query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1
value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
How do the 1800+ satellites not crash into each other? | [
"Third, some percentage of them are in geosynchronous/geostationary orbit, meaning they orbit the earth at the same rate that it is rotating so they effectively don't move relative to the ground on earth. Those satellites could never hit each other."
] | [
"Satellites are small, usually no bigger than a car or a truck, and they also don't give out any light. Can you spot a car from 100km away?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Science and Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the argument about Science and Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the argument about Science and Technology:"
} |
If a fugitive like scenario were to play out in real life, would the person have to go to jail even though their innocence was proven but they broke out of jail? | [
"Most likely they would. If they had been found not guilty and were aware, why would they try to escape prison? The sentence would probably be reduced to a class B misdemeanor."
] | [
"Pure pragmatism. It simply is not possible to have a trial immediately. So you have two options: let them go and hope they show up for the trial, or imprison them until the trial happens. If you think they actually would show up, you let them put down some collateral and then go free until the trial- this is bail.... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Headphone specs often include impedance and sensitivity. What do they mean, and how much does it affect my listening experience? | [
"Sensitivity tells you how much sound they'll develop for a given amount of power from the source. If you're plugging into a mains powered amp that has plenty of power, poor sensitivity won't affect your listening experience. You can just turn the volume up. But if you're plugging into a miniaturized battery powere... | [
"Learn the difference between open and closed headphones. Honestly that’s one of the only real specs that will truly affect your listening experience. If you’re going for speakers, then pay attention to your room dimensions and how you place your speakers. Most audiophile culture is frankly a rip off, but there are... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
What's the difference between 32 and 64bit computer systems, and why aren't there, say 128bit systems. | [
"Firstly, there’s never any danger running 32 on 64. Ok, so you want an ELI5. Try this. Two people with different sized mouths. The guy with the small mouth can speak perfectly well and perfectly loudly. The guy with the big mouth can do everything the other can but he can also wiggle his tongue independently wh... | [
"It is a limitation on memory addressing. Each part of memory has a specific address a 32 bit operating systems has a much more limited number of memory addresses available. The limit is actually closer to 4GB but you have to include ROM, BIOS, processor cache and video memory into it, given that most graphic cards... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
When a DJ gets hired to play at a public event, do they mix their own music or have they paid the rights to other artists beats? | [
"They can do both. A Disk Jockey is as the name suggests someone who changes disks on the turntable. So when you get hired as a DJ you are paid to play music for the guests depending on the atmosphere. This is almost always assumed to be other peoples music. You need agreements to be able to play the music and then... | [
"You are not. But, convincing them no one does covers of songs represented by those agencies could be a challenge. If it were me and I were confident my acts would always be willing to do only original music, I'd tell the agencies to fuck off. But, make sure *no one ever plays a cover*, because it will open you up ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How dangerous are X-Rays | [
"An X-Ray is in the µSv range of radiation. So you have gotten less then 100µSv of radiation from those X-Rays. This is less then half the radiation you get from the potassium in your body every year, about the radiation you get on a long flight or if you prefer the same amount as you get from eating around a hundr... | [
"What sounds worst? Plant-eating bacteria or flesh-eating bacteria?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is the purpose of eyebrows? | [
"So seeing this I had to look it up cause you made me curious lol... Their main function is to prevent sweat, water, and other debris from falling down into the eye socket, but they are also important to human communication and facial expression."
] | [
"How do you define your hints of schizophrenia?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
If the equator is hottest during the day because it's the closest to the sun, shouldn't it be the coldest during the night when it's farthest from the sun? | [
"Being closer to the sun is not a factor in the temperature of the equator. It is about the angle of light that the sun's light has when hitting the earth. The more direct the angle the more energy that part of the earth absorbs and the part of the earth that gets the most direct sunlight year round is the equator.... | [
"Seasons are the result of the tilt of the Earth. Earth spins on a slight angle compared to the circle of its orbit around the Sun. This means that at different times of year, the poles are pointed towards or away from the Sun. This affects how much daylight the poles get, with the impact decreasing as you get towa... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it that some wake up immediately when their alarms go off and others sleep through it? | [
"Part of it has to do with where you are in the REM cycle when it is time to get up. When you need to get up at a certain time, it is just as important to plan when you go to bed and how long you're going to be asleep when it is time to get up. So many people just set an alarm and stay up until they're tired or pl... | [
"It depends on the sleep cycle you're in when your alarm goes off. Most of what I've read about this states that it's better to just get out of bed. Hitting snooze makes the rest of your day more difficult. That's what I've read. I don't know if this is factual information. But it does work for me. As soon as my al... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment about Sleep and its effects on the body:"
} |
If the world stopped spinning for 24 hours, what effects would this have for humanity and why? | [
"If the Earth stopped, you'd still keep moving. At about 1000 km/h. The air, too, would keep moving - imagine the most ferocious hurricane conceivable, ravaging the whole Earth at once. The surface of the planet would be scored clean - and that's before we even consider what the oceans would do. And whatever eve... | [
"Truthfully, we don't really know, that is part of the mission of the International Space Station. To monitor the effects long periods of weightlessness have on the human body."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about writing:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about writing:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How are living lactic/yogurt cultures not killed during digestion? | [
"Gut flora is a misnomer, as that \"flora\" inside your digestive tract has no plants. What is meant by gut flora actually are the hordes of symbiotic bacteria that live inside you, and help you brake down foods and digest them. These bacteria are harmless to your body (as long as your stomach isn't ruptured), they... | [
"In a nutshell, sour cream is cream that has been allowed to ferment with due to a specific type of bacteria, yogurt is milk that has been allowed to ferment due to a specific type of bacteria. Really, that's it. Yogurt started out as milk, sour cream started out as cream. Additionally the bacteria used is differen... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about Food and cooking:"
} |
How do multiple programmers work on a game/project together? Do they each work on completely different parts or do they have to communicate on what they've been doing and what needs to be done? | [
"Planning, documenting code, and compartmentalizing tasks. Or, in lots of cases, it's just total chaos."
