Subset (10)

eli5 · 25k rows

Split (1)

train · 25k rows

query stringlengths 20 300	positive listlengths 1 1	negative listlengths 1 1
Why is it hottest when the sun begins to set instead of when the sun is at its highest point?	[ "The atmosphere takes time to heat up and cool down. While the sunlight may be more indirect in the afternoon, the atmosphere overall has been exposed to more sunlight at that point than it has at noon. Right at Noon, you've got \"most direct light, preceded by almost direct light, preceded by indirect light. At 4i...	[ "_URL_0_ Reportedly cows tend to feed more around sundown when the nutritional content of plants is higher. > “A series of USDA studies looked at animals’ ability to choose different forages. The researchers cut hay in the morning and in the evening and used this in the choice tests. They’ve done it with cattle, g...
Why was the Roman defeat in the Battle of Teutoburg Forest considered to be such an epic setback when many battles in the preceding centuries had seen more Roman casualties?	[ "The battle of Teutoburg Forest and consequently Augustus' reaction to hearing about the defeat have been fairly romanticised, both at the time and by later historians. Suetonius provides us the description of Augustus wondering around shouting the famous 'give me back my legions', and the sheer incompetence of V...	[ "The European Union was the name of a resistance circle centered around the Berlin physician Georg Groscurth. The group held political positions akin to the SPD (ie loosely Marxist, and geared towards creating a socialism that transected national boundaries) and had connections to the KPD. The circle also aided som...
How does spatial expansion cause photons to "lose" energy i.e. redshift?	[ "Conservation of energy doesn't apply because the redshift is relative to a reference frame where you and the source are at rest, and energy doesn't need to be conserved between different reference frames. The energy of a redshifted or blueshifted photon depends on how you make the measurement so you can't really c...	[ "Looking at something exercises the rod and cone cells in the back of your eyeballs which then send the signal down your optic nerves to allow your brain to process the information. If the subject is very bright, then your rod and cone cells get overworked and start to become less sensitive to whatever type of ligh...
I've ordered an iPhone cover from a website for $3. It's shipped from Hong Kong to Belgium and UPS delivered it to my front door. How does this company not go broke/make profit?	[ "A company will often invest 50k in loss leaders like this to build trust in an online store. It's cheaper than a marketing campaign." ]	[ "There are a lot of people in the world who don't care about laws, or the laws of other countries, or the property rights of other people. For example if you stole a piece of art from someone in England that a wealthy member of the royal family in Saudi Arabia wanted they probably don't care at all that it was stol...
Do meteorites leave contrails?	[ "Others have already answered the actual question so I feel like I can be a little pedantic. A meteorite will not leave a contrail because it's not a meteorite until it's sitting comfortably on the ground. We have these three similar words that mean slightly different things. Meteoroid is the smallish piece of roc...	[ "Thats photoshopped just so you're aware. The actual image is this: _URL_0_ They usually form in high altitudes, normally perpendicular to the wind direction. Long story short, They form when stable moist air flows over mountains." ]
Does Speaking A Foreign Language Change Your Personality?	[ "Learning a foreign introduces you to a new culture a way of thinking. It may not change your personality but it defiantly expands ones views." ]	[ "[Touching other people releases oxytocin in to the brain.](_URL_0_) That chemical helps form bonds between people, and leads to all sorts of generally positive outcomes in interpersonal relationships. Since babies all require touch and interaction with other people to get fed, we start getting out learning that to...
Why do authors go through book publishers to sell their content?	[ "Traditionally, it was very very difficult for an author to publish their book and get it sold in stores. The logistics involved in getting a printer, getting stores to buy that book, having that book shipped to stores, having the book advertised, were so complicated that it just made sense for authors to get throu...	[ "To quote the great pop song from the '70s;Money, Money, Money, Money. MONEY.\" The record studio's pay the radio stations to play their songs. Simple as that." ]
Why did Prop 8 pass in California, considering that California is fairly left-wing?	[ "California isn't as left-wing as people think. There are some well-known left-wing communities like Los Angeles within California, but most of the state is right-of-center if anything. The confusion comes because the leftmost parts of California are also the most famous parts." ]	[ "They don't. In fact polls on gay marriage in the [US](_URL_0_) and the [UK](_URL_1_) show almost exactly the same results." ]
In books, why are pages intentionally left blank?	[ "Books are printed on large sheets of paper, which are then folded and cut. If you have an x number of print pages, you will inevitably end up with some blank pages as well." ]	[ "Marketing. It's like you get one more for free. Like how things sell for one cent less than the nearest dollar." ]
If traveling close enough to the speed of light, would a human live to make it to the edge of the observable universe?	[ "If you can achieve speeds relative to Earth arbitrarily close to the speed of light, then you can travel an arbitrarily large distance (as measured on Earth) in an arbitrarily small amount of time (as measured by you). For example, if you could travel at 0.9999999999999999999999999999999999997 c you could reach a ...	[ "This video created by Vsauce 3 (Jake Roper) does a very good job explaining this: _URL_1_ I hope this answers your question. He also did another video on a simmilar line of - could you survive: _URL_0_" ]
Was there ever a death attributed to old age or 'suspicious circumstances', but was later suspected to be of an as-yet undiscovered disease?	[ "Really, if you want to look at it technically, nobody has ever died of \"old age\". It's heart failure, kidney failure, stroke, etc. Before modern medicine though, doctors were not aware of these causes of death, and as such \"old age\" was listed as the cause of death." ]	[ "Karachi (largest city in Pakistan) is currently experiencing some large problems; both in crime, and politically. This is in part due to [Altaf Hussain](_URL_0_) who is the founder and leader of the [Muttahida Quami Movement](_URL_1_) - a political party in pakistan based in the city of Karachi. The problems surro...
Is there a scientific consensus on the safety of fracking? If so is it environmentally safe or not?	[ "This debate gets tricky because it typically reaches past pure science, and enters the sociopolitical realm of issues. As I understand, there is no direct data that the process of fracking itself is dangerous. That being said, there are studies linking the inappropriate disposal of fracking fluids and other wastes...	[ "> Medical doctor Donald Unger crackedthe knuckles of his left hand every day for more than sixty years, but did notcrack the knuckles of his right hand. No arthritis or other ailments formed in either hand, earning him the 2009 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine, a parody of the Nobel Prize. Source:_URL_0_" ]
Do objects in space have terminal velocity?	[ "In a vacuum, things can accelerate until arbitrarily close to the speed of light as long as a force is being applied (relative to some initial rest frame). However, space contains very sparse amounts of interstellar gas, and at high enough speeds the [blueshifting of the cosmic backgroun radiation](_URL_0_) can ap...	[ "only if it's structure is perfectly non-[amorphous](_URL_0_) so that it wouldn't start contorting with the inertial effect commonly known as the [centrifugal force](_URL_1_). This would rule out glass and many plastics Also it would have to also be in a perfect vacuum so that air resistance, or friction with the a...
