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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ahnb11 | Magnetoresistive random access memory | The wikipedia article is way over my head. So please, why it is the future and how it works. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"eehrzam"
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"text": [
"This isn't a very intuitive subject, but I'll give it a shot. Imagine you have two ferromagnetic plates separated by a insulator so thin that electrons can pass through it. When a source line is run through the plates, If the magnets have the same polarity (parallel) a ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ahp2an | How does a DVD player know when you're recording the video feed and instantly turn to static? | When I was a kid in the early 2000s, I was able to hook a VHS player (VCR) up to another VCR and record a copy of the video as it played, thereby duplicating specific clips. However, if I attached a DVD player to a VCR and attempted to record, it would instantly turn to static. If you weren't recording, the video would... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eegy010",
"eeh4of8"
],
"text": [
"This is caused by copy protection on the video signal. Unlike the copy protection on HDMI where the signal is actually encrypted, the copy protection on analog video signals has to rely on tricks. The goal is to create a signal that will look fine on a TV... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ahpk90 | Why haven’t we started using graphene on everything (batteries, computer parts, clothing, etc)? What makes it so difficult to work with? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eegwwy2"
],
"text": [
"I am not an expert, but from what I know there's 2 main reasons: 1. It's still quite difficult to mass produce graphene to an amount where companies can incorporate it into there products. 2. As with a lot of nanotechnology, we are still learning about them. The truth i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ahr342 | Why do so many oven windows have tiny dots all over them? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeh773z",
"eehavg2"
],
"text": [
"the tinting is there supposedly to reflect thermal energy back into the oven that would otherwise escape, making ovens more efficient. So otherwise they'd lose a lot of thermal energy and work harder to compensate, requiring more energy.",
"If you're ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ahyn0c | Why do graphics in older movies look so shoddy years later, when there was a point the graphics seemed realistic? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eejlvz5",
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"text": [
"I think you'd be surprised at how much graphics are still improving. This is one of the reasons that a lot of films will use practical effects instead of cgi (they actually blow up a car instead ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ahyq3n | how can an online site like MyMathLab know when during a quiz, I am opening a different browser to cheat ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"eejiirf",
"eeju1ds",
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"text": [
"There are commands in various coding languages (in JS I think they're called listeners) that, as long as the code is running are constantly waiting for you to take a certain action before they ac... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ahz37f | Where do files go when uploaded online? | Just wondering how large the database is, considering each person's files in the internet. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eejk4ro",
"eejqo93"
],
"text": [
"They go onto hard drives store inside servers in a data center somewhere. The database is indeed huge but it is spread out across many, many computers and usually many physical locations.",
"First, files aren't \"in the Internet\" and there's not one ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ahz5qm | How does torrenting work and how is it different from a normal download? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eejl0cv",
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"eejl352",
"eejm9o7",
"eejqg7j"
],
"text": [
"The idea of the BitTorrent protocol is that the person who originally shared the file is not the only person who can provide parts of the file to others. Instead, anyone with part of a file can share it to othe... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ahzbhj | why, at airport security screenings, do electronics need to be put in a separate tray? Can't scanners see through a bag/luggage? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
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"eejxnn6",
"eejphcr",
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],
"text": [
"Large batteries and metal bodies of your laptop/tablets block x-rays, making it hard/impossible to see other things in the bag.",
"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ahzja7 | How do people making subtitles for series online can configure it to work with all different mp4 files available? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eejqtc8",
"eejr97o",
"eejr1dk",
"eejwxy6"
],
"text": [
"They don't make it work with any mp4 file. Subtitles for downloaded movies are essentially huge files with timestamps and text. The video player doesn't care what file it plays, it will print text at given timestamps. That is... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ai2b3j | Why do Hard Drives need to be defragmented? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eekewin",
"eekri9c"
],
"text": [
"If you never deleted anything from a hard drive you wouldn't have to defragment it. But, when you delete something, you leave a hole. Later, when you write a new file it might not be the same size as the hole that was left. So, part of the file is written... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ai3qek | Streaming services subscriptions | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eekttyh",
"eeku3jj"
],
"text": [
"There's no universal guidelines for prices. You can charge for anything as long as people buy it. Cable has advertisements *AND* a buy-in because they can. People want to watch those channels enough that they are willing to endure both. Streaming services... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ai7zj8 | If a programming IDE can identify that my code has errors, why can't it identify the error itself (or explain the error in layman terms)? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eelsl5t"
],
"text": [
"It is my understanding that the IDE only tells you what it can't read and why. The system can't guess what your code is supposed to do because computers are so literal. It takes the information it has and gives you a corresponding code or bit of text to point you in the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aibnee | Whatever happened to the FCC law banning volume increases during television ads? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eemi3uf"
],
"text": [
