id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
kmfmd | I open the windows and let the humid air in my room. Then I close the window, turn on the A/C, and the air becomes dry. Where did the moisture/humidity/water in the air go? | [
{
"answer": "look at the outside part of the air conditioner (the condenser) [Check it out](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Your condenser drips water... same thing happens on cars when you see water droplets/mini puddles on the ground. Window units in highly populated cities in Asia (... | null |
3lid4n | why does sweden have the highest number of rapes in europe, by a wide margin? | [
{
"answer": "Sweden measures rape differently. The rest of the world measures victims, Sweden measures rapes. For example: If a woman was trapped in a basement and raped every day for a year, then broke free and went to the police in Sweden that would be 364 rapes, in the rest of the world it'd be 1. Why do the... | null |
c9zcok | what the heck does a county do? (u.s. civics) | [
{
"answer": "Canada does have counties, but the term is used to denote the territorial jurisdiction (geographic boundaries) of courthouses. I understand it to refer to a regional municipality in the US (equivalent to Durham, Peel, York, etc.) but I could be mistaken.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
9ri25z | why is the water in some rivers almost turquoise in color while in other ones it's just transparent? | [
{
"answer": "Dissolved solids.\n\nDepending on what’s floating around in the water will affect its colour.\n\nAlgae and turbid mud will make a hazy brown/green river. Clear water is free from floating debris. Coloured water has something dissolved in it to make it that colour, eg iron, copper, and other element... | null |
49lf9m | what would happen to matter if it were frozen down to 0 k? | [
{
"answer": "All molecular movement would cease and the matter would become completely inert. But I'm not sure that this is currently possible to do with our level of technology.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "25449493",
"title"... | null |
7l6szc | what mastering is, when music gets remastered. | [
{
"answer": "So let's say we have an old recording of something. Like The Beatles (Sgt. Peppers was just remastered for example). In older music the recording methods were not near the levels of perfection that we currently have. Audio samples might have some interference that was undesirable and couldn't be... | null |
m9ohe | how come i have to eject flash drives on my pcs but other devices dont care? (xbox, cameras, phones etc) | [
{
"answer": "I can't speak for many specifics, but I can give you the general idea.\n\nThe memory used by flash drives is kinda slow and crappy. It's chosen to be cheap, not fast. When you try to store something on a flash drive, the computer might be sneaky and tell you \"Ok, done!\" before it's really done.... | null |
6rdlh0 | Was fast food a quick take over or did it take decades for it to catch on? | [
{
"answer": "Fast food as we know it today was really a product of the atomic age. McDonald's was the first to really brake out from the traditional mom and pop vibe which was a result of Ray Kroc and his success in franchising. By the time he took McDonald's public there was a string of copycats and America ... | null |
82j8oo | Have there ever been presidential candidates that were not on the ballots in every single state? What was the outcome? | [
{
"answer": "Do you mean only successful candidates for president? There have been plenty of third party candidates that fail to get their name on the ballot in every state.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "779250",
"title": "Alle... | null |
4v0jn0 | If we fired every single nucleur weapon we have on the planet into the sun simultaneously, would anything happen to the Sun at all? | [
{
"answer": "Nope. There are about 10,000 nuclear weapons and if we assume each of them have a ten megaton yield, it's roughly equivalent to the energy that the sun puts out in a millionth of a second. And that's if they detonate, instead of just falling in and melting.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"an... | null |
1n383b | How do rogue planets/nomad planets come into existence? | [
{
"answer": "I know of two methods which can create Nomad planets, Orbital Resonance & Stray Blackholes.\n\n**1) Orbital Resonance**\n\nKeplar's third law links planetary orbital period to the size of the Orbit. So objects further out move at slower angular speeds, such as [this](_URL_1_).\n\nNow if you have ... | null |
1k6s61 | How does an IUC Paragaurd work? How does the copper wire prevent pregnancy? | [
{
"answer": "Copper IUDs* (intrauterine device) essentially release small amounts of copper into the uterus, which causes a reaction from the uterus making it an unstable environment for sperm to survive in. It will also then prevent a fertilized egg from adhering to the uterine wall, leaving it to be flushed ... | null |
1ds247 | why do car batteries need water in them? | [
{
"answer": "The chemical reaction that releases electrons in a car battery is:\n\n > Pb(s) + HSO4^- (aq) → PbSO4(s) + H^+ (aq) + 2e^-\n\nThis uses sulfuric acid, which is extremely hygroscopic, ie. hard to separate from water. It's also dangerous when undiluted. \n\nThe chemical reaction that accepts electrons... | null |
