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What Lucid dreaming is and how to achieve it | I have a few tricks you can do to figure out if you're dreaming or not. Try to plug your nose and breathe through it anyways. If you can, you're dreaming. If there's a clock, look at it, look away, then look back. If the time has drastically changed, you're dreaming. Try to put your finger through your palm. If you can... |
How did countries declare "neutrality" during WWII? | Nothing prevented Hitler from doing that, and in fact he did invade some nominally neutral countries during the war. But invading more countries obviously costs more manpower, so if they've pledged not to hurt you or assist your enemies you would want to have a good reason for it. |
What's the difference among meteors, meteorites, comets, and asteroids? | Asteroid: Rock floating in space. Specifically a rock that is not massive enough to become a spherical planet/dwarf planet . Meteor: Same rock, only within Earth's atmosphere. Meteorite: Same rock, impacted on Earth's surface. Comet: More ice than rock, and they have a tail. |
Why animals don't menstruate on a monthly basis, or if it all. If they do, how does it differ from humans? | Other mammals menstruate, but not all bleed during their cycle. It's usually referred to as 'in heat'. Animals that have menstrual cycles but don't bleed, like your cat, absorb their uterine lining instead of shedding it. One of the reasons you get female dogs fixed is so that they don't bleed all over your house every... |
Why do we get tax returns from the government? Why don't they just tax us less? | Your not getting taxes back. You're getting withholding in excess of your tax burden back. So if you had $4000 withheld from your paycheck, and your tax burden came to $3500, then you get a $500 return. Ideally you don't want a return. You want it to come out as close to even as possible, but things are hard to predict... |
Why is the corona of the sun is hotter than the surface? | I don't think this is well understood. There are some ideas, but there is a also a lot of speculation. Search over in [/r/askscience] they might have a partial explanation. |
Why asparagus makes your urine smell bad | Over the weekend I ate four bunches of it in one sitting just to see how stinky it would get. Not kidding. Also Here's the [straight dope]. What amazes me is how quickly it takes effect. You eat it and it's only like half an hour until it stinks everything up. |
What's going on with Greece? | From what I've heard they aren't lazy, they've just been living on debt for so long that they have the idea they should continue to be allowed. They don't make enough to sustain the life style they've grown accustomed to and now they are pissed. Of course this could be repeated for a lot of other countries out there so... |
LI5: Why does gravity state matter attracts yet the universe is expanding? | Well, you're sort of confusing some subjects here. * You are right that the universe is expanding, but in the sense that you probably mean. This doesn't mean that the edge of the universe is in any way moving anywhere -- as far as we know, there is no edge of the universe. When people say this, what they *really meant*... |
How Chickens became such a go-to animal for human food consumption, and why other birds and small animals aren't on their level? | I live on a small farm with Beef cattle, Chickens, Llamas and Horses. So much work has gone into Domesticating Cattle, Hogs, Turkey and Chickens that they are excellent farm animals. They are docile enough to work with. They get big, making a good meat animal. These animals have been breed to be huge. Compare a Wild Tu... |
Why doesn't the Super Massive Black Hole at the center of The Milky Way destroy our galaxy? | The supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way is estimated to be 4.1 million solar masses, i.e., 4.1 million times more massive than our sun. So, that's pretty super massive. But, that doesn't mean that things can't safely orbit around it, outside of the event horizon. |
Where do my farts go when I hold them in? | When you hold in your farts, they go to your brain, and that's where shitty ideas come from. |
How does the US Government borrow money from other countries? | Through the issuance of treasury securities, like bonds. Anyone can buy these, including you. Foreign governments obviously have a much larger capacity to do this. The government isn't going up to China and asking for a couple bucks. |
Why do we get "Pee shy"? | TIL I'm not the only one in the world that has this problem.Just FYI: There is a term for this condition. It is called Paruresis.I'm pretty sure a lot of it has to do with us being conditioned to conceal ourselves , and we'd be ridiculed we started to flash our dongs around. |
