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What effects would I notice if I could adjust the circumference of my car wheels whilst driving? | [
"Essentially the same thing that happens when you shift gears. Making the wheel larger would be like upshifting; making it smaller, downshifting. In fact that's exactly what's happening inside the transmission. When you shift up a gear, you're just moving to a set of gears where the drive gear (analogous to the whe... | [
"You want narrow tires for snow/ice. 245/45R18 aren't that narrow. Usually what people do is buy a cheap set of steel rims in a size common on econoboxes, so they cay buy cheap, tall, narrow econobox winter tires to put on them. Also because you can slide around into curbs and only mess up your cheap steel rims and... |
What was the Russian colonization and administration of Alaska like? | [
"Hey there! This question gets asked quite a bit around here, and I'm blaming Reddit's poor search function for keeping you from getting the answer you want more easily. Here's a few previous answers, and if they don't have what you're after, feel free to ask a followup! * [What was life like in Russian Alaska?](_U... | [
"Follow-up question: I once read on this sub that the Tasmanian Aborigines of Australia gradually lost the technology of cold-weather gear after Tasmania was separated from the mainland. Well, it gets bloody cold in Tassie, so how did they cope?"
] |
What is the difference between AC and DC power, and what is the advantages of each? | [
"DC (Direct Current) is just current flowing in one direction. AC (Alternating current) is current that alternates back and forth very quickly. AC is capable of transmitting power over long distances with less loss than DC, which is why it's used to transmit power from the power plant all the way to your house. Som... | [
"If somebody hacks your credit card & runs up charges, calling the card issuer & telling them will allow you to simply NOT pay for those fraudulent charges. If somebody hacks your debit card, that money is already out of your bank account and you have to fight to get your money BACK. Given that little tidbit, I'm ... |
Why do many of pop music's biggest names (Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Jason Derulo) need a group of writers and producers for each song, even though their songs are so simple, lyrically and musically? | [
"Today's pop hits are constructed. Separate elements put together to create a whole. One guy does the beats, one guy sorts out the sample, one guy does the main melody, another person might chip in with an idea for the lyrics, Rihanna herself might be responsible for the main body of words and another person will p... | [
"Pharmacists have to check to make sure there's no interactions with medications while simultaneously taking phone calls from patients over side effects, interactions, etc. while also taking/making phone calls to doctors offices to obtain prescriptions and clarify mistakes made by doctors. They also have to make su... |
Why do we fidget when we want to urinate? | [
"Hey, I love the question so I made a quick [video](_URL_0_) to answer it! If you don't want to watch the video here's the reasons as to why we fidget. - Once our bladder gets full, it creates pressure. - If we can't physically go to the toilet at that time (too far away, or in public and don't want to shame oursel... | [
"No matter how much you shake and dance the last drip ends up in your pants - Old English proverb."
] |
Why is it that a person may have no idea about physics and their formulas, but they can easily gauge how to merge into traffic, throw a baseball, etc? | [
"Ah this is one of the main questions in the entire field of psychological perception. There are multiple fields discussing it. What you are speaking of specifically are called \"Affordances\" and the field of \"ecological perception\" does quite a good job at describing what you are asking. I suggest reading about... | [
"You know how authors write long stories using letters and words and the rules of grammar and writing? Its just like that. With enough knowledge of how to read (math), these kinds of explanations make sense. Dont feel bad that you cant read it. Its just like if you tried to read a story in a language you dont know.... |
What makes those dark spots in our eyes when we look away from a bright light? | [
"It's a process called photobleaching. Light comes into your eye and hits the back of the eye (the retina). The retina then, through a somewhat complicated process, sends signals to the brain (this is an oversimplification). There is a shield that protects your retinas from getting too much light called the retina... | [
"Mostly drying out. You just spent a lot time not refreshing your water supply, and if you weren't amply hydrated your body will make short-term cuts to the amount of water it sends to various places to conserve it. That includes your mouth and eyes. The \"slime\" and \"eye crusties\" are partially dried out collec... |
Why does the United States still give money to Native Americans? | [
"My native tribe received money due to broken treaties. The treaties are actually still on file at the library of congress. We sued for land that was supposed to be given to us as a result of signing the treaty. That being said that money is all but gone. Now most of our tribal income comes from gambling."
] | [
"There are genetic markers in DNA known as SNPs (Single nucleotide polymorphisms), essentially single letter changes in DNA. Certain populations and ethnic groups have a makeup of genetic markers that are unique to the ancestry and history of a population. By looking at which markers you have and which markers are ... |
How does eating protein build muscle? | [
"It's not so much that eating protein builds muscle, but rather that muscles are made mainly of protein. [Muscle fibers](_URL_0_) are made from actin and myosin filaments, both proteins. So, in order to build new muscle/repair damaged muscle, you need to eat protein, so that you can break it down into amino acids t... | [
"Think of nutrients as lego sculptures. Some are simple and easy for you to take apart, but sometimes they're really complicated and you have to ask your brother to help you take them apart. Beans have nutrients called complex oligosaccharides that are like really complicated lego sculptures. They're really hard to... |
Would fuel consumption in a vehicle (say, a car) decrease if the interior were not filled with air, but in a vacuum? | [
"The car would be very slightly lighter due to not having the mass of the air inside, of the order of 5kg or so. That's about the same as a cat, and is a very minor difference - things like road conditions and driving technique have a more prominent effect, and even choosing a lighter driver would do more. If you c... | [
"_URL_0_ The short answer is that when you set up a siphon like this, were the water comes out has to be lower than where the water starts from. A more theoretical answer would be what is driving this siphon is the potential energy in the raised body of water. If you expend that energy to move the water the most it... |
Exactly how do the work out the use/sell by date on food? | [
"From years and years of experience in industrial food processing. They know how the specific food, cooking method, preservatives and packing will effect the ability of a food to remain edible and for about how long. Food science is a serious business. As an industry, it has worked hard to make foods last as long a... | [
"at the easiest level, you take the executable binary files that the game is running. take the bits in the program and run them thru a math function called a checksum. the checksum produces a number. this number will change if any of the bits changes. the publisher knows what the unmodified binary's checksum nu... |
Can someone explain to me why an atom doesn't collapse into itself? | [
"Normally, the electrons can't get even *close* to localized enough to collapse into the nucleus. Even in the ground state, the wavefunction just spreads out too much."
] | [
"It does get hot. But since it is so thin, it has very little mass and a very high surface area compared to that mass. So by the time you've pulled it out of the oven, it's already cooled down quite a bit. That very low mass also means there is not much actual heat energy stored there to burn you."
