query stringlengths 8 249 | answer stringlengths 45 7.8k |
|---|---|
Why are some batteries rechargable while others are not? | In general, batteries provide electricity by separating electrons that drive chemical processes in the cell. Many of these processes are reversible, but some batteries are not rechargeable because materials inside are not returned to their original reconfiguration. In a perfectly reversible cell, the two electrodes wou... |
Why are planes constantly overbooked and they’re asking for people to switch? Why don’t they just book the right amount of people from the start? | Because airlines expect some passengers to not show up, so overbooking helps to ensure they use the peak capacity. It's an annoying practice that has lead to many altercations. It's all about padding the bottom line. The more passengers an airline can fit onto a plane, the greater the profits. That's why they cram us i... |
How do programs like Directx "upgrade" from Directx9 to Directx11? | Former game developer here, Game developers aren't as smart as they like to think. Typically, they do very stupid things with their render pipelines. That said, Microsoft and video driver writers - from the likes of ATI, Nvidia, Intel, or AMD, tend to team up with game studios to optimize their code. The graphics API a... |
if a set of identical twins has babies with another set of identical twins, are those babies going to be identical cousins? | No, they will be the biological equivalent of siblings, but since they aren't from the same egg, they would not be identical. It's just like any set of parents having a second child - they will have a family resemblance, but they will not be identical. |
Why is the brain stored in the head? | Great minds think alike. I may have found yer answer, matey. Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [ELI5: Why are brains in the vulnerable head rather than in the thorax with the other vital organs? ] ^1. [ELI5: Why are our brains located in our heads and not elsewhere? ] ^1. [ELI5: Why is our ... |
how can I buy something from China for $1 and free shipping? How don't they lose money? | It's not like when you order your single spatula they grab that specific one and send it directly to you. They put it into a huge container with thousands of other goods and then onto a big ass boat that's has about a 1000 times more stuff on in that you will purchase in your entire life. The actual shipping cost per s... |
Why is handwriting so distinct to an individual person? | That's not always true. My mother's handwriting is indistinguishable from my grandfather's. edit: I never met my grandfather We found a notebook that looked like mom's writing at my grandmother's house. Turned out it was my grandfather's handwriting. It blew my mind. |
Why we can't freeze emissions | Well we can't freeze it but there is something called carbon capture and storage , if you're interested in the topic I'd suggesting googling that term. |
How does liquid separate to your liver and kidneys? | Your liver has a dual blood supply. It has the normal arterial blood supply which suppliea it with oxygenated blood. It also receives a blood supply from the portal veins of the gastrointestinal tract . This allows things absorbed from the GI tract to be metabolised before getting into your systemic blood supply. The b... |
What happens to the minerals in saltwater when it freezes? | The water freezes, not the salt. As it freezes, most of the salt in it is separated and is diluted in the surrounding water. Only a little salt remains suspended in ice . If you were to somehow flash-freeze a block of ice immediately, there would be a significantly larger amount of salt suspended in the ice. |
who/what is "mitochondrial eve?" does she have a counterpart? | “Mitochondrial Eve” is the nearest matrilineal ancestor of all living humans. Her counterpart is “Y-chromosomal Adam,” who's the ancestor of all living human males. Edited for clarity. |
If a pregnant woman eats peanut butter and her fetus is severely allergic to peanuts, how does the fetus survive? | I am no expert but I want to say since a fetus has little to no immune system of its own it can't be allergic to something that the mother isn't allergic to because they share the system that reacts to possible allergens |
The concept of Dimensions. How do we know there are 12? How do we know which one is which specifically? | The extra dimensions in string and brane are rolled up tightly so they are essentially nonexistent on a human scale . You could argue that they're mathematical artifice to allow the structures in those theories to vibrate in different ways and have no actual reality, but that's an argument we've been having since the d... |
Why is there a "No turn on red on 7am-7pm" sign on certain stoplights? | Usually it's because the level of traffic is too high for a driver to safely make the turn on a red light. It could be because there was a high level of accidents from right-turns at that intersection specifically already. It could be because people were trying to make right-turns during high traffic periods and causin... |
Why do European flights fly to the US during the day and American flights fly to Europe during the night? | The time zone difference. A flight leaving the US in the daytime won't get to Europe until late at night because you have to add 5-6 hours for the time zones. There are a few morning flights from the US east coast to London. Going west, you save time from the time zones so you can leave in the day and still arrive in t... |
