Question: If you put your ear close to one of those foil balloons (birthday, etc., not the regular latex/rubber ones), the sound gets noticeably quieter. If you put your ear next to a wall at the same distance, the effect is not nearly the same. Why?

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 If you put your ear close to one of those foil balloons (birthday, etc., not the regular latex/rubber ones), the sound gets noticeably quieter. If you put your ear next to a wall at the same distance, the effect is not nearly the same. Why?

I could be mistaken, but the way I understand it is, sound travels as a mechanical wave. In other word it is made of vibrations that are transferred as one particle pushes on the next and so on, forming a sort of domino affect. In a solid wall, the particles are closer together, allowing sound waves to travel from one particle to the next more easily. Alternatively, in a balloon, the matter inside is a gas, so the particles inside are farther apart which decreases the speed of the wave. I’m thinking there is probably more to it than just that, so hopefully a physicist will be able to add to this and/or explain it more thoroughly. Edit: Typo


Question: How does Google Maps know about current traffic congestions and jams?

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 How does Google Maps know about current traffic congestions and jams?

Google actually put out a statement a while back asking drivers to run google maps or Apple maps (whichever of the major gps apps you have on your phone), saying the more drivers have the app running while they are driving, the more accurately they would be able to display traffic data. Like someone else commented, they collect data from a ton of phones all the time, and your gps tracks location and speed. So if more people are running their gps, the easier it would be for google to see backups and traffic jams faster and more accurately.


Question: What is the difference between Stack and Heap Memory?

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 What is the difference between Stack and Heap Memory?

The way things are added and removed is the main difference. Heap is like a pile of leaves where you can add leaves and remove them as needed. Stack memory is a FILO(First In Last Out) queue. It's like a can of Pringles. You can only take out the top chip. If you want to add chips you can only put them on top of the highest one.


Question: Why do nuclear explosions take the form of a shroom?

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 Why do nuclear explosions take the form of a shroom?

It's because of the air rise up. The center of the explosion is really hot, so the air expanses and it become lighter than the cold air above, so it starts rising. Then it drags the cold air around the explosion inside. When the hot air gets higher, it starts to get cold, it stops rising and spread out like a mushroom while the base is dragged in and up by the cold air.


Question: Why when i'm trying to sleep, sometimes my body do the fake fall thing ?

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 Why when i'm trying to sleep, sometimes my body do the fake fall thing ?

So it’s my understanding that as you fall asleep, your brain paralyzes the rest of your body to prevent yourself from acting out your dreams. Before your brain can give the rest of your body the all clear to fall asleep, it checks to see if your body is actually paralyzed, and when you feel that falling/jolting feeling, it was just a result of your body not being completely paralyzed when your brain “checked” Sleep paralysis works much in the same way, just the other way around. ( Your body is still paralyzed but your conscious brain turns on) Sorry in advance for formatting


Question: . why do scientists always search for radio sygnals in space? Why do they think aliens use that to communicate?

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 . why do scientists always search for radio sygnals in space? Why do they think aliens use that to communicate?

Ultimately, there only are four ways that matter and energy can influence each other. We call these the *fundamental forces*. **1. The Strong Force** This is, as the name implies, the strongest of the four forces. It binds quarks together to form protons & neutrons, and in turn binds those together to form atomic nuclei. It's responsible for the existence of the very elements. However, its range is ludicrously short. It can only reach across the width of an atomic nucleus before it vanishes, and so cannot be used for communication across any distance. **2. The Weak Force** This is the weaker of the two nuclear forces. It's responsible for nuclear decay. Its range is also ludicrously short, rendering it useless for communication. **3. Gravity** This is by far the weakest of all four forces, although it does have a long range. It's created by mass, but it's so weak that you need planet-sized clumps of mass to get a noticeable amount of gravity. Generating signals for communication is nigh-impossible; gravitational waves are so weak that we only managed to prove that they exist a few years ago, and it took the collision of two supermassive black holes to create a signal big enough to detect. **4. Electromagnetism** This is the other long-range force, and it's responsible for almost everything we experience in our everyday lives. It creates atoms and molecules, and dictates the behavior of solids, liquids, and gases. *Light itself* is a wave passing through the electromagnetic field, as are microwaves, x-rays, radio waves, and others. Electromagnetic waves are so easy to generate & so common that we have two organs embedded in our faces that are evolved to detect them. You can generate a radio signal simply by moving an electric charge back and forth rapidly, and detect it by watching the radio wave move an electric signal in a wire somewhere else. TL;DR: Radio is a type of light, one of the most basic components of our universe, and the only such component that's suited for long-distance communication.


