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How come when I hear a song or sound I really like it gives me goosebumps? And does this happen to anyone else? | I believe it's from the release of certain endorphins. Certain triggers can release dopamine which is the "feel good" chemical in the brain, which causes the goosebumps!', "Can't explain why, but it definitely happens to other people - check out /r/frission |
How does heat breakdown molecues? | Heat is vibrating molecules. When molecules vibrate at a certain level, the force of the vibration transcends the force that is keeping the molecule together, which splits them |
How does bug spray like Off work to repel insects? | OFF! contains [DEET] which prevents mosquitoes from "smelling" you. Mosquitoes have to "smell" in order to know whether something is food. They can't hunt using sight alone. |
Why do Shia and Sunni Muslims hate each other so much? | Sunni Muslim here. Let me tell you my entire family and most of my friends are Sunni but I have known some great Shias in my life. If a Shia goes to a Sunni mosque he would be welcome and vice versa. The divide has been exploited by politicians. For example, Sunni Saddam Hussein and Shia Ruhollah Khomeini have used thi... |
How important is the language in humans' thinking process? How were humans able to think before the existence of any language? | Language is definitely not required for the human thinking process, though the task of explaining your thoughts using a language can help. Computer programmers often use a technique called "rubber ducking", where one programmer explains his or her problem to another programmer, while the second programmer does nothing ... |
What is Google Adwords? | It's a service that business use to advertise on Google's platforms, ads on Google's search results, on YouTube, etc. |
Why does water affect electrical resistance of skin? | Water is not always the same. Distilled water doesn't contain "electrolytes" . All in all you can say "The more electrolytes in water, the better the electrical conductivity". |
Why do we have some songs/musics caught up in our minds and they stay there for a while even if we want to ''get rid of them''? | Composer here. The human mind LOVES repetition. When you listen to music, your mind "predicts" what is going to happen, and if you're right, you get a little bit of brain satisfaction. When you hear a song for the first time, it's unlikely that you'll enjoy it too much. After the second time you hear it and begin to pi... |
What does it mean when my muscles throb? | I'm assuming by muscle throbbing, you mean a small localized area of repeated contraction and relaxation, despite not consciously flexing these muscles. Muscles contract when an action potential from your brain sends a signal through nerves and eventually ends up signalling your sarcoplasmic reticulum . The SR releases... |
why do doctors pop/drain cysts? | That largely depends on what kind of cyst it is and what caused it. Was it a cyst that formed because of an ingrown hair or splinter? Or was it a cyst that formed because of blocked glands, is it a cyst that contains dead skin and hair in it? Some cysts can be treated by just popping and walking away other cysts requir... |
ELI5: Why can't people hack into student loan systems and start erasing debt? | You've heard of people acquiring data. That's a very, very far-cry from being able to modify anything. **EDIT**: To add to this, there are hard-backups of everything. You can bomb the servers the debt is on, and we'll just rebuild them and restore everything from the off-site tapes. |
What's going on between Israel and Pallestine? | The folks that wish to kick Israel out of lands that Israel took after being attacked by multiple countries in the 8 day war are upset that they decided to start a war and then lost. |
Meats having a more popular/restricted way of cooking/eating them. | Those are more guidelines derived from sanitary rules/taste. Chicken can be eaten raw, but you risk salmonella infection; beef would probably have consistency of a brick if you deep fry it and so on. Stir-fried fish exists though, don't know why you thought it doesn't, Chinese cuisine stir-fries just about everything.A... |
When a trial is highly publicized, how does the court find unbiased jurors? | Your question covers it. You asked about media covering the trial. The unbiased jurors have been found by then. That being said, there have been cases where there was too much coverage before the trial began. That's when defense attorneys will typically request what's called a Change of Venue. They will literally move ... |
Why do commercials on websites stream much faster and with much more clarity than the video you are trying to watch? | For sites with distributed servers, the ad is cached on each machine whereas the video may only be on one/a subset of them. |
What does it mean for an actor to be executive producer on a tv show? | Sometimes nothing. For a popular show, when the lead actor renegotiate their contracts, they may ask for an Executive Producer credit as a sign of their status, or because it gives them a small portion of the profits. Sometimes they may actually have a larger role in determining the direction of the show and the writin... |
