id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
1wre2z | how expensive would it be, and what would be the effect if we launched a nuclear warhead at the moon? | [
{
"answer": "Very expensive.\n\nAnother crater on the moon.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are not enough nuclear weapons by far. See the craters on the Moon? It's already survived countless hits by asteroids. A few nuclear weapons aren't going to destroy it. \n\n",
"provenance": ... | null |
6um17g | If a single uranium atom was fissioned, with no addition chain reaction fissioning, how big would the explosion be? | [
{
"answer": "There'd be no explosion and good thing too since granite (say in your kitchen) and rock in general is laced with trace uranium. As a rule of thumb, the behavior of any single atom is utterly irrelevant to anything that happens to you.\n\nOver the course of a few days a single uranium-238 atom and i... | null |
8fkaco | During the Anarchy in England, what did Matilda do to antagonise Londoners to the point where she was unable to be crowned? | [
{
"answer": "Several factors combined to make the Empress unpopular in London.\n\nFirst, the city had accepted the candidacy of King Stephen after the death of Matilda's father, Henry I, and it had done this in direct defiance of the dead king's attempts to have Matilda accepted as queen regnant. The relationsh... | null |
3eyusp | Did pre-Neolithic Revolution humans suffer from depression and other "modern" mental disorders? | [
{
"answer": "It may be worth x-posting this to our sister sub, /r/AskAnthropology ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "37688915",
"title": "Inside the Neolithic Mind",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 2,
"... | null |
13d1e5 | Could we irradiate meat to keep it "fresh" longer and without refrigeration? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, we already do this with meat, as with produce, etc.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3021657",
"title": "Icemaker",
"section": "Section::::Global Applications and Impact of Refrigeration.:Global Health Ap... | null |
wa2wu | What geological processes could cause features like this? (Pic inside) | [
{
"answer": "Zhangjialie is in the heart of a large swath of Karst topography. This is a predominantly Limestone landscape which has been eroded chemically by water, and in the case of this region to form these pillars and pinnacles. \n\nKarst topography starts out as water chemically erodes limestone undergro... | null |
12vutc | Was there a North/South divide in Britain before the industrial revolution? | [
{
"answer": "There has been a divide between North and South since royal authority situated itself in London and had a harder time imposing its control on the distant North. For example, during the Reformation the Crown had a much harder time imposing Protestant reforms on the North where Catholic traditions w... | null |
20h6v3 | British Navy vs Napoleon's Navy circa 1798 - Egypt invasion - Timing & Communication question | [
{
"answer": "John Keegan spends a chapter discussing this particular incident in [*Intelligence in War*](_URL_0_) (which I highly recommend to anyone with a passing interest in military intelligence as it is very accessible). \n\nKeegan states that Nelson's hunt for Bonaparte's army and the French fleet command... | null |
tucfw | How does eating certain foods (In my case, anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup and peanuts) cause acne? | [
{
"answer": "I would much appreciate it if someone linked a peer review journal article outlining relationship between diet and acne.\n\nIf you eat greasy foods, it is more likely that grease on your fingers is what is transferring the grease to your skin.\n\nI have heard it suggested that foods can increase in... | null |
37z2mf | How prominent were stage actors before the 16th century, if at all? | [
{
"answer": "Hi! I've been browsing this subreddit for a while, and created a username because I've finally come across a question I can answer!\n\nI can only speak to the western tradition - my education was sorely lacking when it came to Asian theatre.\n\nThe answer to your question depends on which point in ... | null |
hdsei | r/AskScience, what fascinating thing do YOU want to share with us laypeople? | [
{
"answer": "The main chromosome of *Bacillus anthracis*, the cause of anthrax, is practically identical to that of *Bacillus thuringiensis*. *B. anthracis* carries two plasmids that allow it to infect people and cause disease. Now for the cool part: *B. thuringiensis* is used as a pesticide. It gets dumped by ... | null |
2aaamp | How did the reputation of the 1950s evolve? | [
{
"answer": "I'll speak to part of your question on a way in which some denigrate the 1950s. In the 1950s, the middle class was growing as good jobs were relatively plentiful. It was easier to support a family on a single income. Women faced social pressure to stay home, raise kids, and be perfect housewives. [... | null |
5xp0nv | What is the earliest record we have of humans supplementing their diet with spicy (hot) foods? | [
{
"answer": "If you don't get an answer here, you could try /r/askhistorians",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2687330",
"title": "Cuisine of the Indian subcontinent",
