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Why is the light from a neon gas tube colored?	Heard of energy levels, or quantisation? An electron in an atom is not allowed to have just any amount of energy. It is only allowed to have very particular amounts at any given time (this is called quantisation). For example, the electron in a Hydrogen atom can only have these particular amounts of energy (measured i...	[ "The gas in the tube has to be kept pure to maintain the desired properties; even small amount of impurities can dramatically change the tube values; presence of non-inert gases generally increases the breakdown and burning voltages. The presence of impurities can be observed by changes in the glow color of the gas...
the military system under the articles of confederation	The Continental Army was formed during the Revolutionary War, and was made up of troops from all the colonies. After the Treaty of Paris, the Continental Army was drastically downsized, but remained in a much reduced rump form with a few permanent posts, most notably West Point. The Congress of the Confederation came ...	[ "The Articles of Confederation contain a preamble, thirteen articles, a conclusion, and a signatory section. The individual articles set the rules for current and future operations of the confederation's central government. Under the Articles, the states retained sovereignty over all governmental functions not spec...
How does the myosin and actin crossbridge cycle work?	Let’s start first with myosin binding to actin. The myosin head is bound, and it has phosphate and ADP attached to it. To initiate the power stroke, phosphate is released from the myosin head. Following the power stroke, ADP is released from the myosin head. The myosin head is still attached to actin. Now, ATP binds ...	[ "Interphase is a series of changes that takes place in a newly formed cell and its nucleus before it becomes capable of division again. It is also called preparatory phase or intermitosis. Typically interphase lasts for at least 91% of the total time required for the cell cycle.\n", "Interphase is the process a c...
in song lyrics, why is "baby" often referred to as a woman?	It's a term of endearment. Babies are generally cherished and everyone loves them, especially women. The word in our society has a "warm, fuzzy, cuddly, loving" tone and feeling to it. Plus it's a different word than "woman", so you can rhyme more words with it. Women use it all the time in their relationships when t...	[ "\"Babies\" is a song about the narrator and his relationship with two sisters. The two sisters are revisited in the EP's second track \"Your Sister's Clothes\" with the younger sister getting revenge, both with the man, and by wearing her elder sister's clothes and making fun of them.\n", "The song was always pe...
Any good articles on romanization/creolization in ancient Gaul?	The definitive source on the "Romanization" of Gaul is Woolf, [Becoming Roman](_URL_0_) 1998. Fair warning that this is a dense book. More recently is Le pouvoir local en Gaule romaine by Lamoine, 2009. I haven't looked at this one myself and it is, obviously, in French. :) Another one I haven't yet seen is *Of...	[ "Modern historians however view the term 'Gaul' and its subdivisions as a \"product of faulty ethnography\" and see the split of Gallia Comata into three provinces as an attempt to construct a more efficient government, as opposed to a cultural division. Successive Roman emperors struck a balance between Romanizing...
what exactly happens to the human body when a "regular american eater" becomes vegan?	Almost instantaneously, your mouth will begin to open, and words will just just come out "Well, as vegan, I think..." Once you identify as a vegan, the power of it is overwhelming. You will also begin to fell superior to others, and feel that you are required to tell them how much better you are, due to the vegan die...	[ "In 1971, 1 percent of U.S. citizens described themselves as vegetarians. In 2008 Harris Interactive found that 3.2% are vegetarian and 0.5% vegan. U.S. vegetarian food sales (dairy replacements such as soy milk and meat replacements such as textured vegetable protein) doubled between 1998 and 2003, reaching $1.6 b...
what known substance has the highest melting/sublimation point?	I haven't looked into things that sublimate, but [this page](_URL_0_) says it's a hard question to answer because alloy technology is always marching forward, but that right now tantalum hafnium carbide holds the record at 4215 °C.	[ "A few elemental metals are liquid at or near room temperature. The most well known is mercury (Hg), which is molten above −38.8 °C (234.3 K, −37.9 °F). Others include caesium(Cs), which has a melting point of 28.5 °C (83.3 °F), rubidium (Rb)(39 °C [102 °F]), francium (Fr)(estimated at 27 °C [81 °F]), and gallium (...
where did our modern standard of beauty (tall, fit/thin, strong facial structure, etc) come from?	The modern preference for thin people comes from the current economics of food. In poor times, being fat was a sign of wealth: one could afford plenty of food. Today, being fat in a rich country is a sign of being poor. Fattening food is cheap and and poor people eat junk food or don't care about their health or don't ...	[ "Human beauty and physical attractiveness have been preoccupations throughout history which often intersect with anthropometric standards. Cosmetology, facial symmetry, and waist–hip ratio are three such examples where measurements are commonly thought to be fundamental.\n", "Over the course of history, beauty id...
Was Adolf Hitler the man behind conceptualizing "Volkswagen" ("the People's Car")?	Yes and no. Hitler rather famously called for an affordable mass-produced automobile at the 1934 Berlin autoshow and was one of the foremost backers of what became known as the Kdf-Wagen. Nonetheless, Hitler conceptualization of a car for the masses was not new. German automobile manufacturers had envisioned such a mas...	[ "Volkswagen (\"People's car\" in German) was founded on 28 May 1937 in Berlin as the \"Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung des Deutschen Volkswagens mbH\" (\"Limited Liability Company for the preparation of the German People's Car\", abbreviated to \"Gezuvor\") by the National Socialist \"Deutsche Arbeitsfront \"(German ...
Hi AskScience! Does anyone know why my orange looks like this?	That looks like a chimeric fruit. Paper describing this type of thing in citrus: _URL_0_ Sectoring chimeras are usually due to a mutation in a somatic cell that leads to an observable phenotype (color in this case) that is seen in all the direct descendants of that cell. If these mutations occur early enough in develo...	[ "Orange GGN, also known as alpha-naphthol orange, is an azo dye formerly used as a food dye. It is the disodium salt of 1-(\"m\"-sulfophenylazo)-2-naphthol-6-sulfonic acid. In Europe, it was denoted by the E Number E111, but has been forbidden for use in foods since 1 January 1978. It has never been included in the...
What where taxicabs like in the Soviet Union?	Adam Curtis' documentary Pandora's Box has an interview with a Soviet cab driver. It seems that the number of miles a taxi drove in a month was set by the central planning apparatus. The driver interviewed goes on to say that people would tamper with the meters as a way of getting around the five year plan.	[ "\"Route taxicabs\" were introduced in Moscow for the first time in the USSR in 1938, operated by ZiS-101 limousines. They offered ordinary people a chance to ride in luxurious ZiS cars, otherwise reserved for high officials. At first they were meant mainly for tourists and serviced mainly stations and airports.\n"...
