query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1
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|---|---|---|---|---|
I recently learned that the sun is actually further away from earth in the summer. How is it warmer during the summer, yet it’s farther away from us then in the winter? | [
"The seasons are caused by the angle the light from the sun is hitting us at (and how long each day), which in turn comes from the Earth being tilted. In the summer, it's hitting the northern hemisphere more directly, so it heats up that region more. It's the opposite in the southern hemisphere (when it's summer in... | [
"The sun doesn't rise and set at the exact same spot every day. This is because the Earth while spinning on it's axis also tilts in relation to the sun (this is, by the way, the same reason we have seasons). Where the sun rises therefore also depends on *where* on Earth you are - in the Arctic circle, for example, ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does sand turn into glass when exposed to extremely high temperatures? | [
"Melting is magic. Hundreds of ice cubes when exposed to sufficient heat will melt. Take the melted ice (water) and expose it to cold again and you will have a continuous sheet of ice. Sand is like ice cubes. Get a bunch of them hot enough and it will melt. Make the melty stuff cold again and you have one giant sa... | [
"It's not air pollution. It has to do with the way light refracts on particles in our atmosphere."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
What’s actually happening when things go down the “wrong pipe” while eating or drinking. | [
"It means that food or drink have closed off your airway, choking you. Usually, this turn of phrase is only used when it is easily cleared by coughing, as opposed to requiring CPR. Your throat has two \"pipes\" going down into your body, the esophagus (running to your stomach) and the trachea (going to the lungs). ... | [
"Do you also cough when eating popsicles and frankfurters/hot dogs? If so, it might be your technique."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do scabs on cuts form in "blocks"? | [
"In my experience scabs first form as a complete sheet that is semi flexible. It then starts to dry out and hardens. As it dries it also contracts a little making the skin around it contract. That's what''s giving you that \"lumpy\" look. If the scap is on a knee, elbow or other location that sees a lot of movemen... | [
"You have small cracks in your skin from being so dry. The lotion is causing the inflammation. EDIT: I guess I should be clear that theses \"small cracks\" are small breaks in the skin."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
why do people use aluminium when cooking, for example, lasagna. | [
"The aluminium foil helps the pan to not get burnt food stuck on it. It doesn't really make a difference to the way the food cooks. Aluminium isn't as good a conductor of heat as copper, but it's better than steel. Unless there's a lot of air pockets, it won't make much of a difference. Lasagna has lots of things t... | [
"You can put metal in microwaves, which is a lot come with racks, you just can't put metal with sharp edges/points such as forks and aluminum foil. As for the interior, most microwaves have their interior painted to prevent these issues."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does a muscle become stiff when cold and limber when hot? | [
"When cold, blood vessels contract so they are further from the skin's surface, losing less heat. This constriction means blood does not flow through the veins as much, limiting blood flow to muscles. When hot, blood vessels expand so they are closer to the skin's surface to release heat. Wider vessels means more ... | [
"There are two things that cause your muscles to ache. 1. Because the muscles have worked really hard, they tighten up 2. Because working out causes tiny microscopic tears in muscle fibres, the muscles get a little bit swollen The common, most well known treatment for achy muscles is heat, such as a hot bath. What... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What's the difference between the different type of steaks? (Ribeye, Porterhouse, Tomahawk, Filet Mignon, T-Bone, etc.) | [
"Very simple answer: they come from different parts of the cow. slightly more involved answer: [here](_URL_0_) is an article explaining what all the different cuts are and where on the cow they come from"
] | [
"Clearly you've never watched *Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives* late at night."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
When someone wealth is estimated at X billion dollars, what does it mean precisely ? | [
"In most cases at least, its owners of massive businesses and often 95%+ of the \"net worth\" is made up of shares in the business. In cash it's normally much less. If Jeff bezos wanted to move his whole \"net worth\" into cash it would be about 13% of the notes and coins of USD in the world."
] | [
"It's simply an adjustment for inflation. Money generally loses value over time, so if you are to state how much a person or company was worth 100 years ago it's better to adjust that figure for inflation. That way it is more easily interpreted with today's understanding of how much a dollar (or whatever) is worth.... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
How do food products with "secret formulas/recipes" keep them secret when all ingredients have to be disclosed on the packaging? | [
"Firstly, spices can just be listed as \"spices\" which doesn't even include *which* spices, and certainly not their proportions. Even if the ingredients are all listed in order from most prevalent to least, there would be a lot of flexibility in how much of each ingredient that could be added while maintaining tha... | [
"It's because food is regulated by the FDA and alcohol is regulated by the ATF. Each agency has different requirements for what has to be included on the packaging."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Why does traffic on the highway happen, especially when there are limited variables in play? | [
"Stopping distances. People generally drive too close to thaw car in front. This means that if someone ahead changes lanes or slows they have to brake excessively. That leads to a ripple effect travelling backward through the traffic."
