Split (3)

train · 273k rows

title stringlengths 0 299	text list
Why are martial arts practitioners taught to say "hi-ya!" or a similar phrase with every strike?	[ "There are a lot of mystical/spiritual reasons for it, but mechanically speaking, it teaches breath control in an easy-to-remember way.", "not only martial arts but any in some other sports too, specially [tennis](_URL_0_) (maybe NSFW).", "Most people aren't taught to do it, at least in my experience. It's done...
Has Hacking Proven Password Encryption A Failure?	[ "The hacked databases that have gotten huge media attention have not used advanced algorithms to protect the passwords. Linkedin used unsalted SHA-1, Adobe used DES encryption (not hashing), myspace used unsalted SHA-1 of the first 10 characters in lowercase, Badoo used unsalted MD-5, etc. We even know about a lot ...
Fiber Internet	[ "Fiber optic internet works by shining a light down a long glass or plastic cylinder (fiber). The light reflects toward the center of the fiber because of the design and coating of the fiber. If you want a thorough explaination of the physics involved, r/askscience probably has some experts.\n\nIt is a very good fo...
How does the fridge stop your food from going bad?	[ "Food going bad is a result of microorganisms. Most of them grow better in warm temperatures; a fridge cooling the food slows down their reproduction rate so the food will be edible longer." ]
how liquid gets into your bladder, and why it seems faster when you're drinking beer	[ "When you drink something, the liquid is absorbed by various parts of your digestive tract, primarily in the intestines. It then enters your blood. Excess water is removed from the blood with the Kidneys, which also remove other bad stuff at the same time. All this stuff they remove from your blood ends up in the b...
Why is it called a Chinese Fire Drill?	[ "Copied from Wikipedia, because it explains it in fairly simple terms: \n\n“The term goes back to the early 1900s, and is alleged to have originated when a ship run by British officers and a Chinese crew practiced a fire drill for a fire in the engine room. The bucket brigade drew water from the starboard side, too...
Why can't I remember being a baby?	[ "Cognitive psychology student here:\n\nTo put it simply, you don't have the mechanisms that allow you to store and recall memories until you're around 3 1/2 years. Until that, you have what's called childhood amnesia. From that moment on, when you're 7-10 years old, you go through a period that's called reminiscenc...
In the United States, at least, why is the recommended dosage in non-prescription drugs typically split into two groups: one for those under twelve and one for those over twelve years of age? Isn't there a better metric, such as body weight, by which to provide multiple recommended dosages?	[ "Non-prescription drugs have a lot of latitude in dosage levels before they become dangerous. You're supposed to give your kid a 5mL teaspoon of cough syrup and you give them a 15mL tablespoon instead, three times as much. It ain't gonna hurt them.\n\nRecommended dosage levels inherit that flexibility. They're guid...
What exactly are hashtags and how do they work?	[ "Well, if reddit worked like twitter, and I wrote \"#PutinFartsOnABear,\" then the hashtagged word would act like a link, showing you all the other submissions that include that hashtag. \n\nIt also helps track and catalog what people's tweets or facebook posts are about, and so you can see if a topic is \"tren...
Where did the myth that police have to tell you they're police if you ask them come from?	[ "Police are allowed to commit a very large variety of activities that would otherwise be considered crimes.\n\n\nThe need to maintain cover is huge. They can move drugs, smuggle them. Launder money, as long as they are doing it within the scope of their undercover operation. They can do drugs if it's required to ma...
What is the "Faerie" lifestyle?	[ "Bro... from one man to another, bail. You're heading down a rabbit hole you don't want to go down.\n\nTo answer your question, your friend is what is known as an \"otherkin\". Popular among Tumblr users, it's a term used to describe people who really truly believe they are not human, at least on the inside. Mos...
The power of a Filibuster in the U.S. senate	[ "In the U.S. Senate, a filibuster is basically a block. A Senator can speak for as long as they want on whatever they want before a bill is voted on. That means that the bill can't pass until that Senator is done speaking. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But filibusters almost always draw a lot of att...
