id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
5fk5gh | graphic card memory | [
{
"answer": "Graphics card memory is RAM that's built directly into the video card itself.\n\nUnlike general RAM which can be used for whatever, this stuff is reserved for *just* graphics, and being hooked right to the GPU makes it fast and easy fo rthe GPU to use it.\n\nTypically, things like textures are stor... | null |
1h8qs3 | Terms in electrolysis which confuses me. | [
{
"answer": "Current is said to flow from positive to negative because scientists guessed it did a long time ago. It turns out they were wrong and it was particles moving in the other direction, but it was too late to change all the books and terms so electrons are said to flow from negative to positive.",
... | null |
17s69i | what would happen to italy if we got out the euro? | [
{
"answer": "No one really knows and that is what makes it so scary.\n\nOne problem is that your debt would still be in Euros, so going back to the Lira would not get you back in control of your debt. While debtors do not like the idea that you would inflate your way out of debt, they prefer that to the idea o... | null |
9vg7qy | How do you store plasma? | [
{
"answer": "Magnetic fields can be used to store a plasma. This is done in fusion reactors, for example. Alternatively you can just keep it in a regular container but keep supplying energy to ionize new atoms while others become neutral.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [... | null |
lx6ac | Is it possible to generate every possible combination of every pixel on your screen to create every image that could ever be taken? (For a specific resolution, anyways) | [
{
"answer": "I'll assume a 1920x1080 resolution. Each pixel has three red, green, and blue sub-pixels that can each be in one of 256 brightness values, therefore each pixel can display as many as 256^3 = 16,777,216 colors.\n\nA 1920x1080 resolution screen has 1920*1080 = 2,073,600 pixels. Therefore, there are 1... | null |
1lmuu4 | I just recently read that there's a black hole at the center of our galaxy, would it be logical to assume that there might be one at the center of most galaxies and nebulae, thus causing them to contract in the first place? | [
{
"answer": "Not really. Most galaxies have them yes but not nebulae. For galaxies it's still a chicken an egg question, did supermassive black holes form very early and take part in galactic formation, if so how did they collapse? Or were they simply an outcome of the collapse of the central regions of proto-g... | null |
6hv5e2 | In animals with a larger brains than humans, what is the purpose of their extra brain mass and volume? | [
{
"answer": " > Surely an elephant leg, despite being much bigger than a human leg, wouldn't require over triple the brain mass to control a limb that is functionally equivalent to the scaled-down human version.\n\nThat's where you're wrong. While the elephant's leg is effectively just a blown up version of a ... | null |
1l9p0e | Why do baby boys or boys below puberty age get boners? | [
{
"answer": "Why questions are very difficult to answer, as they frequently have very nebulous answers. Adult males get erections every night. It's one of the methods they use to detect whether impotence is psychological or physical. They put a paper band tightly around the base of the penis, and if it breaks... | null |
xrin2 | AskScience, why is the landing of Curiosity so important? | [
{
"answer": "Curiosity rover is the biggest, most sophisticated explorer we've landed on another planet.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "briefly; Recent exploration of Mars has failed to find sub surface water reservoirs, and hence no likely spots for this water to reach the surface are known. ... | null |
1370dw | Discounting infant mortality, at about what rate has our life expectancy been increasing? | [
{
"answer": "Wolfram alpha has the data. try:\n_URL_0_\n\nBetween 1980 and 2000, life expectancy for 5 year olds males in the US has increased from about 71 years to 75 years.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2850474",
"title": "... | null |
10e2yq | What is the formula to convert gigabytes to gibibits and which is right, google or ddg? | [
{
"answer": "Google is wrong, Wolfram Alpha is right.\nA Gigabyte is 10^9 bytes. A gibibit is 2^30 bit.\n\nThe giga- prefix is defined in base 10, the gibi- prefix in base 2.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Wikipedia's article on [binary prefixes](_URL_0_) also answers your question and gives t... | null |
3pjbgs | If I traveled back in time with modern medical knowledge, would I be able to make antibiotics/vaccines? | [
{
"answer": "I can't speak to vaccines, but I work with antibiotics, so I'll just comment to that effect.\n\nCould you make penicillin? Maybe. In order to make it you'd need to do two things: 1. find a microbe that produces it, and 2. purify it from the microbe.\n\nPart 1 might be relatively easy, if you knew w... | null |
1o6som | Given that energy can't be created or destroyed, will wind/tidal power remove energy from the wind/tides and thus affect the environment in their own way? | [
