q_id stringlengths 6 6 | title stringlengths 4 294 | selftext stringlengths 0 2.48k | category stringclasses 1
value | subreddit stringclasses 1
value | answers dict | title_urls listlengths 1 1 | selftext_urls listlengths 1 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
8x87d0 | How can tiny little headphones make so many different instrument noises, people's voices? And on top of that, all simultaneously? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e21j0jc"
],
"text": [
"Headphones are just tiny speakers, so there are two answers here: how speakers work, and how headphones can be so small. All the different sounds in music are added together to make a single complex sound wave. Imagine a low frequency sound wave with big swooping curves... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8x8ens | How does your phone detect when you are sleeping? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e21k9n6"
],
"text": [
"They don't. It's pretty much just bunk placebo app (of course the makers of the apps will never tell you that!) The apps generally \"work\" by detecting movement on your bed at night and trying to make calculations based off that. They don't actually analyze your body o... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xagkr | What is the importance of metallic hydrogen? What everyday things can it do? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e21wqml"
],
"text": [
"> What is the importance of metallic hydrogen? Not much > What everyday things can it do? Absolutely nothing Metallic hydrogen only occurs under extreme pressures like those in the center of Jupiter. We can make it on Earth using a press for making diamonds but very lit... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xbz7u | why exactly aren’t plastic straws recyclable? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e22cehi",
"e225w9v",
"e22gioe"
],
"text": [
"Everything can be recycled. The question is whether it can be done for less money and energy than creating something new from scratch. If the recycling process requires you to burn a bunch of fossil fuels and manufacture a bunch of new equi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xdqun | I have a slow internet connection, how does sites like Imgur know to send me pictures and videos slower? What happens if it sends data too fast? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e22iu9g",
"e22it7d"
],
"text": [
"Most data transfer (that isn't Streaming) uses the TCP protocol. One of the main things TCP does is that when a packet gets sent, it waits for an Acknowledgement (ack) before it sends the next packet. So if you hooked up a garden hose to an outdoor swimmi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xe0ye | Why do governments and companies destroy hard drives for security instead of just writing over all of the data 100% and why does it take multiple passes to make sure the data is gone? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e22l5t7",
"e22kqw1",
"e22oksv"
],
"text": [
"It takes a lot of time to overwrite drives like that, this consumes electricity and occupies a computer/employee which could be doing something else. Lastly, it requires that the drive be *working properly* and that's not a sure bet with ol... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xeheg | How does timecode/ drop frame really work. I know it has to do with losing time but I’m still confused. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e22tp5f"
],
"text": [
"Another user asked this question two hours before you did. [Here's my overly-complicated response to them.]( URL_0 )"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[
"https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/8xd767/eli5_how_does_timecode_work_drop_f... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xgivs | What is the benefit of glass screen protectors over plastic ones? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2333pe",
"e233j5f"
],
"text": [
"Speaking from personal experience, two things stood out for me and glass vs plastic screen protectors. Plastic ones scratch easily, but glass ones generally don’t without sharp tools. The other is durability. An impact may just crack the glass screen prot... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xh2kr | Where does computer code come from and how does a computer know what to do with it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2373mr",
"e238k71"
],
"text": [
"Novice programmer here, Computers read binary as instructions and follow what it's told. When you write code in another language, the IDE (the software you program in) you are using converts what you write into binary and the computer executes it. Pretty ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xjiqn | how we cut our first diamond. | If we currently use diamonds to cut other diamonds most times. How did we cut the first diamond to make it any useable piece? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e23obim",
"e23ofcx"
],
"text": [
"You can grind them down with softer materials, you just lose more of the grinding material than you do diamond. You can sand a diamond down with wood if you had enough wood and enough time.",
"Materials have lots of properties that generally get boile... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8xkofq | when shrinking a picture on the computer, how does the computer know which pixels are important in keeping the thumbnail looking like the original picture? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e23ur2v"
],
"text": [
"In general, downsampling an image doesn't keep pixels from the original image. It averages out multiple pixels to generate a new replacement. This is why hard edges can end up looking soft and worse defined after a downscale has occurred. If you want to turn a 100x100 i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xlkr2 | how does a team of programmers divide their work and create a single application using multiple computers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e23yd9m",
"e244w5a",
"e24rpbw"
],
"text": [
"Imagine it’s not an application, instead, You and your friends are making a cake. You take the eggs. They have to be shelled, separated, and whisked. One friend takes the frosting. Even though it doesn’t go on until the end, rolling, chilli... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xpqy5 | The difference between mixed and augmented reality | Is it MR as soon as it is a 3D object in the real world or do you have to be able to interact with it? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e252r7k"
],
"text": [
"There's a bit of misinformation in the other replies. The term 'mixed reality' starting coming into general use in the 90's--[this paper from 1994]( URL_0 ) defines it as: > (...) merging of real and virtual worlds somewhere along the \"virtuality continuum\" which conn... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8xs0p1 | What is 'SLI' and is it good for gaming? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e256gnm",
