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With $18 trillion in national debt, how do democratic presidential candidates want to make college free, more welfare, more healthcare, etc? Where does the money come from? | There are a couple good answers here, but one of the things I didn't see - thought it doesn't add a ton to the conversation - is a piece of wisdom an old econ teacher of mine gave me. > If you give money to poor people, they'll spend it down the street and in town. If you give money to rich people, they'll invest it ov... |
why clouds more frequently form high up in the atmosphere, as opposed to nearer to the ground. | Air at groud level is warmer than air higher up. Warm air can hold more water. Is the air saturared with water condensation begins and clouds can form. However, warm air also expands and gets less dense. It therefore rises, taking the water vapor with it before it has time to condensate at ground level. Higher up the a... |
why haven't we been able to land on Mars? | One assumes you mean humans. We've landed several probes and rovers. The bottom line is there's zero reason to send people to Mars, aside from the gee-whiz factor. Robotic probes can do the science *MUCH* cheaper and more efficiently. Whenever you send humans into space, much less to another planet, about 90% of your c... |
Why do the vast majority of modern Hollywood movie trailers/teasers reveal such a large amount of the plot? | Because that's what the market research has shown audiences respond to. Studios do A LOT of market research and track opinions incredibly closely. |
How can insider trading laws be truly enforced? | When an insider makes trades that seem inexplicable at the moment, but make total sense after some sort of announcement or event, it raises alarms. Furthermore, it doesn't matter if someone else makes the trades, because it will still draw attention. No one commits insider trading to make a tiny amount of money, so eve... |
if modern dogs evolved from wolves and modern wolves are all roughly the same size then how are dogs such drastically different sizes | Selective breeding. Imagine taking a bunch of tall people and making them have children. Then take those tall children, throw out the shorter of them, and breed the taller ones again. And do that for a few hundred generations. You'll end up with a population of very tall people. Maybe you wanted a smaller breed, or stu... |
Why are astronomers now using radio telescopes more than optical ones? | Are you talking about deep space telescopes, like the hubble? There's a thing called [redshift] which relates to the ever expanding universe causing the frequency of photons hitting our sensors to decrease to the point of falling below the visible spectrum, requiring modern telescopes to look for infrared frequencies o... |
Why can't we synthesize fossil fuels? | We can--the production of hydrocarbons from basic gasses like carbon monoxide and hydrogen by the Fischer-Tropsch Process is actually pretty well-understood. However, you need to put in more energy to do this than you get by burning the fuels, because of the laws of thermodynamics . And it's easier to use coal for this... |
Why do water bottles cost money at hotels but not coffee? | It was mentioned in another comment, but supply and demand is the determining factor at play here. Break it down What do you need to make coffee? * Unfiltered tap water: 0.097p / litre* Coffee beans : 20p / kg * Powdered milk: 25p / kg* Electricity 1000 uses per day: 50p / day We'll round that down to **5p** per cup of... |
WHO determines Stock Price? | Stock prices are based on the value of trades which clear through the market. At the end of the day of trading, the price of the last trade of a stock is that stocks 'closing' price. If you follow the price during the day, you will get updates on the price that the stock traded for during each update interval. Nobody d... |
Do viruses and bacteria have a colour? | You may be asking this because you've seen images of bacteria in microscopes that appear pink or purple. If so, these are images that are produced by a technique known as Gram staining. Most individual bacteria under a light microscope are nearly invisible. Microbiologists use a combination of a pink and purple dye to ... |
Why can shots injected in your butt go anywhere, while other shots need a vein? | It's an intramuscular injection and from a technical standpoint, it can't go anywhere in the butt. It has to be landmarked properly. Intramuscular or IM injections can also be done in the upper arm and thigh if necessary. These injections are usually done with medications that are slower acting or that the health care ... |
The screeching NNNNGHHHGHNNNH noise microphones/speaker sometimes make | If you put a microphone next to a speaker the sound from the speaker will go in the microphone and then out the speaker again making an endless loop of sound .. I'm sure someone can explain it better but I think this is basically what happens .. |
Why did Google succeed and AOL crumble? | AOL's main service, their internet browser, was overtaken by other, better services which were also free. Their email was similarly overtaken. Google, on the other hand, provides an excellent service to this day in their search engine, and has been able to expand into one of the largest data crunchers on the planet, wh... |