Why does pickling things preserve them? | It's fermentation - the same thing that turns milk to cheese, or wheat water into beer. Every living thing has two basic needs: food that goes in, and waste that goes out. The reason rotten food is bad is because certain fungi/bacteria have already digested the food and left their waste behind. That's why raw honey is ... |
What causes different types of glue behave differently? (Ex. Super glue vs hot glue) | Superglue is generally an epoxy. It's a type of plastic called a thermoset: it chemically becomes a hard plastic when it cures and usually bonds chemically to the surfaces you're gluing. Hot glue is a different thing; it's a thermoplastic: it just melts and then cools solid, nothing chemically is changing there. Becaus... |
How does an infinite universe not violate conservation of energy and imply the existence of infinite energy | Although the universe's size may be unbounded, it contains only a finite amount of matter and energy: the amount released at the Big Bang. As the universe expands, this finite amount gets spread thinner and thinner. |
Why is it that certain character cannot be used in the naming of files on Windows computers? | Mostly for DOS reasons. Windows isn't built on top of DOS anymore and hasn't been based on a command line for years now. But a lot of those details still exist in the way it's built, and this is one of those cases. Those characters all either had purposes in DOS or still have purposes now and so can't be used in in fil... |
Jumping up in a plummeting elevator | You can do some quick math on this to determine you're definitely getting hurt. Let's say you're an absolute monster and can jump 2 meters in the air, that has you leaving the ground at 6.2 m/s If your elevator is falling from the 10th floor it'll be covering ~30 meters in about 2.5 seconds with a maximum speed of 24.5... |
What actually is a musical key and how does it affect the music that's being played? | Somebody with better knowledge on music theory will explain this better. But essentially it's a group of notes that sound nice when played together. Whereas if you used all the notes it'd probably sound a bit crap. I've done a crappy job of explaining it, but it's a starting point. |
Jury nullification and it's consequences? | I was on a jury which ended in what would be described as jury nullification, though those words were not used. It was a trial of a recent high school graduate, who met up with a couple friends over the summer to go 4 wheeling. They went over a another friends house to ride on that land. The friend was not home, but he... |
Why can’t we remember things from when we were a baby? | I've noticed with my daughters, 5 & 7, that their earliest memories started to fade once their world expanded, ie when they started preschool, began socializing and were involved more in the outside world. & #x200B; The earliest memories I have are from when I had just turned two. It's just one random memory but it is ... |
If our tears are salty, by don’t hurt, then why the hell does it burn when you get saltwater in your eye? | Sterile NaCl water wont hurt your eye , but polluted water can result in an inflamatory response in your eyes. Same as why chlorine water can result in red eyes, etc, etc. *Inflammation is a biological response of the immune system that can be triggered by a variety of factors, including pathogens, damaged cells and to... |
Why kettles make a "roaring" noise while they're heating up but then get quieter once they actually start boiling? | When you start your kettle there is something called a heating element in it. This gets really, really hot. Hotter than boiling water. Since most of the water is cold the water touching the element gets very hot very fast. Heat makes things expand, and cold makes them contract. So the water heats up very fast, expands,... |
How do fish come to live in alpine lakes? | Fish mostly get to mountain lakes by swimming there. Lakes don't usually sit in isolation. There are rivers or waterways in and out, and the fish can just swim to their new home from their old one. And dry lakes can fill again with water, releasing fish and eggs that might have survived in muddy patches. |
Is glass sharp enough to hurt ants, if ants would walk on broken glass? | Look up diatomaceous earth. It's essentially the same thing as broken glass and it's to dehydrate bugs have walked across it. So yes. But you're in the wrong sub. There's nothing to eli5 |
Why are theatrical film's success rated by money grossed, when ticket prices rise every year? Shouldn't it be judged by amount of tickets sold? | I think that the metric that you're really looking for is tickets sold per capita. That data allows you to judge relative popularity of films over time while excluding the variables of total population and ticket price. FWIW, I've never seen any stats done this way for film popularity.We understand inflation and are ab... |
why do the majority of plastic containers/tubs/bottles have a small ‘ramp’ going downwards in the bottom of them. | Can you take a picture of a plastic bottle and highlight what you're referencing?", 'A search resulted in this patent [_URL_0_] called "Container having bottom lug for radial positioning and bottom mold therefor" The pattern have FIG. 7 as a example of prior art fot a similar system where you rotate something with a sp... |