"e256nqy",
"e256xqj",
"e256lvs"
],
"text": [
"SLI stands for \"Scalable Link Interface\", and it's Nvidia's name for the technology (ATI/AMD call it \"Crossfire\"). Basically, it's using two or graphics cards to split the workload up and increase your graphical processin... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xsl2o | How are passwords on websites "brute-forced" when almost all websites limit how many attempts can be made within a certain time frame? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e25bfr6",
"e25bw7t",
"e25ilne",
"e25bil0",
"e25ird5"
],
"text": [
"The concern isn't hackers trying your password in a website's log-in form. It's hackers stealing the entire password database off of a website and trying to reverse the passwords on their own computers, with no... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xu412 | Why do some software processes (like the bot used in the r/thanosdidnothingwrong's snap) slow down in the last few percentiles? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e25ptuq"
],
"text": [
"Inefficiency of the implemented algorithm. And in movies for the dramatic effect. A good example of inefficiency can be demonstrated by two ways of picking 40 out of 100 lottery numbers: The first one picks a random number 0..100, checks if the number has already been p... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xuf4l | How do they condition the air inside the ISS when the ISS is in the vacuum of space? | If the “air conditioning” process requires pulling air over coils to remove the heat from the system how do they do this for the ISS which is in a vacuum? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e25s0il",
"e2689ph",
"e25vt4i"
],
"text": [
"Air from inside the station is filtered and passed through the thermal control system, which uses heat exchangers to dump waste heat from inside the station out into space. [Here's a short article about it.]( URL_0 )",
"I work on the sp... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8xupij | Why is it when you watch tv shows 90s/80s there are strange lighting effects created by moving lights on screen but not prior to this time or after? | Example of this: URL_0 as seen at 12:35 created by the tray being held I think the answer might lie in something to do with the refresh rate of the camera but I just can’t understand why there was no issue prior or after... broadcast frames have always been roughly the same so it just didn’t make sense. Possible I have... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e25wn16",
"e25wozp"
],
"text": [
"An educated guess on my part, is that prior to the 80s, most TV shows were shot on film. Starting in the 80s, they started shooting shows on videotape. The tubes in the video cameras did not deal well with lights in the shots. There was a lot of streaking... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8xviyc | Why is it odd for data plans to be unlimited but odd for wifi plans to be limited? Aren't they similar? What are the differences? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e262w9q",
"e262clx",
"e26848v"
],
"text": [
"I'll make a analogy for this. Data is like a small car being used to deliver water. Let's say you want to provide \"unlimited\" water to someone with that car, it's hard to maintain. Meanwhile a WiFi connection is like a bunch of water pipe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8xxmxi | Why we can't or don't use satellites to directly transmit cell service instead of cell towers? | Similar to satellite phones. Wouldn't that help spread service to more rural areas and make it less likely to have dead zones? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e26ipf1",
"e26is2m"
],
"text": [
"We use hexagonal cells for networking. Those shape give us no blind spots or overlapping. This allows us to re-use cellular frequencies making data plans affordabl. Satellites cant do that for us since we would have to have a lot more individual frequenci... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8xxx2d | Why does alt-tabbing out of some fullscreen apps cause black screens or partial alt-tabbing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e26ly2a"
],
"text": [
"It depends on which fullscreen mode you're using. If you use borderless fullscreen. It's basically windowed mode without the border to fill up 100 & #37; of the screen space. In this case, everything on the desktop is kept in memory and you can switch back to it in an i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8y0fhq | How do vacuum tube valves work and what are they used for | I’ve been looking at headphone amplifiers and notice a lot of them use vacuum tube valves. However I don’t understand what they are used for and what their role is within the circuit of the amplifier! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e27211j",
"e273994"
],
"text": [
"A vacuum tube (known as a valve in the UK) is an predecessor to the transistor. They allow a small current to control the flow of a larger current, which is an important part of any form of amplification. Vaccum tubes introduce distortion that transistors... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8y2eo7 | What specifically happens when a speaker “blows out”? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e27jny1",
"e27jotg"
],
"text": [
"Electromagnets are made up of coils of wire which produce magnetic force when you send electricity through them. This is how speakers work. Those wires can literally melt (or deform a lot) if you push too much power through them. The moving part of the sp... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8y3sa2 | How does one get ROMs from video game cartridges? | I am always wondering how people get ROMs from video game cartridges. And then, how do programmers develop emulators to run the games on a computer (like how do they decode all the data on the cartridges?) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e27xbwp",
"e27wtd0",
"e27wz48"
],
"text": [
"There's hardware you plug the cartridge into and then into your computer that can read the contents of the cartridge and send it to a ROM file. [Here's an example.]( URL_1 ) Emulation development is a very broad topic and I don't think I co... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8y4xln | What is block-chain technology and how does it work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e286tgi"
],
"text": [
"Okay, I am going to actually try to ELY5 So imagine you, me and 3 other people (Johnny, Sally and Steve). All 5 of us have a book and pen. The book contains record of the balance of all 5 of our bank account. Like so * You: $5 * Me: $3 * Johnny: $2 * Sally: $25 * Steve:... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8y52hm | Why is the read head in a VCR slightly askew? | [Such as in this image]( URL_0 ) I have taken apart a couple VCRs before, but never understood, why is the read head slightly askew? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2871hr",