The "gravitational slingshot" effect or maneuver.	[ "Although it's not very safe, sometimes a person riding on a bike will reach out and grab onto the side of a moving car, and let the car pull their bike up to a faster speed.\n\nThe gravitational slingshot can work similarly, except instead of the spaceship holding onto the planet with a hand or other physical conn...
Why haven't we agreed on a standard shoe size measurement (and other clothing articles) for the whole world when we have the Metric or Imperial system of measurement?	[ "The main reason is switching cost. This doesn’t necessarily need to be monetary, though that can certainly be a factor. People are set in there ways and are resistant to changing a system they are familiar with. This is why people on iPhones don’t like switching to Android, and vice versa.\n\nThat being said, ther...
Two mirrors.	[ "The mirrors do not perfectly reflect and if you were in such a room then you would also be absorbing some amount of light. Thus, the real question becomes how fast does the light fade. We can intuitively see that it will fade more slowly than a room with no mirrors.\n\nTo run some math, the best mirror I can fin...
How do LiDAR sensors work? Wouldn't they just be overwhelmed by all the natural light?	[ "They use very bright IR lasers, which you can't see because they're outside the visible spectrum.\n\nThe LIDAR can easily see the spot from its laser - it's no different than using a [bright laser pointer](_URL_1_).\n\nCombine that with an extremely [aggressive filter](_URL_0_) on the lens and it's not much of a p...
Why are no countries boycotting the 2022 FIFA World Cup despite the corruption and even though people were exploited and died building the stadiums?	[ "Because everyone still loves the World Cup. \n\nAlso, this:\n\n > people were exploited and died building the stadiums?\n\nis false. People are still being exploited and dying, because the stadiums won't be complete for another six years. The death toll of the 2022 World Cup is expected to top 500,000 Qatar slav...
Why is it some learn faster than others by reading?	[ "The point of schooling is not \"to learn things\" but \"to learn how to learn.\" When you go out and find a job, you'll find that most of the content you learned in school would not apply at all. You will have to use your skill in learning new things to adapt to all the new content you need to absorb.\n\nThat said...
Why has The Avengers movie been released in several major countries before its release in the United States?	[ "So far as I know, it's to reduce piracy. \nCountries like NZ often have to wait to see movies months after they screen in the US and this provides a window for piracy that can't be closed by lawyers. If they release movies in non-US countries first then they only have to worry about piracy in the US and that's a...
What is a Physician Assistant (PA) compared to a doctor or nurse?	[ "A PA, or a Nurse-Practitioner (similar concept) is somewhere between a nurse and a doctor in terms of training and education. For a lot of the things you typically go see a doctor for - strep throat, cold/flu, ear/sinus infection, pink eye, bronchitis, etc - you really don't need someone with 10 years of medical ...
When we have those dreams that we're falling, why does it feel like we actually fall into the bed?	[ "It's because when you're muscles are relaxed, sometimes the brain messes up and thinks that relaxed muscles mean you're falling instead of resting", "I know this is odd, but the sensation of falling is all in your head. A rock falling doesn't experience that \"dropped\" feeling, or the feeling in your stomach a...
The Wagon-wheel effect.	[ "It's easiest to visualise in terms of a camera watching it rather than the human eye, so I'll use that example to start.\n\nImagine a camera which takes 12 photos each second. We then draw a line down from the edge to the centre of the wheel so we know where the \"start\" is. If it does a rotation/second then each...
Why did Ted Cruz ask those students to text "Constitution" to 33733?	[ "It's a way for his campaign to identify potential supporters. Presumably people who text back are those who are both interested in politics and potential supporters of his. It's good to identify and engage with those people early. They are more likely to vote, more likely to donate money, and more likely to get ot...
Once and for all, is The Pirate Bay legal, and if it isn't how does it remain online?	[ "There is no global law covering The Pirate Bay and similar sites.\n\nEven if, for example, it's illegal in the USA, it might be legal in Sweden.\n\nIf there is even a single country where it is legal, it can be hosted in and operated from said country, and then there is no mechanism to take it offline entirely.\n\...
What's currently happening on Brazil?	[ "A couple things, really. \n\nThe President and many members of the government are in deep trouble for something involving Petrobras — they are accused of taking bribes, etc. and this issue specifically is very divisive so I won't take a side. \n\nThen there's the fact that they have really bad economic problems, a...
