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How do birds whistle and make discernable notes without lips or some other way of controlling pitch, like humans?	Mick Stute, Without there is nothing Answered Jun 25, 2014 Birds have an organ called the syrinx which is located where we have a larynx, an organ on the trachea. In our case the larynx has two folds we call the vocal chords. These two flaps form a V in our throat which opens to allow us to breath but can be closed f...	[ "Recent studies indicate that some birds may have an ability to memorize \"syntactic\" patterns of sounds, and that they can be taught to reject the ones determined to be incorrect by the human trainers. These experiments were carried out by combining whistles, rattles, warbles, and high-frequency motifs.\n", "Al...
what is the smoke/steam coming off of a rocket before it launches?	Typically it is condensation. The rocket housing is very cold because it is full of liquid hydrogen or liquid oxygen which are burned to propel the rocket. Moisture in the air will condense into a mist when exposed to the very cold air it produces.	[ "A steam rocket, or \"hot water rocket\", is a rocket that uses water held in a pressure vessel at a high temperature, and which generates thrust through this being released as steam through a rocket nozzle.\n", "After approximately , it was discovered that steam from the boilers had leaked into the forward magaz...
how does a galaxy move?	Galaxies move based on gravity of their components (stars, planets gases etc) . Most galaxies have a black hole at the center , it's mass and gravity also affects the motion. Over large periods of time millions and billions of years galxies may colesce with other galaxies affecting each others movements	[ "The arms of spiral galaxies rotate around the galactic center. The luminous mass density of a spiral galaxy decreases as one goes from the center to the outskirts. If luminous mass were all the matter, then we can model the galaxy as a point mass in the centre and test masses orbiting around it, similar to the Sol...
why cant we get rid of lobbyists and make it more fair based on actual information and not money??	Where does the information come from? Obviously, our representatives can't be domain experts on every subject so they need to have someone help explain the laws and their implications to them. The people that help explain the situation and the proposed solutions to members of congress are called lobbyists.	[ "Lobbying brings valuable information to policymakers, according to another argument in favor of lobbying. Since lobbyists often become highly knowledgeable about a specific issue by studying it in depth over years, they can bring considerable expertise to help legislators avoid errors as well as grasp the nuances ...
why is there no check on the price of diamonds?	We live in country with a free market. Companies are allowed to charge whatever they want, and supply and demand will determine the current price. Diamonds are expensive because people are willing to pay that much.	[ "Regarding the latter, the main argument presented being that the paradigm where diamonds were seen as rare due to their visual beauty is no longer the case and instead has been replaced by an artificial rarity reflected in their price. This is attributed to confirmed evidence that there were price-fixing practices...
How was Poland affected by transfers of populations/territory between itself, Germany, and the USSR?	On a more general note, Poland's demographics were considerably altered. The Second Polish Republic (1918-1939) was a diverse country that had large numbers of ethnic Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Germans, Belarusians, and other peoples (Lithuanians, Russians, Czechs, etc.). Up to a third of the population was not ethnicall...	[ "In 1939, following Nazi German and Soviet attack on Poland, the territory of the Second Polish Republic was divided between the two invaders. The eastern half of Poland was annexed by the Soviet Union. Soon afterward Moscow began a program of mass deportations of ethnic Poles as well as some Polish Jews, deep into...
what is that sensation i get when i pee and it feels like i have to pee more?	This only happens to me when I try to pee with a boner.	[ "In general, symptoms may include painful urination described as a burning sensation in the urethra during urination, pelvic pain that is worsened with the consumption of certain foods or drinks, urinary urgency, and pressure in the bladder or pelvis. Other frequently described symptoms are urinary hesitancy (needi...
what is this picture of space i'm looking at?	You're looking at a galaxy. It's a massive collection of likely hundreds of billions of individuals stars. Most of which likely have planets surrounding them. It truly is awesome. but if you want your mind blown, look at this: _URL_0_ This was a picture taken by the hubble telescope when looking at a TINY otherwi...	[ "Some of the movie's images illustrate geographical realities that are not necessarily obvious from the ground but which are apparent when viewed from space. For example, the circular structure of Lake Manicouagan in Quebec, Canada may not be evident to a person in a kayak paddling along its jagged, indented shorel...
why does adding n number of odd numbers yields n^2? what theory is being applied?	Imagine a square of one unit by one unit. This has a total area of one unit squared, or 1^2 = 1 Now imagine adding one layer to the top and right side of the square (not forgetting the corner, so it stays square shaped). This is now 2 units to each side, and a total of 4 unit squares. This is 3 more than before. The t...	[ "When \"n\" is an odd number, by analogy to the problem of odd greedy expansions for Egyptian fractions, one may ask for solutions to \"k\"/\"n\" = 1/\"x\" + 1/\"y\" + 1/\"z\" in which \"x\", \"y\", and \"z\" are distinct positive odd numbers. Solutions to this equation are known to always exist for the case in whi...
medicine commercials who are they for?	....you might have developed those symptoms since the last time you saw your doctor. They are meant to make you think "hey I feel that way, let me make an appointment"	[ "Direct-to-consumer advertising Three out of four patients who ask a physician about a particular medication have that medication prescribed to them because they saw advertising for it. This results in a change in prescribing habits such that a physician will prescribe the more expensive requested medication rather...
why is zoom so popular nowadays? i never heard about this company before	For business type interactions, it has it all for free, up until you need the meeting rooms for a longer period of time, or for more than a certain number of people. We use it for education conferences, and meet in a virtual "room" with 50 plus people, then break into multiple smaller "rooms," then meet back in the big...	[ "Zoominfo is a database marketing company. In Zoominfo's original business model, it sold access to its database of information about business people; its initial customers were human resources professionals, and people interested in targeting ads to business people and tracking their responses. In 2005 it said had...
why sometimes i get the feeling a situation is extremely familiar even though i'm 100% certain it's completely new.	If you are speaking about deja vu, there actually isn't a concrete reason as to why, but there are some theories. The strongest is that when you are experiencing something, your brain accidentally "saves" the memory to long-term before it actually processes. So then your brain "opens" and "processes" the memory at abou...	[ "Individuals in society want to know every detail about something in hopes to maximize the feeling for that moment, but Wilson found that feeling uncertain can lead to something being more enjoyable because it has a sense of mystery. In fact, the feeling of not knowing can lead them to constantly think and feel abo...
Has Arabic evolved and changed over the years in much the same way that English has over the centuries?	I'd suggest asking over at /r/linguistics. Not that you won't get an answer here, but they specialize on this and stuff	[ "After this, Arabic gradually replaced Aramaic as a part of a steady process of Arabization and Islamification, accompanied by the influx of a large number of Muslim Arabs from the Arabian peninsula, although the Syriac language, script and literature continued to exert influence upon Arabic into the Middle Ages.\n...