How is light that is being pulled into a black hole not traveling faster than the speed of light?	[ "Light moving through a vacuum moves at the speed of light. Light cannot move faster than itself, regardless of the gravitational field it finds itself in." ]	[ "Because gravity isn't actually a force that acts between two massive bodies (though that's a very good approximation, for the most part). It's what happens when mass and energy curve spacetime. When spacetime is curved, anything that tries to travel on a straight line will end up on a curved path, and we see tha...
In a period between 1918 and 1939 how was the World War 1 reffered to?	[ "In France, it was called \"La Grande Guerre\", \"The Great War\". This was due to the fact that it was the largest scale war the world had ever known. The fact that it was called \"La Grande Guerre\" can also be supported by \"La Der des Der\", a common expression to describe the Great War in France, which can be ...	[ "I'm sorry, I'd appreciate it if you could clarify your question: what questions were you asked about 1300? I can't think of any event that took place in the exact turn of the century, are you sure it wasn't a question about the 1300s aka the entire 14th century?" ]
Why are people either Righties or Lefties and not all ambidextrous? What makes us either a Righty or a Leftie?	[ "Some scientists think it has to do with how our brains divide up the labor, such as since most people use left side of the brain to do fine motor skills (aka speaking and handiwork), and left hemisphere of the brain control right side of the body, most of us are right handed. of course, there's also genetic contri...	[ "We chose red and blue. You can use any two opposite colors. The idea is to have glasses that pass only one of the two colors. Each lens shows a different image, slightly offset, just like the two of your eyes produce two offset images. The brain then analyzes the images, compared them, calculates distance, and giv...
; Why aren’t MotoGP bikes lower to the ground and longer	[ "motogp bike specifications are heavily regulated. the bike designers are free to do whatever they want within those guidelines. generally a longer wheelbase would be better for top speed (it would make the bike more stable), but it would have worse handling (it would be harder to turn). the same goes for being lo...	[ "It's hard for us to observe stuff close to black holes. Fortunately, we can observe frame dragging close to Earth instead. There have been several satellite experiments measuring variations in gravity around the Earth, the most famous one is Gravity Probe B: _URL_0_" ]
How Can A Drink Have Carbs But No Calories?	[ "Alcohol sugars count as sugar legally but have very little nutritional value. Probably not zero but low enough the legal rules for rounding to the nearest 5 makes it zero." ]	[ "Basically advertising. Let's say hot chick \"A\" gets a million followers on Instagram. Company \"B\" wants A to advertise their drink. So B pays A to have a glass of whatever the drink is in her pictures." ]
Why are there so many calories in Olive Oil?	[ "It's pure fat from a calorie standpoint (food oil is basically fat that's liquid at room temperature)." ]	[ "Even if you don't do something, doesn't mean your body does nothing to. If it is really hot, your body tries to stay cool, and that requires a lot of energy." ]
When did female nudity become more 'sinful' than male nudity?	[ "There is iconographic material from the Minoan period on Crete where exposed breasts are portrayed, both statuettes and frescoes of bullfighting. Of course, the question remains whether that only happened in a ritual context or also commonly in daily life. I can't do it right now, but I would search Roman writer...	[ "Hello, I kind of answered this question in a similar post [here](_URL_0_). The mistake that this cartoon is largely making is taking a variety of cultural appelations, many of which were only incorporated into the 'modern' Christmas in the Nineteenth Century, and applying them to the religious aspect of a Chri...
Can good physical health protect you from the illnesses we usually fight using vaccine?	[ "Being healthy may lessen the effect of some diseases or infections, just because your body can handle the stresses better. But it doesn't stop you from being infected, nor stop the bacteria/virus from proliferating. A fully vaccinated fat slob has less chance of getting Measles than an unvaccinated person in their...	[ "Now I am by no means a biologist, so I know I’m not answering or explaining but I can share a little of my own experience. I work free lance in the film industry so I will work long days weeks and hours for a period of time and then be unemployed while I try to arrange the next project. At the end of every shoot, ...
Is there a particular reason that two batteries put in a device are always placed in opposite ?	[ "Often time the device requires the batteries wired in series. By putting the batteries in anti-parallel configuration, you can easily wire the negative end of one battery to the positive end of another, which is located nearby in this configuration, with a small metal strip." ]	[ "For Infrared Remote Controls: The RC5 standard specifies a 5 bit address before the command is send. The NEC standard specifies a 16 bit address before the command is send. So by giving the different appliances different addresses, the remote control only works on one. The \"shortage\" of addresses in RC5 (only 32...
Could you kill somebody by injecting a large pocket of air into their blood stream?	[ "Yes, though the amount of air required is somewhat questionable. When air gets into the blood stream it's known as a gas embolism, and it's not uncommon for it to happen during surgery. Most of the time it's harmless, however if it's large enough it can disrupt blood flow from the heart which can obviously lead to...	[ "In the short term? just into space. In the long term? We need to know more. Lets assume were on a space ship orbiting the sun. Lets have one molecule of oxygen escape our space ship with some velocity opposite to our orbital velocity. That means the molecule is orbiting slightly slower then us and would go around ...
Why does volume level sometimes appear to be non-linear?	[ "Quite simply - volume isn't linear! It's measured in dB which is logarithmic." ]	[ "Need more detail! Was the pilots voice being played through the speakers? If so, are your headphones wireless? Or did the headphones not cancel out the noise like you thought they should? Edit-- * If playing through the speakers, your headphones are wireless and the signal sounded fine: digital comm problem (im...
When did the West start to have significant influence on Chinese culture? Specifically perceptions of beauty.	[ "It is a bit outside of my area of expertise, but I can tell you that there was already a definite, and controversial, Western influence on ideas of beauty in 1920s-30s China. To get you started on your research, allow me to point you toward 2 chapters contained in the collected volume *The Modern Girl Around the W...	[ "Obesity is still seen as an ideal look for women by many in [Mauritania](_URL_0_) where some parents who can afford it send their daughters to [fattening farms](_URL_3_). The practice is called leblouh or gavage. Many [African cultures](_URL_1_) prefer a more rounded female figure. This ideal is indeed linked to i...