- Why when people sneeze it’s out of their mouth, but your body is trying to get something out of your nose?	[ "I've wondered about that too. I think it has something to do with your nasal passages not being able to handle such a big blast of air, so most of it has to come from our mouths. Maybe sneezes aren't meant to get something out of our nose as much as they're meant to protect the more vital parts of our respirator...
Now that net neutrality rules go into effect today, how does that affect the average person?	[ "It's still being argued in court. The only real effect of the change is the structure of the court arguments shifted to one that enables more government regulation of fairness. \n\nThe average person won't know the effects until the court cases shake out, give it 2-3 years and ask again. Sorry, the world of gov...
- Could we only eat exactly what our bodies need, and never poop?	[ "> Poop is just waste, right?\n\nWrong. Or at least, poop is not just undigested food. Feces contain various other biological waste products that we can't stop producing. Things like bile, and broken-down, dead red blood cells. Plus, roughly 40% of feces consist of dead bacteria: You have tons of bacteria ...
Reddit has made Bernie Sanders look like the perfect candidate. Can someone explain some of his generally negative views?	[ "He is anti-science.. He moved to ban substances in plastic containers that were safe and the replacements are less safe. He is also a GMO scare monger looking to confuse the public into believing GMOs are unsafe. Additionally, he has sponsored a bill to treat veterans with \"alternate\" medicine rather than scient...
How can massive contributions to a political campaign affect the outcome of an election even when an opponent holds the majority of voters?	[ "Logically it can't if those voters have already voted or if they're totally decided, but a good proportion of the electorate is undecided or on the fence. Who they vote for can often come down to who puts out the best image and which candidate does a better job of \"reaching\" them.", "Pick any issue. Maybe it's...
What is cardiovascular endurance, what happens within your body when you gain it, and what happens when you lose it.	[ "Cardiovascular endurance refers to how efficiently your cardiovascular system can absorb oxygen (and expel carbon dioxide) and deliver it to tissues throughout the body. \n\nWhen you \"gain\" endurance, you're just working out the heart like any other muscle. Instead of lifting weights, you're running, walking, cy...
How do scuba divers ascend/descend?	[ "They wear a device called a BC (for buoyancy control).\n\nUsually it is a sort of vest with an inflatable bladder inside. Air from the tanks is redirected to the bladder to make the diver more buoyant, and released to make them less.\n\nDivers also typically wear weights to ensure they can sink if necessary, and ...
When markets crash, where does all the money go?	[ "It was never there to begin with.\n\nSay Jon has 50 shares in Company inc.. On the market, these 50 shares are worth $500, because lots of people want to pay $10 for a share in Company inc.\n\nBut Jon doesn't have $500. Jon has 50 shares.\n\nSuddenly, news breaks that the CEO of Company inc. makes all of her major...
Can someone explain to me what's the issue with Obama and drone strikes? And why what he said in Prague about nuclear weapons is so frowned upon?	[ "I don't know much about the topic, but one of the issues with drone strikes is that how we classify the victims of the strikes is woefully inadequate and misleading:\n\n_URL_3_\n_URL_2_\n_URL_1_\n\nEssentially, Obama changed the definition of \"militant\" in drone strikes to be incredibly wide to the point where i...
Why certain factions of Israel's leadership believe that settlements are necessary for Israeli safety.	[ "If you stand in parts of the settlements, known as Judea & Samaria, you can look over Israel completely and see the sea. If the Israelis don't have access to the settlements, then their enemies could easily fire down on the Israeli population. \n\nSo it's a security issue for many.", "Israel's leadership sees ...
The different Dimensions relative to our own.	[ "Don't let anybody fool you into thinking this is more complicated than it is. The word \"dimension\" simply refers to a number you use to identify a point.\n\nHere we've got a straight line. How can I pick a point on that line, then give you sufficient information to find exactly the same point? Well, we'll start ...
