id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
1ywm2o | how does a radiation meter work? | [
{
"answer": "There are different types of radiation detectors\n\n* Geiger tubes: A tube filled with an inert gas at low pressure, when radiation enters the tube it knocks electrons off of the gas and creates a brief pulse of current that can be detected.\n\n* Scintillation counter: Uses a material that releases... | null |
bi3fm0 | why does the moon look huge in the distance when poping over a mountain but small on a picture or a video? | [
{
"answer": "Forced perspective. When it's next to the mountain, your mind has a frame of reference. In a picture, or even just higher in the sky, you don't have that same reference.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The short answer is it's an optical illusion. This is mainly caused by having so... | null |
33hanm | difference between a think tank and a lobbyist | [
{
"answer": "Lobbyists generally work on the behalf of a specific entity, be it a company or some other interest group. Basically, you tell them what your goals are, and they'll go argue for you for a fee. \n\nThink tanks tend to be more dedicated towards a specific ideology or cause, rather than just lobbying ... | null |
3tlebc | why doesn't the government build hospital's with the medicare budget instead of acting as insurance? | [
{
"answer": "Because the issue being addressed isn't \"there are not enough hospitals\".\n\nThere are *plenty* of hospitals in the US. The issue is that not everyone can afford medical care. Medicare/Medicaid are intended to help remedy that issue.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There are pl... | null |
4uot0t | why do carbonated drinks hurt us when we drink too fast? | [
{
"answer": "The bubbles are composed of carbon dioxide, which can taste \"spicy\"...here's an article with more information _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Carbonated drinks contain dissolved carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide naturally reacts with water (in the drink) to produce carbonic ... | null |
7h2bdl | Why did people pay money to buy officers commissions in the army? | [
{
"answer": "Just to clarify, are you asking why an army would allow people purchase commissions, or why someone would bother paying money for an officer's commission?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "While previous questions don't address the precise points you are asking here is a previous arc... | null |
cvkh5w | how have actions such as the head nod and head shake become universally understood in contrast to languages. | [
{
"answer": "They haven't really. Lots of places won't know what you mean if you shake your head. In India they do a side to side wobble instead of nodding. Stuff like hand signals can mean completely different things in different places, like the OK sign is seriously rude in Thailand.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
1fqeoi | What was the vikings' knowledge of contemporary mathematics? (What kind of number system did they use, etc?) | [
{
"answer": "I can't speak to much of this, but I doubt they had a concept of zero. If we're talking about the Viking Age here, that's centuries before Fibonacci and the introduction of Hindu mathematics. Vikings *were* sea traders, but sea traders in Europe were fairly mathematically illiterate before Fibonacc... | null |
5e8wyi | why do human babies take years to raise while other animals like puppies or antelopes take only a few months? | [
{
"answer": "Partially because of life-expectancy - a human lives 75 years, whereas a dogs life-expectancy is more like 10 years.\n\nAlso, humans traded instinct for a more advanced brain. Animals instinctually know how to do a lot more than we do, but our learning curve beats everything else.",
"provenance... | null |
bpc1h1 | home buying terms | [
{
"answer": " > What are points and origination fees?\n\nThe origination fee is like an upfront payment to the lender for creating the loan. It is usually a percentage (0.5%, 1%) of the loan amount. _URL_1_\n\n > Is earnest money basically just a deposit? Does it get factored into the sale at all?\n\nThis is ... | null |
ee6chc | What causes flesh to rot? | [
{
"answer": "Cells die and dry out, releasing gases that attract insects and bacteria as well as other scavengers to break down the flesh. This is a very basic explanation and I’m sure someone else can do a better job of it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Microbes.\n\nWithout them you'd just d... | null |
1qza1a | Celtic Warfare | [
{
"answer": "Does your assignment require you to use primary written sources? \n\nOur knowledge of the Celts comes mainly from Greek and Roman writers, from myth and legends ostensibly based on oral traditions and from archaeological evidence. \n\nIf you are permitted to rely heavily on using secondary and tert... | null |
12k1it | Is is possible to regrow half of your liver? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_1_\n\nShorter answer: yes.\n\n[Oh hey, the wikipedia article 'liver'](_URL_0_) says it grow from as little as 25%, though not in the original shape, but expansion from what's left to the same size and function as the original.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenan... | null |