What causes these "euphoric thrusts" which last for just a very short amount of time and appear out of nowhere? | What are 'these "euphoric thrusts"\' you're referring to? This is way too vague to answer. A little more context would be nice |
Why is Washington DC colder than Madrid in the winter even though DC is more south of Madrid? | Europe is kept warmer than it "should be" by a current in the Atlantic Ocean than brings lots of heat from farther south. If that current ever stops , Europe will get much colder. |
Why when you record something spinning very fast(like a wheel or a fan), does it appear to be moving very slowly on the video? | Video cameras record at a set frame rate. Usually 24 or 30 Frames Per Second . This means that it's basically taking that any pictures every second. When these images are played back on a screen at the same rate you get video. When, for example, a fan spins up it might hit a speed where every frame captured has the bla... |
How do antidepressants cause suicidal thoughts? | A person in the midst of a deep depression can have no will to rise from the bed. If the antidepressant works well enough to get them out of bed there is still the chance that this renewed energy will be devoted to a final solution. It did not cause suicidal thoughts. It lifted spirits enough for a plan to be conceived... |
How do neighboring countries that drive on different sides of the road connect their roads together? | There are very few countries that drive on different sides of the road with land connections. Or at least with any major roads going though the boarder. The most famous example was Sweden which switched to right hand drive in the late 60s. All along the boarder with Norway there were signs reminding people to switch ov... |
when do I become older? | It's a phrase used by a people prone to push off responsibility until a future time in the distant future when they will somehow miraculously have developed a respectable and structured lifestyle with little to no effort in and of themselves. You're older when you decide to act now, not tomorrow. |
What is wind? How does the air just start moving? | Air - same as most other materials - has a different density, depending on its temperature. This means that warm air rises, while cold air falls down. There are several factors that influence where the temperature of air changes in which way. For example the sea has a very strong influence and cools down or heats up bi... |
Tax Implications of IRA Withdrawals (simple tax question) | You manager is correct. She will be taxed based on the amount she withdrew, not the amount she walked away with. |
Why are republicans blamed for nations problems when democrats have controlled either the house, senate or both for 44 out of the past 60 years and shared the presidency nearly equally? | Probably because the people you listen to support the Democrats. If you listened to people who supported Republicans, it would be the reverse.Well, when did the recession hit? during republicans in charge however, the nations problems are not because of the democrats or the republicans. They're from the politicians who... |
Why do companies like Google and Microsoft spend so much money on, and care so much about you using, their web browers they give you for free? | You are not their customer. Their customers are the advertisers who spend money to get access to data about your browsing habits to serve you customized ads. For Google, getting people interested in Chrome is like a mining company looking for more veins of goldIt helps if you think of the browser as a platform . Chrome... |
Why do people's moods change based on the weather? | There's actually a mood disorder called "Seasonal Affective Disorder" [] Some experts think it's genetic. Some think that people's hormones fluctuate throughout the year and people with SAD just have more severe fluctuations. There're other reasons, too. When it rains, atmospheric pressure [drops] and causes swelling, ... |
When I scratch my skin with my nail, why is the scratch white? | If you mean immediately after for just a second, it's because when you press down to scratch, you temporarily cut off blood flow to that area so it turns white for just a second until the capillaries fill back up again. Otherwise, if you're talking about the actual surface of the skin, it's because you loosen up dead s... |
Final Exams instead of Projects? | Final projects would make no sense in a history class. In my major, we almost always have papers due at the final or the week before, and in this paper you demonstrate your ability to research very specific subjects in the larger field, while on final exams, you show in the essay how you have synthesized the arguments ... |
What makes hot rise, and cold sink? | Hot gases have a lower density than cold gases. So the less dense, hot gas will float on top of the more dense, colder gas. |