Is lava sticky?	[ "I can't answer if it's sticky, but you don't have to be sticky to be viscous. Just as one example gear oil is quite viscous without being sticky, it's especially thick when cold and since it's a lubricant is the definition of not sticky." ]
in Great Britain, what does the power differential look like between the Monarchy, Parliament, and the Prime Minister?	[ "The Monarch has, in effect, no legal power at all. In theory they can withhold their Royal Assent to a law, but in practice if they did so it would make the abolition of the monarchy much more likely, so they don't. Any stated political positions of the monarch would probably have significant impact one way or a...
How this battery train experiment works?	[ "[This](_URL_0_) should help you out...people on a physics forum explaining it pretty simply\n\nEDIT: Aww hell, I guess I'll copy/paste the answer here...\n\n > If you run a current through a coil; it generates an magnetic field inside the coil [like this](_URL_1_)\n\n > If the field lines are exactly parallel a ...
What exactly are TOPS for college.	[ "TOPS is a program in Louisiana that offers free college tuition to students who meet a certain GPA and ACT requirement. It was started by Patrick Taylor, a rich oil man, and now the Louisiana government pays for it. Tuition for private school is not free, but you get some money towards private school tuition as we...
What is the difference between an irrational number and a transcendental number?	[ "> All transcendental numbers are irrational. not all irrational numbers are transcendental.\n\n > Trancendental numbers cannot be written as roots of polynomials \n\n\n\nEli6:\n\nIrrational numbers are a class of numbers that are (among other things) defined by the fact that you cannot represent them as a ratio ...
Why does it burn if you burp through your nose after drinking something carbonated?	[ "They contain small amounts of carbonic acid and there will be some of this left in the gas that you release. Your nose is far more sensitive to such things than your mouth is, so you feel the acid burning more than your mouth.\n\nYou can test this with a green chili. Place one on your tongue and place one up your ...
Why are GPU clock speeds soo much lower than CPU clock speeds.	[ "They have very different architectures and are built for different purposes. Generally, GPU clocks are set as high as it is viable as well (limited by chip quality, required power, generated heat)... but asking why they are at such different levels is more or less like asking why bike engines and tractors operate ...
How is the TV rating calculated?	[ "They don't. They use sampling of a select few and project that out to the whole population.\n\nThey will often use [Nielsen Ratings](_URL_0_) which will connect a device to a television to record their viewing habits.", "TV ratings, the way they are done now, are statistical extrapolations based on representati...
What do some people find appealing in communism?	[ "What do you mean by \"communism\"?\n\nThe actual definition of the term is of a society in which there are no class distinctions and no money, and the means of production are accessible to everyone. In this idyllic world, everyone is equal, everyone co-operates to produce exactly what we need when we need it, nobo...
If a US soldier dies in another country and he is a donor, will his/her organs be donated or discarded?	[ "Yes, if viable the persons organs can/are be donated. However I did some googling and I found that it's pretty unlikely the organs can reach the patient in time. The heart is viable for 4-6 hours if kept on ice, with the liver ideally no longer than 12 but viable for up to 16 hours.\n\nThe organs would never make ...
How to temperature guns work in order to get the temperature of a surface?	[ "Next time you turn on your stove, you might notice that the burner turns red as it heats up.\n\nThat's because increasing the temperature of an object causes it to radiate energy.\n\nNow, for most objects, increasing the temperature of an object over the comfortable range for human beings doesn't change the energy...
How come I'm well-rested after sleeping from 3 to 12, but when I fall asleep at 12 and wake up at 9, I feel like hell?	[ "You can read up on Circadian Rhythm and REM Cycles for a more detailed explanation, but the simple answer is the your body gets used to a certain sleep wake cycle based on your habits and environment. When that cycle gets broken, by going to sleep too early or too late, or sleeping to long or to little, it can cau...
How Google stores caches of so many websites	[ "There are a few methods that Google uses.\n\nThe primary one is that Google spends plenty on continually adding more servers, server space, and improving their ability to manage that ever-growing space.\n\nAlso, copies of crawled websites compress better than many types of data. Google once released that they're a...
Why is it bad that Rachel Dolezal identifies as black even though she's apparently white?	[ "The thing about race is that there's virtually no difference in brain chemistry or anything like that between races. Identifying as a different gender, for instance, is different, where actual physiological differences might come into play. Race identification is a very superficial thing, genetically, and plays mo...