] | [
"It comes down to budget, engine, and genre. Each will influence the other. A lot of companies have exclusive software and engines, but will share with others. Engines are the central building block for the game, and house all the code and data. Version Control software is used to \"check out\" and edit parts of th... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Video game design:"
} |
Why does really old video footage (for example WWII footage) seem to have faster playback than normal? | [
"WWII footage is usually ok, cameras had come a long way by 1939. WWI footage is from before 1918, and was taken with very crude cameras that used hand cranks or unpredictable early electric motors to turn the film reels. Because of that, the framerate of the footage isn't a constant - the delay between frames vari... | [
"PAL vs NTSC standards. In the olden days of normal broadcast, PAL contains a lot more detail, but at the sacrifice of frame rate. Each shot is higher detail, but a lot slower so it blurs on movement and has different focus values. To us in the UK, American shows look very cheap and lack a sense of feeling and auth... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
When is something redox / reduction / oxidatio reaction | [
"OILRIG Oxidation is loss, reduction is gain If something is oxidised it loses electrons, if something is reduced it gains electrons."
] | [
"it's chemical reaction and chemical reactions have specific rate. second thing, you can speed up reaction by changing current, but charging is exothermic reaction, so higher current - > faster reaction - > more heat in less time."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why are different people's "attention span"/ the amount of time the commit to something different? And how can I improve mine? | [
"Turn off your phone, and pick up a book. Read until you've finished the book. Turn your phone back on. If you choose to live in a world of constant interruption, you are teaching your brain to agilely jump from topic to topic every 15 seconds. This gives you a 15 second attention span. If that's not what you want,... | [
"Energy is a necessary component to do any work. Analytical thinking is one of the higher-order brain functions, and thus requires a lot of energy to focus enough attention to analyze the material you're reading. I'd suggest getting off of Reddit and away from distractions if you want to make concentrating easier o... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Was there singularity before the big bang (the whole universe compressed in a tiny circular mass) OR it's absolutely false? | [
"The concept of BEFORE the big bang might not even make sense since time and space are intertwined. There would be no time \"before\" if time doesn't exist."
] | [
"Your number is inaccurate. I think the *solar system* is a about 6.6 B years old, but IIRC, the universe (as we know it) is more like 13 B years old. As for before that, there is the quite literal possibility that \"God only knows\". Maybe God, maybe a black hole collapsing from a greater universe outside our own,... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
why does metal always feel cold even if the room is warm? | [
"Because even a warm room is probably cooler than your body. Because metal transfers heat exceptionally well (it's why we use it for cooking), it will pull heat from your body faster than even the air around you, causing the point of contact to feel colder."
] | [
"It is down to a \"regional\" difference in your body stick your hand in the water and your hand becomes 1 degree colder than the rest of your body, immerse your whole body in the shower and then your whole body is at the same temperature."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the passage about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the passage about Science:"
} |
Humans suffer from muscle atrophy when they don't use muscles for extended periods of time. How come bears can hibernate for months and be just fine? | [
"The method isn't clear, as others have said, but there's a key difference - humans are weird, in that our muscle needs can change very quickly. There's a benefit to being able to build up muscle mass in one are as needed, then lose it when it's not needed. So if an early human had to spend a month travelling, by t... | [
"Horses and other large four-legged animals have issues with laying down for long periods of time. Sure, you will see them laying down here and there, but they can't sustain it for long periods. They end up with blood flow issues to large parts of their bodies. It also puts pressure on their internal organs. A brok... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is it seen as a much more serious crime to kill a police officer as opposed to just a regular civilian? | [
"Killing a civilian is a crime against that citizen. Killing a police officer is a crime against civic order. That's why it's not actually a more serious crime to kill a police officer, but rather a more serious crime to kill a police officer *in the performance of their duty*. If you're a woman who shoots her lyin... | [
"A large part of criminal law deals with motive or intent. For example, killing someone is killing someone, but the legal system says that planning out someone's murder and then executing your plan is worse than just murdering someone in \"the heat of the moment.\" So similarly, beating the crap out of a black man ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Law and Criminal Justice:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Law and Criminal Justice:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
If the flu is rapidly changing, how can scientists certainly identify the flu? | [
"The changes the flu goes through affect some very specific aspects of the virus's structure, which is why we describe flu variations with titles such as H1N1 or H3N2. A strain with either of those characteristics could be more or less serious as there could be other differences, but in terms of how our body ident... | [
"There are many different strains of flu, and they have to build up a large amount of vaccines in time for the winter flu season, so they have to try to predict which strains are going to be the important ones. They do this by watching the flu season in the other hemisphere, watching the trends and try to properly ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why do so many articles say: "whose real name is" when talking about a famous person directly after mentioning them? Most of them obviously want to be refered to their "stage name"/nickname etc | [
"Because readers like to see that information. A journalist isn't working for the celebrity (or whoever they are reporting on), they are working for their readers. Also, if the article reflects poorly on the celebrity, they may want to hold them accountable, and letting them \"hide behind\" a stage name doesn't he... | [
"In Korea, China, Vietnam, and several other countries your surname (family name, the name passed down by your father) goes before your given name. People from those countries generally switch the names to the western naming convention when they move to the west. However this is more problematic for famous people b... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why tumble dried towels feel soft and fluffy while the naturally air dried towels feel hard and rough? | [
"Because when the towel hang drys gravity is pulling the entire wetness of it down so all of it drys facing one direction. In a tumble dryer its constantly moving and not facing anyone direction"
] | [
"It isn't the wash but rather the heated dryer that kills sweater softness. Check the lint trap in your dryer. All the soft fluff in it used to be in your clothes! The heat if a dryer also burns the tiny soft fibers in sweaters. Air dry your soft sweaters to keep them soft."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
My office computer has a sticker saying "Proctected from theft". How does a sticker protect a laptop PC from theft? | [
"The sticker itself doesn't protect it from being stolen. It's like a warning sign \"security camera in use,\" it just warns a potential thief security measures may have been built into the computer. Some computers have software that inform the owner as to it's location, like many phones and tablets have an option ... | [