For molecules that have a benzene ring, does it make any difference which way the ring is oriented?	[ "No, it would not have any effect. The double bonds in the benzene ring are delocalized pi bonds, and form something like a ring if you look at an [electron density diagram](_URL_0_). It acts in a similar way in the epinephrine molecule, just warped by the presence of other things besides the CH units." ]	[ "> I mean whether you put your left earphone on your right ear or vice versa. I still hear the same thing. Not at all. If you have stereo sound on, and a train is coming from left of your screen to the right, the left earphone will play the sound louder." ]
Why did it take until the 25th Amendment in 1967 for the US presidential line of succession to be unambiguously established?	[ "What the founding fathers intended with Art. II section 1 was the determine that the Vice President assumes the roles and responsibilities of the president until a new president is instated. That doesn't necessarily mean that he IS president. It means that he has his job, temporarily, until things can get sorted o...	[ "Greetings everyone. In the few minutes this sub has been up, it's attracting sub-standard responses. Just a reminder of a few of the rules: * no responses covering events/conditions post-1994, per this sub's \"20-year rule\" prohibiting discussion of current events * no anecdotes * no speculation OP: your question...
Why are some subreddits called x "porn"?	[ "It's a gratuitous shot of something. In this case it's a slang term for an indulgently nice picture of something. So food porn is high quality, indulgent pictures of food, etc." ]	[ "Top = amount of upvotes-downvotes New = time since posting Hot = how fast something is getting upvotes Controversial = a ratio of downvotes to upvotes" ]
Why is this pigeon the most common bird of cities? What allows the pigeon to thrive in cities?	[ "Pigeons are birds that naturally nest on rock faces in hills and cliffs. Tall buildings in cities make a nearly perfect artificial cliff face so they have a lot of places to nest. Pigeons are also foragers that eat a wide range of foods from nuts to worms in nature, which makes them well adapted to scavenging huma...	[ "Continuing on from /u/THErealAG12's answer, once various mechanisms begin to crack the surface, water erosion, freeze thaw and so on, once they carry on enough to create the first divot in the surface, vehicle tyres will do the rest. That babump when you run over a pothole, that sound is the tires hammering into t...
The point of a Curved TV	[ "It is supposed to remove glare, and present a better viewing angle from multiple angles. It's just another gimmick that is being used to sell tvs. Like 3-D, higher refresh rates, motion assist, etc. Curves and 4k are the next big gimmick that will be used to sell tv's." ]	[ "Strength. The rims etc. allow thin plastic to be stronger than it would if it didn't have any shape to it." ]
Why so many people love spicy food when it is such a painful experience	[ "If I recall rightly, because it produces endorphins which produce a pleasurable high." ]	[ "[Scoville Heat Scale explained with DBZ!](_URL_0_) Dairy products (e.g. Milk, Yogurt etc.) contain a substance called \"casein\", which has a detergent effect on the chile's capsaicin. CAPSAICIN is the substance in chile peppers that gives them their spiciness." ]
What is the history & how did scientists derive the equations of kinetic energy and potential energy?	[ "The original derivation of the kinetic energy came from Leibniz who gave it as mv^2 and called it \"vis viva\". I believe he obtained it as a first integral of the motion while he was developing calculus. Coriolis was the one to add the 1/2 factor to it some 200 years later. There's a pretty good historical accoun...	[ "Think about things bouncing around. Imagine a box with a fan in it. Put 20 balls in ithe box. Now imagine a basket to one side just the right size for the balls. Turn on the fan. The balls jump around randomly. At some point a ball will fall into the basket. This will happen at a given rate which will depends on h...
Why does freshly fallen snow "crunch" when you walk onto it?	[ "Snow is ice crystals. When you step on it you're compressing those crystals. This causes friction and millions of tiny little ice shards rubbing against each other. That \"crunch\" is the sound of that friction. After snow falls it settles, reducing space between crystals and losing its \"fluffyness\". Gravity doe...	[ "Here's [one possible explanation](_URL_0_) from a guy who won an Ig Nobel prize for his research: > “It turns out the sound waves associated with primate warning cries, particularly chimpanzee warning cries, are remarkably similar in appearance to the aversive, middle frequency sound waves produced by fingernails...
Why women squirt and where does that fluid come from	[ "Long story summed up: nobody's entirely sure, but it may be a product of the [Skene's Gland](_URL_0_), which is something that many/most women don't have. However, if a woman is \"endlessly\" squirting, it's far more likely she isn't actually squirting but loses bladder control (unintentionally or otherwise) when ...	[ "It's purely neurological thing, they just have some centres of brain interact in the manner brain usually doesn't and along many side-effects, this is one." ]
Why things that move fast in the dark have more "blur" behind them?	[ "In general things don't have 'blur'. That's your brain filling in missing information with what it thinks should be there so visual information doesn't seem inconsistent. & #x200B; Like how if you wiggle a pencil just right it looks like it's bending, it's just your brain going 'oh that's obviously some sort of r...	[ "It happens when the TV screen is out of sync with the camera. Remember, the TV displays several images per second, and the camera records several images per second. So if the TV is showing 30 frames per second, and the camera is recording 50 frames per second, there's going to be a lot of times when the camera tak...
What would the effect be if you rotated the magnets and coils in an electric generator in opposite directions at a similar/same speed?	[ "In a permanent-magnet DC generator, the output voltage is determined by the RPM, and the RPM is relative rotation between rotor and stator. So, if you spin the rotor at 100RPM, but spin the entire housing backwards at 200RPM, then the relative speed between the two is 100+200 = 300. And so the output voltage wil...	[ "Imagine a bathtub full of water, the water represents electricity. The bathtub has a faucet, which represents the generation of electricity. Imagine now that there are little holes in the bottom of the bathtub, all plugged up. When ever a home needs power, unplug the drain and let the water flow out. Now imagine ...