{
"answer": "It does. But so does erecting tall buildings that block the wind and form turbulence. Ultimately, the amount of energy extracted is insignificant compared to the amount present, even scaled up to supply the world's energy needs thousands of times over. A mature hurricane, for example, is driven ... | null |
1529d7 | - why do we only ever see white people with down syndrome | [
{
"answer": "Nobody is exempted from having Down Syndrome. But, there may be a variety of factors at play that have resulted in your lack of encounters with non-white people with Down Syndrome.\n\nFirst, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the mortality rate for black infants with Down Syndrome is hig... | null |
snbl7 | Does torture work? | [
{
"answer": "Torture is *very* good at getting people to talk. Unfortunately, it is *not* good at getting people to tell the truth. The victims usually just end up admitting to whatever their torturer wants them to admit, regardless of how true it is.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Torture wor... | null |
471u02 | What was life like for a Spanish citizen living in the new world in the 16th and early 17th centuries | [
{
"answer": "A reply to /u/thomasin500\n\nThe situation was different at different periods in different locations. But in the 16th-17th centuries, what tended to happen was that explorers came first, while clergy and administrators came later, and sometimes much later. This is due to the limited extent that the... | null |
1ohj8u | How does the polarized light that reflects off of the screen in a 3D movie theater retain its polarity? | [
{
"answer": "The light is partially scattered/randomised by the screen but not entirely, visible light has a wavelength of 400-700nm which is fairly big from a molecular point of view, imagine throwing a frisbee at a bumpy wall, it is unlikely to bounce back rotated 90 degrees. The majority of light rays will ... | null |
4zwrt4 | why is michael jackson so associated with pedophilia? has he ever even been convicted of it? | [
{
"answer": "Michael Jackson reportedly had a large collection of 'paedophilic' content at his Neverland Ranch in 2003, according to police reports cataloging the property following a search. \n\nThis info was released to the public just recently.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"prove... | null |
1ei971 | How similar (or different) are the techniques used for cloning both animals and human cells? | [
{
"answer": "At the heart of it, cloning is the same. However, the difficulty in successfully cloning varies between species. Cloning frogs is relatively easy and was first done several decades ago. Cloning mammals is more difficult and so that's why Dolly the sheep was publicised so much in the 90s. However, c... | null |
5fk0x4 | why is dreaming about not wearing pants such a common childhood nightmare? | [
{
"answer": "It's embarrassing in today's society to be naked. In a child's brain, which (among other things) is highly concerned with social groups and social development, the fear of being put in social situations where you are made to feel vulnerable and losing social status frequently manifests itself as ni... | null |
rflvn | How do we get footage inside insect colonies? (And other insect and ant film questions) | [
{
"answer": "**1)**The [BBC's website](_URL_0_) provides a clue as to how filmmaker John Brown filmed honeypot ants: \n\n > To film them he caught some females that had just mated and set them up in a fake colony in his studio. He also had a wild nest in the field where he filmed the above ground behaviour of ... | null |
3i93ej | What are some good books on the Battle of Kursk? | [
{
"answer": "I can confirm that *Kursk: the Greatest Battle* is a good book, it has a few bits and pieces that could be better. But its a solid work none the less. However another good book is *Armor and Blood: The Battle of Kursk* by Dennis Showalter.\n\nYou can't go wrong with either one.",
"provenance": ... | null |
48o3v3 | why do people tend to idealize the past and catastrophize the future? | [
{
"answer": "It's good for us as species to pick stuff that were succesfull in the past and make decisons so that the same success continues in the future.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Entropy applies where thermodynamics are concerned, but as far as human civilization goes thus far, the ove... | null |
3u0e2r | What is the "youngest" species we have discovered? | [
{
"answer": "According to [this](_URL_0_) BBC article, the answer may be senecio eboracensis, having originated mere decades ago. It's worth keeping in mind, though, that there's no clear set of guidelines for what makes an organism a separate species. The definition has been changed numerous times with new sci... | null |
8hijrh | the stomach has neurons, but what are they for? | [
{
"answer": "most of your body has neurons, thats just what your nerves are called. Your stomach uses them to tell your brain if there is pain like any other neuron.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "How would you feel if you had pain in your stomach or the temperature changes in your stomach.",