] | [
"This is done to eliminate cross over turns (left) which prevents traffic congestion from being caused as people wait to be able to pass through oncoming traffic and at the same time eliminates a significant number of accidents further reducing traffic issues which can be difficult to clear in heavy urban environme... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why were so many animals so large millions of years ago? T-Rex, Titanoboa, Megalodon, etc. | [
"No one really knows but there are a few theories. 1. Because the plant were big. It was warmer and there was more food. Animals grew bigger simply because they could and it was worthwhile. The bigger you were the higher you could reach the more food you could get. 2. Self-defence. Big animals eat little animals ... | [
"First, a nomenclature nitpick: there are no underwater dinosaurs. Dinosaurs by definition are land-dwelling (or amphibious at best) reptiles with a certain physiology. Aquatic reptiles are technically not dinosaurs, but we all know that you mean \"large, extinct aquatic reptiles.\" Let's look at a few of them! * I... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why does the sun shining make certain materials smell different? Like the sun shining through the window on the carpet, on a blanket, even the plastic blinds. Each thing has it's own distinct sun smell... Why? | [
"The heat may cause the scent of the material to permeate the distance further than normal; really the question your asking is how does the sun intensify the scent of materials"
] | [
"I have some synesthesia related to having an Autism Spectrum Disorder. So some senses looks like colors to me anyway. These might not relate or make sense. Red is the feeling of sharp metal against your skin, the smell of rust, the sharp feeling that you get when you chew tin foil. It tastes like iron and sweat. Y... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What causes heat haze's in the distance on a hot summer day? | [
"Do you mean like this? _URL_1_: This happens because 1. The strong sun light makes the ground much hot, which in turn makes the layer of air just above the ground much hotter than the air higher up. (or causes strong thermal gradient near the ground) 2. Light goes slightly faster in hot air than it does in cold ai... | [
"Because heat re-radiates back up from the earth having been warmed during the day by the sun. This causes minor distortions in light as it gets slightly bent through the warmer air. This is the same reason why stars twinkle. That's why on a really dry cold night there's little to no twinkling. Test this for yours... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What happened to the Chernobyl's power plant nuclear reactor, and what caused the accident to be so fatal so instantaneously? | [
"They were trying to see if they could cool the reactor with no power (just the pumps rotating as they slowed down) for a few seconds while the backup generators started. This didn't work because while doing so they also increased the reactor's power output which was against procedure. The cooling rods were inserte... | [
"By far not as bad as Chernobyl because some cores melted down, but the technology allowed us to cool them down faster and limit the size of destruction - Chernobyl, on the other hand, completely blew up, and the radiation that polluted the land was far bigger. As a comparison: While 5,200 PBq (Petabecquerel, 1 Pet... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Why can't phone screens be dimmed way more so that they are easier on our eyes when it's dark? | [
"Do you have an iPhone? I can dim mine to where it’s hardy viewable even in darkness. Also, I saw a video not too long ago about a trick you can do to dim it even further."
] | [
"No, it's basically the same as red-shifting your displays. If your phone supports (or have an app) that red-shifts your displays, use it especially in the dark, your eyes are much less strained."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
What exactly determines how long an organism lives, and why do similar species sometimes have different life expectancies? | [
"There is something called the rate of living theory, it was proposed that the maximum lifespan of an animal was related to its metabolic rate sometimes viewed as the number of heartbeats. However this may only be part of the picture with the role of reactive oxygen species in cell deterioration and eventually cell... | [
"For the most part yes, although they seem to vary a good deal even within the same species. Some tree are particularly long lived and given the proper nutrients they could live for an indefinite amount of time. However if you look at particularly old trees you see that they are not very \"healthy\" looking. A tree... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does it take longer for women to have an orgasm than for men? I do not understand the evolutive advantage of having women taking longer to have an orgasm | [
"It doesn’t. There are certain kinds of stimulation that get one person off, and different types that get off someone else. If one person is deciding upon how sex will go, and the other has been socialized to not make their desires known, even to repress their desires, then the way sex is going to happen is that th... | [
"Contrary to popular opinion, orgasm and ejaculation are not the same event. Men *can* orgasm as much as women, however, they cannot ejaculate more than every so often, since the system needs time to recover."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Are there actual bodily changes when someone with multiple personalities changes personality? | [
"Depends on what you mean by bodily changes. People dont suddenly get a hunch back or anything but the other personalities may have psychosomatic pains and stuff (they may think they have a bad knee when they dont so walk with a limp for seemingly no reason). Apart from that I belive there is some change in brain a... | [
"I think you're referring to dissociation. That can include everything from daydreaming, to losing track of the drive home, all the way to Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities)."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
What causes the "asian glow" when drinking alcohol? Why is it so prevalent in east asians? | [
"Asian people have a gene that makes them much more suspectible to flushing when drinking alchohol. This gene affects the way the body metabolizes alchohol. *In about 50% of East Asians, the increased acetaldehyde accumulation is worsened by another gene variant, the mitochondrial ALDH2 allele, which results in a l... | [
"Genetically speaking, Asians have a *very* high chance of carrying and passing on the gene that makes you lactose intolerant. A very large percentage of the Asian population is lactose intolerant to some degree. So, if a particular type of food is making everyone in your community sick, gassy, bloated, etc... then... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What's the difference between fog and clouds? | [
"Fog is just a type of cloud that touches the ground. It is still made of tiny water droplets in the air"
] | [
"It has a few different meanings in different contexts. What setting are we talking about?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about finance:"
} |
How are the atoms split? Is the fission process the same for nuclear power plants and the nuclear bomb? | [
"If you shoot a neutron at an atom at the right speed (not too fast or too slow), the atom will break into pieces. If you organize things right, those pieces will hit other atoms and break *them* apart too. It's the same underlying process in bombs and power plants, but the difference is in how the atoms are organi... | [
"Not all atoms are \"fissionable\", only the Uranium/Plutonium in the bombs core. These atoms only support a nuclear chain reaction when they are very close together, this is why the bomb is triggered by using conventional explosives to \"push\" the fissile material together, to start a nuclear chain reaction. When... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Nuclear physics:",
"pos": "Represent the passage about Nuclear physics:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How does electricity make things do different actions such as rotating? | [
"When you run electric current through a wire, it creates a magnetic field. You can use that magnetic field to push on things and make them turn. _URL_0_"
] | [
"We fire little particles into very big atoms to make them split into much smaller atoms. This releases a bunch of energy, which we use to boil water, and drive the resulting steam through a turbine to actually generate electricity."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
why cooking oil changes the color of your clothes permanently darker. | [
"Oil makes things darker the same way wet things are darker. It adds a layer of gloss and since oils dry via oxidation instead of evaporation it is difficult to remove once cured. It's also why it's used commonly in painting for those properties."
