q_id stringlengths 6 6 | title stringlengths 4 294 | selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k | category stringclasses 1
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ioqr2k | What are APIs and how do they work?, | I've read multiple articles and watched multiple videos but i don't quite understand how this works exactly Edit: Thanks for the explanations! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"APIs are like a phrasebook two different programs use to talk to each other. Each API is a phrasebook for a different program e.g. the Facebook API tells other programs how to talk to Facebook. Each program has its own phrasebook as you ask... | [
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] | [
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iorhdl | How do touchscreens work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"You're looking at two different types of touchscreens here. * Resistive touch: this is what your 3ds uses. In a resistive touchscreen, you have two flexible sheets coated with a resistive material, separated by an air gap, with a voltage applied to one of them. When you... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iorsx1 | How do password crackers minimize time spent shifting through symbol types? | I assume that the program starts with one type for all, finishes all possibilities, replaces one and repeats till its solved (1111 - > 9999 - > 111a..... till solved). By that logic a combination of the last listed/least common chars would take the longest. (which would be a known password to check earlier?) Is that ju... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"g4fjzls",
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"text": [
"Even when brute forcing passwords, you would almost never just start from some sequence and count upwards from there. If passwords were assigned completely randomly then that might work as a tactic, but passwords are often not assigned randomly they are m... | [
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ios5i6 | ; what is a particle accelerator and how does it work | I'm watching the Flash for like the fourth time and i searched it up apparently its a real thing, but i don't understand what it is and how it works | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"1. Take some particles with an electric charge (protons, electrons, some ions or such) 2. Use a whole lot of electromagnets to give them a big YEET along a channel or a ring 3. You accelerated a particle It's useful for slamm... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
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iougft | Why do speakers smoke when they blow out | I was watching videos about speaker blow outs and in almost all of them there was smoke coming from the speaker. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4fzi07",
"g4fzt82"
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"text": [
"The insulation in the speaker driver (electromagnet) is burning up. When a speaker blows out it's usually the driver that's given up; that's the part that's actually taking in electrical power and moving the speaker cone. In order to get as much wire in a... | [
"url"
] | [
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iout4n | How does checking the “I am not a robot” box let the computer know that you’re actually not a robot? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"The I am not a robot box monitors how the mouse behaves. A robot would move the mouse in a perfectly straight line, while a human would move it in a less than perfectly straight line to the button. There would ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ip2mm0 | How does an air fryer work? | I always see people use this but I have always been curious about it... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4he7gi"
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"text": [
"It's just a convection oven, which is just an oven with a fan in it to circulate air. No they do not actually fry food (nor do I think the food that comes out of them tastes as good as fried)"
],
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5
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ip7jz1 | How did people navigate when it was cloudy and you couldn’t see the stars? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4ibx4l"
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"text": [
"It was called dead reckoning. You took your last known position, estimated speed and course and plotted your new position. When the weather allowed you plotted a corrected position"
],
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6
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ip7vv2 | what does a compressor (in audio production) do? | i’ve been working with DAWs and producing my own music for years, but i have honestly never gotten a straight comprehendable answer as to what a compressor does. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"A compressor evens out the output volume level of an input device such as a microphone or guitar. Screaming into a microphone and whispering will come out at the same volume when compression is added. This is particularly important when making live music ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ip8kvz | How do they keep making faster cellular networks (4g, 5g, etc.)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4iiozp",
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"text": [
"Higher frequency wavelengths transmkt more information in a smaller time frame. But they go less distance and get obstructed easier. So we develop better stronger transmitters to go a proper distance. And we develop better transmitters in phones to accept... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ip8tq0 | How can a 256gb sd card have more storage capacity than a 16gb sd card even though both sd cards height and width are identical? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"TLDR: a 16GB card is the same as the 256GB with enough flaws that only 16GB are usable. --- Basically, when we make flash memory (like on a USB flash drive, or an SD card), we make it on a silicon chip. This silicon is an art... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ip9gxg | Why is color calibration so important/extra cost for monitors yet never seems to be mentioned with TVs that are solely meant for consuming media? | It just doesn’t make sense that such a selling point of monitors lately has to do with color calibration to ensure what you’re creating/viewing is “how it’s intended to be viewed” yet no mention ever seems to happen in regards to the screens a majority of people view content on such as TVs or even phones/tablets? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"The problem can be users expectations in printing. They view a document in their monitor, and want to simply press print and have matching colours on the output. A calibrated monitor is useless without a calibrated, postscript, pantone enabled printer, wi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ipa1o1 | How do fire extinguishers work? | What’s in them? Do they have a propellant like aerosol cans? Are the chemicals in them bad for the environment? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4is0vr"