The difference between sympathy and empathy | You can sympathize with someone who is experiencing something you don't fully understand. You can empathize with someone whose feelings you have experienced yourself.I turn to [Wheezy Waiter] when I forget the difference, which is very often. |
What is time dilation and how does it work | If you see someone traveling really fast, you'll see all their clocks running slower . This is a direct consequence of the fact that the laws of physics don't change when you travel really fast; if you work out the math, either the laws of physics aren't the same for people traveling quickly or time dilation has to hap... |
Why do I fall asleep at work/school/want to be awake, but can't fall asleep when I want to sleep? | Sleep cycles have a lot to do with it, but mainly for me, I'm just not a morning person |
Why does the camera add ten pounds? | I guess there might have, at one point, been an aspect ratio that may have stretched the picture. Most likely, though, it's just an excuse people give to rationalize away flaws in their own appearance when presented with objective evidence. |
Sine, Cosine and tangent. | It's pretty hard to tell it exactly LY5 so I'll assume you have some basic math knowledge. First of all look at this [great animation]. Here's how it works : Draw the unit circle and radius 1) on a cartesian plane. What's the ordinate of the point on the circle that makes a 0° angle with the x-axis ? It's 0. So sin = 0... |
The Circle of Fifths (music theory) | Quite simply, they are referring to the *Relative Scales*. That basically means, that the Scale on the outside is pretty much the same scale on the inside. Example: at the top it has C on the outside, and a on the inside. That means, that the CMajor scales has the same notes and progression as the aMinor scale. CMajor ... |
Why onions make you cry | Your eyes naturally try to get rid of what's bothering it by producing tears to wash it away. Onions end up releasing some nasty gas into the air when they're cut. And your eyes hate it. Just thought I'd also throw out that for some reason, my eyes just hurt like crazy, but don't water when I'm near cut onions. I wish ... |
why I blow cold air when I purse my lips, but warm air when I open my mouth. | I did a google search and found [Kitchen Science Experiments.] I think it explains everything. Basically, fast-moving breath air carries some of the colder air around it in its jet stream because of friction. This is called entrainment and makes your breath cooler. Slower moving breath air doesn't carry as much room ai... |
What exactly color is, and how to explain color to a blind person | If you are asking about whether or not it is possible to explain colors well enough that they could distinguish between or know what it is like to experience them if they were given sight, then you are asking a question that is hotly debated among philosophers. [Mary's room] is a thought experiment examining if someone... |
Why we tend to wake up right at the good part of a dream | I really want to know this too. I don't think I've ever actually had sex in my dreams before, but everything prior to it I have. Makes for very frustrating mornings when it happens. I've even tried falling right back to sleep in a futile effort to resume where I had left off. |
Why does cough & congestion linger so long after the "cold" is long gone? | The symptoms of a cold are usually caused by the body's immune response to the virus. Sometimes it takes a while for the immune system to signal 'all clear.' and a symptom or two will last longer. Sometimes, the bacteria that gets trapped in snot will start a bacterial infection which cause a new illness that seems ver... |
How the universe is infinite and expanding? | As Neil deGrasse Tyson said recently, we don't know for sure that the universe is infinite. Stephen Hawking had an interesting thing to say about this in A Brief History Of Time. He explained that the universe could be a 4-D hypersphere. It would be infinite to us 3-D beings, but limited in 4-D space. Kind of like a mi... |
Why are people so against genetically modified foods? | Watch the documentary 'Food inc.' it really sheds light on the genetic modification industry and how it Fs over the farmers |
If gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental forces of nature, how do black holes manage to become powerful enough to destroy or capture everything near them? | The other forces are the strongest at the atomic and subatomic scales. At the atomic scale, you're looking at electrons and nuclei . The electromagnetic force is dominant. At the subatomic scale, you're looking at quarks, which have something called color charge and subject to the strong nuclear force. These are all st... |