Did Eastern Slavs Worship Perun?	Perun, the Thunder God, was one of the major deities in the earliest stages of the recorded history of the Grand Duchy of Kiev. In the Rus Primary Chronicle, it is said that when Vladimir became the Grand Duke of Kiev, in 980 AD, he erected statues to seven pagan gods ...	[ "The Ilmen Slavs seem to have been different from other Slavic tribes colonizing what is now Russia in that they were closely related to the Polabian Slavs in language and traditions (see old Novgorod dialect and Gostomysl for examples). They settled mostly Finnic areas in Northern Russia, moving along the major wa...
In a synapse, how does the axon terminal stay put relative to the post-synaptic cell if the two aren't touching? What is holding it in place?	There are lots of other cells in the brain, as well as the ECM (extracellular matrix) which does add support. The other main cells of the brain are the astrocytes (main cells in support/holding neurons in place) oligodendrocytes (provide the myelin sheaths to multiple neurons) and also some specialized phagocytic type ...	[ "Axons transmit signals to other neurons by means of specialized junctions called synapses. A single axon may make as many as several thousand synaptic connections with other cells. When an action potential, traveling along an axon, arrives at a synapse, it causes a chemical called a neurotransmitter to be released...
Why does plasma smell the way it does?	What happens is, you have an electric ark between two connectors. There is an insanely high voltage between the two, but an extremely low intensity to balance it out. The high voltage will ionize the dioxygen molecules into a different one, called ozone, a molecule with 3 oxygen atoms. This molecule has an...	[ "Like a gas, plasma does not have definite shape or volume. Unlike gases, plasmas are electrically conductive, produce magnetic fields and electric currents, and respond strongly to electromagnetic forces. Positively charged nuclei swim in a \"sea\" of freely-moving disassociated electrons, similar to the way such ...
Does Earth reflect more light than other comprable planets?	Venus is likely the brightest planet in our solar system for a few reasons. Its very close to the sun and its always covered in dense clouds. Earth's brightness through its history would be related to its cloud cover so in a time where it was more humid than the present day would be where its peak brightness had been a...	[ "Approximately half of the Earth is illuminated at any time by the Sun. The area subjected to direct illumination is almost exactly half the planet; but because of atmospheric and other effects that extend the reach of indirect illumination, the area of the planet covered by either direct or indirect illumination a...
when i donate money to cancer kids at a store checkout, does the company use my donation as a tax write off?	They might. It depends which store and which organization the money is going to. I believe the charity Ronald McDonald House is attached the McDonald's corporation, so the money is probably a tax write-off. But some stores literally just let charities put a little donation box in front of their cash register for no rea...	[ "In 2002, Rose Perkins, their son, James Reynolds Jr. and other CFA board members \"transformed space in a telemarketer's phone room in Michigan into a brand new charity\" called \"Cancer Support Services\". They hired the same telemarketers at $10 an hour and their managers, who had previously worked for a corpora...
how do vocal cords/the voice box work?	The names "vocal cords" and "voice box" are a little misleading. Vocal folds is probably a better name. The scientific name is the larynx. They're basically folds of tissue (mucous membrane, specifically) that can be tightened or relaxed; [here's what they look like](_URL_0_). When they're tightened, and air pass...	[ "The \"larynx\" or \"voice box\" is a cylindrical framework of cartilage that serves to anchor the vocal folds. When the muscles of the vocal folds contract, the airflow from the lungs is impeded until the vocal folds are forced apart again by the increasing air pressure from the lungs. The process continues in a p...
- how do cinema companies get films and how much do they pay for them?	They get films from film distributors. The cost is what you pay to see the movie; the distributor takes a huge percentage from the ticket sales (upwards of 90% for new releases). The cinema owner is really in the concession business. That's where his income comes from.	[ "Movie studios/film distributors in the US traditionally drive hard bargains entitling them to as much as 100% of the gross ticket revenue during the first weeks (and then the balance changes in 10% increments in favor of exhibitors at intervals that vary from film to film). Film exhibition has seen a rise in its d...
how do people vaccinated from a disease, still get the disease?	Vaccines aren't 100% guaranteed to shield you, and some types of vaccines only protect from the most common forms of the virus. For example, your flu shot each year is formulated to protect against the versions of the flu which should be active that year. So if you're protected against versions a, b, c, and t, but ha...	[ "When a person is vaccinated, their immune system develops antibodies that recognize specific segments (epitopes) viruses or viral-induced proteins. Over time, however, viruses accumulate genetic mutations which can impact the 3d structure of viral proteins. If these mutations occur in sites that are recognized by ...
why do eyes roll back when people die? or is that made up?	It's fiction. When a person dies, their eyes stay fixed where they were at the moment of death.	[ "When a person dies, you must look at the body. If it is like that of a living person, it is in all instances a case of escape by corpse. If you see that the feet are not blue and the skin is not wrinkled, it is also a case of escape by corpse. If the light of the eyes is undimmed and no different from that of a li...
why did the us allow themselves to get into so much debt despite the fact they have so much gold locked up in fort knox?	* The US debt is not a big deal, and in fact has some benefits beyond its ability to finance spending. We're in debt as a deliberate policy choice, not because we were forced into it or something. * There's too much gold at Fort Knox to sell. US gold reserves are something like 5% of all gold in the world; if the US s...	[ "The US did not suspend the gold standard during the war. The newly created Federal Reserve intervened in currency markets and sold bonds to “sterilize” some of the gold imports that would have otherwise increased the stock of money. By 1927 many countries had returned to the gold standard. As a result of World War...
How seriously did Ancient Romans take the deification of their former emperors?	You might be interested in reading the [Apocolocyntosis divii Claudii](_URL_1_) ("The Gourdification of the Divine Claudius"). This is a political satire, playing on the word "apotheosis" (what dead emperors went through to be deified), describing the death of Claudius, his ascent to the heavens and judgement by the g...	[ "BULLET::::- 476: Romulus Augustus, last Western Roman Emperor is forced to abdicate by Odoacer, a half Hunnish and half Scirian chieftain of the Germanic Heruli; Odoacer returns the imperial regalia to Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno in Constantinople in return for the title of \"dux\" of Italy; this marks the end of t...
Are human faces really that distinct or do our brains exaggerate the differences between them?	Humans have a special part of their brain dedicated to understanding faces. When that area is damaged, you cannot tell the difference in peoples faces any more than you could tell the difference at a glance of two similar bricks. [Prosopagnosia](_URL_0_) edit - I'll also add that I used to have it for the first...	[ "For humans, the front of the head (the face) is the main distinguishing feature between different people due to its easily discernible features, such as eye and hair colors, shapes of the sensory organs, and the wrinkles. Humans easily differentiate between faces because of the brain's predisposition toward facial...
how do certain medications evoke a physical change in the body such as reducing inflammation?	I can explain the mechanism of let's say Aspirin (or Ibuprofen or paracetamol, there's not much difference). If you take aspirin, it gets in your bloodstream and inhibits an enzyme (which acts like a simple converter; it converts useless substance A to useful substance B, without being affected by the chemical reaction...	[ "Some drugs used to treat inflammation have the unwanted side effect of suppressing normal platelet function. These are the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS). Aspirin irreversibly disrupts platelet function by inhibiting cyclooxygenase-1 (COX1), and hence normal hemostasis. The resulting platelets are ...