The colour and birth of wizards (LOTR) | There isn't any significance to the colors. Saruman the White was leader of the 'order' but as far as we know, he would have been leader if he was Saruman the Puce. He was leader because of who he was before the wizards came from over the sea. As for the second question: no, they weren't born exactly. Their appearance ... |
Losing control of body/actions during certain situations. | Well, I can confirm that your reaction is unconscious/does not need conscious thought. But the spinal cord most certainly cannot 'think' otherwise paralyzed people would still move their legs defensively when falling. Also, in a normal situation your brain is constantly aware of your body positioning because your body ... |
US charges of 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree murder, to someone from Europe. Looking for really clear illustrations of the varying charges. | > It seems that in both cases you have meant to inflict a fatal injury on someone, but you hadn't planned to until you found yourself in the immediate situation. That is not true. For a homicide to be at least second degree, you either intended to kill someone, or it was a foreseeable consequence of your actions that s... |
How do shopping trolleys know to lock once they leave the perimeter of the store? | [Did you remember to search before asking? This question has been asked before, and you might find the answers to them satisfactory to your question as well.] Have a nice day. *^If ^you ^have ^questions ^or ^think ^I ^made ^a ^mistake [^please ^contact ^us,] ^We're ^happy ^to ^help.* |
Do people in coma's no longer need constant food and water intake to survive? | They do still need it. They just don't need as much because their bodies are not doing anything to burn calories. And yes, slipping into a coma was much worse before modern technology and medicine were around to keep people alive. |
If you don't get new brain cells, then brain cells shouldn't divide much, so why are there so many brain cancers? | You also do produce new neurons throughout life; they're primarily made from neural progenitor cells in the ventricular areas, and they primarily go to learning and memory related structures like the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, but have been shown to migrate to other regions such as the olfactory bulbs, etc. |
What exactly do road signs mean that say speed is enforced by aircraft? | Observers in aircraft will note when cars cross a starting point and measure the time to reach an end mark a known distance away. That gives the speed and they can radio to have them stopped by a trooper on the ground. It can be easier to patrol large areas this way when setting up on one road wouldn't be worth the tim... |
If water boils and creates steam at 100 degrees Celsius, why is steam generated when we take hot showers? | I have seen this question asked in many different ways and the cocky physicist in me always want to say thermodynamics but really I should be saying the kinetic theory of gases, so forget that jargon and lets begin. Many people have pointed out the difference between steam and water vapor, but that does get to the root... |
Why do I suddenly get the urge to pee when I get home? | As a subquestion, how come I can have to pee for like 45 minutes on my way home from work, but in the final 5 to 10 seconds while I undo my zipper and lift the toilet seat it feels like I'm not going to make it and either my bladder is going to burst or I'm going to pee all over myself?", 'When I was a truck driver I d... |
Why do our toe nails choose to grow towards different directions instead of straight up like finger nails do? | Isn't it to do with not cutting them properly? I've had ingrown toenails get infected 3 times now and I'm pretty sure it's because I can't cut them straight |
Why do some 4K YouTube videos look amazing yet my Sony Action Cam 4k recordings look like crap. | There's a lot more to photography than the resolution. You can get amazing results with old pre-4k equipment - what really counts is the lens, the lighting and the person behind the camera. |
Why does it take a month to lose 10 lbs but it seems easy to gain 10 lbs in a week? | An aspect I don't see mentioned here is calories needed to maintain current weight vs calories needed to maintain target weight. Let's say it takes 3000 calories to maintain your current weight and you want to lose a few lbs. So you eat right, eat well, and exercise and have a net calorie intake of 2300. You'll rapidly... |
Why in this day and age there are still places that don't accept certain credit cards? | Businesses get charged to process credit cards. For the not-so-common cards, it's not worth them taking them at all, because the charges are higher, and they don't feeo like their losing sales as it's extremely rare to have a customer who can't pay with another card, or cash. |
How if someone steels my Credit Card they can get my PIN and withdraw cash from an ATM | It's actually extremely difficult to get a PIN number through breaking encryption in the system. The PIN is not held on the card and is hashed quite securely. It's more likely that they recorded her putting in her PIN at a previous point. The majority of people that do ATM fraud do so by placing a card reader over the ... |