What a sociopath is. | 'Sociopath' is not really a term used by professionals, it's more of a colloquialism. The definition of a person with **antisocial personality disorder** is thus: There is a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others occurring since age 15 years, as indicated by three or more of the follow... |
Why the speed of light is constant | Because the speed of light isn't just a random speed - it's the fundamental ratio that relates space and time. |
ELI What's the difference between fascism and socialism? | The most notable difference is fascism's emphasis on a strong, central military presence. Socialist regimes are typically civilian-led, but a fascist government will be run by military leaders who also act as the head of state.Socialism is a system in which the "means of production" are owned by the state. The means of... |
- Why doesn't the USA use the metric system? | lol @ Americans" circlejerk, etc. There isn't a good explanation, but every explanations have been said alreadyBecause we are lazy. It would cost time, effort, and money to convert. That is just about it.It starts with the government and municipalities switching road signs to Kilometres. The weather person needs to sta... |
Why don't most school buses have seat belts? | Saw this post yesterday and woke up with this: [Belgium coach crash in Switzerland tunnel kills 28], including *22 children*. Another 24 children were injured. The bus was relatively new and had seat belts for everyone. As a Belgian I'm absolutely horrified. |
Why do we sneeze differently? | I never sneeze just once. It's got to be at least 20 ever increasing slobby sneezes before my sneezer is satisfied. |
Why doesn't the moon crash into the earth? | The moon is actually floating away. Every year, it gets 3.8 cm further away. Eventually, it will get far enough away that it will break out of Earth's gravitational well.Same reason we don't fall into the Sun. We are in orbit. Get a yo-yo and use it as if you were throwing a lasso. You'll see, that the faster you go, t... |
Why does light travel through a vacuum, yet sound doesn't? | Like you're five? Sound is the movement of particles. On earth, it's generally the movement of the air around you. So if there aren't particles to move, like in a vacuum, there's no sound. Light is itself a particle. Therefore, it has no problem moving through a vacuum. |
How is time a "dimension"? | Think of it this way. Your birthday party is at Chuck E Cheese's. But that is not enough to describe how to attend the party, your friends' parents still need to know when to drop them off. |
Why does hot water wash and clean better than cold water? | The cleaning product that you're using will dissolve faster in hot water, so it works better. If you are cleaning clothes, then the fabric of the cloth loosens up in hot water which allows for the dislodging of particles. If there is wax or grease, hot water allows for it to melt or lift off better. Another thing to ke... |
How exactly does cancer kill? | In general, cancer kills because it prevents an organ from functioning correctly. Cancerous cells grow uncontrollably. A few extra cells won't do much, but keep on adding them and they'll start to get in the way. It's harder for your lungs or heart to work right if they're weighted down. Cancer cells also use up nutrie... |
How do electromagnetic waves travel without a medium? | This is not an ELI5 question; I hate to put it so bluntly. They're not waves in a physical sense; they are fluctuations of charge or energy . To actually answer the question requires that we delve into special relativity. |
Why do all objects fall at the same acceleration? | I know what you're thinking. Why don't bigger objects fall faster? First, let me say you're right! Bigger objects do have more force being pulled on them because of their weight. So why don't they fall faster? That's because the bigger they are, the harder it is to move them. You know how you have to push harder when s... |
How does AI in video games work? | Since I'm studying to become a game designer this is right up my alley. Megalox is pretty much on the money, but we usually use a Finite State Machine. Basically the enemy can be in certain states, let's say: * Patrolling .* Searching .* Fighting Each state has a few transition, for instance you start attacking it, so ... |
the difference between the CIA and FBI | The CIA is an intelligence organization while the FBI's primary focus is law enforcement. In simpler terms the CIA is a giant research firm and the FBI is a national police force. |
Financial crisis of 2008? | _URL_0_If you have a few hours and would like a solid understanding, there's some great videos at that link. Sal usually tries to dumb it down as much as possible. |