3zd0kh | [Minorities]How continuous were the Maroons of North America before Emancipation? | [
{
"answer": "You've really asked a tough one! Maroon colonies in South America and the Caribbean were more common and in many cases long-lasting, and as you've stated, Florida being a special case, the historical evidence for Maroon colonies in most places in North America is severely lacking. Most of what we d... | null |
8o64zd | When did many anglophones start mispronouncing the old thorn-letter “Y” as a vowel? | [
{
"answer": "Can I ask a clarification question. Wouldn't examples of ye in the King James Bible or Shakespeare actually be uses of the mostly-obsolete second person pronoun \"ye\", pronounced /jiː/, and spelt with a letter Y, not a thorn? I thought the definite articles in them were spelt with \"th\".",
"p... | null |
5pm6fi | Why did the romans use a cross to crucify | [
{
"answer": "Impairment of respiratory movements, and thereby pulminary fuction, apparently. In short, more effective \"death by torture\". \n\nCilliers L.: Department of English and Classical Culture, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein (South Africa).\n\nSouth Africa Medical Journal. 2003 Dec;93(12):93... | null |
119rk3 | I was resistant to poison ivy as a kid. Could literally roll in the stuff and be fine. I haven't tested in a while because a friend said the same but also said they lost resistance around 35. What is the science behind this? | [
{
"answer": "Reaction to poison ivy is the result of the oil [urushiol](_URL_1_) inducing a [type IV hypersensitivity reaction (delayed type hypersensitivity)](_URL_0_). \n\nSome people are immune for the same reason some people have seasonal allergies and others don't, or why some people have sensitivity to n... | null |
277io7 | what prevents digital banks / payment solutions like paypal to create money by adding few zeros to someone's account. | [
{
"answer": "Because when someone transfers that money to a bank account, you'll have to pay them.\n\nSee, by adding zeros, they aren't creating money -- they're creating more debt for themselves.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When that person withdraws their new balance, its coming out of yo... | null |
6ud30l | How did the first European explorers find small, remote islands? Did they luckily stumble across them or was there more to it? Specifically, how did Cook discover the Hawaiian Islands? | [
{
"answer": "I suppose you could say he was just lucky... though he did die indirectly because of it. \n\nIn the case of his third voyage, he was heading up to look for the Northwest passage after stopping off in Tahiti. On his way up to begin his survey, he encounter clues that there must be land nearby-- fl... | null |
32r0sk | What is happening on a molecular level when a solid becomes saturated with water? | [
{
"answer": "Adsorption and desorption rates become equal, so the system enters equilibrium. When water adsorbs to a surface, it is either chemically reacting with it (chemisorption) or just physically interacting with it by Van der Waals forces (physisorption). Adsorption is reversible, so it eventually comes ... | null |
18j5p1 | Did Native Americans who lived in climates similar to Europe develop lighter skin? | [
{
"answer": "Do Eskimos have any place in this discussion?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "No, because there was no other similar climate to Europe.\n\nEurope is unique in that the Gulf Stream keeps it warm enough to support agriculture, yet is it farm enough north to get little light in the wi... | null |
dr6wt0 | considering millions of men have been sent to war (and their death) throughout the ages, how is it that the ratio of men to women in the world's population still about half? | [
{
"answer": "kids have a 50/50 chance of being born male, so even if the worlds population of men gets nuked after impregnating their wives, there’s a chance that the next generation could be entirely male.\nIn short, male mortality rate and male birthrate are not correlated in anyway.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
1qq8j7 | am i left or right handed | [
{
"answer": "For the purposes of most things, you are right handed.\n\nWriting is the standard. However, you are very close to ambidextrous. You are probably part of the population that is born without an inherent preference and just \"picked\" over time.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You a... | null |
apmywv | what exactly is in blood and how come some animals are able to survive without it? | [
{
"answer": "Very, very few complex animals do not have circulation. Flatworms, nematodes, jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals are among the species that do not have a circulatory system and thus do not have blood. Their body cavity has no lining or fluid within it. They obtain nutrients and oxygen directly fr... | null |
4f38fd | why does it get harder to breathe when running, even if i try to control my breaths? | [
{
