question stringlengths 3 301 | answer stringlengths 9 26.1k | context list |
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What was the most important battle for the Polish Army in the East during the second world war? | During the Battle of Berlin, German 17th Army and 4th Panzer Army attacked the southern flank of 1st Ukrainian Front, trying to break through to Berlin. At the Battle of Bautzen, between April 21st and 30th 1945, Polish 2nd Army held the Germans off with the aide of Red Army forces. It was probably the bloodiest battle... | [
"On May 14, 1919, a Polish general offensive began throughout Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. It was carried out by units of the Polish Army aided by the newly arrived Blue Army of General Józef Haller de Hallenburg. This army, composed of Polish forces which had fought for the Entente on the Western front, numbering... |
In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a village tried a witch by seeing if she would float or sink when thrown into water. Did this sort of thing actually happen? | There is always more to write, but in the meantime here is an answer I wrote that discusses how "trials by water" were used in Medieval England:
_URL_0_ | [
"The trial by ducking (immersing the accused, bound, in water, to see if she would float) appears to have been used only once in Virginia, to try Sherwood. It was believed that, as water was considered pure, it would reject witches, causing them to float, whereas the innocent would sink.\n",
"Gertrud Svendsdotter... |
Do we know what the Earth was like prior to the asteroid collision that formed the Moon? Could complex life have lived here? | It's highly unlikely that there was life. The collision happed several hundred million years after the solar system formed. The Earth, at that point, couldn't have supported life.
Also it wasn't an asteroid that hit the Earth, it was a planet the size of Mars. | [
"Several asteroids have collided with earth in recent geological history. The Chicxulub asteroid, for example, was around 6 miles in diameter and is theorized to have caused the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous. No sufficiently large asteroid currently exists i... |
What gives humans ambition and how would you go about tricking your brain into being more ambitious? | Both genetic and environmental factors affect your ambition/laziness.
_URL_1_ Science of Laziness
_URL_0_ Science of Productivity
The best way to trick yourself into being more ambitious or stop being lazy, think about your future self. There was a research I recently read (sorry, can't find the source) that emphasize... | [
"This hypothesis posits that large brains and distinctive cognitive abilities of humans have evolved via intense social competition in which social competitors developed increasingly sophisticated “Machiavellian” strategies as a means to achieve higher social and reproductive success.\n",
"This is important becau... |
what happens to cause places to become abandoned, and why are so many belongings left behind? | A building becomes abandoned typically because the people there did not pay.
They might not be able to pay a bank for their loan, so the bank foreclosed it.
They might not be able to pay for the things they would do inside the building, or they decided it would save money not to pay for the things they would do ins... | [
"Property is generally deemed to have been abandoned if it is found in a place where the true owner likely intended to leave it, but is in such a condition that it is apparent that he or she has no intention of returning to claim it. Abandoned property generally becomes the property of whoever should find it and ta... |
can someone explain sister cities to me li5? | When two cities are about the same size, have the same factories, or have mountains and rivers like each other. They form a partnership and agree to be friends. They usually exchange gifts like statues or art. Then, people from each city visit each other and see how they do things in their city. | [
"Sister cities, known in Europe as town twins, are cities which partner with each other to promote human contact and cultural links, although this partnering is not limited to cities and often includes counties, regions, states and other sub-national entities.\n",
"The city commission has chosen to designate the ... |
How long would it take the moon before it reached Earth in a direct course? | The Moon's tangental speed is about 2,100 miles per hour. If all of that were used to approach the Earth, it'd take the Moon about 4 days and a half days to reach the Earth. The time limit in [The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask](_URL_0_) was pretty accurate. | [
"The Moon takes about 27.3 days to make one complete orbit around the earth. The earth orbits around the sun once every 365.2422 days (= earth's orbital speed of 29.79 km per second). The earth and the moon in 27.3 days have moved as a system about 1/12 of the way around the sun. This means that from one full moon ... |
AskScience AMA Series: We are three math experts here to tell you about our projects and answer your questions. Ask Us Anything! |
A question for /u/zelmerszoetrop , in particular.
How did you background at undergrad/grad level affect your current work. Did you have to go through relearning in the data science sector?
How can ideas in pure math (related to your background) be applied to machine learning type questions?
Is it possible to work o... | [
"Math for America (MfA) is a nonprofit organization, founded in January 2004 by American billionaire mathematician, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist Jim Simons with a mission to promote recruitment and retention of high quality mathematics teachers in New York City secondary schools.\n",
"The Institute was ... |
In the past? How did societies define and delimit 'countries' or 'states'? | Not a historian but have studied political science so will try to give brief input based on that.
Yes the nation-state concept was an experimental Enlightenment ideal, under which international relations continue to be organized to this day, although it is increasingly under strain and may not survive or may evolve i... | [
"One can commonly and sometimes readily (but not necessarily usefully) classify states according to their apparent make-up or focus. The concept of the nation-state, theoretically or ideally co-terminous with a \"nation\", became very popular by the 20th century in Europe, but occurred rarely elsewhere or at other ... |
In quantum mechanics, what exactly counts as observing? | We don't know. Quantum mechanics itself doesn't answer this question, and it's left up to debate. You might find [this page](_URL_2_) on interpretations of QM interesting.
I'm partial to the [objective collapse theories](_URL_0_), probably because I heard Penrose himself explain his view, in person. He holds that an ‘... | [
"In quantum mechanics, \"observation\" is synonymous with quantum measurement and \"observer\" with a measurement apparatus and \"observable\" with what can be measured. Thus the quantum mechanical observer does not have to\n",
"An especially unusual version of the observer effect occurs in quantum mechanics, as ... |
How do false positives happen in Viral testing? | It can sometimes be harder to create an accurate PCR based test than it would seem. We try to design primers and probes that will not match up to anything other than the sequence of interest, but that isn't always possible. Even when using NCBI Blast to check for similar sequences, we don't really know if any unspecifi... | [
"In medical genetics, a false positive result occurs in an enzyme assay test when test results are positive, but disease or morbidity is not present. One possible cause of false positive results is a pseudodeficiency allele. Disease may also be present, but at a subclinical level.\n",
"False positives result when... |
When did fist fighting (as opposed to dueling or brawling) become a socially acceptable way for 19th-20th century western men and boys to settle problems? And how did it fall from favor? | Boxing does become incredibly popular as a 'gentleman's sport' from the late 18th century, reaching its fashionable peak between c.1810-30. That said, it was still largely regarded as a spectator sport, with working class men doing most of the actual fighting. Pierce Egan, an Irish sportswriter living in London, wrote ... | [
"Southern duels persisted through the 1840s even after duelling in the United States was outlawed. Commonly held on sand bars in rivers where jurisdiction was unclear, they were rarely prosecuted. States such as South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Louisiana and others had their own duelling customs and traditions. Mo... |
why does car ignition work as it does? (instead of having a button) | Newer buttons you just need to press quickly, I have a new Honda and that's just a quick push not a hold
Older keyed ignitions when you turned them from ON to START you were triggering a relay which connected power to the starter motor. If you remove the key from the start position then the relay turns off and the st... | [
"The \"ignition key\" for these cars was actually used to operate a bolt lock which, on one end, unlocked the steering column (a feature destined to return, mandated, decades later), and on the other end unblocked the ignition switch, allowing it to be operated. Starting the car was then accomplished by pressing a ... |
what exactly are ukips (uk independence party) goals? | Well, the first thing to keep in mind is that all that's happened is they've got a small number of seats in the EU Parliament, nothing else.