"section": "Section::::History.\n",
"start_para... | null |
4x37eu | why does a slight change in glasses prescription cause headaches and eye ache? | [
{
"answer": "Because your eyes are trying to focus through your new lens as if it was your old ones. Your eye are a muscle and this causes strain on it as it tries to focus again and again.\n\nTry putting the new ones on as you wake up.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
emsmo7 | how do electric cars heat the cabin? | [
{
"answer": "The engine of a car gets hot and air blows that heat inside the cabin\n\nElectric cars use electric heaters. They engineer the cabins better to maintain the heat and make the electric heaters as efficient as possible since it uses the battery pack and it reduces mileage.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
2r5pjy | how is it that someone can post the same question on askreddit every day, and it gets thousands of upvotes and tens of thousands of people answering the same thing? | [
{
"answer": "Because it the question has easy answer that get tones of upvotes, people will upvote the question just so their response gets more upvotes. \n\n\nExample\n\n\"What show should have gotten another season?\"\n\nThe first person that says Firefly get thousands of upvotes as long as the post gets popu... | null |
2a1zl5 | In the WWI Eastern Front was there a use of trenches as complex and extensive as in the Western Front ? | [
{
"answer": "No. That is not to say there was no use of trench warfare on the eastern front, just that the theater maintained a much more mobile character than the static west. If you consider the sheer size of the Eastern Theater than you can begin to understand the difficulties both the Russians and Germans w... | null |
4sg9t5 | why is it possible to order something from china on ebay and pay zero postage, but ordering from australia to australia costs so much more? | [
{
"answer": "You pay for postage directly or indirectly either way, just sometimes it is included in the total price for the item sometimes it is a separate charge.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Relevant article: _URL_0_\n\nThere is a treaty called the Universal Postal Union treaty with a sys... | null |
36lm04 | Why isn't the Meissner effect used in MagLev trains? | [
{
"answer": "EDIT: /u/luckyluke193 has pointed out that this is incorrect. They do use superconducting magnets to lift the train now.\n\n~~Well, for one thing, you'd have to supercool the bottom of the train to make it superconducting. That's hard to do. This is why people are trying so hard to find materials ... | null |
9xou8u | is there a reason why there are no indian fast food chains? | [
{
"answer": "In the US it's not popular enough to support fast food, especially amongst the demographic that eats fast food. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Not in the USA, in England there’s plenty of fast food Indian shops. \n\nEngland has a long history with India (massive subject in of its... | null |
5k31bj | contact with heat | [
{
"answer": "Germ-X is a poor conductor of heat. Even though it's on fire on the outside, on the inside it's still cool because heat takes a while to transfer from one side to the other.\n\nHot oil and hot metal are much better conductors of heat, so you're not only exposed to the *source* of the heat (as they'... | null |
1h3iqp | what is the war on terror? | [
{
"answer": "The \"War on Terror\" isn't so much an actual war as much as a declaration of an initiative to devote resources to stopping terrorism. I'm not an expert on the matter but after its declaration we increased funding in airport security, CIA, NSA, and probably many other areas (maybe military but not ... | null |
1je9yu | why do i have need to use 4g on my phone for gps but on m garmin it's free? | [
{
"answer": "Because part of the purchase price of your Garmin includes a library of maps. The downside of this is that access to updated maps can be somewhat limited, in addition you sometimes need to chose what area you want maps for.\n\nYour cell phone does not store any maps. If it needs a map it download... | null |
3bmpmc | How are the weights of body parts (the hands, head etc.) measured? | [
{
"answer": "Not a direct answer to your question, but there is a method of calculation for surface area (for burns and the like) called the rule of 9's; each area of the body is apportioned as a factor of 9:\n\nHead - 9%\n\nEach Arm - 9%\n\nFront and Back Torso - 18% each\n\nEach Leg - 18%\n\nGroin/Pubic area ... | null |
5fjioz | Given recent developments in our understanding of water/ice bodies on Mars, is it possible that we could one day be surprised by Martian fossils? Or do we have reason to believe that Martian life would be limited to microorganisms? | [
{
"answer": "It's not _impossible_ (because that's a pretty high bar to clear) but I'd say it's very, very unlikely.\n\nThe reason is time. Multicellular life didn't become common on Earth until 500-600 million years ago (EDIT: _Life_ showed up on Earth very early. But it consisted of microorganisms). There a... | null |
4hpgon | How would life differ for a Roman merchant in 0 AD compared to 1000 AD? | [
{
