query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1
value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Where does mold on bread and food come from? | [
"Airborne spores come into contact with the food where they germinate and form mold. This is why packing things air tight preserves them and prevents the process."
] | [
"Different kind of mold. The mold on a blue cheese is not bad for you, but the mold that grows on top of cheese in your refrigerator may make you sick."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does stretching feel good? | [
"When your body is sitting in a certain position for a long time your muscles get tight. For example when you sleep or sit and watch tv for a long time. Your body will tighten up. After stretching your body you release those tighten muscles, doing this also increases your blood and oxygen flow to those muscles. It’... | [
"Same ingredients, same results. Placebo effect might lead you to believe otherwise."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What does "serving consecutive life sentences" mean? | [
"if future evidence exonerates you of one of them, you're still on the hook for the other. same thing with extremely long sentences"
] | [
"Part of it is symbolic, part of it may be a certain amount of years per victim, and part of it may be just in case they ever get exonerated, or the verdict reversed in 1 part of their case. 15 life sentences or a life sentence + 1000 makes it pretty much impossible to get out of the life sentence."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do open beers in bottles foam up and make a mess when you hit the top with another bottle? | [
"Hitting the bottle creates shock waves in the beer, which break up existing bubbles into a ton of smaller bubbles. Tons of smaller bubbles have more surface area than a similar volume of bigger bubbles. The increased surface area makes it easier for the carbonation (CO2) to come out of solution. This makes the sma... | [
"It's there to create an airtight seal, so the carbonation doesn't leak out. If it was just the plastic screw-on top, it wouldn't be airtight, and your soda would be flat long before it was delivered to the store you bought it from."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why is it that if you eat a big meal before you drink, you get less drunk. | [
"When you eat, there's more in your stomach, making it all take longer to digest. Some foods also can get in the way, like greasy foods."
] | [
"Because you *want* to drink the beer. Once you start getting full & intoxication kicks in, you start having to piss more, making a bit more room. But, trust me, if you really *wanted to*, you could easily drink that much water but you'd realize how silly it was & stop sooner."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How are magnets made into different shapes if they lose magnetism on impact or heating? | [
"Rare earth magnets are made by creating a fine powder, pouring it into a mold, and applying a strong magnetic field to rotate all the magnetic grains so they're parallel. Then the aligned powder is compacted and sintered. Sintering means the magnet is heated enough to fuse the corners of the grains to each other,... | [
"In electromagnets they are not wrapped around a magnet, they are wrapped around an iron core or other ferromagnetic material. When current is applied it turns the core into a magnet (an electromagnet). When the current stops it is not a magnet anymore. You can turn it on an off. You actually don't need the core fo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is the English alphabet in the order it is? | [
"Well the english got their alphabet from the romans (latin) who were inspired by the greeks, who were inspired by the phonecians (roughly from today's Lebanon) we don't really know how the phonecians got it but they were likely inspired by the alphabets they saw while trading with Egypt and Mezopotamia. It's unli... | [
"What period and country are you asking about? There’s no context in your question."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
You know that feeling when you jolt awake from dozing off because you feel like you're falling? Why does that happen? | [
"Hypnic jerk, also called a boggie jerk, is a normal reaction that can be caused by anxiety, caffeine, a dream, or discomfort of sleeping. A hypnic jerk is the feeling triggered by a sudden muscle twitch, causing the feeling of falling while sleeping or dreaming. People normally experience hypnic jerks moments befo... | [
"Depends. What kind of waking up are you talking about? The one where you have no chance to go to sleep again (insomnia style) or more like waking up, realizing it’s still bed time, rolling to the side and going back to sleep?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Sleep and its effects on the body:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment about Sleep and its effects on the body:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment about Biology:"
} |
If I'm looking at a signal of frequency 10MHz in an oscilloscope, how am I able to see every instantaneous change that happens to the signal if the signal is zoomed in? And how am I able to zoom in and out (change resolution) so easily? | [
"The signal is being redrawn on the screen continuously based on ongoing monitoring of its voltage. The way it works depends on the signal being periodic/repetitive so that, usually, consecutive redraws show the same shape. When the shape of the wave changes the new shape is shown immediately. Seeing the signal \"z... | [
"You have stumbled across one of the wonders of signal processing called \"Aliasing\". Basically, in this case the Movie camera isn't gathering data (taking pictures) fast enough to accurately represent the spinning of the wheels. The other explanations given on this page are correct, I just wanted to give a little... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are babies bent towards hitting things and destruction even though they haven't experienced these things before? | [
"Babies are curious and try to find out more about their world, however, they’re not a. physically able to be gentle-their fine motor skills are not properly developed and b. developmentally ready to understand that pulling things off a table will break them."
] | [
"I remember reading that one purpose of parents ticking their children is it teaches them defensive reflexes if they are attacked at different parts of their body (or something along those lines). Like puppies or kittens playing, it teaches them valuable life skills to survive. It makes you laugh / is fun because ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post about Psychology:"
} |
How does one juice a prune? If prunes are just dehydrated plums, shouldn't prune juice just be plum juice? | [
"Prunes and plums are the same fruit; the former is a dried version of the latter (like you say). The plums used for drying are called \"prunes\" (pre-dehydrating) because their pits are easy to remove. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration requires that the fruit be called \"dried plums\" not \"prunes.\" Si... | [
"In order to be canned, fruit has to be cooked at a high temperature to kill germs- this is called pasteurization. I don't think canned peaches are all that different from cooked peaches, in a dish like peach cobbler."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does sleeping for too long give you a headache? | [
"Dehydration too, depending how long you're asleep and how warm you are. 10hrs is a long time without water."