"It’s in effect. It’s called the CALM act. Cable/sat companies and networks all do comply as well. But advertisers continue to find ways to manipulate the system and other shitty things. It’s even written specifically into every single carriage agreement between cable/sa... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aidib0 | Is there a good, logical, or historical reason why some password setup fields severely limit the field length or disallow particular characters? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eemwutc",
"eemxa5w"
],
"text": [
"In some cases there might be issues with text encoding disallowing particularly funky characters like ø, ⋄, ¯, or η, but mostly it is either bad code, or them 'trying' to help by enforcing things like symbols and numbers, which are [not a good idea.]( URL... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aihtrw | How is the news anchor always making eye contact with viewer, no matter which angle we sit? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eentyii"
],
"text": [
"It’s a 2D image, so regardless of where you sit you’ll always have the same perspective on the newscaster."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aijebs | How is the “feels like” temperature determined on the weather channel app ? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeo7kb0",
"eeo7zuh",
"eeo7c61"
],
"text": [
"There are several different formulas depending on what information is used. But generally it's some combination of temperature, humidity, air pressure and wind velocity.",
"They call the local meteorologist and simply ask him. \"How's i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aik2vq | How do pregnancy test kits work. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeod9n9"
],
"text": [
"They test for one particular hormone in the urine that the body produces in large amounts during pregnancy: HCG."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aik85r | What is the difference between an MRI, a CT, and a PET scan? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeoe88u"
],
"text": [
"All three are ways of diagnosing diseases within the body. We've covered them like this in training, but I'm just a therapist and obviously don't work with these things.. The MRI is based on powerful magnetic fields and radio frequency pulses. Imagine if you will your b... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ain9jg | How do soccer channels add those editing effects on players and on the ball so fast (between the halves) ? Isn't it a complicated process that takes time and rendering? | Like when they add a line that follows a certain player or a line that follows the ball. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eep04t4"
],
"text": [
"These days rendering is pretty much real-time for those, so it's not an issue. It is complicated, but a modern software is so advanced, that is doesn't have a problem to track 1 ball and 25 (including referees) people on the field."
],
"score": [
6
],
"text_... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
aiokkl | Why do laptops/pc's get hot? And will we ever have technology that stays cool under load? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eep9e1v",
"eepa307"
],
"text": [
"Every conductor has resistance, which means that electrical energy passing through it loses efficiency and is converted to heat. When computers are under load, more electricity is passing through its conductors, leading to more heat. There are compounds c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aiq9gq | What do music compressors do? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eepnx9v",
"eeq7p4y"
],
"text": [
"Automatically lowers the volume of the loudest parts of audio, which allows you to raise the volume of all of it, making a more consistent level. Edit: [This video]( URL_0 ) explains it pretty simply.",
"They reduce the range between the loudest & qui... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aiqxdt | What can the NSA see? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eepvswi",
"eepunjd"
],
"text": [
"Who you talked to, when you talked to them and for how long, if you believe Edward Snowden. Nothing if you believe the Obama administration. According to Snowden, the NSA is hoovering up as much data as it can and storing it in a giant datacenter in Fort ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aiu6ed | why did 3d printing take so long to get were it is now? The hardwear and softwear seem simpler than some in consumer tech from the 2010's | *where | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeqos0j"
],
"text": [
"For basic printers, both hardware and software are basically straight out of the 80s (at least on the printer side). That's because some critical idea was patented back in the 80s, and the owner never did much with it. The patent recently expired, allowing multiple peop... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
aivyji | Why does foreign television look so much different than US broadcasts? | I'm American and my only exposure to foreign media is new clips and Top Gear. Why does it look so "wierd" to me? It looks like a soap opera. I've heard maybe it's that foreign media is recorded at 25fps and my tv/phone is made for 24/30/48/60? Thanks in advance! | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eer55qz",
"eeqvww2"
],
"text": [
"It's a side effect of motion interpolation. It's called [The Soap Opera Effect ]( URL_0 ).",
"That and many other factors. Lighting, color grading etc. Also, i remember back in the day when TV was still analog, there’s a certain kind of feel to each c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
aiwhw7 | How does switching to electronic alternatives (for example E-cars) help environment? | I have come across many articles lately which said that electronic cars and vehicles are future because they help reduce emissions. But I always thought, how is that possible. Most of the countries still fulfil their electricity demands by generating electricity in thermal power plants, which also releases a lot of haz... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eer0n1k",
"eer1kxx",
"eer2dnk"
],
"text": [
"Simply put, studies have shown that so long as an EV is driven for a certain amount of time, (\\~10 years IIRC) the emissions related to its manufacturing and continued use are less than that of a vehicle with an ICE even when electricity i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
aixnnr | Difference between a container and a Virtual machine | Can someone explay to me, what the difference is between a container and a VM? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eer91pp",
"eer84h4"
],
"text": [
"A VM is a simulated computer. It has its own BIOS/EFI and simulated hardware. It can pretend to be something that the host isn't. For instance it's common for VM systems to emulate a Realtek RTL8139 card, even though said hardware might not be present at ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
aiyay5 | How people were able to copy games through airwaves broadcast-ed from radio stations? | I'm rather familiar with how copying, cracking and compressing work. But I can't put my finger on how people from the 80s/90s copied their games using cassette tapes. Were the systems translating sound waves into binary or what exactly? Is this used to date? [Check 8:20]( URL_0 ) & #x200B; | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eerbm9f",