If the universe is constantly expanding from a central point, what is it expanding into?	[ "GREAT question! And it's also a huge misconception. Lots of people think a sub-atomic quantum event in space exploded and exploded into space. But this isn't accurate. This takes a bit to understand but: We are not \"expanding into space\" But rather: \"We are space expanding\"! Ie: there was no \"space\...	[ "The photon from the laser pointer will travel infinity until something stop it. But the laser itself contains million of photons, and the further they travel, the further they are away from each other. You can test it yourself by pointing at something and walk closer, the dot become smaller but more clear, walk ba...
how do gamers find cheat codes and glitches in video games?	[ "as for cheat codes i'm assuming either they're leaked by the people who made the game, or someone looks at the games code as for glitches those just happen on accident" ]	[ "The same way they do now: using satellite and microwave transmissions. Using the internet is kind of sketchy, because of a lack of control of the bandwidth that can cause the connection quality to drop, which is why other technologies are preferred when feasible." ]
What is the significance of the letter in the title of vitamins e.g. vitamin A?	[ "Vitamins were named alphabetically according to which ones were discovered first. There are so many different vitamin Bs because at first all of the different types were thought to be very similar and all called \"vitamin B\". Later it was found that they serve different biological functions and were renamed. All ...	[ "Because the World Wide Web is only one service that is available over the Internet. In a URL, the first block (\"www\" in your example) is a server name, and any given domain might have other services also running - mail, news, gopher, ftp, and so on - so there might be _URL_13_, _URL_10_, _URL_11_, and _URL_12_."...
How did men come to be the dominate gender?	[ "Woooeee that is a humdinger of a question both in terms of scope and scale. You may have more luck over at [r/anthropology](_URL_0_) I can say, however, that it is not Pauline doctrine. By the time of Paul (1st century C.E.) there have already been millennia of gender relations where women have filled roles that...	[ "Hi OP, this is a cultural question, so it would greatly assist anyone considering answering if you could specify which culture you're asking about. For example, the name of a cultural group / country / geographic region, plus a rough time period. Otherwise, this question is simply too broad, as it encompasses almo...
How does NASA tell a deep space satellite like the Voyagers where to go in our solar system?	[ "Probes like the Voyager are actually just following a pre planned trajectory, NASA never has to send them coordinates of where to go. When a probe like that is launched it is given enough velocity in order to escape the gravitational pull of the Sun, this is called the escape velocity. NASA just timed the launch s...	[ "Servers can't see what you do in your browser, they can only see requests you actually make to them. So google forces you to make a request to its servers so that it knows what you clicked, and then shoots you along to your destination." ]
Did the Tiktaalik roseae evolve independently of other lines of fish-like to amphibian?	[ "Given the evidence in the article you linked, the Tiktaalik roseae didn't necessarily have to evolve independently of other fish to amphibian lines. An easy explanation would be that a transitional form very similar to Tiktaalik arose prior to the time period that the footprints mentioned in the article were left ...	[ "I'm not an expert by any means, but I'm fascinated by \"Old Europe.\" Just by the way you worded you're question, I'm assuming you're familiar with the \"Kurgan hypothesis.\" Anyway, we don't know much, and everything we know comes from archeological evidence, and more controversially, oral-folk traditions. The...
Why do people shake their leg when sitting or standing?	[ "Get rid of nervous/extra energy, wake up their leg if it's fallen asleep, try to ease the pain of cramps?" ]	[ "The general consensus is [attention and approval seeking](_URL_4_) or [medical issues](_URL_1_). In [domesticated animals](_URL_2_), the approval seeking is generally from the owner. Because we see this in wild animals as well, it can't just be a human-approval mechanism. The attention seeking can be extended to t...
If we drink a cup of cold water, do we spent more energy if we have drank a cup of hot water ?	[ "Basically, it takes one dietary calorie to heat a kilogram of water by one degree, or a cup of water about four degrees. So to heat it from fridge temperature to body temperature, that's about 8 calories. (there is confusion between regular calories and dietary calories, which are actually 1000 regular calories.)"...	[ "The concentration of caffeine in your coffee depends on the amount that is extracted from the coffee beans during the brewing process. After you have brewed your coffee, the caffeine does not evaporate or disappear. So, the concentration of caffeine in your coffee will be the same whether it has sat for five minut...
Spiral of Silence Theory	[ "Through fear of being ostracized, individuals in groups tend not to voice unpopular opinions. Sometimes, these unpopular opinions are, actually, popular amongst the group, but other members doing the same thing means those opinions may never actually get expressed." ]	[ "_URL_3_ \"In 2006, NASA discovered \"space roar\" —a sound that's six times louder than what they expected to hear when they eavesdropped on space. Inexplicably weird, right? Stuff to Blow Your Mind explores.\" A really good podcast in general if your into multitasking while also being entertained." ]
Who is making the money from my hospital bills?	[ "The hospital gets that money, which it uses to defray the costs to treat uninsured patients who can't pay." ]	[ "Normally by advertising. When you create a page they'll inject an advertisement on to the page, when the user clicks it the company offering the service will be paid (or in some cases they'll be paid every time the advert shows however this is rare). Other than that they may offer premium services, allowing you to...
Was there a sizable population of Sephardic Jews in northeastern Mexico during the Inquisition?	[ "The LA Times had an article that told the story of a modern family in New Mexico that had the curious tradition of lighting candles on Friday nights. The article went on to describe how they eventually discovered their Jewish heritage going back to the conquistadors. See _URL_0_" ]	[ "Not an expert, but would the Arab forces that attacked Israel in various wars satisfy the prompt? I am thinking war of independence especially. Same of the polish, French, and then Russian defenses against Hitler. Also I hear the Italians had some pathetic flops in ww2. How about British v. Chinese in the nineteen...
How do surgeons connect nerves to donated organs?	[ "They do not connect nerves to transplanted organs. Most organs don't actually require nerve input to function normally, and instead rely on hormones transmitted though the blood, like adrenalin, to alter how they function. People who have transplanted hearts actually cannot feel them, which leaves them unable to f...	[ "I couldn't find the pretty GIF, but here's one that still explains it well: _URL_0_ You can ignore a lot of the technical details. The ELI5 is that your muscles are full of those things in the GIF, and when you want to contract a muscle your brain sends a signal that causes those little red things to pull the blue...
Why and when did the British-French rivalry come to an end?	[ "The [Entente Cordiale](_URL_0_) in 1904 was an agreement preventing conflict over colonial territories, something which threatened to become a serious issue in Europe. This may not sound like much to be a permanent end to a millenium or more of conflict, and perhaps if history had been different it wouldn't have b...	[ "I do not wish to discourage answers, but as brought up [here](_URL_0_), the Great War Channel is actually pretty well researched and fairly well respected, if with a couple reservations on precision from earlier on in the series (which I imagine are mostly due to the format of short videos for each week). The exam...