Why does there seem to be more forest fires in the State of California every year than in other States? | This is a very complex question, so an ELI5 answer is a little difficult. From your comments you've seen fire in Florida so I will try to compare the difference between California and Florida. Most wildfires that people hear about are the large fires, or those that burn structures. California is a dry area with a sprea... |
Why is Anarchy on the left-hand side of the spectrum, and not on the right? | The left wing/right wing approach of mapping political ideology tends to fail most of the time, this is because it's not really based in any academic way. This is due to it's history, it came from the french revolution; after toppling the monarchy french citizens assembled in a 'general assemby' to decide how to manage... |
Why is it that I hear more news about the political parties themselves and not the laws they intend to produce? | It's a distraction job to keep you away from those awkward questions. Now be a good citizen and soak up your celebrity based reality shows and eat up your solilent green. |
Why do toasters have the option to turn my toast into a piece of charcoal? | Toasters are made very cheaply. [Most consumer ones don't even have timers in them], they have no way to tell how burnt a piece of bread is.My assumption would be that, as weird as it may seem to us, some people are into that kind of thingThings that are frozen take much longer to toast than bread. I turn the knob all ... |
Why can the Hubble Space Telescope take pictures of Pluto that look like crap, but can take jaw-dropping photos of distant galaxies and stars? | Galaxies and Stars are very far away, Very very large, and are slower. Pluto is very close relatively, very small, and super fast in comparison. It's like a filming a car race with your phone. The cars on the far end of the track are easy to film because you have to move the camera relatively less than them speeding on... |
how does a company like McDonald's make their food taste exactly the same on such a large scale? | A McDonald's franchise gets all of their ingredients from suppliers that the parent corporation licenses to produce them under tight scrutiny. The result is that the franchises are working with the same things, no matter where they are. Processes and procedures are also very tightly scripted, so the materials are treat... |
64 bit phone. Why would this help? What benefits does it have on a mobile phone for the average (non power) user? | It is just a logical progression of technology. These days new processor designs are likely to be 64-bit, so sticking a version in a phone to take advantage of more memory addressing just makes sense. The end user isn't likely to notice a big difference at the transition point though. |
What determines which foreign species are invasive and will become pest and which won't in a new ecosystem? | If they can outcompete the native species of the ecosystem and cause damage, then it is considered invasive. Some species don't really damage the ecosystem, those aren't considered invasive. |
why do so many people get away with downloading torrents? | - Because U.S laws don't apply internationally and most torrents are U.S products that were uploaded from outside the U.S - Torrent sites are taken down, and due to the above reason They don't stay dead for long. - Torrents and it's uses are legal, so you can't go after everyone who uses torrents. You have to prove tha... |
Why do so many people feel that democrats are poor? | Because right-wingers generally believe everybody's motives are purely about self-interest. Many of them quite sincerely don't believe other people are motivated by what they feel to be most effective for society, or intrinsically moral. So they invent these cliches and shout them until they're too loud to ignore.The r... |
Why is there an increased chance of getting pneumonia when it is cold outside? | I heard once that germs lives incredibly well in cold areas and thus when you're out in the cold, your nose is a perfect breeding ground for a cold if you come across someone who has one. According to the other comments however, apparently this is bullshit.Myth. No real link between ambient temperature and getting a pa... |
Why is sauce more likely to go bad when you put it in the fridge while it's still warm than if you let it cool before putting it in there? | In addition to what's been said: The portion that has cooled acts as an insulator for the middle. This means the middle stays warm enough to act as an incubator for all sorts of bacteria. |
Why can we refine sea water into drinking water to fix our coming drought problems? | Deasalinization, the process of removing salt from water, requires a *tremendous* amount of energy. It's nowhere near cost effective, unfortunately. |
What exactly is Saliva, and why can our bodies produce it insanely fast? | the_original_retro nails it. To add on, saliva can be produced insanely fast because it is mostly water. The water to make Saliva comes from the plasma in your blood, and the saliva glands adds enzymes to the mix. Our bodies contain a lot of water, mostly in the form of blood plasma, so we can make a lot of saliva if w... |
Why do toilets(in america) use clean potable water? | In addition, to other answers I'd like to point out, for most people in the country potable water is in near infinite supply. Almost the entire midwest have massive water tables underground, that on top of modern water reclamation facilities means generally speaking none of us have to worry about running out of drinkin... |