"eerawcd",
"eerj1ug"
],
"text": [
"Back in the old days, modems were [acoustic]( URL_0 ). The data was literally transmitted as sound. So, you could broadcast the audio recording of the program to be recorded on the receiving end. Systems were translating sound waves to digi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
aiz8m5 | How do ad blockers work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eergan1",
"eerj8b6",
"eerqut6"
],
"text": [
"Ads mostly come from known sources, known websites. They aren't generally served by the same site as you're visiting. So ad-blockers know a lot of these servers, and will block traffic from those servers. They also know a lot of the HTML an... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aizgsc | Why do rechargeable batteries lose their ability to hold charge over time, and how can one slow the degradation? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eerionu",
"eerkbo8",
"eesp0ip"
],
"text": [
"Inside the batteries are tiny sticky bits, that hold the charge, like velcro. And like velcro, it gets worn, and will hold on less and less, until you have to replace it. Not overcharging helps, but wear is inevitable.",
"On the Toyota ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aj5eoi | How does the captcha technology work and why sometimes do you have to go through only one test and sometimes 6? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eestcn9",
"eesta7h",
"eet1qo0",
"eet23ux"
],
"text": [
"Captcha works by tracking your mouse movements on the screen. It is basically looking for human like interactions, rather than trying to make the questions unanswerable by bots. This is why sometimes it can be as simple as ch... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aj5ppw | Why won’t Instagram change back to chronological order for posts when its users have been overwhelmingly clear it’s what they want? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeswegr",
"eesvtva",
"eet1xbt",
"eet1sxr",
"eeswx6f",
"eet21kt"
],
"text": [
"The saying goes, if you are not paying for a product, you are the product. Instagram is free and they way they make money is to promote things that generates revenue, be it from ads or paid promo... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aj6txi | How does discord's echoing cancelling work? | How does Discord's non echo work? When I plug a speaker in as a headset people cannot hear themselves when they talk, and my speaker is right next to my mic. I'm just interested in how this works. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eetagee"
],
"text": [
"Sound can be represented by a waveform - think of a graph of a squiggle where the x-axis is time and the y-axis is amplitude. An echo is the same waveform, attenuated a bit and shifted in time. Knowing this, we can implement something termed an 'adaptive filter' that es... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
aj85rl | Why do videos get higher pitched when sped up and lower pitched when slowed down? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eetjy3n",
"eethhm6"
],
"text": [
"Sound is vibration. When you visually map a sound wave, it looks like a sine wave. The pitch is mainly determined by how close together each peak of the wave is (that very top of the hill of the wave). If you have 500 peaks every second, it's a 500 Hertz ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajavb2 | Why was frame rate tied to physics in the past, and how is it separated now? | For example: Why was it tied in Super Mario 64, and how do modern games with unlocked frame rates not break physics? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeu1jip",
"eeu398a"
],
"text": [
"For simplicity, if you know you render and update screen exactly 30 times per second, might as well just calculate collisions and physics only at those times and assume nothing happens in-between. If you don't know how many frames are displayed then you h... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ajbfyd | Why do old web addresses often redirect to completely random places? | Some background: I was surfing around today and out of nostalgia I decided to check an old website I used to frequent about 15 years ago. This place used to be a European mac-related community, but today it redirected me to a Japanese blog (which according to Google Translate handed out some general advice about lawyer... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeu4z1g"
],
"text": [
"It is called cyber squatting. The squatters buy such old domains to place a link or redirect you to some web page which they want to make popular."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ajdcz4 | What is a database package, and how does it work? | I'm trying to get my head around this but the Oracle PLSQL resources I'm looking at don't clarify much. I need a really simple analogy. Help? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeusdk0",
"eeusz4z"
],
"text": [
"A package is basically like a folder. It helps you organize stuff. A database allows you to create your own functions. (E.g. a function could delete an entry from two different tables.) You can put multiple of those into a single package and then grant a ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ajdex7 | How is electricity generated? Is there any difference between solar and coal? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeum2u0",
"eeulqna",
"eeumbr8"
],
"text": [
"Electricity can be generated in many ways, but in all cases it is about creating a difference in voltage. Just like gravity causes things with mass to move from high places to low places, the \"electric field\" causes things with electric c... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajemz0 | Can listening to noise cancelling headphones damage your hearing? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeuvnvq",
"eeuuzkb",
"eeuv8xn"
],
"text": [
"just the opposite, if you keep turning up the volumn to hear what you want, you are harming your hearing. Active noise canceling sends out waves that are shaped like the incoming waves just shifted so they cancel each other out. So, when it... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajgaah | How can the weather forcast be wildly different depending on which provider you check it with? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eevafph"
],
"text": [
"Because it depends on the available data and how they interpret it. Someone who had access to most/all weather stations can give a more accurate prediction than someone with a few. And if most provides only have few stations (compared to the total or in certain areas) a... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajgdp2 | how come older video games have fewer glitches | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eevaj69",
"eevh4bv",
"eevareo",
"eevb6bb",
"eevanog"
],
"text": [