] |
To increase power, why do gasoline engines add to the number of cylinders while diesel engines add to the size of the cylinders/engine block? | [
"Diesel engines compress the fuel air until it combusts. Petrol engines compress them less and use a spark to combust them. So in a diesel engine you get more benefit from compressing more fuel/air to combustion so bigger cylinders = more power because you get longer strokes on the piston. For petrol engines you do... | [
"Different languages have different purposes from what they were intended/built to do. Java was built with a virtual machine which is essentially a decoder that lets you run the code in any machine (ios, windows, linux, etc...). It also has many more things running behind the scenes like memory allocation which is ... |
What happens if a person has dual citizenship and one of the countries declares war on the other? | [
"First, dual citizenship isn't really it's own thing. Rather, you just have citizenship in two different countries. However, some countries do force you to renounce your citizen to certain or all other countries to gain citizenship with them. Others grant it for life and you can't renounce it. So because the rules ... | [
"Yes! The child would be what is called a [chimera](_URL_0_)! He/she would have some areas of the body made of the twin's cells and some of its own cells. There was actually an instance where a chimera woman almost lost her kids because they were found to be not a genetic match, but they actually were hers and *her... |
How do co-ordinates in space work? | [
"Whatever is convenient to use really. In orbits around earth, the earth is used as the point of reference. When orbiting the sun, the sun is used. No matter what point of reference is used, the calculations work out to be the same, just math can be simplified quite a bit if proper references are used"
] | [
"Randall Munroe, the artist behind _URL_0_, completed an epic and award-winning project called 'Time'. At one point in the story, he [depicted a night scene](_URL_1_). Well, his audience was geeks, so within a hour or so we had determined, by the proper motion of the stars, the location of the planets in the starfi... |
how do fingernails grow, and how are they white? | [
"Just under the skin behind your cuticles, you have your nail matrix. This is a group of cells whose only job is to secrete the protien keratin in a large sheet, then push the sheet forwards. At that thickness, keratin is basically colorless and translucent; while it's attached, you can see the nail bed through it ... | [
"Fuck the downvotes, this blew my mind. I have no idea how this happens."
] |
Why does state put so many ties between marriage & divorce and personal finances? | [
"> Please explain why state is right to enforce this. The thing is, marriage is a contract that basically says two people will share all their stuff with eachother. They do this voluntarily and in full knowledge of what the consequences are. As such, they implictily agree to the state enforcing it for them. If they... | [
"The IRS doesn't know exactly how much money you will make this year based on a single paycheck, you might have a second job or a rental property or you might get a raise. They also don't know what deductions you qualify for or are going to take when they issue your pay cheque."
] |
Why does the US debt keep going up? Will it ever be repaid? Will China ever stop lending? | [
"This is not a direct answer to your question but just a correction of one of your assumptions. You mention China assuming (as many people do) that borrowing from China is significant. This is not the case. The US national debt is about $20 Trillion (2016). Of this Japan and China each hold about $1 trillion each. ... | [
"Imagine that you have 10 pieces of silver in your pocket. Now, you take those pieces of silver out of your pocket and you cut them all in half. Now you have twenty pieces of silver, but really, you don't have any more silver than you did before, it's just in more pieces. Printing paper money basically works the sa... |
How substantiated is the LA Times recent editorial on the Bear Flag Republic? | [
"It should be noted that the rich Californios weren't exactly screwed by the Americans. Most kept their fortunes and some even gained state political office after statehood. The Native Americans faced extreme hardship during the Gold Rush period. On phone right now, but there is a lot of literature on this that you... | [
"This does not quite fit the bill of \"rival country\" but in 1989, a self described \"ecoterrorist group\" known only as \"The Breeders\" took credit for the recent infestation of California by medflies, which began destroying crops. Opinion is divided today as to whether it was a real attack, an out of control pr... |
Currently, are there any known effects on human health for people living close to power lines? | [
"[Here](_URL_0_) is a WHO publication on the topic from 2007. From the summary statement: > Uncertainties in the hazard assessment include the role that control selection bias and exposure misclassification might have on the observed relationship between magnetic fields and childhood leukaemia. **In addition, virt... | [
"Since this is a homework question, we expect a little more effort from you. What research have you done so far for your paper? What are your findings so far? Is there anything *specific* you have a question about?"
] |
Why is it in movies a guy will snap another guy's neck and he will die instantly? | [
"Neck snaps are particularly useful in film because they require little to no special effects work. Just have the actor turn their head, dub in a cracking sound, and you are done. It looks better than the terrible \"judo chop\" used previously. Breaking your neck could be lethal in reality, but it would be terrible... | [
"As the muscle gets filled with blood, it's in a more contracted state. The bicep releases tension to elongate the arm, and contract to bend at the elbow. When that muscle is pumped up, the muscle is shorter, meaning the arm will sit (at rest) at more of a bend."
] |
How do scientists know when they can trust a theory? | [
"After actual experiments have given the expected result."
] | [
"Because critics are full of shit. Most of the art world for example called Jackson Pollock \"Jack the Dripper\" until a wealthy hotel magnate bough one of his works and put it in the lobby. Then Pollock was a genius. Critics hate to be on the wrong side of history so they never have an issue it seems changing thei... |
Why can you easily rip a newspaper vertically, but not horizontally? | [
"I would imagine it's because paper is based on fibrous material and it'll be easier to tear it in the direction most of those fibers go instead of ripping across those fibers."
] | [
"Food takes time to reach the stomach, and you'll notice if you eat and then wait you'll be less hungry. Chewing more simply takes more time to do, and so you get full with less food"
] |
Why people living in high elevation are usually short people? | [
"Because tall people have a higher \"surface area to volume ratio.\" This means they are exposing more of their body to the cold than the heat they are able to keep in, compared to short people. Since heat conservation is essential to survival in cold places (high altitudes), it makes sense that shorter people are ... | [
"\"Just about everyone here\" Where is \"here\" for you? It sounds like your question's premise is based on a small sample set based on personal observation. Before your question is addressed, you should be making sure the premise is valid..."
] |
The US Senate passed a bill allowing 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia. How exactly does a person sue a country that doesn't fall under that law? | [
"Article III, Section 2 of the US constitution says that states or citizens can sue foreign governments in the US Supreme Court. It's one of the very few cases where the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction. And sure, they could just not show up -- the same way you could choose not to show up if you were sued. B... | [
"a SIM card tells the tower who the call should be billed to 911 calls aren't billed. the carrier is required by law to route the call to the local emergency services. nothing stops you from spamming 911. you are an asshole if you do it from a SIM-less phone."