Question: Scientists figured a way to transform hydrogen into metal. Why is this important?

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 Scientists figured a way to transform hydrogen into metal. Why is this important?

It's not. Not yet. They reduced the temperature of Hydrogen down close to absolute zero and claimed it looked reflective. This is amazing as theories existed that this could be done, but nobody has done it before. Critics claim that what they're seeing reflecting might not have been the hydrogen itself, but the equipment they used to apply pressure to it with. The reason they claim that is because that was what happened last time someone claimed to have done this (in 2012). So, let the tabloids have a field day and give the science community a chance to actually verify it. And since this is happening at near absolute zero, don't expect it's going to make much difference to your life any time soon.


Question: Where did HIV come from and when did it become a problem for humans?

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 Where did HIV come from and when did it become a problem for humans?

Started as SIV (Simian Immunodeficiency Virus). Humans in central/western africa would eat meat from non-human primates infected with the virus, it was able to jump species. SIV is relatively harmless for humans though, our immune system is able to repel it fairly easily. But the virus mutated in to HIV which our immune system was not able to deal with.


Question: Why does dairy milk need to be refrigerated to avoid spoiling, but milk-based drinks, like those bottled Starbucks Frappuccinos, can sit on the shelf for months without spoiling?

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 Why does dairy milk need to be refrigerated to avoid spoiling, but milk-based drinks, like those bottled Starbucks Frappuccinos, can sit on the shelf for months without spoiling?

Those products use something called UHT milk, a form of unpasteurized\* milk that is made using Ultra High Temperature processing. Immediately after using ultra high temperature to kill all the bacteria in the milk, the UHT milk is bottled in air tight containers so no new bacteria can be introduced to the milk. This UHT milk has a much higher shelflife than non-UHT milk, which is what we normally buy at the supermarket. & #x200B; \*UHT is a form of pasteurizing, technically. It just uses a much higher temperature than regular pasteurization.


Question: How did wolves become domesticated? Wolves like being dominant so how would humans go about having a “pet” one? And wolves are in packs, it’s not like a singular wolf they train it’s loads of them.

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 How did wolves become domesticated? Wolves like being dominant so how would humans go about having a “pet” one? And wolves are in packs, it’s not like a singular wolf they train it’s loads of them.

> Wolves like being dominant I think this statement is a bit misleading. There is a certain faction of people who like to emphasize "alpha dogs" and stuff like that, depicting wolves and dogs as strictly hierarchical animals with a clear pecking order. But wolf behaviorists reject this. Wolves in their natural state live in small family packs of parents and offspring. Wolves have ways of settling disputes but there isn't typically a strict hierarchy beyond parents and offspring. The "alpha" depictions arose from watching wolves and dogs in groups that they aren't typically found in nature--like a bunch of random animals put together due to human intervention in a zoo or sanctuary or neighborhood. In such cases, sure, they compete for resources, but it's exaggerated. Animals in groups have evolved ways of resolving conflicts--it's in their genes. This means animals know when to assert themselves and when to not assert themselves and when to be submissive. So looking at them as wanting to always be dominant is only providing a fraction of the picture. Animals can and will be submissive, given the right circumstances, and that same animal will refuse to submit in other circumstances. They like being *social*, not just being dominant. They might look upon humans as part of their pack and will submit to them, and they'll like it sometimes, and other times want to be dominant. But wolves are extremely socialized and will be able to tell when dominance and when submission are called for.


Question: How does exposition to sun impact our skin? Why do some skins be less damaged by sun?

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 How does exposition to sun impact our skin? Why do some skins be less damaged by sun?

Basically, UV rays penetrate your cells and can strike through pieces of DNA (like a bullet), tearing it. Now, DNA has mechanisms to repair itself, like when you get sunburned, skin cells are repairing itself or dying (when you peel), but this process is not perfect. Continuous exposure to these "bullets" and damage will eventually cause mistakes in the repair mechanism which might cause mutations and posteriorly cancer. Edit: spelling


Question: How did engineers figure out trajectories needed to get to the moon?

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 How did engineers figure out trajectories needed to get to the moon?

> It’s not like they can just point the rocket at the moon and blast off. You're right. They know how big Earth is and how fast it's moving, and they know the same about the moon. All that's left is to figure out where each will be at a certain time to get the payload (lander, shuttle, or whatever) from Earth to moon when launched to a certain spot on the moon from a certain spot on Earth. Basically, r/theydidthemath. Lots of math.