"Part of it was that older video games were simpler, and thus had less opportunity for glitches to arise. Part of it was that older video games were a lot stricter on finding glitches, since you couldn't just fi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajjiuw | Why can low budget media sites detect and require you to turn off adblockers, but YouTube cannot? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eew3cst"
],
"text": [
"They easily could, but it isn't a war they want to start right now. The tiny gains aren't worth the PR shitstorm and cat and mouse games that would follow."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajkfgz | How does Google Maps know where the driver is facing know when traffic is heavy? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eew9cn4",
"eewbwro"
],
"text": [
"Where the driver is facing: smartphones have a built-in compass so it can tell your direction. When traffic is heavy: if enough people are using Google maps with their GPS on, google can use that to show how many vehicles are in an area and how long it ta... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajlomm | How does a thermal camera know what's hot from a distance? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eewjf8y"
],
"text": [
"Every body that has a temperature radiates light. For our usual temperatures, most of that light is infrared. A thermal camera is able to see that infrared light, and simply converts it into visible light so that you can see it too."
],
"score": [
8
],
"text... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajneal | Are we ever getting real physics in video games? | I was watching For Honor's Warrior's Den and in the last part a dev comes to talk about character rigging and how important it is. It reminded me that in many video games what we see is nothing but a premade animation to simulate physics. Are we ever getting real physics? I understand water is really hard to do but wha... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eewx0er",
"eewxi79",
"eewx55g"
],
"text": [
"That depends on how you define \"real physics\". Really, *everything* you see in a videogame is nothing but animation made to simulate physics, whether it is premade animation, or generated on the computer on the fly. But chances are that f... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ajneqs | How can a space probe like New Horizons capture such clear images of fast moving AND far objects in space while it is moving at such fast speeds itself, when my DSLR/phone camera can't even take photos with a decent amount of clarity with small hand vibrations? | I'm [referring to this]( URL_0 ). From my limited understanding of astronomy and astronautical engineering, I know that because space is almost a vacuum, the motion of both the lenses on the space probe and the asteroid itself are nearly constant, making it easier to do motion-tracking of such fast moving objects in sp... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eewx5hh",
"eexadut",
"eewxrg0",
"eewy6n3",
"eexjozf"
],
"text": [
"I would say its because the distances in space are higher, so it moves much less, relatively. Try and take a picture of a mountain while you run on a road. Assuming you can move smoothly (like a spaceprobe) the... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ajoq7e | Why do computers, phones, laptops etc. get slower as they get older? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eex8pln",
"eexc0bp",
"eexeao9",
"eex8sny"
],
"text": [
"Mostly it has to do with how much software you have installed on your device. The more stuff you have running the more computing power each application takes. When you first open your phone it has very few things running in t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajoqiu | How do metal detectors work? | How do they know the difference between metal and other materials? How do they discriminate? Someone please satiate my curiosity. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eex8ep1",
"eex8ibe"
],
"text": [
"Metal detectors work by creating a magnetic field. When a piece of metal enters this magnetic field the equipment is built to sense the loss of energy that is flowing into this piece of metal, even really small.",
"Metal detectors set up a large magne... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ajr3wi | How packets of data work in wireless connections? | I understand waves and electromagnetism as such, but how are "packets" of data transferred with waves? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eexycre",
"eexzlcb"
],
"text": [
"A packet is just a collection of individual bits that are packaged together. There is a header that describes the type of data that is inside the packet, where it's going and where it came from. Then at the end of the packet there is typically a small che... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ajsg9s | Even though cell phone cameras have made incredible advancements in the last few years, why do they still struggle to capture things like stars, the moon, fireworks, etc. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeye1m9"
],
"text": [
"There is one thing in common with all cellphone cameras and that is they have small wide angle lenses that can collect a limited amount of light and you hold it in your hand So the amount of light from the stars low so you need long exposure times and cell phone camera ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aju7tw | why/how is a 24 MP full frame camera sensor better than a 26 MP APS-C camera sensor | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eeyut7t"
],
"text": [
"A \"full frame\" sensor is the \"full\" size of a 35mm film frame while APS-C sensors are smaller, originally shrunk to make compact (film) cameras smaller. Given that the pixel count of the sensors are almost the same, the individual sensor elements (think of them as p... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajvahf | Why don’t you get a zap when you have a charger plugged into the wall and touch the metal parts that plug into your phone? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eez1uiq",
"eez1yx5",
"eez1w99"
],
"text": [
"Your skin is a bit of an insulator and can resist the 5-12 volts that typical electronics (and car batteries) work with. Electricity penetrates into insulating materials depending on the voltage; voltage is like height for falling rocks, th... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajy1dw | why is 3G and lesser cellular reception often completely unusable, when it used to be a perfectly functional signal strength for using data? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eezr6gs",
"ef0hpzq",
"ef01jxn",
"ef01wj5",
"eezwvo9",
"ef00wv1",
"ef045h6",
"ef0a8xr",
"ef04jia",
"ef0qt7g",
"ef0f80n"
],
"text": [
"In addition to the relative data usage already described, the 3G network *is* actually worse than it was previously. The... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ajzsbp | How do the grooves in records make music? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef06o08"
],
"text": [
"[The grooves]( URL_0 ) in a record are basically the [audio waveform]( URL_1 ) that needs to be played. A needle runs along the grooves, being wiggled by the grooves, and the needle then uses that wiggling to wiggle air, which is sound."