35efvf | why do newtonian physics break down at a quantum level? | [
{
"answer": "Because, Newtonian Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics and other mechanics are simply a model of reality.\n\nIn each case, the model is the simplest explanation (Occam's razor) which could explain and predict all the phenomena observed. When Newton created the Newtonian Mechanics, the existance of Quantum... | null |
2uka8z | Could an "electromagnetic black hole" exist? | [
{
"answer": "The answer is no. There are a couple of features of gravity that make it unique and the only candidate force to produce black hole-like phenomena.\n\n1. Gravity interacts with everything on the same way (it's very democratic). And everything is everything, including itself. This is an important ing... | null |
dzdlb2 | What if you took some simple scuba gear, maybe a weight, and applied a hydrophobic layer? | [
{
"answer": "What stops you from sinking is not friction, but buoyancy. The water pressure supports you with a force equal to the weight of the water you displaced. Having a layer of hydrophobic material doesn't really change this - it's no different to having a layer of clothing or whatever, it's just another ... | null |
qeuc7 | why the vitamins are named like they are. why do we have 12 vitamin b's but no vitamin j? is there a vitamin b9? | [
{
"answer": "[Copy-paste from here:](_URL_0_)\nWhen they[Vitamins] were discovered they were given temporary names, starting with Vitamin A, then B, C, D and so on. Then we discovered that Vitamin B was a mixture of several different chemicals so they were given subscript numbers 1 to 12. We knew what they did,... | null |
5u7ooe | How should we remember Captain James Cook? | [
{
"answer": "Really there's nothing stopping him from being both. He did have significant navigation/cartographical skills, sailing thousands of miles that he had no maps for. \n\nThat said he was an English sailor under the British Navy at the start of British imperialism. His voyages were basically commission... | null |
9mw9q0 | why can’t you hum while holding your nose? | [
{
"answer": "You can if you open your mouth. The air that carries the sound from your vocal cords has to go somewhere. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because humming is essentially forcing sound to come out of your nose. You're basically pronouncing a nasal consonant; so if you're blocking yo... | null |
b45rb3 | Is it possible to navigate without GPS and satellites using the earth's geomagnetic field instead (like birds do)? | [
{
"answer": " > Now, I've heard about Compasses\n\nYou are probably thinking of regular old cheap compasses. But there are high accuracy electronic compasses which is what you appear to be talking about. [Like this one.](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "No matter how accurately you meas... | null |
555gaf | why do separate drops of cooking oil tend to drift towards each other when on water? | [
{
"answer": "Gravity. Water is polar so it forms a strong surface tension, the oil is less dense so it sits on top. Gravity makes the oil naturally tend to \"puddle\" on top of the water.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "36065243",
... | null |
1id1mz | How much gasoline is actually wasted at a stop sign? | [
{
"answer": "well fuel is burned very slowly\n\nI get 33 mpg at 60mph chilling at 3000 RPM in my 4 cylinder 1.9 liter Mazda.\n\nI'd say that I burn 1/33 of a gallon of gas a Minute because I'd have to go 33 miles to use a gallon, right?\n\nSo, idling at a stop sign my car spins at 700 RPM, which is about one qu... | null |
4c8q75 | could a nuclear submarine survive in space? if so, for how long? | [
{
"answer": "It is strong in compression, in tension it's less clear.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "263960",
"title": "Warship",
"section": "Section::::Types.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 74,
"start_charact... | null |
dmro2y | Rhodesia | [
{
"answer": "You might find interesting the following previous answers:\n\n* [Why does the story of Rhodesia attract so many racists?](_URL_2_) answered by /u/swarthmoreburke\n\n* [What was Rhodesia's end game during the Bush War?](_URL_1_) answered by /u/profrhodes\n\n* [The Rhodesian bush war is heavily roman... | null |
eszrpk | United States officials and politicians grossly overstated Soviet military capabilities in the cases known as the "bomber gap", "missile gap" and "cruiser gap". Did Soviet officials ever have similarly overestimated any U.S./NATO military equipment levels and technologies? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, very much. One example that comes to mind is the \"military-technical revolution\" of the late 1970s and 1980s. Soviet military leaders during the Reagan years in particular were fairly spooked by Western advances in precision weapons, reconnaissance methods, and other technologies which we wo... | null |
5euvxr | how do nature documentaries capture audio? | [
{