During the opening of Japan by Commodore Perry, how did the Japanese behave?	Please delete this comment if it does not meet the academic standard of this subreddit (as for other areas, I'm sure it's not. I'm also specialized neither in this area nor in this period.). +++ There is actually counterpart of Perry's narrative in Japan, minutes within the contemporary goveners, titled as 'Bokui Ohs...	[ "When Commodore Matthew C. Perry's four-ship squadron appeared in Edo Bay (Tokyo Bay) in July 1853, the shogunate was thrown into turmoil. Commodore Perry was fully prepared for hostilities if his negotiations with the Japanese failed, and threatened to open fire if the Japanese refused to negotiate. He gave them t...
Can I eat as much sodium as I like without experiencing increased blood pressure as long as I balance my sodium intake with potassium?	In summary, no. Sodium is thought to be more important than potassium. This is because studies looking at sodium intake found that it correlated to blood pressure regardless of potassium intake. Taking in more potassium may reduce blood pressure, but there's no reason to think that taking extra potassium is protecti...	[ "A low sodium diet is beneficial for people with high blood pressure. The Cochrane review published in 2008 concluded that a long term (more than 4 weeks) low sodium diet usefully lowers blood pressure, both in people with hypertension (high blood pressure) and in those with normal blood pressure.\n", "Increasing...
how does freezing your body/head work? do your cells get frozen while alive? what is it for?	The principle is that they do get frozen alive to be thawed at some other point in time when you could be brought back to life, however as far as I know it does not work since cells break down from the extreme temperatures. Cryogenetics it is called I think.	[ "Scientists have found that freezing amniotic epithelial cells causes them to not function as they normally would, which have scientists thinking that the extracellular matrix is the part of the cell that controls its functions.\n", "During slow freezing, cells are placed in a medium which is cooled below the fre...
Is there any genetic or biological reason some people prefer salty tastes to sweet, and vice versa?	In mice, we know for sure that there are genetic variants that influence the ability to taste and overall sensitivity to sweet, bitter, and salty compounds in the taste bud. This work led to the discovery of sweet and bitter taste receptors. There is some evidence that variants in these receptors are correlated with re...	[ "Various receptors have also been proposed for salty tastes, along with the possible taste detection of lipids, complex carbohydrates, and water. Evidence for these receptors is, however, shaky at best, and is often unconvincing in mammal studies. For example, the proposed ENaC receptor for sodium detection can onl...
why does the machine used to measure eye pressure blow air?	It blows air to put pressure on your eyeball. The amount of squish your eyeball experiences shows how much internal pressure there is	[ "The shape of the sensor is important because it is calibrated to work in the direction of Air flow as shown by the RED Arrows. This is normal operation for the pressure sensor, providing a positive reading on the display of the digital pressure meter. Applying pressure in the reverse direction can induce errors in...
How do they go about singling out particules before shooting them in the LHC?	Anyone is welcome to correct me, because I can't cite any source or anything about this, but here goes... They don't shoot two particles at a time and watch them hit each other, they throw a bunch of particles at each other and hope that two of them collide in the narrow window that the sensors can observe. They don't...	[ "In this leg's Roadblock, one team member to ride a snow bike for course in the woods before heading to the shooting range, where the person had to successfully shoot all 5 targets without missing to receive their next clue. If the shooter missed any targets, they had to start over by running the course again and s...
Weird permanent thing in the sky?	Probably the Large Magellanic Cloud. There are two dwarf galaxies visible from the Southern Hemisphere - the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. You can see the Large Magellanic Cloud quite well from any reasonably dark area - I can see it from my parent's house on the outskirts of Tauranga - but the Small Magellanic Cl...	[ "I have never seen anything like it before or since, and I have spent a lot of time where the night sky could be seen well. This suggests that the phenomenon involves a comparatively rare set of conditions or circumstances to produce it, but nothing like the odds of an interstellar visitation.\n", "These often bl...
Is it possible to stop aging (reset aged cells) by creating a gene therapy (man made virus) that replaces your cells based on your stem cells (post puberty) to prevent ageing and repair all damaged cells back to their least damaged post puberty stage?	Well, this is not exactly the answer to your very specific question, but a rodent with a telomerase enzyme gene therapy has an extended lifespan. _URL_0_ The science on telomeres is interesting with respect to aging. The telomere is a bit of DNA at the end of a chromosone that sort of hang out there. With repeated di...	[ "In April 2014, an international research team expanded on this break through. There remained the question of whether the same success could be accomplished using adult somatic cells. Epigenetic and age related changes were thought to possibly hinder an adult somatic cells ability to be reprogrammed. Implementing t...
elasticity of demand	Khan Academy has an absolutely fantastic applied approach to help folks understand: _URL_0_	[ "Together with the concept of an economic \"elasticity\" coefficient, Alfred Marshall is credited with defining PED (\"elasticity of demand\") in his book \"Principles of Economics\", published in 1890. Alfred Marshall invented price elasticity of demand only four years after he had invented the concept of elastici...
How would Mars and Venus be different if they switched orbits?	If i'm not mistaken Venus is about the same size as the Earth (i've heard it referenced as our "sister" planet). Also it being closer or further from the sun would have no bearing on its atmosphere "floating away" because it is all about the gravitational attraction related to the mass of the solid object. If it can su...	[ "Both Earth and Mars are in elliptical orbits around the Sun in approximately the same plane. By the nature of the laws of physics, the distance between them varies periodically from a minimum equal to the distance between their orbits at some point along them, to a maximum when they are on opposite sides of the Su...
Punishment for concubines in Imperial China?	This event might be based on [Wu Zetian](_URL_4_)'s treatment of her rivals, [Consort Xiao](_URL_6_) and [Empress Wang](_URL_1_), as recorded in the Old Book of Tang compiled around 300 years after the event. Wu Zetian, then still a consort, ordered for her rivals' limbs to be cut off, thrown into a large wine jar,...	[ "Despite the limitations imposed on Chinese concubines, there are several examples in history and literature of concubines who achieved great power and influence. Lady Yehenara, otherwise known as Empress Dowager Cixi, was arguably one of the most successful concubines in Chinese history. Cixi first entered the cou...