Can somebody explain the Pareto Principle and just how and why it works?	[ "It’s a lot more of a principle that’s been born out by data over a long time and many tests than something that justifies itself in explanation. It helps to just think of it as the “80/20 rule.” It’s supposed to apply universally, such as 80% of all events are triggered by 20% of all possible causes. But the most...	[ "Penn & Teller: Bullshit! did a show on this, its very worth a watch, they break it down quite well and understandable. [Link to the full episode](_URL_0_) on youtube. Warning, NSFW language and boobies in like the first 2 seconds, because its Penn & Teller and thats what they do" ]
Could a gun be used to propel a spacecraft while it's in space?	[ "That is basically what a rocket is, except instead of bullets it shoots gas." ]	[ "only if it's structure is perfectly non-[amorphous](_URL_0_) so that it wouldn't start contorting with the inertial effect commonly known as the [centrifugal force](_URL_1_). This would rule out glass and many plastics Also it would have to also be in a perfect vacuum so that air resistance, or friction with the a...
How do calculators calculate square roots/cube roots/etc so quickly?	[ "There are recursive algorithms to reduce the error. When you reach the point where the error is so small that the computer cant see a difference you can stop. In general you can describe every function as a polynom of n-th grade where n approaches infinity. The higher you make the more accurate it gets. As mention...	[ "They have rather large production crews that work behind the scenes to do exactly that. It's not like the announcers are doing it. That combined with modern computer technology let them do it in a way that seems rather seamless to the viewer." ]
How do cable/internet providers get away with overcharging you and refuse to issue refunds but instead provide a credit on your next bill?	[ "Because you agreed to those terms when you signed up for their service." ]	[ "Production companies create shows, then sell the broadcast or distribution rights to distributors and TV networks. They sell to different people in different regions -- say you make a TV show, then sell the rights to FX so they can broadcast it in the United States. Well, FX doesn't exist in Australia, so you sell...
Why do we say bless you when somebody sneezes?	[ "Before science, religious held the belief that a sneeze was your body expelling demons. So blessing you was the solution for the demon being able to find its way back in." ]	[ "To make sure the tissues that follow are pulled halfway out, making it easier to grab them" ]
What are the bonus things in the basketbal games	[ "When a team reaches six fouls in a half they are automatically in a \"bonus\" situation. At ten they are in the \"double bonus.\" Essentially what this means is when a team is in the bonus any foul that occurs not in the act of shooting will result in a trip to the free throw line for the player who got fouled. No...	[ "Some people go faster when they are behind. Even Olympic athletes who are trying their hardest to go as fast as they can. Sometimes in swimming you can get pulled along by the water from another swimmer in an adjacent lane, too. IIRC that helped Michael Phelps on the last leg of a relay he won." ]
how esports commentators commentate right in front of the athletes? Does this not give away vital information especially in games like league and Starcraft?	[ "The eathletes are wearing headphones and they're usually in those booths, one per team. Exactly so they can't hear the reaction of the crowd (distracting, or a big \"ooooo!\" might be a tip-off your opponent just pulled something slick) or the announcers." ]	[ "Okay. So let's say that you want to bake a cookie just like the ones that grandma makes. You could try to eat her cookie, and then using your knowledge of baking sort of reverse engineer it, but it would be an incredible hassle and very hard to do. But if you had the recipe she used, it would be very easy to figur...
What was the Oregon Trail?	[ "Simply put, some explorers had discovered that, past the Rocky Mountains, there was a large area of fertile land that would be good for farming. Some Americans wanted to get in on the good farmland, so they traveled overland to get to it. Since railroads hadn't been built at that time, they either took a railroad ...	[ "You mean the Animal Planet one? Hype and marketing. Then it became a euphemism for menstruation (I'll fill you in if you want, but it's gross sex stuff...) and took on a life of its own." ]
What causes ice crystals to form within closed pints of ice cream?	[ "Most freezers are frost-free freezers. These work by periodically turning on a heater to raise the temperature slightly above freezing to prevent buildup of ice on the cooling coils and the walls of the freezer. It also means that your food will very slightly melt and refreeze periodically. When it melts and refre...	[ "It has to do with comparing the previously glaciated terrane with areas which were not (or minimally) glaciated. The lake-rich northern terranes are underlain by glacial sediments. These typically include large proportions of poorly sorted material (such as till) as well as glacio-lacustrine clays, both of which g...
Is it possible to optically observe individual atoms?	[ "I have seen gold atoms in a transmission electron microscope in Swansea Universities Engineering building, but it is not possible to see atoms with an optical microscope as light will begin to interfere with itself at high magnifications. The smallest item you can really look at with an optical microscope is aroun...	[ "Imagine you grew up flying in a plane. The ground looks like different colors. There's a green area over here, and a brown area over there. When you land for the first time, you're surprised that the green area is actually made up of large trees, and the brown area is made of rocks and shrubs. There are thousands ...
the reason for court room artists.	[ "Many courts don't allow cameras because the news media can have an effect on the court." ]	[ "What color is the skin of most of the people who make and utilize those drawings? Theres your answer" ]
Does being out in the "cold" without a coat actually make you more prone to being sick?	[ "Many answers here are misguided. Think of your body as a machine. When it's cold out it's occupied trying to warm you up. It pulls resources away from other areas for this. At body temperature, the cells responded with a sophisticated defense, sending out warning signals to uninfected cells around them. Those ce...	[ "Seasons are the result of the tilt of the Earth. Earth spins on a slight angle compared to the circle of its orbit around the Sun. This means that at different times of year, the poles are pointed towards or away from the Sun. This affects how much daylight the poles get, with the impact decreasing as you get towa...
Why do tasers not affect the heart?	[ "Tasers can affect the heart, and there are cases where people have died from being tased. It's usually considered safe because, while high voltage will make your muscles twitch, high amperage is what will kill you. Tasers give off 60-100 thousand volts, but have tiny amperage, and are thus deemed \"safe.\"" ]	[ "Workers on the high tension lines, insulate themselves from the ground and then attach to the line. This brings them up to the same voltage as the line. Electricity only flows from high voltage to low voltage so if the workers are the same voltage as the line, then electricity won't flow into them." ]
What's the story of the bit of Russia below Lithuania and above Poland?	[ "That is the old German city of Königsberg, now Kaliningrad. It was part of Prussia and was conquered by the Soviet Union near the end on the II World War. The famous German philosopher Immanuel Kant lived all his life in Königsberg, and is buried at the cathedral there." ]	[ "Hi, I've approved the post, but just a note to you and potential respondents: this subreddit has a 20-year rule against discussing current events, so any answers will have to cut off at 1997. If you're looking for answers that can include 1998-2012, do consider x-posting elsewhere, eg. a foreign affairs sub like /...