Why are only a handful of metals (iron, nickel, cobalt, etc.) magnetic? | Simple answer: All electrons are tiny magnets, and all the electrons in those metals line up with each other to create a larger magnet. Longer anser: [Collaboration] between Minute Physics and Veritasium explains it well. |
The "Gateway" effect with drugs and if there is any solid evidence to back its legitimacy | People who try one drug are more likely to try others. Something like pot is relatively low risk and has few real negative side-effects, so people start to enjoy using substances. In theory they will be less likely to resist trying cocaine, which is a much "harder" drug on the body. Is it 100%, no. There are plenty who... |
Why a quick drink of cold water can trigger an urgent need for a toilet as if it is digested instantly? | Water has a long way to the bladder. It gets absorbed in the intestines into the blood stream where it makes its way to the kidneys to be filtered and from there it goes to the bladder. By this Time it's nice and warm so there doesn't seem to be an actual physiological reason. |
Why can't we exterminate cancer cells without radiation? | Cancer cells are human cells. Virtually all methods that get rid of them do so by killing them before they kill normal cells taking advantage of their rapid growth rate. Radiation can also be much more targeted than other forms of treatment. In fact surgery is the only thing that can be more targeted, but not all forms... |
How do paper airplanes fly? | Airfoils make flight more efficient, but they are not *required* for lift. A flat sheet will fly nicely if held at the right angle of attack and propelled with enough force to overcome the drag. |
If I store batteries in their recharger unplugged. Will they discharge faster? | Yeah it depends on the circuit. Older circuits are likely to just cut when not when not plugged in, ie you won’t have a full circuit and the charge has nowhere to go. These won’t have much passive drain. Newer circuits have small chips in them to help regulate flow and prevent overcharging. These consume a small amount... |
Why do rainbows appear as a smooth arch and not some irregular pattern? | The rainbow is actually a cone pointing toward the sun. The tip of the cone pokes the viewer's eyes and it looks like a circle from your perspective. The best way to explain this to a five year old would be to go outside on a sunny afternoon with either a squirt bottle or a garden hose with a mist nozzle. Face your sha... |
Why do people make excuses for criminals ? | Because people disagree with your definition of crime, and because they may emphatize with the perpetrator more than the victim, for various reasons. Ultimately it's not rational considerations and law but,emotions and prejudices that drive people. You gave thieves as an example. Why is Robin Hood supposed to be the go... |
Why haven't pandas developed bacteria specifically for digesting cellulose like a true herbivore? | Evolution is purely random. It doesn't choose to have features but if features do randomly occur and nature favors those features over the current ones, then a species may evolve to enhance that feature. |
Why does water destroy electronics? | If you've ever taken apart an electronic you've probably seen a circuit board with lots of small components attached. There are lines on the board that let electricity flow between different components. Water conducts electricity meaning, it can also make a path for electricity. If a path is made by water between compo... |
Why do black lines appear over screens when you try to record them/take a picture of them? | It has to do with frame rate and rolling shutters. Your camera records one line at a time - *really damn fast* but only one line at a time. Your screen also has a refresh rate, and the light behind the pixels also has a cycle rate. Normally this is far too fast for your brain to perceive. If your screen refresh rate is... |
Where do those millions of Santa letters actually get sent every year? | From my understanding, those letters go to the north pole and the elves assist with responsesLol. North Pole, Alaska resident here Many letters are sent to Santa in North Pole, AK. There is an official "Santa Claus House" here . There's even Reindeer outside. It's a big gift shop with a worldwide stream of tourists. Yo... |
Why are some people so much better at singing than others? Is it our inability to hear a tone properly or our inability to recreate a tone properly? | 1. The notes that are being sung. Staying in tune is a 'feedback loop' from ear to brain to voice. The voice sings a note, the ear hears it, the brain decides if it's matching or not, which then gives direction to the voice. It's not like walking, it's more like roller skating. It's very natural, but not entirely natur... |
How do movies leak before their premiere ? | They send out some DVDs for reviewers. I once had the film Crash on DVD, in full DVD quality before it was out in the cinema. Half way through a big logo flashed up saying it was a reviewers copy and call the cops if you bought it from someone as originalScreeners or film festivals. They release indie movies at film fe... |