Why do countries like China, Japan, and Korea test so much higher than the U.S. in math, science, and reading. Having recognized this, why doesn't the U.S. implement similar teaching styles?	[ "It is more down to the parents valuing education especially in mathematics and sciences than to a difference in teaching methods, though valuing teachers as a resource is less regarded in the USA than Asia.", "Asian parents are stereotypically rigorous about their children's education. In the US too, Asians scor...
The difference in natural sugar you find in fruit and refined sugar?	[ "There is no chemical difference. When you eat fruit, you're eating sugar embedded in a plant, and so you digest it more slowly (good), and you take in all the other stuff in the plant (fiber, protein, interesting chemicals from the plant like estrogens).\n\nThere's a lot of evidence that eating fruit is good for ...
Why do our pets like being stroked and cuddled?	[ "Probably because they're covered in hair, you know how your ball hair itches sometimes and it feels good to scratch it? Times that by 1000. They're basically big walking ballbags.", "Have you ever been stroked? It's really nice.", "I think i read somewhere that its an evolutionary behavior to encourage cleanin...
how every lock and key in the world is made to be unique with no duplicates	[ "They aren't, there are lots of duplicates out there\n\nSchlage house locks are very common, their keys come with a 5 or 6 digit code on them. Best case that gives you a million key combos. Not nearly enough to make every lock unique, but plenty to make it unlikely a random person has the same key as you\n\nSecurit...
What happens if the CA drought continues and we run out of water?	[ "In the event that the drought continues, water will be re-prioritized for human consumption (as opposed to agriculture, which is the vast majority of water usage at the moment) [Irrigation of Agricultural Crops - Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources](_URL_1_). If the drought further continues and water sto...
How can someone wake up from a brain injury and suddenly be able to speak a foreign language?	[ "When this has been reported, what is often glossed over is the fact that these people could always speak the language. The brain learns and stores your first language differently to your subsequent languages. So it's possible for the first language to be lost or suppressed independently of other languages by certa...
It has been said that America's debt to other countries has its pros and cons. Obviously it's bad because we owe over $18 trillion, but why could this debt benefit them?	[ "> America's debt to other countries has its pros and cons. Obviously it's bad because we owe over $18 trillion\n\nThat's not correct. While the federal debt is at 18 trillion, we do not owe 18 trillion to foreign countries. The vast, vast majority of the debt is held internally, by the American government or Ameri...
ETMLI5 why churches/religious buildings in the United States get property tax exemptions?	[ "religious institutions are not-for-profit 501c(3) institutions, just like the YMCA or Duck's Unlimited or other non-profits.\n\na nonprofit's income and profit (often through donations, although they can still charge their members) is legally supposed to go toward the betterment of the organization's mission or th...
Why is third party software "locked" to certain operating systems?	[ "The operating system, among other things, provides an interface for programs to the hardware and usually other stuff like the means to make a window, put buttons in it, render things, etc. There's no cross-platform interface for all this that exists natively on all OSes except kind of ChromeOS and FirefoxOS which ...
If you held a pair of prescription glasses in front of a camera and recorded something, how would it appear when playing it back? Would some people see it blurry and others see it clear?	[ "No, because the camera sensor becomes the \"eye\", and the lens is the optic in front of it. If you put another optic in front of it, you're only changing the light hitting the sensor. You cannot change the optics in front of the eyes of the person watching the screen. Take a quick look at what [circles of confusi...
How do people afford lawyers?	[ "What truetofiction said is idiotic. I am not sure why people feel the need to comment when they have no idea what they are talking about. His first sentence is so insanely wrong that it hurts my head. \n\nI am an attorney so here goes. Tort law in the United States is based on common law and is derived from hundre...
what is the purpose of a RAID storage?	[ "There are many types of RAID storage,\n\n#1. Stripe or RAID-0, when you have to matching sized drives and data is split evenly on both drives. when you have one drive pulling half a photo and another pulling the other half, data gets to the ram/cpu in less time than would be for a single drive to deliver the file...
what were the negative social and economic consequences of bigamy/polygamy, that gradually resulted in its criminalization, in most countries ?	[ "You can look at it from both directions.\n\nIn one direction, polygamy is a response to a shortage of men. Normally, this shortage is due to consuming those men in wars and violent criminal enterprises. So extremely violent societies are more likely to favor polygamy.\n\nIn the other direction, polygamy causes (...