They'll probably get a fair showing in the General Election next year sadly, but chances of them getting a majority are basically nil.
Their biggest policy to withdraw from the ... | [
"In 2013 the organisation initiated a nationwide consultation among its supporters about the UK Independence Party (UKIP). The move attracted considerable criticism from some on the right. It went on to campaign vociferously against UKIP during the run-up to the 2014 European elections.\n",
"The UK Independence P... |
how is it that birds can imitate the english language very well with beaks, while mammals of similar physical facial structures as humans (dogs, monkeys, etc) cannot? | Basically, birds evolved to make lots of sounds and some birds evolved to mimic sounds. It has nothing to do with language or learning to speak. To see that, check out the lyre bird:
_URL_1_
When a parrot mimics speech, it does so because it has a well-developed syrinx and some tongue control that allows it to manipu... | [
"Talking birds are birds that can mimic the speech of humans. There is debate within the scientific community over whether some talking parrots also have some cognitive understanding of the language. Birds have varying degrees of talking ability: some, like the corvids, are able to mimic only a few words and phrase... |
are solar roadways as effective as the video claims? why or why not? | Absolutely not. It's a complete scam and full of nonsense.
Solar panels are great, but they're expensive. Paving roads with them would be *super* expensive.
Solar panels work great when they're at a low latitude, but less so when they're at a higher latitude. The video spends time talking about putting them in pla... | [
"Critics have pointed out that solar roadways would be both more expensive, and less productive than more conventional ways of combining solar power with infrastructure, such as building shelters over roads and parking areas and putting traditional solar panels on the roofs; Elon Musk demonstrated that there is amp... |
in war, how do enemy forces know that kills they’ve sustained at the hands of snipers (chris kyle, carlos hatchcock, etc.) know to attribute the work to one sniper? | Most of the time, it was the Sniper themselves claiming the kills, and nobody contradicting them.
The same thing with "tank aces".
There was often a good deal of propaganda surrounding it, they played up the threat of this lone hero, when it might actually be several people.
You should take these stories with a g... | [
"The targets may be personnel or high-value materiel (military equipment and weapons) but most often they target the most important enemy personnel such as officers or specialists (e.g. communications operators) so as to cause maximum disruption to enemy operations. Other personnel they might target include those w... |
startup funding. what are seed/angel/rounds of funding? | Seed and angel are pretty similar. Both will generally invest into an "idea" or concept. All you really need to get funding from them is a somewhat believable business plan. Angel investors usually tend to not take on an organizational role (won't bother with day to day operations). Both angel and seed investors genera... | [
"This is where the seed funding takes place. It is considered as the setup stage where a person or a venture approaches an angel investor or an investor in a venture capital firm for funding for their idea/product. During this stage, the person or venture has to convince the investor why the idea/product is worthwh... |
why do world-renowned actors/actresses, who have almost no risk of ever being in financial trouble, sometimes do terrible movies? | Because they can make a fat pile of cash for almost no work. In a lot of those terrible movies the big actors only need to show up for like 2 days, shoot all their scenes, and then cash the check. | [
"The majority of people around the world look at the films as a way of entertainment or as a means to enrich one’s culture. For others, the film actors are very lucky and rich just because they are famous. Whereas, there are a kind of people who look at the films in a different way because they consider them like m... |
the categorical imperative | Short version: Only act in a certain way if you can in good conscience say that people should always act in that way.
e.g. you should not murder because if everyone went around murdering people, society would collapse. | [
"The categorical imperative () is the central philosophical concept in the deontological moral philosophy of Immanuel Kant. Introduced in Kant's 1785 \"Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals\", it may be defined as a way of evaluating motivations for action.\n",
"A categorical imperative, on the other hand, deno... |
how did the birthday song's melody become the global birthday tune? even in different languages, the melody is the same. | Started in America, translated into 18 languages, catchy as heck and that's likely why it was accepted into several cultures' traditions.
warner owns the rights, public performance could be subject to royalties. mobile, sorry:
_URL_0_ | [
"\"Happy Birthday to You\", also known as \"Happy Birthday\", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth. According to the 1998 \"Guinness World Records\", it is the most recognized song in the English language, followed by \"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow\". The song's base lyrics ... |
why am i always reading about schools in america sanctioning students for weird reasons? | 1) We have a hungry population waiting to rage over pretty much anything.
2) Our various media outlets know this, and are just waiting to pounce on any story they can present or even blow out of proportion to get ratings for people.
3) We have over 300 million people. With how many of them are students, it's not hard... | [
"Organizations such as the U.S. Community Relations Service, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and the Anti-Defamation League recommend that school administrators denounce bias incidents on their campuses regardless of whether a crime is committed. Reasons for having such a policy include preventing minor incidents ... |
[WW2] While looking at some history books I noticed there was a 6th landing beach at Normandy, code named BAND. What happened? | Here's an answer by /u/respectart from 10 months ago: _URL_0_
It seems to have been a beach given a name for planning but with no intentions of making a landing. | [
"On D-Day the 6th of June 1944, British soldiers landed at Asnelles: the 231st Infantry Brigade was commanded by General Sir Alexander Stanier. The Dorset Regiment, which made landfall at 7:25am, was the first British regiment to set foot in Normandy. They were followed by the Devonshire and Hampshire regiments, as... |
do different types of radiation have different temperatures? | Temperature is a property of matter. Radiation doesn't have a temperature, however it has an energy (per photon) which can result in a temperature increase when a photon interact with matter.
[edit] [This chart](_URL_0_) gives the energy range for different type of radiations.
[edit2] Radiation can be emitted (via a ... | [
"In astronomy, the radiation from stars and planets is sometimes characterized in terms of an effective temperature, the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total flux of electromagnetic energy.\n",
"It differs from other forms of electromagnetic radiation such as x-rays, gamma rays, microwaves, ... |
why in trains most people hate sitting on a back facing seat? | Some people get motion sickness when they aren't facing the direction of travel. It's not even close to "most" people. "Most people" don't suffer motion sickness at all. | [
"BULLET::::- In some vehicles intended for commuter services, seats are positioned with their backs to the side walls, either on one side or more commonly on both, facing each other across the aisle. This gives a wide accessway and allows room for standing passengers at peak times, as well as improving loading and ... |
What were the first millitary uniforms that we know of? | I imagine that would depend on how you'd define a uniform.