Why do older cameras look worse and more pixelated on 280p then new cameras set on the same quality. | it's kind of like asking why your Honda doesn't handle as properly as a corvette even though you swapped a corvette engine into it |
What's the difference between HAM radios and "normal radios"? | Very little - ham radio refers to radio transmitters and receivers *operated by an amateur for personal entertainment or education* . There are usually designated frequency bands for this purpose, but they vary by jurisdiction so you can't give a universal distinction based on that. |
what happens when someone loses their voice? Are there different causes (screaming, sickness, etc)? | I had surgery last year to extract some tissue just next to my vocal cords . Anyway, they told me in advance that if they struck the cords, I would lose my voice forever, but if not, I still might lose it temporary. Right after waking up I had to talk with the surgeon and say a couple of words, so he knew any later dam... |
When dealing with emotional trauma like the death of a loved one, or a breakup, why do emotions quickly oscillate between deep sadness and acceptance? | Just because you accept something doesn't mean it will no longer bring sadness, and to truly accept something is a long process. The acceptance coincides with the pain, hence the oscillation of emotions. Eventually you heal, and the feeling of acceptance become much more prominent. |
What is the point of shadowbanning someone over banning them normally? | Shadowbanning lets them think that they aren't banned. They can still post comments from their perspective, they can still reply, but no one else can see them. This makes them think that they are still unbanned and will continue on their way. By outright banning them, they know that they are banned and therefore will j... |
Why it is easier to balance a moving motorcycle than one thats standing still. | This is mostly due to how the control column is designed. When is the bike is moving forward, any tilting to the left and right would cause the control column to turn in the same direction. This mechanism ensures that the bike's center of gravity is always directly pointing down, and always parallel to the bike body, e... |
Why Are Peanut Allergies So Prevelant Now But Were Unheard Of 40 Years Ago? | I have no clue, but I'm also a weirdo who wasn't allergic to peanuts until I was about 20. Now I just sit next to someone eating it and breathe it in I get a reaction. Anyone out there know why I may have gotten the allergy later on in life? |
Why is the term "blue-collared" used to describe people who do manual work? | Traditionally factory workers wore inexpensive and durable cotton or canvas shirts, and blue was a popular color since indigo dye was inexpensive and blue hides dirt and stains well. That's why you'll often see things like boiler suits and overalls in shades of blue.My guess is coveralls, you know those full body denim... |
The logic behind holocaust denial. | It baffles me how people deny things that there is physical evidence of. You can go to the concentration camp memorials, see artifacts, view pictures and read stories of countless eyewitnesses, from the armed forces of Germany, Russia, and United States .and others involved in WWII. Same with things like moon landing d... |
Why is there a fire fountain of burning oil at oilrigs/oilswells? | Burning oil well is a problem. But typically it's burning natural gas. Because it's not cost effective to transport natural gas to market. And you don't want to store a flammable. Do you just burn it |
Why there is no in-vitro for animals to save from extinction? | We have been using invitro on endangered animals. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But it should be noted that most are going extinct due to being hunted by humans or by having their habitats destroyed. |
Why are babies sometimes so unwilling to eat, when it is fundamental for survival? | Because they are not ready for that food yet or not interested in it. They might need to breastfeed a little longer, or be able to test food by themselves instead of pureed. They won't die of hunger, that's for certain. They just prefer a different thing than the one you're offering. I mean, if you were offered broccol... |
Why does it seem the majority of people with tourettes shout obscene words? If it's uncontrollable, shouldn't their expletives be random? | They don't lol. They just have a tick, a thing they do repeatedly. Usually a facial thing, sometimes accompanied with a vocalization. |
Why do horses need shoes... but cows do not ? | Technically speaking, horses don't actually *need* shoes any more than you do. Leave 'em to run around in the relatively soft fields, and they'll be perfectly happy. The trick is that once you've got the horses walking around on asphalt, concrete, etc., that rough surface will start wearing down their hooves - they're ... |
Why aren't countries like the U.S. sending humanitarian aid (primarily food) to Venezuela right now? | Numer of reasons. The Socialist government would just intercept it. Those at the top would eat like kings and those at the bottom would still starve. Second, you don't want to artificially prop up a failed system. Better to let it die quickly than slowly feed it and watch a slow death. |