] |
Why would it be illegal to collect rain in barrels? | [
"Because the law was originally made to prevent someone gathering rainwater from huge areas, as that would prevent it from going into the river, fucking over downstream people. Then when they wrote the law (two things you don't want to know how is made are sausages and laws), some places wrote it to reflect this, ... | [
"It's new, legislation hasn't caught up yet. In 5-years, these guys will be paying extra for licenses, insurance, fines, health/safety and all sorts of other bureaucracy"
] |
Two strands of DNA are put under UV radiation. One strand is larger than the other. Which strand is more likely to experience an alteration in gene expression? | [
"UV light causes adjacent thymine or cytosine bases to form dimers, causing mutations during DNA replication. The longer strand is more likely to have these dimers generated, simply due to the increase in possible CC or TT combinations present. However, within a single protein sequence, the chance is the same. Note... | [
"Straight hair that lies flat tends to hold in heat. That's an advantage in cold climates. Curly hair allows heat to escape while still providing protection from the sun to the skin underneath. That's an advantage in hot climates. Melanin in skin (the part that makes it dark) tends to block what's needed to make vi... |
How do we have a full copy of The Gallic Wars by Julius Caesar? | [
"Followup question, did it help that this is a nearly ideal teaching-kids-Latin text? It is written in basic, nonflowery prose. The military subject matter is interesting to at least male children, compared to most other choices of old literature. Would Dark Ages and Medieval monks have always used this as a teachi... | [
"There is a sizable \"hill\" in Rome (Monte Testaccio) which is [almost entirely old broken pieces of millions of olive oil jars](_URL_1_). Archaeologists use the site to gather information about the Roman economy at various times."
] |
What is the 4chan raid? | [
"I don't know about the last bit, but an internet \"raid\" is when a group of people decide to flood a website with users, all under a single purpose. 4chan \"raids\" are usually from the /b/ board, and range everywhere from a group of users deciding to all leave nasty comments on someone's Facebook wall, to trying... | [
"A guy on Gawker published violentacrez's real name, which caused a lot of subreddits to ban all Gawker links."
] |
How can matter outside of the Observable Universe travel faster than light? | [
"It can't. Nothing with mass can ever travel at or faster than the speed of light in a vacuum (c). It sounds like you may be confusing the observable universe with the Hubble volume. Beyond the Hubble volume, objects are receding from us at faster than c because of the expansion of the universe. The objects themsel... | [
"We don't really. Flawed models are always an option to explain weird phenomenon, and it certainly wouldn't be the first time it happened. The reason the leading theories include Dark Matter and Dark Energy is because we can't find the error. Everything we can measure in scales we have access to seem to be matching... |
How does Google Maps know to update bus routes? | [
"Many transit agencies, before or when they change routes (keep in mind route changes are usually planned months in advance), will publish a GTFS (general transit feed specification) data pack, which Google can quickly import to overlay on top of their maps, and/or replace timetables."
] | [
"Have you ever those reCaptcha tests that ask you to select the squares with street signs in them? They are used to help teach self driving cars how to identify what is and isn't a street sign. Edit: CPG Grey does a video about it - _URL_0_"
] |
How does printer ink not bleed through to the other side of the paper? | [
"It would if you used too much of it. But modern inkjet printers use microdrops of only a few picoliters per dot. There's just not enough ink to bleed through."
] | [
"They don't. It's a marketing ~~lie~~ gimmick. I used to work for a company that did a similar thing by mail. New customers were supposed to sign up by a certain time for special rates but as a specific matter of policy we'd give those rates to *anyone* who mailed back the special offer."
] |
What is the white foam that forms on top of the water when you cook pasta ? | [
"It's starch. By the way, when cooking pasta, or any starchy items, add some oil to water. Note that this is NOT for the folk tale of making the pasta \"not stick\", it doesn't do jack for that. But it will prevent the pot from boiling over."
] | [
"> why does compressed air get colder as you use it? Probably what you are familiar with is \"canned air\" such as in computer cleaners. They aren't really compressed air but rather a chemical with a low boiling point and low vapor pressure. This allows them to pack a high volume of gas into a container without it ... |
How does a virus like Ebola lay dormant of long periods of time and then reappear again? | [
"I don't believe that the Ebola virus is thought to have a latent state, as some viruses do (herpes and HIV). Instead, there is the appearance of occasional outbreaks in populations which could give that idea. It is believed that the virus has an animal reservoir where it is alive and well and will make zoonotic tr... | [
"> Is it considered a cell? An organism? It doesn't meet the usual definition of a cell (and thus an organism). It also doesn't have cytoplasm, the bacteria/archea it injects its DNA/RNA into does. As for levels of organization, it has a number of things. It varies a bit depending on which class you're looking at. ... |
What happens if we take a entangled pair and we measure one particle with lateral spin and other particle vertically at the same time? | [
"When the two observers measure the entangled spins along *different* axes, they actually both still always get either up/down along their respective axis. In your case, if the original spins were in an entangled \"singlet\" state (opposite spins), then if one observer sees spin up, the other observer will see spin... | [
"Bob lives in a 2d world. It has width and length, but that's it. We view his world from on high, seeing Bob (represented by a circle) maneuvering around various objects. A lamppost is a bright circle. A wall is a line. He can't go under or over anything, because that doesn't exist in his world. You just have to go... |
Male Pattern Baldness. What gives? | [
"Here's what I understand: Everyone in the world has a list of instructions in their body called DNA. DNA affects how someone looks, if they're a boy or girl, and other things. If you're a boy, your list is divided into X and Y. If you're a girl, your list is two Xs. If you're a girl you have two copies of the hair... | [
"You each got 50% of your dad's genes, some overlap and some don't, some get activated earlier than others."
] |
What is actually happening in a person's body when they build up a tolerance to a drug or alcohol? | [
"\"Reward\" or \"pleasure\" comes from your Nucleus Accumbens in the brain, which is partly mediated by the Ventral Tegmental Area. Along with other structures, the VTA stimulates the Nucleus Accumbens with neurotransmitters, most commonly dopamine. Drugs alter the effectiveness of this stimulation. After awhile, y... | [
"It's not just the pupil that helps us adjust to bright & dark situations. There is a chemical called Rhodopsin that detects when photons (light) hits it. The light breaks down the Rhodopsin, and it takes a while for it to reform/replenish. So when it's bright and you go into the dark (or stop looking at a bright l... |
If dark energy is a constant force why isn't it presented with the other forces like gravity and the weak nuclear force? | [
"The way we currently describe it, it's part of gravity. It's accounted for in the cosmological constant term of Einstein's equation. However, we don't really know what dark energy is, so if it turns out not to be the cosmological constant upon finer measurements, maybe it'll turn out to be its own interaction. [Fo... | [
"In physics laws of conservation (like the conservation of energy) rely on a fundamental symmetry, which means that if you can transform a property of your physical system while not changing how the system itself works (in smartass terms it's invariant under a transformation), then there's a conserved quantity tied... |
When a crane is used to construct a skyscraper around it, how do they get the crane out at the end? | [
"Yes. They dismantle the crane. Often they will use another crane that's lower to assist in the dismantling. Here's a time-lapsed youtube video: _URL_0_"
] | [
"Most poor people will file what is called a Chapter 7 bankruptcy. First, you list all of the debts you owe and who you owe them to. The fact that you're applying for bankruptcy is published, so any creditors who were unaware can come forward. First, the court stops everyone from being able to sue you or otherwise ... |
Why do we sometimes "feel" when someone enters the room even though we dont see/hear them? | [
"You may not see someone but you may hear footsteps, hear a decrease in sound as they pass in front of something, see a shadow as they block a light source, etc. If you're in direct sunlight or near a bonfire, you can feel people's infrared shadows, but that requires pretty specific circumstances."