If Nebulas are giant clouds of dust and gas, how do Nebulas keep their shape? | Because they are huge beyond comprehension. The Horsehead Nebula is three and a half light years tall and two and a half wide. The structures that you see are bigger than the entire solar system. We throw around terms like 'light-year' without truly understanding from a human perspective how big that is. It's 'only' ab... |
How does our brain know if a sound is coming from straight ahead or straight behind us since there is no timing difference between left and right ear. | There's also visual cues. If you hear the sound of a car horn and there's no car in front of you, your brain will assume that the noise is coming from behind you. And also, because your ear isn't symmetrical, sounds are slightly changed when they pass from behind the ear into the ear canal. & #x200B; You can also turn ... |
If our longest finger is two away from our thumb, why is our longest toe next to our “big toe?” | I don't know anything about hands, but our toes are shaped like they are for balance and running. We use our 3 longer toes to help propel us. Our two shorter toes are there for balance but they are able to get out of the way during running. Having our long toes closer to the center of the body also helps us run straigh... |
how does the national grid work? How can my energy supplier say that all my power comes from renewable sources? | They can't as a complete rule, however what it normally means is that say they generate say 100 units of electricity from renewable sources and sell 50 units of electricity to domestic customers and sell 50 units to other electricity suppliers. |
How are whole cities in specific eras for movies/shows filmed? | If it's just one or two shots, the producers will an area of the city that has buildings from that era. They'll coordinate with the city to close down those blocks for a couple hours and do the shoot. They would just scrub out the parking meters and modern signs, or they might have a crew install the old style signs; t... |
Why ripe fruits taste better even though they aren’t getting more stuff from the plant | This is more biology than chemistry , but basically fruits are made of plant cells, and plant cells have this hard, rigid structure called cellulose, along with several other structural proteins. They also store sugars as starch, because its way more efficient than storing it as sugars . Fruits still live for quite a w... |
Why is it that no matter how many times I mix up my sour cream, the next time I use it there always is liquid at the top? | Try not mixing at all. I owned a restaurant in New Orleans and one of my partners told me the liquid is from bacteria breaking down the cream. That bacteria is being introduced by the spoon. I thought he was full of it. I now believe he was on to something. Don't let the spoon penetrate further than your scooping. |
What is the process for creating cgi effects on the scale of something like the battle for Winterfell where there are so many individual moving objects? | Make it dark and cover the whole thing in fog and do rapid quick cuts so you can't tell what's going on. Just kidding I love game of thrones |
If the boiling point of water is 212°F/100°C, how does water evaporate at temperatures significantly lower than that? | Although the overall temperature isn't high enough to evaporate the water, parts of the water can get sufficient energy through movement and heat so that it does have enough energy to change phase. Also, lower pressures can reduce the temperature needed at which water evaporates. |
What’s the difference between Nadh, Fadh and ATP? | ATP is not a form of energy it's a chemical compound cells use to accelerate/initiate other chemical reactions. This works because splitting a phosphate group off releases energy. NADH AND FADH are different chemical compounds which cells mainly use in the process of adding that phosphate group to ADP to get ATP back . |
Why do joints / old injuries tend to hurt more when it's very humid | I broke my right ankle about ten years ago. The cartilage was disturbed, so the doc said I would have arthritis. For a few years I carried a cane all the time and used it pretty extensively. Then I got really annoyed by it and stopped carrying it, and gradually the discomfort went away. I do feel a bit of discomfort wh... |
How fish ended up in unplanted ponds and small lakes with no other water access. | If they weren't introduced by humans or other animals, they could have become introduced by flooding of nearby rivers. |
Why are our feces brown? Is it because we eat foods of all different kinds of colors that end up mixing and creating brown? | It is actually due to a pigment called stercobillin. This is an end product of bile break down. This is why a characteristic feature of gallstones/blocked bile duct is pale stools, the bile isn't released into the intestines so cant be broken down. |
Why is lumber sold based the size it was before it went into the planer? | A couple of points to add, and this from a former NELMA Lumber Inspector. They use 'green lumber' sizes{i.e. that from the saw first into a plank or? to use a reference point. The sizes have changed over the years, I think they are getting smaller now- tho I have been retired for some years. The standard, planned, size... |