What city has spent the most total years as a capital city (not necessarily consecutive)?	[ "I would suggest Delhi as a definite contender for runner up. It was established as the capital of the Delhi sultanate in the beginning of the 13th century and has more or less retained that status to this day. It was made the capital of the Mughal Empire, British Raj, and the Modern Republic of India. But there we...	[ "This question is getting a lot of traffic after being [tweeted by @reddit](_URL_5_), so I thought I'd welcome those of you that haven't visited /r/AskHistorians before to the subreddit. Please do bear in mind that in order to keep the quality of answers here high we have [strict rules on comments](/r/AskHistorians...
Are there any books on the Spanish Empire? I can't seem to find any...	[ "The AskHistorians Books and Resources list has a [small section on Spain and the Spanish Empire](_URL_0_) that you could check out." ]	[ "Hi - we as mods have approved this thread, because while this is a homework question, it is asking for clarification or resources, rather than the answer itself, which is fine according to [our rules](_URL_1_). This policy is further explained in this [Rules Roundtable thread](_URL_3_) and this [META Thread](_URL_...
If you could look through a telescope at the edge of the observable universe in real time would you see new features appear seemingly out of nowhere as “new light” reaches us for the first time?	[ "Things at the edge of the observable universe are actually disappearing due to the metric expansion of space, but the general concept of \"look into a telescope and see things that happened a really long time ago\" is accurate." ]	[ "Your son is basically describing the theory known as \"Tired Light.\" The reason we don't think tired light is true is that we've never been able to come up with a mechanism that would cause energy loss in photons, yet still match our observed data. For a tired light phenomenon to be true, it would have to: 1) Exp...
Is there some evidence that dark matter, and dark energy actually exist ?	[ "Dark matter is evident from the rotation curves of galaxies, and gravitational lensing through galactic clusters (an independent measure), both of which show that there is much more diffuse mass than can be seen. There have been direct searches for dark matter particles, which haven't produced significant results....	[ "We do use antimatter currently for practical uses, ever heard of a PET scan? It would be the ultimate energy storage medium because gathering meaningful amounts of antimatter from nature is impractical. The best place to find it now is in the van Allen radiation belts." ]
What are microservices?	[ "It’s like making your own sandwich. When you buy a sandwich from a shop it’s pretty hard to do stuff to it. The cheese is all melted and the condiments are absorbed into the bread and the meats. But when you make your own sandwich you break it down into smaller pieces. You can put the bread you want, the meat, t...	[ "[Here ya go](_URL_0_) tldr; Tiny tax long ago became a marketing gimmick." ]
Why are boats given female pronouns?	[ "Because the Latin word for ship, navis, is feminine. Grammatical gender is a concept that doesn't exist in English, so it's hard to make a comparison, but in Latin this word takes female pronouns because it's in the same category as other feminine words. Edit to clarify: this pattern carried over into the develo...	[ "That is a very famous photo, you are correct in guessing the time and location, it was taken at Pearl Harbor after the attack. The ship still afloat in the foreground is the USS Maryland. She was built in 1921 and was the flagship of the US Fleet early in her career. She was repaired in time to serve as a support...
How did North-Korea influence Sino-Soviet relations during the cold war?	[ "Not very much. North Korea was actually something of neutral in the whole split, and fostered support from both the Soviets and the Chinese during the period. They were more or less the only Communist country that was able to do this, though there were certainly periods where they favored the Soviets to Chinese an...	[ "They probably didn't. [Sweet potatoes, a south american crop, are found in Polynesia](_URL_0_), and [chicken, an Asian bird, is found in south america](_URL_1_), both pre-contact. Also, [Polynesia DNA is found in south america](_URL_2_)." ]
Why can't I hear anything when I yawn?	[ "Air pressure increases inside of the ear on one side of your eardrum. The same can happen when flying. If the air pressure is not the same on both sides then hearing is dulled. The eustachian tube in your ear is connected to the back of your throat, which allows air pressure to build on one side and not the other....	[ "It is your pharyngoltympanic tube (Eustachian tube) opening. It connects your middle ear to your throat. Opening it is also how you \"pop your eardrum\" or equalize pressure within the middle ear." ]
Why do games use a purple checkerboard for missing textures?	[ "You want to easily be able to identify where the missing texture is, and a purple/black checkerboard is pretty damn noticeable in 99% of cases. And once one person used it, some more started using it, and it kind of just self-standardised" ]	[ "So, you're a mouse, or badger, or whatever. You're walking through the woods. You are surrounded by brown tree trunks, brown undergrowth, and brown dirt. What color do you want to be when a wolf or eagle looks in your direction? Or, thinking evolutionarily, if you are a beautiful pink badger, what do you think is ...
Practicality way aside, could a non electrical computer exist?	[ "Yes, that is possible. The [first computers were mechanical](_URL_1_), in fact. They were mostly built to perform calculations, but nothing prevents you from stringing together addition, subtraction, and register shifts (i.e. recreate the basic commands of the assembly language) to make a computer that runs any ki...	[ "I can't think of anything that would use zero moving parts, but if you can live with one valve you can try opening a cylinder of pressurized gas and letting it escape through a coil around your bismuth container. Evaporative cooling with water or ammonia could work too, but that would probably be more complicated....
All pandas belong to China.	[ "Because at one time, all free pandas lived in China. Nobody else had pandas. So if you want a panda, you have to ask China - or their government. They will not sell you one of their Pandas, though. They will only rent you one (or borrow, I don't know if they take money, or how much.) And you have to agree that if ...	[ "It seems that Panama has historically had a lot of call centers. I think the issue is that Panamanians are supposed to call a different local number instead of the regular 800 number." ]
How filibusters became part of our Governmental procedures and why haven't we eliminated them?	[ "Part of the reason nobody \"fixes\" the filibuster is because you never know when you're going to end up needing it. A majority party in congress may want to get rid of the minority party's ability to filibuster, but won't because they never know when they'll be the minority party again and need to use it. That's...	[ "\"America\" can't, but Texans in his district certainly can. Once every two years they get the opportunity Mr. Smith is a congressman, and he represents one particular place. Only people from that place get to vote for or against him. Unfortunately Mr. Smith represents a wealthy area near Austin, Texas where I sus...