"answer": "By Roman, do you mean someone from the city of Rome or someone from the Roman Empire? In 1000 AD, the Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire) no longer possessed the city of Rome itself and was centered around Constantinople.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
68uu11 | How prevalent is Holocaust denial and how does it vary by nationality? | [
{
"answer": "**Part 1**\n\nThis is a huge question that is probably not possible to answer in its entirety, because of the fundamental problem on how to measure Holocaust denial and how to gauge its prevalence in society, especially on an international or even world-wide scale.\n\n*Edit*: There is a summary at ... | null |
cy0oug | if you have 2 credit cards, and one has debt, can’t you just use one to pay the other, then the next month do the same, and so on and so on? | [
{
"answer": "Credit cards basically always have debt unless youre paying off your balance. Doing this essentially is like giving the credit card company a bunch of I.O.U's. All you're doing is adding more to your balance that needs to be paid off eventually.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Well... | null |
xecc5 | What is the purpose behind Phillips(cross-head) screw heads? Mechanical efficiency? | [
{
"answer": " > Created by Henry F. Phillips, the Phillips screw drive was purposely designed to cam out when the screw stalled, to prevent the fastener damaging the work or the head, instead damaging the driver. This was caused by the relative difficulty in building torque limiting into the early drivers.\n\n_... | null |
94r3cb | Moses was attributed as the author of the first five books of the Bible; at what point did scholars realize this probably wasn't true? Were any of the earliest five books written by the same author? | [
{
"answer": "The authorship of the Pentateuch is definitely a question for /r/AcademicalBiblical or /r/AskBibleScholars. Hopefully one of their experts will swing by here.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This is a bit complicated. The main theory on the creation of the Torah or Pentateuch is th... | null |
dfjaxs | Can I jump from the ISS in such a way I fall to the earth? | [
{
"answer": "You could just step outside and wait.\n\nAt the altitude the ISS orbits at, there is still a small amount of atmosphere left and this causes a drag on the ISS, which results in a very slow decay of its orbit. Uncorrected, this would eventually cause the ISS to crash down to Earth or burn up in the ... | null |
mnbv6 | Why do cinnamon rolls get hotter in the center than the outer layer when you microwave them? | [
{
"answer": "If they're like cinnamon rolls where i'm from, it's because the crusty exterior has very little water content, compared to the soft dough inside. A Microwave heats by exciting the molecules in the food, those that get most effected are liquids (water), fats & sugars. ",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
1n8nb8 | why do beverages like coffee and beer taste better now than when i was young? | [
{
"answer": "Children are really sensitive to bitter flavors. This makes sense, as many poisons taste bitter. But this bitter sensitivity fades as you get older, allowing you to enjoy things that have bitter flavors.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "My theory:\n\nWhen we were younger, our natura... | null |
8c8yvn | How did the transition to an amniotic egg happen? | [
{
"answer": "Plenty of amphibians lay their eggs on land, so that isn't really a huge issue. The main issue is how the extraembryonic membranes actually evolved; that is substantially more complicated and not fully understood.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
4t4d9d | how can a lawn survive a full winter covered by snow, but start dying and turn bright green from 2 days of being covered by a tarp (or something similar)? | [
{
"answer": "Snow actually insulates the ground, keeping the grass at a near constant temperature at which the grass can survive. Additionally, thin layers of snow do not block light very well, so the grass continues to use photosynthesis. Chemicals in the ground that the plant needs such as nitrates are still ... | null |
1q9qlh | How was the term 'heterosexual' used to refer to a perversion? | [
{
"answer": "Can you pull out the quote/citation from the article? I've only ever read of \"heterosexual\" being a sort of reaction/companion term to \"homosexual,\" so I'm intrigued but confused! ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Also, for the redditors here who are interested in an answer, OP ... | null |
448zs2 | why did martin shkreli raise the price of life saving medicine a ridiculous amount? | [
{
"answer": "Why did you ask your boss for a raise, your parents to give you more money for your allowance? Same exact reason. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Yeah pretty much that last one. Given that he's been [indicted on securities fraud](_URL_0_), it's a pretty cut-and-dry case of \"dude... | null |
2hjh9d | if we couldn't stop ebola from spreading from 1 person to over 6,000 people (current estimation), how can we stop it from spreading from the 6k infected people to a much larger number? | [
{