"e286zro"
],
"text": [
"Video signals need a lot of information to store and VHS needs to store information very densely on the tape. To accomplish this it uses a helical scan head. Instead of writing one stripe of data along the whole length of the tape (like audio tapes do) it... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8y53q3 | How does apple’s 3D Touch work? How does it tell you are pressing harder? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e289ol6"
],
"text": [
"The first version, which costs Apple about $20 I believe, uses four sensors, which are probably strain gauges. This has a lot of similarity to some modern bathroom scales. There are indications that Apple may drop 3D Touch. Here's a video of a lower cost approach from P... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8y5ewn | How can USB 3.0 be faster than USB 2.0? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e28bwk3",
"e28fyxy"
],
"text": [
"There's more than one reason, but a key difference is half-duplex vs full duplex. Imagine having a conversation with someone where you speak, then they speak while you listen. That is half-duplex. Now imagine having a conversation where both of you are sp... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8y7mmd | Internal combustion engine was invented a couple centuries ago. Why haven't we come up with something better by now? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e28rkwv",
"e28re5n",
"e28rh14"
],
"text": [
"It's primarily due to the fact that internal combustion engines have a relatively high power to weight ratio. You COULD use a nuclear reactor to power your car, but the weight of the required plant to get you anywhere in a timely fashion wo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8y8iae | how are archaeological sites located? Treasure maps and clues like the movies, or does technology like ground penetrating radar have a bigger role now? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e28xex4",
"e291hio",
"e291ilx",
"e297kv6",
"e290y87",
"e29dj89",
"e2906d4",
"e29516r",
"e29k166",
"e2949gw",
"e29d8ao",
"e29dwcz"
],
"text": [
"A lot of times we have references to places that no longer exist so we are pretty confident that we know ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8y9ybv | Why is wireless charging in mobile phones a common thing, but other mobile devices, especially laptops, seem to be far away from that. | I know Dell presented a laptop with wireless charging around last year. But so far I haven't seen much more about this technology build into laptops. It seems to me so practical. Having tables with build in chargers in uni would reduce the cable messes in lecturer halls and libraries significantly. Just one example. Bu... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e298it3"
],
"text": [
"Laptops use a *lot* more power than mobile phones. A typical laptop consumes power at a rate of around 60 Watts. Meanwhile, Qi 1.2 wireless charging tops out at 7.5 Watts. If you do the math on that, the best you're going to get is slowing down the battery drain on the ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8yao2o | What is Bandwidth and how does it work? | Explain in the most basic human language as possible | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e29crkz"
],
"text": [
"Imagine you have a pipe. Now let’s imagine that the data you need to watch a youtube video, browse reddit etc is water. The bandwidth in this example would be the amount of water that can pass through the pipe in a given amount of time (often a second). The bigger the p... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8ycn5i | What causes differences between websites on between countries? (Ex. Google US vs Google India, or Netflix Canada vs Netflix Japan) | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e29t883"
],
"text": [
"A company wants to earn as much money as possible, so they change their website, selection etc. to earn as much money as possible."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yd441 | The technology behind stop lights | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e29xblp"
],
"text": [
"Some use simple timers, others use sensors to detect cars. I believe the US use loops of wire in the road that generate a magnetic field, and the iron in cars alters the field (a bit like a metal detector at the airport) and so is detected (sometimes bicycles don't trig... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8ydgq6 | How does beer become cold from the keg to the tap? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2a09ds"
],
"text": [
"The place I used to work for had long refrigerators that you put the kegs in while attached to the tap. So the beer kegs were cold to begin with."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yej8p | Why do old cartoons look so jittery? | I'm watching some old cartoons from the 1960s - 1990s and I notice every once in a while the picture will move around sightly. Why is this? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2aaeid",
"e2aal6x",
"e2adqxd"
],
"text": [
"Because there supposed to be synced with bass lines and drum hits. URL_0 For real tho, correct if I'm wrong here people but the old way of animating was drawing each frame by hand. It's kinda hard to make sure each individual line or curve ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8yf2wu | What is the difference between using Venmo and using an online banking app to transfer money? | Essentially, why use Venmo when I can transfer money via my banking app? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2anvll"
],
"text": [
"You didn't used to be able to transfer money from all banking apps. Some were free, some charged a free, some didn't permit it at all. For those that did support it it was a multi step process where you either needed their account and routing number or it sent them an e... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8yg3ao | Why do companies continue to produce 3D Blu-Ray discs if 3D TVs have been out of production for a few years? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2ao2xn"
],
"text": [
"There are still movies being made in 3D, so it costs nothing extra to produce, there is an audience who will buy them who already own the TVs, so it's a way to make a few extra bucks."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yjolj | How are some 3rd party sites offering windows 10 pro keys for under $20 while more commonly known retailers sell it for over $100? What's the catch? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2bc4ru",
"e2bccxj"
],
"text": [