If a group of warriors in a tribe choose to ornament themselves in a distinct way, is that a uniform? | [
"After being replaced by plate armour amongst the elite, similar garments could still be found in the 15th century, as the brigandine. Another similar but later garment was the coat or Jack of plate which remained in use until the end of the 16th century.\n",
"Lightweight, light-coloured uniforms were worn by Eur... |
how does cheat detection in games work? | 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 ... | [
"Players found several ways to cheat in the game. Most often, two players resort to using a third-party instant messaging service in order to coordinate their moves outside of the in-game chat interface. Other players developed more sophisticated methods, including running multiple sessions of the game and creating... |
why did most countries keep the roman alphabet but switch from roman numerals? | I don't know about the first part but the practice side of why we don't use Roman numerals is because writing large numbers is not efficient with them, also it is very easy to misinterpret what they say. Most people won't confuse 6 and 7 but more will confuse VI and VII. | [
"The use of Roman numerals continued long after the decline of the Roman Empire. From the 14th century on, Roman numerals began to be replaced in most contexts by the more convenient Arabic numerals; however, this process was gradual, and the use of Roman numerals persists in some minor applications to this day.\n"... |
Is it possible to get sick from your own cold? | You can catch the same cold, however if the strain hasn't evolved yet, the odds are that your immune system will already have the immunity built up from it the first time. So, if you were to come in contact with said cold again, your body would just fight it off much faster than the first time, when your body needed to... | [
"The common cold is the most common human disease and affects people all over the globe. Adults typically have two to three infections annually, and children may have six to ten colds a year (and up to twelve colds a year for school children). Rates of symptomatic infections increase in the elderly due to declining... |
how is film made for cameras? | Photo sensitive papers and films are made using a form of silver. The silver halides have a very low activation threshold, and the zap of a photon is enough to knock pieces off the halide, changing it's chemical structure.
The film is made by using a substrate which is anything you use to hold the image. It could be ... | [
"Digital movie cameras for digital cinematography are video cameras that capture coverage digitally rather than the historically used movie camera, which shoots on film stock. Different digital movie cameras output a variety of different acquisition formats. Cameras designed for domestic use have also been used for... |
When was the last time the moon was hit by a large enough meteroid that it would have been visible from earth? | There are periodic flashes on the moon (a few have even been recorded) that are thought to be from meteor strikes. Unfortunately, because the moon lacks and atmosphere, we do not get as big of a fireworks show as we do when meteors hit the Earth. This means we don't see most of the ones that impact even though they ar... | [
"On March 19, 2013, an impact occurred on the Moon that was visible from Earth, when a boulder-sized 30 cm meteoroid slammed into the lunar surface at 90,000 km/h (56,000 mph) creating a 20-meter crater. NASA has actively monitored lunar impacts since 2005, tracking hundreds of candidate events.\n",
"On 17 March ... |
what are green olives stuffed with and why do they do it? | They're traditionally stuffed with pimiento, a sweet red pepper. I've seen them stuffed with all kinds of things, though - jalpeno, bleu cheese, almonds, garlic.... | [
"Olive salad is a salad or giardiniera made from green olives, black olives, olive oil, celery, cauliflower, carrots, sweet peppers, onions, capers, parsley, pepperoncini, oregano, garlic, vinegar, herbs and spices. It is used to make the muffaletta sandwich in and around New Orleans. Olive salad is also used as a ... |
what the point of pantone colors is. | You can do a lot with the four basic colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), but not all. Mixing of them is not perfect and you simply cannot recreate a certain, very specific shade. You need to go beyond paints and mix specific pigments (stuff that makes colour in paint) and there are 15 of them. Pantone also contains... | [
"Pantone often works in gradients, blending geometric shapes with neon colors and white and blacks, with critics noting \"The divisions between geometric patterns and gradients are so effortlessly blended that the larger patterns seem created with digitization rather than with two hands.\" He cites the Parisian Gri... |
if we ignore the budget and just constantly create debt, why does the government even bother collecting taxes(usa)? | Because we have to pay interest on the debt and nobody is going to lend money to a country that has zero income. | [
"Unlike the constitutions of most U.S. states, the United States Constitution does not require the United States Congress to pass a balanced budget, one in which the projected income to the government through taxes, fees, fines, and other revenues equals or exceeds the amount proposed to be spent. This has led to d... |
How did Stalin personally react to Hitler's 1941 invasion and launching of Operation Barbarossa? I've read he had a mental breakdown and disappeared for several days. Is this true? | If you can read russian: [this](_URL_1_) or [this](_URL_0_) (И. Пыхалов, "Великая оболганная война")
Content: sources about breakdown and disappearing are Khruschev and Mikoyan. Zhukov, Dimitrov and Kaganovich are against it. Visitors log supports latter - Stalin was in Kremlin and received many visitors. | [
"Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa in 1941 rapidly overrunning Soviet front-line forces. The Academy's staff was evacuated to Sverdlovsk in the Urals. Tokaty returned to Moscow during the Battle of Moscow. He later flew in bombing raids over Stalingrad using American bombers delivered through lend-lease.\n",
"... |
How did the Soviets view the New Deal? | During a visit to the Soviet Union in 1934, H.G. Wells interviewed Joseph Stalin and asked him what he thought of Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, and whether he saw it as a stepping stone to socialism.
I've included Stalin's reply below, but to summarize, he viewed the New Deal as fatally limited - attempting to... | [
"The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1936. It responded to needs for relief, reform, and recovery from the Great Depression. Major federal programs included the Civilian Conse... |
what is an easy way to explain the basic concept of music theory ? | When two different pitches are played at the same time, that's called harmony. Harmonies can be consonant or dissonant.
When we look at the mathematical frequencies of the two notes, they make a ratio. If the ratio is nice and easy, like 1/2 or 2/3 or even 3/5, they match up and sound nice. We call that consonance. If... | [
"Music theory is a field of study that describes the elements of music and includes the development and application of methods for composing and for analyzing music through both notation and, on occasion, musical sound itself. Broadly, theory may include any statement, belief or conception of or about music (Boretz... |
why do we give prisoners razors to shave if they always use them to make shanks? | It's true as listed before; prisoners can make shanks out of nearly anything. I watched a prison documentary where a prisoner described how he fashioned a national geographic magazine into a functioning weapon. Prisoners are only given razors when they show that they can be trusted with them, and won't hurt themselves ... | [
"Owing to health concerns, some areas require barbers who provide straight-razor shaving to use a version that employs a disposable blade system. In places such as Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Denver, Boston, Texas and San Diego, however, the professional use of straight razors in barber s... |
We have hot air balloons, and helium balloons but why not hot helium balloons? | As with so many things: It would be possible, but what's the point?