] | [
"Simply put for the same reason drinking water when you're not thirsty isn't as refreshing as when you're REALLY thirsty. Anticipating the bodies' needs doesn't trigger the same reward responses in the brain as fulfilling a need that is already present. Your muscles don't NEED to stretch right now, so you can't ant... |
"Please turn off and stow all electronics before take-off." | [
"Seriously, if the electromagnetic emissions from our electronic devices could actually harm the aircraft, or interfere with the controls or communications, they wouldn't let any un-checked electronics on the flight. (Also, I would fire the engineers for making something so important so vulnerable.) Is it a securit... | [
"The effect is relevant for space travel, which is why launch pads are usually as equatorial as is practical(Cape Canaveral is in Florida, not Alaska, for this reason). But planes move relative to air, and air is basically locked to the ground."
] |
Why is Theobromine named Theobromine when it contains no Bromine? | [
"Theobromine was first isolated from the cocoa tree, *Theobroma cacao*. “Theobroma” is from the Greek, *θεός βρῶμα*, meaning “god food”—a reasonable name for the plant that gives us chocolate. The interesting question is then why bromine is called that, not being a food. It is also from the Greek but from a differe... | [
"NPR had a short radio piece about white chocolate this morning on Weekend Edition. Chocolate uses both cocoa butter and cocoa solids to make traditional brown chocolate. White chocolate uses the cocoa butter, but replaces the cocoa solids with milk solids."
] |
How many technological innovations avaliable for the average man were there in 300 AD Rome vs 300 BC? Would a person be amazed at the differences? | [
"There's actually a Roman legend that explores a very similar scenario; Brown's *The Making of Late Antiquity* describes seven young Christians who, fleeing the persecutions of Emperor Decius in the third century CE, flee into a cave near the city of Ephesus and fall asleep for two hundred years, waking in the reig... | [
"1. Hardware became much cheaper and faster. Your PC has graphic card more powerful than most of render farms in 90s. 2. Software became easier to use and more \"smart\". Some effects are now templates and not required to be done by hands. 3. Footage and skill reusing. People that already put research into how to d... |
Where did the common fairy-tale myth that a male ruler of a kingdom must marry a princess in order to become king come from? | [
"You are asking for the history of fairy tales, this is a question for historians. Try r/askhistorians"
] | [
"**In theory** - \"Let's find people on reddit who are spreading hate (racism, sexism, homophobia, discrimination of any kind), and expose them. Batman style.\" **In practice** - \"Let's find people on reddit who say things that don't align with our opinions and attack them, then make a crazy treehouse and say thin... |
I hear lots of stories of life-threatening tumors disappearing between MRI or CAT scans. How does this happen? | [
"This (spontaneous tumor regression/remission) does happen. As everyone has pointed out, it is really difficult to determine what cases are legit and which have just made their way into attention. This kind of thing is rare (dependent on tumor type as well), so there are a lot of reports and speculation about cause... | [
"Several reasons: * Better technology. Many chambers were detected by sonar or radar. They would send a signal through the stones and listen for irregular echoes. Today's sonar and radar imaging techniques are better than they were in the past. The equipment is more sensitive, uses different frequencies, and with d... |
What makes an organ donor 'a match?’ | [
"Genetics and Immune system explanation time. Basically, the way your immune system works is that certain proteins are present on your defense cells that will attach to certain other proteins, called antigens, on other cells. It's how they attach to bacteria. Due to complicated genetics, your body and organ cells h... | [
"u/ToxiClay is correct and there is a [really good episode of Radiolab](_URL_0_) that tells her story, including interviews with the patient and her doctor. They also go a bit into the answer to your question. Worth a listen."
] |
What was considered the "city limit" of Rome around the time of Caesar? | [
"You're talking about the *pomerium*, the sacred boundary around the city. A promagistrate's *imperium* ended when he crossed the *pomerium* and sitting magistrates were not supposed to bring their armies across it--likewise *comitia*, originally an extension of military mustering, could only be held outside the *p... | [
"With trepidation, I will try my first posting of an image - one suitable for this question. This is [John Piper's Old Corner Bar](_URL_0_) in Virginia City, Nevada in late 1860, illustrated by Grafton Brown, an African American Artist who produced a Bird's Eye View of the town (with businesses illustrated around p... |
What happens to water when it freezes and can't expand? | [
"This is an interesting question, and it seems that no one has actually answered it as intended--what happens when you cool water in a container that allows no expansion? Looking at the [phase diagram of water](_URL_1_), my best guess is that ice VI would form. However, [ice VI has a higher density than water](_URL... | [
"The bigger you make something, the weaker it gets, because as you increase the size, mass grows faster than strength. Say you have an ice cube that's 1 cm x 1 cm x 1 cm. That's one cubic centimeter in volume, and it has a footprint of one square centimeter. If you make this cube 10 times larger in all dimensions,... |
Can you tell by looking at power lines which way goes to the customers and which way is the power plant? | [
"No. In fact, many of those lines link whole regions of the country together, and carry electricity in either direction depending on demand. On one day a nuclear plant in New York might go offline for maintenance, and power might flow in from New England to fill the gap; on another day cold weather might increase d... | [
"Planes *do* get a boost from the Earth's rotation. The problem is, so do airports. And cities. And pretty much everywhere you'd want to go. And the air. You can get in a helicopter and fly up a little bit and just hover, and the Earth's rotation will push you eastwards for free. But you'll still be over the airpor... |
Why doesn't a material described as lighter than air float? | [
"The density of the material is less than that of air - meaning if you take all the carbon and weigh it, then divide that by the volume it encompasses, it is less than the density of air. This measure does not take into account that the volume it encompasses also consists of air."
] | [
"For the same reason the plate your food on isn't part of dinner. It is the medium in which the reaction takes place, but not a part of the reaction its self."