"So you won't take the headphones with you when you leave. It's an anti-theft measure. Headphones are cheap, but some people would still steal them."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Is distribution of smoke random? | [
"It's not *random* but it is *chaotic*. In other words, if you exhaled *exactly* the same, the patterns would be identical. If you changed by even the *tiniest* amount, the patterns would be totally different. It is a classic example of turbulence, which is deterministic but basically so complicated that it is impo... | [
"More importantly, what's the difference between hot and best?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What does it mean “feels like” when they talk about weather? | [
"It feels like -3 because of wind chill. The actual ambient temperature is 3 degrees, but when wind hits your skin, the air molecules are slightly heated by your body, and are then blown away. This speeds up the rate of body heat loss from your body, thus causing you to cool down quickly, which is why it feels cold... | [
"It's giving you tonight's expected low, not this morning's. It does no good to know how cold it was early this morning. I want to know how cold it will get later."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
why is there no half step between B and C as well as E and F? | [
"An octave is divided into 12 equally spaced notes, and only after that do we pick out scales. Western music theory specifies scales with 7 notes with very specific spacings between them as sounding the best and most useful for making harmonically functional music. With these spacings, B can slide smoothly up to C ... | [
"If you start at C then the major scale has no sharps or flats. Moving in fifths, (next note G) each following major scale has and increasing number of sharps. G has one, D two, A three and so on. Descending from c in fifths each major scale gas an increasing number of flats. F has one, Bb two, Eb three and so on.... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about music theory:"
} |
Why do radio stations only play a handful of songs (basically on repeat) all day when artists and bands have other great songs? | [
"Many, many experiments have been done with many, many radio formats. The \"Pop 40\" format you seem to be referring to is a result of that study. It turns out most people listen for 30-60 minutes, and want to hear at least 5-6 songs they like in that window. Since you can play about 20 songs an hour, that means 40... | [
"It isn't. TV and radio in the 80's had a lot to do in influencing the length of songs. If they're 3 minutes on average, you can stick the top 10 songs in a 30 minute TV/radio slot. Billy Joel talked about it at one point, because he kept being told that his songs needed to be trimmed to fit time slots."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Music:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Music:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Music:"
} |
What makes bad bacteria bad for your health, and why isn’t it bad anymore once it is killed. (But still in/on your body) | [
"When they are alive they can do what they do to live in your body like feed on you or feed on other stuff in you and poop out poisonous things your body can't handle and also fight with good bacteria for territory in your body for more food. When they are killed they can't do what they do and your body's military,... | [
"Your stomach is full of acid, which not only breaks down the food but also kills most things on it. beyond that, your intestines are home to colonies of beneficial bacteria who are better adapted to your gut than most anything on your food, and not about to let some new germ mess with their home. Besides, safely c... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do noise canceling headphones work? | [
"Active Noice Cancelling ( ANC ) Headphones have microphones to detect noise ( car / train / whatever ) Any sound is a soundwave The ANC Headphones detect the waves, calculate what part of them would reach your ear, and send their own soundwaves. Both soundwaves cancel each other out, resulting in silcence Obv a v... | [
"The use active noise reduction. There are two microphones, one pointed towards the mouth and one pointed away. One picks up speech + noise and the other just picks up noise. Subtract the 2nd signal from the first and you are just left with the speech. Similar technology is used in telephones, noise cancelling hea... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What are Halide Ions? | [
"The \"halogens\" are the family of elements with seven valence electrons and a powerful hunger for more. Fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine all share roughly the same reactivity profile, and will swipe an electron off other molecules to create negatively charged ions. Collectively they're called halide ions. ... | [
"Being Black Does Actually Have (Relatively Minor) Health Consequences, It's Just That They're Obviated By Modern Life. There's An Energy Cost To Have Extra Melanin, Even A Small One, So If You Don't Need It It Won't Be Selected For. Melanin Reduces Vitamin-D Uptake From The Sun If Sunlight Is Lower Than You're Ada... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
How do they build the lighthouses and other buildings from those photos where giant waves are constantly crashing into them? | [
"They build them at another time of year, when the seas are calmer. The photos are taken at the very highest wave times."
] | [
"Besides the fact that it is sitting on protected ocean life, that part of the sea turns into a mess in the fall. If you have seen pictures, it is already sitting in an unstable position on a shelf-like area. When autumn comes around over there, the waves will hammer the Costa Concordia making a rather large mess a... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why does Mitch McConnell have so much power? | [
"He is the Senate Majority Leader. & #x200B; The political party that he belongs to, the Republicans, have the majority of the seats in the Senate. According to the Senate's rules (which they get to make up themselves), the majority party gets to vote to elect a leader. That leader is given the power to schedule b... | [
"What's a Tory, and why do so many people seem to hate them?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How come hanging upside down for a long time doesn’t effect bats like it would humans? | [
"Pressure of a liquid is proportional to the depth of a liquid. So for animals, the blood pressure difference between head and foot (or between head when right side up and upside down) is related to the vertical distance involved. Bats are much, much smaller than humans. Flip a human upside down and the blood vesse... | [
"I believe the suffocate. They weigh so much that they are unable to properly breathe out of water. Something similar to you being unable to breath if someone is sitting on your diaphragm. Also, I would imagine the vast difference in temperature between water and atmosphere would do them harm."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Marine biology:"
} |
If food is used to produce energy in our body, what does sleep actually do? | [
"Sleep is one of the things we still don’t understand very well. We know what not sleeping does to us, but the best we can tell about why we ‘need’ sleep is to ‘recharge’ and ‘rejuvenate’ and maybe clears toxins. It also speeds up some processes that occur while awake like healing and forming memories. But the prim... | [
"If you shut down your metabolism, you can't make use of nutrition, and you would die, because what you are shutting down is the process by which you transform various forms of intake into usable substances for your body. So yes, you'd stop aging."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Health and Wellness:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Health and Wellness:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How can the US Federal Government require people to work without pay? | [
"I'm by no means a legal scholar, but just by common sense, the Thirteenth Amendment does not apply here. This is not slavery or involuntary servitude by any reasonable definition. The federal employees chose this profession and the political risks that are sometimes involved."