] | [
"When your chest seizes up while crying you force blood into your head, which can give you a headache."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why are there typically three blades in a fan? | [
"Two-bladed fans would be prone to a phenomenon known as gyroscopic precession, resulting in a wobbling. Any number of blades greater than three would create greater air resistance, slowing sucking in air fro behind and hence cooling air coming out from the front, thus becoming less efficient than a three blade fan... | [
"There is a small capsule of water with a needle floating on top of it inside your phone. But seriously, it is a magnetic sensor."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Technology:"
} |
Where do our eyes focus when sleeping? | [
"Your eye focus is determined by the activity of the [ciliary muscle](_URL_0_). When it contracts, this warps your lens and makes it longer than it is wide, and you can see things up close. When it relaxes, the lens warps and becomes thinner, and you can see things at a distance. Just like all the other muscles in... | [
"Your eye sends information to your brain even when your eyes are closed and no light is getting to the cells there. That causes the effects you're seeing."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Science:"
} |
Why in the armed forces is the rules of engagement usually "do not shoot unless fired apon" but ploce officers in the states can fire if they feel threatened? | [
"Former military and a former cop. Outside of movies, those aren’t the rules of engagement. They are much more complex and involve a use of force model that permits engagement when the danger of death or seriously bodily injury appears imminent...which is the same standard applied to the police. Rarely a limited e... | [
"Yes. Police aren't immune to the law. If one were to open fire on you could certainly shoot back. The thing is this is probably going to guarantee your death. Even if they know who you are and you are a criminal if they open fire when you havent done anything aggressive thats still wrong on their part and I'd bet ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
How come horses are so muscular given their diet? | [
"Plants have protein too. Plants take in nutrients, and turn them into amino acids, which are then made into proteins. Since the horses are eating protein, they can develop muscle."
] | [
"Meat is a lot easier to digest than vegetables. Carnivores have way shorter intestines than herbivores, for exactly that reason."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Space telescope focusing | [
"The hexagonal panels are not fat but curved like the mirror on Hubble. They are split in multiple part to be simpler to manufacturer and so it fit in the rocket. There are very precise micro morors that will align the segment so they have the correct location in space. Similar types of mirror exist on telescopes o... | [
"Really really big telescopes with really really long exposure times."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Space telescopes:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Space telescopes:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it called "Good Friday"? | [
"Good can have the meaning of \"pious, holy\" and that is from that the name of the day is. Most of the time if the words in names do not make sense it is because the usage of word changes overtime and it is the usage in a archaic sense."
] | [
"For the sake of the acronym, it's a good thing you didn't decide to create Cooking Like I'm Ten."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How is “lactose-free” milk produced? | [
"There are enzymes (commonly [lactase](_URL_0_)) which breaks down lactose into the galactose and glucose that makes up the lactase (and it's the lack of this enzyme which causes lactose intolerence). You can add lactase to your product to pre-break the lactose and end up with a lactose-free product."
] | [
"Pasteurization is heating the milk just high enough to kill all the bacteria without ruining the milk. 1%, 2%, whole and skim milk refer to the fat content of the milk. Originally whole milk was non-reduced, but the exact percentage depends on the cow. Nowadays whole milk means 4%. Skim means 0%. Once you've skimm... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How does insects survive harsh weather like rain and heatwaves? | [
"Like Taylor swift, they just \"shake it off\". It's actually true for some insects! For example bees, if they get wet, they start to move their wings very rapidly to exert heat and warm up again. In the cold they would do the same in a hive to maintain temperatures. During a heatwave they will do something similar... | [
"It's drier in your climate during the winter, leading to more static buildup."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
You can walk all day in the same socks and they’re fine, but the moment you take them off and want to put them on again they’re wet and filthy. Why is that? | [
"Your socks on your feet are the same temperature as your feet. Whether you're just wearing socks or you've got shoes on. When you take your socks off they cool down quickly and the moisture from your sweat will cool too. Your feet and the sweat on your feet stay the same temperature roughly, so they are warmer tha... | [
"Yeah, you're sweating while you're in the shower and you're sweating while you're outside of it in the humid room. Pretty annoying, if you ask me."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is underwater welding so dangerous? | [
"Technical diving is extremely complicated, and there are a lot of risk factors. Decompression sickness and narcosis will both kill you real dead if you aren't extremely careful about monitoring your depth, time, and the amount of gas you're breathing. Any strenuous physical activity will make both of those problem... | [
"Keeping our eyes moist is a lot easier this way."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Science and Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the passage about Science and Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the passage about Biology:"
} |
How did humans figure out which part of the brain does what? (Eg. the cerebellum is responsible for balance and muscle movement) | [
"Brain damage to certain areas and studying how this altered people's behaviour and skills was the first key to knowing what was happening."
] | [
"Alzheimers is degenerative disease of the cerebral cortex. This is the part of the brain that deals with memory, attention, thought, language, awareness and the like. So the disease affects a part of the brain that controls a separate function from the examples you gave. The Brain Stem is the part of the brain tha... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
How can I hike for hours without stopping but be out of breath after climbing a flight of stairs? | [
"You're using different muscle fibers. Long and slow (hiking) is different than short and explosive (stairs)."
] | [
"Imagine running to the store a mile away vs walking. One burns way more energy than the other"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is it that Mandarin and Cantonese are considered dialects of Chinese but Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and French are considered separate languages and not dialects of Latin? | [
"In Arabic, we speak in really different dialects. For example, a Yemeni and a Moroccan would need a translator between them even though they're both officially speaking Arabic. Why? Pan-Arab Nationalism. Lebanese actually tried to be its own language once but that never caught on."
] | [
"There are two major language trees in Europe. Languages derived from Latin, such as Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese, and languages derived from Germanic, like German, Nordic, etc. Notice that I did not mention English which is its own mess but technically considered Germanic. In Latin America they speak mo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How does our body start to wake up at the same time as our alarm, no matter when we go to bed? | [
"Not an answer, just here to tell OP they aren't alone. I wake up at 6am on the dot, daily regardless of my alarm being set, or how much sleep I've had. You are not alone friend."