Why can't you refreeze meat? Or is that just a myth? | What you're worrying about is food-borne illnesses. Freezing stops bacterial growth. Things like raw meats may already have bacteria in them, and it's commonly recommended that you either freeze or refrigerate them after you buy them. The [guidelines provided by the Ontario government] states that meats should be disca... |
How can vanilla extract smell so great yet taste so horrible. | The same way Vanilla Glade plugs-ins smell great and taste badVanilla extract has my favorite smell of all time. OF ALL TIME. Edit: Ethers. |
Why is it so dangerous to sporadically take antidepressants? | Lots of medications take a long time to kick in and have their full effect. They rely on you taking them over days or weeks to get you to the right level of drug in your body. Antidepressants are supposed to help level out somebody's moods. If you take them irregularly, you end up with great big mood swings which can l... |
[META] Discussion: Should ELI5 hide comment scores for a little while after each comment? | I don't think the comment traffic is ever fast enough or high enough for this to matter. /r/AskReddit posts generate 1000s of comments in hours or even minutes. Furthermore, there is not a right or wrong answer in Askreddit, unlike here. Really, hiding the karma would just make incorrect answers more visible. Bandwagon... |
Why can you stream a video just fine but downloading it usually requires more time than the video itself? | When you're streaming a movie you won't notice the download time because you get to watch the movie while it's downloading. A 2 hour movie might take an hour and a half to download, but it only takes a few seconds to download enough to start watching. Download the first five seconds, then during those five seconds you ... |
what is a 'Rent Seeking Economy'? | "Rent" comes from Adam Smith's division of incomes into profit, wage, and rent. A land-owner rents out a house to people. He gets paid for it. He doesn't maintain it, use it, look at it, or interact with it in any way, but he get paid for it. If you removed him, gave ownership of the house to the people living there, e... |
Why do I feel out of breath sometimes when I take hot showers? | Definitely depends. Yeah when you are breathing in steam, there is less air, but only in insignificant amounts. Whenever your body is excessively warm, however, your blood vessels dilate to try to release heat . Since the heat is continually being heated by the shower, your blood vessels continue to dilate. This can re... |
Why is it when I can doze off in a matter of seconds watching tv, but if I immediately roll over and go to bed it takes much longer to go to sleep. | When you're watching TV, your brain is kind of on auto-pilot; you can't think, because you might miss something . When you quit watching TV, your brain starts to process all that TV information you just took in. |
Why after eating mint the water that I drink feels a lot colder going down. | Many mints contain menthol. Menthol is the chemical in mints that makes your tongue and mouth feel cold. [That's because menthol binds to a certain receptor in your cold-sensing nerve fibers in your tongue and mouth, causing the nerve fibers to depolarize, and send a signal to the brain.] These nerve fibers usually onl... |
What happens when a websites server goes down and how does it get fixed? | A server is just a computer dedicated to a task When a server goes down, it's basically like your computer "crashing." It can be because a network cable broke, the software fucked up, it was given too many commands, a piece of hardware broke, or the office dog knocked the rack over. |
Why tap water needs to be filtered or distilled for it to be healthier? | You normally don't, and most municipalities are required to provide you a water quality analysis. Unless you personally have really bad pipes, you're fine. Some people will tell you that filtering makes the water *taste* better, but that's a subjective thing. You might also need to filter water for special needs . |
Why do most employers ask for the exact same information on an application that can be found in a resume? | Because nobody wants to *read* your resume, entering it into a form means it gets sent into an Excel sheet and they can search & sort by different kinds of data. |
Is sleeping from 4AM to 12AM detrimental to health? | You might run into difficulties with the daylight adjustment - humans are built to be more awake when it's light and more asleep when it's dark. After a while it messes with your circadian rhythm , and your sleep isn't 'as good'. Habitual night-shift workers often don't sleep as well as day-shift workers, because they'... |
What is a single payer healthcare system? Why does it seem to be such a popular opinion, but never put into action in the US? | Don't listen to what that idiot /u/bitcoinpatriot says, he's so completely wrong, it's laughable. A single payer system is simply a system where there is one health insurance provider, the government. It's a popular option simply because it works. When there is only one health insurance provider, it gives them incredib... |
