Well, don't forget that rap has evolved to something of an art form. The same idea from the early days applies: rapping about dominance IS dominance IF you do it well. It's really just a platform on which you can do cool shit with the rhymes and good wordplay.\n\nHowever, if the rapper can spit something really in...
Christians of ELI5: Why has our God stopped talking directly to people as He did in the Bible?	[ "I grew up in the church and the way it's always been explained to me relies on an understanding of the Trinity; you have God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit. With the exception of some small windows of time, one of these three has been \"present\" on the Earth at all times. God the Father was present ...
How do companies like Amazon pick their "random winners" when the submissions are made online?	[ "Well it could vary from system to system but all randomness in computers is actually pseudo-random. The closest you could get to true random in computers would be using something like _URL_0_ which I believe uses weather data to generate random numbers. As for how amazon decided to choose it's winner, there's no w...
How do food franchises choose locations? And how do decide where to expand to?	[ "most brands expand close to their initial location and then expand to newer markets as finances allow for it or never. this is due to the strength of the brand recognition and taste preferences in the home market. \n\nwhen you expand to a new market with different tastes, you risk failing or having to change you...
When a person gets sick with health insurance in the United States, why can the insurance companies back out of the coverage?	[ "This is slowly changing in the United States because of the Affordable Health Care Act. Soon, all pre-existing conditions will be covered, and everyone will be able to get insured.\n\nPeople ran into problems a few ways. First, if you want to buy private insurance, they have you fill out a long survey about all he...
Why does my jaw hurt when I am going to cry but am trying not to?	[ "Yes, it is normal. You are tensing the muscles in your jaw, both the muscles that close your jaw and the muscles that open it. This tires out these muscles, producing an effect that your brain senses as pain." ]
why does moving an object, that's covered in a liquid, up make the liquid drip faster?	[ "Think about momentum. Everything with mass, including the liquid, wants to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. By raising it the liquid wants to remain behind and so drips more. It would be equivalent to gravity getting stronger for a moment." ]
Why don't Christians celebrate Jewish holidays?	[ "It is worth noting that it was not until 1965 (20 years after the Holocaust) that the Catholic Church (as part of the Second Vatican Council) ceased to hold Jews collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. Christianity has a history of more than a millennium of anti-Semitism which it has only recently ...
As a Canadian, I cannot understand why someone wouldn't vote for Ron Paul. Please explain the main reasons people disagree with him. I have made a list of pros and cons inside. Please add to it.	[ "Ron Paul (and Libertarians) don't believe that regulatory agencies like the EPA or scientific organizations like NASA should be funded by the government at all (not even at the state level), and he's proposing cutting their budgets in half. They believe the free market is capable of regulating itself and private i...
Why can't we use a game controller to pilot real helicopters?	[ "There are 4 inputs for helicopter controls: Cyclic, collective, throttle, pedals. Each change to one of those requires a change in the others to balance all the forces on a helicopter. Technically, you \"could\" make a videogame controller control a helicopter if the systems are fly-by-wire (I'm not entirely sure...
How do bee hierarchies work?	[ "Each successful hive has a queen. This queen might live several years, but she is only a good egg producer for a few years. Several things can make a hive rear a new queen. \n\nScenario 1. Queen gets old. Eggs are not as steady as before. The workers harass the queen, chasing her around trying to get the egg she h...
Three Mile Island accident	[ "Nuclear Energy is a kind of energy that requires us to take a very powerful reaction, make a safe place for it to be started, start it, watch it, control it.\nThree Mile Island (TMI) accident was a situation gone bad and an inadequate design for proper watching/controlling.\n\nThe accident was caused by a bad valv...
What exactly does a cinematographer do?	[ "Cinematography is the art of using a camera to record images. \n\nA cinematographer is a basically a film, lighting and camera expert. He/she understands how to use various lens, types of film, camera devices (dollies, cranes), lights, and other techniques to get a particular shot that looks a particular way. \n\n...
What would happen to the economy if the United States paid off their national debt?	[ "You're in luck - the US government has an answer for you! They did a secret study on the question back in 2000, when they were running a budget surplus before the Bush-era tax cuts. It was secret, but NPR obtained the study by FOIA request several years ago and [summarized its conclusions,](_URL_1_) with a link ...