] | [
"Your circadian rhythm is out of whack, your body expects you to go to sleep and wake up around the same time each day. If you go to bed at the same time each night with no phones or electronics or pretty much any other source of light for about an hour before bedtime then your circadian rhythm will get back in che... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about Sleep and fatigue:"
} |
What is the sense behind hunger strikes? | [
"Not all rulers are totalitarians, hunger strikes don't need lots of resources, they can be done in prison and they get a lot of coverage. Also the audience of a hunger strike is often not the ruling class, but the wider public. An example of a possible outcome if you do not concede would be Bobby Sands in the 198... | [
"The answer you are looking for and the answer the others are ignoring is; yes, there is a psychological element to thirst satiation."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
why does technology seem to develop linear instead of in jumps? | [
"The bleeding edge of research does move in jumps, but manufacturing doesn't. The stuff that reaches consumers has to be produced in mass quantities in giant factories. You can't go retrofit the entire assemly line every time there's a research breakthrough, so there's a slow incremental change in production capaci... | [
"In very very simple terms, everything in the universe becomes more dense and efficient over time, and this applies to human achievement and development. This is why life started out as very simple, and why developments come faster and faster over time. The shift to multicellularity took a very long time for exampl... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
How did we know what different bodily organs do prior to the last century? Did we really discover a huge amount of medical knowledge in the early half of the 20th century? And what led to this explosion of knowledge? | [
"The general function of many individual organs had been pretty well understood since late antiquity. Early \"doctors\" examined plenty of injured soldiers and laborers and documented what they saw and what the symptoms were when that organ got damaged. Organs that deal with harder to visualize body chemistry had t... | [
"It would be tantamount to what Thomas Kuhn termed a ‘paradigm shift.’ Basically, it would revolutionize the most basic conclusions scientists have had about the origins of life for hundreds of years."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Why do humans sleep talk or sleep walk? | [
"When humans dream their brain reacts like it is real. Your brain has you walk, talk, etc. To prevent your body from acting based on the dream, you release a chemical that causes the signals from your brain to do nothing. Like cutting the strings on a puppet. But some people do not release the chemical, or not ev... | [
"There are about a thousand different reasons why someone might sweat while they are asleep. i.e. the answer is going to vary from person to person."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Sleep and fatigue:"
} |
Why and how do we physically feel our hearts when we have strong emotions? Like in the phrase "my heart skipped a beat" or "my heart dropped" for example. | [
"your body doesn't take chances. So when ever any kind of stress comes along (Physical or emotional) it does the same thing: gets ready to act. you feel it change suddenly because that's exactly what happens. It immediately changes how fast and strong its beating to supply your body with more energy to deal with wh... | [
"I suppose if you've been blind all your life, you could never fully understand what it means to see. Or that if you've been deaf, you could never appreciate music. Language is limiting. The best way I could describe it is that the sensation of emotions is very much like physical sensations, but they're more mental... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are there swarms of tiny bugs hovering/flying in seemingly random spots? What are they doing? Why are they there and not elsewhere? | [
"The long and the short of it is that those gnat swarms are generally a swarm for mating time. The males and females live in different areas and in some species, the males travel in swarms to attract females to the location to spread their genes. [Here's a good reference for the answer](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"They hide away in the corners, in little nooks and crannies out of sight. You'll see spiders coming out most often during mating season. Around this time of year, you see a lot more spiders in your house than you do the rest of the year. They're out looking for sex and not afraid to die for it, just like in Romeo ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
why do different people have different hangover symptoms. | [
"There's a few reasons. The most reasonable one to start with is \"everyone's different.\" That even includes the problems being hungover creates, and which ones bother you the most. It's possible you have the same headache as others, but it bothers you less. Second, headaches from booze have a few different cause... | [
"Why are noses different in size, why are people different heights, why do we have different hair colors?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post about Biology:"
} |
How can a healthy diet and exercise "unclog" arteries? | [
"Side effects: better blood flow and lower strain on your heart. And ya know, normal surgical risks."
] | [
"For the heart attacks and stroke risks: aspirin thins out your blood, lowering the stress on the veins and arteries."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
In ancient times how one tribe could communicate with another | [
"The same way you would try to communicate with someone who diddnt understand you. You cant just use words anymore, so you eithrr teach them small phrases or switch to nodding yes or no as well as using touch for everything. EX: 1 tribe isntrading woth another. Tribe member 1 wants to trade his pelt for tribe membe... | [
"Well most times people would participate in houses of a fellow member. I am sure you have seen the fish that so many people associate with Jesus/Christianity, that came as a result during a time of human persecution in the Middle East. One person would draw half in the sand with their foot during the conversation,... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about History:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about History:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are the Nordic Countries so well off? | [
"> They aren't big in tourism, agriculture or have many exports at all really. Huh? Denmark has exports worth $14511 per capita, Sweden has $14429 per capita, and Norway has $19980 per capita. The US meanwhile has exports worth $3853 per capita, the UK is at $5968 per capita, Germany at $16197 per capita, and Franc... | [
"East Asia and Africa are two big ones."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
How do you change sides during a war? | [
"If I remember right, Mussolinis government was overthrown by the dissent, who then formed their government and gained support of the military, killing their fascist leaders. I cant think of a time an independent nation switched sides in the middle of a war and didnt also change the group of people in charge"
] | [
"How are you going to change the filter?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How do we know the Marianas trench is the deepest point in the ocean if we have only explored 10% of it? | [
"We have only explored a small portion of it, but we have gotten sonar imaging that shows depths that we haven't reached yet. When we say that we haven't explored the Trench is it like seeing a box on your shelf. You can see the box, and see how wide it is and how deep the box is, but until you open it up, look ins... | [
"The answer lies in your assumptions being wrong. Humans have not been around that long and we have not reached a point where we know much about our planet. Something like 95% of our oceans are unexplored. Estimates of about 80% of animals are still undiscovered. Places like rainforests, jungles, caves are focused ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
How do pregnancy tests work? | [
"Pregnant women produce a particular hormone that is excreted into urine like any other hormone. Scientists found a chemical that turns colors when interacting with this particular hormone and not much of anything else found in urine. So, they treat part of a stick with this hormone detector so when you expose it... | [
"There are no completely safe days, only days when pregnancy is less likely. Use protection!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Sexual health:"
} |
Why do all vertebrates that live on land always have 4 legs? | [
"Humans are a vertebrate that live on land and have two legs. So are every species of bird. And kangaroos."