] | [
"Because there are people who will hold something dry and still think it's not dry enough Example: my thanksgiving dinner"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
How does noise cancelling work? | [
"Active noise cancelling works by the headphones having a microphone on the outside that detects environmental noise, and then speakers on the inside that play the opposite soundwave to cancel it out. Sound travels in waves with peaks and valleys, so if it hits another wave with directly opposite peaks and valleys ... | [
"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 Reddit title about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why does rainwater not mix in with lake water immediately, instead pooling together into rainwater puddles above the lake? | [
"Because there is a slight difference in density. More dense liquid floats over low-density liquid. This is due to the particles of the high-density liquid being too close to each other which make them have a bigger area thus they float over."
] | [
"There are a few ways this can occur. Salt water doesn't float as well as fresh water, so when they meet, the salt water may stay separate fall to the greatest depth while the freshwater sits on the surface. Another way is by temperature. Cold water sinks, hot water rises. If there is a steady supply of cold water ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How do street lights know to turn colors when you pull up to an intersection? | [
"There are sensors on the road. Have you ever seen [those circles covered in rubber?](_URL_0_) Whenever you drive over them it let's the traffic light know there's a car there."
] | [
"Traffic patterns are sparse in those flashing light areas at those times. It would be pointless to make people sit at a red light when there is no other traffic around. I wish more intersections would do that out where I live."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument about Technology:"
} |
Why is there a limit to how high certain birds can fly? | [
"The same thing that limits human beings: lack of oxygen. You have to be able to breathe in order to fly. The air is probably thick enough at higher altitudes for wings to still work, but not thick enough to give birds the oxygen they need to metabolize."
] | [
"Because they have a better chance of not being eaten by birds, most of which sleep at night."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
How does water heating on a stove rise in temperature at a constant rate, but doesn't turn entirely to steam in a relatively short period off time when the temperature hits 212°F, which is the point at which water turns to steam? | [
"Due to the ' Latent heat of Vaporization '. Up until 212°F/100°C the energy supplied raises the temperature of the water. Once it hits that value, the energy is used to convert it from the liquid state to the vapor state. The temperature doesn't rise until all the liquid changes to vapor. Think of it like the ener... | [
"Water is always evaporating into the atmosphere, as long as the relative humidity is less than 100%. The rate of evaporation increases with its temperature. The only thing special about 100 C is that's when it *all* vaporizes. Watch a pot of water that you are heating to a boil. More and more steam comes off until... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How can online games like first person shooters be so in sync across all users without hardly any delay? | [
"Fast internet and faster servers. Human reaction times are on the order of 100ms or so. Ping time, which is round-trip packet flight time is often on the order of half that or so. Round trip is therefore on the order of human reaction if you give the server a little time to do stuff. Also, the server only sends b... | [
"It has been done, but it's kind of rare. With PC and consoles though, it doesn't tend to work well, as usually the PC players have the upper hand, thanks to using keyboard/mouse instead of a controller. Also I should imagine it's easier (therefore cheaper) to keep the auth/integration systems separate than gettin... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How does a fall from heights kill a person immediately? | [
"Your organs tend to liquefy when falling from great height. That includes your brain and stuff. Evelyn McHale who is known for being the subject of \"[the most beautiful suicide](_URL_0_)\" for example; they had to scoop her up because she was pretty much liquid in a sack of skin."
] | [
"Roughly how well do you think an entire office building worth of people jumping down a slide would go? Hint: It'd probably kill more people than the fire."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
How does the baby breath in the womb? | [
"They practice the motions for breathing by inhaling and exhaling amniotic fluid. That practice makes sure the body is strong enough to breathe air after birth. Hiccups are also a workout for the diaphragm and happen frequently in utero. All oxygen recieved before birth comes through the umbilical cord, just in cas... | [
"It is a seam left over from when you were formed in your mothers womb."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Biology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Biology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are fruits sour before they turn sweet? | [
"The short answer is evolution, the long answer is that seeds prematurely consumed and spread through feces (ie apples) and being discarded (ie cherries) don't produce fruit, but fully matured ones do. Plants that evolved to produce a sweet product after full maturity would only be consumed by animals after having ... | [
"Because they oxidize. Contact with oxygen makes them change color, like apples and some other fruits do once you peel them."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
How can matter outside of the Observable Universe travel faster than light? | [
"It can't. Nothing with mass can ever travel at or faster than the speed of light in a vacuum (c). It sounds like you may be confusing the observable universe with the Hubble volume. Beyond the Hubble volume, objects are receding from us at faster than c because of the expansion of the universe. The objects themsel... | [
"There is no such distance. Gravity extends for an infinite distance, the only way to escape its influence would be for the expansion to increase in speed until the two objects are moving apart faster than the speed of light. At that point they stop influencing each other and effectively do not exist from each othe... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage about Physics:"
} |
Why do leg muscles cramp? | [
"There isn't really a \"benefit\" to reacting that way; that's just a limitation that's there. It's like how there's no benefit to a car's brakes getting hot when you use them; that's just something that happens and you mitigate it if you can."
] | [
"Why do they randomly twitch just once? I dunno. Why do you get a twitch that won't go away? Potassium deficiency. I used to get eye twitches all the time before I figured it out."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health and Wellness:"
} |
Why does rubbing our eyes after a long time feel so good and refreshing? | [
"There are many vegetative nerve endings in the eye that are pressure sensitive. When you rub your eyes, the vegetative nervous system will be stimulated and releases transmitter substitutions in the same way as in the deep phase of the sleep. This causesa so called vegetative storm that make us feel more rested. R... | [
"Why does stretching my hamstrings feel so unpleasant, while stretching my calves feels good?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How do pictures taken of the universe capture the distant past? | [
"Because light isn't instantaneous. It takes time to reach us. Meaning any light we see from 1 million light years away is 1 million year old light."