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"text": [
"It depends what they're meant to put out. And yes, almost all have propellant in them. Super basic: contain water, which you pump. I remember my elementary school having these but I haven't seen one like this in a long time. Downside - if you spray this on an oil fire, ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ipbndt | Why is an MRI machine so big and take so long to complete? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4j0mgo",
"g4j0hcx"
],
"text": [
"It's big and noisy because it needs giant magnets and coils. MRI scans take a long time because you can only gather data from one frequency at a time. It's like if you are trying to record some speech. A CT/X-ray scan is like a microphone. It listens to a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ipbrvg | where does Captcha come from? | Do they have a database of pics to reuse? What about text-based images? Who picks out any of these? Are there employees specifically taking blurry photos of trucks, traffic lights, old textbooks w/ misspelled words etc. to be used in Captcha tests? Who even runs the whole thing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4j0o4j"
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"text": [
"The car/road related pics are made by cars and you're teaching a self driving car AI when you're filling in a captcha"
],
"score": [
8
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ipbvcx | What are network ports and how do they work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"g4j1ljc"
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"text": [
"If you think of your computer as an apartment building, you can think of ports as the apartment numbers. You order a package (data) to the building (your IP), it needs to know which apartment it goes to (200). It gets more complicated. Like some apartment are designated... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ipcp7d | Why is Windows forcing the user to update itself all the time, even though nothing is really changing? | Why Windows forces its users to update the software all the time? It takes like an hour or two of my computer being completely useless when this happens. With every subsequent update I can notice my computer working considerably slower, yet I do not see any changes whatsoever. Why is that a thing? Any answer, that a te... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"Most of the time a bad guy has figured out a bug in windows that they can use to do bad things to a computer. Microsoft found a way to stop that, and they're changing Windows so it doesn't happen. (Security Update) Other times a problem other people had g... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ipd247 | When your phone recommends "smart replies" based off of what you typed in a message, does that mean that Google (or whatever company) is reading all your messages and mails? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"No, it's an algorithm (a bit like autocomplete) that remembers which words you often use in succession recommends them to you. Tinfoilhat=ON this doesn't mean that Google or whoever *doesn't* read your messages",
"Yes, an... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ipdh8t | How do credit cards work when they use the phone lines vs. someone using the embossing machine? When are things submitted? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4j9cbc"
],
"text": [
"The credit card systems is using the same procedures as before but we have just automated it. So instead of humans doing the work we now have automated machines who do the same thing. A credit card terminal does the same thing as when people call the bank to verify a tr... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ipef2r | Why do factory lights make that distinct "bum" noise when you turn them on/off? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4je706"
],
"text": [
"What you're hearing is the ballast that's regulating the current going into the lamp. Electrical ballasts use a magnetic field to manage the current going into the lamp- as the current would otherwise increase until the lamp was destroyed or a circuit breaker tripped. A... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ipeq2i | What's the difference between a first party, second party and third party game developer/publisher? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"First party is the same company that manufactures the videogame console, such as Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft. Second party is a company that signed a contact with the console maker to develop games for that console, such as Game Freak (Pok... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iph2yj | why and how do oled screens burn ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4jt5hw"
],
"text": [
"OLED pixels produce light. Over time, the heat that's produced leads to reduced brightness. The \"burn in\" effect was named way back in the phosphor CRT days, when a completely different process was in play."
],
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7
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ipjn0x | Why can't my phone camera capture the moon, just the way i see it ? | Why are camera in able to capture the moon images, the way in which my eyes are seeing it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4k8zxx",
"g4krqio"
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"text": [
"From my understanding of it. Your phone camera is set up to have decent quality for things like 10 to 50 feet in front of you, while capturing a bit of the surrounding areas. So with the moon being so far away it always looks tiny in pictures. Unless you ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ipm3hb | What is actually happening within your computer when it freezes? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4klp2o"
],
"text": [
"Everything in a computer boils down to bits (zeroes and ones) and simple math on those bits. Things like addition and substraction, or just storing a number and then retrieving it. All the complex stuff you do with a computer, boils down to thousands or even millions of... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ipvudf | What is inside an Etch-a-Sketch that allows it to draw when nobs are turned, but erase when it is shaken? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4me0ai"
],
"text": [
"Its a type of sand. When you move the knobs it cleans the sand off the screen. When you shake it you re-cover the clean parts of the screen and start a new drawing."