Military History Ancient, Medieval and Modern	Good morning (afternoon now) to you too. A book I would strongly recommend if you are especially interested in medieval swords is the fantastic [Records of the Medieval Sword](_URL_7_) by Ewart Oakeshott. This is the most complete and extensive book on specifically medieval swords you'll be able to find. If you have e...	[ "Ancient warfare is war as conducted from the beginnings of recorded history to the end of the ancient period. In Europe and the Near East, the end of antiquity is often equated with the Fall of Rome in 476 AD, the wars of the Eastern Roman Empire on its Southwestern Asian and North African borders, and the beginni...
how do subcellular molecules move and know what to do?	(Ap bio student, so take this comment for what its worth) Basically, its just chemistry. The interaction of the atoms and compounds make the mRNA move. Its like when you combine, say, baking soda and vinegar, the reaction occurs not because of consciousness, but sue to the chemical properties and reactivity. They don't...	[ "Mechanism of transport. A molecule will bind to a transporter protein, altering its shape. The change of shape or other added substances such as ATP will, in turn, cause the transport protein to alter its shape and release the molecule onto the other side of the cell membrane. \n", "Molecular signaling can occ...
what does handwriting say about people?	It's a lot like trying to analyze someone by the clothes they wear, or the car they drive. Anything you think you've uncovered MIGHT be accurate, but there are a thousand confounding factors that play into it, so it's as much of a guessing game as it is a science. Why do I write like I do? It could be because of my an...	[ "Handwriting is the writing done with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil, in the hand. Handwriting includes both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface. Because each person's handwriting is unique and different, it can be used to verify a document's writer. The de...
A Civil War question regarding Lee's decision to invade the North.	I think the "supplies" thing might be the wrong angle, honestly. The Army of N.Virginia was nearly always very short on supplies, but I think that a general as aggressive as Lee would probably have attacked regardless. I mean, look at the position he was in: A. He knows that supplies are going to become a problem th...	[ "Several motives led to Lee's decision to launch an invasion. First, he needed to supply his army and knew the farms of the North had been untouched by war, unlike those in Virginia. Moving the war northward would relieve pressure on Virginia. Second was the issue of Northern morale. Lee knew the Confederacy did no...
Experts-- What was the holocaust caused from and how did it finally end?	Hi! As this question pertains to basic, underlying facts of the Holocaust, I hope you can appreciate that it can be a fraught subject to deal with. While we want people to get the answers they are looking for, we also remain very conscious that threads of this nature can attract the very wrong kind of response. As such...	[ "The search for the origins of the Holocaust began almost as soon as World War II ended. At the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials of 1945–6, the \"Final Solution to the Jewish Question in Europe\" was represented by the prosecution as part of the long-term plan on the part of the Nazi leadership going back to the foundat...
Two huge aspects of Western Civilization both seemingly came to be in Italy- the rise of the Roman Empire, and the Renaissance. What made (or makes) Italy so conducive to such developments?	This might sound like I'm being daft, but the answer you get will differ, sometimes significantly, based on who you ask. There's an entire school out there who believes that the West's economic primacy was pure happenstance. Me? I'm an institutional development theorist with a cautions bit of environmental determinism ...	[ "The republics of Venice, Florence, Genoa, Pisa, among others, rose to great political power and paved the way for the Italian Renaissance and ultimately the \"European miracle\", the resurgence of Western civilization from comparative obscurity in the Early Modern period. On the other hand, the Italian city states...
i've heard that recent neuroscience has debunked the "left brain-right brain" idea. what do we know about the two halves of the brain?	The idea that the two sides of the brain handled specific functions was put forth during the time when lobotomies were regularly performed, which wasn't all that long ago. During a lobotomy, a portion of the brain is removed, and the psychologist who performed the surgery would then test his patient with various tasks ...	[ "Michael Gazzaniga, while working on the model of left-brain interpreter, came to the conclusion that simple right-brain/left-brain model of the mind is a gross oversimplification and the brain is organized into hundreds maybe even thousands of modular-processing systems.\n", "In \"The Divided Brain\", McGilchris...
Concerning Germany from 1400-1500	It is difficult to talk about „a“ Germany in this period. Germany itself did not exist before 1871 when the second German Empire was united after the Franco-Prussian War from 1870-1871. From the early Middle Ages to 1806 the Germanies were part of the Holy Roman Empire (of German Nation). This empire was ruled by the e...	[ "While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the ...
how exactly will obamacare lower the cost that that hospitals charge the insurance companies for an er visit?	A) If everyone is covered, ER costs don't need to make up for uninsured people. Hospitals are required to treat everyone that comes into the ER, regardless of ability to pay. The hospital has to write-off the cost & take the extra money from people that are paying (if you're following along at home, this is effecti...	[ "The ACA also provided subsidies to help lower-income families afford insurance. By 2017, nearly 70% of those on the exchanges could purchase insurance for less than $75/month after subsidies. CBO estimated that subsidies paid under the law in 2016 averaged $4,240 per person for 10 million people receiving them, ro...
if the universe is infinite (assuming the curvature is flat), does this also imply there is infinite matter? how can the space expand any further if the universe is infinite?	So, you need to think about what "infinite" means here--and probably what "dimension" means, too. A "dimension" is just a degree of freedom of movement. We live in a 3 dimensional space--that is, we have three degrees of freedom of movement. We can move up and down, we can move left and right, and we can move forward ...	[ "Therefore, regardless of the shape of the universe the contribution of spatial curvature to the expansion of the Universe could not be much greater than the contribution of matter. But as the Universe expands, the curvature redshifts away more slowly than matter and radiation. Extrapolated into the past, this pres...
[Meta] I wrote my PhD dissertation on AskHistorians! Rather than ask you to read the whole thing, I’ve summed up my findings in three posts. This is Part 1, on learning and knowledge exchange in AskHistorians.	As an AskHistorians community member and moderator (and survey participant), I would like to say: Sarah (Dr. Gilbert!), I think you really did justice to AskHistorians and to the AH community. I know that wasn’t your formal goal, but you aced it anyway. Thank you!	[ "r/AskHistorians is a subreddit on Reddit where users may ask questions or start discussions about history, and is \"one of the largest history forums on the internet\". It was founded in 2011 and has remained highly active ever since, having over 700,000 subscribers. Unlike other Reddit communities, it aims to \"p...
what was the state department's senior management team and what was their responsibilities?	The state department is the agency that is tasked with international relations, so basically all of our dealings with foreign governments. These officials were the top officials, who work directly under the Secretary of State. These were the career diplomats/bureaucrats who are technical experts rather than political a...	[ "The Department of State established the position of Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs on October 3, 1949. The Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of Government, popularly known as the Hoover Commission, had recommended that certain offices be upgraded to...
How did the defenses at Normandy compare to the rest of Hitler's Atlantic Wall during World War II?	From [a previous answer] (_URL_2_) comparing Normandy to the Pas de Calais, with some added details for the Atlantic coast: *** German defences in northern France were under Army Group B, broadly grouped into the Fifteenth Army (AOK 15) sector of the Pas-de-Calais and Upper Normandy (from Dunkirk to Le Havre, around ...	[ "In late 1943, Hitler placed Field Marshal Erwin Rommel in charge of improving the coastal defences along the Atlantic Wall in anticipation of an Allied invasion, expected to take place sometime in 1944. Rommel believed that the Normandy coast could be a possible landing point for the invasion, so he ordered the co...