What is the "Burakumin problem" in Japan?	[ "In the past, those Japanese whose work involved death (undertakers, knackers, etc.) were, for religious reasons, the \"burakumin\" a caste of \"untouchables\", despised and banned from many aspects of public life.\n\nAnd this discrimination continues even today against their descendants. It is said that one of t...
why do dogs like sticking their heads out the window of a moving car?	[ "Because no one told them it was unsafe. If you weren't driving and no one told you as a child not to stick you arms and head out, you'd be doing it too. Why? Because it's awesome." ]
How haven't sloths died out yet?	[ "There are quite a lot of leaves for them to eat, plenty around to keep the population up, and they have sharp claws to ward off predators. Sloths can fuck you up if you aren't careful, as can most wild animals. They have slow metabolisms and usually move slow, hence the stereotypes, but they are doing just fine in...
The Terminal Velocity of water	[ "Falling water will break into droplets. You've seen water droplets falling at terminal velocity: it's called rain.\n\nThe weather influences the droplet size. As you may have experienced, very small droplets fall more slowly.\n\n[Details here.](_URL_0_)" ]
Pleading "nolo contendere" in court in America.	[ "\"Nolo contendere\" means \"I do not wish to contest [the charge]\" in Latin, and many states refer to it as a \"no contest\" plea. It means just that -- you are not formally saying that you are guilty, but you are saying that you're not going to challenge the government's allegation that you are guilty or ask f...
Why does flame make a noise when it is blown on?	[ "Sound is just the movement of air molecules. When you blow on a flame the sudden change in air temperature creates a small pressure wave (as warmer air is less dense than cooler air) that you hear as audible sound. Its like mini-thunder" ]
Why is ADHD medicine a mixture of different amphetamine salts? Wouldn't only one do the the exact same thing?	[ "The salts are right-handed and left-handed isomers of the drug.\n\nDextroamphetamine is the good stuff, it's right-handed if you will.\n\nLevoamphetamine is the OK stuff, it's left-handed if you will.\n\nAnd when these companies make the stuff, they get a 50-50 mixture... And then a principle comes into play that ...
The Bretton Woods System	[ "Countries got together and decided they would create a system which made it easier for people to exchange products, services, and currency internationally. The system makes sense of everything by tying each country's currency to an exchange rate based on the US dollar." ]
Is there a reason why the Lunar 'Seas' only appear on one side of the moon	[ "This mystery is called the Lunar Farside Highlands Problem and dates back to 1959, when the Soviet spacecraft Luna 3 transmitted the first images of the dark side of the moon back to Earth. It was called the dark side because it was unknown, not because sunlight does not reach it. Researchers immediately noticed t...
Why is GIF still the standard for animated image files rather than APNG or MNG?	[ "Do you remember when America tried to go metric? It's kinda like that.", "Standards are hard to change. JPG and GIF have been around longer. Only a few browsers support APNG. Why post an APNG on your site if only a few browsers support it?", "There's actually a APNG subreddit, but no one has posted there. I th...
Can fish see water?	[ "Not an expert, but many fish have camouflage patters of light blue on their bellies, dark blue on their backs. This would seem to indicate that they can see the blue of the water at different depths." ]
Why are older Jurassic Park movies more realistic than the newer ones like Jurassic World, do they not have the budget to get animatronics?	[ "One of the main reasons why the original Jurassic Park looked so good is because various camera tricks were used to account for the limited technology. Even then, the CGI sucked and the animatronics--while they were definitely beneficial to the film--weren't enough to carry the weight of the special effects throug...
Why are the gender divisions in choruses? Wouldn't you get a fuller sound from integrated choruses?	[ "Also, it's much more challenging for individuals to stay on pitch and in tune when surrounded by others singing different tunes. Keeping the voices together helps everyone song the right notes.", "Think of the voices as instruments. Different combinations will provide a different sound/tone quality. Gender divis...
why do older generations tend to "double click" everything on computers?	[ "Have you ever gone to open a file on your desktop? Open up a file in your hard drive? All of those require double clicks.\n\nAnd now that I said that, I think you might be referring to then constantly clicking something after the first double click. My suggestion? They're just old and don't realize they already cl...
What is with all the gold-buying shops popping up all of the sudden?	[ "The price of gold isn't at the highest ever, but it's pretty close. And people are still in a bad state so selling that gold is more necessary then it was in other times.", "Gold buyers work on an arbitrage model: they buy your gold for a bit less than what it's worth on the commodities market, then resell it f...
How a country's mortality rate can be anything but 100%	[ "Mortality rates are the number of people that die each year out of a sample of one thousand. Obviously they will all die eventually, but they won't all die in the same year.", "In general, a \"rate\" is a measure of how fast something is happening, a change over time. If the mortality rate is 100% that means...