] | [
"They reflect the light of the sun. They are close by relatively speaking, so some of them appear bright in the sky."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does glass get recycled? | [
"If the glass vessel is hard to produce (ie expensive) then it may be cleaned and re-used directly. For everyday things like beer bottles the glass is cleaned, crushed into small bits, and fed back into the glass production line along with other scraps from earlier production runs. It's called 'cullet'. Minor varia... | [
"The number in the recycling logo refers to the process that that particular material needs to go through to be recycled. Not all recycling plants have the means to recycle all kinds of materials."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Why are film and video game sequels often titled as “(original title) 2” when novel sequels are almost never titled as such? | [
"Catering to the lowest common denominator. And tradition. The first substantial use of a sequel being the 2nd was the Godfather. Before that, most sequels had unique titles. Godfather 2 sold well. Studios noticed. Ever since, numerical sequels have been the norm."
] | [
"The original film was titled \"Star Wars\", the subtitle (Episode IV: A New Hope) was added in later releases to make it constant with the sequels. Episode numbers started with V in \"Empire Strikes Back\", when Lucas decided to write backstory for many of the characters which could be (and were) made into prequel... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why are word scramble games so difficult when the unscrambled words are just regular, everyday words. | [
"Your brain has not been trained to look for the answers. Word scramble games are not difficult for those who do them all the time."
] | [
"Goose - Geese; Moose - Moose; nice, nicer nicest; good, better, best; tow - towed; go - went; English is weird like that. The word's origin determines a lot of its variations. It is almost on the verge of making no sense; but if you study the language deep enough you will patterns emerging. That is why spelling b... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How do neural networks work? | [
"Highly recommend the YouTube series from 3brown1blue on this topic. Visual explanation of this will always be better than just text in an comment. _URL_0_"
] | [
"Which language do you think would be the best to switch to?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why has there been such a big peak in antisemitism over recent years? | [
"Has it? Or is it just that reports of it have been more prevalent. Has the spread of Islamic extremism contributed? Israels foreign policy?"
] | [
"It does matter, and the lack of male nurses/teachers has gained quite a bit of visibility in the last 10 years."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why do you get so tired when you get sunburnt? | [
"I think the obvious reasons are you are dehydrated because you most likely sweat a lot and were not drinking a lot of water but rather booze. Your body is working overtime fighting the nuclear fusion ball that just served you up some radiation. Heat exhaustion is no joke"
] | [
"Why do the glands in my neck burn like high hell when I'm holding back tears?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How does electromagnetism occur? | [
"The \"how\", electromagnetism is described by a set of equations, called \"Maxwell equations\". If you ask for \"why\" electromagnetism exists: no one knows."
] | [
"If magnets are magic, is gravity magic too? Fundamental forces, yo. They run the universe."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
What is traction control in vehicles? | [
"Works differently for different cars but basically it actively applies power to individual wheels depending on what wheels are slipping or losing traction. Thus, \"traction control\". & #x200B; Some cars are better at it than others, some barely work. Subaru and Audi generally have the most efficient modern vers... | [
"Are you asking how a wheel works ?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
Why do all soda companies have the same size and shape of can/bottle? | [
"While it is true that a different company takes care of the packaging, this doesn't stop them from requesting different sizes and shapes. Or even building their own packaging facilities. However most soda companies would try to stick to the standard. That's party because they don't want to lose potential sale from... | [
"Are you comparing soda cans you bought to soda in glasses at restaurants? If so, it has to do with the different syrup ratios."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why do medicine requires us to have it before or after meal? What is the reasoning behind it? Thank you! | [
"Some medications such as Accutane are soluble in lipids (fat) but not water. Eating a fatty meal before taking it helps absorption. On a side note, digestion causes increased blood flow to the stomach. Some medications with low bioavailability, meaning that not a lot of the drug is absorbed, are absorbed better d... | [
"Why do you say that it's logical that breakfast be the heaviest meal of the day?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
The economic recession of the late 2000s | [
"When banks loan out money they get it paid back with interest ($100 loan with $5 interest means the final payment is $105 with $5 profit). When lending companies have a good reputation of customers paying back on time and in full they are allowed to loan out greater amounts of money. If the people who borrow the m... | [
"In a market economy, prices are set by supply and demand, without an gov't influence. No country has a pure market economy, as there are always some form of gov't subsidies or price controls. Market economies can go wrong, resulting in price bubbles and collapses. The financial crisis of the late 2000s is a good e... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Why do investors keep pouring money into companies that have never turned a profit like Uber? | [
"Because a 50k investment in UBER when it was still being called UBER CAB and only operated in one city would have cleared you a cool 6-8 hundred million at IPO. If they can get the market #1 position, sort out their management, get ride of drivers etc etc then they’ll make billions and billions. But that’s a big i... | [
"Internet startups don't need to be sustainable these days. Their plan is to grow big really fast, get lots of users & then sell everything to Facebook/Google before it's time to worry about making money."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage about Technology:"
} |
Why is 24 fps still being used when 60fps is a thing. | [
"People tend to favor 24 fps when it comes to movies. The lack of motion blur on higher fps tends to give the film a cheesy soap opera feeling. It should also be noted that quite a lot of movies will have some scenes shot in higher fps if they want that scene to show more detail. For example, incredibly fast paced ... | [
"Why you would want different Hz explained as fast as possible: Movies are filmed in 24 frames per second (in most scenes). 24 fps on a 60 Hz TV: 60/24=2.5 120Hz TV: 120/24=5 The 60Hz not being dividable by the frame rate is where the choppiness is created. 240Hz is a gimmick and completely unnecessary. No benefit ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about videogame development:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about videogame development:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why do people yell when they sneeze? | [
"A sneeze is practically like a powerful blow through your nose to clean away the toxin that caused the sneeze. But many people don’t want to blow it out through their nose because it can be a mess and if you let it all out without holding back it can hurt. So, people redirect the pressure to be released through th... | [
"How do you know that you don't sneeze in your sleep?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Dinosaurs lived in a world that was much warmer, with more oxygen than now, what was weather like? More violent? Hurricanes, tornadoes? Some articles talk about the asteroid impact, but not about what normal life was like for the dinos. (and not necessarily "hurricanes", but great storms) | [
"Oxygen levels were not higher during the Mesozoic. In fact for most of it they were significantly lower. The famously high oxygen levels that produced giant insects etc. predate the dinosaurs. Here’s a graph: _URL_0_ Oxygen levels did creep a little higher than modern levels during the end of the Mesozoic in the C... | [
"Mostly just a coincidence. The interesting part though is that most of the oil, shale, coal, and other resources we dig up in these places comes from ancient forests or animals, so the existence of them in abundance signifies that 'this place was once a hotspot for life' What with climate change and everything, du... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Why didn't vector graphic become mainstream rather than raster/pixel? | [
"The hardware that will ultimately display or print your work is pixel-based. This means that any vector-based solution requires additional processing before it can be used. This can also mean additional storage/transmission costs. Consider a CGI animated film. Handling it in pixel-based formed is somewhat expensiv... | [
"Flash games use vector graphics. App store games use bitmaps/textures etc."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why doesn’t the sun heat up the surface of the moon? | [
"It does. The temperature of the moon can reach 127 degrees C when its hit by sunlight, and drop to -173 degrees C when sunlight doesn't hit the moon anymore."