],
"score": [
5
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ipz38e | How so law enforcement officials and agencies trace the identities of those who circulate child pornography/ rape/ universally objectionable content especially on WhatsApp, given its end to end encryption? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4n0z7v"
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"text": [
"As far as I know in these cases, it's usually not a matter of breaking the encryption, it's a matter of compromising one of the endpoint devices. If you can install some spy code on the computer/phone *running* whatsapp, then the encryption doesn't matter. Sometimes law... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iq0n9h | Why do two phones in the same room make weird sounds when on a live call? | Sometimes even if only one of the phones’ mic is on. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4nhnrr",
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"g4nik0t"
],
"text": [
"This is called feedback and is similar to what happens if you put live microphone near a speaker connected to it. Microphone on one phone picks up a sound, then the other phone plays that sound and the first phone picks it up again and ampl... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
iq19xk | What is a 'Flick' when it comes to movies? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4no0ys",
"g4o6bl6"
],
"text": [
"Flick is just another word for a movie. It comes from the word \"flicker\" because of how they look on the screen (it's a not consistent brightness lighting up the movie on the big screen, it changes rapidly)",
"* For decades movies were shown on film... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iq1ftl | How is something digitally unduplicatable? | Not a programmer and don't have much knowledge of code but... In the physical world though there are ways of duplicating things, i.e moulds in a factory, but most things are unique and not easily duplicatable. In the digital world, I would presume it's the opposite, most things are easily 'duplicatable' because you can... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4nrhoo",
"g4ntl7n"
],
"text": [
"Basically yes. Code can easily be copied and pasted. That's why companies execute important code at their own servers (the backend) and not on the client side. And applications that run only on the computer (client), like photoshop have their code obfusca... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
iq5fun | What is NVMe in Solid State Drives? | I tried reading the description on Tom's Hardware website, but I didn't understand what I was reading. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4p53eh",
"g4p84m2"
],
"text": [
"It's an interface (special connector with a specific algorithm) that allows SSDs to access to it's data way faster than the older protocols used for the old hard drives and old SSDs. Quick summary on how: Old hard drives have a disk that rotates and a \"n... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
iq60vq | how does Sirius starlight provide on demand content | I can’t wrap my brain around how I can choose content and stream it to me with millions of customers at times doing the same thing. How does this work? TYpo in title Satellite not starlight.... ugh | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4pa9c3"
],
"text": [
"The Sirius On Demand library is only offered through the Sirus app on your mobile device. So its not using the Satellites. As for how that works, it works not much differently than Netflix, Amazon Prime, Spotify etc. If you have a landline or wireless data connection, i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
iqa3ur | How do fans cool down the air that goes through them? | I get that spinning the propellers in a circle very fast would propel the air towards whatever the fan was pointed at, but how does making it move cool the air down? Especially when it's hot outside, shouldn't you just have hot air blowing in your face? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4qbx28",
"g4qc0tr",
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],
"text": [
"It doesn't. It makes sweat on your skin evaporate, which cools you down. Water usually must change temperature or atmospheric pressure to change state from liquid to gas",
"It doesn't. In fact, the friction between the blades on the fan... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
iqc33r | If computers can process millions of instructions why does it take a couple minutes for my laptop to boot? Are there really that many instructions to process? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4qyirx",
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"text": [
"> Are there really that many instructions to process? Yes. There is also times when the processor can't do anything because it is waiting for data from the just-spooling drives or the network port that is still negotiating wi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iqf7cv | What causes internet speeds in the same location to fluctuate while downloading something? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4rr6p2"
],
"text": [
"Think of your internet connection as a highway. Think of data as the cars. The more cars you have trying to go down the same road at the same time will have variances in speed, maybe you got a clear opening on the left and that guys going super fast. Then you have someo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iqhshs | How do computers interpret new programming software? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4s8mfn"
],
"text": [
"Because all software engineering packages ultimately compile the software down into code that the computers can understand. Think of it as an interpreter. You, as a developer, writes code in whatever language you know. The computer understands it's language. The program... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iqifen | how is internet speed different than internet bandwidth? | I recently upgraded my internet plan from 150Mbps to 1Gbps. After being dissapointed that my PC was only picking up 1/4 of the speed through wifi, I bought a long Ethernet cable and ran it through my living room into my bedroom. Now my PC is getting \~800Mbps upload and download. But I am still not getting very good pi... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4sdt1u",
"g4sed5y"
],
"text": [
"I'm currently learning this sort of stuff for my new job. From what I understand so far, its easiest to look at it as a roadway. Bandwidth would be like a highway, the more bandwidth you have(the wider your highway), the more data (cars) you can fit on it... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
iqiu6b | Advantage of medical experiments conducted on ISS | So I know that the ISS has made a lot of contributions to the field of medicine and pharmaceuticals.What I want to know is that how and why does microgravity play a role in this field as I guess it's the only variable that's changed by testing it in space; everything else can more or less be simulated on earth. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4sicqm",
"g4sozxz"
],
"text": [
"Things get weird in microgravity. We can do some experiments in microgravity if they’re less than a few minutes long. But if someone wanted to see how a biological process worked for more than 10 minutes without gravity, they’d need the ISS. Sometimes, th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
iqix2i | why does google chrome use a lot of RAM? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4sfz77"
],
"text": [
"Chrome splits each tab and extension into its own process, so if one thing crashes it won't bring down your entire browser. The trade off is extreme RAM inefficiency."