],
"score": [
3
],
"... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ak2vfa | With the current technology in the 21st century, how can commercial airplanes disappear? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef106ra",
"ef0zp9q"
],
"text": [
"At the moment, planes are tracked with sensors on the ground, so with the exception of a few sensors which are present out at sea, there’s lots of black spots which mean if a plan enters this area, they’re essentially ‘off grid’ and can’t be tracked. Ther... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ak517h | Why and how do rechargable batteries eventually die faster/lose their charge faster? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef1ov22"
],
"text": [
"Electric is the movement of the particles called electrons. To construct a battery you need two materials. One that wants to give electrons and another one that wants to take electrons or wants to give electrons with a less power than the first one. When you put these t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ak84cs | How did humans train horses to willingly charge into danger or death? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef2emmg"
],
"text": [
"Horses, like all animals, don't have a concept of their mortality. They have instincts which tell them to avoid trouble that helps keep them alive. However once you get a horse used to the sounds of warfare, they'll charge right in to wherever you point them. Horses tha... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ak8auv | Why do football games from the 50's look as if they are slowed down compared to today's games? | I mean how fast the speed of the film is going, it seems as if the video produced by the TV in the 50's is slower than today's. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef2gas8"
],
"text": [
"Less effective drugs. Smaller pool of players to draw from. Nutrition. Most important factor is that player moves encompassed a wider range of choices. Less specific and intensive coaching over the player's history and thus less muscle-memory-specific moves."
],
"sc... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ak8tt8 | How does rice get water out of phones? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef2lau1"
],
"text": [
"It acts as a desiccant absorbs the water from the inside of the device. Water likes to be in equilibrium and if it’s dryer outside the phone than inside the water goes out."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ak8xex | How do digital thermometers accurately read the temperature? How do they figure it out? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef2n9i5",
"ef2njok"
],
"text": [
"The most common way is a *thermistor*, a kind of resistor whose resistance varies with temperature - the warmer it gets, the more it resists electrical current going through it. All conductors exhibit this phenomenon, but in ordinary resistors you choose ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aka4b0 | what is the relationship between bandwith in Fourier and bandwidth in networking? | Hello I know bandwidth is the difference between your maximum frequency and your minimum frequency when doing a (fast) fourier transform. But how does that relate to networking where you want to send information from point A to point B? Thanks | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef2zg9k"
],
"text": [
"It doesnt. In network bandwidth is how many bits you can send per second. Bandwidth have many many different meanings."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
aka6r3 | If Google homepage had one banner ad how much revenue would it generate in a day? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef31liu"
],
"text": [
"For google or the company advertising? Paid by click? Google has 3.3 billion daily searches, 3,300,000,000 views, with 10% of searches resulting in clicking online ads Thats 330,000,000. With 1.6% of those meeting the paid per click requirements, So we have 5,280,000. W... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akalsw | Why did people believe in old medical practices like bloodletting for so long if those practices were not very effective? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef367jw",
"ef39f2c",
"ef3m9qo"
],
"text": [
"[Confirmation bias]( URL_0 ). Same reason people still think a lot of things which aren’t true, which includes you and me. Human brains aren’t designed to accurately model reality, they are just evolved enough to be better than pure chance ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akax5v | Why are Apple airpods ridiculed so much? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef36qah"
],
"text": [
"Because they are so dear I think. That and they have introduced a wire to keep you from losing them."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akcjwx | how are the voices recorded to animated shows/movies? How is the timing of the voice and the animation accomplished? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef3oswr"
],
"text": [
"Often, the voices are recorded before the final animation. So the animation is done to match the voice, not the other way around."