Why is it illegal for people to take photos of someone without their consent public but the paparazzi are allowed to take photos of celebrities and people in the spotlight	[ "I don't think this is a true statement, I think (and it depends on the country you live in..) you can take photos of someone in a public place...\n\nBut there can be a restrictions on the publication of photography." ]
Why is deodorant only okay to put on your armpits?	[ "If it's only a deodorant, other than maybe leaving visible stuff on your skin, it's not a big deal. Many deodorants are also anti-perspirants which is a drug that produces a reaction that prevents you from sweating in that area. It's not a good idea to do that all over because your body will have a more difficul...
Why would I want my food to be antibiotic-free?	[ "Farmers really want to try to make sure their herds/flocks grow big and strong as quickly as possible. They want their animals to stay healthy too. So, to do that, they have for years given small doses of antibiotics to their animals to keep them from getting sick. Food safety advocates and medical professional...
How did they produce and put Zyklon B into the cans without killing the workers making them, when it reacts being exposed to oxygen?	[ "Zyklon B was produced in pellet form which only released a gas when exposed to water and heat. The pellets could be handled in relative safety otherwise.\n\nAlso, materials which cannot be exposed to oxygen could be mechanically canned in sealed conditions where air wasn't able to enter. Consider compressed CO2 ca...
Why does shampoo not lather up well when you shampoo for the first time in a while?	[ "My sister told me a long time ago that dirt is the enemy of suds and that stuck with me. But it's basically true. Your hair has oils that are important to its structure. Those oils allow dirt to cling to it. Shampooing strips away those oils and thus the dirt. but remember dirt is the enemy of suds so you won...
Why is Toys R Us the company responsible for the debt required to buy itself out?	[ "Because the old management team agrees to sell the company to the new management team. This is known as a 'friendly' deal. The new management team, who are technically 'employees' of the private equity team, arrange for the debt too be paid by the cash flows of the company. \n\nELI5: your dad owns a restaurant ...
why are most if not all of the zippers on my clothing made by the brand YKK?	[ "About half the zippers manufactured are made by YKK, a Japanese company. Zippers are finicky and YKK makes reliable zippers. One reason it has managed to stay on top of the game is that it controls almost the entire manufacturing process, from smelting its own brass to making the final product, which guarantees it...
How do games with 2-bit color have transparency?	[ "One of the four \"colors\" is allocated as transparent. There's another bit that can say what transparent should be represented as, which in Pokemon's case is represented as white.\n\nSo for Pokemon, the color scheme is not white, light grey, dark grey and black. It's transparent, light grey, dark grey and black...
Multivitamins	[ "There's a lot of stuff going on in this question, here's an ELI5 attempt:\n\n1.) Absorption - this is complex unto itself but in short you have a few different factors at play. So even though you may be ingesting 1000% of the recommended intake of a vitamin or mineral you may not be absorbing anywhere near that.\n...
Who/what is John Barleycorn? What exactly is this reference implying/trying to accomplish?	[ "[Jack London wrote an autobiographical novel](_URL_1_ about dealing with his alcoholism. He used John Barleycorn in the title because its a reference to hard liquor like sourmash whiskey. \n\nOn a somewhat lighter note you reminded me of the band \n [Traffic](_URL_0_) whos song John Barleycorn was popular at one...
Why aren't laptop graphics cards removable like ram or hard disk?	[ "Graphics cards produce a lot of heat, so upgrading one might lead to a situation where the GPU puts out more heat than the cooling system is designed for. \n\nAnd to save on costs and space, most of the time graphics cards are soldered into the motherboard instead of creating multiple unique sockets, or the laptop...
How is it that game designers can make better looking games over the lifespan of a console (Xbox, ps3) yet not change the hardware?	[ "Because they learn more about how they can use the hardware over time. As they experiment and learn it's capabilities and limitations they can make it do more and more awesome things.\n\nJust like how skateboarders learn how to do more complex and cooler tricks over time with the same boards.", "In addition to t...