A hot air balloon needs to be reheated regularly to compensate for the heat loss. Because the balloon contains just air, it can use a relatively simple design with the bottom being open, so the burner can easily heat up the air.
If you'd replace the... | [
"Because it is lighter than air, airships and balloons are inflated with helium for lift. While hydrogen gas is more buoyant, and escapes permeating through a membrane at a lower rate, helium has the advantage of being non-flammable, and indeed fire-retardant. Another minor use is in rocketry, where helium is used ... |
how accurate is the "hollywood" version of being shot? | EMT/medical nut here.
When you get shot, there are a bunch of competing forces happening at once, one or more of which could kill you. Of course, blood loss is a real problem if the bullet hits anything important, but the body can actually handle quite a bit of blood loss before dropping into an unrecoverable spiral.... | [
"BULLET::::- \"The Beginning or the End\", a 1947 MGM movie that was the first Hollywood film to depict a person (played by actor Tom Drake) killed in an accident similar to the real-life Slotin criticality event\n",
"The film has been featured in films or other media, such as the Oliver Stone film \"JFK\", which... |
Could something hit the Moon like a pool cue ball and send it (or its remaining core) hurdling toward Earth? | Any impact on the moon that would be large enough to alter its orbit to intersect the earth's, would also be large enough to break the moon apart. And melt it.
A back of the envelope calculation shows that, to get the moon to fall toward the earth, it would take an impact with the energy of roughly 100 million [Tsar... | [
"Standing on the surface of the Moon in 1971, David Scott famously repeated Galileo's experiment by dropping a feather and a hammer from each hand at the same time. In the absence of a substantial atmosphere, the two objects fell and hit the Moon's surface at the same time.\n",
"He concludes the debris following ... |
how do you real estate agents get profit if the person buying it will be on a mortgage? | Because a bank loans the buyers money. They give that money to the agent, who will give it to the seller (minus their fee). The buyer then pays the bank back the money borrowed, and interest. | [
"In a very hot real estate market a buyer may use a negative-amortizing mortgage to purchase a property with the plan to sell the property at a higher price before the end of the \"negam\" period. Therefore, an informed investor could purchase several properties with minimal monthly obligations and make a great pro... |
What would happen if a spaceship traveling at or near the speed of light collided with a planet or some other large object? | _URL_1_
"A 1 kg mass traveling at 99% of the speed of light would have a kinetic energy of 5.47×1017 joules. In explosive terms, it would be equal to 132 megatons of TNT or approximately 32 megatons more than the theoretical max yield of the tsar bomba, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. 1 kg of mass-e... | [
"A second big issue facing ships using constant acceleration for interstellar travel is colliding with matter and radiation while en route. In mid-journey any matter the ship strikes will be impacting at near light speed, so the impact will be dramatic.\n",
"Explanations of why ships can travel faster than light ... |
if law enforcement aren't allowed to enter our homes without a warrant, why are they allowed in our yards? | > after they jumped his fence while looking for a suspect
This is a key piece of information. If they had a reasonable suspicion that a suspect had entered your home, they could enter it without a warrant, too.
There are four instances where the police can search private property without a warrant:
1. **Consent**:... | [
"BULLET::::- police allowed to enter home and other premises without judicial warrant in case that other reason for seizure of firearms exists and the owner has failed to surrender them (e.g. indictment for intentional felony)\n",
"The constitution mandates that authorities may not enter or search homes except wi... |
Humans have been living side-by-side with cats for a very long time. What is the history behind litter boxes / designated bathroom areas for cats? | I have a side-question: where did ships' cats go to the bathroom? Did the cats just ruin some corner of the orlop or what? | [
"In the 1950s, cat boxes were introduced as places for people to leave unwanted cats and kittens. The cat box locations were expanded in 1970. In 2000, the organisation took a different approach, pioneering the Cat Colony Care Programme in Asia involving trap-neuter-return. In 2014, the society reported on its webs... |
equations and inequalities with absolute value. | What exactly about them do you not understand? | [
"In mathematics, the absolute value or modulus of a real number is the non-negative value of without regard to its sign. Namely, for a positive , for a negative (in which case is positive), and . For example, the absolute value of 3 is 3, and the absolute value of −3 is also 3. The absolute value of a number may... |
If someone becomes immunized, and you receive their blood, do you then become immunized? | So for blood transfusions used in trauma, ~~the patient will receive what's called "Washed" blood, which is donated blood which has had its plasma components removed. This includes antibodies and another set of immunological proteins called complement proteins. So no, he wouldn't receive any antibodies in a normal situ... | [
"Preventing the spread of these diseases by blood transfusion is addressed in several ways. In many cases, the blood is tested for the pathogen, sometimes with several different methodologies. Donors of blood are also screened for signs and symptoms of disease and for activities that might put them at risk for infe... |
If homosexuality is completely genetic, and it became a worldwide social norm, would it eventually die out from lack of passing the gene on? | For a lot of reasons: no.
edit: adding reasons
Let's assume that homosexuality is a binary thing and 100% genetic.
Someone not having the homosexual phenotype doesn't mean he doesn't have the genotype.
Parents not expressing the phenotype may still generate children who do.
Also there have been some suggestions th... | [
"The gay activist Dennis Altman described Hamer's suggestion that homosexuality has a genetic basis as dubious in \"The End of the Homosexual?\" (2013). He noted that it conflicted with \"the theories and discoveries of both Freud and Kinsey\".\n",
"According to LeVay, there is evidence that levels of prenatal ho... |
Jefferson and Hamilton: When did the debate or our politics shift? | There are lots of dry scholarly articles out there if you want to look, but [here's an easy-to-read piece](_URL_1_) from [Eric Rauchway](_URL_3_), who I find to be a very respectable guy without the airiness of some of the other writers.
To summarize, the shift really started in the 1896 election, when the Democrats f... | [
"The quarrel between Hamilton and Jefferson is the best known and historically the most important in American political history. Hamilton's and Jefferson's incompatibility was heightened by the unavowed wish of each to be Washington's principal and most trusted advisor.\n",
"Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferso... |
Is the development of the modern clown (clumsy, big lips) related at all to racial stereotyping/minstrel shows? | The classic clown makeup- white face, huge red lips, lined eyebrows- predates the rise of minstrel shows in the 1830's. It originated with [Joseph Grimaldi](_URL_0_) ( 1778-1837). There are various explanations ( one is that it imitated the face of a greedy child who's been gorging himself on jam tarts) but the contras... | [
"Several circus sideshow performers in the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Julia Pastrana, had hypertrichosis. Many of them worked as freaks and were promoted as having distinct human and animal traits.\n",
"The influence of the American circus brought about a considerable change in the character of the mo... |
why do i absolutely hate things that become popular, things which i may have once liked, for seemingly no reason? | Often things that are popular only get discussed in a positive light and any flaws with it tend to be overlooked by the masses in general. This can lead to the dissenter to focus on the negatives to justify their viewpoint to themselves and others making the thing in question seem worse than it is.