Why do Indian recipes use soaked rice and dal, instead of cooked? | Soaking grains of all sorts is a good idea in general, since it softens them and reduces cooking time - more [here] . It's just a practical thing, not philosophical, and not specific to Indian cooking. You soak bulgur wheat, for example. It's just that most people in the West don't do much cooking using dried grains, a... |
How did Einstein's theories verified Mercury's trajectory? | Other way around. After Einstein came up with GR, they did the math to see what Mercury's orbit would look like if the Gravity was applied in the way GR said it should be. It matched Mercury's orbit . So the fact that this new theory of gravity correctly predicted Mercury's odd orbit gave it a better footing and basica... |
When your eating food that's supposed to be great paired with a drink, do you have to have both of the items in your mouth in order to properly enjoy the pairing? | It is all a matter of your opinion. As part of my job, I took a wine class that centered around pairing of foods. The class wasn't to show what is the right way, but it was meant to show that drink and food affect the taste of the other. We were instructed to eat a food item then drink a sip of wine, then do it in reve... |
Why is crying painful? | Crying can cause swelling in the eye and nose area. It can also cause hormonal surges related to mood changes. |
Why are people's handwriting so different? | There are many different factors. The way the pencil is held, the level of that person's fine motor skills. How hard each person presses down, whether that person is a naturally neat or messy person, etc. |
When will the oil run out and what happens then? | It won't run out. It will eventually be priced too high to use for things like taking a trip to the store in your Ford F150. Then hopefully we'll be using alternative energy. If not, we're screwed. |
What does this paragraph on sociology of religion mean? | I'm guessing this is something akin to pondering questions like "Why do we exist?" or "What is our purpose in life?" These are things outside of our own perceptions and experiences. Our own experiences which may be but a mere glimpse of answering these questions. But by collectively gathering everyone's views, we can s... |
I was just told I have an astigmatism please explain what is told | It's not quite like that. Most astigmatism is caused by a defect in the shape of your eye that causes the surface of your cornea or your lens page that kinda shows what's going on. |
How do the new 100+ flavor Coke Machines work? | [Here's what the inside of one looks like]. A lot of those 100 flavors are just mixtures of two different syrups, so they don't need 100 different syrups. |
Why do you get the spins when you’re hungover? | No one knows for sure, but it helps to understand how your brain gets its sense of balance and equilibrium. Your inner ear has 3 tubes called the [vestibular system]. Inside these tubes is a liquid, whose orientation is detected by tiny hairs, which your brain interprets to determine the orientation of your head. Think... |
Why does frozen food (like Kid's Cuisine) taste so good when you're a kid, but terrible as you get older? | When you're little, if you give baby food and chocolate to a baby, it will probably prefer chocolate because it's "stronger" to his taste buds. But since it is a baby, he isn't used to strong flavors, so it can eat bland foods as well.That's why when you have a baby, you don't introduce salt and sugar right away, becau... |
how do airline alliances work | Imagine you run a taxi business that runs from Point A to Point B. You take passengers between only these two points. You overhear that some of your passengers mention they like to travel from Point C to Point D with another taxi business on occasion. So you strike an agreement with the other business to allow your cus... |
Why is "blackface" considered racist? | Blackface carries a lot of history around the abuse and discrimination against African Americans. It's more than simply portraying bad stereotypes; it's portraying an era of racial hatred and injustice. Here's a link to an earlier discussion on the exact topic: _URL_0_", 'If im not mistaken, the term blackface comes fr... |
why are there several different sign languages and why don’t we just have one universal sign language | For the same reason we have different languages instead of one universal language. People living in isolation will make their own language and why should they switch?"Why are there several different spoken languages and why don't we just have one universal spoken language\'\' Sign languages can even have regional slang... |
Why do we have uppercase and lowercase letters? | Most languages originally wrote in all-caps, but they're cumbersome. Scribes expected to take notes at speed invented cursive writing, which is much faster but doesn't use capitals, instead using another form of the letters adapted for speed. Capitals were reserved for important letters, such as proper nouns and to mar... |