] | [
"The taxpayer doesn't like to actually pay money for services provided."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do freshwater rivers come from saltwater sources? | [
"They don't directly come from salt water sources. Water evaporates from any wet surface, the minerals and salts in water do not. These salt-less water going into the sky, form clouds, and rain/snow back to the ground. From there they feed into freshwater rivers, collecting other minerals along the way. I am not aw... | [
"Because ocean water is salt water and lake water is fresh water."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
There had been a lot of nuclear bomb tests since WW2, why are we not in a nuclear winter yet? | [
"A nuclear winter would be the theoretical result of massive amounts of cities and property being on fire and the resulting smoke and soot blocking out the sun. Not the nuclear bombing itself being the issue, but the resulting issue from dropping bombs on a global basis. Similar effects have resulted from large vol... | [
"Imagine you are in a big ball pit just like the one in this picture _URL_0_. Then you do a wee wee in the ball pit. Imagine that the wee wee is nuclear fallout. Now imagine that some other kids get in the ball pit. Do they even notice that you did a wee wee in there? Probably not. That is what all the nuclear bomb... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Why do babies and toddlers not need pillows to sleep but older children/adults do? | [
"It is the relative size of their head to the rest of the body. As your body grows, you need some support to keep your head at a comfortable height on the bed, whereas a baby's head is big enough to not need the support."
] | [
"There are a lot of nerves in our faces. Stimulating these nerves helps to keep you awake. This is why you see babies doing this a lot when they are tired and don't want to go to sleep yet."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What makes mirrors reflective, or anything reflective for that matter? | [
"All things reflect back light. Even rocks, like the moon. Mirrors are so smooth the light comes back in the exact same way it went to the mirror. It's light coming from things to our eyes that let's us see them."
] | [
"Light is a form of electromagnet radiation. It has a frequency that's in a particular range which we can see, but there are lots of other frequencies we can't see. The idea that electromagnetic radiation can pass through things is probably not at all strange to you. For example: - Light can pass through air, water... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Physics:"
} |
How is “Serving Size” determined? What makes up “1 serving”? | [
"In the US, the FDA sets guidelines and rules on what counts. In 2016, they changed it so cans of drinks must count as one serving, no matter how big it is [(link)](_URL_0_) (because who the hell drinks just half a can of soda?). For other foods, there are \"reference amounts\", which are determined by the FDA. For... | [
"Imagine you wanted to pack as much energy into your little seed as possible so the plant baby gets the best head start possible. Fat = 9 calories per gram. Protein or Carbs = 4 calories per gram. Pretty much that."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
what are all these "oils" I keep reading about on posts regarding MLM things? | [
"They're supposedly \"essential oils\". Made from various plants and organisms that *do* have *some* medicinal value, to be sure. But people are under the misguided belief that they are a substitute for actual medicine. Like, my mom thinks that *Thieves* (one of the essential oils) will protect her from MRSA. Which... | [
"I always pop them and nothing happens, don't know what everyone is going on about scars and stuff."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does paper stop glass from breaking when shipped? | [
"Mostly just that it keeps the glass from whacking into other glass things it’s packed near. The wrinkled paper wrapped around it would provide a little cushioning, too. Normally when packing a big box, making sure that everything is immobilized in the box will do the trick."
] | [
"The bags ate filled with nitrogen to keep the chips fresh and to cushion them from being smashed in transit to the store."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do birds sitting on a power line all face the same direction? | [
"Facing into the wind is my guess, but they are very social creatures so may just be following dominant hierarchies (follow the leader)"
] | [
"Do you know how a fan works? If so just turn it around"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Bird behavior:",
"pos": "Represent the argument about Bird behavior:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why are flour explosions so intense? | [
"A fire needs three things: oxygen, fuel and an ignition source. Flour is a good fuel, and it can float in the air. This gives you plenty of fuel and plenty of available oxygen. When ignited, this makes the fire burn up the available fuel quickly and violently"
] | [
"It would be very easy to abuse drugs that act that way. And the consequences of such abuse very dangerous. On another note, why are air-cooled Porsches suddenly unaffordable? Unrelated, just something that intensely annoys me...."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
when someone gets hit by a bullet, wouldnt the pain cause them to pass out or am I getting something completely wrong? | [
"Yea, it certainly can do. It also might not. A random person on the street would probably pass out for a few seconds from the pain because they aren’t expecting to be shot. But a soldier on a battlefield is filled with adrenaline and is subconsciously expecting imminent pain, so is quite unlikely to pass out until... | [
"I've been knocked out due to a work accident. A box with a bunch of old scrap felt on my head, all i heard was a loud noise, after a blink of an eye i was on the ground dazed and confused. The guys who were nearby helped me up, they said i was knocked out for like 30 seconds, went to the hospital and i asked the d... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why should we sleep on our sides and not backs? | [
"As someone who uses a CPAP machine, I’ve been told it’s important to lay on my back to facilitate easier breathing. On the other hand, as an epileptic, I’ve been told to sleep on my side to avoid potentially suffocating if I vomit while having a seizure in my sleep."
] | [
"Your face is swollen when you wake up from sleeping? You might want to stop sleeping hanging upside down, mate."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do electric guitar pickups need to be soldered? Why isn't there a universal socket or something? | [
"Because plugs can get loose or corrode over time and lower the signal integrity. Also a pickup is not really intended to be switched as often to really make a plug necessary"
] | [
"It's easier to wire. You want to connect the + of one battery with the - of the next, and the easiest way to do that is to make an S shape."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
What causes caffeine withdrawal symptoms? What happens in the body when one withdraw from caffeine? | [
"When people are awake, a chemical is produced by the brain telling you to sleep. The brain has special slots where this sleep chemical is collected and interpreted as tiredness. Caffeine can also fit into these slots, stopping the sleep chemical from being collected, meaning you don't feel tired. The brain realise... | [
"Caffeine is technically a drug, albeit a fairly harmless one and accepted by society. It causes your metabolism to increase by elevating heart rate and nervous system activity. Obviously, this is why it can be hard to sleep after drinking coffee. But some people drink a lot of coffee, like a LOT. And since caffein... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
if pressure decreases as altitudes increase, how come pressure builds on the ears/head as airplanes ascend and descend? | [
"The pressure differential is in different directions. When the plane ascends, the pressure in is higher in your inner ear than in the cabin as the cabin air thins out. Once you equalize, the pressure is the same. On descent, the pressure in the cabin rises back to sea level, but the pressure in your inner ear is s... | [
"Because atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude. Suction cups create a vacuum between the cup and a surface, the atmosphere presses on the cup and that way, the cup stays in place, bust as you go higher and the atmospheric pressure decays, the push on the cup is lower and lower until the weight of whatever is... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How are ants able to communicate and work together with such limited brain function? | [
"Most insects are pretty much pre-programmed machines. Get this chemical signal from a nest mate or the queen, do this task. Pretty much true for the vast majority of invertebrates with a few exceptions."