],
"score": [
32
],
"text_urls": [
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iqoier | How does fps work? Does it interpolate between frames? | More precisely in animation. Like there’s the same number of still images, yet increasing the fps rate somehow makes the animation more smooth. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4tb29b",
"g4taue7",
"g4teiwv",
"g4tptsl"
],
"text": [
"Modern tools that increase FPS in preexisting videos and animations use neural networks to interpolate between frames, essentially drawing additional images based on the existing ones.",
"Well if it was the same number of... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
iqppk3 | Why does turning something off and on again seem to fix so many tech problems? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4tnmz0",
"g4th75u"
],
"text": [
"Maybe a true ELI5: Imagine the computer being thousands of little workers. When the computer starts, all workers go to their starting position, where they have their tools and their instructions. Then they start working and moving around. Now while workin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iqraua | Is it actually dangerous to unplug a hard drive without "safely removing hardware"? | I understand there could be background processes that are happening, but there are definitely times where things don't seem to be happening at all (even when you use a program to detect which processes are running) and a hard drive will still say "it's in use". Can physically unplugging the drive really destroy the dri... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4tr99g",
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],
"text": [
"It doesn’t cause any physical damage to the drive itself, but if a program is saving a file to the drive and you unplug it it cannot save the file and you lose the data, and if you do it while the operating system is saving the file allocat... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
iqs6kq | How exactly does a computer make sense of binary (1s and 0s)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4twotf"
],
"text": [
"Binary is just a representation of voltages on circuits. Those circuits do basic binary arithmetic (AND, OR, NOT, NAND, NOR, XOR), and produce new voltages out the other end accordingly. You line up a lot of those and it looks like you've taught a rock to think using el... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iquiso | Why is it that you can keep a house phone on it's charging dock for years and it doesn't destroy the battery where as a cellphone will eventually wither over just a couple years if you charge it for too long everyday? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"text": [
"It's not the continuous charging that damages modern cellpho... | [
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"url"
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iqxss9 | why do most 1080p+ HD webcams/nanny cams look terrible, but a DSLR streaming at 720p or less looks amazing by comparison? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4uv5yd",
"g4uvcst"
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"text": [
"Dslrs have much better lenses and sensors than webcams. Resolution (also megapixels for phones) doesn't matter too much past a certain point.",
"It isn’t about the pixel resolution. It’s about the lens. A webcam lens is the size of a fingernail. A dsl... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ir1p1r | Why is the default position for a 3-D model a T pose? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4vmr4i"
],
"text": [
"It tends to make things easier when animating. For example, if a model's default pose was just A Normal Person Standing With Their Arms At Their Sides, the animators would have trouble making that model lift their arms without the armpits looking janky and weird. Puttin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ir5610 | How do they take the bones out of chicken and other boneless meat? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4warcs",
"g4wjuo3"
],
"text": [
"They use knives, to make boneless chicken thighs or the like. When something is marketed as \"boneless\", they are marketing the work the butcher did, not the source product the butcher worked on.",
"Boneless chicken wings are just pre dipped chicken ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ir6dw5 | How do computer bugs affect two people with the exact same set up differently? | My brother and I almost always have the same tech. Whenever we play games together there are times when one of our game HUDs would disappear or our character would stop moving all of a sudden. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4wik4t"
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"text": [
"Bugs can pop up as a result of specific actions you take in the game, and sometimes random things that happen outside your control. Even though you have the same tech, you aren't taking exactly the same actions at all times, so you can get different results."
],
"sc... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ir7v5f | how do pictures and stills from video have motion blur if it’s capturing one isolated moment in time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4wqlc5"
],
"text": [
"It’s not actually capturing a moment in time. It’s taking in light just long enough to see the image then closing the shutter again. For example the darker it is the more light it take to capture a picture and the easier it is to blur an image. The brighter it is the ea... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ira3wm | When you type in an incorrect password, and you want to reset it, why does it say that your new password cannot be your old password? | Basiccaly, this scenario happens quite often. When I type in my password, it is incorrect. However, when I try to reset it, they say that my new password cannot be my old password. Does anyone know why this happens? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4x1rjl"
],
"text": [
"It could be a few different things, 1)could be that you cant use any old password so your using an older password. 2) this is common one for me, your typing it incorrectly on the 1st screen. When your setting a new password you get to see the rules. 1 capital letter,1 s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
irbn4h | What's the difference between a $350 DSLR camera with 24 megapixels and my $250 phone with 48 megapixels. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4xbfqp",
"g4xd22i"
],
"text": [
"Megapixel is not a measure of quality, it just measures resolution, sure low resolution looks bad, but anything above 2 MP can look great, it just depends on the camera. Just adding more pixels doesn’t make the image look better, really anything above 12 ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ircvv6 | How do electronic devices accurately keep track of how much time has passed while it is completely powered off, without access to an internet connection? When they power back on, the date/time is told accurately, as if the device was never turned off. | Especially things like smartphones that aren't connected to the internet when they power back on after being depleted for a long while | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4xgfok",