Is there any science or truth to a person like in the mentalist? | There are such things as real-world mentalists, if that's what you're asking. Mentalists such as James Randi and Banacek have made careers out of ousting psychic frauds. They 've demonstrated that psychics who read minds or communicate with the dead loved ones of strangers often use a lot of techniques that Patrick Jan... |
Putting a wooden spoon over a boiling pot | It causes the bubbles to break, both by contact with the spoon and by causing the steam that hits the spoon to condense back to water, fall into the pot, and hit the bubbles. Here's an article that explains it in detail: _URL_0_", 'Because the foam collapses inwards once it reaches the wooden spoon, instead of over the... |
How do rock climbers carry enough gear and supplies with them to sleep/ eat/ drink while on a face for several days? | Climbers try to load up their bodies with fats & water before the climb. During the climb they'll eat mainly high-density proteins and carbs/sugars . Climbers carry backpacks, and for anything bigger they'll use cylindrical haul bags which they leave behind resting on a ledge and when they reach the next ledge they use... |
Biology] Why is it that once you already have tattoo in your body, you are not allowed to donate blood? | You are allowed to donate blood, just typically not for six months after you get the tattoo. It’s to prevent the spread of disease.It was originally to prevent the spread of HIV and the like. HIV and Hepatitis C are very new in the grand scheme of things, and it was so startling and terrifying how quickly it hit the sc... |
What does the text in square brackets in newspaper articles mean? | John: "i said he was being ridiculous" newspaper article: John said "[Michael] was being ridiculous." It uses a word not used by the quoted person. |
Why is a lit light bulb the symbol for an idea? | In addition to what everyone else said, there's this: Edison supposedly failed 1,000+ different times while trying to invent the light bulb. Different gases, materials, etc. So when he finally tried the right combination of everything to make a working light bulb, it was a huge revelation for him. So the light bulb as ... |
What is the strategy behind France "blocking" the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran? | This deal has a lot of parallels to the deal offered to North Korea in the 1990s when they were still developing their nuclear weapons. That deal ended with North Korea having multiple nuclear weapons and spreading their nuclear technology to other countries like Pakistan. Needless to say, this deal failed in many resp... |
Why is Russia siding with government forces in the Syrian Civil War? | They are worried about the amount of influence the US would have in the region if Assad was overthrown and a US friendly government was placed in power. |
Why are the Mona Lisa, and other paintings so famous? | The art world "chooses" the artist and what's "popular" or "good". That's about as precise an explanation that exists. Consider Duchamp. This guy was considered a high end artist and made things like [this]. It's just something that the art world said "well this guy is an artist and his works are therefore art. So he t... |
Why sound seems softer or louder at different times of the day | Your ears adjust to the ambient level of sound to protect against hearing loss. When exposed to loud sounds, muscles tighten around you eardrum, and the three bones in your inner ear. This makes them vibrate less, so relatively less sound makes it through to your very sensitive cochlea. During the day, you're exposed t... |
How do 3D glasses at movie theatres work? | They use what's called a passive shutter or passive filter. Basically two frames are displayed on the screen, offset slightly from each other to represent the offset of your two eyes. The left lens in the glasses is designed to filter out everything from the right frame, and the right lens filters out everything from t... |
What makes people feel emotions like anger and sadness and how does certain emotions affect personality? | Your mood/emotions are controlled by a delicate balance of [neurotransmitters] throughout your nervous system. For most emotions, this is how neurotransmitters work: your body receives some type of stimulus , that stimulus causes the release or stops the release of a/several neurotransmitter , and the changes in neurot... |
Why is it impossible for a Megalodon to still exist? | I'm shitting my pants afraid that someone says "well, actually it is still very possible as data from a research published yesterday reveals that blablablabla and scientists are now able to confirm that shit is indeed going down."not the "original" megalodon, but a similar animal could survive, even though only in smal... |
Why are the missions of the SOE (aka "The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare") still state secrets in the UK 70 years after the end of WW2? | It is very possible that tactics used then were new and are still used today in the same secret way. Thus they do n9t want to let them free. |