] | [
"We do. Multi and compound eyes exist on many insects and maybe some marine life. Multi appendages exist all over. Prehensile tails, spiders, crabs shrimp, octopus, starfish and countless insects have multiple legs or arms. Primates are sort of the mutants in that we changed a pair of feet into hands. Whales and se... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Biology:"
} |
Why is math usually done on a base ten system, but music is usually based on meters of 2, 3, 4, or 6? | [
"Base 10 for math is completely arbitrary, and most likely a result of us having 10 fingers. Other cultures in history used other bases such as 12 and even 60, and computers use base 2 and base 16 (and sometimes base 8). Musical beats, meanwhile, actually have a meaning. 2, 3 beats and 4 beats all sound different f... | [
"The bottom number tells you the type of beat and the top number tells you how many there are in a bar. 4/4 is most common, 4 crotchets, or quarter notes, per bar. Theoretically, you can have any number on the top for any number of beats (5 and 7 are relatively popular) I don't think the bottom number can't be anyt... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Mathematics:",
"pos": "Represent the comment about Mathematics:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
how my cars key signal range to lock/unlock gets longer if I put the fob to my head? | [
"So, according to some tech journalist, if you do that, it uses all the fluids in your head as a conductor, and makes you an antenna, increasing the range of the signal, but only by a little"
] | [
"its a safety feature, if you are approaching a car, you may only want to unlock the driver door so a stranger couldnt hop into the other side at the same time. I believe atleast some cars have settings to select everything to unlock if you want."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How did Easter, the celebration ending arguably the most sacred time of year for Christians, became, in most places, about bunnies and chocolate eggs? | [
"Springtime is the time for fertility festivals - hence rabbits and eggs. Christianity just liked mapping over pagan stuff with Jesus stuff, but it never quite managed to erase the previous beliefs and traditions."
] | [
"It wasn't a celebration of the dead. You're thinking of Dia De Los Muertos. Halloween was originally a celebration of the end of the harvest season and superstitiously believed to be a night when spirits and demons could infiltrate the human world. As for when the transition happened, probably gradually, and defi... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why does it always look like the bottoms of clouds are smooth and flat, while the tops are fluffy? | [
"Those types of clouds are called cumulus clouds. Basically what you are seeing is only part of what's going in. In reality it is a giant \"bubble\" if warm water vapor that is slowly rising, like balloon... just without the balloon. As it rises, it expands and begins to cool. Once it reaches a certain elevation, i... | [
"Warmer air is less dense, so it rises. As it heats unevenly and rises and mixes and swirls with the surrounding air, you get a weird random mess of different air densities. As light moves between areas of different densities of air, it gets bent/refracted/etc. The end result is that we see those ripples as we look... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Meteorology:",
"pos": "Represent the answer about Meteorology:",
"neg": "Represent the answer about Physics:"
} |
How come we can hear internal sounds (e.g. heartbeat, vocal cord vibration) when we cover our ears and at no other time? | [
"You actually could hear it at other times, you’d just have to be in a quiet enough room. [Source: saw a video of a guy in a sound-cancelling room and he mentioned how he started hearing his internal body functions] But you hear it when you cover your ears because sound moves faster in liquid so you’re basically cl... | [
"The sounds in your stomach are the stomach pushing down the food into your small intestine. The stomach makes a sound when it is empty because it doesn't have any food to muffle it. Notice how when you are full, you don't hear that sound. I don't know what random noises you mention in your question, but one sound ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Science:"
} |
Why does milk spoil so suddenly? Not gradually deteriorate.. | [
"Exponential bacteria growth. Start with one bacteria and it splits into two. Those split into four...into eight...16...32... and so on. Milk does go bad slowly, but not along a linear scale. You can even taste it over time. Get some 2 week old not-spoiled milk and yesterday-fresh milk for a taste test. But when... | [
"Alcohol! Among other things, alcohol is an excellent disinfectant so nothing can grow in there to spoil the cream. If you leave Bailey's alone long enough, it will eventually curdle/clump, which isn't exactly spoiled but is still disgusting."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Food Science:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Food Science:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
when recycling why can plastic and metal (bottles and cans) be mixed together but paper can't | [
"Because your recycling company says so. It's entirely possible to mix *everything* together (called [single-stream recycling](_URL_0_)). Your recycling company just doesn't want to deal with that and has you do some of their sorting for them. As for why they would want that, plastic and metals are trivial to sort ... | [
"* the expiration date usually reflect the time it takes for the contents of the bottle to go bad, sometimes due to the breakdown of the plastic * recycling plastics aren't always suitable for their original purposes, plastic in bottles is often used to make synthetic fibers..."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why does dead silence cause you to "go insane"? | [
"We don't really know why, but the prevailing ideas from sensory deprivation experiments are that your brain is built around and assumption of inputs and the processing of these inputs is \"grounding\" in your reality. However, the brain is going to do \\_something\\_ and if you remove the inputs it finds them some... | [
"Why does a post about the need to urinate make me have to pee?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer about Health:"
} |
What allows an eraser to remove just either pencil trace or ink from paper and how? | [
"Pencil lead and certain inks will sit upon the paper, rather than soaking into the paper. An eraser is literally just rubbing it off. You can achieve a similar effect using your finger, but the oil in your fingers were generally mix with the graphite and you'll just kind of smear stuff. Rubber is dry and has no oi... | [
"I'm not 100% sure, but I believe temporary markers have an additional chemical in them that keeps the ink from holding on to the surface, while permanent markers do not. The reason I think this is because if you draw a line permanent marker, then draw over it with an erasable one, it will allow both marks to be er... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why are there always metal foils wrapped around a satellite? What's the difference between the gold and silver colored foils? And why are they always so wrinkly? | [
"It's called \"MLI\" - multi-layer-insulation. This exist on the satellite to protect electronics from the crazy temperature fluctuations in space. This serves to regulate heat transfer, more than it really does \"insulate\". It also serves as a bit of protection from dust particles and things that would build up o... | [
"They used to be glass that had electroplated silver on one side and then black paint on top of that. And they also used to be really well polished metal. Now a days it is usually much cheaper aluminum on glass."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
How do waves work? Why do they always go towards land? | [
"Well, ocean currents always move the water in a certain direction, and then the land just gets in the way after a while. There are waves out at sea too, the land is just where they end."