Can any plant/fungi etc grow in vacuum?	[ "I grew fungi in a vacuum jar attached to the building's house vacuum on Czapek agar plates as a unique isolation strategy to find uncommon fungi. I was surprised to see that fungi grew and even more excited to see that they were novel. I had expected no growth, since one of the hallmarks of fungi is that they are ...	[ "In 0 gravity astronauts have to be careful about what they have in space [like the corned beef sandwich that almost got everyone killed](_URL_0_). The suits they wear don't have any fluff or other weird things that can fly off the fabric and get into the electronics and cause problems." ]
a question about the Nintendo Switch	[ "Likely an assortment of reasons, all of which only Nintendo's engineers could tell you. Cost being an obvious one. However, I think the main one is because the battery life is already rather poor in portable mode while running games. Adding a higher resolution screen, which will consume more power, and making the...	[ "hi! just a heads up that this sub is inundated with April Fools content right now, so if your post gets lost in the shuffle and is left unanswered, do resubmit when normal service has been resumed in a couple of days." ]
Is there a specific genetic point at which organisms are declared to be different species?	[ "With very few exceptions, if two organisms cannot mate and create fertile children, then the two are of different species." ]	[ "Spaghettification is more a black hole thing, I'm not aware of it being used to apply to non-black hole cases. As to the planet being torn apart, the distance one body has to be from a larger one and NOT have this happen is called the Roche limit. For the sun, that body has to be within a couple radii. The distanc...
Fibonacci's golden spiral and the golden ratio	[ "First, it is very important to understand what Fibonacci's sequence is. Fibonacci's sequence is the sequence wherein the last two numbers are added to form the next one. The first few digits are 1,1,2,3,5,8,13. The RATIO comes from what happens when you divide a number by the last one in the sequence. The answer ...	[ "I believe the [Stanford University Orbis project](_URL_0_) has a pretty good reputation on this sub. I've seen it alluded to several times without it's accuracy being contested. I would imagine it contains a degree of speculation and estimation but I'm not sure exactly how much." ]
Why haven't algae based biofuels taken off yet?	[ "Cost per gallon. Algal crude costs somewhere around $7-8 per gallon to create. Current projections are that if that can come down to around $4-5 per gallon, then it's viable. If we can't hit that mark, then it's not viable. There's also the concern of retuning the entire automotive fleet to run on biofuels (althou...	[ "While [solar-poewred planes have been built](_URL_0_), the technology is still hugely inefficient and incapable of powering large commercial aircraft." ]
What is a Socialite, and why are they given any attention?	[ "> A [socialite ](_URL_0_)is a member of a social elite, or someone aspiring to be a member. According to Merriam-Webster the word was first used in 1928.A socialite participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable events attended by others ...	[ "This is a very common question. You can use search to find [all the other really good answers](_URL_0_ ). This is instant, and faster than ust typing in your question every time. It's a way of cheating elections. Read the others, and then ask a more specific question." ]
How come mammals’ fur doesn’t come in a wider array of colors like green, blue, pink or purple?	[ "The only reason reptiles like snakes are brightly colored is to alert predators that they are poisonous. Birds are brightly colored to attract mates. Fish are brightly colored to attract mates and alert predators they are poisonous. Amphibians like frogs are brightly colored to alert predators they are poisonous. ...	[ "There are two kinds of hair, vellus hair and terminal hair. Vellus hair is the fine, light \"peach fuzz\" stuff. Terminal hair is what we think of as normal hair. Testosterone causes hair follicles to produce terminal hair instead of vellus hair, and since males have more testosterone on average than females, they...
Why do we get hiccups?	[ "Dunno about the hiccups, but GIFs generally have a colour amount restriction, so big gifs tend to looks like shit for the most part. There are exceptions, though, and also some big gifs out there." ]	[ "Taking a very deep breath and holding it has always worked for me. But I know people who will get them and have them all day no matter what. I don't think there's any hard and fast rule that works for everyone. If there is, it'd be great to know." ]
Is there an evolutionary explanation as to why large animals give birth to less off-spring than very small creatures?	[ "I'll give you my non-referenced answer and an upvote. I seem to remember it having to do with the mother's ability to nourish the young. Mammals drink mother's milk. Mom has to find enough food to sustain her and make the milk. Bigger animals need more energy which means more food, which means less kids equals bet...	[ "The kind of extreme poverty you're talking about is actually pretty rare. Dying of hunger and thirst are usually caused by a period of bad weather, and are in a sense more like localised events than sustained realities of x country. Generally speaking people don't live in places that can't sustain life. /u/the_or...
How does USB 3.0 have such fast transfer speeds compared to USB 1.0/2.0? The plugs and ports are exactly the same.	[ "USB 3.0 (all variants, ignoring type-c) uses a 9-pin connector instead of 4 on previous versions. For the type A connector (the ubiquitous rectangular \"host\"-side connector), the same form of connector was used, with the additional 5 pins cleverly spaced in between the existing 4 pins (and offset so the 4 older ...	[ "> get to the trailing edge of that same airfoil at the same time This is actually a pretty big misconception, the air on the top and bottom don't travel across the airfoil in the same amount of time. There are two main ways to explain lift, Bernoulli's Principle(when applied properly) and Newton's Third Law. Bern...
How many plants/trees would it take to sustain one average person's O2 needs and vice versa?	[ "[Here an ANL scientist answers the question: How many plants are needed to make enough oxygen for one person for one hour? We are experimenting with Anacharis plants.](_URL_0_) Check out the link, but the end result is: \"these are round figures, let us just say that between 300 to 400 plants are needed to produce...	[ "Nasa, among other groups with space exploration in mind, are asking that question themselves: _URL_0_ It seems the biggest problem to overcome is the low atmospheric pressure, which sucks the already rare water out of plants. Nutrients don't seem to be a problem." ]
Basic US Government Positions	[ "Congress consists of both the house of representatives, which is very similar in function to our own house of commons, plus the senate. Senators are pretty much what they are here - the upper house of the legislature, except theirs are elected. There are two per state. Governors are like our provincial premiers. T...	[ "Thank you for your submission! Unfortunately, your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): You can find the basic answer with a google / wiki search. Please start there and come back with a more specific question. If you disagree with this decision, please send a [message to the moderators.](_URL...