"The catch is that they're volume lisence keys or stolen or cracked and not real. Grey market sites are a huge risk in terms of whether or not the key is even real, much less functional.",
"It's easy. They're stolen keys, cracked keys, repurposed volum... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8ykay1 | Why did we shift from calling computer "programs" to calling them "applications?" | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2bjx3n",
"e2binbk",
"e2bh9sd",
"e2bow66",
"e2bo7h0",
"e2bkz9k",
"e2bjkkr",
"e2bp2gm",
"e2bsnp3",
"e2boxgz",
"e2bn1uk",
"e2br49k",
"e2bnqi3",
"e2bnqw5",
"e2bhvam",
"e2bi2gk",
"e2bquh2"
],
"text": [
"Mac OS had been calling them a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yljem | - when a program or game has a bug, how do developers track it down? | This is more about games.. when a bug is found and needs to be patched, is there an easy way of tracking it down based on what it is? Or is it just luck? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2btinh",
"e2bslar"
],
"text": [
"Depends on the bug. If you're lucky, the bug is associated with an error in the log, which will tell you exactly where the error is happening and gives you a good idea of what code you need to be looking at to fix it. If you're unlucky, you'll have to go ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8ym5d4 | What's the difference between say, a 16gb micro sd card vs a 256gb micro sd card from a physical standpoint? | Obviously the 256gb one can hold more data, but how does it do that if they're exactly the same size (and weight to my knowledge). Does the 256gb one have more places to store data inside? Does the 16gb one intentionally block off storage that could otherwise be used in larger capacity cards? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2bxxo1",
"e2byer6"
],
"text": [
"The rectangular plastic thing you see from outside is just the \"shell\". Inside, there are a series of solid state memory chips, that hold the data. Higher capacity sd cards just have more and/or higher density memory chips inside. They do not artificial... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8yp24u | Why is it often advised to unplug an electronic device for a few minutes to resolve an issue? How does unplugging it (instead of restarting it) make a difference? E.g. Smart TVs | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2cmoc9",
"e2cmiad"
],
"text": [
"Every electronic device with a microprocessor, will have a memory cache. This cache is constantly sending and receiving data to and from the processor, and acts as a buffer for the data as it cannot be processed all at once. The data in these memory cache... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yre2k | How do password managers sync passwords between devices without compromising security? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2d5ks1"
],
"text": [
"They sync an encrypted file with the passwords. You still need to decrypt it with your master password in each device."
],
"score": [
10
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yrz27 | How do smartphone fingerprint sensors work so quickly when sensors used for visas at embassies are back-lit and take longer? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2d9dc4",
"e2d9iwz"
],
"text": [
"Your smartphone is reading your print vs a small library of a couple of prints you gave it. Those other computers as reading your print and have to compare it to all of the prints it has access to. So it is just as fast to read it but the database size ca... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yt6hj | How digital signatures work | And how you can verify it as authentic without being able to forge it. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2drr5j",
"e2dknvt"
],
"text": [
"Digital signatures rely on something called public key cryptography. You're probably familiar with a [rotation cipher]( URL_0 ). This is where you encode a message by substituting one letter for another letter that is later in the alphabet. The number of ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8ytzgs | Why does Yamaha make so many different things | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2dohzc",
"e2dnvvc",
"e2dogbz"
],
"text": [
"Yamaha is a Japanese company and Japan has historically taken a very different approach to \"the corporation\" then U.S. or European companies. This exists formally (companies doing lots of things) and informally with a system called \"kere... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yvsna | What exactly is happening when lightning strikes and electricity drops out for a second? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2e489p"
],
"text": [
"The lightning causes a power spike on the line. There are protective circuit breakers that open to help prevent damage. The breakers have automatic reset circuits in them so they don’t have to constantly be manually reset. In the event the breakers opened for something ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8ywnjg | How were the first metals mined? | The only thing coming up is around the time they were discovered and how the metals were extracted from their ores. Pretty much asking what type of tools did they use? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2ea69y"
],
"text": [
"Copper the first. You can find its ore in fairly pure forms and cold work it(beat it into shape with a big rock) into stuff like bowls. Then they discovered that heating it made it softer and easier to work Then it was found that melting it and mixing it with tin(also e... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8yx5b5 | How did Disney animation work and how did they save money despite it being different characters? | Referring to these examples: URL_0 I see that the actions are the same but they are different characters. How could Disney save money by supposedly "reusing animation"? What did the animation process look like so that they could save money? How did the animation work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2edqk2",
"e2eo666"
],
"text": [
"Tracing or, with old animation, painting over the cells. They didn't have to have artists create it all from scratch. They don't have to worry about rejecting pieces because the pov doesn't match up, etc. All that is done already.",
"Instead of figuri... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8yyon0 | What benefit are the zero G experiments on the ISS to us on Earth, where zero G is rarely (if ever) encountered? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2eqlik"
],
"text": [
"Eventually we will need to explore space. A mars colony would be at much lower gravity than earth and we don’t think that would be a good thing for development of baby anythings. Another thing is we need to figure out what solar radiation will do to our food or other th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yza2o | Why do some TVs show a quick black screen when changing channels and why some don't? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2evjrl"