"g4xgtfn"
],
"text": [
"It is because you never turn them off completely. Motherboards, for example, have small button-shape rechargeable battery, which holds time even if computer's power cord is disconnected.",
"So the way that devices in general keep track of time is usin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
irfd65 | Why can't 911 operators increase the volume of an emergency call to hear the victim better? | I dip into true crime every now and then and it always made me wonder why 911 operators can't just boost the volume on their end instead of asking a victim to speak louder especially in situations where the suspect is beside or near them or they are hiding. The amount of time wasted on asking the victim to speak up or ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4xy6ff"
],
"text": [
"There is a difference between someone speaking too quietly, and someone speaking unclearly. In 99% of cases it's going to be the second one. Phones are notoriously unclear and fuzzy sounding, and when you speak quietly you are easily overpowered by ambient noise. Increa... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
irff54 | How do scientists know the composition of a planet? | I have always read that the core of the earth is white-hot magma, but at the same time nobody has reached a fraction of that distance. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4xz3d5",
"g4yb0fz"
],
"text": [
"Radiowaves and other kinds of detective System that go through solid objects. Each object has a different pattern and waves go through them differently. So knowing how a wave acts on each type of solid or liquid, they know what the wave went throu and now... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
irgpa2 | Why do some devices need batteries to be placed facing the opposite way but others have batteries both facing the same way | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4y9cy3"
],
"text": [
"Generally it's a matter of wiring. If you wire two batteries in series (+ of one battery connects to the - of the next) then the voltage that is provided across the ends of that chain is the sum of the voltages of the individual batteries. Normally that's the batteries ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iri02h | Stealth technology on planes (or any other vehicle) | How does stealth on planes work? I assume it's some sort of design that doesn't reflect radio waves, defeating radar? Are there submarines that can stealth past sonar? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4yjwi1"
],
"text": [
"A radar functions by emitting radar waves and then detecting those waves as they are returned by objects reflecting them back. You can design an object in a manner that minimizes the amount of radar waves that are reflected back toward the radar, making the object diffi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
irmbu8 | How does your GPU turn binary into visual output? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g4zxq30",
"g50o5jc"
],
"text": [
"It's the screen, actually. The computer screen has a memory array that matches the dimensions of the pixels of color, and matches the \"brightness\" of each pixel based on the value in the memory location for that pixel. 60 or 90 times per second. The vid... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
irpfly | How does Spotify codes work if the design is so simple? | If you don’t know what I’m talking about it’s this [here]( URL_0 ) People can draw them on paper and they still work. They seem to work well and are very simplistic. And there are over 50 millions songs on Spotify, and infinite playlists. How does this work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g50vjhm",
"g516td4"
],
"text": [
"There are over 20 lines of varying sizes in one of those. You can arrange 20 things in over 2 quintillion ways (2 followed by 18 zeroes). Spotify has a long way to go before they run out of codes. If they do, they can just add another line in the code, an... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
irqsco | Why are there suddenly so many prepaid phone services, such as Yahoo and Mint to name a couple? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g51aicg"
],
"text": [
"You know major retail chains, auto manufacturers and even airlines started offering their own branded Visa or MasterCard? They did so to spread brand awareness and get a piece of the credit card revenue. All these prepaid cells are kinda of the same thing. They are buyi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
irqyyg | Why can only one person talk on a walkie-talkie channel at a time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g51l2bc"
],
"text": [
"Radios can't receive and transmit on the same frequency (channel) at the same time; their own transmission drowns out the weak signal from a distant transmitter. If you need handle messages in both directions at once then you can use two different channels, but even the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
irr2ek | how does doxxing work? | I don't really understand how normal everyday people get doxxed, could I get doxxed? ( plz dont) or you? I don't get how whoever you are, the entire world knows and hates you in 24hrs ( in no way do I want anyone to be or do I endorse this, just no clue how it works) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g51a3g2",
"g51bq21",
"g51o54r"
],
"text": [
"Doxxing is basically revealing somebody's private address to the internet. Oftentimes it matters in cases where if you're a famous movie star or musician or someone that has pissed off the internet.",
"People recognize backgrounds, land... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
irsp4g | What are the mechanics behind needing to reset a modem when there's a slow connection? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g53j0pt"
],
"text": [
"A modem is just a specialized computer, and like all computers, a modem runs software in order to do its job. Software is really complicated as there are many different scenarios that need to be accounted for in order for a program to do its job correctly. When a specif... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
irt3gw | The difference between Information Technology and Information Systems | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g52fxf4",
"g52g23d"
],
"text": [
"There's a large overlap between them, but in general: * Information Systems has a business / management perspective (not purely tech). Examples: business systems analysis (BSA); IT project & people management; management information systems; IT finance, e... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