Apparently there have been thousands of nuclear bomb tests conducted worldwide, how come there is little to no recent video footage of these tests?	[ "Early nuclear tests occurred above ground, and countries were more open about them for propaganda purposes. The more recent tests occurred underground, so there hasn't been much to see." ]	[ "The same way they do now: using satellite and microwave transmissions. Using the internet is kind of sketchy, because of a lack of control of the bandwidth that can cause the connection quality to drop, which is why other technologies are preferred when feasible." ]
Why do whales breach?	[ "Whales are mammals, they need to breath air. They are not fish, so they can't extract oxygen from water and stay down forever. Instead they breach to breathe and just hold their breath a long time." ]	[ "You mean the Animal Planet one? Hype and marketing. Then it became a euphemism for menstruation (I'll fill you in if you want, but it's gross sex stuff...) and took on a life of its own." ]
Unions, why were they created, what do they do, how do they work, etc.	[ "I won't repeat what others said but I will say I find it interesting how so many people have been duped into believing unions are bad. This is my first union job and thanks to the union my benefits weren't cut nearly as bad (vacation time was cut and retirement but health and dental are the same) and I've been ab...	[ "Congrats! You've asked what may be the single most-asked question on /r/AskHistorians. That's good news, because it means we have [a big FAQ file devoted to your question](_URL_1_). Check it out, and I hope it helps! Edit: And [here](_URL_0_) is a great answer from /u/talondearg, who answers it quite a bit." ]
The rules of Cricket	[ "Marvelous game, really. You see, the bowler hurls the ball toward the batsman who tries to play away a fine leg. He endeavors to score by dashing between the creases, provided the wicket keeper hasn’t whipped his bails off, of course. :)" ]	[ "Because countries have to agree to it just like war laws and the Geneva convention. Why would a country that stones people to death agree to a law that says not to do so?" ]
The Buddha's 'Flower Sermon'?	[ "In short, the transmission of wisdom through experience instead of words. Flowers mean things, in general: beauty, spring and impermanence, but specific flowers can mean specific things. I can tell you the correct answer for the sound of one hand clapping, but that isn't the right way to teach it. The important pa...	[ "What did a \"successful\" balloon-bomb campaign look like in the imagination of Japanese planners?" ]
Is it possible to breed traits in bacteria so they can survive in otherwise unlivable conditions?	[ "There is more and more work being done using directed evolution experiments. Here is a specific case from Mike Cox's lab in Wisconsin where they \"evolved\" a strain of E. coli to be resistant to very high radiation levels. Mostly the mutations were in the recA gene, which is the main mediator of homologous recomb...	[ "Not at all. One of the most interesting demonstrations of this is breathable fish bags that allow gasses to pass but hold water...pretty handy for shipping fishes without suffocating them." ]
How far away are we from commercial sales of driverless cars?	[ "It's going to be a while. legal battles are going to take longer than getting the technology ready. People at google are saying that [10 years is being optimistic](_URL_0_). If you need a new car, waiting another year will not give you any automated options." ]	[ "That's a big open question right now. We don't currently have a simple, cost-effective test that accurately determines how intoxicated a person is that's equivalent to an alcohol breathalyzer. For now, they're just playing it by ear & the existing legal standards all suck." ]
How does the Stengers test show a person is trying to fake hearing loss during an audiology exam	[ "Find the quietest sound the good ear can hear. Play the same sound but slightly louder in the \"bad\" ear at the same time and the patient will be unable to hear the sound in the good ear. Apparently this is because the sound being ignored by the faker drowns out the quieter sound in the good ear -something whic...	[ "There's an option on most mid-grade wifi appliances called exclusion (I think?). Anyways, it's designed to do exactly this, make it appear like you're the only one on the network. I've never really looked in to how it works, but I'd imagine it's just blocking arp traffic to anything that's not the AP. If you want ...
How did humans first figure out how to translate between foreign languages?	[ "Gestures! Firstly - true first-contact situations are rare. In most cases explorers/traders/travelers share a lingua franca that they can at least make an effort to speak to one another. But in cases where an explorer reaches a remote village, or Columbus landing in the New World, gestures were used to convey thou...	[ "Because to our primitive ancestors, different usually meant bad. That tuber smells different? Probably rotten, don't eat it. Your dog acting weird? Might have rabies, stay away. That stranger looks different than you? Probably from a rival tribe, and up to no good." ]
Why does rain calm many people down?	[ "i read a similar question not long ago and somone else said basically its that most of our primitive predators wouldnt hunt during rain. so its kinda like you can kick back and relax that you wont get eaten. made sense to me." ]	[ "I read an article a somewhere that said it was do the the \"roughness\" or randomness of the noise. As the fingers nails catch and slip it produces random variances in the amplitude and frequency of the noise. Our brains find the signal unpredictable and that somehow causes it the view it as a danger. There are a...
If I leave my phone charger plugged in to the socket but not connected to my phone, does it actually use electricity? Where is that electricity going?	[ "It might. The transformers in chargers (used to change voltage) sometimes use energy without being plugged into their device; this energy is wasted and discharged as heat. There's an easy test: feel the transformer. If it's not warm, then any energy waste is minimal." ]	[ "Think of it like a hose... and a room made of sponge. The light bulb is a hose, spraying water (light) everywhere. The room is a sponge, absorbing the water (light) all the time. The moment you turn the light off, it's like closing the faucet to which the hose is attached. It stops spraying water (light) everywhe...
Why is some grocery produce priced and sold by weight and others by the number you buy?	[ "On top of promotions and \"volume in stock\", there is another possibility. Another factor may be how the item is expected to be consumed. You might eat an apple every day, so you would buy a big bag without counting them. When they run out, another bag. The store fills a hundred bags all the same size every day a...	[ "Advertisers pay them according to how many people watch...measured by ratings. This is commercial, network TV of course. Many people think they are in the business of delivering programs to viewers, and advertising pays for it. Actually, they are in the business of delivering viewers to advertisers, and the progra...
How come when I take a voltage reading on an AC circuit it is a steady number?	[ "They can measure both peaks and only report the magnitude, meaning it can go +120 and -120, both with an absolute value of 120, your meter would know this, and only report that. There is also a thing called RMS, or Root Mean Square, which is used with AC to find its DC equivalent through finding sort of an \"avera...	[ "The device isn't manufactured to the strict tolerances needed to maintain the same rate, because there's no reason to do so. So anything from the charge in your battery, to the heat of the environment, can introduce some 'wiggle room' into the mechanism. Since it would take extra expense to eliminate this, and sin...

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