Alternatively mass... | [
"Popularity is a social phenomenon but it can also be ascribed to objects that people interact with. Collective attention is the only way to make something popular, and information cascades play a large role in rapid rises in something's popularity. Rankings for things in popular culture, like movies and music, oft... |
how do you start a fire by blowing on it? shouldn't that put it out? | Blowing on a fire, or more usually the embers to start it brings the oxygen that fire can use as fuel closer to it, which allows it to grow and burn more.
This does only work to a certain degree though, if you blow too much air, or too hard at the fire, it'll blow it out if the fire's small enough; like when you blow ... | [
"After blowing out the fire, the wellhead must be capped to stop the flow of oil. During this time, copious fuel and oxygen are present; any spark or other heat source might ignite a fire worse than the original blowout. Thus brass tools, bronze tools, or paraffin wax-coated toolswhich do not strike sparksare used ... |
why do the hours of daylight in a year not correspond strictly to latitude? | An [image ](_URL_0_) detailing number of daylight hours in North America and Europe.
| [
"The manipulation of time at higher latitudes (for example Iceland, Nunavut, Scandinavia or Alaska) has little impact on daily life, because the length of day and night changes more extremely throughout the seasons (in comparison to other latitudes), and thus sunrise and sunset times are significantly out of phase ... |
Can fish become "overweight" from eating too much? Do they generate mass like an overeating human would or does their body size just keep growing until a certain set point as they eat larger proportions? | I'm not a fish biologist (I'm a microbiologist!), but I did teach an intro bio course so I think I can provide a suitable answer. Fish are interesting and somewhat unusual amongst vertebrates in that their growth is [indeterminate](_URL_0_) (disclaimer: not true for *all* fish). This means that as long as they don't ge... | [
"Fish may weigh less than expected for their length for many reasons, and a scientist must consider more information before assigning a cause. One of the simplest reasons is lack of food/prey. Lack of prey in turn could be the result of overpopulation of the predator, for example, competition from another predator ... |
elim: why oil prices went up in 2000 even though opec's supply remained relatively high | Demand increased dramatically, basically. China and India saw huge increases in the number of people driving. China, for instance, had 20 cars per 1,000 people in 2004. By 2009, that was 47 cars per 1,000 people -- more than double the 2004 number in just 5 years. [Source](_URL_0_). That means a huge spike in demand fo... | [
"Oil price increases were partially fueled by reports that petroleum production is at or near full capacity. In June 2005, OPEC stated that they would 'struggle' to pump enough oil to meet pricing pressures for the fourth quarter of that year. From 2007 to 2008, the decline in the U.S. dollar against other signific... |
Does Earth have the most varied elemental composition in the solar system? | If you don't count man-made elements, Earth is pretty typical for the inner planets in our solar system when it comes to abundance of elements.
During the birth of the Solar System, the orbits of the inner planets was too warm for *volatile* molecules like water and methane to condense. Thus, Venus, Earth Mars etc ha... | [
"The bulk composition of the Earth by elemental-mass is roughly similar to the gross composition of the solar system, with the major differences being that Earth is missing a great deal of the volatile elements hydrogen, helium, neon, and nitrogen, as well as carbon which has been lost as volatile hydrocarbons. The... |
Sup everyone! I was wondering about terminal velocity. How exactly do you calculate it, and how do you determine how long it would take for an object to reach it? | A body falling to the earth is being pulled by gravity with a force equal to its mass times the gravitational acceleration of the earth (9.8m/s^2) -- F=mg. If there's nothing (like air resistance) to oppose that force, a body will continue accelerating indefinitely. So say, on the moon, there is no terminal velocity.
... | [
"Using the figure of 56 m/s for the terminal velocity of a human, one finds that after 10 seconds he will have fallen 348 metres and attained 94% of terminal velocity, and after 12 seconds he will have fallen 455 metres and will have attained 97% of terminal velocity. However, when the air density cannot be assumed... |
How do we know TREE(3) is not infinite but at the same time don't know the upper bound for it? | Kruskal's tree theorem states that trees with well quasi ordered labels are themselves well quasi ordered under embedding. This means that any infinite sequence of them must have two such that the former is embeddable in the latter.
Since the colors (labels) in the definition of TREE are well quasi ordered (because th... | [
"This tree is infinite, finitely branching, and fully connected. Therefore, by Kőnig's lemma, there exists an infinite path (q,0),(q,1),(q,2)... in the tree. Therefore, following is an accepting run of \"A\"\n",
"Every finite tree structure has a member that has no superior. This member is called the \"root\" or ... |
what happens if all ten non permanent members of the un security council vote against a resolution but all five permanent members vote for? | In order to pass, a resolution most fulfill both of the following:
- All 5 permanent members must vote for it.
- A majority of all security council members must vote for it.
The resolution would not pass. The UN's system is designed to favor inaction as a means of keeping belligerents at the table. | [
"Any Member of the United Nations which is not a member of the Security Council may participate, without vote, in the discussion of any question brought before the Security Council whenever the latter considers that the interests of that Member are specially affected.\n",
"The United Nations Security Council requ... |
How did specific spelling of english words come to be standard? | The simple answer is when dictionaries became popular.
The less simple answer is that English spelling isn't standardised. There are huge differences between British and American English spelling.