Question: What does “fails-to-deliver” mean when shorting a stock? For some reason I don’t understand this term.

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 What does “fails-to-deliver” mean when shorting a stock? For some reason I don’t understand this term.

Say you order a pizza. *its pizza time* I show up 30 minutes late and without your pizza. I've already accepted your money via online payment. I do not have your pizza. I do not have your extra large diet dr kelp drink. I failed to deliver what you paid for.


Question: Why are tennis players given three balls before serving when they only use two? They usually just throw the third one away anyways.

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 Why are tennis players given three balls before serving when they only use two? They usually just throw the third one away anyways.

When you serve you get 2 serves. So holding onto 2 is what is taught. 1 for your first serve and one for your second if needed. While you play, the balls can be worn down. So by examining all three (3 in a can), you choose the best two. once you reach a pro level it becomes more habit.


Question: Why do battery chargers (the type that charges AA and AAA battery's) require 2 battery's before actually charging them?

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 Why do battery chargers (the type that charges AA and AAA battery's) require 2 battery's before actually charging them?

Because they're low quality. A high quality smart charger caters to each battery individually to give it the perfect charge, and maximize its life. The funny thing is, the highest quality charger on the market only adds about $6 to the cost of these AA Eneloop NiMH batteries: * [AmazonSmile: Panasonic K-KJ17MCA4BA Advanced Individual Cell Battery Charger Pack with 4 AA eneloop 2100 Cycle Rechargeable Batteries: PANASONIC: Electronics]( URL_2 ) * [HKJ Review of Charger Panasonic BQ-CC17 - URL_1 ]( URL_0 ) > A nice -dv/dt termination with only a small temperature increase and no trickle charge, this looks very good. [...] The charger is very good at filling the batteries. You need that charger to get the full life out of Eneloops. If you take care of them, Eneloops will last at least a decade, maybe longer. The charger also works with other NiMH batteries. If you don't have good NiMH batteries yet, get the ones I linked to above, and make sure your battery specifications match the packaging in this photo *(there are fakes out there): * [New battery day! 24 AA Eneloop NiMH batteries in 16 and 8 cell packs. : r/AAMasterRace]( URL_3 )


Question: How can tiny little headphones make so many different instrument noises, people's voices? And on top of that, all simultaneously?

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 How can tiny little headphones make so many different instrument noises, people's voices? And on top of that, all simultaneously?

Headphones are just tiny speakers, so there are two answers here: how speakers work, and how headphones can be so small. All the different sounds in music are added together to make a single complex sound wave. Imagine a low frequency sound wave with big swooping curves and a high frequency wave with tight spikes up and down. When they are added together, you get something that looks like the big swooping curve being drawn using the little tight spikes. So a speaker doesn't have to make a lot of different sounds, it just makes one sound which is the result of all the sounds being added together. Headphones can be so small because of a few principles, but the primary one is the inverse square law of sound levels. Sound gets quieter by a fixed amount (6db) every time you double your distance from the source. So if you listen to a speaker 3 ft away, then 6 ft, then 12 ft, the sound will go down by the same amount at each distance. This means that it get a LOT louder really quickly when you are really close to it. So a speaker does not need to be very loud if you are less than an inch away from it.


Question: What makes "natural" sugar less bad than "added" sugar?

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 What makes "natural" sugar less bad than "added" sugar?

Absolutely nothing whatsoever. It's all just sugar, affects you the same way, rots your teeth the same way etc.etc. The difference arises when your sugar comes from unprocessed fruit (for example) as compared to processed sugars. In a piece of fruit, it takes your body more time and effort to extract the sugar from the tissues of the fruit - plus you're getting fibre at the same time. Once you process the fruit (smoothies, juices etc.) You remove that extra effort, and some of not all of the fibre content. TL;DR: sugar is just sugar - the only time it's source is relevant is if you're eating while fruits & vegetables.


Question: What is the most viable alternative to fossil fuel and why has it not already replaced conventional fuels?

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Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 What is the most viable alternative to fossil fuel and why has it not already replaced conventional fuels?