The universe is expanding, but it's not expanding into anything, it's just that distances between points increase over time. | If you have a house that's constantly expanding, you can see the couch getting further from the TV. But there isn't anything outside the house. It's growing, but not growing into anything. There isn't anything outside the universe . It's not expanding into anything, because if there was something there, it would be par... |
Question regarding planets and gravity. Specifically Earth...does its mass increase over time from meteors and if so won't that eventually pull the moon into Earth? | The moon's stealing the earth's angular momentum and receding will vastly outweigh any effect this might have.The Earth also loses mass as the Atmosphere is lost to spaceThe mass added via meteorite impacts is negligible. |
What is a VPN? | This is how I understand it. When you connect to a website, this is hows its connecting: Home < -- > ISP < -- > Website The data goes through your ISP. Now when you use a VPN, you tell your ISP to connect to the VPN. The VPN then connects to the website and sends you the data back encrypted. So now the diagram looks li... |
What is the evolutionary reason on why humans seem to have more difficulty with child birth than most animals? | Because we have gigantic heads compared to the size of our bodies. We need a big head because we have a big brain. Big head = difficult childbirth. We can't have bigger hips, or it would screw up the way we walk. Women's hips are about as wide as they can get before walking becomes awkward and inefficient. In fact, hum... |
How do we know what dead languages (Latin, Ancient Greek, etc) sounded like? | My high school Latin teacher said that the Romans actually wrote down how they sound for educational purposes. That is, they wrote about how the foreigners are misprouncing latin, maybe. I know that's not a good source, sorry.To add to the other comments, my first year linguistics lecturer told us that we actually get ... |
Why we get songs stuck in our heads | [Here is a pretty good explanation], although it's not quite on the level of a 5-year-old. |
How do we know the mass and density of planets? | A star with a planet in orbit will wobble slightly - the size of the wobble is related to the mass of the star, the mass of the planet, and their distance from each other. So you just measure the wobble, estimate the star's mass and the distance between the two, and you'll have an idea of how much the planet weighs. To... |
What is the difference between Sunni and Shiite Muslims? | I will never understand the train of thought of the people who kill other muslims. I don't know how many times I heard growing up that killing an innocent human no matter what race or religion will be seen as killing the entire human race in the eyes of Allah. |
How objects can be 13+ billion light years away, when the universe is only 14 billion years old? | Honest question that I haven't seen anyone else address yet: Isn't it possible that we're moving in different directions too? Presume that the universe is exactly 14 billion years old, and that it's expanding at exactly light speed. Then wouldn't things expanding in opposite directions have a maximum distance of 28 bil... |
Why you can't prove a negative. | Are you talking about a universal negative? If so, you can't prove a universal negative because you can't be everywhere at once to say for certain something isn't happening. We can't prove that unicorns don't exist, because it would be impossible to look in ever place on earth at the same time in order to make sure the... |
How do we know that the speed of light is constant in every reference frame? | You can figure out what the speed of light is by the rules of electromagnetism and some maths. All we have to do is test whether the rules we've worked out for electromagnetism are correct in a reference frame and if they do then we know the speed of light in that frame is constant. That way we don't even have to measu... |
If the polar ice caps are melting, and ice has more volume than water, why would the sea level rise? | As one user pointed out, the sea level rise would primarily occur only if Greenland and Antarctica melted. The reason for this is that they are land-based ice sheets. Ice is less dense than water because the water molecules like to form a crystalline structure, similar to salt or sugar. This is why ice floats in water ... |
What's the difference between an EMT and a paramedic? | Paramedics go to school a lot longer and can administer drugs, EMT-B's I think you can get you're basic online in a few weeks, but they both do equally important jobs. Unless you want something like the flight medic's and flight nurse's, the medics are full fledged Paramedics with extensive training and expertise. |
Why we don't feel a stronger gravitational force at different times of day. | I think I understand what you mean. Basically, it's because the force to which you're referring doesn't exist.On Earth, when you're moving and you feel g-forces, it's due to the acceleration. As we orbit the Sun, we're not actually accelerating in the direction of our movement, but rather we're accelerating directly to... |