When Prohibition ended, how quickly did bootleg alcohol sales disappear?	While this only a very partial answer to your question, it is important to keep in mind that "the end of prohibition" wasn't just 1933. The 21st Amendment didn't make the sale of alcohol legal in all 48 states immediately. Mississippi, for example, was officially a dry state until 1966. A number of counties are sti...	[ "In the United States, the smuggling of alcohol did not end with the repeal of prohibition. In the Appalachian United States, for example, the demand for moonshine was at an all-time high in the 1920s, but an era of rampant bootlegging in dry areas continued into the 1970s. Although the well-known bootleggers of th...
what happens when someone with synesthesia is also color blind?	There is one color blind person on record with synthesia. She could see colors in her head that she couldn't see in real life. [Link](_URL_0_) Don't know anything other than that.	[ "As with other variants of synesthesia, sound-color synesthesia can be divided into groups based on the way the colors are experienced. Those that 'see' or perceive the color as being in the external space are often called projectors, and those that perceive the color in the mind's eye are often called associators,...
why can you have tonnes of pressure from the weight of the air above you but be able walk into buildings/rooms without feeling any change in pressure?	Because the pressure doesn't go away. It is not only the column of air pressing down upon you that is then taken over by the building. The pressure is the whole environment, the 'depth' of the 'sea' of air you are at. So as long as the building you are walking in is not airtight, there is no change in pressure. & #x2...	[ "The interior air pressure required for air-supported structures is not as much as most people expect and certainly not discernible when inside. The amount of pressure required is a function of the weight of the material - and the building systems suspended on it (lighting, ventilation, etc.) - and wind pressure. Y...
what is, if any, the formal definition of each social class?	it depends on what political/social/economical ideologies you follow, some see classes as fluent changing things and others see it as a grounded groups that don't shift around that much, and some ideas don't really talk about class in general. But the people that talk most about class are the socialists (which for sake...	[ "A social class is a set of subjectively defined concepts in the social sciences and political theory centered on models of social stratification in which people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle and lower classes.\n", "A social class (or, simply, cl...
Which class of the social pyramid or which societal caste were medieval European doctors, lawyers, historians, engineers, etc. in, and where did they acquire their educations from? Were most of them family trades and businesses, or were their educations received from institutions of renown?	While popular imagination might envision Medieval Europe as a simple society with strict class distinctions, this was most certainly not the case. Nowhere was this more evident in Italy, my own area of interest, where the political elite contained a segment of prosperous urban professionals, some of which were educated...	[ "Institutions exclusively for the education of nobles emerged only in the second half of the 16th century. They had their origin in Southern and Western Europe and were then also established in the Holy Roman Empire. \n", "There were several advancements made in 17th-century Italian education systems. One example...
iq tests. how can someone of average or higher than average intelligence design puzzles or problems that only geniuses can solve.	I'm not going to look at the point of whether IQ tests actually quantify intelligence (a hotly debated point; I personally don't believe you can "quantify" intelligence). Rather, I have a simple demonstration of how someone of average intelligence can design a puzzle that only a genius could solve. In many cases, it...	[ "Intelligence tests measure intellectual abilities like mathematical analogies in which the quality and quickness of question-solving is crucial. Intelligence tests belong to the tests with a high validity.\n", "Critics such as Keith Stanovich do not dispute the reliability of IQ test scores or their capacity to ...
why do you not cry from onions while wearing contacts?	The crying from onions is due to the chemicals released in the cutting process getting mixed with the fluid on your eye and creating an irritating acid your eye attempts to flush out with tears. When wearing contacts, they reduce the exposed surface area that the chemicals can interact with, particularly much of the se...	[ "Freshly cut onions often cause a stinging sensation in the eyes of people nearby, and often uncontrollable tears. This is caused by the release of a volatile liquid, \"syn\"-propanethial-S-oxide and its aerosol, which stimulates nerves in the eye. This gas is produced by a chain of reactions which serve as a defen...
Why did the UK's nuclear deterrent not deter Argentina from invading the Falkland Islands?	Because Argentina knew that the UK wasn't going to nuke them over the Falklands. The problem with nuclear weapons is that they are something of a bluff. Since World War II, no state has really been that eager to be the first to use a nuclear weapon in a conflict, even against a non-nuclear state where immediate retal...	[ "The retaking of the Falkland Islands was considered extremely difficult. The U.S. Navy considered a successful counter-invasion by the British \"a military impossibility\". Firstly, the British were significantly constrained by the disparity in deployable air cover. The British had 42 aircraft (28 Sea Harriers and...
us has south eastern protruding peninsula as state of florida. why did us never try to acquire south western 'baja peninsula' as its territory? explain me the historical reason.	The US acquired Florida from Spain for a few reasons, amongst them Spain's inability to govern Indians in Florida and it being a slave and outlaw haven, a desire for the US to have additional good ports on the Gulf, and some good planting land. The Andrew Jackson's quasi legal invasion essentially sealed the deal and...	[ "The British had divided Florida into East Florida and West Florida in 1763, a division retained by the Spanish when they regained Florida in 1783. West Florida extended from the Apalachicola River to the Mississippi River. Together with their possession of Louisiana, the Spanish controlled the lower reaches of all...
what happens in our mind when we enter some sort of deep thinking state where we're just staring at nothing?	The top answers are kinda missing the point, in my opinion. The state that you describe is a meditative, daydream state. All of your attention is fully absorbed in your imaginative thoughts. You are so deeply meditating in these thoughts that you stop processing your visual and auditory surroundings, to a degree. O...	[ "Mind-wandering (sometimes referred to as task unrelated thought, or, colloquially, autopilot) is the experience of thoughts not remaining on a single topic for a long period of time, particularly when people are engaged in an attention-demanding task.\n", "On \"zuowang\", Twofold mystery commentator Cheng Xuanyi...
Could there be a periodic table for dark matter?	If (and right now that's a big if) dark matter is explained by supersymmetry, then our table of particles would look like a 3D version of the [Standard Model table](_URL_0_).	[ "If dark matter is composed of weakly-interacting particles, an obvious question is whether it can form objects equivalent to planets, stars, or black holes. Historically, the answer has been it cannot,ref name=\"siegel\"\n", "Dark matter can refer to any substance which interacts predominantly via gravity with v...
How did they pick the codenames of the D-Day beaches?	In general code names were randomly selected from an Inter-Services Code-Word Index, a list originally taken from a dictionary, sometimes with intervention such as Churchill personally selecting "Overlord" ([The Art of Naming Operations] (_URL_1_), Gregory C. Sieminski). There's a section in *Monty and Rommel: Paral...	[ "During World War II Allied amphibious operations, designated invasion beaches were code named by color; such as \"Beach Red,\" \"Beach White,\" \"Beach Blue,\" etc. There was a \"Beach Red\" on virtually every assaulted island in accordance to the standard beach designation hierarchy.\n", "BULLET::::- 2 May 1944...