] |
Antimatter Black Hole Collision | [
"There's no such thing as an \"antimatter black hole.\" Black holes aren't matter or antimatter. They're black holes. Nothing overcomes the gravity of a black hole once inside the event horizon. Even in principle, there is no way to make a black hole explode. Throwing energy into a black hole in an effort to blow ... | [
"Astronomers always proposed the existence of unseen bodies to explain anomalous gravitational behavior. It led to the discovery of Neptune, for example, when a small decceleration of Uranus was detected. The precession of Mercury's perihellion was also atributed to a hypothetical planet called Vulcan. Dark matter ... |
We know that as the Roman Empire expanded it brought new ideas, inventions and cultural changes to its new territories, i'd like to know if the reverse happened, did this expansion expose the Romans to new ideas/ concepts and did any have a substantial effect on Roman society? | [
"Hi there! The answer is of course, yes. Just to cite perhaps the most blindingly obvious case of this sort of thing, Christianity surely qualifies as having had a \"substantial effect\" on Roman society. [Here](_URL_0_) is a thread on the FAQ in which /u/Zosim deals with the rise of Christianity within Roman socie... | [
"Academics are not prone to consensus on such topics. The Catholic church encouraged literacy among its monastics and clergy, but did not seem to be particularly active in spreading literacy across the lay people of Europe. Protestant churches, because they translated the Bible into local languages, instead of usin... |
Is the universe making us smaller? | [
"The metric expansion of space only happens on the very large scale. On a more local scale, the scale of galaxies and such, gravitational attraction overrides the expansion."
] | [
"You get the full year's worth of radiation. From an outside point of view, we see that time is dilated and the astronaut is moving very slowly inside their spaceship. But we see the spaceship take a full year to reach its destination, and gets hit by all this radiation along the way. From the astronaut's point of ... |
what the affect of un-vaccinated children have on the rest of us if we are vaccinated? | [
"Vaccinations never are 100% effective. They're *very* effective, but every person who is vaccinated has some small risk of catching the disease. But what vaccinations do, if enough of us get them, is they provide what's called \"herd immunity\". This means that enough people are protected well enough, that the vi... | [
"They've done studies on buses in crashes using crash dummies— passengers in a bus are actually safer and better protected in a crash when they are not using a safety belt. The way the overall bus is shaped, combined with the trajectory of the passengers on impact, combined with the speed most buses go in transit, ... |
Has there been any examples of a strong ruler being able to reverse or postpone dynastic decline following a series of weak rulers? | [
"Several Byzantine rulers accomplished this. [Basil I](_URL_3_) came to the Imperium from a peasant background and initiated the [Macedonian Renaissance](_URL_0_). [Alexius I](_URL_2_) came to the throne following a major decline in the Empire's power as well. I would like to argue though that many of the actions ... | [
"OK, taking a brief break from AMA duties, here is my weekly rundown! /u/keyilan on [\"For historians of Ancient China, how does the PRC government influence current historiography?\"](_URL_1_) /u/lost_scribe on [\"Where did the trope of barbarians disdaining \"decadent\" Roman/Greek/fantasy cultures come from?\"](... |
Why is priapism common in sickle cell anemia? | [
"Its more about sickle cells getting stuck in the cavities of the penis where they dont flow back to the blood stream readily due to the shape, thus causing extended erections. Sickle cell anemia disposition is more about the genetic variation of hemoglobin causingn it to change shape instead of retaining the circu... | [
"Sexually mature men can control their arousal. During puberty, hormones are all over the place causing all spontaneous arousal, etc."
] |
Why does it cost more to execute someone than to keep them in prison for life? | [
"There is a lengthy appeals process for death penalty cases, and lawyers are expensive. We still manage to execute an innocent person now and again."
] | [
"The best we could, in theory, do is a matter/antimatter engine. 71 milligrams of antimatter would be able to orbit the Space Shuttle (that is about three grains of rice). ([CITE](_URL_0_)) Unfortunately, while we do produce some antimatter on earth, we produce only a tiny fraction of even that small amount. Antima... |
how are the stores in the airports allowed to sell products at such abusive prices? | [
"In most places, there are few laws regulating what prices a retail store can charge. They charge what the market will bear, and with a captive market it will bear a lot more than normal. Keep in mind that most such shops have a high overhead, since they have to pay special fees to the airport operator to sell in t... | [
"Because the law required them to be back-ward compatible with anything and everything ever invented. And people expect them to look a certain way, so they keep it up. And because it's a lot of time from Very Important Useless People (congressmen) to change the law for something that's really not that important. Am... |
Why do we love funny stuff so much? | [
"Laughing releases hormones that help relieve stress. Stress in moderation is ok for the body but if there is too much then your body will not be as efficient as it could be. And that could mean not being ready to catch food or spend hours foraging for food because of a lethargic feeling. Someone who can make you ... | [
"It is biologically engraved in us. Seeing water and fresh landscape meant survival in ancient days"
] |
Why is the cost of college education so astronomical? My friend paid $30,000. USD per year. A professor essentially just stands there and teaches and you take notes and do paperwork. How do they come up with these ridiculous prices to merely learn things that cost relatively nothing to teach? | [
"They come up with those ridiculous prices because people are willing to pay them. To some extent, complaints about college tuition are similar to complaints about how much Ferraris cost. Yes, they cost a huge amount of money. Yes, it's ridiculous to spend that kind of money just so you can get to your job at QikiM... | [
"It's not the guacamole, it's the avocado's therein. They only grow in frost-free zones, which limits production. Also, they grow on trees, a costly and risky endeavour for farmers, that take a long time to see a return on. Next time you're at the grocery store, take a look at the cost of avocado's, aside from exot... |
; Why does paper get weaker when wet? | [
"ITT: So much misinformation. Paper gets weak when wet because hemicellulose and cellulose (what wood pulp is mostly made of) relies on hydrogen bonding to stick together. Hemicellulose is extremely hydrophilic (water loving), and the water gets between the molecules. It loves to bond to water, but the bonds are l... | [
"There is something called miura-ori origami that has the properties you describe. _URL_0_"
] |
Why do our arms swing with the opposite leg when we walk? | [
"Balance. Swinging on leg forward pulls the center of mass forward. You swing an arm backwards to cancel out the mass that moves forwards so that you can keep your balance. As for why you use the arm on the other side of the body. If you are walking, the when you move your right leg forward, your entire mass is bal... | [
"Your brain is wired to save you calories. This was an evolutionary advantage for the majority of human history, when food was scarce. Sitting for 15 minutes unscrewing 3 screws with a butter knife is more calorie-efficient than making a laborious trek up and down some stairs so you can unscrew those same screws in... |
Why are blood stains (nearly) impossible to remove? | [
"blood is a protein and bonds with fibres when left to dry. If you use a washing pre spray it dissolves the protein so you can wash it out. Like eggs cook when heated, blood stains last forever if you use a hot wash as it fuses with the fibres."