What is the Higgs Boson, and why is it called the "God Particle" | All that stuff is true, but I think the best explanation of the Higgs itself is [here]. The Higgs field is what gives things mass, and the boson is a way to prove the field . I think it's like trying to make a wave to prove theres water. The wave is the Higgs Boson, and the water is the field. And the whole Higgs Mecha... |
Nuclear Fission Reactors: How is there a net gain in energy from both fusion AND fission? | You're missing the idea that fusion processes that give energy and fission processes that give energy *start with different fuel nuclei*. Iron-56 is the isotope that is the most strongly bound: it has the lowest energy per nucleon of any possible isotope. If you imagine all possible nuclei as a surface, Iron-56 is the ... |
How black holes eat light if photons don't have mass? | Essentially, it's due to the fact that gravity isn't an attractive force between two objects with mass - it's the warpage of space that happens when an object with mass is present. Photons are unable to escape black holes because the [escape velocity] of the black hole is greater than the speed of light- in fact, this ... |
What is a Boson? Not a Higgs-boson. | I'm not in any way a scientist, but literally 30 seconds of googling lead me to [Satyendra Nath Bose]. A boson is named after him. |
How do 3D movies/glasses work? | You are able to see the world in 3D because your eyes are a small distance apart, and so see the world from slightly different angles. A 3D movie mimics this by showing each of your eyes a slightly different angle of the movie. It does this in a clever way. Light has some cool properties, and one of them is that it can... |
Why an object's mass grows while approaching the speed of light and becomes infinite when it achieves it. (More in description...) | No matter how fast you're going, the speed of light always seems the same. So, if you're sitting on a planet and you see a beam of light pass you, what's the difference between your speed and the speed the beam of light seems to you? It's *c*. Now, if you're hurtling through space at 0.8*c* relative to Earth, what's th... |
why did the nazis kill the jews? why them? | Jew, while a small minority, were disliked in *all* of Europe, not just Germany. Hitler targeted them because they were *convenient*. People didn't like them, and it was easy to whip up nationalist hysteria against them. He did the same with gypsies and gay men. |
how 3D printers work. | So there is a machine. This machine has a tray that is filled with a powder. This powder is a resin. The printerhead is like that of a paper printer except that instead of distributing ink as it moves it distributes a binding agent that makes the powder resin solidify. [This] is what it looks like. I'm not sure if they... |
Why honey never "expires" | Food goes bad when things like bacteria or mold start living in it. Honey is almost all sugar, which is usually food for bacteria. However, honey has basically no water, so bacteria can't actually survive in/on it. Same for mold. |
Why did Hitler think blonde-haired blue-eyed people were genetically dominant when he had neither of those traits? | In the years leading up to the fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Roman Empire an historian called Tacitus wrote of the Roman encounter with the Germanic people. He wrote of tall proud warriors, long blond hair, deep blue eyes, and pale skin. The greatest warriors Rome had ever seen, who struck fear into th... |
What exactly is a DDoS attack? | Think of it like this. Your computer has a post office in it. People come up to the post office to deliver messages and get their mail. It's staffed with 20 people and they all work pretty hard. Someone decides they hate you and want you shut down so you can't send and receive your mail. They get all their friends toge... |
How do you sail into the wind? | It's called tacking. Jibing is when you zig zag in the same direction as the wind. Essentially, since the sail cannot catch wind at a 90 degree angle to the boat and still propel it, the boat must zigzag to catch wind.[Physics of Sailing] A nice simple video showing how sailing works! |
Why can't we always poop, even when we feel like we need to and can feel more poop ready to come out? | Sometimes I get the feeling there is more inside of me that just won't come out no matter how hard I push. I came to the realization that I'm straining and like pushing my colon out of me. See: Pink Sock |