"answer": "Every cell in your body needs oxygen in order to properly function, and that includes organs like your heart and lungs.\n\nAs you run, you start burning reserve energy in not only your muscles but your heart and lungs too. As that energy is depleted, both your muscles and your heart and lungs will ... | null |
19nv13 | Why do bacteria not get crushed and die when objects millions if times their mass are placed on them? | [
{
"answer": "This is a problem of perspective. \n\nIs that super heavy item perfectly smooth on a cellular scale? Is the object the bacteria is on also perfectly smooth? \nThink of it like steeping on a small bug, if the grooves in your shoe happen to land on the bug, it will appear to have survived the stompin... | null |
4ne8ii | i have a question about schizophrenia and alien hand syndrome. its a little long so see inside please | [
{
"answer": " > So the idea behind alien hand syndrome is that one side of the brain is somewhat conscious and learns to just be along for the ride, but a brain injury or something happens and then that side gets some freedom.\n\nNot quite. Alien hand syndrome happens when the two hemispheres of your brain bec... | null |
4uzlkb | how does the rendering process works in videos? | [
{
"answer": "\"Rendering\" is just a name for the process of assembling a video in to its final form: all the edits, effects etc. are \"written\" out to a file in the way you specify in APP. \n\nThe rest of your question is about video resolutions, which is a different problem. The rule to remember is to start ... | null |
1v1wpy | How do photons exist within an electro-magnetic field? | [
{
"answer": "A good rule of thumb is that *light travels as a wave but interacts with matter as a particle*. This means that any interaction with matter - absorption and emission - must occur in discrete chunks of energy which we call photons. For all other cases, it's often simpler to think of light in terms... | null |
d9kul1 | what are the dual "inner rail tracks"? | [
{
"answer": "There are there in case of derailment to catch the wheels and stop or reduce the movement of the train sideways.\n\nIf you look at you images and the wheel closer to you would jump the track the wheel on the other side would hit the track in the middle and hopefully stop the sideways motion toward... | null |
2xec5z | how does cold weather cause my tires to lose air? | [
{
"answer": "The air is still there... it is just taking up less space because the cold air has caused that air to 'shrink'. Your tire still has the same number of oxygen, CO2, nitrogen, water, etc molecules in it, they are just clumped closer together, which reduces the pressure in your tire.",
"provenanc... | null |
rh8mf | montessori method | [
{
"answer": "Teaching complicated concepts in a hands-on method. Examples: using beads and blocks to explain how the number system works, using color association to help children remember continents, having kids use a spoon to move small items from one bowl to another to improve fine motor skills. \n\nI went to... | null |
o0rcm | israel and palestine, specifically why israel's "settlements" aren't called "colonies" | [
{
"answer": " > Why are the Palestinians treated as a lesser people in the UN? \n\nThe short answer is because they are essentially a stateless people. It could in some ways be compared to Romani (Gypsies) who, as they have no country to be a part of the United *Nations* are also under represented.\n\nThe real ... | null |
4ps8zw | Leif Erikson voyaged to America succesfully and went back,and the Viking race continued .Yet the continent was apparently forgotten till Columbus.What happened? | [
{
"answer": "Okay, so first off, *víking* is a job, not an ethnicity. It would be like calling all Americans cowboys.\n\nSecondly, while *Eíriks saga rauði* and *Grœnlendinga saga* were written ca. 1220-1275, the issue is that Iceland and Icelanders were (and still are) an incredibly small populace. There was l... | null |
166eju | If a newborn baby was put in an environment with absolutely no encouragement or need to stand/walk on two feet, would it still instinctively learn to do it? | [
{
"answer": "It is hard to say as experimenting with such a thing would be incredibly unethical. Humans do have a capacity to learn without encouragement and deriving new methods of locomotion from either experimenting or mimicking adults is not that hard to imagine. \n\nOne case that partially reflect ethics i... | null |
7n82bq | the protesting in iran, what is it over? | [
{
"answer": "*This is based on a limited amount of information on the subject and while it is based on reputable sources, I may have overlooked or missed some information. If you see something wrong or in need of an update, please reply and I will edit my post after confirming.*\n\nThe starting point seems to h... | null |
4arjkh | why does the same bottle of iced tea sometimes taste bitter and sometimes taste sweet? | [
{
"answer": "Depends on how long the sweetener has been settling. Shake your drink every time before you take a swig and it should be consistent. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "8444939",
"title": "Canned tea",
"section... | null |
ffapm9 | how does a bot on this website scan all comments continuously for keywords to find relevant comments to reply to? | [
{