"answer": " > I can't help but be bugged by wondering how they manage to capture such pristine audio.\n\nTake along a really good microphone with a cover, or even a microphone within a parabolic dish to get audio from far away. Or of course you can dub it in later from audio captured elsewhere in similar fas... | null |
2hqe0b | When did people start realizing that the Soviet Union was going to imminently collapse? | [
{
"answer": "I'm sorry I don't have the answer to your particular and interesting question, but perhaps you might be interested in this slightly relevant tidbit.\n \nIt was George Kennan, a diplomat stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow at the time, who in 1947 put together an analysis of US-Soviet relations... | null |
1d1m22 | What was the system for giving African American Slaves or Ex-Slaves second names? | [
{
"answer": "Howdy!\n\nThe first census of the United States that attempted to count slaves precisely was the 1850 census. The census wanted the name, age, sex, and color of each person (among other things), which would have us to find the name of slaves in each household. For thirty years before that, there ... | null |
1qrkof | what will pot businesses look like in washington and colorado? | [
{
"answer": "Coloradan here. The dispensaries, or medicinal marijuana stores, here are not weird or shady places. Many neighborhoods have multiple dispensaries. The recreational marijuana stores will be modeled after dispensaries. In fact, current medicinal dispensaries will have first dibs on licenses to open ... | null |
g0ns9w | watts vs va | [
{
"answer": "For a purely resistive load, like a light bulb or heater, volts times amps equals watts. But many loads are not purely resistive; they can also be capacitive or inductive. By far the most common of the two is inductive: most motors, for example, are inductive loads. These loads consume power but \"... | null |
abnnby | Do alcoholics develop kidney stones as often as non-drinkers? | [
{
"answer": "Good question, I googled and found this:\n\n & #x200B;\n\n > While no direct causality has been found between drinking alcohol and the formation of kidney stones, alcohol can contribute to increased risk for the formation of stones through a variety of avenues. Beer and grain alcohol have an espec... | null |
33wgud | if a nuclear bomb were being tested, and it didn't go off... how is it approached and dismantled? | [
{
"answer": "Chances are they'd shoot another (small and conventional) bomb at it to blast it into tiny, no-longer explodable pieces, then pick those up and dispose of them.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A nuclear bomb is typically set off by a conventional bomb. If the conventional bomb port... | null |
irf18 | Will bacteria always find a way to become resistant in the end? | [
{
"answer": "It's kind of like saying will human skin ever become resistant to bullets. I don't know too much about cold plasma, but if it perforates the membrane like alcohol does, then there's not really any individual mutation (to my knowledge) that can account for slightly higher survivability among certain... | null |
cqtd1h | what causes bond interest rates to fluctuate? | [
{
"answer": "The more you want a bond, the less the government has to pay you in interest to buy it. How much do I have to pay you per day to pick up dog poop? A lot. Now how much do I have to pay you per day to pet kittens? Very little, because everyone wants to pet kittens! If everyone wants a 10-year bo... | null |
2u26yk | why doesnt your soda get "shaken up" when it falls out of the vending machine? | [
{
"answer": "Two reasons that both contribute:\n\n1) The vending machine acts as a fridge, and at a colder temperature the CO2 gas requires more force to seperate from the liquid\n\nBut more importantly:\n\n2) The \"drop\" you see in these machines isn't as dramatic as you may think. There are [columns](_URL_0_... | null |
3vo2c9 | What is the evolutionary background behind Temperature Dependent Sex Determination? | [
{
"answer": "I would be curious if the lizards realize temperature affected sex. Like would they intentionally control for more females if populations were dwindling. Or for more males if predators were a problem.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Let me preface that while I'm a grad student of e... | null |
vreyb | What are the chances that a ray, if projected outwards in a random direction, will hit a planet before it exits the observable Universe? | [
{
"answer": "If you assume that the ray doesn't diffract and stays the same size like a laser beam I would estimate that the chances are as close to zero as you can get.\n\nIf it does diffract and spread out - like the beam from a flashlight then the probability becomes almost 100%",
"provenance": null
},... | null |
dvm001 | what is the rationale behind kicking out a business from a strip mall/shopping center and leaving the space to sit for months/years? | [
{
"answer": "If it’s empty, they get tax write offs. Maybe they want to empty out the whole place and sell it for multi-family housing development.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "4438616",
"title": "ShoppingTown Mall",
... | null |