] | [
"The moon doesn't really cause waves, it causes tides. Wind causes waves, and the ocean has a lot more wind than lakes do."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do some church benches (pews) have very short seats? | [
"It forces you to sit up straight instead of slouching and it allows us to fit more pews in a smaller space, thereby cramming more people into the room."
] | [
"Seating 3 means a bench seat. Bench seats feel cheaper (and they are) and they're less comfortable. People want bucket seats that adjust 10 different ways. And without a center console there's less room for cupholders and phone chargers."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Why are most women crazy about shoes? Is there a reason? | [
"Because no matter how much our body shape changes we generally stay the same shoe size. Therefore shopping for them is never depressing."
] | [
"Why do some nudists wear a watch? Don't deprive yourself of the best tool for the job because of ideology."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why is it that I sometimes lose my complete sense of time and day after taking a nap? | [
"When you sleep you go through different stages dictated by what are called alpha and theta waves. Being in certain stages of sleep will result in different levels of awareness upon waking up. I don’t remember what stages dictate what, but some involve not even being aware that you were asleep at all, and others in... | [
"I think because you focus much harder on the task at hand you stop thinking about the time so much."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do letters have a different phonetic sound individually vs when combined with other letters?...for example we say D individually as DEE but when we say “duck” we don’t say DEEuck. | [
"\"Dee\" is just the name of the letter. It's not meant to be named in a way that mimics its sound. Think of how ridiculous what would be for W. Other languages do this too. In Spanish W is called \"dow-blay-vay\" which means double V. Neither language calls W \"weh\"."
] | [
"The two pronunciations of the word \"the\", that is, sounding like 'tha' or 'thee,' follow the same rule as \"a\" vs. \"an.\" When the *the* follows a vowel sound, you use 'thee' (ex. The Apple). And if the doesn't, you use 'tha' (The car). They are both only one word, however."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Language:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Language:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how do the scientist estimate the age of an old object by its carbon isotope? (English is my 2nd language, and I don’t know how to phrase this correctly) | [
"There is an isotope of carbon which is radioactive. It decays at a steady, known rate and we also know the amount in the atmosphere across a long period of time. Plants and animals take in carbon from the atmosphere (all isotopes) and so they can be expected to contain a proportion of carbon isotopes matching that... | [
"you should ask /r/askscience but i'm going to up vote you anyway i think ELI5 is better for topics you already have a conceptual understanding of but need a clarification. ain't it einstein who says \"If you can't explain it to a five year old, you don't understand it yourself.\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Astronomy:",
"pos": "Represent the post about Astronomy:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why do car tires need to have air in them? Why can't they just be one solid rubber donut? | [
"Solid rubber would be really heavy, and not very cushioned for the riders. It would also likely have problems with heat and not be adaptable for specific conditions (adding or removing air for certain behaviors). They would be way more expensive and difficult to recycle as well."
] | [
"Well, the material itself is somewhat stiffer, while still retaining a certain flexibility. The holes are there to offer room for the material to flex, avoiding the uncomfortable hardness you'd experience if the tires were solid- it fulfills the same purpose as the pressurized air inside a regular tire, as well as... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Automotive technology:",
"pos": "Represent the text about Automotive technology:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How did I receive a text message that's different from the sender's original text? | [
"The way messages are sent is actually pretty complicated. Basically, each letter is sent as a few binary digits (I think 24?) and received with some mistakes expected, and it's translated back to whatever it's closest to. To make it cheaper, common things like \"tion\", \"ford\", and \"ire\" are treated as one let... | [
"It depends on a lot. What is your name, address, and link to the file you were downloading?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How can nuclear fusion and fission both release energy? Aren’t they opposites? | [
"They are opposite sides of the same hill. Imagine fusion is the side of the hill toward you and fission is the side of the hill away from you. Any ball placed on the side of the hill is going to roll \"down\", releasing energy even though they'll be rolling in opposite directions (toward you or away from you). The... | [
"The sun is not actually on fire. The process stars use to make energy is called nuclear fusion. In this process, Hydrogen atoms collide and produce Helium along with vast amounts of energy. Let me know if you want more details. It's actually quite fascinating."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Nuclear physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer about Nuclear physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer about Physics:"
} |
If Chinese letters represent meaning instead of pronunciation how do they write foreign words like air conditioning or computer? | [
"They represent both meaning and pronunciation. So when expressing a loan word, proper noun, or brand in Chinese, you would ideally find characters that convey the sound and meaning as close as possible. Here's a [page about that ](_URL_0_) that expresses the concept well. \"Coca-cola is one of the most popular s... | [
"Many languages have sounds that other languages don't. It's why many people with the same first language have similar accents in a second language (ex: asians and 'L' sound). If the sound or technique used for pronunciation of a particular word is foreign, it'd be difficult for outsiders to say. On top of that, ot... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Why is nationalism bad? | [
"Nationalism is “identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.” the important part there is the detriment of other nations. Nationalists think their country and the citizens are better than others. The exclusion of oth... | [
"Reddit as the new opiate of the masses?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why does rebooting the router make the internet go faster/lag less? | [
"When an application is running smoothly, it uses a certain amount of RAM (random access memory) to store temporary information. Since your router only has a finite amount of memory, it's supposed to regularly clean up after itself, essentially releasing any memory it no longer needs back into the available pool so... | [
"connecting to 4g isn't instant. Set your phone to airplane mode, wait a bit, then turn it back to regular. It will take a few seconds to reconnect as well."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How are insects able to crawl on the bottom of objects without falling off? | [
"Objects that appear smooth to us are actually covered in pits and fissures and ridges, far too small for us to see. The insects feet are covered in bristles or hairs that can interact with these little fissures, allowing them to cling on to and move along seemingly smooth things, even upside down. Here's a drawing... | [
"Not friction but surface tension. Water stick very well to itself and to other surfaces, such as the side of your glass."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
How do private prisons make money? What is their business model? Who decides a prisoner should go to which prison? | [
"1. Private prisons provide a service, and the government pays them for it. Think of it like you own a hotel, let it out to some managers who manage it on your behalf. They make money based on number of guests who come in. Except here, the guests are sponsored by the government and hence the prison service provider... | [
"> ... should we worry about the future of privately owned prisons? I don't think you need to worry about the future, privately owned prisons are a concern **today**. Instead of working solely to rehabilitate inmates, the prison industrial complex is very involved in lobbying government to influence laws to the ben... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
- Why do some languages have male and female words? Eg German. | [
"As a Spanish native speaker, please let me ask precisely the opposite: how is it that there are languages without this kind of nuances?"