Are there some big scientific research that running actually makes the cognition in the brain better?	By "big", do you mean studies with large sample sizes, or groundbreaking studies? There doesn't have to be thousands of participants for a study to produce valid results. So I'm going to ignore that word in your question and soldier on. [Running helps brain stave off effects of chronic stress](_URL_1_). So this study ...	[ "In animal models, running has been shown to increase the number of newly created neurons within the brain. This finding could have significant implications in aging as well as learning and memory. A recent study published in \"Cell Metabolism\" has also linked running with improved memory and learning skills.\n", ...
why haven't the native americans revolted in canada/usa like native populations in other countries?	They did, actually. The [Indian Wars](_URL_0_) lasted from the time the first European settlers arrived in North America in the early 1600's until the early 1900's, roughly 300 years. Native Americans absolutely did not just roll over and let Europeans take over their land.	[ "Since 1811, after the severe defeat at the Battle of Tippecanoe, Native American tribes on the Northwest frontier had been growing bitter at the U.S. presence there. Encouraged by other British/Native American victories at places such as Fort Dearborn and Detroit, native tribes began to undertake campaigns against...
Is there a difference between hitting a concrete wall at 100mph and being hit by a concrete wall at 100mph?	In an idealised case no. In reality there will be small differences due to things which aren't really mentioned in your question. For instance if you drive into a wall at 100mph the fact that your wheels are spinning (for example) makes the situation different from if the wall is launched towards the car at 100mph.	[ "If concrete is exposed to very high temperatures very rapidly, explosive spalling of the concrete can result. In a very hot, very quick fire the water inside the concrete will boil before it evaporates. The steam inside the concrete exerts expansive pressure and can initiate and forcibly expel a spall.\n", "Crum...
Why did the Nazis expend so many resources with the Final Solution during the war? Why not wait until they had won?	Very interesting question, and very hard to answer :) (/edit: wow, it became a bit longer than expected ..) In fact, the final solution wasn't really planned before the war. For example, jews were pressured to emigrate, the madagascar plan was investigated, they were to be living in some other place but not to be comp...	[ "In 1940, the idea of the Final Solution was still \"unthinkable\", and Stern believed that Hitler wanted to make Germany \"judenrein\" through emigration, as opposed to extermination. In December 1940, Lehi even contacted Germany with a proposal to aid German conquest in the Middle East in return for recognition o...
math being truly universal.	Yes, math is universal. 1+1=2 is not a human truth: it is a description of the fact that if you have one thing and another thing, you have two things. Before humans were around, one fish and another fish were still two fish. Pi would still be the same. A circle is a circle, we didn't invent the circle. We discovered w...	[ "The applicability of a mathematical concept is not the reason that Hardy considered applied mathematics somehow inferior to pure mathematics, though; it is the simplicity and prosiness that belong to applied mathematics that led him to describe them as he did. He considers that Rolle's theorem, for example, cannot...
What is a rash at cellular level?	It depends on the rash, but some basics are common to many of them, regardless of cause. The immune system is alerted (maybe to an allergen, maybe to a pathogen) and specialized cells release immune regulating molecules called cytokines. This leads to the inflammatory response, the release of more cytokines, and the mi...	[ "The presence of a rash may aid diagnosis; associated signs and symptoms are diagnostic of certain diseases. For example, the rash in measles is an erythematous, morbilliform, maculopapular rash that begins a few days after the fever starts. It classically starts at the head, and spreads downwards.\n", "The most ...
How did Oman go from a Portuguese colony to the colonizer of East Africa in 50 year (1650 - 1700)?	Portugal attacked Muscat because it was a thriving commercial port whose sailors traveled regularly between India and the Red Sea. There was a large reservoir of navigational expertise in the Arabian ports. That's how Oman sprang back as a naval power so quickly. And Portugal never invested a lot in its control of Oma...	[ "The Portuguese first arrived in the country in the early 1500s, and used the now capital of Muscat as a fortified port to protect their trade routes to India. Unhappy with a Portuguese presence that exploited Oman, the Al-Ya’ribi clan agreed a treaty with the British East India Company to allow the British to have...
why were revolvers created to generally have 6 shots?	Ease of design, mostly. If you stack 7 circles in as close a shape possible, you get an hexagon with 2 on top, 3 in the middle, and 2 at the bottom. Use the centre as a rotating part, and you get 6 holes in a symmetrical way, without having to do weird complicated math.	[ "The two most common forms of handgun are the revolver and the semi-automatic. The semi-auto contains a number of cartridges in a magazine, usually in the grip of the gun, which are fed one at a time into the chamber for firing. The revolver is an older type, familiar to most as the movie-cowboy's \"six-shooter.\" ...
how do newborns learn to keep their eyes open?	Most babies will tend to open their eyes more if they are held in an upright position (this is called the "doll's eye" reflex). Their vision is very out of focus at first, but they can see things within 6-10 inches away, and they are naturally fascinated by human faces, which is why it's so important to interact with e...	[ "To perceive depth, infants as well as adults rely on several signals such as distances and kinetics. For instance, the fact that objects closer to the observer fill more space in our visual field than farther objects provides some cues into depth perception for infants. Evidence has shown that newborns' eyes do no...
What would happen if all the billionaires in the world converted their net worth into cash and burned it?	So, this reminded me of this weeks XKCD what-if, so instead of looking at the economic effects, I'll have a look at the actual issue of burning that much money. Wikipedia tells me that there are over 1500 billionaires in the world. I assume many of those would have more than a few billion, so lets say ~$10 trillion US...	[ "Assuming that the burned money is paper money with negligible intrinsic value, no real goods are destroyed, so the overall wealth of the world is unaffected. Instead, all surviving money slightly increases in value; everyone gains wealth in proportion to the amount of money they already hold. Economist Steven Land...
what's the difference between salsa, taco sauce, picante sauce, and pico de gallo?	Salsa is Spanish for sauce. In the US, it frequently indicates a less finely chopped/blended mixture than what Mexico calls salsa. Taco sauce is a very finely blended tomato based sauce more like ketchup (though usually with spices). In Spanish, picante means to sting (referring to the spice's effect on th...	[ "Salsa criolla (or \"Sarza criolla\") is a South American sauce, composed of sliced onions accompanied by one or more of the following: cilantro, boiled or pickled beets, boiled potatoes, avocado, chili peppers and/or tomatoes. It is typically served with toast, seafood, meat or rice.\n", "BULLET::::- or picante ...
how did they figure out the best order of letters on a keyboard/typewriter?	When in development, the typewriter had a bunch of levers and keys. They initially designed the keyboard to be in alphabetical order, but these little levers you’d trigger would often overlap. This leads to them being stuck, and very tedious to fix. So instead, they organized the letters to be in order of common usage....	[ "In 1893, a keyboard layout for the Blickensderfer typewriter model 5 was developed by George Blickensderfer after careful analysis of the English language with very similar results for the home row keys. Blickensderfer determined that 70% of the most commonly used letters (ETAOIN SHRDLU) and 85% of words contained...