Unlike the Romantic languages, for instance, there is no council to formalise English spelling, so words are basically ... | [
"Modern English spelling developed from about AD 1350 onwards, when—after three centuries of Norman French rule—English gradually became the official language of England again, although very different from before 1066, having incorporated many words of French origin (battle, beef, button, etc.). Early writers of th... |
why do objects in our vision appear to be in different places when we look through one eye closed one eye open. | Because your eyes aren't in exactly the same place as one another. They're a few inches apart..You are literally seeing the object from two different angles. Your brain combines the images into one when you have both eyes open so you don't really notice. | [
"The brain's ability to see three-dimensional objects depends on proper alignment of the eyes. When both eyes are properly aligned and aimed at the same target, the visual portion of the brain fuses the forms into a single image. When one eye turns inward, outward, upward, or downward, two different pictures are se... |
How did we figure out the shape of proteins and other organic compounds? | The structure of many proteins were discovered by isolating the protein, precipitating it out of solution to form a solid crystal, and then using the diffraction pattern of x-rays passing through the crystal to infer its structure. This technique is called [x-ray crystallography](_URL_0_). | [
"Nearly all important molecules in the body are proteins. Proteins work by each having a specific sequence of amino acids and a specific shape. Determining the order of amino acids is relatively simple. Finding the shape requires the use of x-ray crystallography and is anything but easy. It took a team of three res... |
how can there be a scientific adam and eve if there would of been multiple ancestors? | It's called the most recent common ancestor. Basically all other lines of decent have died out at some point so we're all related in some way. At the time they lived, there were other people about, but all other decedents died off or were married into, leaving us all decedents of one common ancestor. | [
"The majority of Islamic scholars, including Yasir Qadhi, believe that Adam and Eve were supernaturally created through a miracle by God, though some modern scholars like Mohamed Ghlian have instead asserted that the pair evolved naturally from a common ancestor.\n",
"In the second half of the book, Fothergill pr... |
When someone has an allergic reaction, such as from being stung by a bee, what exactly is going on? | This type of allergic reaction is called a type 1 hypersensitivity. To break it down for you, we have 4 main cell types involved and a few main chemical messengers. First the bee venom, or antigens, are captured by antigen presenting cells (dendritic cells). Think of them like the body's surveillance system for foreign... | [
"An allergic reaction can be caused by any form of direct contact with the allergen—consuming food or drink one is sensitive to (ingestion), breathing in pollen, perfume or pet dander (inhalation), or brushing a body part against an allergy-causing plant (direct contact). Other common causes of serious allergy are ... |
[Astro] Does our Sun radiate anything else other than photons? | Yes, plenty of stuff. For one, the fusion reactions that power all the good stuff also produce neutrinos. These are extremely light particles (the lightest particles with non-zero mass that we know) that almost never interact with other particles. Right now, there are hundreds of milions of neutrinos going through your... | [
"The emission of a Lambertian radiator does not depend on the amount of incident radiation, but rather from radiation originating in the emitting body itself. For example, if the sun were a Lambertian radiator, one would expect to see a constant brightness across the entire solar disc. The fact that the sun exhibit... |
If I were to cross the Atlantic in 1875 from New York to London, or some other large European port city, how long would it take and what type of liner would I be on? | Let's talk for a moment about what you *wouldn't* have. There would be no electrical lighting (that was a first aboard the *Columbia*, built in 1880). There would be no refrigeration. It wouldn't be steel-hulled (that would come with the *Servia* of 1881). It would likely be a steamship (though there were sail-only ves... | [
"BULLET::::- April 8 – April 23, 1838 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel's paddle steamer SS \"Great Western\" (1838) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Avonmouth, England, in fifteen days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.\n",
"BULLET::::- April 8–23 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel's paddle steamer (1838... |
why does your body allow you to sleep if you're about to die? | Your body doesn't "know" that medical intervention could potentially save it. Your body doesn't even "know" what medical intervention is; only that if your body's natural defenses have been exhausted, there's nothing left to fight what's attacking it. Speaking of which, your body is probably tired if it has been fighti... | [
"BULLET::::- Researchers have shown that a fundamental reason for sleep is to clean the brain of toxins. This is achieved by brain cells shrinking to create gaps between neurons, allowing fluid to wash through.\n",
"While sleeping, a normal individual is \"at rest\" as far as cardiovascular workload is concerned.... |
why don't those with authority (such as police officers) face the same penalties as ordinary citizens for crimes? | Officers are put into legally problematic positions as part of their jobs. For example it is the duty of an officer to use their service weapon to stop an armed criminal before they can injure or kill others. But if the officer makes a mistake the officer could injure or kill innocent bystanders. A regular person could... | [
"Nobody has rights to torture, to beat, to kill, to humiliate human advantage, to violate none. More over lawful representatives of the society on behalf of law enforcement bodies should not turn punishment into crime.\n",
"Individual officers, or sometimes whole units, can be corrupt or carry out various forms o... |
if proteins and enzymes denature at high temperatures, how do animals such as tardigrades survive under these conditions. | They have proteins that are designed to retain their shape at high temperatures. In fact, it's possible that those proteins won't function under more normal temperatures. | [
"Tardigrades are microscopic animals that are able to enter a state of diapause and survive a remarkable array of environmental stressors, including freezing and desiccation. Research has shown that intrinsically disordered proteins in these organisms may work to stabilize cell function and protect against these ex... |
How far back does the practice of breeding animals/plants for desired traits go? | Arguably, this happened at the very beginning of agriculture and husbandry. Planting any crop will promote that particular species, and of that species that particular strain, over others. If you use the seeds of that crop just once, it is because of local pollination, reinforcing the traits of the crops you planted. E... | [
"Selective breeding of both plants and animals has been practiced since early prehistory; key species such as wheat, rice, and dogs have been significantly different from their wild ancestors for millennia, and maize, which required especially large changes from teosinte, its wild form, was selectively bred in Meso... |
What did the average person think about the atomic bombs at the end of WW2? | I've never seen anything that indicated that any substantial number of people thought they were being lied to. One should remember that the physics underlying the bomb (nuclear fission) was known before the war began, and that the list of eminent scientists working on the project was extensive. The Smyth Report, publis... | [
"Even before the American pamphlets warning of the great power of atomic explosions, newspapers commenting on the atomic attacks reported that the bombs could not be taken lightly; \"The Nippon Times\" reported that it was clearly intended to kill many innocent people, to end the war quickly, and others proclaimed ... |
big data | It's something of a buzzword and lacks a concrete definition. However, the idea is that our computational power now allows us to gather, store, and analyze vast amounts of information - magnitudes more than twenty or thirty years ago.
The implication is that the hugely increased scale of this data manipulation leads t... | [
"Big Data is generally defined as the rapid accumulation and compiling of massive amounts of information that is being exchanged over digital communication systems. The data is large (often exceeding exabytes) and cannot be handled by conventional computer processors, and are instead stored on large server-system d... |
what algorithm or code is used to program traffic lights? | It's probably the city planning department. There may even be a traffic management sub-department, if the city is big enough.
You know how sometimes there's those [black tubes hooked up to a small box](_URL_1_) that's chained to a sign or post that stretches across the road? Those are car counters. That data is use... | [
"Traffic lights alternate the right of way accorded to users by illuminating lamps or LEDs of standard colours (red, amber (yellow), and green) following a universal colour code. In the typical sequence of colour phases:\n",
"Smart traffic lights or Intelligent traffic lights are a vehicle traffic control system ... |
Why does it feel like jalapeños are actually burning your skin? | The reason that chillies (and other foods) are spicy is mostly due to the chemical capsaicin. This is a naturally occuring compound, found in particularly high concentrations in things like jalapeños.
Capsaicin is able to activate a particular type of nerve in your skin, one that is more commonly activated by being bu... | [
"Because of the burning sensation caused by capsaicin when it comes in contact with mucous membranes, it is commonly used in food products to provide added spice or \"heat\" (piquancy), usually in the form of spices such as chili powder and paprika. In high concentrations, capsaicin will also cause a burning effect... |
During the various Latin American independence movements the majority of the new countries turned to a republican system, and yet Brazil became an Empire, why was this? | I don't know the history of the rest of Latin America independences but I can tell you the Brazilian history. English isn't my first language so sorry for any mistakes.