... | null |
7pejjy | air quality index (aqi) reports | [
{
"answer": "There is no standardized way to measure \"air quality\", everyone is free to label it as they wish. The number indicated by one system isn't intended to be compared with other systems, but with itself over time. If the number is going up the quality is deteriorating, that kind of thing. It's like r... | null |
4y0ryq | Is there any species of mammal where there are not sex differences in behavior/temperament? | [
{
"answer": "AFAIK, mammals all reproduce sexually and use hormones as a mechanism to differentiate sexually during development. This difference in development includes differences in brain development, at the very least for sex-related behaviors. [This review article](_URL_0_) goes into greater detail about ho... | null |
36bwic | why do hit radio stations, who have access to thousands of songs, seem to always play the same exact playlist all day, every day? | [
{
"answer": "Because in their (very measured) experience, they select the song rotation that maximize the number of listeners they have. What ou say you don't like is what people measurably DO like (or at least what measurably elicits the behavior the station wants).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answ... | null |
24yjaq | Were there any notable cases that caused the public to distrust the "insanity defense"? | [
{
"answer": "Probably the most high-profile successful insanity defense was probably too late to inspire the literary trope, but was nevertheless very important: the case of John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Ronald Regan in 1981. Hinckley was obsessed with actress Jodi Foster and apparently believed that as... | null |
2fwdyn | Is there any evidence of Soviet/Communist involvement in the black civil rights movement? | [
{
"answer": "Someone else actually asked [a similar question](_URL_2_) a few months back. My answer was: there is some evidence that the Soviets attempted to infiltrate and co-opt the civil rights movement — they weren't providing support to the movement out of solidarity, but rather saw an opportunity to fomen... | null |
1qf4c7 | Why are some types of firewood more likely to "pop" when burning? | [
{
"answer": "Trapped pockets of resin vaporize and violently escape. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3051739",
"title": "Exploding tree",
"section": "Section::::Causes.:Fire.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 12,
... | null |
eketzg | Are all planet's cores made out of iron? | [
{
"answer": "Mostly, but there are a couple scenarios where it might not happen:\n\n* A planet may form by dynamic stability in the outer planetary disk--basically the gas bunches up on its own without need for a solid core to form first, and the resulting planet is thus predominantly gas.\n* A planet with a hi... | null |
2fkns9 | How come urine and feces are generally always yellow and brown, and smell generally similar, even though people consume hugely varied diets? | [
{
"answer": "See [this thread](_URL_6_), as well as searches for [urine](_URL_1_) and [feces](_URL_7_) color.\n\nThe short answer is that the breakdown of heme produces [urobilin](_URL_3_) and [stercobilin](_URL_0_), which are responsible for the colour of urine and feces, respectively. As this process is a con... | null |
rhm91 | What is the melting point of roads? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nMixing is generally performed with the aggregate at about 300 °F (roughly 150 °C) for virgin asphalt \n\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "44215035",
"title": "Fused filament fabrication",
"sectio... | null |
1hrudk | why do large and already established companies feel the need to advertise their company in general? | [
{
"answer": "They actually are trying to raise awareness. They want to make it so that when you think about fast food, you think about McDonald's. That way, when get an urge to eat fast food, your first thought is to go to McDonald's. Most people don't want to spend a huge amount of time deciding where to go, s... | null |
1s8jws | Rolling Stone recently published a fascinating article about JFK and how he faced down the military brass during the Cuban Missile Crisis, thereby preventing all-out nuclear war. They make it sound as if he nearly lost control of the generals. Is that sensationalized or factual? | [
{
"answer": " > as a Soviet military commander later revealed, would have triggered a nuclear war with the Soviets.\n\nIs *this part* sensationalized or factual?\n\nWhy would a Soviet commander want to destroy his own country for the sake of a distant island?\n\nAbout this other point: \n\n > Do we have any fir... | null |
85y0n6 | why should i worry about companies (such as fb and google) data-mining my internet profiles? | [
{
"answer": "In the popular FB-deleting current trend, data was obtained from 50 million people. Psychological profiles were executed on these individuals. Based on their psychological type, targeted ads, even with fake news, were targeted towards these individuals to influence their decision on who to vote for... | null |