irta5q | Why is the internet's upload speed usually a lot slower than the download speed? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g52ato1",
"g52eos4"
],
"text": [
"With adsl type connection. There is a limit in bandwidth so you prioritize download since that is what most user use internet for. Later on it was used to prevent people from running upload servers since they were a big expense for ISP. Fiber connections ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
irtdj4 | I read a comment about a dude that said if you need more computing power SSH into your colleges server how would that work, and what does SSH mean? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g52blur",
"g527sdf"
],
"text": [
"SSH stands for Secure SHell. A \"shell\" is a program that allows you to issue commands to a computer. SSH is a program that allows you to connect to a remote computer and issue commands to it instead of the computer you're sitting in front of. Whether or... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
irwdbf | How does encryption work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g53edrk"
],
"text": [
"The idea behind encryption is to scramble the plaintext in a secret way, such that only someone who knows the secret can descramble it. For example, one of the most classic and simple encryptions is [Caeser cipher]( URL_0 ), supposedly used by Julius Caeser himself. The... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
irwy6o | What's the difference between megapixels and video resolution? | I heard the Surface duo having an 11 megapixel camera, but able to record 4K, whereas I have a camera that's 20 meagpixels but only 720p, and the camera on my phone is 13 megapixels and 1080p. Can you please tell me why? Does it have to do with sensor size? & #x200B; Thank you in advance. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g53fg47",
"g53htsu"
],
"text": [
"Videos require a lot more resources than taking a simple photo. The camera's processor needs to process 30 or 60 images per second, compress them and save them to the memory card. Therefore cameras can usually take only videos with a smaller resolutions t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
irxlnb | how does active noise cancellation works and is it more harmful to your ears than normal headphones or earphones | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g53pqj2",
"g53umbk",
"g53qscz",
"g53r202"
],
"text": [
"Sounds are moving air. Active cancelation uses a microphone to listen to the sound, and then make an \"opposite\" sound by pushing air in the other direction. These opposite sounds are added to the music coming through the he... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iryumk | How do they make vitamin tablets? | Where does the vitamin come from and how do they make it into pills? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g54dol2"
],
"text": [
"Vitamins can be derived from plant or animal products, or produced synthetically in a laboratory. Vitamin A, for example, can be derived from fish liver oil, and vitamin C from citrus fruits or rose hips. Vitamin C is water soluble, so all you need do is crush or grind ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
is2yah | What makes a computer programmable? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g550u5d"
],
"text": [
"A computer at it's most basic level is just large network of switches. Similar to a light switch. The up position allows electrical current to pass through to the lightbulb and produce light. The down position cuts the current effectively shutting off the light. Program... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
is4ff3 | Why are most pc components green? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g55cip5"
],
"text": [
"Counterpoint: they aren't. For years the manufacturers have been making motherboard and GPU circuit boards black for aesthethics. Of course shitty OEM boards (and some PCIe cards) will be green, because printed circuit board manufacturers have that as the (completely ar... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
is8iaz | How do calculators use logic gates to calculate? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g56ex4i"
],
"text": [
"You create logical circuits that do the operation you like. In addition, you make a full adder and change as many as you need together for the calculation. a full adder is added 3 bits, the carry from the previous adder, and one bit for each number. It output a result b... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
is9mf4 | Why do photographs from the early 2000s (MySpace era) have 'that look'? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g56jsed",
"g56k1sm"
],
"text": [
"Answer: it was the early ages of Digital camera's, Over the years camera technology have been refined a lot. Better sensors, better colour capture, better lenses. There where good Digital camera's back then, but they where very expensive. So it was common... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
isco3l | What is a data scientist and what makes them so valuable to companies? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5725o9",
"g5788o2"
],
"text": [
"they basically figure out ways to collect and analyze data to determine how to better serve you with ads or influence your purchasing decisions or try and figure out what you're going to do. it can be as simple as figuring out the best type of ads to show... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
isfe9o | Why can’t consoles be upgraded like a pc can? | Is it possible to swap out components of a console like you could with a pc? Is there anything stopping you swapping for example the gpu in a PS4 or Xbox for something better, assuming it’s compatible? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g57hfk4",
"g57kilm"
],
"text": [
"Because they weren't designed that way, while PCs were designed to be modular. One of the main advantages of having consoles that way is that developers only have one set of hardware they need to develop their games for.",
"No. Those consoles have the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
isfugz | 5G would mean using internet, faster and better than it is currently. What is all this anti 5G about? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g57jjr8",
"g57jlag",
"g57jgja",
"g57k84v"
],
"text": [
"My basic understanding of it is, people, have latched onto conspiracies that 5g is in the same wavelength as military weapons as well as a bunch of others conspiracies. The fact is 5g has been tested for decades and is safe t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ishe0c | what, specifically, is being transmitted/received by my cell phone when using it and where does that data physically go to get to its destination? | I'm curious as to what exactly my phone is doing. Its a transmitter and a receiver. Well....of what? What exactly is being sent?? And where does that data being sent/received physically go? I'm aware of cell towers, but are they just one of many points of travel? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g57rn5z"