5mn1bl | how does a game like call of duty have practically no online delay at all while when playing a game like nba 2k17, multiplayer modes experience about a full second of delay between when the button is pressed and when the game responds? | [
{
"answer": "Err. I haven't noticed this to happen in any online game so thought I'd start with that. \n\nVideo games online don't use much bandwidth so getting a faster connection doesn't really impact them that much. (Unless it comes with better latency)\n\nGames are mostly impacted by latency or ping, this i... | null |
8cpf94 | how does saudi arabia make sure all of their expats like engineers, businessman, and english teachers follow their religious laws? | [
{
"answer": "It only 'counts' inside the country. If you hang out with Arabs, you quickly learn they are all hypocrites and will happily travel to a less restrictive country where they get to drink and party.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Expats from Saudi Arabia, or those in Saudi Arabia? T... | null |
3ev7rz | mountains are brown, yellow, and green and definitely not blue or purple, yet they look purplish-blue from far away. why is this? | [
{
"answer": "Because if they are far away, there's more stuff i.e. atmosphere between you and the mountains and thus it gets a slight bluish tint. It's the same reason why the sky is blue. Blue wavelengths are scattered less easily than red ones so they 'dominate'.\n\nYou'll notice that not only mountains appea... | null |
518gob | now that mother teresa is saint teresa, how does her image change in the minds of christians? | [
{
"answer": "Catholics and Christians already held Mother Teresa in a Saint like regard, so her getting actual Sainthood doesn't actually change very much.\n\nAs for her position, technically she isn't \"worshiped\", but she will be prayed to for people seeking guidance, and she now has a \"Feast Day\" (Septemb... | null |
1x1tj4 | Why are peasant rebellions so present and successful in Chinese history as opposed to European history? | [
{
"answer": "I think the success is an impression. Because of China's myriads of historical peasant rebellions, only two can be called successful - the Red Turbans who overthrew the Mongol Yuan Dynasty and established the Ming Dynasty, and the communist revolution which established the PRC (and even that one, y... | null |
6hvqba | What is alcohol actually doing to our brains when we drink? And why does it improve moods so quickly? | [
{
"answer": "Ethanol (common drinking alcohol) is a drug that interacts with a variety of neurotransmitter systems; most importantly GABA-a, but also serotonin and NMDA receptors.\n\nYour body produces a molecule called GABA(gamma aminobutyric acid), which acts as a neurotransmitter. Neurons with GABA receptors... | null |
9gw1at | When and how did the names for aircrafts go from being nouns (Hurricane, Spitfire) to alphanumeric codes (F-16)? | [
{
"answer": "You’re confused. The two planes you listed with names are British. The British have retained the name only system (e.g. the Eurofighter Typhoon).\n\n Meanwhile the US Army air corps/air Force has used a type-number designation since after the First World War (e.g. the F-16, B-52). The letters stand... | null |
46qul7 | uk vote on leaving the eu - brexit | [
{
"answer": "ELI5, why has this referendum come about? What lead up to it?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "* What is a referendum?\n\nA referendum is when the electorate (general public who can vote), or the parliament (although usually MPs can't vote, but not in this specific referendum), vote... | null |
7witzr | Do babies remember their parent's faces and voices before four months? | [
{
"answer": "Also if someone has a source for their answer, that would be a huge help. Not trying to be picky though. If it's difficult at all to find one then it'll be no issue. I'm mostly just hoping for an answer. Thank you.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I haven't read it in a while and do... | null |
1923h4 | Explain to me the science behind something I witnessed this morning in my water bottle | [
{
"answer": "You most likely experienced a [supercooling](_URL_0_) phenomenon. This happens, simplistically, when the liquid has nothing to grab onto (a bit of dust, something like that) to form crystals or other ordered structure like ice. When you took it out, you probably agitated it enough that it found som... | null |
2yh4ny | What evidence is there, that Carthage sacrificed humans? | [
{
"answer": "Historically, the practice of child sacrifice is attested by Greek historian Plutarch, and Carthaginian Christian historian Tertullian, and Orosius, Philo, and Diodorus Siculus. Some scholars contend that these records are exaggerated remembrances and propaganda by the Romans against their arch-ne... | null |
zjoj3 | Scissors' effect on a molecular level | [
{
"answer": "Both are happening.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3443031",
"title": "Price scissors",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 2,
"start_character": 0,
"end_paragraph_id": 2,
"e... | null |
3mgf5v | How socially liberal was the Middle East before Wahhabism? | [
{