"answer": "Using reddit's API. See this link: _URL_0_\n\nIt contains the latest comments (which you can see when you go to _URL_1_) in a format that is compact and easily parsable by a computer program. Each entry in this page contains the actual content of the comment and various metadata, including when the... | null |
fq91dc | how come we can see the sun for the first couple minutes after it rises without it being so bright? | [
{
"answer": "Because of the Earths curvature (come at me flat-earthers), the sunlight goes through dozens of miles of atmosphere, being dispersed and reflected, when it's lower on the horizon vs when it's high up (only about 2 miles.)\n\n & #x200B;\n\nEdit: Graph giving a general idea of how this is works\n\n[_... | null |
26za9v | What were the post world war two plans for Germany? (like the Roosevelt plan) | [
{
"answer": "In terms of radical plans, the major apparent plan was the 'Morgenthau Plan' of September 1944. This was a memorandum drafted by Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr, and advocated complete demilitarisation of Germany, the partitioning of Germany into two states with the Ruhr to be an internation... | null |
2358iv | How did the Allies view the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact? | [
{
"answer": "Realistically it had been clear to both Britain and France that Germany was sizing up Poland, after Hitler reneged on his promise to not dismantle Czechoslovakia it was obvious to everyone who the next target was going to be. Knowing this the allies had issued strong statements of support for Polan... | null |
360isi | What do we believe is history's first real fashion trend? | [
{
"answer": "Your question is hard to answer:\n\n > a feature of clothing that is at least partially ornamental\n\nTechnically, this could go far back in history - Sumerian reliefs and statuettes show fringe and dagging, for instance, and there are dyes and embellishments (beaded, embroidered, etc.) in many anc... | null |
jjbkz | what is the reason for the statute of limitations ? | [
{
"answer": "You have a right to a fair trial. If the government comes to you and states that 25 years ago you stole a TV because you still have that TV in your home, it is unlikely that you still have the receipt to prove that you purchased that TV. \n\nAt some point the ability to prove you did something or... | null |
1mya63 | beer before liquor, never been sicker..... | [
{
"answer": "it's really a myth that mixing alcohol makes you more drunk.\n\nThe thing is, if people are mixing drinks, it's very likely they are drinking more than they would usually. it's likely that is why the intoxication level is higher.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "\"Drunkness\" is bas... | null |
46b4tr | Why was there no Scandinavian unification during the 1800 century similar to the Italian or German unifications? | [
{
"answer": "In fact, there were two Scandinavian unions in that period, in succession to each other. The first was Denmark-Norway, which lasted until 1814, and the second was Norway-Sweden from 1814 to 1905. These were not quite the same as the other two unifications, as these were personal unions of the Kin... | null |
3disw6 | what is this whole res thing | [
{
"answer": "It's the Reddit Enhancement Suite, a browser extension that lets you customize how you view/interact with Reddit. It's great for filtering out specific kinds of posts. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "[Reddit Enhancement Suite](_URL_0_) \n\nIt's a browser plugin which greatly impro... | null |
v9o2p | How did food preservation techniques in the pre-Industrial era evolve? | [
{
"answer": "The link by neobot is a great overview. With regard to Ancient Rome, the Romans used a variety of methods to preserve foods, particularly to ship from place to place. Common liquid ingredients that needed to be kept at a cool temperature (e.g. wine) were kept in [amphorae](_URL_0_) which could be p... | null |
7aw4xr | Was there severe tension between Greek settlers and Egyptians during the Ptolemaic Period? | [
{
"answer": "You might like these older answers of mine on\n\n[Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt: A veritable ancient apartheid?](_URL_1_)\n\n[How much did Ptolemaic Egypt resemble modern colonialism? Is it in any way helpful to make this comparison?](_URL_3_)\n\n[How accurate is the representation of Egypt in Assassin... | null |
f22fjd | what happens at subatomic level when we touch things? shouldn't electrons repel from each other due to their negative charge? | [
{
"answer": "Atoms never touch each other when things touch.\n\nThe atoms get pushed back (due to the nuclei having similar charge) and we sense this force as touch.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "200136",
"title": "Static elect... | null |
uscdh | why are there so many different citation manuals (e.g. mla, apa, chicago, etc.)? | [
{
"answer": "I think this explains it well for a 5 year old: [_URL_0_](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "16017237",
"title": "Style guide",
"section": "Section::::Examples.:United States.:Law.\n",
"start_pa... | null |
hza33 | Could careful administration of a heart rate increasing drugs have the same effect as cardio? | [
{