When they redefined the meter to base it on the speed of light, why didn't they just pick 300,000,000 m/s?	Because the old definitions had already been established in manufacturing etc. including applications where high degrees of accuracy have been necessary; that change is simply not compatible with standards that have been used for decades. There would be no significant benefit and it would introduce loads of major heada...	[ "In 1983, the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM) modified the International System of Units (SI, or \"modern\" metric system) to make the metre defined as the distance travelled in a vacuum by light in 1/299792458 second. This replaced the previous definition, valid between 1960 and 1983, which...
why does water stain silk?	Two reasons: * Many dyes that are used on silk are water soluble, which means that the dyes can run if you get water on it. * Silk fibers become more delicate when wet, and, especially if you're rubbing the fabric, can slightly damage the fibers in a way that causes the fabric to look stained.	[ "Linen fabrics have a high natural luster; their natural color ranges between shades of ivory, ecru, tan, or grey. Pure white linen is created by heavy bleaching. Linen fabric typically varies somewhat in thickness and is crisp and textured, but it can in some cases feel stiff and rough, and in other cases feel sof...
Do we know enough physics to accurately predict materials' properties and chemical reactions, and if so, why is so much trial-and-error required in materials science, versus pure computer simulation?	Sometimes it's not possible to incorporate everything that is relevant into a computer program. Sometimes, what is programmed into a simulation is just an approximation to reality, and sometimes the approximations are not good enough. Sometimes it's easier to do the experiment than the simulation. I don't think we und...	[ "The prediction of crystal properties by numerical simulation has become commonplace in the last 20 years as computers have grown more powerful and theoretical techniques more sophisticated. High accuracy prediction of elastic, electronic, transport and phase properties is possible with modern methods.\n", "Stati...
what are the differences between hyphen (-), en-dash (–), em-dash (—) and minus (-)?	Each of these symbols is used for a different purpose. - The hyphen [-] is used: - To separate words that are being used as a single word, like free-for-all or state-of-the-art. - When spelling out numbers, such as "forty-two". - To split up a word a- cross multiple lines. - To split up a word into sylla...	[ "The hyphen-minus is often used to represent an en dash, which may be used to indicate ranges (such as a time range of \"2000–2004\"), direction (as in \"The Los Angeles–London flight\"), and other cases of connection. The en dash is normally longer (the width of a letter \"n\") than a hyphen, though in a fixed-pit...
Are there other ways to generate energy aside from nuclear, fossil fuels, wind, solar, thermodynamic, kinetic, etc?	"etc" could cover a lot of ground. Energy is conserved. It is neither destroyed nor created. It is shifted around and changes form. All particle interactions involve (are) a shift in energy. Generating energy doesn't really happen - moving energy around does. While this is a bit pedantic - it focusses the issue on wh...	[ "Electricity is most often generated at a power station by electromechanical generators, primarily driven by heat engines fueled by chemical combustion or nuclear fission but also by other means such as the kinetic energy of flowing water and wind. There are many other technologies that can be and are used to gener...
why does pre-workout cause a tingling/burning sensation?	lf memory serves it has to do with vasodialation of the smaller blood vessels near the surface of the skin	[ "Tingling, numbness, and/ or a burning sensation in the area of the body affected by the corresponding nerve. These experiences may occur directly following insult or may occur several hours or even days afterwards. Pain is less common than tingling or numbness as a symptom of nerve entrapment, although a burning s...
How can Astronomers calculate the orbital speed of stars in different galaxies?	By doppler shift; sources that emit light while they are moving away from your detector have the emitted light shifted slightly towards the red end of the spectrum (longer wavelength) and vice versa, motion towards the observer will cause the light to be shifted towards the blue. Spectral lines are extremely well defi...	[ "The rotational/orbital speeds of galaxies/stars do not follow the rules found in other orbital systems such as stars/planets and planets/moons that have most of their mass at the centre. Stars revolve around their galaxy's centre at equal or increasing speed over a large range of distances. In contrast, the orbita...
the effect of moving subpar derivatives from bofa's investment arm merill lynch to the fdic-insured bank arm	It's troubling, but not because of the move itself. What's weird is the timing. JP Morgan Chase is comparable in most respects to Bank of America. Both are financial institutions with capital-investment services and depository lending services under one roof. Both deal with FDIC-insured deposits and also derivatives. ...	[ "In 1986, just ten years after merging with L.F. Rothschild, Towbin and Unterberg left the firm to join Shearson Lehman. The split was attributed to their opposition to plans to expand the firm's bond sales and trading operations. However, in the negotiations with outside firms related to that expansion and capital...
Why chewing gum or yawning help with the ear pressure?	Your [eustachian tubes](_URL_0_) are these little tubes that connect your inner ear with the back of your throat. Normally, they're closed off, preventing bacteria and outside air from entering your inner ear. However, when you chew or yawn, the movement opens up the canal, allowing air to flow between them and equaliz...	[ "During swallowing or yawning, several muscles in the pharynx (throat) act to elevate the soft palate and open the throat. One of these muscles, the tensor veli palatini, also acts to open the Eustachian tube. This is why swallowing or yawning is successful in equalizing middle ear pressure. Contrary to popular bel...
why is the president blamed for job problems when it's mostly corporations cutting workers and automating?	This is sort of a loaded question because you more or less answer it yourself in the question. He is blamed because he is the president and people feel it is his responsibility to fix things. Plenty of them also don't realize he doesn't necessarily have the power to just simply fix the situation.	[ "The company remains small because the president allows workers to come and go as they please and take time off to take care of family and other personal affairs. One of the employees claims that the company \"lacks tension\" as a result, and that serious authors do not take the firm seriously. It is later revealed...
how come some retailers, like nordstrom and costco, are able to offer such great return policies where you can return stuff anytime after using it but most others it has to be unused and within 30 days?	Nordstrom can do it because they're charging you more for shit. You might pay an extra $10-15 for a pair of Levis Jeans at Nordstrom than you'd pay for the same pair at Sears. Higher prices allow them to be more generous with return policies. Higher prices tend to draw in a higher class of customer (or exclude the l...	[ "Some retailers have turned to a practice in which customers who return or exchange items excessively (beyond the guidelines set by a retailer) may be prevented from making a return or exchange with that particular company.\n", "A certain percentage of returned merchandise must be marked down or discarded in orde...
Why does the pain from a sensitive tooth differ so much from that of a muscle?	Dental Student here, so this is my best reasoning: -skin, muscles, etc have receptors for different types of free nerve endings, touch, vibration, stretching, and temperature, and thus, the brain can respond to many types of stimulation based on the different receptors and their pathways. There are even different type...	[ "The teeth and gums exhibit normal sensations in health. Such sensations are generally sharp, lasting as long as the stimulus. There is a continuous spectrum from physiologic sensation to pain in disease. Pain is an unpleasant sensation caused by intense or damaging events. In a toothache, nerves are stimulated by ...