How does NASA prevent asteroids from hitting the Earth? | It doesn't. No nation or space agency has any ability to deflect asteroids or comets. There are some methods currently being explored, but they're years or decades away from being usable, and they rely on us detecting the asteroid or comet years or decades before impact. The best we can do now is to monitor and track k... |
How engineers can be sure that the hard shell of airbags won't hit someone during a crash? | The airbag shell isn't just hurled into the car cabin when the airbag goes off. They split open to release the bag but the pieces remain attached to the mounting brackets. So they don't hit people in a crash because they are behind an expanded air bag.People do still end up with black eyes or broken noses from air bag ... |
How dirty are coins? | So basically a cashier's hands are just as filthy as a garbageman's? *maybe even filthier since garbage men usually wear gloves. |
How come we don't throw away cancered part of body and transplant healthy one of dying person who's ok to donate his organs? | So we can do organ transplants for a lot of reasons, and that can include removal and replacement of a cancerous organ. However, transplant surgery is incredibly complex and incredibly hard on the recipient's body. If they are already weak and immunodeficient because of cancer and/or cancer treatments, the likelihood o... |
Why do Asian companies seem so much more versatile than American ones? | Because American companies don't draw attention to the fact that they are parts of larger conglomerates, and present themselves are smaller than they really are. |
I know cracking your knuckles isn’t bad for you, but it seems like everyone has a different opinion on cracking your neck. Is it actually bad for you? Why/Why not? | There is an ig nobel prize winner. He did extensive research. For a period of 20+ yrs only cracked the knuckles once a day on his right hand and did nothing to the left. Nothing happened.. probably the most quoted research.I dont necessarily think it's good for you but there are no reported negative consequences Edit: ... |
When you get something small stuck in your eye, like an eyelash, and you can't get it out it feels like it "disappears." What happens to it? | Usually it just works itself out on it's own. The eye is pretty good at keeping itself free of debris, most of the time when you get something like an eyelash in it, it will get out on it's own eventually, it's just pretty uncomfortable to wait so you usually try getting it out on your own. |
Why is following through a swing so important in racket sports, baseball or golf? Surely once the ball is hit, a follow through serves no real purpose? | Nothing affects the ball after it's hit, that's true. But you also don't want to be slowing down your swing until after you hit the ball, which means that a follow through is inevitable if you're doing it right.A follow through is an indicator of how the contact with the ball is being made. Let’s use baseball as an exa... |
How does sound compression work? | My understanding, and I'm open to being corrected of course The human ear is not capable of hearing all sound frequencies. In fact, they hear a pretty small range of frequencies. Some humans may hear slightly lower or slightly higher frequencies than the average human, but we're still working with a pretty tight range ... |
Why can we catch a slight buzz shortly after a sip of alcohol even though it hasn’t been digested yet? | Think of the pavlova effect . It's the same brain response system in action. It's the same brain response that causes addiction and tolerance. Your brain is hard wired to respond to the environment around it, and when you feel that initial buzz, that's your brain responding to the environment, more so than the first si... |
Why are some batteries rechargeable and others aren't? | they use different designs/chemistry. it's like why some bags are resealable and others are not. different designs.why is it less common to find rechargeable batteries nowadays than it was 5 years ago?I answered this a week ago: Basically, all batteries are rechargeable. [_URL_1_] |
How come an unhealthy, calorie dense food such as a chocolate bar doesn’t give me as much energy as a full meal that has the same amount of calories? | Because for one thing there's a difference in the kind of sugars that you're consuming. There are complex sugars and simple sugars. Simple sugars are used really fast by your body compared to complex sugars , for which your body needs a while to break them down. This has the result that you stay energetic longer when e... |
how does cleaning up trash help the environment? | Yes and no. A lot of material that can be recycled isn't, when it gets thrown away. Other material, such as plastic bags, might get eaten by fish and wind up in the his chain, whereas if it is in a sealed landfill, animals won't eat it. |
the meaning of Göbekli Tepe | The meaning is still a mystery given as we don't know WHY it was built, evidence shows some technological improvements earlier than we thought but there's still alot of unknowns. |
Why would storing my previous passwords be more secure than letting me use whatever password I want indefinitely? | It isn't. It's an outdated practice that is [no longer recommended]. The passwords should be stored as password hashes, however cracking the password history is often tremendously useful to an attacker as it provides insight in to how you compose passwords. Also, a lot of users modify their passwords in a predictable w... |