3qr059 | why is "whistleblowing" such a heavily punishable offense? | [
{
"answer": "Whistleblowing is usually the act of exposing the wrongdoings of the people in power.\n\nThe people in power - in this case, branches of the US government - do not want their wrongdoings to be exposed, so they use their power to discourage people from doing it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
cylfba | What would a dark age church service look like? | [
{
"answer": "There are a great number of possible variations on the following, but I'll do my best to give you an idea.\n\n**Tithing**\n\nFirstly, my family are rye farmers. Much depends on what that means. If we're at the bottom of the social pile producing rye for another citizen farmer then we probably get e... | null |
12dyrb | Who was the first person to have their own army? | [
{
"answer": "As far as I am aware, the first recorded individual was a ruler named Sargon of Akkad. He apparantly created a standing army of 5400 men:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nKeep in mind we have pictorial evidence of people fighting in organized bodies prior to that, but Sargon was the first individual with whom a milit... | null |
h00ru | Are there cultures where smiling is not used to show happiness? If not, how did it develop to mean this across the world? | [
{
"answer": "Like birds know to fly south in the winter, humans are born with certain facial expressions as a representation of emotion. Facial expressions associated with disgust, happiness, surprise, fear, anger, and sadness have been found to be the same across the world, including cultures isolated from th... | null |
3qzgda | Was bronze ever used for (chain) mail? | [
{
"answer": "The Roman period is before my period of expertise, so I can't say much about the Lorica Hamata.\n\nHowever, in the Middle Ages there are occasional uses of latten (a copper alloy, generally containing Zinc - basically brass) to make mail. The most common use of this is a decorative border on the ed... | null |
2mrqro | what is the point of ticketmaster if it just brings you to another site to but the tickets? | [
{
"answer": "Ticketmaster gets a commission from every ticket sale made from another website. The cost for that commission is ultimately paid by you.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "39184221",
"title": "TicketHurry",
"se... | null |
2fkqpl | why is it so difficult for people to admit they are wrong about something? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know about any studies, but I think it's probably something to do with either pride, or they don't want people to think badly of them for not being right",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Very well understood psychology at this point:\n\n1) People hate loss more than they lik... | null |
284i5r | why do i sleep like a beautiful princess after i wash my sheets and make my bed? | [
{
"answer": "Check your box of detergent, if it says that it makes your clothes softer or includes a softner then you might have found a company that actually tells the truth.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "After a shower and a shave - I'mma sleep till NOON. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
6j42tf | why it is metres per second per second instead of metres per second? | [
{
"answer": "They refer to different things.\n\nm/s refers to a speed. How much distance you cross per second.\n\nm/s^2 refers to *acceleration*, or a change in velocity.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When you say m/s2 you're not talking about linear movement. You're talking about accellerat... | null |
u8xg5 | shifts in what is considered attractive | [
{
"answer": "Let's pretend you go to school 500 years ago. Not everyone had enough food to eat because a lot of people were too poor to afford a good meal every day. Then Clarice comes to school. She's a little chubby, so you can tell her parents have enough money to feed her every day. Which means your babies ... | null |
v4r2e | how come some countries' money is cheap and others' expensive? | [
{
"answer": "What's stopping a country from secretly printing a lot of money and exchanging and buying things it needs from another country without the other countries realizing that they have been duped with their now deflated trade off?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Milton friedman won the ... | null |
w1gto | Why do whirlpools cast shadows? | [
{
"answer": "Stagnant water can still cast a shadow.\n\nA whirlpool casts a different shadow due to the turbulence in the water which causes different directions in which the light scatters.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3410343",
... | null |
5rfwhu | Were there any Christian or Muslim rulers who converted to a non-Abrahamic faith in History? | [
{
"answer": "The one person who comes to mind is the Roman emperor Julian (360-63), who, though raised Christian, turned back to the Greek religion of the Homeric gods and tried to reestablish that faith as the principal religion in the Roman empire. For that reason the Christian historiography referred to him ... | null |