],
"text": [
"It’s your cable box that has more to do with the black screen than your actual television. Some cable boxes processing power and connection are faster than others. The black screen is your cable box or satellite taking a second to get the signal from whatever network yo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8yzttn | Where does the energy go if a solar panel is in the sun but isn't hooked up to anything? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2ezts1"
],
"text": [
"if im not wrong, it \"stays\" inside the silicon cells in the panel. basically the electrons cant flow because there is no circuit to flow through, so they are released but never used. i suppose they just recombine with other silicon atoms. edit: pretty much into heat. ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8z1w0d | Why does underflow occur in computers? | With overflow I understand that there's a mechanical quirk/limitation in a CPU that prevents it from retaining every single bit (and so you just end up with a bunch of 0s or whatnot) I get that underflow results from taking an integer and then subtracting so much you go past 0, but I don't get what the mechanical quirk... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2fegba",
"e2fewwz"
],
"text": [
"Underflow is a concept dealing with floating-point numbers. You're not talking about floating-point numbers, so you're probably talking about negative overflow, not underflow. Imagine a 2-bit computer. Each register has 4 possible values: Bit pattern|Sign... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8z29wh | when and why our ancestors started cooking the food instead of eating them raw? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2firjd",
"e2fhkdb",
"e2filpa"
],
"text": [
"It could have been an accident. Someone dropped some food in the fire, but they ate it anyway. Waste not want not, etc. Maybe they liked the taste and cooked food gave them an edge. Or perhaps fire was a deity in those days. Maybe throwing ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8z2z5m | Why do capacitors in CRT TVs from 50 years ago still work, but every LCD I've had blew a capacitor in less than 5 years? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2fs3wj",
"e2fnhs5",
"e2fnwil"
],
"text": [
"people like to parrot *planned obsolescence* but there is a much simpler explanation that does not require the assumption of any malice on the part of manufacturers. it is just cheaper to make and more profitable to sell a product which wor... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8z3dx2 | When data is compressed or zipped, what is actually happening to the data? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2fqrr9",
"e2g72la",
"e2fzcn1"
],
"text": [
"For most algorithms, the compressor will search for a pattern that appears multiple times within the data, and then replace that pattern with a shorter symbol, and create an entry in a \"dictionary\" recording what each symbol means. Compre... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8z5rrb | how do watches work? | How do each of them work specifically? What’s the spinny thing you always see on the inside? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2gh8oc"
],
"text": [
"Electric watches work off a quartz oscillator. If you apply electricity to a small piece of quartz (or other crystals, but quartz is usually the one used), the quartz will vibrate at a specific frequency. Put very simply, you can build a circuit that will output a wavef... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8z6v3t | The cult of Volvo owners. What makes Volvos so beloved? What makes them preferable/superior to other manufacturers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2gnlv1",
"e2glldw",
"e2gkj7i",
"e2gohog"
],
"text": [
"Volvos are incredibly safe. They're engineered to safety standards that far surpass regular US standards. One of the founders of Volvo had a wife killed in an auto accident and ever since then, they've been pioneers in automo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8z71ep | How are games like "Breath of the Wild" ported over to a completely different console (Switch) with different hardware, yet are flawlessly identical when playing both? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2gl8ir"
],
"text": [
"I don't know the precise answer but the best vague one I can give is that the GPU/CPU architecture on the switch is well known since it runs off Tegra X1 and uses the Maxwell architecture which there is lots of information on. The previous generation consoles were an ab... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8z8as8 | Why people advice not to use cellphones in the gas station? What could happen? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2gu2ko",
"e2guiu3",
"e2gu3n8",
"e2gu1ep"
],
"text": [
"The theory is that the radiation caused by a cellphone making or receiving a call could cause fuel vapors to explode. The Mythbusters [busted the shit]( URL_0 ) out of this one, though -- there's absolutely no risk associated... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zbil3 | why don’t we make coffee like we do tea, by seeping the grounds in a bag? | Or alternatively, would it be possible to make tea like we do coffee, with a drip machine? Also is there a reason we don’t make a chocolate drink using cocoa beans ground up like coffee grounds? Would it just be too bitter? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2hll5a",
"e2hje9m",
"e2hid4e",
"e2hsrbu",
"e2hfkda",
"e2hjewg",
"e2hjgix",
"e2hm6bq",
"e2hqcc7",
"e2hveku",
"e2hwllp",
"e2hsux9",
"e2ickdj",
"e2hsovq",
"e2hx321",
"e2hs2k9",
"e2hvkkj",
"e2hwy5w",
"e2htqxs",
"e2i2w7v"
],
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8zepm4 | How do antivirus apps work? What are the looking for when they “scan” our files? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2i6dkx"
],
"text": [
"There are two primary methods for virus detection: signature-based and heuristics-based. A signature-based antivirus program looks at the files on your system and calculates a specific value based on the file's contents. It has a list of values that it knows correspond ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zf0eo | Why do super high fps cameras (like a Phantom) record at such low resolution | I understand that recording at a high resolution and an extremely high framerate would generate a lot of data, but surely we have storage mediums large enough to contain and process this data? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2i7bnh"
],
"text": [
"First off, this isn't true of all super high FPS cameras: URL_0 Second, it's not a matter of storage space, but of write speed. If you had to write one thousand sentences per minute, your sentences would be extremely small, regardless of how much paper you have."