] | [
"Instinct, programmed by millions of years of evolution. Octopodes also happen to be very intelligent for their size and show some quite remarkable problem solving skills."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
If there are no pain receptors in the brain why do migraines and headaches hurt? | [
"Imagine migraines and headaches as different things. Headaches are typically caused by dehydration. Your brain “shrinks a little” from water loss and creates a pressure change inside your skull. This pressure change is felt by neurons in the tissues that line the inside of your skull. Migraines are a malfunction... | [
"Sometimes the worst headaches are migraines, and migraines do more than just hurt your head. They also affect nerves all over your body, including the digestive system. It's possible to take a migraine abortive and not have your head hurt, but still have the headache in that the rest of your body feels screwed up.... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Health:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Health:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does the law work in international waters, or is there no law there? | [
"There is international maritime law. The countries that flag ships also have jurisdiction over crimes committed at sea. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea handles adjudication of cases."
] | [
"They do not have a local law against it. The Federal law applies there, along with the rest of the United States, but that law isn't currently being enforced."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about Law and Politics:"
} |
why aren’t 2x4’s actually 2 inches by 4 inches? | [
"Timber used to be exactly as it was called. So a 2x4 was actually 2x4 inches. Now they are made to be more uniform and are milled and sanded down. So their actual size is closer to 1 1/2 by 3 1/2. Source: _URL_0_"
] | [
"[The US Penny](_URL_1_) has a diameter of .75\" and a thickness of .06\" Let's just compare a stack of pennies to a common 2x4 used in construction. Due to complex historical factors (which would make another ELI5 post to cover (it has, try searching)), the actual size of one is 1.5\"x3.5\" - I'll call it 1.5x3.0 ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Electric car pollution | [
"Aside from the economies of scale for power generation. Many countries are moving towards renewable power generation as well which compounds the environmental impact reduction. But if you really want to have an honest conversation about it, ask about the heavy metals and rare earth mineral mining that it takes to ... | [
"There is but it's for males vs females Title IX"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Scratching bug bites | [
"Because it itches. And the instinct is to scratch. Scratching an itching spot irritates the skin and releases natural painkillers that temporarily alleves the itching. But obviously, because the source of the itching tends to be things like a bug bite, it also spreads the poison and intensifies the itch."
] | [
"Natural response to blades of death closely circling above"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
What makes a fruit ripen and get sweeter after it’s picked? | [
"Not all fruits will do this. Fruits that store a lot of starch will convert their starch to sugars to get sweet, some can still photosynthesize and make more sugars even though they are removed from the plant."
] | [
"As a general rule, animals prefer fruit that is sweet instead of sour. If you are a fruit-bearing plant, you want the fruit to be eaten at a certain point in its development. So in order to encourage that, the fruit is at optimum sweetness when it is developed, and sour before that happens. So why are lemons alway... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do ants carry dead ants back to the nest? | [
"Ants don't really have any understanding of why they are doing certain things, they're pretty much programmed to operate based on certain stimuli. Why did a fellow ant die? infected with a parasite? contagious bacteria or fungus? If the dead or dying ant is taken away from the next or where the colony is active, t... | [
"They are able to smell it using their antennas. Once a scout finds food, they bring a small bit back to their colony, which leaves a chemical trail leading back to the food"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do foot peeling masks (like the Baby Foot Peel) take several days to start working? | [
"The callouses on your feet are very thick (thicker than anywhere else on the body), and products like that only penetrate so far. Also, anything strong enough to peel away all that dead skin in one go would cause severe burns to any less calloused areas it came in contact with (like your fingertips as you're apply... | [
"Possibly involves direct stimulation of hair follicle growth; may increase local blood flow; and stimulate dormant/resting hair follicles What's interesting is that once you start it you can't stop. If you start bucking the system it hurts hair growth. Much like acne medication or OTC creams you need to use it EVE... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do loading screens hang at 99%? | [
"There's no universal standard for loading. But here's how it *might* work for many programs. To draw an analogy, for most loading screens imagine it like this: You have a bunch of lego bricks. When you're told to build something out of them, your job is to draw the curtain, build the thing with the lego bricks, a... | [
"So, I've read a lot of the answers, most of them are saying similar things. Where does it save the vide on your computer? For example, if I have less than a GB of space left on my computer, why can I still watch a several-minute HD video on YouTube without running out of space?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why do 60fps videos look smoother than real life? | [
"It doesn't look smoother than real life but your brain becomes aware of the framerate because it's not infinite like the real world."