7490b9 | What factors lead to Opera's decline in popularity in the United States? | [
{
"answer": "Kindly release opera from its grave! Just because you don't personally consume something, doesn't mean it's dead. For America in particular, I can comfortably state that you live in the best time of all for consumption of opera. As of today opera is the most accessible and affordable to Americans t... | null |
eabnrn | What is the difference between a hypernova and a super luminous supernova? | [
{
"answer": "I'm definitely not an expert in this topic by any means so take this with a grain of salt. \n\nFrom the cursory research I've done, it seem that the difference is in mass vs light. A hypernova is exceptional in the kinetic energy of it's mass ejections, whereas a super luminous supernova is excepti... | null |
13mlq6 | chicago note style (in academic papers) | [
{
"answer": "If you want an actual guide to formatting, the [Purdue OWL](_URL_1_) academic writing lab is incredibly helpful as a guide. If you have Firefox, the [Zotero](_URL_0_) extension automatically creates perfect citations according to the official formats (for Chicago and other research citation formats... | null |
8b3db3 | How does coordination work? | [
{
"answer": "Your muscles have a bunch of nerves in them that communicate with the brain not only to contract/relax, but how the muscle is being stretched and how it’s moving. It’s called proprioception. This, combined with the vestibular system in the ear and visual input from the eyes provide information to t... | null |
24hk6m | At the Battle of Ulundi, during the British-Zulu war, how did the British win while only destroying such a small part of the opposing Zulu force? | [
{
"answer": "It's important to know that battles are not determined by how many casualties each side takes. Without getting into a lengthy discussion about strategy, in general, the goal is to make the other side withdraw. Whether this be a rout (enemy cohesion breaks, disorderly retreat, time when most casualt... | null |
4kiozn | Historian's with a specialty in religion, how have your studies impacted your faith? | [
{
"answer": "[Here](_URL_0_)'s a similar question I asked a while ago, and received an amazing reply from /u/sowser.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "For me, being a historian of religion has made me very skeptical of claims that modern people make like \"Judaism teaches x\" or \"According to Ch... | null |
10s1dc | I've heard that "the equations of particle physics and of general relativity cannot be reconciled in the mathematically expected manner", can someone elaborate? | [
{
"answer": "It's complicated. When you do a calculation in quantum field theory (what particle physics is based on), you eventually get an infinite result, and you essentially get around it by subtracting another infinity from that until things work out. It's called renormalization and mathematicians hate it, ... | null |
3z8i85 | Is Albert Speers book on the Third Reich a good source? | [
{
"answer": "Hello - I read this book two summers ago and may I say I found it to be a riveting read. It provides details into the intimate workings of the Reich, and Albert Speer's relationship with Hitler that would be difficult to find elsewhere. In particular I was struck by the inefficiencies and haphazard... | null |
1t5wtc | How was it to attend or work in a university in Nazi Germany? | [
{
"answer": "One thing you have to keep in mind about the Nazis is that from fairly early on they began a program of \"coordination\" which made sure that practically all organizations that had any sort of state connection were rearranged along very linearly hierarchical lines of authority, ultimately leading t... | null |
a1yuso | How does the heart work differently in space compared to earth? | [
{
"answer": "Blood does not fall into the ventricles, the atria contract and force it in. If the circulatory system relied on gravity we wouldn't be able to lie down or hang upside down.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "36808",
"t... | null |
d6gntv | how do the cells stay alive when you fall asleep on a body part for an extended period of time? | [
{
"answer": "Your arteries are high pressure hoses that stay open even if you compress them. They are deeper in your body too so they wont get compressed easily.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The numbness that comes from putting pressure on a body part is from compressing the nerves and disru... | null |
484hf0 | how did early television shows record episodes for later broadcast? | [
{
"answer": "There really was little thought of \"later broadcast\" (as in reruns) for very early TV, meaning late 1940s/early 1950s. Some \"live\" shows were filmed directly from a TV monitor screen (these filmed copies were called \"kinescopes\") for archiving and for rushing to the west coast for broadcast 3... | null |
24ipj4 | A domed building a good place to be in a tornado? | [
{