Why do people want Obama impeached over the Benghazi attack?	[ "The scandal originally was about when the attacks occurred the Administration, including Hillary Clinton, blamed it on reaction to some terribly made [anti-Muslim movie trailer](_URL_0_). In actuality it was coordinated effort by Al Qaeda.\n\nThis got the Republicans very upset. And they accused Obama of playing p...
After the apocalypse, how would I start a currency for my newly created society of 50 people?	[ "Something everyone needs, so perhaps bullets, or rations. Examples would be The Last of Us and FTL: Faster Than Light. Both these games, one being post-apocalyptic, the other a space exploration thingy feature trading using ration cards and \"scrap\" (used to mend ships and buy upgrades) respectively. Both of whic...
Why can you only use a #2 pencil on a scantron sheet?	[ "It's not really an issue of whether it works, but of who is responsible in the event that it doesn't work.\n\nThey aren't going to test their machine with every possible type of pencil. Even if they tested it with a variety, someone would find some pencil that doesn't scan right. So instead, they test it wit...
Why am I hungry before bedtime but then fine for hours after waking up even if I have not eaten ?	[ "i think it is because your metabolism slows down" ]
Why are there no sentient plant-based species? Why is base intelligence so abundant and diverse in animals, but non-existent in the plant kingdom?	[ "> Is there something inherent to “plant cells” that prohibits that possibility?\n\nIt is more something inherent to plant biology that prohibits the possibility, and is related to the lack of nerves within plants. Brains require a lot of energy! The human brain consumes about 20% of the total energy used by the...
aliasing and antialiasing in computer graphics.	[ "Game's graphics sometimes appear to be \"pointy\" or not curved enough due to the way the objects are built - using a grid of dots/ geometrical shapes and covering them with a skin/texture. antialiasing process adds \"new dots\" to the object in order to smooth its appearance.", "Your computer screen is made up ...
Venomous means harm is done with injection. Poisonous means harm is done when ingested... But is venom poisonous, and is poison venomous? Like, will eating a venomous critter poison you?	[ "Most venoms are not poisonous. \n\nMost poisons are venomous. (That sentence is wrong, but we're having a conversation.)\n\nVenoms are usually proteins that are produced to do a very specific thing, they are designed to be injected into soft tissue and act very quickly. Most venoms are neurotoxins, meaning they ...
how does a traffic start on a highway?	[ "Let's say that a road is full of cars going the same speed. Something happens that causes a group of cars to slow down. \nAll of the cars behind them have to slow down, the cars behind that set of cars, and so on.\n\nLong after the original cars have sped up and gone, cars far away are still having to slow down d...
Why does chicken pox get more dangerous the older you are?	[ "The chicken pox virus isn't completely understood, but it's thought that it's harder on you as an adult because your body attacks it more violently. In other words, it's worse not because the virus is worse, it's because your more mature immune system reacts more strongly to it and causes other adverse affects." ]
How would "true" Communism work?	[ "As in the ideal? There wouldn't be a concept of ownership. Everything would in some way belong to everybody. In return, everybody would work hard at their jobs, secure in the knowledge that everyone else is doing the same. Basically, everyone would put in equal effort into society and get equally rewarded.\n\nThis...
If all the glaciers melted, we somehow figured out how to deal with the rising waters and displaced people. How would our weather systems change and could we survive that?	[ "I'm a meteorology student - I'll try answering this. Sorry it's a long answer, but Earth is complicated. Here goes!\n\nThere's a term called \"albedo,\" which basically means the amount of light something reflects. Ice has a high albedo, while water's is lower. If the ice is all gone, the Arctic would get much war...
If there is no sound in space, how is that car broadcasting Bowie up there? Is it able to be heard if you were near?	[ "Actually were there are molecules there will be sound. If the Tesla passes through a cloud of gas you could in theory hear it, until it passes out of the cloud.\n\nThe music will always be playing (until the power run's out) and if you place your head or for that matter your hand on the car you will feel / hear th...