],
"text": [
"Basically, the mobile phone network is very similar to the internet; your phone is like a computer, cell towers are like routers and there’s a host of technology on these devices which manages sending and receiving of messages. When you want to send a text you type it o... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
isizf8 | Please explain how ads on social media work? | Because I litterally have never clicked on an ad on a newsfeed, or bought anything. Aren't they just losing money from buying my data? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g57y9a7",
"g57yjvv"
],
"text": [
"Even if you never do, some people will. Data collection is kind of like casting a net. Even if they *”miss”* you, they’ll “*catch*” a whole lotta others. So long as there’s a net profit to be made, data collection and targeted ads will continue. I’m guilt... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
isjyqx | how does a digital watch know how long a second is? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5833dq",
"g5837oi"
],
"text": [
"There's a few different ways. The most common in our life is a tiny quartz crystal that when supplied with a small voltage, vibrates at an incredibly consistent frequency, which our computer can measure.",
"Digital watches use a piece of quartz that w... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
islpfu | Why does Windows have "Program Files" and "Program Files (x86)"? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g58fg07",
"g58inoj",
"g58iaze"
],
"text": [
"X86 = 32-bit programs, because Windows supports both 64-bit and 32-bit programs. Anything that goes into the (x86) folder runs through a different set of instructions to ensure it functions properly. URL_0",
"Program Files (x86) represe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
isn2ry | Why do militaries use depleted uranium in armor and ammunition | I have heard about depleted uranium shells and armor before but i wanna know why of all things you would use uranium as a metal compared to more conventional metal types. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g58sukg",
"g58osu3",
"g5a2zkp",
"g58onp2",
"g58p1j0",
"g592dmn"
],
"text": [
"It has properties that make it ideal for military usage, both defensively and offensively. It's also cheap and readily available. **Density**- DU is very dense, which means it can absorb a lot of... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
isvabq | why do digital images of the same size (width x height in pixels) have different size (megabytes)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5albgf"
],
"text": [
"Almost all images are stored in formats using some sort of compression algorithm. There are different types, and for a given kind, some images can be compressed more efficiently than others depending on the subject of the image. Solid blocks of the same color generally ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
iswpfe | What was that dial up noise? Why was it always the same and why was it necessary? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5atw36",
"g5aus4v"
],
"text": [
"Dial up modems communicated using sound waves to represent digital data. The dial up noise was the \"handshake\" used between the two modems to establish a connection, determine the communication protocols in use at both ends, and conduct other tasks to s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
it5wsv | When you try to load a page, and it loads right as you press refresh, what happens there? | This may seem like a dumb question, as it could be purely out of coincidence, but could it have something to do with it cancelling the loading process to reload or something. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5cbw38",
"g5ccer7",
"g5cnzrg"
],
"text": [
"It's not always coincidence! Sometimes when you see a part of the website flash just as you reload it's because the browser momentarily displays whatever it had already loaded, up until the point you hit refresh it was waiting for some data... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
itdrrn | How was the first computer programmed? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5dprp2"
],
"text": [
"The first computers were mechanical. Like those old school calculators/cash registers that had all the gears and wheels to do math, but on a massive complicated scale. So programming was really just, flipping a switch caused something else to move or happen. Then when e... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
itf1sw | How do credit/debit card transactions work? | I have never owned a credit card, and I have never used a debit card for buying stuff online. In physical stores, I have seen people swipe/insert their cards into a machine. The machine shows the amount to be deducted, and sometimes the user enters a 4-digit PIN, and then the transaction succeeds. What prevents merchan... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5e1dvr",
"g5dzqt8"
],
"text": [
"Super simple version: Merchant scans your merchandise and gets an amount. They tell the cash register how to process the payment, if it is card they send an amount to the card reader that is to be charged. From that point it is out of their hands. You put... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ith1po | What’s the difference between 4G and 5G? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5edxa3"
],
"text": [
"The radio waves used are different (different frequencies). Each \"G\" iteration has essentially meant that the signal that can carry more information, but less of a distance. That is to say, web pages and videos download faster on 5G, but it's easier to lose 5G signal.... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ith7x0 | how come some websites work with www prefix and some websites dont work with www prefix? | what exactly does that prefix do and how does it impact the ability to pull up the web page? an example of a webpage that does not work with www is URL_0 and URL_1 I always assumed that if I do not put "www" in the webpage, it is ok because it get added in automatically either by the web browser or by some "internet ma... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5ekzs9"
],
"text": [
"Whether a site works with or without www depends on the configuration of its main webserver. That is really just up to the administrators and the needs of their servers. If they're doing their job properly though, they should redirect you automatically to whichever one ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
itjetm | Sending messages on mobile devices - How does it actually work? | When I type a message in to my phone click "send", what is the actual physical process that happens and results in the message manifesting on my friend's device? I'm especially interested in wireless devices here, such as a cell phone. Does the message literally travel through the air? Is this data all around us every ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5ewgll"