] | [
"If I may butt in someone else's question... What of the women's names (ending in -ine in the original french)? And do we have any such written traces?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How do charity tax writeoffs work? | [
"Taxes are used to fund the government, but (in theory) the government mainly uses them for things the benefit society as a whole. Things like infrastructure, healthcare, peace enforcement, welfare programs, education, e.t.c. The idea of charity tax writeoffs is to encourage people to themselves give back to socie... | [
"A lot of wealthy people paid other people to figure out how to use loopholes to avoid paying taxes."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Finance:"
} |
Crispiness - fried vs dehydrated | [
"Part of the reason that fried foods are crispy is because the water is removed by being boiled away. This creates little steam bubbles in the surface of the food, with a brittle outer layer made of proteins, either from the food itself (like crispy chicken skin) or from the batter. Once the steam escapes from thes... | [
"Not very delicious food yet but pizza is common extrude dough on a hot surface extrude sauce extrude cheese. Ta-da!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
What is an inner product? (linear algebra) | [
"I'll try my best, but I've never successfully explained undergraduate abstract algebra to a five year old! [_URL_0_](_URL_0_) might be useful. You're right to say that the idea of an inner product is a generalisation of a dot product, but when we refer to a dot product, we mean the specific operation that involves... | [
"First, it has nothing to do with anything tropical. The name was a very silly attempt by a French mathematician to acknowledge the contributions of a certain Brazilian mathematician. This is a very advanced level of math. The key idea is \"transforming questions about algebraic varieties into questions about polyh... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement. What causes/is the purpose of our eyes to still move during sleep when the rest of our body is nearly inhibited and our eyes are closed the whole time? | [
"The muscles controlling your eye movements are controlled by nerves that belong to the so-called cranial nerves, which emerge directly out of the brain instead of going through the spinal cord in some fashion or other like the rest of motoneurons. As such the sleep paralysis that happens to all of us in deep REM t... | [
"You can wake up randomly for any number of reasons: sudden noises, flashes of light, someone touching you, or just your brain randomly deciding it should wake up. As for the feeling rested part, it's because of the mammalian sleep cycles (as you know, humans are mammals). When we sleep, we alternate between REM (R... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Psychology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage about Psychology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage about Sleep and fatigue:"
} |
Is there a limit on how massive a corporation can get? if so why - why not? | [
"Can not exceed size of present value of world economy. Some companies have legal limits on their size such as banks deemed by Congress as having grown too big to fail meaning that a possible failure would damage economy and Congress legislates limits on size based inpart on financial health."
] | [
"More or less a way for corporations to literally be above the law and do whatever they want, among other things. Cross your fingers it doesn't go through."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
What causes throwing up, and why does physical activity (after having eaten) stimulate it? | [
"Throwing up is essentially the body's fastest and safest way of ridding itself of poison. It's actually thought to be evolutionary if you vomit after/during exercise. The theory is - you're being chased by a predator. You stop to throw up, as it makes you lighter and distracts the predator with a (disgusting) free... | [
"Keep drinking small amounts if at all possible. It will help dilute acids in your belly and also keep you from having dry heaves which can sometimes be more painful than throwing up fluids. Try warm water rather than cold."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Health and Wellness:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Health and Wellness:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is it easier for all things to get ugly rather than becoming beautiful? | [
"Well, people regard perfect things as beautiful. And it’s harder to be perfect than not perfect. Being perfect fits a very select few appearances from a seemingly infinite amount of possible appearances."