The answer to the first question isn't yet settled for grid-scale power generation. It looks like a combination of solar and wind are the best bets, but nuclear is still in the running. And there's always the possibility that workable fusion becomes a thing. But all of those have open questions: for solar and wind, availability is still unanswered. Probably a combination of distributed generation (the wind is always blowing somewhere) and energy storage (batteries, pumped hydro, compressed air), but it's still evolving. For nuclear, safety and waste management questions still dominate - along with, crucially, financing. A nuclear plant is an enormous capital expense, and the breakeven point is decades out. Fusion continues to be twenty years out, but there's always the possibility that there's a sudden increase in funding and the timetable accelerates. And all that is also part of the answer to the second question: since we haven't settled on a solution, we also haven't rolled it out. But even if we did, the sheer scale of the problem makes it a multi-decadal effort. There are an awful lot of fossil fuel plants still operating, and there's only so fast we can build windmills, solar panels, and nuclear plants. Meanwhile, there's no appetite for dramatically curbing our energy use, so they all need to keep operating until their capacity has been made up for from other sources. When it comes to other fossil fuel uses - vehicles, mostly - it's a similar question. While it certainly seems likely that electric is the future, that's not a guarantee. Hydrogen is still being worked on as a replacement fuel (to be clear, I personally don't think it's a plausibly viable solution, but many people both smarter and better educated in the area than I am think it is). And again, even if we all decided that electric was definitely the way forward (and somehow solved the problem of energy density for airplanes and cost for cargo ships), it would be a multi-decadal effort to replace the entire fleet with electric vehicles. Even the most aggressive car buyers don't typically buy a new car more often than once every three years, and that period can't really start until there's the manufacturing capacity to meet the demand. Meanwhile, the people who buy new cars every three years rely on a secondary market for the car to be sold into. The average age of cars on the road in the U.S. is something like eleven years, IIRC, and the US consumer is (on average) more aggressive in buying new cars than most of the world. In short - we don't actually know what the most viable alternative is, and even if we did, it's a huge undertaking to rip and replace all the deployed infrastructure.


Question: How do we know the size of planets in our solar system and how far away they are?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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Factual Accuracy: The answer must be factually correct and does not contradict the reference answer.
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Clarity and Organization: The answer should be well-structured, coherent, and easy to follow.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How do we know the size of planets in our solar system and how far away they are?

We can measure their position as they move through the year. Earth goes from one place to another, and the motion of other planets can be measured relative to the fixed background stars. It's a lot of math to reduce that to their orbital parameters, but Johannes Kepler did that math in the 16^th century. We've gotten good size measurements be sending spacecraft to visit every planet + Pluto in our solar system.


Question: Why are stable orbits not considered to be perpetual motion machines?

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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why are stable orbits not considered to be perpetual motion machines?

Well, first, there's no such thing as a perfectly stable orbit. *All* orbits decay eventually, even if it takes billions or trillions of years. The second is that a 2 body system isn't doing any work. A perpetual motion machine is one that can *do work* indefinitely without an energy source or without depleting an energy source, but a planet orbiting a star isn't doing any work, If you tried to extract that energy to do work, you'd be reducing the specific orbital energy of the system. Reduce that energy enough and your orbit decays and your bodies collide. There's no free lunch (or energy) in physics.


Question: Why does persevering food via airtight seal work?

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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why does persevering food via airtight seal work?

Regular old "put in a plastic bag" delays spoilage, but does not prevent it. It limits exposure to new bacteria and fungi which means that they can only multiply from what is there, not add new ones (which would then also multiply). But it also helps regulate moisture which can keep something from going stale quickly. Or it can prevent dry things (like crackers or cookies) from getting soggy in humid air.


Question: How do they measure the area of a land (e.g., city or country) which has a very irregular shape with houndres of edges?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How do they measure the area of a land (e.g., city or country) which has a very irregular shape with houndres of edges?

Historically they used to estimate and didn’t measure exactly, for example a large bit of land may have an uneven edge but if you can draw a line so roughly the land you exclude is equal to the area included with no land then this is a good estimate. Nowadays, satellites can see everything and take an image which, when taking into account the curvature of earth, can be used to calculate the area much more precisely.


Question: Why do soldiers move so robotically?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why do soldiers move so robotically?

Because it increases the efficiency and cohesiveness and binding of the unit. This is important: a huge part of any army is to ensure the soldiers feel they BELONG TO SOMETHING. That's the thing that helps them believe their fellow soldiers will help then when they're under fire. It's what prevents them from running and abandoning those who they serve with when it's absolutely critical that they defend an important spot. Moving in unison is trained into them for an incredibly good reason: a unit that behaves in unison has a much, much better chance of victory in a lot of cases than a completely chaotic unit that doesn't follow orders or pay attention to the rhythms of the unit. If you can keep the beat and be responsive to what your fellow soldiers are doing, even if robotic, you BELONG. And because you look like you belong, it's much better odds that you are worthy of trust when a fellow soldier's life depends on your actions, and it's easier for them to help you when it's obvious how much you think and behave like they do.