"answer": "The containment problem gets harder but we have had more time to prepare. Ebola got out of hand because people were not treating the threat properly, and hopefully now they will be.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There's lots of parts to the containment problem. \nProblem 1: \"We... | null |
1t1jlw | How and why did the Republic of China (Taiwan) keep China's seat in the UN for so long? How did the Nationalist government go from being recognized as the sole representative for China to being denied membership even as Taiwan? | [
{
"answer": "At the time of the defeat of the Republic of China forces by the PRC, and the former's subsequent retreat to Taiwan, there was no disagreement as to whether or not there was one or more \"China\". Chiang and the Guomingdang were under the conviction that the Republic of China was the sole authority... | null |
6ea96z | why is it that 4k makes such a big difference in quality against 1080p for a videogame but barley for a tv series/movie | [
{
"answer": "The difference is between something that is already rendered vs. something that is being rendered at that time.\n\n1080p resolution is 1,920x1,080, while 4k resolution is 3840×2160. That means that 4k has _a lot_ more pixels available to it and, if those pixels are utilized, will produce a much sh... | null |
4irhtf | why is primer needed for a paint job? why not just use paint? | [
{
"answer": "So the color that was originally under the paint doesn't show through the new color. Also, for latex paint, it lets the paint grip on to the new object so it doesn't chip as easily.\n\nPaint can be used on its own in some cases depending on the paint (oil based).\n\nAlso, I'm not a paint expert, I... | null |
21as9f | When did humans first start doing push-ups? | [
{
"answer": "I want to start by saying that some preliminary research into push ups and press ups as a term I found that the first recorded use of the phrases were recorded in the early 20th century (_URL_1_ and _URL_0_)\n\n\nThe legend of Milo of Croton using a bull calf in his training. It was said that he wo... | null |
bzx6z4 | why do jury verdicts need to be unanimous? | [
{
"answer": "Because we have agreed that to convict someone the standard they are held to is \"beyond a reasonable doubt.\" That is an extremely high bar, and it is assumed that if as a juror you don't believe that burden has been met, then the person is not guilty. \n\nMost civil cases don't require unanimous ... | null |
2is73j | why can you just tag the base to get a runner out at first in baseball but it seems like you need to tag the runner himself all other times? | [
{
"answer": "It's an issue of \"forced\" or not. If the runner has an alternative destination then you have to tag them, if they do not...you can tag the base. In the case of a runner stealing from first to second, the runner could return to first base if they decided to do so, so...you must touch them. When... | null |
6og5fl | Can insects get heat stroke or hypothermia? | [
{
"answer": "Insects are cold blooded, which means they mostly get their body heat from the environment. As such, they can tolerate a wider range of body temperatures than a warm blooded animal, which strives to keep its temperature within a few degrees of a specific temperature. Heat tolerance is going to vary... | null |
2tzj7y | what is the difference between sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming? | [
{
"answer": "In sleep paralysis you don't feel asleep, just trapped in a sleeping body. In lucid dreaming you feel freed into a dream world. So they are basically opposite, even though they both result from the conscious realization that you are sleeping.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In slee... | null |
17cs6q | Is it true that, during Medieval Times, the court Jester could often tell the King frankly what others would end up being beheaded for? What was the dynamic behind this relationship? | [
{
"answer": "Well, there is a sinister side to all this. The jester often suffered from some form of mental retardation or was mentally ill.\n\nEdit:\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_2_\n\n_URL_3_\n\n_URL_0_\n\nI apologize for lack of sources, and would like to thank those who politely asked me to provide them (was on mobile... | null |
9ur2nr | how does electricity get into a battery | [
{
"answer": "It doesn’t get into the battery, that’s what a battery is. By combining different elements that undergo a chemical reaction that produces extra electrons. There’s a natural “pull” whenever an imbalance of charge exists and that’s what allows the current to flow. ",
"provenance": null
},
{... | null |
354fhl | why are blackberry phones considered more secure/unhackable compared to apple or android phones? | [
{
"answer": "I believe it is the same reason Macs seemed more virus-resistant for quite awhile, too-- because fewer people use it, fewer people are creating viruses for it. Why create a massive virus to affect a minority of users when you can put your effort into hacking Apple or Android, which take the largest... | null |
1v6xwd | why does non-dairy creamer dissolve more quickly in hot coffee/tea than cold? | [
{
"answer": "When something is hot, the molecules are moving around in it much faster. That's actually what heat means on a physical level. All that moving around is kind of like stirring on the molecular level. Things get mixed by the motion and there's more energy available for the chemical reactions that we ... | null |