] | [
"The moon is also pulling the earth away from the water on the opposite side."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
What's the difference between a cult and a religion? | [
"Cults are often centered around one persons claim to the divine. A religion generally points to someone else's divinity"
] | [
"Aka how can I become a cult leader?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
how does velcro work? | [
"Velcro works by having two strips of material, one with lots of tiny hooks, and one with lots of thinner loops that the hooks can cling to when the strips are pressed together. [Here's a close up picture](_URL_0_) [Here's more pictures](_URL_1_)"
] | [
"Are you asking how a wheel works ?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why are plastic waste from developed countries shipped off to poor and developing countries ? | [
"Because it is/was cheaper to let it be someone else's problem than to deal with it themselves Also, the plastic in question wasn't forced on them. A company or government offers to take care of it, for a fee. Unfortunately, in a lot of countries where this offer was made, they did not ave regulation in place to pr... | [
"Part of the problem is that a growing economy means that the workers demand a higher salary, which makes production more expensive. Many companies produce in China because labour is so cheap there. But if it becomes more expensive, companies will start moving to countries that are still as cheap as China used to b... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How do doctors restart a dead donated heart? | [
"> And if they can make a dead heart beat again then why is it so difficult to revive a flat-lined person? They mostly can't. Donated hearts are not transported like most other organs. Donor hearts come exclusively from brain-dead but still technically living patients who are transported in full to the operating ro... | [
"Organs from cancer patients are often automatically set as unusable for transplant. So it is somewhat rare that it would happen, but if it did happen it would spread quickly due to the anti-rejection drugs suppressing the immune system of the person getting a transplant."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why are magnets not a problem for electronic devices anymore? | [
"Two main reasons. 1. Before LCD displays there were Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) displays. These used magnets to direct an electron beam towards the phosphorescent screen to create the image. Having a magnet near the monitor could magnetise the display, altering the beam's path thereby corrupting the display. Degaussing... | [
"They're not meant for regular human manipulation. They're meant to be plugged into a socket exactly once."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why does something taste less sweet after we eat something really sweet? | [
"Like you're five: Because your tongue is used to the sweet taste and the apple juice was less sweet than the cookie. Your tongue thought it was less sweet because it was used to something sweeter"
] | [
"Adults actually have less taste buds than kids, so something bitter, for example, will have a more intense bitter flavor for a kid than an adult. And sometimes you just learn to like something after trying it a bunch of times."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Why are the flashing lights for emergency services red and blue? | [
"They are the only vehicles allowed to have those colors. It prevents confusion between emergency vehicles (Red/Blue) and non emergency vehicles (usually yellow or white)."
] | [
"If you look at some traffic lights, you can see a little sensor by the lights, the fire truck has a strobe light that triggers that sensor and causes the light to switch."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
why do animals act as if nothing has happened when they fall down or break something? | [
"To not look weak. In the wild if an animal was to appear hurt or weak it would become a target for other preditors or even other animals within its pack that might challenge for the alpha status (and ability to mate) of the pack or herd. Even humans do it to some degree. In my group of male friends should one of u... | [
"Because it could startle them and they might attack you. It is a myth that it will give them a heart attack or put them into a coma. \"They\" say the best thing you can do is gently lead them back to bed."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why is it that, when trying to relax, your mind starts remembering all the embarrassing/stupid things you’ve ever done? | [
"This is a common behaviour of rumination seen in people with anxiety/depression. If you experience this regularly, you should seek help."
] | [
"Sometimes I just get really involved in my thoughts and it happens, then I'll realise how weird I must seem. Other times, it's because I'm lonely."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Why does fabric turn darker when wet? | [
"if you put a tissue over another tissue and so on, it keeps getting darker because one tissue fills the gaps that let's light through of the first tissue. Water does the same with fabric. It let's less light through because the water fills the gaps. It also refracts light towards the fabric etc."
] | [
"The skins oxidize on each layer quicker when it's peeled. Think of it as rust. If more of an area can get rusted, the area will get rusted faster."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
why are clouds flat in the bottom? | [
"As warm air rises, the water vapour remains invisible until the air cools enough for it to condense into water droplets. The altitude where that happens marks the bottom of the cloud."