How does living tissue, like ancient dinosaurs, eventually turn into stone over time? | The bones end up buried in dirt. Over time, the organic tissue deteriorates and is replaced with mineral deposits. So, the bones don't literally transform into fossils. The mineral deposits just take the shape of the bones as they fill in the gap. |
Why do 3D environments render almost instantaneously in games but take multiple hours or days to render while making 3D animated videos? | Because they use different drawing strategies. Games essentially fake how light works in a 3d scene. It will approximate how light interacts with various objects with really simple math. We've had years of basically tweaking the same strategy to make it look more and more realistic, but this method will never result in... |
why don’t chimpanzees and other primates have buttcheeks like humans, but instead protruding buttholes? | They say genetically we're 99.8% the same as chimps, and as Karl Pilkington said that 0.2% must be the arse. |
Why did Latin stop being commonly-spoken while its derivations remained? | Language is constantly evolving, phrases and words can go obsolete as quickly as 10-20 years. If you try reading conversations from even the 1700-1800s, you'll realize how much even the english language has changed.I see latin phrases being used in the church and in the courts. Is there a linguistic connection between ... |
How accurate is identifying someone from their dental records/teeth really? | Dental record isn't used alone. Its used when we have an idea of who is missing and can tell other features. Say we suspect a fictional Jim of being burned up in a fire. Theres just a badly charred, unrecognisable body. We know jim had some dental implants, was missing some teeth, had a pace maker. We find these things... |
What is the actual reason behind why American's speak English with a different dialect than the British? | Honestly, language changes a lot within just a country, let alone across an ocean. Just think of the way that someone in California speaks versus someone in Minnesota, or Alabama, or Connecticut. Or the way that a Londoner would speak versus someone from Manchester, Liverpool, or Cardiff. In the UK, there's a different... |
Why do muscles swell and look larger during workout? | Increased blood flow. That's all there is to it. While the muscle is working hard it needs more oxygen so the body dilates blood vessels and sends more blood. A while later, it all goes back to normal size because the muscle's oxygen needs have gone back to normal.Increased blood flow to the muscle, and fascia stretchi... |
Why are commercial airliners' transponders able to be turned off by the pilots? | The pilot can turn anything off. Let's say smoke starts pouring out of the cockpit panel for the transponder. That's a problem, but the pilot has a solution. Turn that gadget off. Then they have to talk to air traffic control and explain the problem and make sure the backup transponder is working, . |
Why do video game companies make "retro" systems that emulate their older ones, instead of just making new ones? | Basically because these are cheap novelty items. The hardware to make these emulation boxes is very cheap due to economies of scale, so they can sell them at the low prices we've seen. To recreate the original hardware would be very costly due to development and would not be sustainable due to the small number of units... |
if im on a falling object and jump up from or off it, what will happen? | Had a long explanation typed out then realised it was ELI5. Imagine you're on a train going 2mph and you walk backwards through that train at 2mph. To someone standing on the platform , you are travelling 0mph. Now imagine the train is going 80mph. To appear to be travelling at 0mph you would need to run backwards thro... |
Why does caffeine sometimes not work in keeping you awake? | Caffeine blocks the body from becoming more tired. It's not effective at reversing tiredness that has already set in.As other people have mentioned, its because Caffeine stops you from being MORE tired, it does not remove existing tiredness. This is why things such as caffeine naps exist - drink some strong coffee, imm... |
What are stocks and what is insider trading? How are they related to each other? | Stocks are shares in a company. If there are 100 shares of a company, and you own 10 of them, you own 10% of that company. Insider trading is the use of information not available to the public to make stock trading decisions. For example: Say a CEO knows that his company didn't get approval for the drug it produces and... |
The point of SSN - I'm from the UK | Do you have a NHS number or something? That's might be close to an equivalent. The social security number was never intended to be a national ID but it has turned into that. If I have your SSN and your name, I can open a credit card in your name and ruin your life. How do y'all apply for a credit card? What's stopping ... |
A question about the color of the sky | Sunlight is white which is all of the colors in the spectrum at the same time. When it hits the atmosphere the light is scattered which is called Rayleigh scattering. Blue wavelengths scatter more effectively which is why the sky is blue. The air is not blue the light scatters blue better when it hits the air at a high... |