],
"text": [
"Radio waves! Inside your phone is a little antenna which can be energized with electricity, on and off, at a super high frequency - millions of times per second.When this happens, the antenna sends out invisible waves which can be detected by other antennas. When you se... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
itkryo | How can google track you if you use search engines like Qwant instead if you use Google browser inside the Qwant. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5f4x1d"
],
"text": [
"Because google and other tracking cookies are on almost every site, not just their own search engine's site."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
itll0g | how do electronic devices know how full their battery is? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5fahc6"
],
"text": [
"Simply speaking it is about voltage measurement. The device measures the voltage and from the device specs it concludes that it is at a certain equivalent battery level. There are most likely more advanced algorithms that can refine those results to give better battery ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
itlqyo | how do the TL;DR bots work to reduce an article’s length? | It’s clearly not random or that would be almost unreadable, but I’m not a computer person and am just unclear on how it functions and still usually captures the core of whatever article it’s shortening. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5fexoy"
],
"text": [
"The simplest answer is that you can use knowledge of a language to compare the importance of words and sentences and take only what is important. A by hand example of the above may produce this You use knowledge of a language to compare words and sentences and take what... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
itns8n | why do some emails arrive almost immediately after being sent, and some take a significantly longer amount of time, sometimes hours? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5fpjye"
],
"text": [
"Could be network issues if you are referring to emails between the same sender/recipient. If it's between different senders each time, it could be the firewalls involved that are different between one site and another. Or maybe the path it takes has multiple hops. Could... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
itnu0r | What is the point of airplane mode? Does turning off airplane mode while flying genuinely affect the pilots? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5fr91l",
"g5frabv",
"g5g7kp3",
"g5g3hwp"
],
"text": [
"Airplane mode turns off the cellular radio in your device, allowing you to continue to use the remaining features. It is theoretically possible, though unlikely, that the cellular signal emitted could interfere with aircraft ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
itp8ny | Why do somePC programs require restarting your computer but cell apps never require a reboot? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5fz950",
"g5gdkgy"
],
"text": [
"the thing is, most programs don't require a reboot, but they want you to reboot \"just in case\" there are any issues with the installation. you can generally ignore the reboot and the program will work fine. if it doesn't work fine and a reboot is actual... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
itpbpp | how computers can keep track of time when they are completely turned off, even when they aren’t connected to the internet? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5fzn2n",
"g5fzn8i"
],
"text": [
"Because computers aren't ever really off unless left powered off and unplugged for a very long time. Even if you unplug one, there is a battery on the motherboard that keeps all your settings and keeps the time. That battery will eventually go dead, but i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
itpnry | Why are EV batteries a series of tiny batteries instead of one big upsized one? | I’ve been seeing videos of Tesla battery packs and they seem to be just a bunch of tiny batteries similar to AA batteries just stuck together. Why can’t just upsize the individual units to one big battery? EDIT: Just thought about it and wanted to add on, why are some batteries always a series of units and not just one... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5g2mu1"
],
"text": [
"A few reasons: Regardless of the size of a battery cell, it produces a set voltage. This is based on the chemistry of it. All a larger size does is allow it to put out higher current and or hold a larger charge to last longer. AAA, AA, C, and D batteries are all the sam... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
itpysc | How do we have nuclear test footage? | How do the cameras and tape survive a test blast? Especially if buildings and inside buildings of the test area. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5g69lw",
"g5g3l7n"
],
"text": [
"Several types of cameras were used, but the standard ones were the Bell & Howell 16mm using a special emulsion to account for the x-ray exposure; film canisters were also lined with lead. Another type used was the Rapatronic camera. Shutter speeds were el... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
itq5d4 | Firefox 79 making links more secure, how does that work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5gaxhn",
"g5gc7i9"
],
"text": [
"Back in the old days of the web, they made it so that when a link opens a page in a new window (or tab), the new page can edit stuff on the page that has the link. That's because it was useful for something and they weren't really thinking about security.... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
itqi5m | After a drop my flashlights LED turned blue, why is this? | After a 2 foot drop my flashlights light turned into a blue rather than the usual white, is there a reason this would be the case? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5g72l4",
"g5g7rg3"
],
"text": [
"White LEDs don't really exist. LEDs can only emit one wavelength oflight and white is a lot of wavelengths together. So white LEDs ar just blue LEDs with a layer of phosphor painted on them that absorbs the energy of the blue light and emits white light. ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
itr72o | how it is possible to create nanometer transistors. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"g5gds0c",
"g5giej7"
],
"text": [
"The entire CMOS process is kind of hard to ELI5, as you need to know what a PN- / NP- transition is on the molecular scale. Anyway. The structures are etched into silicon wafers. In order to tell the acid where to etch and where not, a photosensitive pain... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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