] | [
"A part of it might have something to do with the fact that we've become so used to getting apps for free."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How to increase a countries birth rate? | [
"Well, you need money to raise those kids, clothes, food, medicine, education and so on, so probably a good economy , maybe some kind of incentive for parents Then again, i could be wrong and this is just the foundation But what i saw from people i know, they'll go for more if they feel they can handle it, example,... | [
"How much do they cost vs how much will they generate."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
- Why does the kettle stop whistling as soon as you turn off the heat? I would think it would continue for a little while after | [
"Water in liquid form does not rise above 212 deg. F, it turns to gas at this point. Once removed from heat and the water falls just one degree below 212, it will stop producing gas. EDIT: There are a lot of factors in addition to what I stated such as surface pressure, surfactants, hermetic seals, etc, but nonethe... | [
"Some stoves/kettles boil much faster than others. If you leave the tea in the water while you're boiling it, you have no control over how long the leave & water are in contact. If you take boiling water off the heat & then add it to the leaves, the results will be the same every time."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How are video games developed for different platforms? How are they made to be consistent with each other? | [
"These days most of the same code is used for all platforms. Generally speaking anything to do with the \"simulation\" aspects of the game e.g. physics, AI, gameplay, is written once and used on all platforms. The code that need to be different are the bits that interact with the hardware and operating system. Grap... | [
"First, it provides an existing toolchain for the developers. Much of developing a game is not just the actual player application that the end user sees, but the collection of support tools used during development. This is fully-featured software in its own right, and you can either write it yourself or buy it prem... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why are some batches of eggs harder to peel than other batches even though they're cooked exactly the same? | [
"Always hardboil your oldest eggs, add a few tablespoons of vinegar to the water, then shock them in ice water after. Fresh eggs have membrane layers that are more adherent. Vinegar will soak through the shells and help to further break up those membrane bonds. Then the ice will cause the eggs to shrink slightly in... | [
"Both eggs and butter can be safely left at room temperature for quite a long time. Butter can go weeks, maybe months. With eggs, how long depends on whether they've been previously refrigerated or not. If they've been refrigerated, they should probably not be left out for more than an hour or two. But if they have... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text about Food Science:"
} |
How are woman able to carry up to 5+ babies? | [
"They aren't. Without modern medicine, multiple births are extemely dangerous. There isn't enough room in their for even two babbies, let alone more, so c-sections are generally required to deliver premature babies who aren't that large yet who then must be sustained under intense medical care until they develop en... | [
"Human twins aren't always identical twins. There's basically two different kinds of twins: Identical which happens when the fertilized egg splits into two, which then turns into two babies instead instead. Then there's Fraternal twins, which just means there were two lucky sperms instead of one, so there's two fer... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Where do those monster waves in the middle of the ocean come from? | [
"Research into this is ongoing. We know what can cause them sometimes, but we don't know what causes them all the time. They seem to happen most reliably in places where a strong current moves in the opposite direction of the waves, but we don't even know if that's what always causes them. Fortunately we found out ... | [
"How do you even take a picture of the center of a tornado?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
If someone with the flu touches something (doorknob), how long does that item stay contagious? Also why is there a flu "season"? | [
"The flu virus has a \"jacket\" that is made of protein. When it's cold, the jacket keeps the disease inside safe. When it's warm the \"jacket\" melts, and the virus \"dies\" . The season is linked to the temperature which changes throughout the seasons. It's too warm during the late spring, early fall, and all of... | [
"Most of the seasonal illnesses you get are viral, not bacterial -- colds and the flu are both viruses, which is why you should never pressure your doctor for antibiotics when you're plain-old sick. They don't work. The \"flu season\" takes place in colder weather because there's some evidence that the dryness allo... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
LED lights vs incandescent bulbs | [
"It IS more directional, that is totally correct. Think of this: old incandescent lights have a filament suspended in the middle of the bulb on two thin wires. That helps throw light out in all directions, in an almost 360 degree arc around the whole thing. LEDs are usually soldered to a driver board. That will giv... | [
"Because light bulbs take electrical energy and convert it into light. But it's not 100% efficient so some of that energy is released as heat. Incandescent bulbs are the least efficient so put out the most heat, followed by florescent, then led."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Lighting technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Lighting technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What happens when we get dizzy | [
"Your inner ear contains an organ that determines which way is up by measuring the line of liquid inside of it Where the line of liquid lies tells it which direction the body is oriented in, which lets the brain make adjustments in your ballance. It's a sensitive organ. Even very small shift in ballance are noticed... | [
"They get confused with what they see (backwards) and what they know (moving forward), and they might get dizzy."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How do clothes dry when left out at room temperature given water boils at 100 degrees? | [
"Evaporation is different than boiling. Just like if you leave a glass of water out at room temperature eventually that will evaporate too, just a lot slower than boiling."
] | [
"Water without impurities boils at 100degrees c at sea level"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do/how can "zero/low calorie sweeteners" have sugar, specifically dextrose, in them, if they are supposed to be sugar substitutes? | [
"Most say no or low sugar because they generalize glucose as sugar and other forms not. Also glucose is harder to metabolize than say sucrose, dextrose, fructose, lactose etc. So technically they aren't wrong but also not right. No sugar substitutes tend to use saccharin instead of a \"-ose\""
] | [
"In short: it can't. What you are tasting is almost certainly not 'real' sugar: it is likely to be an artificial sweetener which stimulates the same receptors as sugar in the mouth/brain, but with an entirely different chemical makeup. Add it to the list of things we can attribute to \"yay, science!\" Technically, ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How effective is a headbutt as a form of offence/defence? | [
"There is technique to a head but that ensures you damage your opponent more than you damage yourself. You use the curve in your forehead as the Striking surface and you aim for their jaw nose or eyes. The curve in the top of your forehead is much stronger than the flat surface of their face and their face has a lo... | [
"Respiratory and vascular chokeholds restrict blood flow to the brain, depriving it of oxygen. In turn, somebody being \"choked out\" loses consciousness. If the brain is deprived of oxygen for prolonged periods, serious brain damage can occur. Chokeholds are used in a variety of martial arts. Either as a self-defe... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
- What happens when photons hit a molecule? | [
"Depending on the energy of the photon there are a couple of options - \"Nothing\". Of course nothing would violate laws of physics, so the photon would be reflected (or absorbed) and the molecule would be pushed. ( A tiny amount. Enough that you could propulse a starship with huge sunsails in space, but to less to... | [
"Particles of carbon + carbon dioxide + water vapor. Depends on the material that's on fire."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What exactly are “Antioxidants” and what do they do? | [
"Okay, so basically in chemistry there are these things called \"Free Radicals\" and (as an oversimplified explanation) they are basically chemicals that are in a state where they can react with other chemicals easily by acting as an oxidizer in a reaction (which is an oxidant), but they also tend to act as a catal... | [
"According to many doctors multivitamins do absolutely nothing for you."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
how the Soviets went from allies in WW2 to enemies in the Cold War. | [
"Soviets were only allies because of Barbarossa, the Nazis attacked them unprovoked. Keep on mind that Hitler had a pact with them before Barbarossa to keep Japan in check. AFTER the Soviets were attacked it became the enemy of my enemy, basically. But the west has never liked the Soviet system. After defeating th... | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do certain colours absorb more heat than others? | [
"Assuming you meant to ask why certain color objects get hotter than others in sunlight: - Heat (or more precisely, temperature) is essentially a measurement of energy. - Colors aren't things that can absorb heat. Color is just your brain's perception of different energies (frequencies/wavelengths) of light, detect... | [
"The water is affecting how much light is being absorbed and reflected. Water absorbs quite a bit of light."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are vibrating objects (such as musical instruments) most resonant at frequencies that are multiples of the harmonic series? | [
"Most musical instruments are designed in a way to resonate the tones you will be playing on them. This helps listeners to better hear your music. I do not think, this holds true for all vibrating objects. They will usually have extra resonance frequencies at octaves, which correspond to whole multiples of the base... | [
"Any note on the guitar (or any instrument, or any sound) is made up of many frequencies. The lowest frequency is called the fundamental and is the pitch we perceive the instrument to be playing. All of the higher frequencies are called overtones and although we don't distinctly perceive each of them, the relative ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
How do whales regulate their temperature in the vastly different seas they travel? | [
"The blood going to vessels in the skin (outside the blubber) is shut off to raise body temperature in the cold, and increased to cool off in the tropics."