How do series like Planet Earth capture footage of things like the inside of ant hills, or sharks feeding off of a dead whale? | Videos like these they compiled from thousands of hour of footage over a long time. Planet Earth took 5 years to make. A camera person could be set up in a location recording several days worth of footage of nothing but trees before finally getting the 10 second clip of a moose walking by. Then they'll typically follow... |
if a helicopter were to hover 12 hours without moving forward, would it be on the other side of the world? | The atmosphere is part of the Earth and spins with it. Otherwise there'd be 1000mph winds at the equator. That's like saying if you jump in an airplane you'll rocket out the back at 600mph.The earth's circumference is about 25,000 miles. If what you said was true, we would perceive the helicopter moving at a speed of o... |
How do antiviral drugs work, and how to they differ from antibacterial drugs? | First you have to understand a key difference between bacteria and viruses. Bacteria reproduce and multiple by growing and then dividing. So one bacteria gets big and then splits into two and then those two each split into two and so on and so forth. Viruses can't multiply on their own like this. Viruses instead need a... |
Why, if you over just above ground in a helicopter, would the earth not move beneath you? | Toss a ball up in a car moving at constant velocity, does it fly towards the back? No. The ball is moving with the car and when thrown into the air, it does not lose its velocity relative to the ground. Same thing with the helicopter. The helicopter is moving with the earth and atmosphere, when it lifts off the ground,... |
What form of matter is jello? How about whipped cream/shaving cream? | Jello is an extremely viscous liquid. Give it enough time and it will take the shape of it's container. Tough experiment to prove though, because in most conditions the gelatin will break down before the jiggler has changed shape. |
Why aren't small diesel engines more popular in the USA like they are in Europe? | I'll add to the wisdom on this thread. During the 1980's, manufacturers essentially stuffed diesels engines into [just about anything.] Many of these vehicles, like the full sized Oldsmobile diesels, proved a complete failure. In addition, improvements in gasoline engine technology resulted in better mileage figures, m... |
Hello, I was recently wondering why the United States uses Social security numbers while most countries use identification cards.. Also I am wondering the benefits of social security. | There are strong constitutional and historical conventions and attitudes that tend to run counter to the idea of a national ID card. The United States is just that: a collection of States. There are, in theory, very specific things the national government is limited to doing, and identification of citizens has never be... |
If some of the top billionaires have their wealth in stock, how do they actually use their money? | They can sell 1% of their stock without crushing the price, especially if they do it gradually and quietly. Great minds think alike. Yo ho ho! Yer not alone in askin', and kind strangers have explained: 1. [How much of spendable money do billionaire really have? ] ^1. [Can billionaires actually redistribute their wealt... |
What makes water so special that its 1 mL in STP weighs exactly 1 gram? | Because that's how the SI unit for mass was originally defined. The mass of a liter of water was called a kilogram. |
Why would drinking soda necessarily be less hydrating? | It's actually a myth, drinking a liter of water *is* more hydrating than drinking a liter of soda because Caffeine is diuretic, this basically just means it triggers your body to flush excess chemicals by making you urinate, but this causes you to lose fluids rather than hold onto them. The truth is you will be able to... |
How does state citizenship work (USA)? | You are looking for the term 'Residency' not citizen. Each state has different criteria, and there are different requirements depending on what you are trying to do. Qualifying for in state tuition is one example. In states with more than one college may have different requirements to qualify. These are almost always d... |
Why is it that we “feel” when someone is looking at us? | It is a good survival strategy to know when something is focused on you because it could be a predator. I think it is usually just seeing something in the corner of your vision. Once I was standing behind a guy, about his southwest position if he's facing north, so **way** behind him. I was looking at something a coupl... |
How do insects think or make decisions? | They don't think, certainly not in the way we think . They are not conscious or aware of what they do. They are automatons - biological machines that react to stimuli in their environment. It's all programming - a stimulus causes a signal to be received, the signal triggers a programmed reaction. |
Why do some kinds of meat toughen up when cooked for a long time, but others get softer and "fall off the bone"? | It's also the cut of meat. You could put a steak cooking at low temperatures in pasta sauce , and it will always be tough. No matter what. Pork ribs on the other hand cooked the same way fall off the bone. I think it has to do with the density of the muscle tissue. |