How can the quality of films and tv shows be 'upgraded' to HD without reshooting the whole thing? | Most shows were shot on 16mm or 35mm film, which can both produce HD resolution when the film is telecined . When the shows were created when SD was the norm, there wasn't any reason to have the film rolls telecined into HD resolution. So now when a 'upgraded' to HD, the original film rolls are telecined into HD resolu... |
Some jobs are unpleasant but fundamental to society (eg: janitor, bus driver). Why aren't these the best paid jobs? | Jobs are categorized by amount of skills you need to have to perform the job or amount of profit that you produce per period of time. Also, supply and demand curve of labor. How many people are available on the market to do some particular job. Being a janitor doesn't require a much of skills or bachelors degree, a lot... |
Why are photographs not taken in a courtroom during trial and replaced with sketches? | Cameras are banned. It's because taking pictures would disturb privacy and create distractions. It's also a cultural thing. |
What's the point of the Russians visiting the Moon in 2029 when we're planning on visiting MARS in the 2030's? | From what I've read, the Russians plan more than just another moon landing. They expect to explore the viability of an inhabitable moon base._URL_0_ |
How can a hydraulic press destroy a diamond? | Hardness tends to go with brittleness. And brittle things shatter or cleave. Since steel is more flexible, it's probably not the thing to break first. It's also why hardened steels are more likely to break as well. There are some rules regarding elasticity vs. strength, but I figure somebody else could explain it bette... |
If water can't be compressed in the same manner as air, why do we talk about both air pressure and water pressure? | Pressure isn't about compression. It's about forces applied over a certain area. Take a metal ball and push it against your palm. Now take a foam rubber ball and push it just as hard. If the two balls are the same size, the pressure against your skin is about the same. Also, don't forget about DENSITY. Water doesn't ge... |
How fiber cabling is faster than standard cabling. | Individual signals inside both fiber and electrical cables do travel at similar speeds. But you can send way more signals down a fiber cable at the same time as you can an electrical cable. Think of each cable as a multi-lane road. Electrical cable is like a 5-lane highway. Fiber cable is like a 200 lane highway. So ca... |
Why isn't it law that you should be able to view your own credit score for free any time you want, as many times as you want? | _URL_0_ Also if you're from the US, you can request your credit score once a year for free from the government. |
Why can't someone make beer/lager with sweetener instead of sugar? Like 'Beer Zero' or something like that. | Sweeteners work by activating the sweet receptors on your tongue, usually by activating many more than an equivalent amount of sugar. 0.1g of sweetener might activate the same number of receptors as 30g or 50g of sugar. Alcohol is the waste product of yeast's digestion of sugar . The closest you can get is something li... |
If I buy a French island as a British person, could I then make it a British island? | > If I buy a French island as a British person, could I then make it a British island? Let us restate your question another way: Suppose you bought a plot of land out in the countryside. Can you decide to make that land part of another country of your choice? No. No you can't, that would be ridiculous.Every piece of pr... |
Another question from my eight year old that I was unable to answer. How do people know for certain that no two snowflakes are the same? | Yarr! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained that it's just unlikely, not impossible: 1. [ELI5: How do scientists know that no two snowflakes are alike? ]1. [ELI5: How can no two snowflakes look alike? Isn't that totally impossible? ]1. [ELI5: Why are no two snowflakes the same? ]1. [ELI5: How come ... |
How does satellite navigation work? | Let's say you are standing in between two points A and B. At points A and B there are two trains traveling towards you at the same exact velocity at the exact same time . Thing is you have no idea when the trains left. If train A reaches you first, you can assess you are closer to A than you are to B. Mathematically yo... |
Why is it that I had a lot of nightmares as a little kid, but almost never have them anymore? | When you are younger you're just finding out about life and all that it encompasses. There's a lot of unknowns out there monsters, etc As you get older you learn more about those things and realize that there is much less out there in the world to worry about than when you were a child. As you get older, you maybe star... |
How does an airplane jet engine connect to the wing? Is it really 4 bolts? | They are some darn good bolts made from a the best alloy Boeing can afford. The thrust is handled by these bolts with a little help from the shape of the pylon connecting the engine to the wing, which slants forward to receive the thrust and distribute it through the wing structure. As for lasting 30 years, they don't;... |