Why do books have "This page is intentionally left blank" pages?	[ "I work for a small local printer (there's maybe 12 of us) and this is done for a few different reasons and you'll normally see these on the left hand side of your books.\n\nIn the event of a textbook/test/manuals, it's to keep people from thinking something is supposed to be there. Most sections/chapters will sta...
Why do so many fast food drive thrus have 2 windows, but always have you pull to the second window?	[ "The reason for this is that if they get very busy, they can have you pay at the first window and receive you food at the second. However if they do not feel they are busy enough to merit the extra worker, they will only have 1 window open. I believe they typically use the 2nd because it is closer to the kitchen an...
Imagine a room with mirrors as walls. There is a light source that produces light for a short period of time in it, then the light source stops. Will the room stay bright because the light will bounce of the mirrors for ever?	[ "Ignoring the conundrum of trapping it, which would be impossible, the light would both lose energy with every bounce and be absorbed by the mirror. Mirror's actually have a naturally green tint that absorbs light, which can be viewed when having mirrors facing parallel to each other - the further down the reflecti...
How misted water and sunlight make a rainbow?	[ "Here's a pretty simple phenomenon to explain.\n\nSunlight, is composed of many different wavelengths of light sandwiched together. Some of this light isn't even visible to human eyes, however those colors which we can see are part of the visible spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet and all of the...
If I set my portable A/C to 20°C when the room temperature is 10°C why/why won't the A/C heat the room?	[ "If you want to use the AC to heat a room, you need to reverse the outputs: The radiator that gets rid of the heat needs to vent inside, and the radiator that produces cool air needs to vent outside.\n\nHowever, even if you do this, the temperature controller might not consider that application, so you would have t...
Why is it that people procrastinate?	[ "Many people do it due to perfectionism and anxiety. For example, I’ll put off essays because I’ll worry that if I start an essay early, I won’t be able to do as good a job on it as I would if I’ve had more time to think. I’ll wait and wait, even though I know that if I keep putting it off I’ll end up turning it in...
how do people die in their sleep in a fire? Wouldn't uncontrolable coughing wake you up first?	[ "The carbon monoxide gas can knock a person unconscious -- so they may be \"put to sleep\" before they ever wake up.", "Most people who die in fires die from the lack of oxygen and the carbon monoxide. The process is gradual and you go from sleeping to loss of consciousness to death without noticing. You may get ...
How does a law on paper become enforced?	[ "People are employed to make sure others are complying with relevant laws. These people are known as law enforcement." ]
if a murder were to occur on the ISS, what would be done about it?	[ "[Wikipedia article on space jurisdiction](_URL_0_). [PDF on law in ISS](_URL_1_). [More info](_URL_2_).", "There is probably no set routine for dealing with space murders, as it is such an unlikely and unheard of event. Most likely, it would be a special case, and the country of origin of the murderer would pros...
What caused the "Dust Bowl" of the 1930s? What stopped it? Could it happen again?	[ "Cause: Excessive farming. The area that the Dust Bowl took place in had spent centuries/millenia/etc. with grass holding down its dirt against winds in the area. Settlers went west and plowed everything up, and the wind started picking up the dirt.\n\nStop: Mostly people realizing that over-farming was bad, as w...
How come when we eat food that's scalding hot, it doesn't feel like that after we swallow or if it's in our stomach?	[ "Simple. We don't have thermoreceptors (neurons that are able to sense the change in temperature which gives us the sensation of heat and cold) in those organs/tissues." ]
Why do escalators break so easily and why does it take so long to repair them?	[ "Escalators have a hard life. A lot of the time, they are very old, I know some in my city are apparently upwards of 50 years old. They are always in use, always being walked on with wet, muddy shoes and get full of dust and debris. With something so big, they have to decide whether it is worth replacing or repairi...
Why are kids so fucking picky?	[ "Firstly, kids have a stronger sense of smell and taste. Many of the things we eat can taste and smell much stronger to kids.\n\nSecondly, kids have a phase when they realize they can refuse things. They realize they can say \"no\", that they are not mindless subordinate to adults. They learn that they can express ...