] | [
"_URL_0_ Excellent article that gives more detail: * Everyone uses it, and want to keep to one brand, so someone in better times gets used to using Tide, all of a sudden can't afford it, either steals or buys it on the black market, rather than buying something cheap. * Since everyone uses it and sales volumes are ... |
How did prescientific cultures explain static electricity? | [
"The term electricity comes from the ancient Greek word for amber (ἤλεκτρον / ēlektron). Thales and Aristotle knew about its potential to charge electrostatically, Pliny the Elder correctly deduced that amber once had to be in liquid form, and Tacitus reports the name the Germans gave it. (I only know that from a s... | [
"As a follow up, would the impact be lower in close-knit tribes of hunter gatherers with better social support than would be found in agriculturally-based civilizations with greater social stratification and more physical/socio-cultural barriers to group intimacy? And what role do certain beliefs regarding babies/s... |
When the umbilical cord is cut after childbirth, who feels the snip: the mother or the child? | [
"No pain, the umbilical cord does no have any nerves in it, therefore no pain felt on either side."
] | [
"I've always looked at it like this. Of course a man's wishes should be heard. But that gives you a democracy of two. That creates an obvious problem. How to break ties when each wants something different. Since it is the woman's body being affected she has more stake in the matter so she breaks the tie. Well if y... |
Why does everyone seem so worried about the federal reserve NOT raising interest rates? As a consumer, this seems to me that it would be a good thing. | [
"Are you a consumer who borrows money, or one who saves it in the bank? Someone looking to keep money in a savings account might want higher interest rates."
] | [
"Freezing up is a common occurrence in dangerous situations. We usually hear about fight or flight but more accurately it's fight, flight, or freeze."
] |
If gravity is the weakest of the fundamental forces, why aren't celestial bodies movement, especially those with magnetic properties, governed by electromagnetism rather than gravity? | [
"Celestial bodies (and our universe in general) are electrical neutral. That's because electrical charge is a conserved quantity, meaning you can't create an negative electrical charge without also creating an positive charge, as the total sum has to stay the same. As we understand it now, this holds true for the e... | [
"\"Sticking to things\" does not require energy. A piece of tape can do the same thing, and you don't need to plug that into the wall. Similarly, holding things up does not require energy. Your arms might get tired holding up a heavy object for an extended period of time, but a table can do it without getting tired... |
Why don't smartphones (or any cell phones for that matter), when using its autofill/autocorrect feature while you're texting, detect over time which words you use more often and stop prompting is to correct the words we NEVER use? | [
"In some cases, they do. For example, the SwiftKey keyboard for Android analyzes not only the way you use it, but also your most commonly used words and phrases in your emails and social networks. However, in general, it's better to base predictions off the population of word usage as a whole, rather than trying to... | [
"Imagine a language in which all words are exactly five letters long. The change the language so that some words are abbreviated to two letters. You can't abbreviate everything, because there are more 5-letter words than 2-letter words, so you have to pick and choose what you are going to abbreviate. If you are tr... |
why does water put out fire? | [
"If you put a fire underwater it drowns."
] | [
"Behind the toilet bowl is a bend which leads to the drain. You can see it clearly in [this diagram](_URL_0_). When the water level rises above the bend, water flows over the bend and down the drain. It makes no difference whether the water being added to the bowl is your pee or is clean flushing water - in both ca... |
Did the gene relating to alcoholism exist before alcohol or did the mutation occur after we started drinking it in large amounts as a society? | [
"The gene identified with alcoholism (CREB genes) is not directly associated with alcoholism. *It is not actually a gene, but the term 'CREB genes' is used commonly used to identify the CREB transcription factor (a protein).* The 'CREB genes' have been linked with **withdrawal and anxiety**. When there is less CRE... | [
"There still is moonshiners today but there was a marked decrease as legalization spread through the states, obviously if the tax isn't too *excessive* then there is much less demand for the black market. It's like drug legalization, would you continue to get cocaine from a gangbanger or get high-premium cocaine fr... |
what happens when serious offences are committed by children below the age of criminal responsibility? | [
"In the US, if you're under 18 and you commit murder, you're often tried as an adult, but the laws very by state. 2600 kids, as young as 10, that have been sentenced to life without parole for heinous crimes at that age. Beyond those extreme instances, the USA has a juvenile justice system, or 'juvie', where kids a... | [
"I would love it if this subreddit was more heavily moderated. All those joke replies, the \"lol now -pffft- lil timmy you're a bit - pffffffft - young to be asking that! HAHAHA\" are very frustrating and just clutter the real answers. I don't care that they're up voted, they are useless and should be removed."
] |
How does the International Space Station keep a supply of oxygen? What about other essentials? | [
"Oxygen can be manufactured by electrolyzing water, as well as special chemical \"candles\" that can be burned to release oxygen if there's a shortage or system failure. Aside from that, the ISS is regularly resupplied with food and other essentials from Earth. Most of it is specially prepared for long term storage... | [
"Not sure if it's the same link ecakir meant, but this is awesome: _URL_0_ It has the live camera feed, as well as a chart of exactly what each person is doing at that time. For example, at this moment: * Kotov is on Routine Activities - Exercise * Hopkins is on Routine Activities - Lunch (Experiments next) * Mast... |
I saw a picture of an Owl nest (Link Inside) basically made out of lemmings. Is this normal behavior and why would an animal make a nest of other animals? | [
"It is not so much that the nest was made out of lemmings, but rather a huge spike in the lemming population caused hunting for the snowy owl to be extremely good due to the adundance of prey. The snowy owl just kept hunting more prey than it could actually eat. Articles that I looked at said this was around 2013, ... | [
"Many vegetarians choose animal-rennet-free cheese. Most types of cheese have alternatives made with vegetarian rennet. Many vegetarians don't know what animal rennet is, so don't know that animals are slaughtered to make the cheese they're eating. Many of the people in said group would make alternative choices if ... |
Are there any solar systems / stars outside galaxies? If so, does it have any impact on the planets/stars? | [
"There is such a thing as a Rouge Star - A star that has been ejected due to intense gravitational stresses. Usually happens when two galaxies collide and there are other reasons but I don't feel like opening another tab. The thing is, gravitational influences felt on a solar system level to the rest of the galaxy ... | [
"Follow-up question: has anyone ever witnessed a new star start shining?"
] |
Why do Americans almost always drive automatic but everywhere else is manual? | [
"Also modern automatics , especially dual clutch gear boxes are superior in every way to manuals. Both in performance and economy. There really isnt an argument for a manual VS top line automatics from a performance point of view. Thats strictly down to driver enjoyment. I will choose a manual just because of h... | [
"\"Just about everyone here\" Where is \"here\" for you? It sounds like your question's premise is based on a small sample set based on personal observation. Before your question is addressed, you should be making sure the premise is valid..."
] |
My old typewriter has a second N key to the right of the L key. Why? | [
"Could it be a foreign keyboard? One with an N with virgulilla symbol over it for Spanish accent? (Looks like a tilde ~.)"