"answer": "[Relevant](_URL_0_). Robert H. Lustig, critic of HFCS, speaking on the independent benefits of exercise beyond burning calories.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Are you referring to taking stimulants in attempt to strengthen your heart muscle?\n\nIt's an interesting concept, but I ... | null |
25k93y | why do we use hours, minutes, seconds to measure time versus increments of a decimal system? | [
{
"answer": "A metric time system was proposed back when the metric system started being a thing, but people didn't really like it. \n\nThe way humans perceive time is so variable depending on circumstances, the sort of precision that decimal systems can provide aren't really that important I guess. \n\nThe 24 ... | null |
3rz1er | what dimension does science say we exist in presently? how do scientist know? | [
{
"answer": "We exist in 3 spatial dimensions and 1 time dimension.\n\nWe know this because we invented the language of math and physics that describes these dimensions. \n\nThe spatial dimensions are the x,y,z coordinates we use in any description of 3 dimensional location in space. For example, we can describ... | null |
7fh92g | virtual particles please. | [
{
"answer": "Virtual particles are particles that *cannot* be measured but *must* exist. Take, for example, two electrons interacting with each other. Because they have the same charge, they will repel each other. How do they \"know\" they have the same charge? How do they \"know\" that there's another electron... | null |
pkhde | Can someone explain to me what this guy means by "That whole light theory by Einstein is being proven wrong by science right now."? | [
{
"answer": "Who knows? But my guess is that he read something about last year's much-reported story about the apparently-faster-than-light neutrinos measured at CERN. \n\nIf true, it'd mean something would be wrong with Einstein's theory of Special Relativity - at least as we understand it today. \"Einstein wa... | null |
1245bb | imaginary numbers and i (square root of -1) | [
{
"answer": "Let's start with the number line, and say we have some number. What happens when you multiply that number by another one? You \"stretch\" away from 0 if the second number is bigger than 1 or less than -1, and you \"squish\" towards 0 if the second number is smaller than 1 and bigger than -1, right?... | null |
zrqmy | If I have a really long pole, say 1 light year long, and I pull on one end of it, will the other end move immediately or will it take more than one year for it to move? | [
{
"answer": " > This question has been on my mind for a while, sorry if it's been asked before.\n\n[Have you looked at r/sciencefaqs](_URL_0_)? Or done a [search](_URL_1_)?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "From a physics forum: \n\n\"I think this will depend on some other things that are not ye... | null |
qaiby | How did we find out all the steps of star creation? | [
{
"answer": "Once you know the general composition of the stars themselves (can be deduced by looking at the light given off) and you have a general handle on the energies involved it all kind of falls together afterwards. You can calculate reaction rates and estimate the time a star will spend in each stage o... | null |
bvjjbh | why cannot there ever be a successful breeding between a human being and another animal? | [
{
"answer": "Huge over simplification; when you make a baby, its DNA comes equally from the mom and the dad. The DNA is a big set of building instructions, and a playbook of how to react to situations. For humans, we get every odd page from Mom, and even pages from Dad. Most of the time, the instructions still ... | null |
2wqmio | Exactly how much more advantageous is it to "switch" in the Monty Hall Problem? | [
{
"answer": "The probability of winning when switching is ⅔, while the probability of winning when not switching is ⅓. You could say you are twice as likely to win (100% increase) when switching. Since probabilities are bounded from above I tend to avoid that kind of language, even though it's correct in this c... | null |
2j4dhj | how do they measure how much water travels through a a waterfall every minute/second? | [
{
"answer": "Geometry. The wall of water is a rough rectangle the width of the opening, and the thickness of the water depth at the edge. Drop a knotmeter in and you get the third dimension - speed of the rectangle (distance per time). So, assume a waterfall 100x1 feet at the dropoff, doing 8 kts (almost 16 ... | null |
bqk8v8 | what's the difference between a technologist and a technician? | [
{
"answer": "Technician actually performs work/maintenance on machinery. A technologist studies said machines looking for ways to improve on it",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "8562063",
"title": "Technomancy",
"section": ... | null |
8ji8rm | To plant scientists: What are the most efficient plants to put inside a home for producing the most oxygen and cleaning up the air? | [
{
"answer": "Back in the ‘80’s NASA studied exactly what you’re asking. \n\nYou can find the quick chart here, or read the original study if you’d like. \n\n_URL_0_\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "42302371",
"title": "Mars habi... | null |