After the Napoleon troops invaded Portugal in november 1807, heading to Lisbon, the prince Dom João decided to transfer the court to Brazil. Upon arr... | [
"Brazil achieved its independence peacefully in 1822, becoming a monarchy, the Empire of Brazil. It retained its territorial integrity following independence, as opposed to the fragmentation of Spanish America into separate republics. Brazil was an anomaly in Latin America as a large, successful and stable monarchy... |
what is the advantage of uber/ lyft over traditional cabs? | I'm in Eastern/Central Europe so this may be different, but:
- uber is cheaper
- traditional cabs worked like mobs for a very long time, they still have a lot of shady practices (overcharge, extort, etc.)
- not all cab companies have mobile apps
- with uber you don't have to wait around to pay, you don't have to take ... | [
"Many governments and taxi companies have protested against Uber, alleging that its use of unlicensed, crowd-sourced drivers was unsafe and illegal. Uber operates and functions as a taxi service company for the public by dispatching drivers to provide transportation services to passengers who pay Uber mileage-based... |
what would happen if a camera at the end of a rope is "thrown" through a black hole? | The camera would just be crushed due to the intense gravity as far as I know | [
"The first method involves using sleight of hand to make the viewers believe that the rope is being cut at the middle, but really it is being cut close to the end. The result is a piece of rope nearly as long as the original and the viewers won't notice the slight change in length.\n",
"Whereas in a pinhole camer... |
why do anime episodes often get removed from youtube for copyright but never get removed on sites like crunchyroll? | CrunchyRoll pays the studios for the anime and either you pay a fee or have to watch commercials (or not if you use adblock) | [
"Fansub sites of popular anime have been popular yet controversial in the U.S. Many are criticized for losing anime licensors revenue and have been blamed for the cause of many companies going out of business. Section23, Bandai, Viz, TV Tokyo and Funimation have tried to limit these efforts by sending cease and dec... |
how does a group like skidrow crack games' drm? | Think of a game - or any computer program - like a recipe. Do this, do that, do this other thing. At some point in a copy-protected game, it'll do some check to see if it's allowed to install or run; maybe check a serial number or make sure the right disk is in the drive or (and this is old school) ask for the 4th wo... | [
"\"Crackdown\" features over 100 tracks of electronica and sample-based music by a number of independent and video game musicians, including Amon Tobin, Atlas Plug, Celldweller and Hybrid. Music supervisor Peter Davenport was in charge of selecting the music for the game, a task that took three years to complete. D... |
How was a razed city re-organized, if the conqueror did not actively annex and re-colonize it? | I can speak from a Byzantine perspective.
The Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire in the 7th century saw most of its Anatolian cities sacked multiple times by Arab raiders/invaders, with many cities outright abandoned, and the few surviving cities really only surviving as fortified military outposts.
The abandoned citie... | [
"These attempts at deforestation and colonisation did succeed, albeit belatedly, but came to a halt with the invasions of the 5th century AD. So, the \"barbarous\" people sealed the fall of the western Roman Empire, with pillage and destruction from which Santonie did not escape. The province was then occupied by t... |
what's dijkstra's algorithm used for in computer science? | Lots of things. It's also known as 'Shortest Path First'.
I can be used for networking to find the shortest route(least number of router stops when sending a message).
It can be used in databases to slowly optimize the location of data based on where it is needed most.
It can be used by robots to determine the short... | [
"Dijkstra's algorithm is considered as one of the most popular algorithms in computer science. It is also widely used in the fields of artificial intelligence, operational research/operations research, network routing, network analysis, and transportation engineering.\n",
"In mathematics, particularly computation... |
if it's possible to build up a sleep debt, is it possible to build up a "sleep credit"? if not, why not? | We aren't really sure why, but it doesn't seem that something like that can be done. Think about it like your bladder; you can build up a need to urinate, but you cannot urinate so much that your bladder is more than empty. | [
"There is debate among researchers as to whether the concept of sleep debt describes a measurable phenomenon. The September 2004 issue of the journal \"Sleep\" contains dueling editorials from two leading sleep researchers, David F. Dinges and Jim Horne. A 1997 experiment conducted by psychiatrists at the Universit... |
Shouldn't there be Quark stars? | The interior state of neutron stars is poorly known. It might contain something you could call "quark star". | [
"A quark star is a hypothesized object that results from the decomposition of neutrons into their constituent up and down quarks under gravitational pressure. It is expected to be smaller and denser than a neutron star, and may survive in this new state indefinitely if no extra mass is added. Effectively, it is a v... |
if bees dont use all the honey they produce, then why do they continue to make so much more than they need? | They don’t know how much honey they will need in the winter. They survive by shivering to keep warm and use honey to fuel their energy. If they run out of honey, the entire colony dies. | [
"While harvesting honey, it is essential to leave enough of a store of honey for times when bees are not able to forage. It might still become necessary to feed bees. During feeding, it is important to follow recommendations about what to feed, how to feed and how often.\n",
"Honey bees are used commercially to p... |
why do sites like youtube and facebook (but especially youtube) continuously modify their interface with new skin, color, and features, despite the negative reception of their userbase? | Because everybody hates change. Week 1-4 of a UI overhaul, everyone hates it. It's all different and you have to find the stuff you want again. Once you figure it out you stop caring and usually whatever new/optimized feature gets a jump in usage, which is why they made a new UI in the first place. | [
"The benefit of skinning in user interfaces is disputed. While some find it useful or pleasant to be able to change the appearance of software, a changed appearance can complicate technical support and training. A user interface that has been extensively customized by one person may appear completely unfamiliar to ... |
You're on a train and it crashes. Is it better to be in a forward facing or a rear facing seat? | It's better to be facing backwards (this applies in planes as well).