Why is it that bookies can survive by simply taking peoples bets. You would think that on a game like the superbowl a bookie would have a 50/50 chance of turning profit or losing a ton	[ "Bookies make money because they don't pay even odds.\n\nAll the bets are placed in a pool, and then the bookie's fee (take) is removed. The rest of the pool is used to pay out the bettors for whichever team wins, proportionally to each bettor's wager." ]
If you cant vote or comment on an archived post then why the number of votes are different each time i refresh the page?	[ "Ever since Reddit removed the ability to see the exact number of upvotes and downvotes on any given post/comment, they have slightly \"spoofed\" the numbers to make it less \"exact.\" I know they have reasons for this that included upvote/downvote botting, but I don't remember the specifics." ]
When an object gets stuck in your eye and doesn't come out, where does it go?	[ "It comes out. Just because you didn't see it come out doesn't mean it didn't.\n\nOr it is still in there. But it cannot go around behind your eye or anything so that is doubtful." ]
Why is the nomenclature for "permanganate" so different than the usual nomenclature for polyatomic anions?	[ "If I recall my chemistry correctly the per- prefix signifies that it is as oxidised as it can be." ]
Why did the first world war start and indirectly influence the start of the second world war?	[ "After World War One ended in 1918, Germany had to give up land and was banned from having armed forces. They also had to make large financial payments to the victors of WW1\n\nThere was a lot of unease, unhappiness and Germany being in a position where they just couldn’t get going because of all these penalties. ...
Why does Coca-cola still advertise?	[ "I discovered some years ago that the point of most advertising at a certain marque level was not to acquire new customers, but to retain them or even stop \"buyer's regret\".\n\nFor example, BMW pretty much never expect somebody to see one of their adverts and think \"Oh, that car looks good, I'll buy one of those...
How can the Japanese still be allowed to hunt whales in the southern ocean.	[ "They're doing it \"for science\", and selling the corpses afterwards.\n\nThe claim is that the age of a whale can only be reliably determined by the stones in their ears, and getting to that data requires killing the whale." ]
when theres an oil spill why cant we just light it on fire and let the oil burn out?	[ "Sometimes it is burned to control a spill, but burning crude oil releases a lot of toxins that aren't so good for humans like carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen oxides, etc.", "You've seen pictures of oil slicks washing up on shore, making an environmental disaster, right? \n\nThat scenario would be better if it wa...
Why can you hear an initial "poof" the instant a firework explodes, even before the boom comes a second later?	[ "It's not instantaneous, it just happened a couple seconds earlier. There's a small explosion- the whoompf- that's the mortar launching the firework (if you're paying attention, you can see the shell, which usually glows faint orange, rising), and then, when the shell reaches the right height, there's the much la...
LP's, EP's and whatever other P's are out there.	[ "If you're talking about records, LP is Long Playing, or a full length album, EP means Extended Play, it contains more than 2 songs, but not as many as a full album.", "Usually if someone specifies an LP they refer to a vinyl record, the same applies with EP. But the terms have been expanded to work with CD album...
When a mountain climber dies on Everest, why do they just leave them there and not pick up the body with a helicopter?	[ "Helicopters can't get enough lift to fly at the upper altitudes of Everest. Even if they could, there are very few locations they could safely land and hauling a body to one of those locations is difficult To the point of imperiling the lives of those who would attempt it.", "I dont think helicopter can be stab...
why acid doesn't burn the test tube but it will burn other things?	[ "The pyrex glass used in test tubes is extremely non-reactive", "To explain even further;\n\nThe reason acid seems to \"eat\" through things is because it doesn't have an even amount of electrons. the electrons REALLY want to bond with more electrons to become even. so when something with electrons that can be pu...
Why does looking near a bright light help me sneeze?	[ "It's a reflex that resulted from some nerves getting crossed during development." ]
Why does doing this with a pen make a lighter's flame 'float'? Video included	[ "1 The flame is not floating\n\n2 There is a part of the flame that you can see because it radiates in the visible part of the spectrum and another which is radiating in the UV part of the spectrum.\n\n3 Blue ballpen inks are composed by some 40% substituted triarylmethane dyes. These chemicals have insaturated bon...
What are the chemicals for synthetic drugs derived from?	[ "Not a chemistry expert, but chemicals are derived from many sources. Lots are produced by bacteria and then purified or distilled, or they use other chemicals to separate it individually. Different molecules can break bonds or form bonds so they combine all of these on certain ways to form what they want. ...
Why do "AIDS treatment breakthroughs" keep making it to the front page every week when all of them are nowhere near proven or relevant yet?	[ "This isn't an HIV or Aids question, this is a why do people jump to conclusions so quickly question." ]
Why aren't lateral passes more common in the NFL?	[ "They're risky. It is hard to gauge where another player is in the heat of the moment and if they are an inch ahead of you that is an illegal forward lateral. The ball is also loose. Unlike a normal pass if the ball hits the ground the ball is still in play. You can think if it like any fumble.", "those are c...