],
"score": [
11
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ake9nq | Why are astronauts allowed to do water droplet tricks on the ISS? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef45kxq"
],
"text": [
"Pure water isn't conductive - it needs dissolved salts to become conductive. In addition, the air has a certain amount of water content already. These escaped water droplets will eventually evaporate into the air. Furthermore, if the water droplets were able to come int... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akfb02 | What is the difference between the World Wide Web and the Internet? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef4dvo9"
],
"text": [
"The Internet is a network that provides many services: email, DNS lookup, VOIP phone calls, and **web browsing**. The WWW is the part of the Internet that's visible using web browsing. There is another sorta-WWW part of the Internet, that only visible with the Tor encry... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akg1dj | Why is the audio mix on movies/TV so much quieter than YouTube/online video? | Just something I've noticed where I have to raise the volume on my TV significantly to hear dialogue on an HBO show compared to watching a YouTube video. Is there a technical reason for this, like higher volume required meaning the range of sound can be better for more premium content, or is it just the way things work... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef4iqhj",
"ef4jqwz"
],
"text": [
"Because people who don't know how to record digital files think that red is a great thing and obviously means that it's barely loud enough, as opposed to actual recording engineers who know what they're doing... Sometimes. ( dynamic range)",
"There ar... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
akhmfm | how does a video game cd work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef4zqxm",
"ef4x2bc",
"ef5rt42"
],
"text": [
"The CD just stores a representation of data, the drive shines a laser onto the CD and interprets the light reflected into binary (look up how a CD works for the hardware info). For a game it simply reads the files from the CD the same way i... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akhyc2 | How does a touchscreen know the difference between skin and other materials? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef4yupq"
],
"text": [
"It doesn't exactly. A touchscreen like the one on your smartphone works by detecting the change in electric fields when something electrically conductive, like your finger, touches it. It's not based on pressure. Something that doesn't conduct electricity, like plastic,... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akk8ot | What is the meaning of VoIP in simple terms? | What is exactly VoIP? And why are countries across the world regulating or blocking VoIP? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef5jr8o"
],
"text": [
"> What is exactly VoIP? Voice over IP. Instead of using the traditional single telephone wire it is a protocol for transmitting telephone calls over an \"IP network\", the same sort of network that computers communicate using. A telephone could be plugged into ethernet ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
akkn29 | Why do CGI humans still look unnatural? | With all the advances in technology and realistic lighting and mapping and ray tracing, things that normally aren't recognizably CG like cars and buildings and whatnot look normal, while CG humans still seem unnatural looking. What is it about the lighting or movements that makes CGI humans feel not "real"? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef5njbj",
"ef5mbv7",
"ef5rk64"
],
"text": [
"It's because we're social animals, trained to pick up on subtle emotional queues in facial movements. Faces are the first things in this world that most of us recognize. And it's mostly subconscious. We've been doing it that long. CGI still... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ako0u4 | FM/AM radio | ELI5: How are FM/AM radios able to send/receive music/audio over distances via radio waves and then be able to have it be played back as the actual sound? For something that has been around for probably something like 100 years, I still get a headache trying to understand it. How are the waves turned back into actual a... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef6cndl",
"ef6ctht"
],
"text": [
"You can search to get more detailed explanations, this is a frequently asked question. AM radio has a radio carrier with a frequency much higher than sound. The transmitter changes the amplitude of this signal up and down. The receiver measures this up an... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
akoc9h | How Game Genie devices work. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef6ft14",
"ef6j98f"
],
"text": [
"The game genie was sitting between the cartridge and the console itself. Whenever the console wanted to read from the cartridge, the genie could decide to either give it the correct data from the game, or to give it its own data instead. The genie was des... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akop46 | Why do Bluetooth speakers take so long to connect to phones that are regularly connected to the speaker? | It’s so annoying | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef6rb3y"
],
"text": [
"It helps to think about the Bluetooth connection like a hose with lots of spurting instead of a nice stream. To make the audio you hear seem smooth, the receiver will usually have some buffer it uses to store the information before playing it. This is kinda like having ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
akp6ft | How long can an aircraft carrier carry on operating without docking and resupplying? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef6neak",