Question: why is muscle sometimes referred to as "lean"? Can muscle be "fatty"?

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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 why is muscle sometimes referred to as "lean"? Can muscle be "fatty"?

Humans do not have fat intermixed with muscle the way we've engineered some domesticated species to. Our fat is almost entirely stored subcutaneously, or viscerally. Subcutaneous means it's below the skin (and above the muscle in this case), viscerally means it's around our organs. In our abdomen we have a structure called the omentum which is like sheets of connective tissue and fat storage that extends between our loops of bowel and other abdominal organs. We have a greater and lesser omentum. When you get obese, you not only have fat stored under the skin, but giving you the belly is this expanded layer of visceral fat in the omentum that pushes your abdomen out. "Lean muscle", as I understand it, is referring to eating enough calories that you build muscle but you don't develop a lot of extra fat. Diet is an important part of muscle gain, but it can also lead to weight gain if done to excess. Often bodybuilders use "bulking" and "cutting" periods where they simply eat a very large amount of calories to ensure they are building as much muscle as possible, and then they will eat at a caloric deficit to lose fat without also losing muscle. So it's not really the muscle itself that is lean or fatty, but rather whether you're gaining fat with muscle, or simply eating enough to gain muscle but remain at a consistent level of fat (aka. "lean muscle").


Question: How does grading on a curve work exactly?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How does grading on a curve work exactly?

There are different types of grading on a curve... some ways I've seen grades curved are: - highest grade get slid up to 100, every other grade moves up same number of points... so if top score was an 87, everybody's grade gets increased by 13. - Top 10% get A's, Next 20% get B's, middle 40% get C's, next 20% get D's, bottom 10% fail - Had one professor who had 15% increments for letter grades, ie. 85+ was A, 70-84 B, 55-69 C, 40-54 D... I think I got a 53% in that class, which was far and away the hardest class I've ever taken in terms of testing, and don't feel it really correlated to learnings at all. The class was a psychology/science co-listed class I took to meet a science distribution requirement, but it was SUPER specific, while most intro level classes are high level concepts. For example, there was a brain diagram on a test w/ 20 parts to label, ALL or NOTHING. I got 18 right, transposed 2 parts and got 0/20 points for that section of the exam.


Question: Why are children drawn to bright colours and things with bright colours (e.g. toys, magazines) while adults tend to favor/buy things with more neutral tones?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why are children drawn to bright colours and things with bright colours (e.g. toys, magazines) while adults tend to favor/buy things with more neutral tones?

I think it's a cultural thing more than anything. We tend to make everything fun and happy and bright and exciting for children (think of how your voice changes when you talk to a child). By the time you're an adult, well, all of that is just little kid stuff. Also, it can be used to simply teach children the colors. Once you get older you can appreciate more neutral and different colors, but you gotta start somewhere.


Question: When washing your hands, why do bubbles always appear white regardless of soap color?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 When washing your hands, why do bubbles always appear white regardless of soap color?

Think of the color white as the absence of color. When light enters soap bubbles, it is refracted (which means scattered all over the place). Color is perceived based off of what type of frequency of light is reflected or absorbed by the object. If you see something as blue, it’s because your eye is receiving every color except the frequency associated with blue light from the object. So soap, since it scatters the light everywhere, makes you receive every color reflected back to you, giving it a white-ish color. Same concept is why clouds are typically white.


Question: Why is the vision of spiders depicted as them seeing 8 of the same image as opposed to those 8 eyes merging the images together like human eyes?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why is the vision of spiders depicted as them seeing 8 of the same image as opposed to those 8 eyes merging the images together like human eyes?

Because that's literally how they work! It's called a compound eye, and it is comprised of many similarly shaped pieces that "see" independently from the others. As a result, their vision looks like many repeats of the same image. It's actually incredibly useful because they see every tiny movement many, many times and so they can be quick to react. This is what makes it sometimes difficult to swat flies and such.


Question: how does swatting your hand towards your face in a hot day provide cold breeze instead of hot air?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 how does swatting your hand towards your face in a hot day provide cold breeze instead of hot air?

The air isn't cold. The movement of it across a wet surface (e.g. your skin, your sweat, etc.) causes water to evaporate and moves the evaporated water away. Cooling a human is about facilitating evaporation - the human sweats, air moves across, which allows the water to evaporate, which cools the body (relatively speaking). Humans sweat, dogs pant, and moving air makes the process more efficient.