3k0vkc | How hard was it for an Irish immigrant to become an American citizen? (I'm also interested in the experience of Italians and other immigrant groups) | [
{
"answer": "At what point in time?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3891915",
"title": "Irish Americans in New York City",
"section": "Section::::Background.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 5,
"start_character":... | null |
ukic2 | When did the Royal Navy get its first steel boat? | [
{
"answer": "The first ironclad would be the [HMS Warrior](_URL_1_) in 1860.\n\nAs for all-steel, it would be the [Iris Class Ships](_URL_0_) in 1877.\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It might be of interest to you that the first steel warship was not actually fielded by the Royal Navy or the ... | null |
1q3uy6 | why using the word "rape" is considered normalizing the issue while using the word "murder" is not. | [
{
"answer": "I think part of the problem is that the crime of rape is very different from murder. The act of sex can be something consensual or considered rape, depending on who is involved. The act of murder is always murder and always a terrible thing. In this respect, it is hard to \"normalize\" murder in... | null |
26l9a9 | How does a small gust of wind measure eye pressure? | [
{
"answer": "This is known as [ocular tonometry](_URL_0_). The basis of the measurement is something called the [Imbert-Fick \"law\"](_URL_1_) which basically says that when you have a spherical thin membrane filled with liquid, then the amount of pressure required to flatten a given area on the surface of the... | null |
as3glk | how does diabetes work on a cellular level? | [
{
"answer": "Really rough and basic: imagine your cell has a lock on it. Insulin is the key to open that lock. Depending on whether you have Type 1 (little to no insulin production) or type 2 (insulin cannot recognize the key hole and thus can’t let the sugar (glucose) into the cell), the sugar builds up in you... | null |
es4g5q | can you get your pets sick, or vice versa? | [
{
"answer": "Sometimes. \n\nDifferent animals and humans have different bacteria and viruses that can get them sick. Some can affect both, while others only one. \n\nMost only affect one. I believe strep throat can be passed to cats though. \n\nMost diseases that can spread between animals and humans are larger... | null |
t3paf | How much lower were sea levels during the ice-age? | [
{
"answer": "During the last glacial maximum ~19,000-23,000 years ago the ocean was between 120 and 140 meters (390-460 feet) below its current level. \n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You're right. I assume by \"ice age\" you mean the most recent one, which ended a lit... | null |
fcvbgs | how does saliva become "sticky" sometimes? | [
{
"answer": "Vape liquids are literally vaporized sugar water with flavors/nicotine.\n\nIt's just sugar alcohols and water. Also any kind of respiratory irritant will cause a bodily response and increases mucus secretion.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "People aren't meant to inhale irritants. ... | null |
2zuupb | Do we know what the Vikings called the island of Britain? | [
{
"answer": "Are you looking for the name used before the invasions or after, or just the \"viking\" word. In ancient Icelandic it was called Bretland but disclaimer: I'm not certain if that is the proper word the Vikings themselves used so wait for an expert to post on that. \n\nAfter the Vikings established... | null |
3hsyw3 | why is tire pressure printed so tiny? | [
{
"answer": "Because that's not the pressure you should be going by anyway. That's the absolute maximum that tire should ever see. Your car's door jamb should have a sticker that shows the proper pressure that's been calculated for the load your car will put on the tires. If you use the pressure molded into the... | null |
18sdvb | I heard some people talking at the store and they said that gravity isn't really real. They said that instead, space is just curved. Please answer me this | [
{
"answer": "Our modern understanding of gravity, derived from the theory of general relativity (GR), is that gravity is caused by the curvature of *space-time* (not space). This in no way means \"gravity isn't really real\": gravity exists just as well, but may be understood geometrically instead of just as a ... | null |
2a9lkl | Why was Romania ordered to pull out of Hungary and denied any war reparations from the Entente after conquering Budapest in the Romanian-Hungarian war of 1919? | [
{
"answer": "The seeming *volte-face* of the Entente had several origins. Firstly, the Bolshevik Revolution greatly scared the Allies and they feared that the Romania's incursions destabilized the region greatly. The advent of Bela Kun and the expansion of the Russian Civil War seemed to confirm these suspicion... | null |
224041 | Did the Red Army have a "full-invasion" kind of reputation during WWII? If so, how did it earn it? | [
{
"answer": "The Germans treated Soviet prisoners a bit like they treated jews and a huge pourcentage of Soviet prisoners ended up the same way : in death camps being worked and starved to death when they were not just shot down.\n\nThe Germans always pretended that the fact USSR never signed the Geneva convent... | null |