"ef6n987",
"ef6q80y",
"ef6o6xa",
"ef6s5r5"
],
"text": [
"> water desalination system Yes. > generate own food No. > renewable energy source American aircraft carriers are nuclear powered and typically run ~25 years before they are due their mid-service life refit and... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akpp60 | Why it is that in TV adverts that involve phones, they use a video which is really badly synced with the finger instead of using the actual application. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef6sfvx",
"ef6soxm",
"ef6udb9"
],
"text": [
"If you've ever taken a picture of your computer screen, you'll notice moire banding because screen blink in a sweeping way. The same thing would happen if they used real phones. It's the lesser of evils.",
"The badly synced part is just... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akq2yo | Smart scalee | So I received a Eufy Life Smart Scale for Christmas. A scale measuring weight makes perfect sense to me, but what kind of black magic does it use to measure the other categories like BMI, BMR, Muscle Mass, Bone Mass, Visceral Fat, Water Weight, etc.? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef6w1rl"
],
"text": [
"These scales work by effectively measuring your body's electrical resistivity. A small electric shock is sent up one leg and comes down the other. They then use this value to estimate parameters. It should be noted that these estimates are usually highly inaccurate so t... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
akqjnk | Whenever I buy a video game disc, (Xbox, Ps4, etc.) It says it needs to download the game into the console. Isn't the game already on the disc? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef7026j",
"ef6zuik",
"ef7o8b4",
"ef7anu3"
],
"text": [
"On modern consoles it has to install the data from the disc onto the console's hard drive. That's because blu-ray drives are just too slow to load data for modern games, so it has to be installed on a faster (although still p... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aktv5r | How accurate is the DNA testing done by law enforcement to identify criminals and their victims? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef7viog",
"ef8bg21"
],
"text": [
"Very. Think of out of all the people in the world you have markers from your parents, grand parents, great grandparents etc.. Now they can get close matches if you are a sibling or cousin because a lot of the markers are similar but it is narrowed down so... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akwk0f | What makes the phone respond to the touchscreen? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef8joa4",
"ef8ie9z"
],
"text": [
"I'm sorry it's long... Hope it helps and hope anyone who needs clarification reads this. There are mainly 2 types of touch screens. One is a resistive touchscreen and another on is called a capacitive touch screen. Let's call them RT and CT for ease The R... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
akyvki | How can we freeze molecules to almost absolute 0? | It makes sense to heat things up you give them energy in various forms but I wanted to know how to freeze things to such low temperature. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef96mnb"
],
"text": [
"When you decrease the pressure of a gas, it will cool down. If you compress it, it'll heat up. So you can first compress a gas to a really high pressure, let it cool down, and then expand again - and it'll be really cold. Then you compress some of the cold gas again, an... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
akzxhi | How do night vision goggles and cameras work? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"ef9es76"
],
"text": [
"If we put big spotlights on cameras, they could work just fine at night, right? Only, those big spotlights might keep us awake at night and would use a lot of energy to make it bright for the cameras. Sometimes, you'll see cameras with spotlights of different colors — l... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
al2ry1 | Why can torrent downloads resume themselves from their last (download) status even if the (net) connection is lost but browser downloads just get corrupted/lost if the connection is lost halfway through? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efahmmr",
"efaz3g4",
"efa5410",
"efa5zuu",
"efb2fc4",
"efa5nku",
"efbbhaa",
"efarsqb",
"efb0zs9"
],
"text": [
"Let’s say your download is a Lego set you want to build. In one case you have the instructions and decide to get the pieces from different places, it ... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
al458z | Heated seats | How do they work? Specifically, why are they not in more cars? With technology, I feel like some things are a luxury and then become common over time. Look at TVs. LED TVs are now cheap since 4k are out. How come heated seats aren't cheaper or seen in more cars? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efajs6r",
"efakc78",
"efakqb8"
],
"text": [
"Screens are getting cheaper because of the sheer volume of them being made. TVs, monitors, phones, all sorts of other screens from the one's on fridges to FitBits and Apple Watches to the touch screen on the oven thing at Subway. Heated sea... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
al68fe | Why/how does audio desync with movies or videos while you’re watching when they're pre-recorded? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efb4m75"
],
"text": [
"On digital recordings, the audio and video are kept on separate tracks. It's like a video file and an audio file are smooshed together and played at the same time. If something goes wrong, one of those tracks can get a little ahead or behind where it's supposed to be."
... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
al8xdo | Why does the change machine at Chipotle give me such weird combinations? I get 56¢ as a quarter, 3 dimes, and a penny. What is the algorithm doing to decide I don't get the usual 2 quarters, nickel, penny? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efbusqr",
"efbvcgy",
"efbw7za"
],
"text": [
"Quarters are usually the first to run out, it probably switched over to another combination when they ran out of quarters.",
"Usually when I get change back in lower denominations, it’s because whoever did it wants me to tip them... did... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aldshb | How does the Samsung Health app measure heart beat, oxygen saturation and stress levels? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efd5unz"
],
"text": [
"For Oxygen Saturation: > SpO2 can be measured by pulse oximetry, an indirect, non-invasive method (meaning it does not involve the introduction of instruments into the body). It works by emitting and then absorbing a light wave passing through blood vessels (or capillar... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
ale85b | How do devices reconstruct a piece of information that has been sent by radio waves? | I learned about frequencies and amplitude today but this brought me more questions. Devices understand 1's and 0's to make a program and I suppose that if a 1 is missing or a 0 the device won't understand what you are asking for and here comes what is troubling my mind when data is sent from your router to your device ... | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efdb3wi"
],
"text": [
"There is a lot of error correction in digital communication! There's two basic techniques: We can send a checksum along with the data. If I want to send you 01001001, I can also send \"btw there are 3 1s in the data I just sent.\" That way, on the off chance that one of... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
ale9az | How do you make a car more "reliable" | Seems to me all the awards come after the model of car has been out on the market, how do the engineers design a car with the goal of it being more reliable than the average? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efdax38",
"efdgk1r"
],
"text": [
"In general reliable cars come from years of iterative design and improvement. For example, you might design a car that ends up having 10 common faults. You fix these faults in the next redesign of the car and release it to the market. Consumers then disco... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
almszq | How do voice assistants like Siri or Google Assistant say so many things? | I have a non-English name, and it still got it spot on. Almost always say things properly, or at least how I imagine I'd say a word if I hadn't heard it before. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"eff840b"
],
"text": [
"I *think* it has a bank of \"noises\" or syllables so all of the noises are put together when talking, so your name will be made from those noises, like it is with most other names"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
} | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
alnhep | How do game consoles ( PS4, XBOX One) run games smoothly although they don’t have the same system requirements as powerful PCs? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"effdfni",
"effj1qj",
"effcuw6",
"efft2s6"
],
"text": [
"Console games are coded specifically to match the architecture (mainboard/CPU/GPU) present in each console. PC games need to be coded to be compatible with multiple different configurations.",
"If I said \"take a seat\" b... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
alrfyc | How does public private encryption work? | How is something locked with a public key opened with a secret key? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efgl06l"
],
"text": [
"Let's say Susan and Bob want to send secret messages to each other. They want be sure, that nobody else can read their messages, and they want to be sure that each message they receive has indeed been written by the other (and not by some impersonator). In order to achi... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
alsnwj | What is the advantage of shooting RAW images in photography? | Versus, for example, a super high quality JPEG that doesn't need to be "post-processed" by a heavy duty CPU. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efgndz8",
"efgnhsr"
],
"text": [
"RAW holds the exact data that was captured by the camera's sensor. When converting to jpeg, a lot of manipulation is done on the data - demosaicing, white balance, color translation, noise reduction, compression etc.. All of these can be configured with v... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
alt2vg | What stops solar panels from being more efficient? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efgsc6l"
],
"text": [
"The range of light that they can create electricity from. Most solar panels are utilizing near infrared and infrared (we perceive this as radiant heat). However, this is due to ease of manufacturing and scale of availability. They are in the 20's% (from years ago) range... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
aludbu | How do game companies make a game engine that requires more power than contemporary computers can make? | Prime example is Crysis, a game where the most powerful PCs at the time couldn't run the game's Ultra mode. | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efh1bun",
"efh3cxh",
"efh2mfg",
"efh2q9y"
],
"text": [
"Developers will have at least some very high spec machines with the very latest hardware. That might not be properly representative of what will be out when the game is released, but you can estimate that if it's at least pla... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
alv5wk | How do programs like Siri or Alexa know how to pronounce words with pronunciations that aren’t apparent based on spelling? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"efhc9gb"
],
"text": [
"There are a couple ways that these systems say words and phrases. First is a simple computer sticking together different words and sounds. If the system doesn't have a particular name prerecorded it will give it a best guess. It's pretty obvious to tell when this happen... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dbq1fy | the basics of HPC (high powered computers) and computer nodes | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f23cwa1"
],
"text": [
"Well first off, HPC means High *Performance* Computing. It does end up using a lot of power, which is a big part of the design process for big HPC systems. The basic idea is that if you have a big problem that you want to solve, and you can split that problem into a bun... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dbsanq | How can the NSA activate your microphone while your device is turned off? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f23p9lf",
"f23q5x9",
"f23otiz",
"f23mggw",
"f23pc5y",
"f243y75"
],
"text": [
"The NSA can't, as far as anyone knows, activate some random microphone on some random guys laptop. If they have a terrorist, then they find a way to load a spyware program which gives them backgr... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] | |
dbsfsx | What is the difference between hotspot data and mobile data? | Technology | explainlikeimfive | {
"a_id": [
"f23ndbx"
],
"text": [
"I’m under the assumption that it’s still the same data speeds and the laptop is basically toggling your phone’s data. Cellular companies just want to make enough profit as possible and do not want to allow you to use multiple devices on one data plan so they limit how m... | [
"url"
] | [
"url"
] |
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