] | [
"same way you can see a forest when your in it. The thin streak you see is the rest of the disk relative to us."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about Meteorology:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment about Meteorology:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment about astronomy:"
} |
Why is it that when a camera films confetti or snowflakes falling, the quality decreases hugely? | [
"[This Tom Scott video](_URL_0_) answers this exact question. Basically, it's about video compression. Video compression works by storing only (well, mostly) the changes between consecutive frames. If there's a lot of changes between frames, the video is hard to compress, so the compression must sacrifice the vide... | [
"It is because the slo-mo reveals a lot of things that cannot be seen by the regular eye. Normally mundane things like drop splashing and a glass breaking is (literally) seen in a new light. This ***is*** fascinating and appeals to natural curiosity."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why is it that after staring at a light bulb and you close your eyes you are still able to make out the shape of the light bulb? | [
"There are bits in the back of your eyes that actually “see” things; the area is called your retina and the bits are called rods and cones. Everything else in your eye is designed to make the clearest possible picture for those bits to see. Those bits are good at different things. Rods can see in low light, but the... | [
"Think of a marbel in a field at night, you know it is somewhere on the field but you just cannot make it out. Now imagine it's moving. On the other hand, imagine a street light with a fly buzzing around it. You cannot see the fly but if you look at the light long enough you can just make out something changing in ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Physics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Physics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How do file compression work? Why can't we just infinitely compress a file inorder to make gb to kb? | [
"Compression works a lot like shorthand. You make shortcuts and special “words” to represent certain sequences. As a super simple example, let’s say a file is 9 followed by 100 8’s. That file would be 101 bytes. But I could say any repeated sequence of numbers is always represented in my compressed file as “\\n\\*... | [
"Compression. It's a pretty complex subject, but basically you can often compress data down quite a bit. For a very obvious example, imagine a text file with \"hello\" (5 characters, approx 5 bytes) repeated 200 million times. It would be about 1GB in size. But you could instead just send \"repeat hello 200 million... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How do flying bugs just somehow appear around left out food, almost like the food itself birthed them? | [
"Flies smell rotting organic material (food/animal dead bodies/and animal excrement) are attracted to it by instinct (pre-programmed in their dna - just like you are pre-programmed to like sugary foods). & #x200B; The flies themselves are mature/adults and do not eat, but they lay eggs on or in said rotting food/d... | [
"Leaving food on the counter allows the scent particles to float more freely into the air since more surface area is exposed, thereby attracting ants. Also, who says throwing it in the garbage doesn't? My trash can is always filled with ants."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
What is a Black Box warning? Why do medications like Prozac/Fluoxetines have it? | [
"A black box warning is an adverse drug reaction that is thought to be so severe that the FDA mandates that it must be discussed with patient prior to prescribing. Often these are rare but potentially serious reactions. Prozac has a black box warning because it was noted to increase the risk of suicidal thoughts an... | [
"A lot of meds sound similar because it is indicative of what drug class they are in. Here are a few examples: -Caine = local anesthetic -mycin = antibiotic -olol = beta blocker -statin = for cholesterol"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Why are China's economic policies considered a threat to the US? Isn't the US being benefited by trade with China? | [
"China for a while now has been intentionally devaluing their currency to make their products cheaper on the international market. This harms US companies as they cant compete when they are stuck using the much stronger dollar to make their products. If there were truly a free and open market currency(at least a st... | [
"I know the yen has lost value due to inflation, but has their government actively devalued their currency the same way China has? China of course has done so to keep the cost of their exports down since such a large part of their economy is based on it."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What do our bodies do with the nitrogen in the air? | [
"Nothing. Nitrogen and argon are just inert in this sense, they get inhaled and then exhaled back with no effect."
] | [
"They're absorbed into the bloodstream in your intestines, just like the nutrients in your food."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why are there different kinds of “dimensions” in different fields? (As in, the 4th dimension of space being represented by a hypercube/tesseract, but time also being called the 4th dimension) | [
"here is a good video about it by carl sagan. watch it out, its really good. _URL_0_"
] | [
"I like to think of a dimension as a degree of freedom. Movement can happen along the dimension without any affect on the others. So in 0 dimensions, there's no degree of freedom, and no movement possible. In 1 dimension there is one direction you can move along, although you can go forwards and backwards. Like a l... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
how does an owl's ability to turn its head so far around work? | [
"I have very basic knowledge about this, but here goes. The heads of owls and other birds are connected by one pivot socket instead of two, like humans, which limits our ability to turn our heads. Owls have much larger holes in their vertebrae than humans do (in respect to their size), which acts almost as an “air... | [
"Birds don't have muscles in there eyes like humans have. I can look left, right, up, and down without moving my head or neck. Birds don't have the appropriate muscles so they need to move in quick twitching motions to see their surroundings"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
why do some clouds look like theyre only 50 feet above the ground | [
"Clouds can be created at any height in the troposphere (up to 10km). Fog is just a cloud on the ground. It is possible that the cloud is actually that close to the ground. Another possibility is that there is nothing to provide scale (trees, buildings, mountains) so it is hard to tell how close to the ground it ac... | [
"same reason you can see a mountain thats 1000 feet away but not a fly thats 100 feet away"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer about astronomy:"
} |
When your car displays the RPM's on your dashboard, what part does the actual rotation that the car gets this measurement from? | [
"This can come from several sources but usually a crank angle or cam position sensor. The crankshaft and camshaft are mechanically connected at a fixed ratio. The position of the crankshaft is important for this like spark timing and fuel injection timing. Basically the sensor tells the computer where each piston i... | [
"Speedometers measure the speed of a vehicle by using a magnet attached to the vehicle's transmission through a series of gears. As this magnet spins it interacts with the speedometer needle and pulls it a certain amount depending on the speed of rotation of the transmission. speedometers must be calibrated so that... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Technology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Technology:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Technology:"
} |
Why does your nose start running immediately after eating spicy food? | [
"because the spices contain capsaicin. Capsaicin binds to your receptors, and literally makes your brain think youre on fire, which sets of all of these alarms, so your nose starts running, you start sweating alot more, you crave something to drink. Just remember, water doesnt work as its polar, while capsaicin is ... | [
"Do you also cough when eating popsicles and frankfurters/hot dogs? If so, it might be your technique."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How do scientist have records of temperature from 1,000 of years ago when there wasn't technology? | [
"In addition to what /u/eragon said, there are methods such as - analysis of the isotope composition in cave stalagmites. As for ice, these vary with temperature and can be dated. - taking deep soil cores and identifying pollen grains or even DNA to see what sort of plants has been growing there at what point in h... | [
"It would still reveal about when the person died. I don't think current carbon dating methods are going to be accurate to within a decade for example. Carbon dating allows us to deduce when the living material was grown. Dating bones will tell us when the bone was formed but not necesssarily when the organism died... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How does a candle work? Where is the wax going ?? | [
"It's fuel, it's burning up into CO2 and other gasses. Not all of it, some remains liquid or drips down depending on the design of the candle."