Are all particle accelerator devices large?	Not directly answering your question, but cathode ray tubes (as in, old TVs) are electron accelerators. So, they would fall under your question of "are all particle accelerator devices large?" - not necessarily.	[ "In addition to the larger ones, there are also several smaller particle accelerators which serve mostly as pre-accelerators for PETRA and HERA. Among these are the linear accelerators LINAC I (operated from 1964 to 1991 for electrons), LINAC II (operated since 1969 for positrons) and LINAC III (operated since 1988...
what is going on in british politics right now?	The UK is part of the European Union, along with many of the other countries on that continent. The EU has a lot of parts, but the big ones here are uniform regulations on a lot of commerce between the nations and uniform trade agreements. There are a lot of people in the UK who have felt that the EU is usurping natio...	[ "As the United Kingdom is a member of the European Union, there are elections held regionally in England to decide who is sent as Members of the European Parliament. The 2014 European Parliament election saw the regions of England elect the following MEPs: 22 UK Independence Party (UKIP), 17 Conservatives, 17 Labou...
why haven't we sent probes to any earth-like planets?	The Voyager spacecraft recently left the solar system, it took over a decade of flying straight outward to reach this point. To reach the nearest earth-like planet at the current top speed we can achieve with spacecraft it would take several hundred thousand years to get a probe to one.	[ "Freitas finds numerous reasons why interstellar probes may be a preferred method of communication among extraterrestrial civilizations wishing to make contact with Earth. A civilization aiming to learn more about the distribution of life within the galaxy might, he speculates, send probes to a large number of star...
Given a perfect sphere standing on a perfectly flat surface, would it be standing on a single atom?	A perfect sphere cannot be composed of atoms.	[ "The sphere has the smallest surface area of all surfaces that enclose a given volume, and it encloses the largest volume among all closed surfaces with a given surface area. The sphere therefore appears in nature: for example, bubbles and small water drops are roughly spherical because the surface tension locally ...
(wwii) how large scale were the UKs anti-invasion plans?	> I'm vaguely aware of the home guard and 'dads army' esque resistance... In addition to the now well-known 'home guard', a typically less well-known element of the UK's post-invasion strategy concerns the 'Auxilary Units'. While the name may seem innocuous, their planned work would have been desperately perilous and...	[ "Overseen by Brigadier General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the plan was developed in 1942 and reflected American enthusiasm for an early entry into Europe. Senior British commanders and politicians were reluctant to commit themselves to the invasion plan; mindful of the painful losses during the Battle of the Somme (on t...
What was the impression of the AK-47/AKM when it was first encountered during the Vietnam War?	The Kalashnikov was fairly rare early in the war. I believe that it began to be encountered in significant numbers around 1965, especially with NVA forces, but did not become entirely ubiquitous, especially among the Viet Cong, until somewhat later. Various other small arms were used, especially the SKS semi-automatic,...	[ "Although the American news media has often portrayed the Vietnam War as a primarily American and North Vietnamese conflict, the ARVN carried the brunt of the fight before and after large-scale American involvement, and participated in many major operations with American troops. ARVN troops pioneered the use of the...
how does "firmware" work?	Firmware occupies the space between software and hardware. Software is made to be distant from the hardware, it's written with high level concepts in mind. Hardware is designed on low level concepts to build a large, complex system out of many smaller ones. Firmware is this sweet spot where the engineer writes code, ...	[ "In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for the device's specific hardware. Firmware can either provide a standardized operating environment for the device's more complex software (allowing more hardware-independence), or, for less complex devices, act as...
in winter, why isn't it just as efficient to leave your lights on to provide warmth as opposed to dedicated heating?	Lightbulbs aren't nearly hot enough to head anything but a tiny room, especially with everyone switching to LEDs. But technically incandescent lightbulbs and electric heaters do use the same principle, so if you have enough lightbulbs in that room, go for it. Of course, it'll also be too bright to actually be in th...	[ "The overall energy savings from changing to more efficient lighting depends on the climate. In warm climates, efficient lighting has the additional energy-saving effect of reducing the amount of cooling required. In cold climates increased heating energy demand may offset some of the lighting energy saved with eff...
what is a notary public? why do i need them to make documents official?	A notary public is someone who physically watches you sign a document, and notarizes it. When you get something notarized, you have to provide some kind of identification so you can prove that you are who you say you are. The notary then physically watches you sign whatever document it is, then puts a little stamp on...	[ "A notary in the canon law of the Catholic Church (Latin: \"notarius\") is a person appointed by competent authority to draw up official or authentic documents. These documents are issued chiefly from the official administrative bureaux, the chanceries; secondly, from tribunals; lastly, others are drawn up at the r...
why do many programs show a cancel button, for processes that seemingly can't be cancelled? is the button 'fake' or is it just an oversight?	First of all - having a Cancel button for long running operation is just a good practice. User might want to cancel because operation is running too long, blocking application - for what ever reason. Just having a button there helps to inform user that it is safe to cancel the operation at any time and it supposedly wi...	[ "In software, 'the blinking twelve problem' thus refers to any situation in which features or functions of a program go unused for reasons that the designers never anticipated, largely because developers were unable to anticipate the level of understanding the users would have of the technology. The term may also r...
why do familiar places seem to have a unique smell that you aren't aware of until after being away?	Because after a while you go nose blind. That's why it's hard sometimes to gauge how much perfume or cologne is "enough", because after a while you'll stop smelling it but it will still be strong enough for other people to smell.	[ "Certain smells can be associated with specific areas and help a person with vision problems to remember a familiar area. This way there is a better chance of recognizing an area's layout in order to navigate themselves through. The same can be said for people as well. Some people have their own special odor that a...
What do people living on space stations actually do all day?	They perform constant maintenance related to the station and conduct experiments on everything from the effects of zero gravity on the human body to radiation effects on cell growth. This is this week's highlights _URL_0_	[ "The space station occupants work a standard work day and have breaks in the evening and during meals. While on break, some of them will spend some time communicating with \"earthlings\" via amateur radio.\n", "BULLET::::- Space stations are artificial orbital structures that are designed for human beings to live...
Why did peasant rebellions plague china so much, happen every so often in India and barely happened at all in Japan?	I'm confused by the time period you're asking for. The Warring States period spans 1467 to 1603. Are you asking about pre-Warring States, starting at 1467, or pre-16th century, including the first 50 years of the Warring States?	[ "The rising discontent of the led to a number of peasant revolts in various impoverished rural areas around the country. The year 1884 saw roughly sixty riots; the total debt of the time of Japan's farmers is estimated to two hundred million yen, which corresponds to roughly two trillion yen in 1985 currency.\n", ...