] | [
"The oceans are much larger, with much more variable conditions. Freshwater life is generally restricted to shallow depths, relatively stable temperatures, and small size. Oceans are huge and have all sorts of conditions:. Pressures can vary from atmospheric all the way to a thousand times the atmospheric pressure ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why is it that when you take a photo of your computer screen with a phone camera, the image is distorted or has some sort of pattern superimposed onto it until you zoom in on the image? | [
"They're called [Moiré patterns](_URL_0_) The pixel grid in the camera's sensor, the pixel grid on the screen your photographing **and** the pixel grid on your phone's screen (that's why it changes when you zoom) are not perfectly aligned and create an interference pattern. The same thing occurs when you take a pi... | [
"The funny thing is that the effects look better in a movie theater because the movie theater quality is worse. A projector cannot project individual pixels as well as a monitor can so the image is very slightly blurred. Now, think of a picture with a crappy photoshopped face on top of another person. Someone just ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Computer Science:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Computer Science:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What was it that happened to Detroit that made parts of it "abandoned"? | [
"The other answers are correct in the macro sense. However, for Detroit in particular, there were extensive race riots in the 1960s. Everyone with money left the city proper for the suburbs that now ring Detroit. this left mostly poor people and empty buildings in the city. Decades later, trying to reduce urban bli... | [
"Who do you think is gentrifying those neighborhoods?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment about urban planning and retail development:"
} |
Why does smoke from factories look still/stationary when viewed from an airplane? | [
"Because its rate of emission is constant. Its like running water from a tap, if it never changes the output the then flow outward looks constant. It will shift with the wind but the wind won’t shift fast enough for you to see from a plane."
] | [
"It's not the plane, it's the air the plane is travelling through. The more humid the air, the more trails you get. Dry air means fewer contrails. If you see two planes, one leaving a trail and the other not, they are probably travelling at different altitudes with different humidities."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Do throwing knives always hit blade first? | [
"There are a couple of factors. Mainly the distance between you and the target. Professionals have practiced enough so that they can judge weather to throw the knife by the hilt or tip of the blade as that halve revolution could mean the difference between the blade hitting or not. Another factor is how hard you a... | [
"It focuses the force on one spot and allows it to make a clean slice through the neck, killing in one blow rather than potentially taking several hits. Edit: this is the same reason when you're cutting something, you don't just drop the knife flatly against it, you angle the blade to get a clean slice."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
- How do events on Earth’s surface shift Earth’s axis? | [
"Picking up a chair you are sitting on doesn’t work because the force you exert upwards on the stair is cancelled by the force your butt exerts on the chair downwards. Instead, picture jumping out of an airplane. While you are in freefall, you can twist, spin, and flip your body in any direction. The earth itself ... | [
"In theory, this is because the earth spins. Destin and Derek had a great video on it. _URL_0_ In practice, it doesn't matter which hemisphere you're in. Other forces acting on the water are too great and set up their own spin."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What causes vodka and tequila not to freeze at -1 Fahrenheit? Is it the alcohol percentage? | [
"Alcohol freezes at a much colder temperature (-115C if I remember correctly) That's why you store stuff like white wine in the freezer so itll be chilled"
] | [
"Different liquids have different boiling temperature points. Many liquids would start boiling at lower temperatures. Rubbing alcohol has 82.6º C boiling point for example. This means the molecules would gain enough energy at lower temperatures to evaporate (become vapour)."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do people see stars when injured? What causes this occurrence? | [
"Caused by stimulation of the back of the eye, or the optic nerve, which transmits the experience of light to the brain. That stimulation happens with rapid movement caused by the injury."
] | [
"Shine a light at your eyes while they’re closed. What do you see? That’s your answer."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Science:"
} |
Does taking 10mg of a drug every day, the same as taking 20mg every other day, when it comes to building a tolerance? | [
"No. Your body will always acclimate to things in smaller doses on a more regular basis. An example would be radiation. The same amount of Rems spread over time will have less of an impact than a massive dose at once. Or if that doesn't work for you, think sipping beer vs doing shots."
] | [
"That is the amount of time that it takes for your body to process that chemical out. Some medications are taken 2 or even 4 times a day due to how rapidly the body processes them, and some are taken every few days to once a week. Some allergy medications are taken once a month. Higher doses alone do not mean it w... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why can you get a little extra juice out of dead AA batteries in a remote control by flipping them around? | [
"The connections between the battery and device, those little copper flaps, tend to get corroded due to the transfer of electricity from the battery to the device itself. Basically, the transfer of electricity is causing the copper flaps to corrode where they touch the battery itself. That corrosion causes resistan... | [
"The battery holds charge like any other battery, it just lasts a long time because it uses so little electricity. You can open your key fob and change the battery if it runs out."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is Judas and Pontius Pilate considered evil, if Jesus’s death was part of the God’s plan and someone had to do that anyways? | [
"Religion has countless plot holes. Maybe instead of trying to find explanations for them, you should wake up and realize that it's bullshit. (Like Axmantim said, but without the sugar coating)."
] | [
"Because most Christians don't believe \"judas was chose by Jesus\" at least not in the sense that Judas was chosen for his virtue, instead he was chosen because Jesus knew that Judas would betray him. There are some texts and interpretations of Judas that say he was in fact the best friend of Jesus, and that betra... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Religion:",
"pos": "Represent the text about Religion:",
"neg": "Represent the text about Religion:"
} |
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