How do split GIFs work? | Are you talking about [gifs that consist of two similar images that you view cross-eyed?] Basically, it's a stereogram. The reason we have depth perception is because we have two eyes and our brains merge them together. The discrepancies that we get from these two 2D images are because we view things with two slightly ... |
I feel like I'm decent looking but why do I look uglier in pictures? | You can learn to be more photogenic. Check out Peter Hurley on Youtube. He's a famous headshot photographer and gives some great tips. _URL_0_ |
Quantitative Easing, Bond Buyback, and eventual Tapering. | Quantitative Easing is a form of monetary policy that involves the purchase of financial securities with the main purpose of lowering nominal interest rates within a given economy. Given the relation between the coupon of a bond, its price and its yield , the more you buy, the higher the price pushes and the lower inte... |
Can someone explain to me the collapse of the Roman Empire? | I've got this. Rome is at its height. It's conquered most of the known world. Everything is going swell. Suddenly, Christianity. At first it's considered a terrorist group and a cult, but soon it begins gaining popularity since it preaches eternal salvation, unlike Roman polytheism. After 100 years, Nero comes into pow... |
Why does covering the top of a straw keep gravity from pulling the liquid down? | Air pressure pushes on the liquid. Normally it pushes on the top and bottom equally, so it cancels out, but cover the top and you've stopped it pushing on the *top* side, so overall it's pushing up. This upward force is enough to overcome gravity.For the water to go down, the pressure above it would have to decrease, a... |
Why are many Australian spiders, such as the funnel web spider, toxic enough to drop a horse, but prey on small insects? | I think you're over-estimating the strength of many spider bites, as well as the number of medically significant spiders in the world. If you're referring to redbacks/widows and funnel spiders , then a general answer would be that their venom contains a neurotoxin and whether you're a large primate or small insect a ne... |
Why must vaccines be given as a shot and not simpler forms like pill, patch, etc. | Some dont. I remember getting a vaccine at school that was a drop on a sugar cube, and more recently there are nasal flu shots for children available. So short answer is, they don't have to be, but it depends on the vaccine.One of the vaccinations I got before going to China was in pill form . The pill form was even mo... |
Why is soccer able to dominate the TV ratings worldwide as a spectator sport yet not even be a blip on the US TV ratings? | cause soccer isn't popular in US. they won't broadcast a game if there's only 1% of population that watch it. hence why u see more soccer on hispanic channels. same reason why in almost every other country, u won't hear a blip about a NFL game. why ESPN doesn't broadcast the pingpong national tournaments in China. |
Why do some fruits have small seeds for their size (eg. Watermelons and pineapple) and some have big seeds for their size (eg. mangoes and cherries) | Think of the plants they come from too, a watermelon grows from a vine, hence the small seeds.cherries grow from trees, that's why they have something more substantial than a small seeds in them.It's not about the fruit, it's about the plant it comes from. The fruit is just part of the plant's reproduction.Just an FYI ... |
If a none-married couple have a child who's surname do they take on? | It's generally accepted that a child takes the father's last name. They can also do a hyphenated name, two names, or use the mother's name. It's up to the parents. |
Why do colleges/universities recommend/require Mac's for their courses? | I've never heard of a college course requiring Macs outside of arts courses that use specialized software that's been designed for Mac, and even then, they'd likely be required to provide a computer for you to use, or at least have some in a library or computer lab. Macs are user-friendly and many music and art program... |
How is the code for non-open source software hidden? | When someone sells you closed-source software they only give you the pre-compiled binary - the actual 1's and 0's that your computer actually understands. Technically you could try to reverse engineer it but it's an absolute pain in the ass. When someone releases open-source software they usually give you the pre-compi... |
How in the world do we know the universe is 13.7 billion years old?? | Okay Johnny, suppose you're sitting by a pond, reading a book. You decide to put the book down, you look up, and you notice that there's a big, circular ripple spreading out from the center of the pond. Now, you can tell by looking at the edges of the ripple, and the shape of the ripple, roughly where it must have star... |
How come that ships developed their own measurement systems for distance and speed (nautical miles and knots) different from the measurements for any other form of transportation? | The sea is constantly shifting and has no landmarks to speak of. So the primary navigation aids naturally available are things outside the Earth like the Sun and stars. When you use these to measure your position you get *angular measurements* out - latitude and longitude, measured in degrees, minutes and seconds of ar... |