a6ch6o | What makes and erupting volcano like the 1883 eruption of Anak-Krakatau loud enough to be heard at great distances? | [
{
"answer": "It's a huge explosion so basically as the air expands away from the volcano it makes a very loud noise that can be heard at distances proportional to the yield of the explosion. Bigger explosion means the sound travels farther.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Things in general that... | null |
1eb59g | What's the point of Machiavelli? | [
{
"answer": "Very general answer to the question: history is not science. The point of history is not to get at the true or right way to understand life, nature, human beings and cultures. \n\nInstead, the point of history is to understand the way the way people thought and believed about the way things actual... | null |
ia0es | If you vibrate the atoms of an object at a high percentage of the speed of light, would that object experience time dilation? | [
{
"answer": "not sure about the time dilation aspect of it, but if you are vibrating the atoms at close to the speed of light, then you have to put in quite a bit of energy, and you might end up breaking the chemical bonds and killing the organism.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"prov... | null |
rra9n | Why does the interface between air and water look like a mirror, when seen from the water? | [
{
"answer": "This is a phenomenon called [Total Internal Reflection](_URL_0_). This happens when the medium in which the light is travelling has a higher refractive index than the medium at the other side of a boundary, and the light is at a high enough angle (depending on the refractive index difference) with ... | null |
1mnzqe | what is database indexing? | [
{
"answer": "A database is like a library - it holds information.\n\nA completely unindexed table is called a \"heap.\" It's analogous to the books just being piled in a heap on the floor. The info's still in there, but it's going to take forever to find the exact piece you need.\n\nWhen the books are all on th... | null |
20fd29 | How did Cadillac become (for a time) the premiere American luxury automobile? | [
{
"answer": "Prior to 1930, the three dominant luxury car manufacturers in the US were Packard, Peerless and Pierce Arrow. All three out sold Cadillac and dominated the much more limited production by companies like Dusenburg, Stutz, Brewster and Locomoble. General Motors ... | null |
40a08n | why are polygraph tests inadmissable in court? | [
{
"answer": "They're not considered very trustworthy. They really only measure heartrate, and while it is common for your heartrate to elevate while lying, your heartrate can elevate for a LOT of reasons- like stress for example. Do you know what's stressful? Being accused of things, while taking a polygraph te... | null |
1fw586 | How much resistance was there to West Virginia becoming a state? | [
{
"answer": "At the national level opposition to West Virginia being admitted into the Union was over West Virginia's reluctance to free it's slave population. While it is true that 87% of Virginia's slave population was centered in the east, as a result of decades of political disenfranchisement and economic s... | null |
1zsz4d | Why should vaccinated individuals stay away from immunocompromised individuals or pregnant women? | [
{
"answer": "Well, first, unvaccinated people should stay away from the pregnant or immunocompromised, for the most part, but, there are circumstances where RECENTLY vaccinated people who were given a [live, attentuated vaccine](_URL_1_) should do so.\n\nAn attenuated vaccine uses live organism or virus, that h... | null |
nqtz8 | it's nearly 2012...eli5 what problems are still preventing a hoverboard from being created and mass marketed. | [
{
"answer": "This isn't my area of expertise, but I can think of a few reasons:\n\n1) The amount of energy needed to power the device. The weight of a person plus the board plus the engine could easily weigh over 200 lb. That means that when the board is hovering in place, it must generate 200 lb of force upw... | null |
26rtul | We have split atoms but could we split anything smaller than that with a similar nuclear reaction? | [
{
"answer": "In a lot of particle collider experiments, protons are smashed into each other and break apart.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "172911",
"title": "Nuclear weapon design",
"section": "Section::::Nuclear reacti... | null |
33hdw4 | why being quiet is so taboo. | [
{
"answer": "It's considered a natural trait of humans to communicate and love. Most people consider the purpose of life to be \"To live and love\". When you are quiet, you make it seem like you don't want to be a part of our party. It's not as taboo as it was back in the mid century, but in upper sects of soci... | null |
5mm9b7 | In movies like Braveheart, leaders often give inspiring speeches. Assuming this was accurate, how would thousands of foot soldiers hear this leader right before battle? | [
{
"answer": "Just a note - you've placed Patton's speech in the same way as those highly fictionalized accounts of Braveheart and The Last Samurai. \n\nPatton's speech to the 3rd Army is a well documented historical event. It occurred on June 5th 1944, the eve of the Allied invasion of Nazi Europe. The text of ... | null |