] | [
"There are authors who claim the practice began during the colonial period as an early \"mens\"/ \"ladies\" designation for an illiterate populace (the sun and moon being popular symbols for the genders during those times). The book : *The Little Red Schoolhouse: A Sketchbook of Early American Education* has the fo... |
Why can I eat raw fish but not raw chicken or pork? | [
"Chicken and pork are more likely to be contaminated with the sort of bacteria and parasites that are harmful to humans. This is partially due to the conditions they are raised and slaughtered in, partially due to the biological similarity between certain animals and humans, partially due to how long the meat is le... | [
"There is something similar called the nocebo effect: if you believe something will make you ill, it will. This is what is seen in people that get a rash from being near a Wi-Fi router - whether it's turned on or not. It's not the Wi-Fi signal that's causing the rash, it's the belief. Whether the same is true for... |
Honey (and bee biology). Why does bee's "vomit" taste delicious? Why doesn't anything else's? | [
"What does your vomit taste like? Mine tastes like beer, jagermeister, red bull, schmirnoff ice, and stomach acid. It tastes like whatever I consumed, plus some of the digestive fluids that my body keeps in my stomach. If you were to eat nothing but sweet flower nectar, your vomit would taste like sugar and stomach... | [
"When researchers give chimps eggs, they often search the area for a particular plant that they like to eat with eggs. They gather some leaves, put the whole raw egg in one cheek, and a few leaves from the plant in the other cheek. Then they crack the egg inside their cheek and mix the egg and leaf together in thei... |
How is mechanical energy a combination of potential and kinetic energies and not just a kinetic energy? | [
"Imagine a pendulum: When the weight is at its high point, it's standing completely still, so it has no kinetic energy. As gravity pulls it down to the low position, it gains speed, and therefore increase its kinetic energy. After reaching its low point, it slows down as it moves upwards, therefore losing its kinet... | [
"Because our system of time operates in a base 60 mathematical system, while the metric prefixes (kilo, giga, mega etc) operate in a base 10 mathematical system. Using your kilo-seconds example, the kilo metric prefix denotes 10^3, thus a kilo-second would denote 10^3 seconds, or 1000 seconds. This is pretty useles... |
Is it actually possible to increase your alcohol tolerance? | [
"Sadly yes. Alcohol tolerance proceeds pretty slowly, and it can take years to build up an appreciable tolerance, unless drinking is very heavy. Tolerance occurs mostly because of a diminished number of GABA receptors. The worst part about this particular tolerance is that those receptors are responsible for nerve ... | [
"I think you have a pretty basic misunderstanding of how this works. Strength and stamina are not physical things that your body \"stores\" somehow. Muscles do not get bigger because they are being filled full of \"strength\". Muscles grow after they are damaged by hard work. The body repairs and reinforces parts t... |
why after a torn ACL, can you walk without constant issues? | [
"The ACL doesn't actually keep the knee from moving all over the place, it's the ligament which stops the tibia (bone in your lower leg) from moving too far forwards on your femur (bone in your upper leg). The other ligaments in your knee also help with this as they are stabilisers for other directions, and some of... | [
"The same way you can be in the same yard as a bee. You only get stung if you are a threat. Just ask Steve Irwin."
] |
Would physics have developed in the same way if it had not been for Einstein? | [
"Well, the field certainly would have been different, but the facts wouldn't be any different and I imagine if einstein hadn't reached the conclusions he reached others would have. In fact in some cases others were reaching the same conclusions independent of einstein around the same time."
] | [
"Back then people still needed jobs, now they dont and can practice harder for longer. And science helps by showing then methods on improving motions. You cam find cool videos on youtube"
] |
When history says "Alexander founded a new city," what is being described here? | [
"Hi, not discouraging responses here, but fyi there was a fairly lengthy thread on this topic last week that would be worth catching up on - see here * [In ancient times I've heard that historical figures \"built cities\" like Alexander did at Bucephala in honor of his horse. How did a ruler in Greco times go about... | [
"So for clarification's sake can you specify what you are asking? Do you mean why Sherman went from Atlanta to Savannah then after that stop up the Carolina's? And not say towards Alabama too, or Florida, or keep going after the surrenders of Lee and Johnston? Or why he didn't simply burn and pillage everything bef... |
How are people allowed to get married in Vegas when they're drunk? | [
"They can't. The chapels will not marry a couple that are not coherent and sober. You also can't go into a legal binding license while intoxicated. This is because you have to be of sound mind in order to sign a contract and have it be legal, movies and TV use the \"drunk marriage\" concept for entertainment, but i... | [
"Simply answer: Different culture means different views on stuff like that. Opinion: Even now, I feel like it was done as a result of foreign cultural influence."
] |
When does a baby get its own blood type? | [
"Depending on what you mean, either a. immediately upon conception, because the blood type is genetically determined or b. around week five when first blood cells are formed according to those genetic instructions."
] | [
"I would say yes. [Here's](_URL_0_) an article about Dr. Clara M. Davis, a pediatrician who did a ton of experiments where she presented a bunch of foods to infants and allowed them to pick whatever they wanted. She did find that infants did know what foods to choose, but the choices that were given were inherently... |
Why were some other new world crops not imported and adopted in the same dramatic way that the potato was? | [
"How about the tomato? Where would southern Italian cooking be without it? Szechuan cooking would be VERY different without chili peppers Corn? Tobacco? I understand that I'm ignoring part of your question, but many new world crops were immediately more popular than the potato. It took a while for the potato to cat... | [
"The economics aren't the issue, politics and culture are. In general people aren't too excited about parking a poorly-secured nuclear reactor in a major port. Think about piracy, now with the capability of stealing nuclear materials."
] |
As Voyager leaves the solar system, is there any chance it could still be carrying active biological contaminants? | [
"Well, it's hard to say that the probability is 0. So yes, there is *any* chance. Although NASA takes care to sterilize its probes, it has been shown that life can survive a trip through outer space."
] | [
"> Or are there poop particles in my nose? Yep. Lots of stuff is volatile. That is, some of it turns into a gas and floats around. Lots of stuff has volatile stuff in it. There are a bunch of different sensors in your nose that are triggered by different chemicals in the air."
] |
Why do some people do their Undergraduate from one Course and change fields for their Graduate degree? | [
"An MBA applies in all fields. Business happens in all fields. Whether a company selling an electrical product, chemical product, a mechanical product, financial product, psychology product or a statistical product (advertising and marketing), a person with a background in that field becomes valuable. That means ... | [
"You're talking about [plasmids](_URL_3_) which can be transferred from bacteria to bacteria via [conjugation](_URL_4_), [transduction](_URL_1_) which is genetic transfer by viruses, and [transformation]( _URL_2_) which is direct uptake of genetic information. They all fall under the umbrella of [horizontal gene t... |
What happens if you don't get a gift from reddit Secret Santa after sending your own gift | [
"Confirmation is required both when gifts are sent and/or received. When someone signs up for SS, they commit to both send and receive. If they fail to send, Reddit bans them from participating in the future. We sent ours and it was confirmed both by the tracking number we submitted and then by the recipient. We di... | [
"Because silk road was an eBay, not an amazon. Users were the ones doing the shipping, not the business. That means regular mail as usual, not shipments from one single location."