What's the best way to approximate the square root of ANY number precisely?	1. Know your perfect squares. Your approximation will obviously be between two of the roots. 2. The numerator of the leftover will be your desired number minus the lower perfect square. 3. The denominator will we the difference between the perfect squares. Example: 76 Is between 64 and 81, so the whole number will be...	[ "Indeed, an early method for calculating square roots can be found in some Sutras, the method involves the recursive formula: formula_11 for large values of x, which bases itself on the non-recursive identity formula_12 for values of \"r\" extremely small relative to \"a\".\n", "This expression allows us to find ...
Who was the richest person or family before the 18th century?	Probably Mansa Musa/Musa I of Mali, emperor of the Malian Kingdom in the late 13th and early 14th century. When he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca he had 12,000 slaves with him, each one carrying four bars of gold. He had camels laden with gold dust. He gave gold to people and communities to such an extent that he manage...	[ "While the Rothschild family rose to the status of the wealthiest family of bankers in the 19th century, their wealth was distributed among a number of family members, preventing them from appearing among the wealthiest individuals. The richest among the Rothschilds was the head of its English branch—Nathan Mayer R...
How many photons strike the eye per second and how much information does this carry?	Rough calculation on the first part: sunlight is ~1 kW/m^2 and peaks at around 500 nm, so around 5x10^21 photons/m^2 per second (very roughly). Pupil is [2 mm diameter in bright light](_URL_0_), so that is about 10^16 photons/second entering the eye when you are staring at the sun.	[ "The detection of the neutron star inspiral GW170817 in 2017, detected through both gravitational waves and gamma rays, currently provides by far the best limit on the difference between the speed of light and that of gravity. Photons were detected 1.7 seconds after peak gravitational wave emission; assuming a dela...
when "playing" back a song in your head is it audio memory from a time of hearing the song or does the mind create the song from scratch like the voice in your head?	This is only from my personal experience, but I have thought about this question a lot. I am a musician and I ALWAYS have a song in my head. I find that when I listen to the song that is stuck in my head, in my head I was 'thinking' it in the correct key. I do not have perfect pitch, which leads me to believe that it...	[ "\"Remember When the Music\" is a song written and performed by Harry Chapin. The song was included on his 1980 album, \"Sequel\". The song is the next chronological single from his hit single, \"Sequel\" from the same album. It reached the top 50 on the \"Billboard\" Adult Contemporary chart and spent five weeks o...
How were the reading habits in the Soviet Union? What did they read? Which were the bestsellers? Did they have access to western literature?	The Soviets pushed heavily for an eradication of illiteracy in the 20's and 30's, and while the effects of the government's education is arguable, literacy was over 80% by 1939. In order to complement this education, there was a fair share of children's literature made, in order to teach reading and writing. Children's...	[ "Soviet books and journals also disappeared from libraries according to changes in Soviet history. Often Soviet citizens preferred to destroy politically incorrect publications and photos because those connected to them frequently suffered persecution.\n", "1930s — The publishing house began to produce not only b...
is there a good reason for me to buy life insurance?	Between paying off debts, funeral costs, and your family being without your income, dying can cost a lot of money to those you leave behind. Life insurance is a way to lower the burden.	[ "Life insurance is personal property. It is like a car, a home or any other asset that you own. You have the right to pledge it, sell it or change ownership of it as long as it was issued with the death benefit going to a blood relative or related party, that benefits by having you alive, rather than dead.\n", "M...
How can a person tell if their tap water is 'Hard Water'? (Specifically calcium?) [Picture and story inside]	Low calcium intake is associated with increased risk of kidney stones, not a decreased risk. Even very hard water is unable to supply levels of calcium to promote kidney stone formation. Highly calcified water isn't going to supply more than 400 mg per day at the extreme end. The masai take in 5,000 to 7,000 mg calciu...	[ "In North America, the hardness of water is often measured in grains per US gallon (gpg) of calcium carbonate equivalents. Otherwise, water hardness is measured in the metric unit parts per million (ppm), equivalent to mg/L. One grain per US gallon is approximately . Soft water contains 1–4 gpg of calcium carbonate...
how negatives are converted to colored pictures?	Are you asking about negative or about black & white? [Negative](_URL_0_) is the image with the colors inverted, for example black becomes white, red becomes cyan, and so on. No detail is lost, you just need to invert the colors to get the originals. If you're talking about colorization of black & white photos, t...	[ "Three separation negatives were made on panchromatic film exposing the colour transparency through a red, green and blue filter that would eventually print in the subtractive dyes: cyan, magenta and yellow respectively.\n", "If colour negative film is processed in conventional black and white developer, and fixe...
do calculators and other devices ever compute wrong result?	Yes. The calculator is designed to produce the same result if you give it the same starting parameters. Always. Unless something goes wrong with the machinery (i.e. like some dust obscuring the circuit so it doesn't work how it's designed to.) This is a pretty big problem for data centers that house a bunch of servers...	[ "This series of calculators was also noted for a large number of highly counter-intuitive mysterious undocumented features, not unlike the \"synthetic programming\" of the American HP-41, which were exploited by applying normal arithmetic operations to error messages, jumping to non-existent addresses and other tec...
Did the recent crashes/failures of airplanes change the safety statistics and principles of air travel in any significant way?	No. There were something on the order of 35 million commercial flights (8.5 million from US airlines) in the world in 2014, and [657 million passengers on US airlines alone](_URL_2_) last year. While 2014 was slightly worse in terms of fatalities from the years prior, you can see that 2014 was actually the 12th-safest...	[ "However, others have argued that safety improvement in general aviation have been chiefly the result of a market shift away from owner-flown aircraft, towards professionally operated aircraft, and due to other changes, such as improving technology, advances in pilot education and training, and better operating met...
- why don't insects face the repercussions of inbreeding like animals and people do?	Most do, although there are a few things to consider: Hive insects with a central queen do not inbreed. New queens leave the hive and establish a new hive far away to avoid inbreeding and competition with the initial hive. Some don't care because they undergo massive death tolls after birth. Flies are a good example....	[ "Behavioural mutations play a detrimental part towards the genomes of many species, however they can greatly affect the outcome of mating; affecting the success of fitness, how many offspring will arise and the likelihood that the male will actually procreate. When mutations affect the mating habits of species, dif...
Would your typical Roman farmer have been affected by the fall of the Roman Republic, or would they basically have the same political power and lifestyle as before?	Ooh, fun question. And, because it's Spring Break and I have time to breathe, I'll do my best to answer it! :) The question is a bit more complex than you might otherwise think, but I'll see if I can focus it on farmers in particular...maybe with a little bit more of the social aspect. I'm also going to assume that, b...	[ "Roman farmers faced many of the problems which have historically affected farmers up until modern times including the unpredictability of weather, rainfall, and pests. Farmers also had to be wary of purchasing land too far away from a city or port because of war and land conflicts. As Rome was a vast empire that c...