] | [
"I think you're taking about the motion smoothing feature. I turn that off in the menu first thing. It just feels weird. TV is supposed to be 60 frames per second and movies are supposed to be 24."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why is carbon dioxide the only gas that is used to make drinks fizzy? | [
"It's not the only one. Nitrogen is frequently used in [beer](_URL_0_) and [coffee.](_URL_1_)"
] | [
"Yeast is a single celled organism that eats sugar and excretes alcohol and carbon dioxide. The CO2 is useful for making bread dough rise, and the booze is useful for getting drunk."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do elevator algorithms work? | [
"There's a lot of ways you *could* design an elevator to optimally get everyone where they want to be in the most efficient method but generally they prefer simplicity & the sense of \"fairness\" over complicated solutions. An elevator going down will go down until it gets to the lowest floor that somebody wants to... | [
"That's exactly how car insurance works. Can you clarify your question?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
WHY do batteries work? | [
"Because one end of the battery has a surplus of electrons, and the other has a shortage. Electrons always want to balance out so there's a net 0 charge. When you connect the battery to a circuit, you've created a path for all those extra electrons on one side to go to the side with a shortage, so they flow through... | [
"Batteries and yes they need to be replaced from time to time."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
what causes the body to have a physical response when seeing something unpleasant | [
"Two things: 1/ You wanna get near to the thing or 2/ You wanna get away from the thing. & #x200B; What initiates the physical response is previous interaction with this unpleasant thing. & #x200B; Like a hot stove: first you touched it you felt the burn, now your brain knows it and will tell you to think twice b... | [
"peoples blood pressure is lower when they first wake up. this makes them more sensitive to the cold."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is electrical potencial. Is it an energy? What does it do and how it affects current? | [
"This is the ELI5 I was given when trying to understand the relationship between potential, current and resistance: Imagine a wire as a river. 1 gallon of water in the river is a charge (coulomb) and the flow of water is ampere (gallons pr. second or coulombs pr. second), or current. Now, these gallons of wate... | [
"To put it simple a movement of a magnetic field in a coil can create a movement of electron in the other direction of the original field. And a current in a coil can generate a magnetic field. It is really a simplified explanation. Search about direct and alternate current motors for different technologies."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
What causes people to feel tired after a long sleep instead of refreshed? | [
"Your brain upshifts and downshifts while sleeping. Give it an extra two hours and you have a better chance of catching it in a downshift. You're waking up in 1st gear instead of 3rd."
] | [
"If you're not tired, and you feel refreshed when you wake up, you are probably OK. Not everyone needs the same amount of sleep."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Sleep and its effects on the body:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text about Sleep and its effects on the body:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text about Health:"
} |
How does motion activated antiperspirant work? | [
"The same as regular antiperspirant. It's just marketing. It contains aluminum salts that plug the sweat glands under your arms."
] | [
"Bacteria lives in your sweat, and bacteria produces the smell. Antiperspirant deactivates/clogs up your sweat ducts. No sweat = no bacteria = no smell. Most antiperspirants also have a deodorant, which covers any smells that might remain with its own smell."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
How do self-driving cars sense traffic lights or road signs? | [
"Basically they have a bunch of cameras in the car that can take pictures of the car's surroundings constantly. Computers then analyze the pictures and look for signs and lights (it helps that signs, at least in most of the world tend to be uniform within a country). You know how, sometimes when you login to a web... | [
"It certainly will be harder for an autonomous car to do this than normal driving. Early autonomous cars will likely have a failsafe mode, where if they can't handle the road conditions, they will pull over and return control to the driver. Also remember that these cars will have a lot of advantages, like 360^o vi... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What is happening in your nose when it gets irritated from being sick? | [
"Generally the first cells the virus attacks are the epithelial cells of the nose. This creates an immune system response that causes swelling and pain. This is what causes the clogged nose feeling. The virus attacking the cells throws the nasal passage into defense mode, pumping out more mucous to trap the invadi... | [
"Your nose running is a direct consequence of your watery eyes. The excess fluid on your eyes drains into your nose, causing it to run. Your eyes can water for a number of reasons, but it's probably because they're dry and/or irritated. Do you wear contacts?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Health:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Health:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Biology:"
} |
Where is the money that a country owns ? Does it have a bank account ? | [
"Speaking from a US perspective. The accountant for the US Government is the US Treasury. When the US government collects taxes, issues loans and pays government salaries etc, it is done through the US Treasury. The funds held by the US Treasury is deposited in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (the official US... | [
"Cash is a bad way to store money, because its value fluctuates due to inflation. They mostly have it as shares in their own company or some other asset."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why are strokes and vertebral artery dissections more common after going to the chiropractor? | [
"Because chiropractic isn’t actually a medical treatment, it’s pseudoscience. It’s generally harmless, but since there’s little-to-no proof backing up its effectiveness, less-skilled chiropractors can often make problems worse - especially since a lot of the time they lack even the training to know where a lot of a... | [
"Doctor here: It depends upon the headache. * Tension type headaches, which are the most common kind, exist because of muscular tension that causes pain. * Migraine headaches are caused by an interaction between your nerves and blood vessels. * Cluster Headaches are thought to be caused by nerves being exposed to c... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health:"
} |
What is the relation between Indian Aryans and Nazi Aryans ? | [
"The Aryans were an ancient civilization in what is now Iran. They were said to be more technologically advanced than everyone around them (a city on a hill). The swaztika was actually a pretty universally used symbol dating to Mesopotamian roots. In ancient Athens however, it stood for victory. That's probably why... | [
"The Hindu caste system is made up of stages called Varna. They are as follows... Brahmin - Religious leaders, priests, educators, scholars. Kshatriya - Warriors, political figures. Vaishya - Farmers, merchants. Shudra - Manual laborers, craftspeople. Dalit - \"Untouchables\", dirty jobs no one else wants to do."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how you do specific heat capacity in physics | [
"Let's start with the heat capacity. That's how much energy you need to add to raise the temperature of the system by 1 Kelvin. So let's say we have a block of material with a heat capacity of 50J/K. So if we add 50 J of energu to this system, its temperature will increase by 1 Kelvin. But now we chop it in two. N... | [
"You're looking for /r/homeworkhelp A 5 year old would have no real need for working out neutralization stoichiometry"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Can you use a GPU as a CPU? Why/why not? If not, what's the difference between them that makes it impossible? | [
"A CPU is a single superman doing superman work. A GPU is a collection of small tiny elves doing a large quantity of small tasks. In short, you cannot expect superman to assemble a million toys per second, and you cannot expect a million tiny elves to do superman's work. edit: typo expect/except"
] | [
"Integrated graphics chips take some of your shared system memory and use it for graphics. So, if you have 8 gigabytes total of system memory and dedicate 1GB of it for graphics then the rest of the system is left with 7GB to use. On most computer it's possible to change how much memory is dedicated to graphics. Th... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
When it’s cold outside, why is our natural instinct to make it warm inside the house instead of just room temperature? | [
"Because most homes don't have energy efficient doors and windows, so the cold air seeps into the house making it feel colder ...so we heat to compensate."