],
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
8zhcgv | How Videogame developers manage to optimize their games and make them run smoother on lower-end devices? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2is1if"
],
"text": [
"Literally by being smart. Videogames often are demanding applications and require to use some interesting tricks in order to make them faster. An example is imagine you need to draw an image that has multiple layers. There is no need to draw the stuff in the background ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zi3b6 | Why are moving fan blades visible through a phones camera but not with the naked eye? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2iww3j"
],
"text": [
"Disclaimer: I'm not an expert on the brain. However, as I understand it, our eyes don't work like cameras. Our brains take in a certain amount of light in a given period of time and process that (kind of like a long exposure). So when something moves really fast, our ey... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zi6m2 | How are episodes of TV shows leaked before their release dates? Why do studios not heavily regulate who has access to the material and hence prevent leaks? Or do some studios leak their episodes themselves? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2ix72h"
],
"text": [
"Episodes of TV don’t just appear on a server somewhere all queues up to air. Producing, marketing and distributing episodes of television require having them pass through a lot of hands just on a basic mechanical level to get them to air. There is a ton of post-producti... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zjgqm | How does a speaker emulate the sound of many different instruments all playing at the same time at different layers / rhythms? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2j60h1",
"e2j6kny"
],
"text": [
"All sound is actually rapidly changing air pressure. The air pressure at your eardrum can really only have a single value at a single moment; the fact that we can mentally process that varying pressure into all the differerent instruments and voices is re... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zl30u | What are wingdings/dingbats, where do they come from and why do they exist as a font? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2jh89r",
"e2ji5hl",
"e2jhth8",
"e2ji48m",
"e2jijtp"
],
"text": [
"It makes it easy to include some basic pictures/symbols in a document without having to import real images.",
"I used to write TV listings for newspapers and I would have used dingbats for film star ratings... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zlagl | Why do phones still (or ever) need SIM cards? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2jhqju",
"e2jhq6p"
],
"text": [
"Technologically, they don't. It's a feature to have easily removable phone credentials that are independent from any particular phone and don't rely on a phone to exist (for example in situations where you don't have two phones simultaneously to transitio... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zoegq | why can my heaters easily keep my house at a nice 75 when its 15 degrees outside, but my AC struggles to dip below 70 when its 100 outside? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2k72e8",
"e2kgk8m"
],
"text": [
"What kind of air-conditioning do you have (central, swamp, etc...)?",
"Your heaters are a hell of a lot more powerful than your Air Conditioners An AC unit can move 4-10 watts of heat per watt of power used, but it'll only use a few hundred watts. A b... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zrdmt | What is the Windows .NET framework, and why is it useful? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2l15xg",
"e2l62b6",
"e2l8edy",
"e2l6guo"
],
"text": [
"Cooking, eating, washing dishes, and getting rid of trash all took a lot longer and was less effective before we standardized dish sizes, cooking instruments, had a stove and a dishwasher, and were able put all the trash on t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zudhh | How do we discover moons around Jupiter just now, when we have discovered planets more than a thousand light years away from us before that? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2lggp3",
"e2lhtyj",
"e2ll73j"
],
"text": [
"because they are very small and you can only spot them when the sun hits Jupiter and the moon is between Jupiter and Earth",
"On a bit of a tangent, for the same reason as how we still haven't figured out if there's another planet in ou... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zvuhn | Why can't we recycle the stuff that's sent to landfill? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2lr0pt",
"e2ls939",
"e2ls739",
"e2lru4i"
],
"text": [
"There are two reasons, both of which are applicable in many cases: 1) Things that are mixed together are more expensive to take apart. Aluminum cans are easy to recycle because they are almost pure aluminum. There is aluminum... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zwxjc | Why do cable boxes respond to TV remotes so poorly, but video game consoles respond to their controllers excellently? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2m00jc",
"e2lzy74"
],
"text": [
"1. Not all cable boxes respond to all remotes poorly 2. Completely different technologies. Remotes use IR - basically sending very rapid pulses of infrared light from the remote in a pattern to signify a particular command. This requires direct line of si... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zytn7 | why did you need to wait for the "green light" on old cameras to use the flash? What was taking so long ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2mfrel",
"e2mfx7i",
"e2mm2f2",
"e2mngqw"
],
"text": [
"The flash bulbs required a large amount of power very quickly in order to produce the flash. The battery in the flash was not capable of delivering that amount of power that fast, so the flash would store a bunch of power in ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
8zz4z3 | How can Amazon Prime video know which actors are in which specific seems for every single second of a video? | When watching most Amazon Prime videos you will also have a display that will tell you what actors are in the scene you are watching right that second and what music as well. How is this done? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2mihfi"
],
"text": [
"Someone actually watches it and tags them. A lot of tv and video stuff like this is just done manually. While it may seem like a lot, people just power through and get it done."