What is the biggest non-crystalline inorganic molecule?	Hmmm...that's a tough question, especially depending on what you mean by "complex." If you just mean number of atoms then I'd say it'd have to be some inorganic polymer. There's a whole host of inorganic polymers but a pretty good portion of them have carbon somewhere off the main chain so maybe that disqualifies them...	[ "A single crystal or monocrystalline solid is a material in which the crystal lattice of the entire sample is continuous and unbroken to the edges of the sample, with no grain boundaries. The absence of the defects associated with grain boundaries can give monocrystals unique properties, particularly mechanical, op...
Why did it take so long for humans to develop modern intelligence?	> Why did it take so long for us to develop the levels of intelligence we see at the beginning of recorded history? You answered your own question. Why did our advancement explode at the beginning of recorded history? Because we developed the ability to store, retrieve and most importantly accrue our thoughts and i...	[ "In short, the complexity and marvel of human intelligence only emerge inside of a specific culture and history. Selection for cooperation aided our ancestors in surviving harsh ecological conditions and did so by creating a specific type of intelligence. An intelligence that, today, is highly variant from individu...
Is Ragnar Lothbrok's death based on historical facts or is it purely fantasy?	It comes from Saxo Grammaticus, whose 12th century story is as much a work of fantasy as fact. Here’s the description of Ragnar’s death: > Meanwhile, Ella betook himself to the Irish, and put to the sword or punished all those who were closely and loyally attached to Ragnar. Then Ragnar attacked him with his fleet, b...	[ "Loðbrók appears to be an early reference to Ragnarr loðbrók, a saga character of dubious historicity, who could be an amalgam of several historical ninth-century figures. According to Scandinavian sources, Ragnarr loðbrók was a man of Scandinavian of royal stock, whose death at the hands of Ælla in Northumbria was...
What would a "make-up kit" of a medieval royal lady consist of?	I have heard about mandragora and belladona extracts being used to dilate pupils for matters of beauty, but that might have been for Roman ladies. I wonder what kind of products and materials would they use, if some of it was dangerous and what kind of tools they used to apply it (for example I do know that some fine b...	[ "The cotte (or cote) was a medieval outer garment, a long sleeved shift, or tunic, usually girded, and worn by men and women. In medieval texts, it was used to translate \"tunica\" or \"chiton\". Synonyms included tunic or gown. It was worn over a shirt (\"chemise\"), and a sleeveless surcote could be worn over it....
why do sites have mirror downloads hosted by other sites?	yes, but if a lot of people are downloading it, then it might take a long while for it to download. mirrors allow more people to download updates all at once. it also is cheaper for the producers of the software instead of having to buy expensive internet plans and really fast servers, they can cheap out and just outso...	[ "Mirror websites or mirrors are replicas of other websites. Such websites have different URLs than the original site, but host identical or near-identical content. The main purpose of benign mirrors is often to reduce network traffic, improve access speed, improve availability of the original site, or provide a rea...
why can't i consciously keep my fingers completely and 100% still?	When you keep your fingers straight, your brain is trying to keep a constant balance between the muscles that flex and extend the finger joints. The longer you try to keep that balance, the more your muscles fatigue, the harder it becomes to stay still. It's much like trying to hold a book out at shoulder level - afte...	[ "\"Since the index finger is mostly on the strings when playing guitar, my middle finger cramps back into the hand and I can’t use it, and the most simple trill functions between the first 2 fingers became impossible and un-doable for me. This is why I now tap a lot more with more fingers of my right hand and I use...
I went to a zoological garden and saw two male turtles fucking, do homosexual tendencies in animals only occur in captivity?	Not at all. There are well known exmples of homosexual couplings in the wild for Giraffes Gulls Mallard ducks Elephants dolphins and Bed bugs. The latter have even evolved forced homosexual traumatic copulation into their reproductive strategy. It seems bedbugs have a gland which will filter the blood for wan...	[ "Homosexual behavior forms part of the natural repertoire of sexual or sociosexual behavior of orangutans. Male homosexual behavior occurs both in the wild and in captivity, and it occurs in both adolescent and mature individuals. Homosexual behavior in orangutans is not an artifact of captivity or contact with hum...
can someone explain reaganomics?	Also referred to (more positively) as Trickle-down Economics. The big idea is that you reduce taxes on wealthy business owners, and they in turn spend more money. That money trickles down through the economy, where it eventually reaches the working class. Critics of Reaganomics, including myself, argue that the tax br...	[ "Reaganomics (; a portmanteau of \"[Ronald] Reagan\" and \"economics\" attributed to Paul Harvey) refers to the economic policies promoted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the 1980s. These policies are commonly associated with and characterized as supply-side economics, trickle-down economics or voodoo econom...
I recently saw a provocative blog post make the claim that the Greeks and Romans in their time were in no way "more advanced" than the Indians and Chinese. Is this true?	Holy crap, this thread is a desolate wasteland of baditutde. First of all, absolutely no terms have been defined whatsoever. In what sense are terms like "excel" and "advanced" meant? Technologically? Culturally? Militarily? Some other sense? In what time period are we referencing? Greek culture has lasted, in one ...	[ "First broadcast 9 June 2006, it shows how Ancient Greeks and Persians were far from the Romans' view of them as effeminate and addicted to luxury. The Greeks valued science and mathematics, and the Persians had initially allowed multiculturalism among the different ethnic groups of its empire (until years of war w...
How did Romans in the Roman civil wars know who to fight?	Not to discourage any further answers, but you may find these older answers to be interesting. [How did soldiers tell friend from foe during open battle in ancient Roman civil war?](_URL_1_) by /u/HatMaster12 and /u/Iguana_on_a_stick And [During Caesar's Civil War, when the battles were fought, how did the Romans k...	[ "Roman soldiers fought in long thin lines. Such open formations allowed the Romans, often outnumbered, to outflank an enemy using a deep formation. The last thing they wanted was to be crushed together and cut down without being able to use their weapons, as they had been so many times before, and as so many armies...
can you leave earths orbit on a jet?	A U2 and SR-71 both can get into space, as defined by treaty. So the question is how fine a hair do you want to split.	[ "To make a powered landing from orbit on a celestial body without an atmosphere requires the same mass reduction as reaching orbit from its surface, if the speed at which the surface is reached is zero.\n", "In the event of an emergency deorbit that would bring the orbiter down in an area not within range of a de...
how do biologic mistakes in the human body happen? (mutations and stuff like that)	At some point quality control has a bad day and misses something on the production line?	[ "In biology, an \"error\" is said to occur when perfect fidelity is lost in the copying of information. For example, in an asexually reproducing species, an error (or mutation) has occurred for each DNA nucleotide that differs between the child and the parent. Many of these mutations can be harmful, but unlike othe...