] |
Why do certain animals have coloured blood, and why? | [
"Almost ALL animals have coloured blood. Are you referring to those animals that don't have RED blood (i.e. blood that uses hemoglobin, a red chemical, to transport oxygen)? It's a little bit like why some trees have different coloured leaves. In their case, most use \"chlorophyll\" to do the work of transforming l... | [
"It's to do with the fact that the sun's light is hitting the point on the earth where you're observing it from at a lower angle. It's travelling through more atmosphere at that angle than if it was right overhead so the shorter wavelengths (on the blue end of the spectrum) get scattered and the longer wavelengths ... |
Was told yesterday in Socials class that during WW2, Nazi soldiers had to go through intensive training to become SS, in which they were given a puppy to raise on first day of training and subsequently they were required to kill that puppy after training was complete. Can any ww2 experts confirm? | [
"It sounds suspiciously like the training of the \"Unsullied\" soldiers of the Game of thrones universe. I wouldn't fear asking for some evidence."
] | [
"When dogs were first domesticated a long, long time ago they were primarily used for hunting for quite some time. After a few millennia of evolution we bred a lot of hunting based instincts into them, one of those being retrieving prey for their master. Basically, when your dog brings a stick to you it's simulatin... |
The Gospel of John talks about Jesus having a "seamless robe". From a historical perspective, what is this and why include this detail? | [
"The High Priest in the Temple wore a [seamless robe](_URL_0_) as one of the sacred garments. Jesus wearing such a robe seems to make some kind of identification (either historical or editorial) of Jesus as being the true High Priest. Either Jesus was making a theological statement by wearing such a robe, or John w... | [
"In addition to [Pompeiian graffiti](_URL_1_) and other [epigraphy](_URL_3_), much of which was quite crude, we also have the books for a number of comedic plays by [Plautus](_URL_4_) and [Terence](_URL_0_) and satirical poems by [Horace](_URL_5_) and [Juvenal](_URL_2_). And what were they like? Much like humor in ... |
Can someone explain the difference between Republicans and Democrats, like I'm five? | [
"Super short answer Republicans want a small government so that people can live their own life as they see fit. Democrats want a larger government to help those down on their luck, And keep those with power from getting too much."
] | [
"The school is selling cookies to raise money. S & P 500 is a collection of the 500 highest selling students. Dow (Dow Jones Industrial Average) is the average of the schools 30 best students. NASDAQ is the schools largest bake sale (stock exchange), but students can't buy baked good from each other, it's done via... |
From my dad: "How did ancient cultures know the differences between planets and stars?" | [
"The planets move around from night to night, while the stars are immobile in the night sky. In fact, our word \"planet\" comes from the Greek \"planasthai\", which means \"to wander\". Even though the difference would have been clear, not all languages make the distinction. In Japanese planets and stars are both ... | [
"They weren't going to oversleep and miss a bus or be late to a meeting. Also more likely to have tied their wake-sleep schedule to available light, which modern humans don't."
] |
Why Do Clocks Display "IIII," instead of "IV"? | [
"Hi, hopefully someone can fill in details on clock making traditions specifically, but meanwhile, you may be interested in a few previous discussions on Roman Numerals * [Roman numeral IIII on church clock. Why?](_URL_2_) * /u/sunagainstgold in [Did the way Roman numerals are written ever chenged during history?](... | [
"1 dimension) meet me at Bologna St. Needs more information. 2 dimensions) meet me at the corner of Bologna St. and Cheese St. Now you know you're in the general vicinity of where you need to be. 3 dimensions) meet me on the 3rd floor of the office building at the corner of Bologna St. and Cheese St. Great, now you... |
why is the North Star stationary? | [
"The Earth rotates, but it primarily rotates on it's axis (spins like a top). So while the stars near the horizon are going to spin all over the place, stars nearly lined up with the poles barely appear to move at all. Polaris (the North Star) is almost perfectly lined up with Earth's rotational center, so it appea... | [
"Any physically straigth line will always appear arc shaped if it covers long enough area of your vision. Its just our brains can make us realise they are really straigth if there is enough context. For the case of milkiway center there isnt. Cameras can cause further confusion. Its like inverse version of the prob... |
AMA — Gender & Politics in England during the Long Eighteenth Century | [
"You mention in the opening that you in the 18th Century there elite women had at least some place in political life (even if indirectly). But I am wondering about 1) How did *femininity* as a concept shape politics in the 18th Century. For example, Judith Walkowitz argues that in the 19th C. the Jack the Ripper m... | [
"hi everyone! just a reminder to respondents to be mindful of this sub's [\"20-year rule\": no discussion of events/conditions post-1994 please](_URL_0_)! thanks! OP, if you'd like to carry on this discussion for more recent years, consider x-posting this question to /r/AskSocialScience."
] |
Why is Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, but Charles the Prince of Wales? Why is he a Prince, not a Duke? | [
"He is also a Duke. But Prince is a higher title than a Duke so it takes precedence and is the primary title he goes by when using a shortened title. His full title is : His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB, OM, AK, QSO, CC, PC, ADC, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall... | [
"Early in the war, CBS sent Dan Rather to Afghanistan, and showed several reports in 1980 and early 1981 from near the front lines. Dan Rather often wore Mujahideen head-dress while conducting these interviews. This earned him the nick-name Gunga Dan and got him spoofed by the Doonsberry comic strip. Yet it heighte... |
When the BBC show Sharks says that Tiger Sharks return to the same place on the same day every year, how would a shark know how long a year is? Do they perceive time like we do? | [
"How do you know a year has passed without looking at a calendar? I imagine they sense the temperature/climate changes like anything else."
] | [
"The surface of the stainless steel fridge is not smooth like a mirror. Rather, the steel has a microscopic pattern scratched into it across the surface. Each scratch acts like a tiny angled mirror, and reflects light in a certain direction. A perfect mirror would reflect the laser spot perfectly, but since the scr... |
What's the benefit of slitted pupils? | [
"[Full article](_URL_1_) Basic summary: slitted pupils allow us not to block out certain wavelengths of light when using a multi-focal lens, meaning that we get more color focus. [This](_URL_0_) article explains it in plain english that, essentially, you get better color vision in low light, which explains our kitt... | [
"Nobody knows why or even if it works, but that and variations of it are common practise in many countries. Cultural memes are like that, they spread, even if they don't have any real function."
] |
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