Why has French-speaking Africa failed to make the transition to democracy?	There's an element of confirmation bias here (see: Zimbabwe), but you're definitely onto something. France made a deliberate effort to control its former colonial empire through puppet strongmen. By propping up a clique of dictators, France has enhanced its standing in the UN with a cluster of safe votes, guaranteed i...	[ "Because France did not want to become 'a colony of its colonies', African countries did not compose a majority voting bloc and were required functionally to join with French parties in order to gain voting power.\n", "The integration of democracy in Africa is something some academic scholars place to have occurr...
depression, why is it a disease? [serious]	I think you are missing a key component. Some people don't choose to be depressed. I have a close friend who describes the feeling as "darkness closing around her mind". Chemical/hormonal imbalances in the brain can cause a person to suffer depression regardless of their circumstances. Its not rational, but its a...	[ "Depression may also come secondary to a chronic or terminal medical condition, such as HIV/AIDS or asthma, and may be labeled \"secondary depression.\" It is unknown whether the underlying diseases induce depression through effect on quality of life, of through shared etiologies (such as degeneration of the basal ...
Why do we sometimes have to think anywhere from 5 seconds to 1 week to remember things? If we have the knowledge stored in our brains, why don't we have instant access to it all?	The links (synapses between neurons) get reinforced every time you access a memory, but sustaining these links consume energy, so that's how we forget things, the brain filters out things deemed unnecessary. That's the basic principle, but I hope someone better read can come along and answer these questions.	[ "The original 2011 study concluded with three main findings. First, people are primed to think of computers when asked general knowledge questions, even when they know the correct answer. In addition, this effect is especially pronounced if the question is difficult and the answer is unknown. Secondly, people do no...
why do bond prices fall when interest rates rise, and vice versa? and what is the relation of bond prices to coupon rates/yields?	We'll start out with a 0 coupon bond so that you can see how it works, because coupons basically work the same way as the final yield. A T-Bill is issued that promises to pay $100 in 91 days (3 months). Note that it doesn't matter what the interest rate is - 91 days after issue, the bond is going to pay out $100. Th...	[ "Interest rate changes can affect the value of a bond. If the interest rates fall, then the bond prices rise and if the interest rates rise, bond prices fall. When interest rates rise, bonds are more attractive because investors can earn higher coupon rate, thereby holding period risk may occur. Interest rate and b...
the relationship between canada/australia, the queen of england, and the uk	Canada and Australia are former colonies of the British Empire. Them as well as other former British colonies were given self rule at various times. Now all those countries are collectively known as the Commonwealth of Nations since "British Empire" doesn't really apply anymore. Most members of the Commonwealth have...	[ "British–Canadian relations are the relations between Canada and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, being bilateral relations between their governments and wider relations between the two societies. The two countries have intimate and frequently cooperative contact; they are related through m...
in standoffs or hostage situations where two people point guns at each other (and the occasional knife), why don't they just shoot and kill the other person?	You're overestimating the accuracy of handguns in real-life situations. Even from as few as 20 feet away, hitting a subject using someone as a human shield would be questionable for most and you'd stand a much higher chance of shooting the hostage.	[ "Unless all kidnappers can be hit and killed by sniper gunfire almost simultaneously, generally extreme prejudice (e.g., shooting at gunmen)is not used as freely due to the danger of other kidnappers killing the hostages, as in the 1972 Munich example. \n", "BULLET::::- One should never hand a knife directly to a...
what exactly is humanism, and why is it needed?	The first paragraph of [wiki](_URL_0_): > Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over established doctrine or faith (fideism). The meaning of the ...	[ "Humanism is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism and empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition. The meaning of the term \"humanism\" has fluctuated accordi...
why are our sexual organs also where the pee comes out?	So Germans could enjoy sex, too.	[ "For men, because of the flexible and protruding nature of the penis, it is simple to control the direction of the urine stream. Many men urinate in a standing position although they could urinate sitting down or squatting.\n", "In most species of animals in which there is an organ that might reasonably be descri...
Why do viscous liquids like honey coil when poured?	If you pour honey so that it forms a thin column from the honeypot (heh) to, say, a plate, then it will form a little coil. The coil is formed by the interplay of two forces - inertia/motion and viscosity. Consider the path of the honey in the absence of viscosity. That's easy -- it's the path the honey follows for m...	[ "Some substances that appear to be solid, can be shown to instead be extremely viscous liquids, because they form drops and display droplet behavior. In the famous pitch drop experiments, pitch – a substance somewhat like solid bitumen – is shown to be a liquid in this way. Pitch in a funnel slowly forms droplets, ...
how can conservative party in uk be pro gay rights? what exactly is conservative with them?	People or groups are only "conservative" relative to who you compare them to. When you're talking about a national political party, the group you compare them to is the overall populace of the nation in which they operate. People in the UK tend to be more socially liberal than people in the US. So from an American per...	[ "Owing largely to the prominence of the religious right in conservative politics in the United States, the Republican Party has traditionally taken positions regarded as outwardly hostile to the gay rights movement. However, public opinion on this issue within the party has substantially changed in recent years. A ...
if you shoot a bullet fast enough at the horizon, could you theoretically send it into orbit?	I recommend that you download the demo and play a bit of _URL_0_ its an amazing game that will teach you the physics of getting a small green man into orbit. edit: So this is what I learned from playing KSPdemo and reading this thread. and I didn't technically answer OP question I am going to give my first ELI5 a sho...	[ "Isaac Newton avoided this objection in his thought experiment by positing an impossibly tall mountain from which his cannon was fired. If in a stable orbit, the projectile would circle the planet and return to the altitude of launch after one orbit (see Newton's cannonball).\n", "If the cannonball is fired with ...
what the fuck is 50 shades of grey about?	A wildly improbable tale of an awkward virgin who falls in love with a guy who is basically Mark Zuckerberg (young tech billionaire) but with a penchant for BDSM. He is a cold prick who falls in love (which i think is something he doesn't believe in) with her and they end up being madly in love with each other. It's t...	[ "The series co-creator, Jacky St. James, mentioned that she was unhappy with the way BDSM was portrayed in \"Fifty Shades of Grey\", which she considers \"passed off an abusive relationship as an honest interpretation of the BDSM lifestyle\". She hoped to create a more nuanced view of the BDSM world with the series...
Are all planets we have observed generally a similar shape as Earth ?	Gravity forces all planets that are larger than about 300 km in diameter into a spherical shape. However, many are not perfect spheres, due to the centripetal force of their rotation making the equator bulge slightly (this is more pronounced in gas giants such as Jupiter).	[ "BULLET::::- A pattern in exoplanets is discovered by a team of multinational researchers led by the Université de Montréal: Planets orbiting the same star tend to have similar sizes and regular spacings. This could imply that most planetary systems form differently from the Solar System.\n", "This is a list of g...
what is the rest 69g of banana's mass if there is 8g of protein, 7g of fat and 16 of carbohydrates in 100g?	Seriously, most of the rest of the mass is water and other metabolic products that don't amount to much mass in comparison. Most of EVERYTHING living is water. Cells are basically bags of water with some stuff dissolved in it.	[ "Fried banana chips are 4% water, 58% carbohydrates, 34% fat, and 2% protein. In a 100 gram reference amount, fried banana chips supply 520 calories and are a rich source (20% or more the Daily Value, DV) of magnesium (21% DV) and vitamin B6 (20% DV), with moderate amounts of iron, copper, and potassium (10% to 11%...