When I open a new tub of Whey Protein, why isn't the scoop on the very top? | The whey is very fine and is transported a long distance. The constant shifting of the package causes it to slip farther and farther down into the tubThis is called the "Brazil Nut Effect". It has a long mathematical proof, but basically when you mix different sized grains of a grain substance . The larger objects will... |
Did anyone else have a monumental human rights law similar to Lincoln freeing the slaves? | Other countries had outlawed slavery and serfdom before the US, including Britain and several Latin American republics, so the Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment were far from unprecedented, but there were still plenty of slaveholding countries left afterwards, including Spain , Portugal, and Brazil. Ma... |
How would a seatbelt in an airplane save my life? | The overhead compartments are like a foot over your head. If turbulence causes the plane to drop a couple feet, your head is going right into them.For the same reasons that they can save your life in a car crash - they keep you from flying out of your seat during hard impacts. Not every airplane crash involves surface-... |
Why do people seem to have "deeper" thoughts and conversations late at night? | When there aren't as many distractions from external stimuli your mind has more space to process things on a deeper level. It's the same reason why people get toothaches and backaches when they're trying to sleep, the feeling is always there but you notice it more when your mind isn't distracted by life. I hope I'm exp... |
How did gold and silver became the currency in ancient civilizations even why they didn't have any practical use? | You could hardly find a better metal than gold to serve as a low tech money. * It's rare enough to be valuable in small amounts . Also it's almost always found in high purity forms. * It's soft/malleable enough to be easily made into change on the spot. * It's dense enough that it's very hard to counterfeit and easy to... |
What's so special about finding liquid water on Mars? | On Earth wherever there is liquid water there is life, and wherever there is no liquid water there is no life. Its a direct correlation water is the one thing that *all* life on this planet depends on. Does that hold true on Mars? On Earth water = life. On Mars, water = life? Maybe. Obviously it does not mean there *is... |
What causes a daily rise and fall in ground water levels? | Not a scientist. But I worked on rain garden and community education. I bet if your watershed is large enough it could be water accumulated from a storm days ago that has slowly made its way to you.What's the terrain like? |
Since the Edward Snowden leaks, has anything actually improved, in terms of privacy, or has it had no effect? | Currently, as far as the public has been made aware of, no. The public is more aware, but funding has only increased, government officials are even more evasive of the topic, and there is no meaningful discussion at any level. It is a pretty scary time for anyone who cares about their rights, and the rights of our futu... |
Why doesn't the US recognize the Armenian genocide as a "genocide"? | Because the U.S. is allied with Turkey and doesn't want to piss Turkey off.Turkey, the country that was responsible for the genocide continues to this day to deny that the genocide happened, or at least that it was as large as most historians say it is . Turkey is an important U.S. ally, and so the United States is pro... |
Why cant we take alot of the trash in the world thats filling up our landfills and launch it into space towards the sun? | It costs $10000 to launch a pound of payload into space. You do the math.literally astronomical cost. Imagine the pollution from rocket fuel you'd create blasting off the garbage too", 'Back in college I wrote a paper on this idea but for nuclear waste. The problems are costs, about $10k per lb right now just to get in... |
how a can of tomatoes can say "no preservatives" but contain tomatoes, salt, calcium chloride, and citric acid. | So is sugar and lack of water. Obviously it would be misleading to say that your bag of salt is loaded with preservatives, or your honey is 75% "preservatives" when in fact it's totally natural. So the USDA definition, from 21 CFR 101.22 states: > The term chemical preservativemeans any chemical that, when addedto food... |
How come I can't remember the lyrics to a song until a split second before the singer starts singing? | Memory is 'triggered' by events. Smeels, sights, sounds can all trigger a memory you may have forgotten about it is on the tip of your tongue. For example a certain smell can make you remember a family vacation. So when youre trying to remember song lyrics, you might have difficulty, but as the song starts playing, it ... |
- How can any business, including a government one, refuse to accept cash? | > "This bill is legal tender for all debts public and private". Anyone, even me here on ELI5 can understand that concept. Legal tender means that if you offer it to settle a debt, the other person must either accept it or release the debt. However, in the case of selling people stuff, there is no debt to settle. If the... |
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