1ggaqt | Is there a delay if two people are listening to a radio station at different distances? | [
{
"answer": "There is a Doppler effect for light, but you would have to going close to the speed of light to notice an appreciable difference, and at that point you'd zip through the radio circumference in way less than a second.\n\nTL;DR: Not that you'd ever notice. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answ... | null |
2z4evx | How do keep seeing improvements in USB cables? | [
{
"answer": "Most of the engineering in interconnect technologies isn't actually in the cables, but rather at the end point devices, the cable is simply engineered to operate to those specifications that the endpoints are specified to operate. Thumb drives are an example of a situation where in most cases no ca... | null |
6ni01i | Could the army of the Potomac(1865) have won a war against any of the major European power during the same time period | [
{
"answer": "You may find these previous threads useful. User /u/vonadler has touched on basically this subject several times, with a fair amount of back and forth in both threads.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1_\n\nEDIT: Tried to fix user tagging.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > For a very brief t... | null |
1qpi32 | can someone explain what the vote for the "upton bill" is about? | [
{
"answer": "One thing the Affordable Care Act did was prohibit insurance companies from selling new policies that were not up to certain standards. This affected some people who had bought these policies after the original cut-off date.\n\nOne proposal, sponsored by Democrats, would let people who had those po... | null |
3hox05 | Are there any valid historical documentaries still being made? | [
{
"answer": "I'd look at the credentials of people making documentaries before investing time in watching them.\n\nDo contributors or presenters have advanced degrees in a relevant topic, do they have research outputs on those topics, are these publications reputable?\n\nFor example, there was a recent BBC seri... | null |
138yqe | At what point did China's population start booming into unprecedented levels and what caused it? | [
{
"answer": "Sorry that I can't actually answer your question - my knowledge of Chinese history is insufficient for anything I say to be better than a guess at best - but China has nowhere near Three Billion People. It has approximately 1.35 billion people. For comparison, India, the second most populated count... | null |
13ipro | How much computing power would it take to simulate all the molecules and interactions in a human body? | [
{
"answer": "There are about 10^14 atoms in a typical human cell, which is coincidentally about the same number as there are cells in a human body. So with around 10^28 atoms to simulate, you now would need to define at what level you were going to simulate each molecule and how rapidly you need to update that ... | null |
2rttnm | why is it, and why was it originally, seen as insulting for other people to have sex with your mother? why are 'your mom' jokes so insulting, yet little is said about 'your dad' jokes? | [
{
"answer": "Because of the persisting belief in our society that when a man and a woman have sex the man 'wins' and the woman 'loses'.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because my dad could totally beat up your dad. So you best show the man some respect",
"provenance": null
},
{
"ans... | null |
3h5886 | why would people want to buy bonds with short maturity dates when the return is lower than the average inflation rate? | [
{
"answer": "Some accounts even have negative interest rates. \n\nIf you have a $1,000,000, what are you going to do with it? Ordinary bank accounts are only insured up to $250,000. If you buy real estate it's no longer easy to get if you need it fast, and can go down in value, and your paying property taxes. ... | null |
3t625g | if there ia only one harvest season, how are most vegetables able to be sold year round? | [
{
"answer": "It's grown in other areas that have different harvest seasons, and then shipped around the world to supermarkets.\n\nYou can buy pumpkins and watermelons year round, as well, but when it's not the local harvest season the price goes up beyond what you might want to pay.",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
9vifo6 | how do radical muslims interpret the quran in such a way that they feel compelled to conduct extremist acts such as suicide bombings? is there a certain passage that is misinterpreted? | [
{
"answer": "Sadly it's not a misinterpretation at all...it's laid out pretty clearly and people are simply following what it says. Downside is that it was written ~1400 years ago when it was completely accepted that murder was the proper punishment for all kinds of innocuous things, and practically everyone be... | null |
64swn9 | if you owned land would the land underneath be still considered yours? | [
{
"answer": "Depends on the country. In some places the \"mineral rights\" (rights to dig up what's underneath) are sold separately from the land.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Generally, only up to a certain depth. Everything below that is what's known as \"mineral rights\". \n\nIt varies wi... | null |