7s2qwx | how did people living before the modern ages survive and get different sources of food which grew far outside their nation if global shipping came very later on? | [
{
"answer": "What makes you think that the essential vitamins weren't available locally?\n\nVitamins are basic chemicals needed for life. Any stable ecosystem will have sources of them.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Your question contains a false assumption. You can easily get all the nutri... | null |
7zccy4 | A family member recently told me that slavery had nothing to do with the Civil War. Can anyone provide me with articles to show him he is incorrect? | [
{
"answer": "Linking to the FAQ or previous answers is not intended to discourage further questions or discussion. It's just a timesaver.\n\nIn this case, there's the FAQ section \"The Civil War and Slavery\" at _URL_0_ . /u/Borimi had a shorter answer, but the first two articles by /u/Georgy_K_Zhukov are pre... | null |
4iaory | how low would gravity need to be for a human to survive falling at its terminal velocity? | [
{
"answer": "Depends what you land on. Humans have survived falls at terminal velocity on earth: it's just not pleasant, and not massively likely. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I think the problem here is twofold.\n\nHumans survive falls at terminal velocity on earth. There are all sorts of ... | null |
a8inq0 | why do people irrationally hate things that are popular, e.g fortnite, musicians etc. | [
{
"answer": "Vague dislike for something + media surrounding them being inundated with it + people constantly talking about it causes growing frustration which gets directed toward the thing itself. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You don’t really like it, so hearing about it/seeing already fr... | null |
7hijsd | How to understand vacuum electrical permittivity and magnetic permeability? | [
{
"answer": " > The speed of light in a vacuum is defined as (electrical permittivity * magnetic permeability)-0.5, which happens to be c in a vacuum. These constants only apply to E & M, and are therefore part of a much \"smaller\" theory than c itself.\n\nthe vacuum permeability and vacuum permittivity are li... | null |
1cvfyq | Self Polymer | [
{
"answer": "When something can polymerise by itself it's called autopolymerisation. I'm not familiar with your example, but although the \"end\" product may be lower in energy thus more stable than the monomer, it will still require a specific amount of energy (the activation energy) to react. \n\nThe key to ... | null |
lr2m8 | Why does quantum tunnelling not effect the result demonstrated the Ramsauer-Townsend effect? | [
{
"answer": "As far as I understand, the Ramsauer-Townsend effect is usually described as an electron with energy E > 0 passing a potential well (an atom) with E < 0. It thus doesn't have to tunnel (which happens when the energy of the electron is lower than the potential barrier), but it does at least experien... | null |
3phgjp | why do we believe that "this is the one" and fear we "will never meet somebody like him/her in our life again"? | [
{
"answer": "I don't believe either of those things. I just want to be clear that not everyone believes this. Or feels this.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Carl jung believed we have archetypal images in the psyche which can manifest unto people. He gave a story once about one of his sessions ... | null |
9r163x | why is ios said to almost never be affected by viruses, whereas other operating systems are? | [
{
"answer": "With mobile phone operating systems, a challenge is getting malicious code onto a user's device. With web browsers limiting plugins like Flash and Java, and blocking installation of apps from outside offical sources, that is a very challenging task. A properly implemented permissions system woul... | null |
374wsn | Can many small, quieter speakers produce sound equivalent to a single larger, louder speaker? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, due to a principle called constructive interference, the sound waves with matching and in phase frequencies will build on eachother, making the amplitude higher and the volume louder. \nThink of a crowd cheering in a stadium for a simple example.\n\nHowever, from an engineering point of view t... | null |
d2sy15 | Why was Mohammed’s army so successful? | [
{
"answer": "[I answered a similar question not long ago.](_URL_0_) To summarise, the Islamic armies were superior to their enemies primarily in political unity and morale, and didn't have any real advantage in numbers, tactics or technology.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance... | null |
vin7u | Is this really the first time in history that obesity has been so widespread across socioeconomic levels? | [
{
"answer": "The view of obesity and what it signifies has changed over time. During the Renaissance, for example, the ideal body shape for women would be what's considered \"fat\" by today's standards. To give an example, here's Rubens' [_Three Graces_](_URL_0_).\n\nThe theory goes that being overweight sign... | null |