"answer": "You're making the assumption that Wahabism is widely spread across the middle east. It is not, and it never was. It has always been a Saudi phenomenon, and even then not all Saudi citizens are Wahabists. The movement was founded in the Nejd region of Saudi Arabia; Bahrain (eastern Arabia) is Shiit... | null |
2f1yak | what does this joke mean? i've been staring at it and i just don't understand it. | [
{
"answer": "The doctor is supposed to be objective and not influenced by personal opinion/judgement when dealing with patients. The fact that the doctor, whose duty is to the patient's care and wellbeing, joined the waiting room group in belittling the protagonist is where the self-deprecating part comes into ... | null |
3fqi5q | when a sound or person wakes you up while dreaming, is it just me or is the noise always perfectly timed with an event in the dream? | [
{
"answer": "Memory of what happened in dreams is quite inaccurate. Your brain can actually construct the memory afterward, for example showing you that something happened simultaneously that didn't.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Your dream may have ended at that point many minutes before you... | null |
543osu | what did wells fargo do? | [
{
"answer": "Imagine you went to the bank to open a checking account and the banker tried everything possible to get you to sign up for a credit card and maybe even a second checking account to \"help you manage your finances\" but you just kept saying no. \n\nAfter you left the bank, the banker opened those a... | null |
1whscs | What were some common phobias throughout history that don't exist today? | [
{
"answer": "I wouldn't call it common, as there's only a handful of well documented cases in the literature and much of the other evidence for its prevalence is anecdotal, but I'll mention it because it's wonderfully weird... \n\nFrom the 15th to the 17th century in Europe wealthy and educated people were stru... | null |
7id8bi | why is it that you are able to start a manual car by popping the clutch in second gear? | [
{
"answer": "No-one is really addressing the *why* portion.\n\nIn short there are several ways to ignite fuel. One is by a spark, another other is by compressing the fuel/air mix. Boyle's law tells us that when you compress a gas the temperature increases. If you compress the fuel/air mix enough it will igni... | null |
1ojjt9 | how can colleges legally create "customized" textbooks and not be found guilty of unlawful monopoly/duopoly? | [
{
"answer": "Your college isn't the only one offering BIO 101 or whatever the course is. It's not exclusionary because you could have chosen a different college, so they aren't doing anything anti-competitive. It's sort of like how a bank can charge you a fee that no other bank charges, but they get away with i... | null |
fftsxg | What exactly are VPN’s and how do they work? | [
{
"answer": "All of your traffic that goes to the VPN adapter is addressed to the same destination (the VPN gateway). Inside those packets (encrypted) is another packet with the real destination and contents that you want. \n\nThe VPN gateway unencrypts the packet and sends it on its way with a source address t... | null |
1fgrwi | if we die after roughly 3 weeks without eating, why do eat 3 times a day? | [
{
"answer": "Eating three times a day is actually a modern invention (modern in terms of human history as a species). It wasn’t uncommon, or even unhealthy to eat once a day, or sometimes skip a day every few days. It still isn’t unhealthy to do that today, you are just so used to eating three times a day that ... | null |
3oo9yd | How much 'real time control' did pre-20th century generals have over the battlefield? | [
{
"answer": "Depends on when and where. Pre-20th century, after-all, covers over 2500 years. While I've not read anything explicitly stating it, it seems to me command style changed with the size of the army and battlefields.\n\nIn Classical Greece, commanders could basically only lay out a battle plan before i... | null |
2ffwny | Why is it better letting banks loan 10x of bonds they hold (fractional reserve banking), than letting people to spend 10x of bonds they hold? | [
{
"answer": "The short answer is bank loans are generally supposed to be done in a manner which is controlled, conservative and carrying a large chance of return. Banks also usually have large diversity of revenues streams, which means they are supposed to be relatively stable in the case of minor problems in t... | null |
7yyyiq | the strength of currency | [
{
"answer": "You're right. It's a common misconception to say, for example, that since you get more Canadian dollars in exchange for US dollars, the US dollar is worth more. If prices were the same in both countries that would be the case, but prices are not even consistent from one city to the next within the ... | null |
404s7n | why wont an xbox dvd work on a playstation, or computer? | [
{
"answer": "its just different hardware. DVD machines are made to be able to be played on multiple different systems (theres sortof a standard), while thats just not the case for console gaming. They have no need to keep a standard so they dont. \n\n > It would, however, destroy the whole \"console exclusive\"... | null |