1fa6f1 | How much pressure does water put on each inch of the item holding it? | [
{
"answer": "it would depend entirely on the depth/amount of the water, pressure increases in water with one atmosphere (1 atm) every 10 meters. If this is a flood situation we're talking about though, the flow of water would also increase pressure and weight would be more important, 1 L of seawater has a mass ... | null |
3gnht9 | what is the difference between china's "devaluing currency" and america's "quantitative easing?" | [
{
"answer": "From my limited but hopefully growing background in economics, from what I know so far, it seems China is selling more yuan back into the Forex markets whereas the US is lending/giving money to the major banks instead. I'm going to look more into this to double check this. Please anyone correct if ... | null |
2rka6y | what is the big deal with stradivarius violins, can't the just make an exact clone of it by analyzing it? | [
{
"answer": "They're made of denser wood due to the \"little ice age\" which took place during their construction, and this supposedly gives them an unique sound.\n\nIn reality, the effect comes from their name. In double-blind tests they perform just as well (or worse) as your average violin.",
"provenance... | null |
a5vjpc | When groups of animals that use echolocation do so, how are they able to differentiate which sound was theirs? Can a dolphin that’s in the middle of a group pick up on the sound of another dolphin that’s on the outer edge of said group and know exactly what the other dolphin is seeing? | [
{
"answer": "I actually can answer this specifically for moustached bats. I’m not sure if a similar mechanism exists for other animals that echolocate, so I can’t speak to dolphins or anything. \n\nSo as you probably know, bats hunt in huge swarms, so it’s important for a bat to be able to distinguish his own e... | null |
2pzyz8 | I'm interested in the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Can anyone give an overview and/or some good online sources to help me understand a little more? | [
{
"answer": "The [AskHistorians Book List](_URL_0_) is often a good place to look to find sources. *King Leopold's Ghost* is listed there and should be up your alley. I haven't read it, but I've always heard that it's an excellent book.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
4r16n1 | How did the convoy system protect shipping in the world wars? | [
{
"answer": "This answer will focus on convoys in the Atlantic in both wars - the Japanese experience in the Pacific in WW2 diverged significantly. While convoys in both WW1 and WW2 appear similar, with destroyers and smaller ships escorting a large amount of merchant ships, they protected their charges in very... | null |
4blxbm | why cant we just stop media outlets from covering terrorism? wouldn't that effectively make it pointless? | [
{
"answer": "Freedom of the press. \nIf you prevent the media from reporting something, that opens room for abuse. \nPolice beating that man to death? Fits most definitions of terrorism. \nThat government crackdown on dissidents? Terrorism. \nInvading another country? Terrorism.",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
60cka7 | why isn't renting an apartment/house go under monopoly laws? | [
{
"answer": "Because lots of different people rent or sell houses. No one company or person controls the market, which means its not a monopoly.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "For starters.... Housing is not a RIGHT to be granted or taken away, because you have zero right to the product of th... | null |
1qkwg8 | the difference between feminism and women's rights. | [
{
"answer": "Good luck finding two feminists that can agree on what feminism even means.\n\n...and that's before you bring in the trolls & misogynists shitting all over the thread.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Women's rights is a about equality, particularly legal equality and justice.\n\n... | null |
1r25zl | By the start of the American Civil War, how much money was invested into slavery? | [
{
"answer": "I am sure someone has estimated the total value of slave property in the South in 1860 but I don't have that information at hand. The running estimate for Southern slaves just before the war numbers them at about 4 million. Also, a good rule of thumb for the price of the slave was usually about $10... | null |
5tw9hl | what caused the deepwater horizon catastrophe? | [
{
"answer": "1) BP Co man tried to be cheap & reduced the number of pipe centralizers by a significant number. \n2) Halliburton was hired to pump cement to solidify the pipe. Head cementer noticed the discrepancy & noted it to the Co man. Insufficient centralizers can cause a poor cement job since the pi... | null |
2ifd31 | Looking for a couple books! | [
{
"answer": "For the Spain part you could be interested in Stanley Payne's *A History of Spain and Portugal*, which is handily available freely online as part of UCA's Library of Iberian Resources Online [here](_URL_1_) and [here](_URL_0_). It's a pretty good overall history of both of the countries.",
"pro... | null |
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