4drpbg | why is the standard dose of just about all medicines two tablets? couldn't they just make one that's twice as concentrated? | [
{
"answer": "But what if you needed to give a smaller dose to someone who was physically smaller, or whose body was weaker and couldn't handle a standard dose? A twice as concentrated dose would make it easier for most people, but impossible for other uses. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Some... | null |
cfm9ub | Are there any modern recreational drugs that could have been synthesized in Europe between 1000-1500CE, with the knowledge we have today? | [
{
"answer": "Ha! You're not totally out of luck. If you were to somehow time travel back to 1300, you might be able to make some pharmaceuticals which would not actually be discovered until much later. And yes--you could even realistically make Meth, more than 500 years before it would actually be discovered.\n... | null |
3k5rdn | Does Helium drift away from Jupiter (or other planets) like it does from Earth? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on the gravity of the planet, and the temperature of the atmosphere. In the case of Jupiter, no.\n\n > It can be shown that for cold giant gas planets such as Jupiter and Saturn there is no thermal driven atmospheric escape of significance...\n\n_URL_0_\n\nIf you want the background phy... | null |
38wpn6 | How does the brain distinguish between images you are actually seeing and images you are imagining? Can the two become confused? | [
{
"answer": "I love this question. There is a movie called Waking Life that addresses this idea. The whole movie is on YouTube right now for free and is awesome. Check it out. But at the minute 40:35 is when your question gets talked about.\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Side questi... | null |
z7r5m | High school sophomore, considering a career in history or physics. What are job opportunities in | [
{
"answer": "Someone who specializes in history could potentially find work at any museum or historical society. I live in the Chicago area and there are historical societies for practically every suburb around here, not to mention all the big name museums downtown. There are organizations like Daughters of the... | null |
3dhx9h | If energy can be never be created or destroyed, and as the universe is expanding, would there come a time where all energy is so dissipated that things have little to no, energy and hence would freeze? | [
{
"answer": "Yea, the eventual heat death of the universe. \n[From this article](_URL_0_): \"Every star will die, nearly all matter will decay, and eventually all that will be left is a sparse soup of particles and radiation. Even the energy of that soup will be sapped away over time by the expansion of the un... | null |
bw89oj | why does the water pressure drop a little bit once the water heats up? | [
{
"answer": "Do you mean water flow? Usually rubber in taps expands when it heats so the flow decreases.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It shouldn't have anything to do with the water per se, but with the supply chain, since technically, if you heat water, the pressure should only increase.\n\... | null |
4bol8e | what is a site's robot.txt? | [
{
"answer": "It's a file containing instructions telling search engine spiders and other programs which parts of the site they shouldn't look at, for example _URL_0_ on Reddit. It won't stop an evil program from reading those pages, but a polite one like Google's will do as you tell it. Sometimes those pages wi... | null |
7wwgwt | Do people with dextrocardia experience right arm numbness during a heart attack? | [
{
"answer": " Dextrocardia is a rare congenital condition in which your heart points toward the right side of the chest instead of the left.\n\n Normally, when a person without Dextrocardia experiences a heart attack, they may feel a pain in the left arm. This is because of referred pain to the arm. \n\n Ref... | null |
2jkz8i | why does having bigger muscles enable someone to lift or push more weight? | [
{
"answer": "Actually the 650 skeletal muscles in the human body contract when they receive signals from motor neurons, which are triggered from a part of the cell called the sarcoplasmic reticulum. Motor neurons tell your muscles to contract and the better you become at having those signals tell your muscles t... | null |
2jaiao | Was there ever any serious discussion on the United States joining the Commonwealth of Nations? | [
{
"answer": "The simple answer is no. By the time the Commonwealth was created, after WW1, the Anglo-American relationship had developed its own unique characteristics. \n\nIts worth noting that Commonwealth wasn't really planned, it was the product of a series of compromises as British colonies gained independ... | null |
3ymppp | is it possible to change the structure of molecules using electricity or vibrations? | [
{
"answer": " > I.E: Change water into quartz\n\nNo. Water is composed of two hydrogen atoms bound to a single oxygen atom. Quartz is composed of two oxygen atoms bound to a single silicon atom. Short of using a particle accelerator to bombard atoms with protons to increase their atomic number (or split them... | null |
1w55p7 | legally speaking, how does recanting a confession work? | [