5nna4m | How much influence had Fake News to cause the Spanish–American War of 1898? | [
{
"answer": "I think this is an incredibly complex question, and really one that has gained added depth the further we have gone from the events as more has been learned.\n\nIn particular I want to focus on two areas, the reporting of pre US intervention newspapers from Cuba, and the reaction to the loss of the... | null |
2cuzx1 | why is the fetal position so comforting? | [
{
"answer": "Simple answer: *We don't know.*\n\nPostulation: The fetal position may be a learned response, similar to how some people sit and sway back and forth when distressed.\n\nSince we associate the position with fetus's, or young babies, it may be a visual cue to others, expressing \"I am not a threat\" ... | null |
qoa0m | How was sovereignty and colonialism different 2000 years ago? | [
{
"answer": "You're talking about whether states had the same sense of external sovereignty as we do today, and the answer is generally no. The modern idea of noninterference in another state's affairs, at least in Europe, was only cemented in 1648 after the Peace of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years' War.... | null |
a3l6ra | why are the front and back cameras on smartphones not the same to begin with? why do they need to differ in quality? | [
{
"answer": "cost and size.\nif all other variables remain constant, a bigger lens allows for better photos, as well as a bigger image sensor (the light sensing chip behind the lens). since they’re intended for different things, they just use different cameras. smaller cameras are also better at taking pictures... | null |
3dqn0a | Why are gamma rays so hard to stop? | [
{
"answer": " > But gamma rays are extremely high energy photons, they should have enough energy to excite any electron, so why doesn't every material absorb them?\n\nGamma rays typically have *more than enough* energy to excite atomic electrons. They have enough energy to ionize atoms (kick electrons out of th... | null |
5p4xi5 | If you flip a coin an infinite amount of times, will you also at some point have an infinite streak of heads? | [
{
"answer": "For any fixed n, you will (almost surely, aka with probability 1) have a string of n heads in a row sometime; if you divide up your throws in sets of n, you have probability 2^(-n) of getting all of them heads in that set - so prob. of never getting n successive heads in k*n throws is at most (1-2^... | null |
9m8d63 | how does an epipen work to help severe allergies and why don’t we use it for moderate/mild allergies? | [
{
"answer": "Because it’s a huge strain on the system of the person receiving it. It’d be like killing an ant mound with a bazooka — it would work, perhaps, but it’s not a thing you’d do often, and there are better, less-scorched-earth tools that are better suited to the situation. ",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
2sqcf7 | if oil has a finite supply and is steadily running out, why does the price per barrel fluctuate? | [
{
"answer": "It comes down to basic economics of supply and demand.\n\nThe amount of oil in the ground is finite but the amount of oil that has been pumped to the surface and available for use changes on a regular basis. Currently the US, Iraq and Libya are pumping more oil than in the past. Combine that with t... | null |
1t4ye1 | what causes cars to sometimes explode when they flip over in a crash? | [
{
"answer": "Cars generally don't actually tend to blow up.\n\nThe only reason a car would explode would be a spark or fire reaching the gas tank and even then its not quite like how you see it in movies. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As a 25+ years firefighter / Paramedic I have NEVER seen ... | null |
8sb7r3 | What is the history of Rome's Colloseum from post-roman times through to modern time? | [
{
"answer": "The emperor Honorius abolished man vs man gladitorial games in AD 404. There were some animal games (venationes) in 503, and in 508 the place suffered earthquake damage. Rome's population had plummeted by about two thirds over the previous century and although there were idle rich about, these sp... | null |
eyq1ij | why we get sleepy in situations that sleeping can kill us | [
{
"answer": "What situations do you mean?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Yeah I've always wonder why we get sleepy after hitting your head. I remember my parents always telling me to not fall asleep while they drove me to the hospital....",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The bi... | null |
6adtg6 | Why was Henry 1 Charter of liberties largely ignored by monarchs until the issuing of Magna carter? | [
{
"answer": "To answer the question in depth we first have to look at the circumstances of the charter. After William II. Rufus died on August 2nd of 1100, Henry hurried first to Winchester - to secure the royal treasure - and then to Westminster, where he was crowned king on August 5th, despite only a handful ... | null |
2fceq9 | For those who know a bit about the Arthurian legends.. | [
{