Some people have reactions when administered antibiotics. Since antibiotics are foreign to the body why doesn't the immune system recognize them as such and produce a reaction to anyone administered them?	Short answer: Immune systems are highly variable from person to person. Interestingly, it can change over time. People who contract HIV have a greater risk of being allergic to Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim (Bactrim or Septra) than before their infections. Even more interesting is how someone who receives a stem cell...	[ "Antibiotics are screened for any negative effects before their approval for clinical use, and are usually considered safe and well tolerated. However, some antibiotics have been associated with a wide extent of adverse side effects ranging from mild to very severe depending on the type of antibiotic used, the micr...
how does an update over the internet allow my graphics card or other computer part to perform better?	Imagine your job was to do simple math problems. You have a client that you work with who constantly gives you two 2-digit numbers and asks you to add them together. He doesn't specify how you do it, just that you do it. Your method is to line them up vertically, add the right column, carry over any extra digits to ...	[ "When using computer hardware, an upgrade means adding new hardware to a computer that improves its performance, adds capacity or new features. For example, a user could perform a hardware upgrade to replace the hard drive with a SSD to get a boost in performance or increase the amount of files that may be stored. ...
What ever happened to the samurai?	Your question contains a misconception I would like to address first. There was no time when the majority of samurai were "killed off by whites." It's hard to point you to a source, because... this just didn't happen in any fashion, ever. If anything there were occasional incidents of samurai killing Westerners for "di...	[ "This documentary is about a group of samurai sent by the Japanese government to France at the end of the Edo period. At the time, all the ports of Japan were closed, cutting it off from the rest of the world. The samurai were sent to help solve diplomatic problems between Japan and Europe on December 29, 1863. The...
how one physically gains or loses weight	If you consume more energy than you expend, your body stores the excess as fat. If you work out/bodybuild to make your muscles bigger you will also gain weight as the mass of your muscles has increased. If you lose 15lbs it could be because you have consumed less energy than you have expended for a while and your bod...	[ "Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health, or physical fitness, refers to a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat or adipose tissue or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon, and other connective tissue. Weight loss can either occur unintentionally due to ma...
why is it called 'redhead' when the hair colour is actually orange?	The word "orange" was not originally used to describe colour, but instead the fruit. Anything that was what we call "orange" was described as a shade of red. The term just stuck.	[ "Red hair varies from a deep burgundy through burnt orange to bright copper. It is characterized by high levels of the reddish pigment pheomelanin (which also accounts for the red color of the lips) and relatively low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The term redhead (originally \"redd hede\") has been in use ...
How did breastfeeding come about through evolution?	It's hard to study lactation from fossil records. Here's what we currently think: * Mammal ancestors layed eggs * Like some modern-day egg-laying mammals, these ancesstors probably produced moisture from their belly to keep the eggs moist. Think of it as a sort of perspiration (although different mechanism): the be...	[ "Breastfeeding, prehistorically, was the only way infants were nourished, there was no acceptable substitute for human milk for a long time. In 1 AD, philosophers were discovering the importance of breast milk versus any substitute. It was concluded that breastfeeding helped the mother and infant establish an emoti...
why are the oldest countries not the wealthiest?	That's not how it works at all. Just because a country is "old" doesn't mean there's some magical bank account with billions of dollars in it.	[ "Geography and wealth have long been perceived as correlated attributes of nations . The continents along the equator, Africa and countries like India, are the poorest. Even within Africa this effect can be seen, as the nations farthest from the equator are wealthier. In Africa, the wealthiest nations are the three...
Where Rhinos ever used in war? By which armies? How effective were they?	Biology student with a lifelong passion for history here (many years ago I wrote an essay about the history of the indian rhino in european culture and art). Short answer: No Let's get into the Dürer rhino before I shortly discuss why its heavenly unlikely that rhinos where ever used as war animals. The animal depic...	[ "BULLET::::- It is unsubstantiated that rhinoceros were used for war functions. By analyzing Albrecht Dürer's famous 1515 woodcut, it is possible that the liberties taken with the rhino's design were in fact designs for a suit of armour created for the rhinoceros's fight in Portugal. However, rhinos' apparently 'th...
if most christian denominations believe that jesus is god incarnate, why is it so common for many to create "graven" images of jesus, against the commandments?	Why is it against the commandments? the 2^nd commandment deals with not having any worshiped item/being besides God, since Jesus is God, I don't see the problem.	[ "Christian deists consider themselves to be disciples, or students, of Jesus because Jesus taught the natural laws of God. But Christian deists believe that Jesus was only human. Jesus had to struggle with his own times of disappointment, sorrow, anger, prejudice, impatience, and despair, just as other human beings...
What gives mint its "cool" sensation?	It's menthol that gives the cool sensation. Menthol binds the cold receptor [TRPM8](_URL_0_) and activates it, just like capsaicin binds the pain receptor [TRPV1](_URL_0_). Just as you have both hot and mild peppers, you can have both cool and mild mints. Peppermint produces lots of menthol, but spearmint produces ver...	[ "A mint is a food item often consumed as an after-meal refreshment or before business and social engagements to improve breath odor. Mints are commonly believed to soothe the stomach given their association with natural byproducts of the plant genus Mentha. Mints sometimes contain derivatives from plants such as pe...
where did all the materials come from during the big bang?	This is literally the ultimate question of the universe. How did we get here? Nobody knows for sure and there is a possibility that we never will. Basically, putting it straight, nobody knows. Sorry if this comes across as unhelpful.	[ "Ubiquitous materials including aluminum, clear glass, synthetic rubber, synthetic diamond and the plastics polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene were discovered and developed or invented in the West. Iron and steel ships, bridges and skyscrapers first appeared in the West. Nitrogen fixati...
Understanding the Wow! signal: Why does 1420 MHz point to an artificial source?	The Wow signal was not on the hydrogen line but near it. Of course the mere frequency could also occur in nature. However, anybody making astronomic observations in the electromagnetic spectrum will be looking at the Hydrogen line anyways. So if you send it in that band, you have a high chance of being detected by s...	[ "In March 2016, Einstein@home began a search of the advanced-generation LIGO O1 data. The search focuses on signals with frequencies between 20 Hz and 100 Hz. The search includes two components, one for standard ever-lasting continuous gravitational waves and another for continuous signals lasting only some days.\n...
how does children's tv capture their attention more than say the simpsons, which is more colourful etc	Because those movies, series and so on create a sphere a child can indentify with This happens via easier language used or some fantasy as in Frozen for example. Simpsons is just too realistic. Btw in germany the teletubbies were banned :D	[ "The series proved unusual among children's cartoons of its time by the strong narrative flow that linked episodes in sequence with continuing storylines and a suspenseful threading of subplots. Visually, the show was distinctive for its application of heavy shadow, use of split-screens, and sometimes brow-raising ...
How did Notre Dame de Paris get to be known as "Notre Dame" when there are plenty of other "Notre Dame de ____" churches?	Paris is the largest and most influential French speaking city, and the Notre Dame is its cathedral. And the church is probably the most famous gothic building in the world, thanks to Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of the Notre Dame" which features the building extensively. edit: [Iurisprudencia](_URL_0_) makes a good point...	[ "Notre-Dame de Paris (; ; meaning \"Our Lady of Paris\"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral is consecrated to the Virgin Mary and considered to be one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. Its pi...