] | [
"How much water is in the bath? How much is in the kettle? How hot is the bath water?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How skyscrapers are built | [
"You dig a deep pit until you hit bedrock, form the substructure of the skyscraper using beams and build the structure of the rest of the skeleton. Generally they will have a single core for the building made of reinforced concrete with thick steel beams and girders. From the core you will brace the building with ... | [
"They aren't. The construction company leaves the cranes on the top, and for one crucial reason. This reason is to appease the skyscrapers. It's a lot of work to summon a skyscraper, and it takes a lot of raw materials. The skyscraper is not happy to have been awakened to fulfill such a boring task. It would rather... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Why do cows have multiple stomachs, and does it apply to other herbivores? | [
"Tl:dr They need to ferment the grass so they can digest it. All \"ruminants\" (cows, yaks, goats, sheep, deer, bison, etc.) have multiple stomachs which allow them to break down the long sugars (mostly cellulose) that make up grass. Usually, they chew the grass, swallow it for awhile into the first two stomachs. ... | [
"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 question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
How does Jeff Bezos make money without selling his Amazon stock? I know that his net worth is huge because of the stock value but he can't realize any of that without selling, which would mean he would eventually lose his controlling interest. I've heard he only takes a $89k salary per year. | [
"He sells his amazon stock. He has a shitload of amazon stock, nearly 79 millions shares, which he is slowly selling off so he has money for other ventures Jeff Bezos hasn't had a controlling interest in a long time. He only holds about 16% of Amazon shares(~12% post divorce) so there isn't any risk to losing a con... | [
"CEO's that don't take a salary are generally extremely wealthy to begin with, so it's not much of a problem. If they weren't, then they would just sell a portion of their stock, and that solves the problem. The CEO of a company has control of a company to a much larger degree than his personal share of the stock i... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
The air conditioning in a car works the same basic way as a fridge. Why does a fridge need to be left to stand for a few hours if disturbed, whereas the aircon in a car copes with continual disturbance? | [
"Because when you move a fridge you generally tip it on its side , if your car is on its side you have bigger problems that the air con"
] | [
"The air conditioner and heater are usually two separate systems. The air conditioner works by running coolant through an engine belt run compressor and blowing air through the coolant tubes. Heat is usually obtained off the engine itself. It is actually a good idea to run both together whewn you are defogging your... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
why do braces take so long? Why can’t dentists numb gums and move them immediately? | [
"Teeth are rooted in bone. A long, slow pull gradually causes the bone to grow in a different direction , but you can't do that fast unless you want to break your jaw in ten places and bolt it back together. (Which is done for things like fixing severe jaw shape deformities)"
] | [
"Before I had braces, I was informed by both my dentist and orthodontist that my molars had the wear and tear of a fourty year old's (I was 15,) and that if I were to not get braces, the misalignment of my front teeth would cause me to lose my molars between the ages of 25 and 35. Most od the time they are for cosm... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
What do power companies do with excess electricity? | [
"There isn’t an excess of energy per se. the generators themselves are only excited enough to produce the current required. Eg: current demand is say 1000kw I have 5 gens capable of 250kw each Total capacity = 1250kw I can run 5 at 200kw, or 4 at 250kw In the 5 gen scenario, I won’t excited the rotor field enough... | [
"Batteries would be awful. Way too heavy and expensive, you'd pay an arm and a leg just to carry them. Countries DO sell electricity, and they do it via power lines. Canada sells over 8 billion dollars of electricity to the US ever year."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
How did people wake up on time before alarm clocks were invented? | [
"There used to be Knocker-Uppers who would go around waking people up. _URL_0_"
] | [
"So when and where did playing cards as we know them come into being anyways?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about History:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about History:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
how a modern day resistor works. | [
"Most resistors today are thin film. It's a thin layer of material with a known resistance per unit length. More precision ones are \"trimmed\" with a laser to give them the right value."
] | [
"Related: what happened to the similar but different term Lakonia?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
why do baby teeth come out straight and even, but adult teeth come out crooked and crowded? | [
"Because baby teeth don’t have anything in the way to come out and the come out at roughly the same time, adult teeth usually come out around the ages of 7 until 12 (I think) and are trying to force their way into a spot that may still have a baby tooth or other ones around it and can’t grow properly"
] | [
"I had that on my two front teeth. When I got my braces off my orthodontist sanded off the bottom and smoothed them out. As far as I know it's just how they formed around my baby teeth but it used to bug me as a kid"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Dentistry:",
"pos": "Represent the text about Dentistry:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How does an antenna extend a radio's range? | [
"A radios effective range is determined by 4 things 1. How powerful is the transmitter? 2. How well does the sending antenna turn the power from the transmitter into radio waves? 3. How well does the receiving antenna turn those radio waves into received power for the receiver to process? 4. How small of a signal c... | [
"It has to do with the length of the antenna: The lower the frequency of the signal, the longer your antenna needs to be in order to properly pick up the signal. It still works with a shorter antenna, but the signal strength will drop of quite a bit. So an antenna that is made for receiving cellular signals (~800 M... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text about Technology:"
} |
Why can a cancelled TV show find a new home on another network? | [
"Pretty simple, they buy the rights to the show. If it's cancelled that usually means the company that owned them doesn't have faith in the show anymore. The company that buys it hopes they can turn it around."