"answer": "The Arthurian stories have been retold and recycled for centuries (if not over a thousand years - it depends on how we date the Welsh Arthurian stories). Thus they have amalgamated into a mish-mash of features. Any tatoo or image of Excalibur will not be historical but only representative of one pa... | null |
8ta7gw | What is the biochemical origin of caffeine dependence? | [
{
"answer": "Caffeine is a nonselective adenosine receptor antagonist, acting at A1, A2a, A2b, and A3 receptors (it also binds to a few other receptors, but we’ll ignore those for simplicity’s sake). From knockout studies in mice, it appears A2a is critical for the stimulating effect of caffeine. In the brain, ... | null |
1vfx6i | Is there more oxygen in water or air? | [
{
"answer": "I am not sure of the question, but if you mean whether an equivalent volume of air or water holds more oxygen, the answer is (under typical conditions assuming the dissolved oxygen is at equilibrium with the air) the air. Oxygen only dissolves to the extent of a few milligrams per liter of water (a... | null |
d68i1f | A couple universe related questions from a layman - can you explain any of these things? | [
{
"answer": "Couple corrections that weren't made.\n\nThe universe does not create new dark matter as it expands. It appears you are confusing dark matter and dark energy, two largely unrelated concepts. Overall dark energy increases because the energy density of empty space is constant. New space has as much e... | null |
drto7p | how can a single pixel on a tv screen change to so many different colors? | [
{
"answer": "You remember mixing paint colours when you were a kid? A single pixel is made up of a tiny blue light, a tiny red light, and a tiny green light. It can be any colour just by controlling how strong each of these colours shines inside it. More modern screens (e.g., Liquid Crystal Display) have fancie... | null |
4mh538 | if insects and arachnids don't have feelings, than what would trigger them to act if in danger? | [
{
"answer": "Because reflexes and involuntary reactions often have little to do with emotion. Just like when a doctor hits you in the knee with the rubber mallet or when you stub your toe in the dark. Your reaction is to make a jerking motion but it doesn't necessarily trigger any significant emotions. Excep... | null |
139ef8 | the us and why israel is important to the us. | [
{
"answer": "After the Holocaust in the 1930s-40s, it became clear that the Jewish people needed a homeland that could protect their culture and their people in the event that another group decided to attempt to exterminate them. Many began returning to their ancestral homelands near Jerusalem, which was part ... | null |
g6euo | Which (living) professor or scientist do you find most inspiring? | [
{
"answer": "Robert Langer: _URL_0_\nOne of the most productive engineers in history.\n\nBrian Cox: _URL_1_\nAll around awesome guy who invokes the same kind of wonder about the universe as Carl Sagan did. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You've got to respect Richard Lenski both for his amazin... | null |
2u548b | how is tesla able to improve the efficiency or performance of their cars with over-the-air updates? | [
{
"answer": "It's the future, man. Nowadays, computers control every aspect of cars from running the engine to turning on the interior lights when you open the door. Electric motors are controlled by changing the voltage and current running to them. More voltage means more torque (twisting force) and more curre... | null |
34kjnh | I'm looking for video footage of 1919-1946 Germany, Can anyone help? | [
{
"answer": "You may want to look into ripping DVDs of classic german art films? \n\nedit: HA! I found it!\n\n I present to you, \"[Berlin: Symphony of a Great City](_URL_0_)\". It's basically just a sort of documentary of a generic day in Weimar-era Berlin (with some pro-socialist/communist imagery thrown in... | null |
aaz8s6 | If Romans relied upon local forces as auxiliaries, what language would be used on the battlefield? Were front-line soldiers required to learn Latin or were orders relayed through translators (and at what point in the chain)? | [
{
"answer": "In “The Middle East Under Rome,” Maurice Sartre discusses the concept of lingua-franca in the Mesopotamia and Anatolia. Although all high ranking Roman officials were asked to learn Latin, the majority of the known-world spoke Greek due to the Hellenization that occurred during the conquest of Alex... | null |
5w2q23 | what is a social construct? | [
{
"answer": "Something that only exists solely because a bunch of humans agree it exists. Consider the value of cash, for example. A couple of sheets of cotton and some mostly zinc coins you have in your pocket aren't of much practical use to anyone. However, because we all agree they have value, they do.",
... | null |
8ixq8p | how can lonely cloud survive in a crystal clear sky? | [
{
"answer": "In the absence of winds in the atmosphere, the \"lonely cloud\" would certainly dissipate. However, the rotation of the Earth and the different gradients of heating (of the soil and water) that the Sun causes, result in the atmosphere having currents of wind, and areas of higher and lower pressure... | null |