What is happening on the molecular level as paint (or any similar substance) is "drying"?	The molecules are held in a solvent that has preferential hydrogen bonding. As the solvent evaporates off, the hydrogen bonds provided by the solvent are no longer available and in their absence weaker Van Der Waal forces between the paint molecules themselves, and with surface, can form binding then together.	[ "Drying is a mass transfer process consisting of the removal of water or another solvent by evaporation from a solid, semi-solid or liquid. This process is often used as a final production step before selling or packaging products. To be considered \"dried\", the final product must be solid, in the form of a contin...
What changed in 1918 that lead to Germany's decisive defeat?	They halted the German Spring Offensives, and then began to push them back since they now had sufficient forces at their disposal and logistical support (as well as a significantly weakened enemy) to do so. Combine this with the Blockade, and with the weak state of Germany's allies, Allied victory was not at all surpri...	[ "A change of fortunes in the late summer and autumn of 1918 led to the defeat of Germany in World War I. The most important factors that led to the surrender of Germany were its exhaustion after four years of fighting and the arrival of large numbers of troops from the United States beginning in the summer of 1918....
how come when we float, is easier to float face down, then face up?	The biggest areas of low mass, the lungs, are closer to your front. With front down they displace more water and seem to push you up more.	[ "A ship will float even though it may be made of steel (which is much denser than water), because it encloses a volume of air (which is much less dense than water), and the resulting shape has an average density less than that of the water.\n", "A large float will go up and down with the passing waves. This can b...
What happened to the rest of the Saxons after the Battle of Hastings in 1066?	You ask a broad question that might be interpreted in a number of ways – most obviously, perhaps, "What happened to the Saxon survivors who participated in the Battle of Hastings?" and "What happened to the Saxon people of England after the Norman Conquest?" I'll try to touch on both these problems in this answer. Sch...	[ "Harold's victory was short-lived. Three days after the battle, on 28 September, a second invasion army led by William, Duke of Normandy, landed in Pevensey Bay, Sussex, on the south coast of England. Harold had to immediately turn his troops around and force-march them southwards to intercept the Norman army. Less...
Who is the least written about US president?	Zachary Taylor. Suddenly famous (rather than a long public career), he was a war-hero-made-president. He was elected despite rather unclear political beliefs, as well as holding the office shortly before dying of illness, he has all the ingredients for someone who is quite easily overlooked. He missed the 'long-las...	[ "Jon Meacham is a well-respected, Pulitzer Prize-winning, and New York Times bestselling presidential historian and journalist. He has written numerous books on American history and U.S. presidents. Meacham has explored America's leaders in such works as \"\" as well as his biography of Andrew Jackson, \" American ...
if i alternate closing each eye, why do i still feel like i need to blink?	It's entirely psychological, you feel the need to blink because you're consciously holding out beyond the naturally occurring blink-trigger to see if you actually do need to blink. In this time your eyes begin to dry and you blink due to irritation.	[ "Blinking is a bodily function; it is a semi-autonomic rapid closing of the eyelid. A single blink is determined by the forceful closing of the eyelid or inactivation of the levator palpebrae superioris and the activation of the palpebral portion of the orbicularis oculi, not the full open and close. It is an essen...
why are there two adblock programs of the same name with one being "plus"	Adblock Plus came first, opensource and made with contributions from a wide community, and was solely for the Firefox browser. Another gent, unrelated to the people who made Adblock Plus, wanted to use it on the Chrome and Safari browsers instead, so he made his own plugin inspired by Adblock Plus, and simply named it ...	[ "AdBlock is a content filtering and ad blocking browser extension for the Google Chrome, Apple Safari (desktop and mobile), Firefox, Opera, and Microsoft Edge web browsers. AdBlock allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being displayed. It is free to download and use, and it includes op...
why do we get max phone reception on the subway and h+ data but the internet connection is extremely slow?	Strong signal means you are close to the cell tower - so there's one/some in the subway. Slow data means either lots of people are all trying to use the data at once or the cell tower(s) have a slow connection to the providers Internet. It's likely that lots of people are using the data as most smart phones keep da...	[ "Some connections may be as low as 20 kbit/s in extremely noisy environments, such as in a hotel room where the phone line is shared with many extensions, or in a rural area, many miles from the phone exchange. Other factors such as long loops, loading coils, pair gain, electric fences (usually in rural locations),...
Why does moon appear to "wiggle" if its rotating at same speed of revolution?	This is called [libration](_URL_0_). Quoting from that Wiki article: > Libration in longitude results from the eccentricity of the Moon's orbit around Earth; the Moon's rotation sometimes leads and sometimes lags its orbital position. > Libration in latitude results from a slight inclination between the Moon's ax...	[ "A different scenario occurs when the moon is either revolving around the primary faster than the primary rotates, or is revolving in the direction opposite the planet's rotation. In these cases, the tidal bulge lags behind the moon in its orbit. In the former case, the direction of angular momentum transfer is rev...
how can a fruit drink contain 0% juice?	Juice has a rather specific meaning. It doesn't mean "Any fruity drink", but rather "That liquid that comes out when you press a fruit". If you press an orange and put that liquid in a glass, you have 100% orange juice. If you take that juice, remove all water from it for easier shipping and add more at your destinat...	[ "In the US, \"fruit juice\" can only legally be used to describe a product which is 100% fruit juice. A blend of fruit juice(s) with other ingredients, such as high-fructose corn syrup, is called a \"juice cocktail\" or \"juice drink\". According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the term \"nectar\" is gen...
why do rotting bodies smell (slightly) sweet?	OP, how about a short explanation about how you know this?	[ "A deficiency in any of the enzymes of this complex as well as an inhibition of the complex as a whole leads to a buildup of branched-chain amino acids and their harmful derivatives in the body. These accumulations lend a sweet smell to bodily excretions (such as ear wax and urine), leading to a pathology known as ...
How did the German Democratic Republic become a reality?	From an [earlier answer of mine](_URL_0_) This is a tricky question to answer because the German adjustment to the creation of the GDR and its ruling SED party was multifaceted and varied considerably over time. Therefore it becomes very important when examining the GDR to distinguish between Germans' often begrudging...	[ "Although the German Democratic Republic was formally created only in October 1949, by that time the basis had already been created, in April 1946, for a return to one-party government, with the contentious merger of the old Communist Party with the Moderate-left SPD. The model to be followed was now the Soviet mod...
what does bill clinton balancing the budget mean?	Balancing the budget means the government spent less than they took in. Clinton raised taxes, cut spending, and had huge revenue from the dot com boom. The US still had a deficit, which is why foreign debt could increase. If you make $50K a year and spend $60K, then you have $10K debt. That $10K is the deficit. Th...	[ "The stated objectives for President Clinton's FY1997 budget are to: (1) Balance the federal budget within seven years by making cuts in entitlements and discretionary spending while enacting modest tax cuts and (2) Maintaining growth while protecting senior citizens, middle-class families and children. The Clinton...