{
"answer": "[This](_URL_0_) wikipedia article is actually a pretty good survey briefing of the topic of both coerced and voluntary false confessions. \n\nTypically, short of evidence of coercion, once a confession is out there it's usable by the prosecution (there are other ways of getting a confession thro... | null |
hpcp9 | What is magnetic flux? | [
{
"answer": "Basically it's the total amount of magnetic field passing through a given area. So if there's an area of 1 m^2 and there's a magnetic field of 1 tesla passing through it, the magnetic flux is 1 Weber.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikiped... | null |
93sny5 | what is the funny taste we experience after hitting our heads too hard? | [
{
"answer": "Post traumatic dysgeusia\n\nThe short version is that it's your body undergoing trauma and your salivary glands sort of going haywire temporarily. \n\nIt is not an adrenal response or spinal/brain fluid as most people falsely perpetuate. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This is mos... | null |
cpkd9e | In what ways did Conquistadors worsen Native American mortality due to European diseases? | [
{
"answer": "You are absolutely correct that the combined colonial cocktail worked to decrease host immunity and survival during periodic waves of infection, and then those same factors served to decrease chances of population rebound following those epidemics in the Americas. \n\nAny examination of disease epi... | null |
1xefu8 | what is wifi, like, physically? electromagnetic radiation? if so, what kind? | [
{
"answer": "Radio waves. Very high frequency, approximately what you use for good cordless phones. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Yes, it's electromagnetic radiation. Depending on what type of WiFi set-up you have (or are using if you're out in public), it will probably be either somewhere b... | null |
2ek7lo | how did we learn to make fire? | [
{
"answer": "Someone else will probably have a better informed/cited answer. But I did a quick 5 minute research session and will back up what I found with a wikipedia link and some wild speculation.\n\n\"Claims for the earliest definitive evidence of control of fire by a member of Homo range from 0.2 to 1.7 mi... | null |
8l04ac | How does the hippocampus transfer short term to long term memory? | [
{
"answer": "We do not know how our experience or information is encoded and decoded in the brain. As in precisely how the strength/association between neuron pairs changes or the neuron network structure of the brain changes.\n\n\nWhat we do know is that short-term and long-term memory are probably two very se... | null |
13lzb2 | How strong would a "cord" of DNA be if it was one inch thick? | [
{
"answer": "It's not really possible to say, as you're extrapolating over about 7-8 orders of magnitude here, a DNA strand being about 1 nm is diameter. \n\nThe strength within a DNA strand, and between the two complementary strands, is likely going to be a lot stronger than however you bind the separate stran... | null |
cxxn39 | why are lakes so calm but oceans and rivers so unpredictable? | [
{
"answer": "Lakes are smaller than oceans by a lot, and so they end up with fewer instances of turbulence or choppiness compared to ocean water.\n\nFor example, the spin of the Earth causes a band of high winds and ocean currents near the equator, which churns the oceans continually, but a lake will generally ... | null |
6pxut7 | the human body maintains a core temperature of around 37℃. how does the body know its temperature ? how does it know if its above or below its ideal temperature ? | [
{
"answer": "your skin is covered in cells that detect temperature. These react very quickly to any temperature outside of a very narrow range. When it goes too far from that range, it transmits signals very similar to pain. these signals go to your brain, which immediately responds by doing things to return te... | null |
66g6o1 | why do we, as humans, often make decisions contrary to what our brains "know deep down" that we're supposed to do? | [
{
"answer": "If I recall correctly, our limbic system dictates our \"gut instincts\" and our prefrontal cortex dictates decisions based on logic. The more data we get, the more our prefrontal cortex gets overloaded with information causing us to overthink things.\n\nThe limbic system would be more tied into our... | null |
megw9 | how mao got into power and why china is one of the most successful communist countries. | [
{
"answer": "I can answer the second part of the question\n\n* organised labour workforce\n\n* firewall is semi effective (they still have connection to the net) - still focusing on technology\n\n* has focused on getting raw materials from Australia\n\n* Police/Army have removed any trouble makers.\n\n* huge po... | null |
71583o | Why couldn't Britain defend itself from German Luftwaffe bombings during WWII? | [
{
"answer": "The Royal Air Force successfully defended the UK by day in [the Battle of Britain] (_URL_0_) (July-October 1940); this forced the Luftwaffe to largely bomb at night in [the Blitz] (_URL_1_) (September 1940 - May 1941).\n\nIntercepting a bomber at night was incredibly difficult in 1940. The ground-b... | null |
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