What *Exactly* is Money Laundering? | I'm going to expose my noob-ness here: I honestly thought money laundering was putting freshly counterfeited notes through a washing machine to make them look used. I'm 31.Have you tried looking it up in the dictionary? ;)watch S03E09 of Breaking Bad. Explains it really well. |
How/why do cats purr? | It's also said that they purr when giving birth and in the early weeks after birth as a calming mechanism for the kittens. But as SillySladar said, its a mystery |
Why can't animals eat people food? | Regarding your last question: we humans have been thermally processing their food for so long, that we evolved towards it . Basically cooked/roasted/etc food usually has higher energy value , and for a long time that was a huge advantage: you could eat less and still have a plenty of energy. All the lost vitamins are a... |
What exactly will happen if the Earth's magnetic poles reverse within the next 10 years? | Well, most obviously measurable, compass needles will point the wrong way. In terms of life forms, certain species that depend on the orientation of the Earth's magnetic field being stable will probably exhibit very unusual behaviors . As for the solar wind, as long as there *is* a magnetic field, the particles will be... |
Why I'm always tired even after 8-9 hours of sleep every night | Possible culprits: Poor diet Inconsistency in when you go to bed Uneventful lifestyle. IE: Unemployed // Bored // Laying around the house etc An actual medical issue. Seeing a doctor about this isn't a bad idea |
- The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle | The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says that as you try to measure a particle's position more precisely, you measure the particle's momentum less precisely. The reverse is also true. It is often confused with the [observer effect] - that trying to measure a particle at all affects it. Although they are similar, the U... |
Laugh Tracks, why do shows use them? | How else will you know it's funny? Anyway, the last thing you said is exactly the reason. Before home TVs, people got used to watching comedy in a public theater, so the laugh track was added to simulate that. Laugh tracks are dying out now, but as late as the early 80s, audiences just reacted horribly to shows that di... |
Why do all people with Down-Syndrome look the same? | the chromosomes that cause down's syndrome will also have an effect on the face, which is why all down's syndrome people have wide-set eyes and a flatish nose.Your DNA plays a large part in determining your appearance. People with Downs all have essentially the same genetic mistake in their DNA. This why they all have ... |
Why is it so difficult to travel faster than the speed of light? | It's not merely difficult, it's *impossible*. A better explanation than I'll ever be able to supply, from /r/askscience: [Why exactly can nothing go faster than the speed of light?] It's totally worth reading. |
How can atoms have different isotopes? For example, how can helium exist in three different forms? | Don't think of the periodic table or even the names of the elements. That is merely an abstraction which is useful in chemistry, but we can think beyond that. Fundamentally, protons and neutrons can come together in many different stable and unstable configurations. There are two major forces at work in the nucleus. Th... |
the difference between; Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Marxism. | Socialist here . Fascism isn't my strong suit, so I'll avoid that particular one. I must make the statement that this isn't universally accepted, there are varying views. Socialism is basically an in between state between capitalism and communism. The goal of communism is a classless society, where there isn't much nee... |
why does homosexuality exist in terms of evolution? | From a strictly evolutionary standpoint, homosexuality would result in the removal of those individuals from the gene pool. Given a long enough time frame in a simple enough biological ecosystem they would disappear. However, human society is far from simple and there are many contributing factors as to why certain tra... |
Why do we still have an electoral college? | For the same reasons we haven't gotten rid of the bowl game system for determining the national college football championship. Both were developed in a time when a truly inclusive national competition was both unworkable and unthinkable. For both, having a set of independent competitions, all at the same time in differ... |
Why and how does the popular vote matter if the electoral college exits? | [Because I'm lazy, I'll just link you the the explanation I gave in a thread last week.] |
The difference between a Therapist, Psychiatrist, and a Psychologist. | The other answers are correct, however I'd like to stress that Psychiatrists are first trained as Doctors at medical school and then train as Psychiatrists as a specialization. Similar to how Cardiologists, nephrologists, neurologists etc, specialize after finishing medical school.An easy distinction: Therapists - Beha... |