],
"score": [
8
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
902ezm | Getting computer programs to utilize multiple CPU cores is difficult because the programs have to be specifically coded that way. Why can't CPUs allocate instructions to different cores themselves? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2nd607",
"e2nfjbx",
"e2nhyac"
],
"text": [
"The main advantage of programs designed for multi-core use is that they can be sped up by running multiple tasks at the same time on different cores. Some tasks cannot be divided up into multiple simultaneous tasks to take advantage of mult... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
905dg0 | Why do noise cancelling headphones make me feel sick? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2nt0zc"
],
"text": [
"So the thing with noise cancelling is that what you hear is not 'silence'. They use anti-noise to cancel out unwanted noise: they measure phase and amplitude of the noise to cancel, and send out an anti-noise with the same amplitude but inverted phase, and the result of... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
906r6r | When on a call on speaker, how does the other person not hear their feedback on their end? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2o3zx4",
"e2o3yoe"
],
"text": [
"Depends on the phone. Cheap phones have a gate. When the are playing audio they turn the microphone off. More expensive phones have echo cancellation. They know what audio they are producing, then they can subtract that waveform from the incoming audio wa... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
906xrf | how does Ddosing work and what is bad about it | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2o56oe"
],
"text": [
"Imagine you run a shop, someone malicious with a lot of friends starts sending all their friends to your shop, not to buy anything, not even to browse, just to exist in your shop and take up space. They have a *lot* of friends so eventually your shop is choc full of peo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
9086ny | How does sorting by "controversial" work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2offp8",
"e2offtu"
],
"text": [
"Controversial are posts and comments with a similar number of upvotes and downvotes. So a post will be more controversial if it has lots of upvotes and downvotes, and the upvotes to downvote ratio is close to 1. The actual formula used by reddit is anyone... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
908pcg | How can video games produce sounds from specific areas in the game? | I.e. when you're playing Call of Duty and you hear gunshots how is it possible for the game to emit the noise in a way where you can figure out where it came from instead of just hearing gunshots? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2ok5hs",
"e2pe313"
],
"text": [
"Science.meme But seriously, it’s all in just using the right balance between left and right to mimic what he hear and how we perceive direction in real life. We experience the sounds we hear all the time in stereo (i.e. out of each of our 2 ears), so it’s... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
908x5o | How Do Machine Learning Algorithms Actually Learn? | Watching an AI play the dinosaur game has got me thinking about this. How does the program make the leap from "jump whenever" to "jump when a cactus is in front of me"? It's really confusing to me how a program is able to learn the same way we are able to. Thanks in advance! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2om1xa",
"e2oqw18"
],
"text": [
"There are a number of techniques, but it typically boils down to weighted probabilities. Somewhere in the code there might be something that says \"jump 1% of the time when you see a green pixel\". If that leads to a good outcome, the next time that is up... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
909w5m | how was the internet invented? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2ou5cf"
],
"text": [
"ARPANet originated in the 1970s as a method of connecting various research institutions together. In order to transfer data between them effectively, they needed a protocol to use existing infrastructure (telephone lines) as a conduit for data transfer. Many of the back... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90a0m4 | Despite being on the Do Not Call Registry, we receive daily scam calls with fake caller IDs from "Customer Service Department", "Card Member Services", or "Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna". What technical or legal limits prevent US telcos from ending this illegal harassment of subscribers? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2oy5td"
],
"text": [
"I don't believe for a moment that they (the phone companies) don't know exactly where a call is coming from, and can't tell when the caller ID data is spoofed. They should be giving us the right to opt out of any call that has it's caller ID spoofed; that would solved 9... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90csgw | How our electric devices acurately tell us the percentage of battery life. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2pgt5r",
"e2ps0vo",
"e2pn0c9"
],
"text": [
"Batteries have known characteristics as they deplete, dependent on cell type, age, and quantity ( URL_0 ). Voltage in a battery will slowly decline at a predictable rate until it becomes too low to be useful (depleted). In addition, devices... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90dnjc | How data is transferred between different towers and my cellphone when I’m playing game and constantly changing my position (like riding in a vehicle)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2pq15h"
],
"text": [
"Each tower advertises their identification, has a synchronisation routine and is able to communicate with your device (UE) to establish how much signal is getting between you and the tower. This allows them communicate with each other to see if another tower is a better... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90do0l | How do fibre optic cables actually work? | The extent of my knowledge of fibre optic cables is simply that they carry light as forms of information. How is this information interpreted and how does it generally work? Edit: Thanks for the responses guys! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2pn3a1",