"answer": "Probably more of an engineering question.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "it is true, a sphere has the least surface area:volume ratio possible, and a dome is half a sphere sticking out of the ground, this means the amount of surface for the tornado to blow on is much less than say... | null |
1jlt2g | how does a proposition become a law? | [
{
"answer": "[Schoolhouse Rock: I'm Just a Bill](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1835207",
"title": "Proposition (politics)",
"section": "",
"start_paragraph_id": 2,
"start_character": 0,
... | null |
7yrvn5 | If wind is primarily generated by the rotation of the Earth, then how are some days windier than others? | [
{
"answer": "The answer to \"If X, then why Y?\" is often \"Because X isn't true.\"\n\nWind is not *principally* caused by the Earth's rotation: the main cause is differences in air temperature. Air heated by the sun rises, and cooler air moves in to take its place. This movement of cooler air is the phenomenon... | null |
45i564 | the most modern understanding of human evolution/origin? | [
{
"answer": "Not quite. Neanderthals are more of a 'cousin' as it were, as the current evidence suggests that homo sapiens and homo neanderthalensis diverged from a common ancestor some 350k + years ago (that species, we believe to be Homo heidelbergensis).\n\nHere's a nice [graphic](_URL_0_) giving a generaliz... | null |
1xwati | Why did the Marshall Mission, the American attempt to create a unified government between Chinese Communist Party and Nationalists following WWII, ultimately fail? | [
{
"answer": "Hello, and thank you for this thoughtful and well-worded question! I'm unfortunately not an expert on the Chinese Civil War, but I'll try my best to provide some background.\n\nThe very short answer to everything is that Mao Zedong and the Communists never had any intention to cooperate with the Na... | null |
s4fiv | Can anyone explain this mythbusters result? Because it seems to break my understanding of Newtonian physics. | [
{
"answer": "The movement is from the small amount of air that rebounds in the opposite direction off the sail.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The gist of it is that the air from the fan bounces off the sail and winds up flowing backwards. So the combination of forward-pointing-fan+sail is equ... | null |
q3l4x | why whenever i eat fruits i still feel hungry, but eat fatty foods and feel full. | [
{
"answer": "Well, for one, they just don't have a lot of calories. There's only about 60 calories in an entire orange. Fat is calorie-dense so you're just plain eating more.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Fats and proteins are recognized by your digestive system and a signal is sent to your b... | null |
4hnxu2 | how does a stylus work on a phone screen, but other objects won't? | [
{
"answer": "The screens are capacitive. Basically, things like your skin change surface voltages, and that's how it detects where you're tapping. It will work with sausages (though you'd get your screen greasy). \n\nIf something can't change the voltage (like a cotton swab), it won't register on your phone ... | null |
s1aim | why does touching metal to a metal cavity filling hurt like crazy? | [
{
"answer": "so what happens is the saliva, metal and tooth form an electrochemical cell i think. and electricity flows from the tooth to the metal and back using the saliva as a little bridge. i would explain a little more but i have class right now lol here's a link for more reading: [Electrochemical Cell](... | null |
2sqbrh | Did the Mughals cultivate special breeds of elephants, as Westerners do with horses? | [
{
"answer": "Due to the long lifespans and long gestation periods of elephants, breeding them as one does with horses was impractical at best. There are no known acknowledged \"breeds\" of elephants (aside from the Asian and African varieties that we know of today).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer... | null |
3isdsd | What did the North Vietnamese Army do to all of the South Vietnamese Army once they captured Saigon and ended the war? Were a lot of people killed on the South Vietnamese Army side once the Americans left? | [
{
"answer": "[I have written about this before here](_URL_0_), which might answer some of your questions.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Hey I got a related question. I asked about this but never got a response!\n\nAre there records of ARVN units continuing the fight after the cease-fire? What... | null |
2yxnsa | how do large indoor spaces like warehouses have their own weather? | [
{
"answer": "In short, they don't.\n\nThe Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, the largest buildings ever constructed in terms of open interior volume, is the typical source of this urban legend. The rumor goes that its air conditioning system, which replaces the entire building-volume's air every hour,... | null |
3cytk5 | what does 'bridge' mean in musical terms? | [
{
"answer": "A bridge is a contrasting section of music that prepares for the return to the 'original' section.\n\nIt is often used to contrast with and prepare for the return of the verse and the chorus of a piece of music.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A bridge is a short bit of music with ... | null |