2n5k42 | when holding hands, why does it feel so much better to be the "under" hand than the "over" hand (since neither position is actually ~~physically~~ uncomfortable)? | [
{
"answer": "Supposedly has to do with left and right brained. Which may or may not be a thing. For me the left thumb has to be over the right when I clasp my hands and its same for holding hands. There's a thing with preference in crossing your arms and a couple others. I'm a bad example b/c I'm evenly split o... | null |
1qbrc7 | how can uranium be used for "peaceful" purposes (as iran wants to do)? | [
{
"answer": "Uranium can be used to generate nuclear energy, which can be used as an alternative for fossil fuels to provide buildings with electricity.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1757165",
"title": "Iran and weapons of mass... | null |
4yfkp7 | why do people become traumatized | [
{
"answer": "Your brain is a processing center that takes various stimuli and decides what to do with it. Say you're sorting toys into various bins and every time you pick a certain one up it gives you an electric shock and you drop it. It bothers you to leave it lying there when it should be sorted, but you ca... | null |
2u4z3c | How big of a problem was alcohol abuse/alcoholism in the Red Army during WW2? | [
{
"answer": "The atrocious conduct of the Red Army following their conquest of Eastern Europe and East Germany was largely influenced by their blatant abuse of alcohol. In fact the NKVD allegedly reported back to Moscow complaining that 'mass poisoning from captured alcohol is taking place in occupied Germany' ... | null |
i4thm | What are the bones that fuse together as we become adults? | [
{
"answer": "This is kind of a misconception. It's not as if babies have more bones when they're born, it's just that bones aren't completely ossified at birth, so if you took an xray (for example) you'd see some areas where there were \"transparent\" areas in bones that aren't there as an adult. If we don't ... | null |
chhiii | Did America's founding father's engage in acts that would be considered to be terrorist actions? | [
{
"answer": "I would like to point out a quick note that things can get messy with terminology: as it was a ‘civil’ conflict at first, terms like ‘partisan group’ comes to mind. Then, after independence, anachronistic requisites would have it be that they were at war; I’d check out the letters between Germaine ... | null |
2k7ijc | why don't any of the american ebola patients have privacy dealing with their sickness? aren't patients supposed to have medical privacy? | [
{
"answer": "The medical staff protect their privacy, news teams have no such inhibitions",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The patients gave permission for the information to be released.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I suspect its more to do with mass panicking and people los... | null |
9571t6 | how can hackers have more power in gta online than the makers of the game (rockstar) | [
{
"answer": "It's eather two things. One is that there is so much traffic that they can't find the hackers or they don't care enough to fix it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "5964911",
"title": "Hacker II: The Doomsday Papers",
... | null |
l0x7y | Given what we know about the human genome, how many genetically unique offspring is one pair of parents capable of producing? | [
{
"answer": "First, each parent has two copies of each chromosome they can give you. So already we are at \n\n 2^46, or 7 x 10^13\n\nNow let's add in crossing-over: \n\n[This paper](_URL_0_) states that oocytes have, on average, 70 crossovers, and spermatocytes have, on average, 50 crossovers\n\nSo let's si... | null |
4ns8vc | what exactly makes sunlight hot on a nice sunny day? is it the temperature of the sun itself radiating through space or some form of refraction of the light itself? | [
{
"answer": "Sunlight hitting the atmosphere is always the same.\n\nIt's local weather conditions that change. Warm dry conditions, open sky, the sun is going to continue to warm up the already warm air. Warmth (or lack of) from previous days is stored in the ground and water and moves across the area in pressu... | null |
1ao7hy | Is it possible to explain magnetic fields in terms of electric fields? | [
{
"answer": "The way I understood it from my E & M class was that magnetic fields are Lorentz transformed electric fields. There was a cool illustration in the book showing how the spherical electric field gets squashed into an ellipsoidal shape when a charge moves, and somehow this exposes the electric field t... | null |
2kawc7 | If you have a cold container (soda, water, etc.) and you place it in front of a fan, is it being cooled more/kept the same temperature by the fan or is it being warmed up faster? | [
{
"answer": "A fan moves air, and heats it up slightly because the fan itself is hot. More air passes over the container due to being the target of the fan, so the container will become the temperature of the air more quickly. If the air is a lower temperature than the container, the container will cool down. I... | null |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.