When pioneers came to America, they brought diseases that nearly wiped out the native population. Why didn't the natives also have unique diseases that devastated Europeans? | Most diseases come from animals. A disease jumping species is very rare, so for it to happen, the conditions must be just right: animals coexisting closely with people in huge numbers and poor sanitation. European cities provided just that environment to to raise the odds of a disease jumping species, and so it did. In... |
Why when you jump on a bus or train do you not fly backwards? | You're going as fas as the bus is when you jump, so when you land you land where the bus is. If you jumped and the bus suddenly breaked when you were in the air, you would fly foreward.Because you are travelling with the bus and there is no force to push you backwards. You would only lose the speed of the bus if there ... |
Why do pillows and mattresses turn yellow over the years? | It's because you shed copious amounts of dead skin, also there are copious amounts of other organisms in the mattress. Your mattress will weigh more when you throw it out than when it was new and that's from all the skin/mites. Sleep well. |
Why does buying in bulk reduce the price per item? | You have plumbus, I want plumbus. I have shmeckles, you want shmeckles. You have a lot of plumbus and want to sell them all, but I only want 5.5 plumbus, you give me discount on plumbus but only if I buy more. I buy more plumbus for later so I save some shmeckles, I'm happy. You sold more plumbus and now have more shme... |
What happens after a coffin has decomposed and the soil on top eventually sinks? | The laws of cemeteries vary state to state, but most cemeteries require an out burial container which could either be a grave liner, or a burial vault. The purpose for both the liner and the vault is to support the weight of the Earth's load on the casket, however vaults offer sealing properties to protect the casket f... |
Why GMOs are treated so poorly? | Wealthy Americans now think of science as dangerous. There's a back to nature movement , whereas people want food to be locally sourced and artisan. These ideas have filtered down to the middle class |
What does "carbon based life" actually mean? | Carbon-based life is living matter with the element carbon as its primary building block. On Earth, carbon represents about 50% of all dry biomass. Carbon is important to life because it can form a vast amount of chemical compounds, more than any other element. That makes it incredibly versatile in building the complex... |
How does trash and waste end up in the ocean if it supposedly goes to landfills? | It's the trash from beaches and boats that illegally leave or dump trash. It's not on purpose, unless someone really is purposefully throwing trash from the back of a boat. The trash gets caught in the tides, and eventually gathers together to form a patch of trash that floats around. The trash that gets collected from... |
Why are legs of paraplegic so short and tiny? | Just like muscle, bone is living tissue that is constantly being broken down and rebuilt. When we exercise, we create micro tears in muscle which the body to by building more muscle to repair it, making us stronger. Similarly, when we put forces on our bones through weight-bearing exercises, we create tiny cracks in ou... |
- Why does ADD/ADHD medication sometimes make people suicidal while it makes others more productive? | Often when people are depressed, they are lethargic and unmotivated, so much so they can't find the energy to commit suicide. When a drug removes the lethargy, but not the underlying depression and unhappiness, they become motivated enough to kill themselves.Everyone’s brain chemistry is different. In the same way a sm... |
- How are blockbuster movies kept off the internet before disc/digital download release? | Well, they're not, but there are some techniques to try to prevent this. One is that screener copies will have a watermark embedded in the video with some identifying information about who received that copy. Obviously it can still be leaked but the leaked version can be traced back to who leaked it, and that lets the ... |
- what is actually happening when my eyes go out of focus. | There is a little lens in each of your eyes just behind the pupil. The lens can be shortened to become more convex or lengthened to become thinner by tiny muscles attached on either end. The lens' job is to focus light from the image you are looking at on the 'sweet spot' of the retina from where the nerves pick up the... |
- how does currency exchange rate work? Why are some currencies more valuable than others? | Well all modern money is only worth what we think it's worth. It's just pieces of paper or numbers on a screen. A bank or currency exchanger can literally offer whatever exchange rate they feel like offering. So how do they decide what each currency is worth on a given day? First off, consider buying power in the indiv... |
What is the difference between white and clear ice if any, and what is the difference in how they form | Clear ice is free from microscopic gas bubbles coming out of solution, or mineral impurities which would otherwise scatter light. Still lake water, and filtered water frozen slowly in a smooth container will usually freeze clear. Also if water has particulates floating in it, each of them will create a nucleation site ... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.