2y023n | How are medical grade sterile cloths made? | [
{
"answer": "Gamma Irradiation normally. But occasionally Ethylene Oxide. They make it, put it in a bag, and then zap the hell out of it with a gamma ray source, usually Cobalt 60.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "19099472",
"titl... | null |
oh6hn | What is the deepest someone could breathe underwater through a tube to the surface? | [
{
"answer": "There will be a depth were your breathing muscle (the diaphragm) is too weak to push out against the water. But there will also be the problem that the snorkel might be so long so that not enough air is expelled from it when you exhale, causing you to breath the same air until you suffocate. I have... | null |
6eyvor | why do some medications have to be specifically taken or applied at night? | [
{
"answer": "Usually it is because they have a sedative effect (make you drowsy) so it's safer to take them at night when you are going to sleep anyway. \n\nFor some others it's because it times with bodily functions (cholesterol medication for e.g. because the liver is more active at producing cholesterol when... | null |
28ekyj | why do republicans and similar think that president obama is directly trying to destroy america? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_2_\n\n_URL_1_\n\n_URL_0_\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "952322",
"title": "Eric Margolis (journalist)",
"section": "Section::::Work.:Political views on United States.\n",
"start_paragraph_id":... | null |
6e9fz3 | Why are "elite" forces of the Napoleonic era beefed up standard regiments with special honors while "elite" forces of the modern era are special operations units? | [
{
"answer": "This is just one an example of the centuries long trend in modern military history of increasing dispersion in the face of increasing firepower.\n\nElite troops (i.e. Guard Regiments) in Napoleonic times were elite because they were better organized, braver, more disciplined and sometimes physicall... | null |
835onc | how can concert tickets and big clothing drops seemingly be already sold out at the exact same second they go live? | [
{
"answer": "Either someone had access to buy before that, or a lot of buyers were just faster than you.\n\nThere's many examples of employees buying the entire stock before the sale goes live. And there's also many examples of people making software to buy tickets as fast as possible (seconds) as soon as sales... | null |
824i4s | What happens to the electrons in the positive plate of capacitor? | [
{
"answer": "The battery \"pumps\" electrons from its positive terminal over to its negative terminal. That is the function of a battery. That is what makes a battery different from a capacitor.\n\nThe air between the battery's terminals forms a (very weak) capacitor, so the battery always charging a capacitor,... | null |
ehbae0 | why is the bathroom always the first room you see when you enter a hotel room? | [
{
"answer": "Well, the other option would be putting the bathroom closer to the window than the bed, and that would just give less wall space on which to put a window.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Mainly because that layout is cheaper to build. Having the plumbing all as close as possible, t... | null |
212jqs | why is there a ball inside of guinness beer cans? | [
{
"answer": "It's to create a head on the beer when drinking or pouring, as guinness is ment to be drank that way, and it's actually a bottle shaped piece of plastic\n\n\nEdit*I couldn't remember the name of the ball/bottle thing, it's called a widget, \n_URL_0_\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer":... | null |
1eiipp | why does your body feel things to be bigger than they are? | [
{
"answer": "Let's say you walk on a floor with tiles, these tiles hold a sensor that says YES/NO depending on if it's got a part of your footprint on it or not. \nIf you were to walk on a floor with plenty of small tiles, every tile will register a part of your footprint and the collected result will decide t... | null |
aiyeh2 | How come that whole state of New York was named after a city? | [
{
"answer": "It's less that the state is named after the city or vice versa, and more that both geographical regions were given Anglicized names at the same time. While the legacy of Native tribes and people can be seen in place names such as Manhattan (based on a Wampanoag or Lenape word used to describe the l... | null |
1os6xm | why are tank tracks so efficient at traction? | [
{
"answer": "The purpose of tank tracks is not traction. The purpose is to spread the significant weight of the tank over a large area so they don't sink into sand or mud or whatever.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3113840",
"t... | null |
22j4v4 | baudrillard's "simulacra and simulation" | [
{