] | [
"If it's warmer or more humid in your home, open the window. If it's colder or drier in your home, close the window. You want to be cool, and barring that, you want to be dry."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
What does the defeated Deal with the EU mean for Britain and the rest of the world | [
"The short answer: UK parliament did not accept the deal, so UK will not be signing the deal with EU. What will happen next is anybody's guess. The Labour party has put forward a motion of no confidence in the government which could mean a General Election (vote for that is tomorrow)."
] | [
"The American government does not care what the rest of the world thinks."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how is decaffeinated coffee made? | [
"They use a solvent to remove the caffeine. It can also be done naturally using sugar cane to create a solvent. These guys explain how they make theirs naturally: _URL_0_"
] | [
"Most caffeine free teas are already caffeine free. Herbal teas are usually free from caffeine (like peppermint, green, and chamomile). Black teas usually have caffeine. Coffee on the other hand goes through a chemical treatment process called \"decaffeinating\" (and some teas do have this too). Usually a solvent i... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Why is depression more prevalent in richer countries? | [
"Because richer countries have the means to recognize, diagnose, and treat it. Someone without access to the medical care necessary wouldn't be considered to have it and would have to live with the way it affected their life."
] | [
"A follow-up and related question: how about young people in other parts of the world in this time period? I.e. South Asia, China, West Africa, South America?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
How are Jane/John Doe cases possible? How could somebody go missing and not be noticed by a single person? | [
"It's important to distinguish between \"noticed by a single person\" and \"noticed by a single person that's willing and able to talk to the police about the matter\". I would imagine in most of these cases, there are people who realize that the person is gone, but that information doesn't get linked up with the p... | [
"They take the person and their family and find another area in the country to work, change their name, and find them a job under that identity. All contact to their former life is cut. No person in the program who does this has ever been found. People are only found if they decide to retain some contact with peopl... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
What exactly does the term Standard Deviation mean. I know it is a synonym for outlier but it it more? Thanks! | [
"Standard deviation is associated with outliers but it is not a synonym. Standard deviation refers to the \"spread\" of a data set. For example grades: if 90% of a class got a B and 5% got an A or C on an assignment the standard deviation would be small. If 10% got an F, 20% got a D, 40% got a C, 20% got a B, and 1... | [
"Imagine two sets of data: 1,5,5,9 and 4,5,5,6 Both of these have a mean of 5, a median of 5, and a modal average of 5. But clearly they are very different sets of data. So the average - whichever type of average we use - doesn't tell the whole story. This is what the standard deviation is - it tells us how close t... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
why do some cheeses melt, while others don't? | [
"ABoss has the correct answer for processed cheeses. For the rest of the \"real\" cheeses, I think it largely depends on the fat content of the cheese, which liquefies under heat. It's pretty easy to apply too much heat though, which typically causes these fats to break the emulsion and separate from the rest of th... | [
"Probably because there is so much sugar in it. You can leave meringue oit for a while and it won't change. Same thing."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Food Science:"
} |
What causes the warm sensation you feel when drinking strong alcohol? | [
"Alcohol is a vasodilator. It encourages your blood vessels to expand, which brings more heat to the surface of your skin. It actually puts you at a high risk for hypothermia, however as your body can't hang on to heat as well."
] | [
"The neurons that are sensitive to cold are also triggered by the presence of the flavour compound menthol. So a drop of menthol mouthwash on your tongue sends basically the same message to your brain as a drop of cold water would."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Dentistry:"
} |
We "drink" air in sparkling water / eat pockets of air along with our food / etc. Is "farting" the only way one's body can get rid of all that extra air in our stomachs? If not, where does all that air go? | [
"Burping is the primary method of getting rid such consumed gasses, while farting mainly gets rid of gasses produced by your digestion. As a sidenote, farting works even when upside down or weightless as your body is actively pushing them along, but burping relies on gravity to separate gasses from liquid. This ha... | [
"You breathed it out. You inhale O2, you exhale CO2. That extra C matters. When your body is metabolizing, besides what comes out in your urine, most of what you're losing is being breathed out."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
if alcohol burns off during the cooking process, why do recipes not use cheaper non-alcoholic alternatives? | [
"Alcohol *doesn't* completely cook off when you add it to a dish. The bit that remains is an important solvent for helping some flavor chemicals spread around the dish. Grape juice is too sweet. Non-alcoholic wine is expensive & generally shitty. A bottle of wine that's good for cooking can be had for $5."
] | [
"You cannot legally purchase alcoholic ice cream or chocolates in the US. These are things that have high alcohol content and are specifically filled with strong spirits. But the various extract flavorings you are looking at fractions of a teaspoon in 1-5 gallons of material. That is not enough to even register as... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
What triggers a sneeze? | [
"Typically foreign particles or bacteria lodged in the mucus membranes of your sinuses causes the involuntary muscle spasm of a sneeze. Its a safety reaction meant to clear your sinuses of stuff that shouldn't be there. A tentative link to staring at the sun (never do this for eye damage reasons) or bright light ca... | [
"How do you know that you don't sneeze in your sleep?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does PETA use extreme marketing tactics that make them look like they're crazy? | [
"Because PETA is crazy. They've got nothing to do with anything they pretend to stand for. They're just crazy and kind of money hungry."
] | [
"It's just that he's an easy target. He's a selfish, half-insane sideshow of an activist who should have bowed out of the public eye a LONG time ago, but he won't...because, well, he's selfish and half-insane. Anything nasty you say about him is probably at least partially true, and if you're an unethical jerk you ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
What's the difference between reptiles and mammals that allows one to be warm blooded while the other can't create its own heat? | [
"some cold blooded animals do generate their own heat by muscle action, but they do not maintain a specific, stable body temperature. At rest, cold blooded animals slow down heartrate, respiration, digestion, etc Active predatory fish like tuna have powerful muscles that make a lot of heat, and help the fish to mov... | [
"There are several advantages, as well as disadvantages, to being cold blooded. By not generating your own body heat, you get to save energy and don't need to eat as much food - which again saves energy because you don't have to hunt. A disadvantage would be that it takes a while to 'warm up' after a cold night. Th... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why government closures don't happen in other countries outside the USA? | [
"For many parliamentary democracies without separate executive and legislative branches (think the UK and many British colonies, as well as many European countries), a failure to pass a budget will pretty much 100% of the time mean that a snap election will be held, because it means that the majority of the parliam... | [
"If you think treatment of animals is bad in China, you have to seriously look at the treatment of people in The Republic Of China."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why do birds migrate every winter instead of just staying near the equator year round? | [
"Competition. There's a lot of competition for food and nesting space the more tropical you go. So some birds go north/south where there is room to nest, and enough food to raise their chicks."