"e2pnjqb",
"e2pnlle"
],
"text": [
"On its most basic functionality you can think of it this way: If the light is on, the receiver thinks it is a 1 If the light is off, the receiver thinks it is a 0 How fast can you change states? Depends on the fiber and the devices connecte... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
90e745 | How do phones (or any battery powered device with a readout for battery life) know how much charge their battery has left? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2pq8jo"
],
"text": [
"The voltage drops a bit as the battery gets flat. A typical rechargeable battery starts full at 5v. At 4.9v it is 50% charged. At 4.8v it is 25% charged. The numbers above are made up, the real numbers are dependent on exact battery make/model/design. But you get the id... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90een1 | Why aren’t USB and HDMI cables designed to be inserted both ways? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2prsum",
"e2psvgy"
],
"text": [
"It wasn't considered an issue when they were first designed. You weren't expected to be regularly plugging things in, you were expected to just set up your computer and leave it at that.",
"Designing a connector that can be inserted both ways is a lit... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90fear | Why do the 220V of home outlets kill you but the several thousands of V of a taser dont? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2pxp6o",
"e2q4xqe",
"e2px7za"
],
"text": [
"For the upcoming comments saying it's not the volts, its the amps that kill you, my current understanding is this: amps depends on voltage and resistence. For a given body resistence, amps are proportional to the voltage. What's the mechani... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90g3v1 | How did those inbuilt battery testers work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2q2s0d"
],
"text": [
"The bar is made of a thermochromic strip of paper/film (paper that changes colour based on temperature) layered on top of a strip of some conductor. When you press down on the two ends, the strip makes contact with the battery terminals and allows electricity to flow th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90g7vf | Why do Production companies sometimes cut out important bits in movies to save time? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2q6166",
"e2q5sg0"
],
"text": [
"If you mean a theatrical release, a movie needs to be a length that most audiences will want to see. Putting aside epics like Lord of the Rings or Interstellar, most movies are between 90 and 120 minutes including the end credits. Most movies shoot more c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90g8gu | How does reverse image search work? | Does it literally scan through all the images on the web, looking for an exact match? Come to think of it, how does any search engine work? Is the whole internet downloaded onto a massive hard drive, and then searched with a powerful computer? If this is not the case, how is a single search done so quickly? Also, is th... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2q41bi",
"e2qjh6s",
"e2qi1mz"
],
"text": [
"Oh this is a fun one! Can’t wait to see what people will say. I just tought it was interesting to note that there are two very distinct approaches to current image searching technology. There is the google way : URL_0 That is aimed at recog... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
90gmb9 | How do counties "Hack an election"? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2q7ikv"
],
"text": [
"Countries attempt to “hack”, or influence, elections in other countries by taking actions that are likely to sway undecided voters one way or another. For example, in the 1960 US presidential election, the USSR had captured Gary Powers, an American pilot, after his U-2 ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90gyk6 | How can people say SSD is far worse than HDD because they fail more with constant writes and smartphones use the same technology and I never heard of a smartphone disk failing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2q9yar",
"e2qad1d"
],
"text": [
"The cells do fail with usage. People who buy new phones every 2-3 years don't see enough usage to see it fail. Hold onto your phone for longer and you'll see it fail.",
"Early SSDs failed a lot quicker than modern ones Modern flash is a bit more robus... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
90h9t1 | Why do emergency broadcasts over the radio have such horrible sound quality? | An example would be a tornado warning over the radio. Most of the time when I hear them, they are so muffled and have so much static, that it's hard to make out what they are saying. Yet, when the station switches back to whatever music it was playing, the sound quality goes back to normal. It seems like it would be im... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2qcodn",
"e2qc7r8"
],
"text": [
"The emergency broadcast system was originally built during the cold war. Today we use it largely for storm warnings, but it also has the capacity to operate during major natural disasters and national security events. Basically, the equipment is supposed ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
90i01o | How do calculators work out complex mathematics essentially instantaneously? | It's always baffled me how even a "simple" hand held calculator can do so much. How exactly do they process the information and give you an answer so quickly? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2qip4z",
"e2qzd1y",
"e2r1lec",
"e2r33r9",
"e2qj2ks"
],
"text": [
"All modern digital computers can only perform simple manipulations on binary numbers. However, because those simple operations are done in the hardware, they are blazingly fast, micro- or nano-seconds. So if yo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
90ii96 | How do home pregnancy tests work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"e2qmht3",
"e2qygo3"
],
"text": [
"There is a chemical in the stick that turns colors when a certain hormone is detected in your pee that you produce while pregnant. One line detects moisture and the other detects the Hormone",
"Home pregnancy tests are designed to tell if your urine c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.