"answer": "Basically, the treatise states that our world is \"fake\", and that our culture is made up of false symbols. In other words, reality is hidden behind a fake mask that we've created.\n\nIt's saying that most of our current society is a construct that we've created ourselves. It argues that the way... | null |
6fom6c | 95% of the moving truck vehicles for families i see are uhauls. how did one company create such a monopoly over the moving business? | [
{
"answer": "One of the innovative things U-Haul did was franchise via gas stations. Existing infrastructure for fuel, office and garage space made the barriers to entry of a new franchisee really low. And there needs to be gas stations located strategically, so you get the coverage. \n\nAlso, the one-way rent... | null |
1dqmep | A question about forces | [
{
"answer": "In our present understanding, quantum fields are the fundamental concept. The existence of quantum fields leads to the existence of particles such as gauge bosons, as well as to other kinds of physical entities (e.g. bound states and extended field configurations like solitons).",
"provenance"... | null |
31tw28 | How does the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere directly affect coral reef building? | [
{
"answer": "The build up of excess CO2 in the atmosphere has slowly began to change the pH of the earth's oceans, making the oceans more acidic, a process also known as [Ocean Acidification.] (_URL_0_) As the ocean acidifies, corals cannot absorb the calcium carbonate they need to maintain their skeletons, whi... | null |
3b6n19 | why do toiletry bags have handles on the side? | [
{
"answer": "It's for hanging. When you unzip the toiletries bag and hang it on a hook, you have easy access and may avoid having to place it on a damp counter, etc. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I think the handle on the side is to give you something to grab onto when you work the zipper. ... | null |
97vb7p | if i weigh 100 pounds and eat 50 pounds of food, do i now weigh 150 pounds? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. If you somehow ate 50 pounds of food, you would in fact gain 50 pounds to your weight. Now this wouldn't last because you body wouldn't be able to metabolize this vast amount of food. You would probably be sick, gain a decent amount of fat, but in the long run you certainly wouldn't suddenly g... | null |
2lqp3w | who are the "kurdish"? and why are their female fighters such a big deal in usa media? | [
{
"answer": "They are a group of people that inhabit connected regions of Syria, Iraq and Iran. They are very pro-western and have long been persecuted in their countries. The reason they don't have their own country is because the British drew the lines in the middle east and they did so quite arbitrarily (w... | null |
8a8rg1 | Were there revolutions outside of Europe/North America (pre-20th century) that implemented enlightenment (or something similar to them) ideas? | [
{
"answer": "Sorry, we don't allow [\"example seeking\" questions](_URL_1_). It's not that your question was bad; it's that these kinds of questions tend to produce threads that are collections of disjointed, partial, inadequate responses. If you have a question about a specific historical event, period, or per... | null |
54q7tb | When did Countries became Countries? | [
{
"answer": "Can you clarify your question? Do you mean when did they consolidate as political entities?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Do you mean the rise of the modern nation-state? Or are you asking about the transition from hunter-gatherer tribes to organized polities?",
"provenance":... | null |
2z0ami | Is the UK/ island of Britain a fatherland or a motherland? | [
{
"answer": "Neither, or both.\n\nThis is more a linguistics question in the field of contemporary and historical usage, but in the interests of fulfilling your question, let me talk about these terms for awhile.\n\nFirstly, “Fatherland” and it’s cognates has a well established usage across European languages, ... | null |
1p3xdv | how does the liver function when we consume alcohol? | [
{
"answer": "After alcohol is absorbed, it is distributed fairly evenly amongst the body's water reservoirs, so there is no concentrating effect in the liver. The liver's job is to metabolize the alcohol into acetic acid.\n\nNothing special happens when you drink a lot such that your liver can't keep up with th... | null |
li9nv | why do pc's need to be upgraded for newer games while consoles can handle newer games just fine? | [
{
"answer": "When a game is made for a console, it has to be specifically designed such that it will run smoothly on the console. The development of the game is restricted by the system it is made for, and it will only need to be tested for this specific console. \n\nWhen a game is made for a PC, the develope... | null |
397wlb | Exactly how fast can a light sail travel? | [
{
"answer": "According to [this](_URL_0_) paper, it will depend on the mass area loading on the sail, which is equal to (total mass) / (area of sail) \nbut the article says: \n \n > The slowest\napproach in Table 1 passes the 0.01 AU perihelion point and continues out into space at a\nconstant ve... | null |
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