what are Canker sores and why do they hurt so bad? | I only get canker sores from sour sugar on candy, and when I do they take a few days to go away. I always wondered if this was normal or if I'm having an allergic reaction. |
The difference between the Republicans and Democrats. | Republicans believe it's best to let people and states govern themselves. Democrats believe it's best to enact policy on a national level to ensure that all citizens have similar opportunities are protected from holes in local policy.Not looking at the rhetoric, when it comes to actual policy: Democrats - a centre-righ... |
ELI: Why can't you generate free electricity from the force of the magnets attracting one another? | It would be more useful to use a group of magnets arranged in a particular way to make an object spin and thereby turn a generator. It would basically be an electric engine in reverse. I'm not sure exactly why that isn't done, but I would guess it is because naturally-occurring magnets become weaker over time, especial... |
If the universe started at one single point and has expanded ever since, and if Newtons first law is valid then why do scientist believe the Milky Way and Andromeda will collide in the future? | Gravity, both Andromeda and the Milky Way have latched on with eachtother and are pulling themselves together. Also I don't think the expanding of the universe adds distance between things. |
The difference between high-octane and low-octane gasoline, or premium vs regular, gasoline | I'll try to write a simple and short explanation: High octane fuel is less likely to combust at high pressure than low octane fuel. High performance cars usually use higher pressure than other cars. So, if you use low octane fuel in a car that needs premium, it might combust from the pressure before the spark ignites i... |
If nothing can travel faster than the speed of light is traveling to other galaxies impossible? | Traveling to other galaxies is very possible. With one catch. If you travel near the speed of light, it's possible to reach any galaxy you want *nearly instantly*. But, it would require a huge amount of energy to both accelerate and decelerate. Further, if that galaxy was 2 million light years away, then by the time yo... |
Why drinking water, holding your breath, and being scared stop hiccups? | There is a method to stop hiccups that, as far as I'm aware, science cannot explain: Sticking a finger up your bum. |
How light can be both a photon and a wave at the same time? | Depends on how/if you look at it I'll show myself out.There is no analogue to describe what a light is. The particle/wave duality reflects the poor analogies we have. Needless to say, depending on the experiment you conduct, it may look like a particle or a wave . By my understanding, a photon isn't a "thing" like a pr... |
How do knives work? | Imagine your Play-doh. You mush it into a big block. Then you make your hand like a knife and push into it. The play-doh gets pushed to either side of your hand and split into two pieces. A knife does the same thing. It pushes some stuff to the left and some stuff to the right. But, the edge is much sharper than your h... |
Why do TV shows use laugh tracks | Some TV is like watching a movie and some TV is like watching theater . The TV that is like watching theater use the laugh track to drive the point home. Also, some people watch TV to feel less alone. The social aspect of the laugh track helps. |
Why don't we sneeze when we sleep? | We do. When I was young I slept at a friend's house and he always woke me up when he sneezed, while sleeping. |
Why so many people think the moon landing was hoax | I'd just like to point out that with the state of the cold war being what it was in 1969 the Soviet Union would have loved to have pointed out that the moon landing was a hoax and nail our asses to the wall, and they'd be the ones that could watch close enough to catch any shenanigans. They didn't. |
Why it is impossible for us to travel at light speed | In addition to [the video xrendan posted], I highly recommend looking at this old /r/askscience thread: [Why exactly can nothing go faster than the speed of light?] It's one of my favourite reddit threads ever; I have it saved for just such an occasion.Here is a good mathematical explanation from minute physics _URL_2_... |
Why does salt melt snow? | Salt actually doesn't melt snow, but it does prevent melted snow from refreezing. That's why if the temperature is too low, the salt does nothing. Water is made of molecules. It turns to ice when those molecules are cooled to the point where they can settle into a crystal structure. When salt is dissolved in the water,... |
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