What is going on in North Korea right now?	[ "Well, I really don't know the politics about North Korea but it's facist, authoritarian and totalitarianistic. \nNot Democratic as far as I'm concerned.\n\nWhy?\nPeople blindly follow Kim Jong-un or are forced to or they face persecution. Much of the people's lives are controlled and closely monitored. Foreign med...
Why do perishable ingredients such as butter, milk, or eggs no longer have to be refrigerated after they've been baked into a cake or cookies?	[ "The proteins and fats have been cooked and thoroughly denatured, and most of the water content has been driven off, these two steps do the most to prevent the cookie from reacting with oxygen and going 'off.' Consider when eggs are pan fried and the liquid part of the egg changes color and solidifies -- that's the...
Why does it seem like almost nobody in the world wears socks?	[ "I have no idea what planet you are from, but here on Earth we men regularly wear socks. While I admit to working from anecdotal evidence I can't think of a signle friend who doesn't\n\nIs it possible some of these men you're seeing are wearing below-ankle socks and therefore it's hidden by the shoe?" ]
If SpaceX founds a Moon colony,whose law applies? Can they simply declare Elon Musk Republic?	[ "National sovereignty is defined by having the force to defend your borders & getting recognition from other countries. We have some laws about space but it's all very abstract since nobody's meaningfully had the capability of colonizing there.\n\nA huge practical difficulty would be that terrestrial governments...
How timezones work in Antarctica?	[ "time only has meaning when you are using it. Timezones only have meaning if multiple people a distance apart were using it. So if you travel across the US in a train, you might have trouble getting places on time unless you accounted for time zones.\n\nbut there are no people living in the antartic except for a ...
Why are drugs bad for me but make me feel so good?	[ "They release large amounts of endorphins in the brain (the same chemicals that we have when we are happy or excited) and when the drug wears off the brain goes into an almost relapse where it is so low on those endorphins from getting tricked by the drug you are in a lull and craving for more drugs. That is the la...
What gives music an emotional feel?	[ "Notes represent pitch, which is measured in absolute Hz values. But they can be re-arranged in infinitely many different ways. Overall, certain patterns emerge in song-writing in terms of melody & harmony (both dealing with pitch and tempo) and timbre\n which is the quality of the instrument, voice...
How did Prohibition ever get enacted?	[ "One aspect of the history that's not often talked about is that Americans drank a lot of alcohol prior to prohibition. I mean, like, a really lot. About a pint per day for every man, woman and child. That's because the government used to give out money to farmers if they would produce corn. Soon, American farmers ...
How do stretchable things stretch?	[ "Your question pretty much has to do with material science. I’m no expert but I just took that class last semester in college. Rubber bands are a polymer, meaning that they’re chains of multiple repeat molecules. Like other kinds of polymers, they can be stretched without deformation (breaking or any kind of alteri...
Why does the IRS let people go years/decades without filing their taxes but then audit people that do file their taxes on time? Wouldn't their energy be better spent going after those that have W2s but haven't filed in years?	[ "For the large part, a lot of individuals who don't file in a given year likely have paid more in taxes than they owe, or owe a relatively modest amount. Those people, even if they did something wrong in the eyes of the law (not filing when you overpaid by itself is not illegal), aren't worth going after. Howev...
what would happen if I was charged for a crime that became legal?	[ "Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.\n\nIf you are arrested for, but not yet tried and convicted of a crime before the activity was voted on and made legal, that may be your only chance of not going to prison. The odds of that happening are very slim, however, since even after a bill is passed, it may take months before...
Why big companies like Samsung don't create their own Operating Systems so they could compete with Mac OS X and Windows?	[ "I disagree with your assertion of an operating system monopoly. You mention Windows and OSX. There is also the dozens of Linux distros. There is IBM AIX, and Oracle (formally Sun) Solaris UNIX. Having your own proprietary OS leaves you with the challenge to support it, make sure developers write apps for it,...
Why do all the people who comment on no sleep believe the stories?	[ "> Why do all the people who comment on no sleep believe the stories?\n\nThey don't, but one of /r/nosleep's rules is that you have to pretend that you do for the purposes of your comments. It's essentially a sort of collaborative fiction-writing subreddit.\n\nFor instance, from their sidebar rules:\n\n > Remember...

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