] | [
"TV shows on CBS and ABC cost way more to produce than the shows in Disney, so they need much higher ratings to justify their continued existence."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How does crucifixion kill you? | [
"Asphyxiation was a common cause of death, as the body couldn't summon the strength to lift itself up to breathe."
] | [
"There is no way to answer this in a way that wouldn't horribly traumatize a 5 year old. Suffice it to say bad things would happen."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
When driving up a mountain pressure builds up in your ears, explain why swallowing relieves this pressure? | [
"It’s not actually swallowing that does it, but rather the use of some select muscles that allow for the relief of pressure behind the ears. There is a small tube called the Eustachian tube that helps to regulate air pressure behind the eardrum. When you experience rapid elevation gains into lower air pressure (or ... | [
"If the air pressure inside your head is different then the pressure outside you head it's possible to damage your ear drum because the pressure would cause the ear drum to rip. To prevent this problem connected to the ear is a thin tube called the Eustachian tube. Under normal circumstances it's closed but it can ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why don’t we remember much from our first 5 years of life? | [
"No one is 100% sure. Freud thought infantile amnesia was a way for us to repress traumatic memories. More modern theories say that it’s because the brain is still developing, which seems much more plausible."
] | [
"One of the great mysteries of life. Still massively attracted to my wife after over 30 years."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why do most languages count things using base 10? Why not any other base? | [
"Look at your hands. Count your fingers. Your standard issue human comes fully equipped with two hands with ten fingers. Easy to count when you have sonething to count with."
] | [
"> Or is it entirely feasible that we could've just as easily used, say, base 12 if we had 12 fingers? It is entirely possible that we could use any workable number of base units, and different civilizations have in the past used different bases. Base 20 or base 60 were some of the more common and influential ones.... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Mathematics:",
"pos": "Represent the passage about Mathematics:",
"neg": "Represent the passage about Mathematics:"
} |
Why is hot water more effective than cold when washing your hands, if the water isnt hot enough to kill bacteria? | [
"For the purposes of hygenic cleaning (killing germs, removing dead skin, cleaning a wound), temperature doesn't matter and (in some scenarios eg washing off bodily fluids or with certain soaps.) cold water is actually preferable. For the purposes of cosmetic cleaning (washing off stains, cleaning oily fingers, gre... | [
"The simple answer is yes. By raising the temperature, you kill off bacteria that only thrive at lower temperatures. However, the practical value of this isn't all that significant. Unless the heat is quite high and the dishes are exposed to the heat for a longer period of time, you won't kill all the bacteria."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Chemistry:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about Chemistry:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How are horses that effective when charging into a line of soldiers? (Such as in GoT) | [
"1. They're very fast. 2. They're very heavy 3. Mass x acceleration = force. There's a LOT of force behind a horse. 4. If it runs you down, you're in for a lot of broken stuff inside you. 5. If you get hit with a weapon, all the force is focused on the tip of that weapon. You dead. 6. Even if you spear the horse, a... | [
"It depends on the person and the pathogen. What you are looking for is called infectious dose _URL_0_ Edit: didn't see the sub Some armies don't have good weapons or training. Let's say the immune system is the national guard. To take out a national guard regiment you would need thousands of people with bats and s... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why was there never a Half-Life 3? | [
"It just...didn't happen. Valve envisioned the episodes of HL2 to be HL3, they were never going to make a new full game, so we got some of it. But Episode 3 will never be released, thus the plot will never be completed. No one really knows why, as Valve has more than enough resources. & #x200B; A general synopsis ... | [
"Am I the only one who thought about Team Fortress 2?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What happens to the body after it dies? | [
"This article sums it up pretty nicely, _URL_0_ But to sum even the article up, there are enzymes in the body that when you are alive can't eat you, but when you are dead will start breaking down the body starting from the liver. Our bodies are covered inside and out with all sorts of living little things working f... | [
"Why? No one knows. How? No one knows. But it's well understood what the consequences are."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
Why did my friend always have to turn on channel 3 in order to play Nintendo 64? | [
"I'm assuming you mean that your friend had an older style television and he would switch to Ch 3 to get the N64 to work. Not every TV came with composite inputs (think your red, white, yellow cable) and only had RF tuners (the port you plug your house antenna or rabbit ears into). You could buy a little box that c... | [
"Also, why does it make me want to yell sometimes?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
why is it that even in pitch black darkness it’s near impossible to fall asleep with your eyes open? | [
"Because: 1) keeping your eyes open requires muscles to be active - usualy muscles being relaxed is more conductive to sleeping. 2) having your eyes open dries them out, making it uncomfortable."
] | [
"You often don't, you're just asleep and don't notice. Trying to get a good nights sleep next to my wife if she has a cold is a nightmare."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Science:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Science:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Health and Wellness:"
} |
Why does "catching up on sleep" not work? | [
"The same way starving yourself for a day wont immediately be fixed by over eating the next day. You need balance in a cycle not balance numerically. Increasing the problem is that when people need to catch up on sleep it is usually because they expended energy for a longer than usual time and higher rate. (Studyin... | [
"Follow-up question: would suppressing your immune system with sleep deprivation and binge drinking improve your symptoms?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
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