Why is He-3 so useful for nuclear fusion?	He-4 doesn't have any two-body fusion reactions available to it that make any sense from the standpoint of terrestrial thermonuclear fusion energy production. Deuterium + He-3 yields a proton and an alpha particle. It's an aneutronic fusion reaction (a reaction not yielding neutrons as reaction products), meaning it r...	[ "Both fission and fusion appear promising for space propulsion applications, generating higher mission velocities with less reaction mass. This is due to the much higher energy density of nuclear reactions: some 7 orders of magnitude (10,000,000 times) more energetic than the chemical reactions which power the curr...
Why were protests so common through out the world in the 60's?	I think the civil unrest is somehow part of a nexus of social (Civil Rights Movement, Prague Spring, May 1968 etc.) and economic (1973 oil Crisis) ‚crises‘ and environmental movements characteristic of the 1960s and 1970s. These seem to be in part closely intertwined, so I wouldn't characterise them as being coincidenc...	[ "In 2011, in the wake of the Great Recession, several developed countries saw the rise of civil disobedience movements protesting against issues such as inequality and corporate greed. In Spain, the 15-M or \"Indignados\" movement saw large-scale demonstrations and occupations of public squares; the movement led ev...
why are there different power companies but only one power grid?	MS in power engineering here. 30+ years in industry, mostly in power system operations and related area such as generation planning, transmission planning, regulatory accounting, energy trading, etc. This is more complicated than you may have imagined, so please hang on. First of all, as has been mentioned, there are...	[ "An electric power system is a network of electrical components deployed to supply, transfer, and use electric power. An example of an electric power system is \"the grid\" that provides power to an extended area. An electrical grid power system can be broadly divided into the generators that supply the power, the ...
Does Compton Scattering produce multiple photons?	Nope. The actual mechanism behind the scattering event is not actually specified in the usual derivation of Compton scattering. It's treated like a mysterious black box where we simply see one photon and one electron enter the interaction, and a different photon and a different electron leave. To understand why and...	[ "Compton scattering, discovered by Arthur Holly Compton, is the scattering of a photon by a charged particle, usually an electron. It results in a decrease in energy (increase in wavelength) of the photon (which may be an X-ray or gamma ray photon), called the Compton effect. Part of the energy of the photon is tra...
What was no-mans-land like between the Union capital in Washington, SC and the Confederate capital of Richmond, VA?	[This 1863 map](_URL_3_) may give you some idea. As might [this other 1862 map](_URL_2_). > What were fortifications and defenses like? That changed throughout the war. Both capitals were lightly defended at the start. But both were quickly fortified. Lee's first assignment for example was to dig the initial defens...	[ "Richmond was the only large-scale industrial city controlled by the Confederacy during most of the Civil War. The city's warehouses were the supply and logistical center for Confederate forces. The city's Tredegar Iron Works, the 3rd largest foundry in the United States at the start of the war, produced most of th...
why is water wet?	Well, it's a liquid, for one. It's also fairly non-viscous, which means it's thin enough to spread under its own weight, helping it to get everywhere. It's adhesive enough that it sticks to things slightly, and not cohesive enough to pull other water with it when it gets shaken off. It's readily absorbed into fabrics a...	[ "BULLET::::- Damp (or wet) is defined as the condition of an aggregate in which water is fully permeated the aggregate through the pores in it, and there is free water in excess of the SSD condition on its surfaces which will become part of the mixing water.\n", "Wetting is a measure of the thermodynamic compatib...
how online search engines work, how they know which search results to present at the tops of pages because they're more helpful than others, and what exactly google does that makes it more or less the consensus best search engine online.	Traditionally, a search engine would simply look at a page, compare the text on that page with your search query, and sort them according to which one matched your query best. What google does is different. Google doesn't rely on the contents of a page to determine how useful the page is. Instead, it relies on other...	[ "Search engines are an easy way to find information without scanning every site yourself. Keywords that are typed into a search box will lead to the results. So it is necessary to make sure that the keywords typed are precise and correct. \n", "The leading search engines, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo!, use craw...
what will the new world trade center building be used for?	Same thing as before, basically renting office space. It's a trade center. Actually, Reddit's owners Conde Nast is moved to One World Trade Center, NYC in 2012.	[ "The New Industries Building is a building on the western end of Alcatraz Island off the coast of San Francisco, USA. It was constructed in 1939 for $186,000 as part of a $1.1 million modernization scheme which also included the water tower, power house, officers quarters and remodeling of the D-block.\n", "The c...
How has the Republican Party changed in regards to helping the abolishment of slavery, into barely having any African American support at all? [serious]	While more can be said on a subject, here is a link to the [Changing positions of the Republican and Democratic Parties in the FAQ](_URL_1_) In regards specifically to the shift of African American voters to the Democractic party, I'd recommend reading [this post by](_URL_0_) u/Samuel_Gompers	[ "Republicans have been winning under 15% of the black vote in recent national elections (1980 to 2016). While historically the party had been supporters of rights for African Americans starting in the 1860s, it lost its leadership position in the 1960s. The party abolished slavery under Abraham Lincoln, defeated th...
Do teeth serve any other purpose than to eat food and kill animals?	Depends on the species and what you consider "teeth". Some animals have specialized teeth for instance the long tusk from a narwhal's head is actually an enlarged canine tooth. This is used for protection and breaking ice pack to breathe. In other animals, like dogs, teeth are used to communicate "barring fangs=I'm mad...	[ "The types of teeth organisms use to bite varies throughout the animal kingdom. Different types of teeth are seen in herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores as they are adapted over many years to better fit their diets. Carnivores possess canine, carnassial, and molar teeth, while herbivores are equipped with incisor...
How much did the Roman Catholic Church change since its inception to, say, post Vatican II?	A great deal has changed, but also, a lot stayed the same. There have been a lot of points when the Catholic church has changed, adapted and redefined itself. At the same time, those changes can be seen not as a sudden shift but a gradual slide. In some cases, it was a committee that decided what became doctrine and i...	[ "Before the Gregorian Reforms the Church was a heavily decentralized institution, in which the pope held little power outside of his position as bishop of Rome. With that in mind, the papacy up until the twelfth century held little to no authority over the bishops, who were invested with land by lay rulers; Gregory...
Why did Siculo-Arabic persist in Malta but was completely eliminated in Sicily, even though both places were subject to expulsions of Arabs and Muslims at around the same time?	It's covered pretty well in this thread: _URL_0_	[ "At the time, Malta was primarily inhabited by Muslims. According to Al-Himyarī, the island had been depopulated following an Aghlabid attack in 870 AD and it was repopulated by a Muslim community in 1048–49. Archaeological evidence suggests that Medina was a thriving Muslim settlement by the beginning of the 11th ...

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