(biochemistry) why does Km decrease for uncompetitive inhibitors?	[ "Uncompetitive Inhibition occurs when an inhibitor can only bind the enzyme-substrate complex. That is, free enzyme is not a target of inhibition, but once a substrate enters so too can the inhibitor. Obviously, because enzymes which are bound to substrates can become blocked, the Vmax must be reduced. Km, however ...
How do virus scanners check each file for thousands of different kinds of malware so quickly?	[ "There are a few things to consider:\n\n1. Unless you specifically instruct your AV to do so, it probably isn't checking every file on your device. Instead, it targets the 'problem areas' where viruses are mostly known to inhabit.\n\n2. While there have been many, many, many viruses throughout history, most of th...
Why can I use headphones as a microphone and not a microphone as a speaker(s)?	[ "You can if the mic is a dynamic (electromagnetic) mic. Most mics are electret condenser mics. If you do try to use a dynamic mic as a speaker, you will get very little sound and will burn out the coil if you try to get more sound. Microphones are made with thin wires and small diaphragms." ]
Why do people twitch, or jump, while they are falling asleep?	[ "Ah I hate these! It's a called a hypnagogic jerk and they occur during the transition between being awake and asleep. There are a couple of theories for them, such as accidental neuron misfiring, but I like the evolutionary approach to the phenomena. \n\nThe theory goes that the jerk originates from our origins - ...
When reading nutritional information labels what is the remaining weight made of?	[ "Water it is. There is pretty much nothing else that could possibly be it. A very small percentage would be some technological additives like preservatives, colourants and stuff, but they usually are used in insignificant amounts (10s of mg/kg). Oh and possibly air if you think about some puffy bread, but that too ...
How does wind 'suck' a door shut?	[ "Venturi effect. Air flowing through a restriction--even if only restricted on one side, such as when it flows past your open garage door--creates a low-pressure area as it must flow faster to get past the restriction. Higher pressure air inside the house then blows the door at the top of the stairs shut.\n\nThe ...
Can someone explain why is it when you crouch down, take deep breaths and quickly stand up, you get dizzy?	[ "Hyperventilating [reduces the level of carbon dioxide in the blood](_URL_0_). Rising carbon dioxide levels signal to the brain that you need to breathe - hyperventilating before hand allows oxygen levels to fall further before this happens. This is explained on [this wikipedia page](_URL_1_).\n\nStanding up rapidl...
What causes someone's voice to sound so much different than the norm (i.e. Gilbert Gottfried, Ray Romano) ? Is there a distinct physical difference in those people's larynges?	[ "No idea. I was curious too. but I do know Gilbert Gottfrieds voice is fake. he's over the top on purpose.\n\n_URL_0_" ]
The process for writing a song	[ "This has more to do with lyrics or stories or just writing in general but I think Neil Gaiman sums it up very well in my opinion. \n\n\n\n\"You write. That’s the hard bit that nobody sees. You write on the good days and you write on the lousy days. Like a shark, you have to keep moving forward or you die. Writing ...
Where does the $$ for universal basic income come from? If an entire country is making UBI, where do the tax dollars come from?	[ "So the issue here is that people are still going to have jobs and work in companies. Many people are still going to work because they enjoy their jobs, because they want to have more money beyond the UBI, because it will keep them busy. The idea is that enough people will still be working that the economy will fun...
Why is pork belly not being sold more commonly in the US?	[ "Pork belly is sold in the US, but people rarely buy a slab of meat. They prefer to buy it already processed into cuts, so they buy primarily bacon (normally preferring cured or smoked bacon) and to a lesser degree fatback rather than buying full porkbelly.", "It's becoming one of those trendy foods. More and mor...
What would happen if very few people voted in the US 2016 Presidential Election ( E.g < 10 million votes) maybe as a protest. Would this open other options after the election?	[ "State law decides how the states use their electors in the college. (There is no federal popular election, but unfortunately this is often misunderstood.) The states choose to determine their vote using a popular election, but I'm not aware of any state that requires a minimum turnout. Perhaps they would retroacti...

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