] | [
"Because we don't need to. Hibernation is something that animals do to survive conditions that they couldn't survive normally. This largely only happens for mammals that live near the poles. In the winter, there isn't enough food to eat, so they hibernate to conserve energy until there is food. Humans evolved near ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do animals process the concept of time? | [
"What do you mean? Most animals can get a rough estimate based on the position on the sun. It was recently discovered that some animals like rats and dogs (proabably more) have neurons that fire and allow them to gauge short intervals of waiting/periods of time. Domesticated animals can also judge based on their ... | [
"Your brain has no idea what death feels like."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text about Psychology:"
} |
What is actually happening when you tick the 'I'm a human' box on a captcha? How does it know I'm not a bot? | [
"It uses a lot of information actually. First, it can detect your mouse movements as you go to click the button. If your mouse pointer immediately snaps to the button after the page is loaded then that doesn't seem much like a human. However, if you spend some time reading the page and slowly scroll down to eventua... | [
"It's to make them harder to interpret using optical character recognition software (OCR). You want them to be difficult enough that a computer can't easily read them. If that were to happen, there'd be no point using captchas in the first place."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What is the increase/decrease of interest rates by the Fed mean and why is it important? | [
"This is absolutely the right sub but this question has been asked many times before. Try out the search function, it actually works pretty well. _URL_0_"
] | [
"The rate of the central bank is going to be very different from the rates offered to individuals by commercial banks. The Federal Reserve (US) kept its interest rate in a range of 0% to 0.25% for years, but commercial rates for, say, mortgages was in the range of ~3-6% during that period. But yes, you've got the b... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
how are there apples from Canada in the grocery store that are still “fresh”? | [
"The average apple in grocery stores is about [14 months old](_URL_0_)... they have ways of picking them, treating them with wax, storing them at specific temperatures and in spaces with specific mixtures of gases to prevent them from going bad for long periods of time."
] | [
"Because all apples are inferior to honey crisp! But probably age picked. They all just get jumbled up together so you could have apples picked one time, and apples from two months earlier in the same bag or batch"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
why are there a bazillion ingredients/chemicals in shampoo? Is is really that hard to make a simple recipe these days? | [
"Most shampoos are water + oil (ads moisture) + something that makes them mix + something that makes bubbles (surfactant) + pH balancing + fragrances + preservatives + something that makes it feel more bulky (thickener) So once you got all those then you find that the combination of your specific oil + surfactant m... | [
"Very little difference. Amost the same list of ingredients if you read the label. Shower gel tends to be a bit thicker and shampoo tends to be a bit foamier but that's really just differnet balances of the same ingredients. On top of that, they might add a few extra ingredients like exfoliant for shower gel or so... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why are so many people offended by the new Gillette ad? | [
"A lot of people feel like it’s a personal attack on them, I guess? If you do, it probably means you got problems"
] | [
"The US public has the attention span of a grapefruit. They've moved on to Bill \"the rapist\" Cosby, Kimye, the Sony hack and the price of gas."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about News and current events:"
} |
How can a smaller company, Fiserv, buy a larger one, First Data? | [
"This isn't a case of a smaller company buying a larger one... Fiserv has a market cap of $28B (after falling 5% on deal announcement) while First Data's market cap (after the jump due to deal) is $19B. Also, it's an all stock deal meaning that no money is really changing hands... they're just combining the company... | [
"Without comment on the others, Progressive is not an Allstate company, but rather is publicly traded in its own right."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why does the human body go into anaphylaxis for an allergic reaction, but starts gasping when drowning? | [
"Anaphylaxis IS the allergic reaction. Its not a defense mechanism or anything. Gasping is part of the Instinctive Drowning Response in humans. It is what makes you flap your arms downward into the water and stretch your neck up and tilt your head back to breach the surface for a gasp of air. Unfortunately, many ti... | [
"Technically, there are lots of things that can't elicit an allergic response. Substances necessary to survival can't give you an allergic reaction or else you would die. The woman you are referencing isn't actually allergic to water. The media is calling it an allergic reaction because it sounds more interesting. ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How come the Queen in Chess is the strongest if women have been second class citizens for much of history? | [
"The pieces in chess have not always had the same names and shapes as they do today. One of chess's predecessors was the vizier, and acted much like a queen, but was male. But I think the main reason is that chess was never really a commentary on gender, and the queen was made powerful because it makes the game bet... | [
"Throughout our history men have been in control because it was the men who were stronger. The strong control the weaker, whether that's weaker men or women in general. Throughout history women spent much of their time pregnant. Being pregnant came with the need to be looked after."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why don’t countries just put nicotine on the list of forbidden drugs if they want people to quit smoking? | [
"Banning things that lots of people want instantly creates a black market for those things. Alcohol prohibition is the easiest comparison because that actually happened, and the reasons for its failure are well known. In particular, it caused organized crime to reach its all time peak in America. That whole \"1930... | [
"They consider the caffeine to be a harmful substance that God would not want you to put in your body, like alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Health:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph about Health:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why the weather changes, immune system become weak? | [
"It's actually more to do with the humidity / moisture in the air. Colds and flu are spread by coughs and sneezes (mucous). Warmer weather normally has wetter air. Wetter air: 1. makes it more likely for germy bits of mucous etc to stay in bigger clumps and fall to the ground faster (drier air makes them break up a... | [
"Genetics and environmental factors - the same thing that affects most variability in human traits."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
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