Either way, you're basically going to be decelerating instantaneously. The difference is where the force is applied. When facing backwards, the force is distributed across your entire back and it keeps all of your body parts held in stable position... | [
"Out of position (OOP), in crash testing and car accident medical literature, indicates a passenger position which is not the normal upright and forward-facing position. For example, a common case observed in crashes is the position of an occupant when reaching for the car radio, or panic braking in unbelted passen... |
How does a developing embryo know which side is left and which is right? | It happens because cilia beat asymmetrically, and ciliary motion of fetal cells therefore creates an asymmetric flow of fluid around the fetus, thus creating asymmetry to chemical signaling during fetal development. Situs inversus is caused by ciliary dismotility. | [
"There are many differences between the left and right sides, including heart and lung positioning. Mutations in these genes cause incorrect positioning of these organs (e.g., situs inversus), or in the case of constitutively inactive lefty, the embryo becomes entirely mesoderm and fails to pattern or develop. Duri... |
How have we evolved the ability to smell chemicals
from such geographically widespread plants? | I'm sure someone who has more expertise can come in a give a better answer. The chemoreceptors in our nose bind to and detect certain chemical bonds, stimulating the neuro signal that our olfactory bulb then processes and creates the 'smell' we smell. There's some debate on this, but apparently we only have around 200... | [
"Animals recognise a wide variety of chemicals using their senses of taste and smell. The nematode \"Caenorhabditis elegans\" has only 14 types of chemosensory neuron, yet is able to respond to dozens of chemicals because each neuron detects several stimuli. More than 40 highly divergent transmembrane proteins that... |
Why does food cook? Why doesn't it change to a liquid /gas? | It doesn't get hot enough to turn to liquid or gas. The thing about food (depending on what it is) is that it's a very complex mixture of proteins and carbohydrates. The cooking process gives enough energy to mess with their structure, which is the cooking process: breaking bonds and disrupting non-covalent interaction... | [
"Cooking often involves water, frequently present in other liquids, which is both added in order to immerse the substances being cooked (typically water, stock or wine), and released from the foods themselves. A favorite method of adding flavor to dishes is to save the liquid for use in other recipes. Liquids are s... |
At what point on a trip up a space elevator would you begin feeling weightless? | It's a misconception that people in orbit experience weightlessness due to their distance from Earth causing reduced gravity. In fact, objects in orbit actually experience 90% of Earth's gravity. What actually causes weightlessness in orbit is their horizontal movement. They're basically constantly falling towards the ... | [
"A person in a free-falling elevator experiences weightlessness; objects either float motionless or drift at constant speed. Since everything in the elevator is falling together, no gravitational effect can be observed. In this way, the experiences of an observer in free fall are indistinguishable from those of an ... |
When we grow up, where do the atoms find their way into our growing bodies? And is it possible those atoms used to be part of some other human before? | Not really a serious, detailed answer, but the atoms find their way into our growing bodies, mostly through food... And yes it is possible that some of the atoms in your body to have been in another human being. I don't know how likely that is but even that is statistically calculable. | [
"Atoms are the smallest neutral particles into which matter can be divided by chemical reactions. An atom consists of a small, heavy nucleus surrounded by a relatively large, light cloud of electrons. Each type of atom corresponds to a specific chemical element. To date, 118 elements have been discovered or created... |
what does the chairman of the senate budget committee do? what authority do they have that other senators don't? | Proposed legislation is typically sent to the committee that it falls under. The committee then holds investigations and actually crafts the legislation. Once the committee approves it, it goes to the floor for a vote are further tweaks. Basically they are the head person of the group that gets to write the first draft... | [
"Given its broad remit with regards to taxation, mandatory spending, international trade, Social Security, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, interest on the national debt, and healthcare finance - including Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program - the Senate Committee on Finance is ar... |
How does specific heat affect heat transfer between objects? | the two materials would move towards equilibrium. the hotter material would always be hotter than the other, and vice versa, until they reach equilibrium.
the end temperature will therefore be between the two start temperatures, and the end temperature would depend upon the mass and specific heat capacity of each mater... | [
"An object's or space's temperature increases when heat energy moves into it, increasing the average kinetic energy of its atoms, e.g., of things and air in a room. Heat energy leaving an object or space lowers its temperature. Heat flows from one place to another (always from a higher temperature to a lower one) b... |
is it better to brake hard to avoid in a car or apply firm braking | the quickest way to slow down is the apply enough brakes to use 100% of the tire's traction.
problem is...you don't know where that limit is.
if you brake 80% of tire traction, you're just leaving some power on the table.
if you brake with 120% of tire traction, you'll lock up the tire and take longer
antilock b... | [
"Similar behaviour is evident during heavy braking in all types of road vehicles, due to weight transfer to the front. This can be mitigated by re-proportioning the braking forces (more to the front, less to the rear) to keep the rear wheels from locking up. Most modern cars use anti-lock brakes (ABS) which address... |
Were Warbonds a good investment? | Adding on to OP's question, what were the interest rates on various war bonds issued by different countries? Did anyone "hedge" their war bonds? Were war bond purchases usually limited to citizens of that country? if not, have there ever been prominent cases of citizens from one country buying the opposing country's wa... | [
"Warburg Pincus, LLC is an American private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil, China and India. It has been a private equity investor since 1966. The firm currently has approximately $40 billion in assets under management and invests in a range of sectors including retail, industrial man... |
Are there any two foods/edible materials that are harmless when consumed separately and dangerous when consumed together? | Not so much with food, since food tends to mostly be made of the same types of chemicals. Certain drug combinations, like Tylenol and alcohol, can do more damage together than either would alone, although your body can usually repair this damage if it's not a combination you take very often. | [
"This product is hazardous both to humans and wildlife, whether due to accidental consumption (e.g. by scavengers eating a body of an animal euthanised with Phenytoin/pentobarbital), exposure to wounds, or accidental self-injection.\n",
"Foods that must be avoided and are very harmful, possibly, deadly are alcoho... |
why does drinking a liquid such as a dry wine leave your mouth feeling dry even though it's a liquid? | With red wine, you are feeling a chemical called *tannin* which gives the illusion of a dry feeling. | [
"When referring to wine, \"dry\" is the opposite of \"sweet,\" and does not refer to astringency. Wines that contain tannins and so cause an astringent sensation are not necessarily classified as \"dry\", and \"dry\" wines are not necessarily astringent.\n",
"Dryness is a property of beverages that describes the ... |
if i am not supposed to peel off a scab how come all my instincts are telling me to do it | Because your scab has healed at the edges, meaning your body, right at those points, is going "Hey there's some junk on this healthy skin, get it off!" so you have the instinct to rip at it (or scratch at it).
The problem is, it's *only* healed at the edges, and the scab is a big whole thing that's attached, so you ca... | [
"Those that suffer from compulsive skin picking have issues with picking, rubbing, digging, or scratching the skin. These activities are usually to get rid of unwanted blemishes or marks on the skin. These compulsions also tend to leave abrasions and irritation on the skin. This can lead to infection or other issue... |
how do antibiotics kill unwanted bacteria but not the body's own cells? | This principle is called "selective toxicity".
It utilises the fact that bacterial cells are different from human/animal cells. Specifically, they have different biochemistry, different anatomy, etc.
For example, a very popular group of antibiotics called beta-lactams (an example is penicillin, but there are lots of... | [
"Some antibiotics actually kill the bacteria (bactericidal), whereas others merely prevent the bacteria from multiplying (bacteriostatic) so that the host's immune system can overcome them; this may affect testing procedures.\n",
"Bacteria can often be killed by antibiotics, which are usually designed to destroy ... |
how is stephen colbert a character? what is different between stephen colbert and "stephen colbert"? | Stephen Colbert played a character by the same name on his Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report". The fictional Colbert was a parody of the kind of personality-driven opinion shows common on nighttime cable news networks.
While that was a very popular character that was appropriate for his cable show, it wouldn't b... | [
"Colbert is deeply self-centered and takes everything personally, a trait which is reflected in his discussion of the news and current events. According to the comedian, \"There's nothing too large that doesn't involve him. Every news story is really about him ... Everything he cares about is a news story because h... |
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