Why did Britain, France and the United States support Saddam Hussein's Iraqi invasion of Iran?	Wrt the suggestion of UK support the cited document is _URL_0_. My summary of that is that the UK was happy to sell arms to Iraq as long as they could be considered 'not actually weapons '. The article doesn't say this but I think it's reasonable to extend that to '...and as long as is doesn't annoy allies'. The sec...	[ "Despite Saddam's claim that Iraq did not want war with Iran, the next day his forces proceeded to attack Iranian border posts in preparation for the planned invasion. Iraq's 7th Mechanised and 4th Infantry Divisions attacked the Iranian border posts leading to the cities of Fakkeh and Bostan, opening the route for...
two-factor authentication	I can't speak on the text message side of things but I can talk about the codes and how they work. First I need to talk a little bit about random number generators (RNG's). The important thing to know is that despite their name RNGs aren't actually random. What they are instead is what is called "pseudorandom", basica...	[ "Two-factor authentication (also known as 2FA) is a type, or subset, of multi-factor authentication. It is a method of confirming users' claimed identities by using a combination of \"two\" different factors: 1) something they know, 2) something they have, or 3) something they are.\n", "Two factor authentication ...
what exactly happens when you hydroplane in your vehicle?	Your tires lose traction and you start to drift uncontrollably	[ "A key aspect of hydroplanes is that they use the water they are on for lift rather than buoyancy, as well as for propulsion and steering: when travelling at high speed water is forced downwards by the bottom of the boat's hull. The water therefore exerts an equal and opposite force upwards, lifting the vast majori...
why do sodas need so much sugar?	Soda is also very acidic, so all the aditional sugar is basically to overcome the sour/acrid acid taste and THEN be sweet on top of that. Yeah... delicious.	[ "The increase in consumption of sweetened beverages has been described as a worldwide health problem, but it is particularly visible in the United States, from where most popular drinks, like sodas, have originated. In the US, sweetened beverages such as most sodas are the most widely consumed type of foods contain...
Given that two thirds of the planet is covered with Water why didn't more intelligent life forms evolve in the water?	EDIT: I don't answer OP's question here, I just talk about it. The replies just below this wall of text are the actual marine biologists! > The species on land are more intelligent than the ones in the water. This is just an assumption, and isn't necessarily a sound place to start a scientific question. > But sinc...	[ "There are no geologic forms on the planet to suggest the presence of water over the past billion years. However, there is no reason to suppose that Venus was an exception to the processes that formed Earth and gave it its water during its early history, possibly from the original rocks that formed the planet or la...
how is canada's universal free healthcare system affordable and sustainable when the united states is going into enormous debt just trying to fund medicare, medicaid, and obamacare (not even free healthcare for all citizens)	To put it as simply as possible, America's health system is for-profit in a way that Canada's (and that of many European nations) is not. Insurers make a profit off their customers, and attempt to maximize their profit by competing with one another for more profitable customers. That profit, as well as the advertisemen...	[ "Canada's healthcare system, colloquially called \"Medicare\", is a significant economic factor. As most aspects of the healthcare system are financed from general government revenues, and as provincial governments bear the majority of these costs, healthcare has grown to become the largest component of Canadian pr...
How prescriptive is evolution?	To answer your question requires one to write a review paper. But the short answer is no, not from a single gene. We simply don't have comprehensive understanding of how everything interacts with each other. We first still don't understand how gene regulations works complete. Then we have no comprehensive knowledge of...	[ "\"Evolution\" in colloquial contexts can refer to any sort of progressive development or gradual improvement, and a process that results in greater quality or complexity. When misapplied to biological evolution this common meaning leads to frequent misunderstandings. For example, the idea of devolution (\"backward...
Will there be parts of Pluto that New Horizons won't be able to see?	There is a significant portion of the far southern hemisphere of Pluto that will not be seen in visible light, because it's winter there and the Sun will not be shining on it. No light = no mapping. Elsewhere, the surface will be mapped with varying resolution. Pluto has a ~6 day rotation period, so the part that's fa...	[ "On 4 February 2015, NASA released new images of Pluto (taken on 25 and 27 January) from the approaching probe. \"New Horizons\" was more than away from Pluto when it began taking the photos, which showed Pluto and its largest moon, Charon. On 20 March 2015, NASA invited the general public to suggest names for surf...
Cooling time of water from boiled to desired degrees calculation?	Newton's law of cooling is the simplest law that comes close to describing the process you are asking about. The question "how fast does the water cool" depends on lots of different things, such as, what is the tea pot made out of? What about the tea cup? How much surface area is at the top of the tea cup? The constant...	[ "Prominent Dutch mathematician, astronomer and physicist Christiaan Huygens created a clinical thermometer in 1665, to which he added an early form of the centigrade scale by setting the scale to the freezing and boiling points of water. By 1742 Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius created the Celsius temperature scal...
why we 'feel' pain when we see someone get kicked in the balls or something.	We humans have very, very developed brains. We have something called "mirror neurons", and they activate when we see something happen to someone else. They allow us to feel empathy, in both good and bad.	[ "BULLET::::- \"And I honestly wish I didn't have to say this, because it feels like kicking a man when he is down... but, really, it's terrible. Human sympathy strains in one direction; critical judgment the other. Terrible, terrible, terrible.\"\n", "When someone punches you so much and so hard, it feels as if y...
how is duterte able to remain in power over the philippines even with all the controversy about him (like drug-related killings)? do citizens of the philippines still see him as a good leader?	Yeah, he's very popular as a "law and order" guy. Populism may not be pretty, but it's popular for a reason.	[ "He later received wide media attention in 2016 when he was included by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as one of the local government officials and legislators allegedly involved in illegal drug trade in his August 16 \"\"I am sorry for my country\"\" speech - an allegation which he and other La Union politic...
How do we know whether ancient human fossils (e.g., Homo Erectus) are direct descendants of or a branch off the homo sapiens lineage?	We don't. There's no way to tell if a given fossil is part of our branch or on another branch completely without actual DNA. We just know we shared a common ancestor with them.	[ "Most of the early fossils shown are not considered direct ancestors to \"Homo sapiens\" but are closely related to direct ancestors and are therefore important to the study of the lineage. After 1.5 million years ago (extinction of \"Paranthropus\"), all fossils shown are human (genus \"Homo\"). After 11,500 years...
why does sleeping less contribute to obesity?	There are studies that show sleeping too much and sleeping too little are related to obesity, but it's important to note these studies only show a correlation, not a cause. For example, sleeping too little might be a habit of someone who works a lot and has little time to take care of themselves. Or it might be someone...	[ "Lack of sleep has been strongly associated with weight gain in a variety of studies across all ages, though research suggests children and adolescents are particularly vulnerable. Sleep deprivation is believed to influence the brain's response to high-calorie food, making it more attractive, while also affecting t...

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