Why aren't US elections held on Saturdays? | tradition! We picked Tuesdays because we wanted to make it as easy as possible for all the farmers to vote, which required them to travel in to town Now we have the ability to travel quickly using cars and buses and trains, and most of our population now lives within a few miles of their poling place as well, but since... |
How do drugs work? | Depends on the drug, and what kind of drug you mean. I am going to assume you mean drugs like cocaine or heroin or alcohol or caffeine or adderall or prozac - a drug that crosses into the brain and you're asking what exactly is happening in the brain. In general drugs can be classified as agonists or antagonists. Agoni... |
the difference between 4 Wheel Drive and All Wheel Drive. | These days 4WD means you can switch between 2wd and 4wd. AWD you don't have a choice. As far as what wheels get torque and when - that is more a matter of what differentials you have in the front and rear axles. LSD will allow wheels to slip a bit in tight low speed cornering - this helps with not destroying your tires... |
How do commerical passenger aircraft generate enough AC power to accommodate every passenger seat plug and for Inflight Entertainment Consoles? What would happen if every single plug was used and drew max amperage? | The engines have generators in them. Fuel is used to turn the blades in the engine which spin some wound up wire inside some magnets. This converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. I'm just guessing but the generators are probably going to some strong batteries that could run everything plugged in. Chargers, etc... |
Why are children so inclined to eat their boogers? Are there cultures where the social stigma around eating boogers doesn't exist and booger eating continues into adulthood? | I'm happy to see such an activity stigmatized. The last thing I wanna see is a bunch of adults wrist deep in their noses pulling out chewy strings of salty goodness and depositing them on their tongues. Such things should be done in private when nobody else can see it. Snot is delicious of course and likely very health... |
Why is Kosovo not in the UN? | Only 57% of the UN countries recognize it as a sovereign state so any attempt to allow it to join would likely be vetoed. I'm not sure what it would accomplish anyway. |
How does the body know how to top off our blood levels by ceasing production? | Your brain stem can essentially measure the pressure your blood is at. Among a lot of your uncontious processes, it knows more than you would imagine about what's going on in your body. |
how do non wealthy people who get sued for millions or billions able to pay all of that money?? | Often they simply don't. Typically home owners insurance, auto insurance, etc. have liability coverage that will pay out substantial sums in case of lawsuits , so they may settle for that amount ie. you get sued for causing a car accident and your insurance will cover $500k so the plaintiff was accept that.They don't. ... |
If the black plague still exists, why doesn't it spread rapidly like it did in the 1300s? | Because it's spread on fleas that live on rats. We no longer use thatch roofs where the rats would hide and breed and spread their fleas. Furthermore, we have powerful antibiotics that would cure any infected people as long as it's caught fast enough. Even if that person were to die, the outbreak would have been contai... |
The number π (Pi) and why is it infinite? | It is simply a ratio. Take any perfect circle, measure the circumference and the diameter, divide the circumference by the diameter, and you can calculate pi . It isn't infinite, it just doesn't simplify to a fraction.It is simply the ratio of the diameter of a circle to it's circumference . It is not infinite, it's gr... |
Why can some people sing well, and others can't? | Some people are naturally gifted, some aren't. Tone deaf is when you can't recognise what note you're singing, in essence. Perfect pitch is when you can pick out the note perfectly and replicate it/name it. Most musicians are somewhere between the 2, being able to tell if a note is higher or lower than another note, an... |
How do huge businesses like airlines start? Not many people have enough money to just buy airports and planes. | It takes a great deal of money and financial acumen. For an example in the hear and now, consider the rocket company, SpaceX. Not a airplane, but rockets. I think it is fairly straightforward. 1) have the money, 2) hire a bunch of people that know about what needs to be done: mission control, designers, materials exper... |
Why do some phone cases or watches say water proof up to a certain amount of feet (like 6ft)? Is it the water pressure difference? Is the water pressure difference that significant? | yes on both counts. the pressure in a body of water is directly proportional to depth. since water's density is 1000kg/m^3, it exerts a pressure of 9810pa for every meter down you go or about .5 psi per foot. atmospheric pressure is about 15 psi going down 6 feet into water, the pressure increases by nearly 20% |
How does Netflix generate profit from their original content? | You can only watch Orange is the New Black on Netflix, so if you want to watch that because your friends and coworkers all loved it, you'll have to subscribe.As of 2014, Netflix had ~~500~~ 50 million subscribers. Doing some basic math, 8 dollars per person per month yields ~~4 billion~~ 400 million dollars, a *month*.... |
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