Question: how come we can see fog in the distance but not directly in front of us?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 how come we can see fog in the distance but not directly in front of us?

Imagine a quarter floating in the air in front of you. It's not blocking vision right? Now imagine a lot of quarters. Any two quarters are at least five feet apart. Five feet into that cloud isn't going to obstruct vision really. Nor will 20ft. Bit eventually those floating quarters will start to interfere. You can do math using object size (quarter) and distance apart ( > 5ft) to figure out how far you need to go to block vision. This works even with something really tiny like an airborne water droplet. Even one that's mostly transparent and refracts light without actually blocking it.


Question: Are radio stations able to tell how many people are tuned in to them at any given time? If not, how do they estimate listener numbers for setting advertising prices?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Are radio stations able to tell how many people are tuned in to them at any given time? If not, how do they estimate listener numbers for setting advertising prices?

Nielsen audio is the biggest company that handles this. They take a segment of the population, and survey them on what they are listening to. Each person in the survey would write down when they started listening to each station, and when they stopped. From that data, they can make a pretty good guess how how many people actually listen to each program based on the number surveyed and the population size.


Question: How does shorting a stock work?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How does shorting a stock work?

You think the share price is going to go down. So you borrow some shares from the bank and you sell them for $100. Later on, you're happy to see that you were right, and the price did go down. So you buy the shares back for $80, and you return them to the bank. The bank charges you $2 for the privilege of borrowing the shares. And all in all, you were able to pocket $18. ($100 - $80 - $2).


Question: Why are certain countries paying up to 60% less for digital PC games?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why are certain countries paying up to 60% less for digital PC games?

The concept is termed 'differential pricing'. Imagine I sell widgets that cost essentially nothing to produce, but cost an enormous amount to design. My goal then becomes to make the most money possible, without regard for the cost of producing additional copies of my widgets. Now, if I charge $0.01 for my widgets, they'll fly out the door. Anyone who even vaguely wants a widget will purchase them and I'll completely saturate the market. But at $0.01, I won't be making all that much money because even with the massive customer base I'm making so little per customer. On the other hand, if I charge $100 for my widgets, no one will want to buy them - they just aren't worth that much. So I'll make $0. Somewhere in between those price points is an optimum solution to my problem - the point at which (price of widget) x (number of customers willing to pay that price) is highest. However, that optimum solution is different for different markets. The optimum price point in Westchester is not the same as the optimum price point in Mali. Ideally what I'd like to do is segment the market and choose the optimum price point for each market segment. Which is precisely how it works for most digital content and some other high-development-cost/low-per-unit-cost products like pharmaceuticals. If you live in a low cost-of-living nation, you get them cheaply. If you live in a high cost-of-living nation, they're expensive.


Question: How does taking the 2's compliment of a binary number and adding it to another binary number give you the same answer as if you were to subtract the same numbers in decimal notation?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How does taking the 2's compliment of a binary number and adding it to another binary number give you the same answer as if you were to subtract the same numbers in decimal notation?

This works mostly because we're using fixed lengths of binary digits and discard carry digits that take us higher than what size we're working with. Or in other words "the same reason why when you get to 999,999.9 miles on your odometer and go another 10th of a mile, you suddenly have a brand new car"; you don't really, you have a car with a million miles, but it can't count as high as a million. So let's say I want to use an 8 bit integer to work with, and I want to subtract 32 from 97. Encoding those into binary, I'd get... 01100001 00100000 From here, you flip every bit in the smaller number and add 1 to the total. This gives us: 01100001 11011111 00000001+ Adding these together and carrying as necessary we get: 101000001 This is 9 bits, so that first 1 gets chopped off: 01000001 Looking at this, that gives us 2^6 + 2^0 = 64 + 1 = 65 Whereas if we'd kept the leading 1 we would have had 2^8 + 2^6 + 2^0 = 256+64+1 = 321 which is definitely not 97-32. This works because what we're essentially doing is taking the original number and subtracting it from 256 (the highest number we can get plus one) to get the 2's compliment. But since we discard any digits that go above 256, adding 256 to the answer just brings us back to where we started, so ultimately the fact that we add in 256 doesn't do anything to the equation since as far as the machine is concerned, that digit doesn't exist. In other words, in pure mathematics, this doesn't actually work, it's more of an exploit of the limitations of the system we're working within to use less steps in an algorithm to get the information we need. This also used to work with decimal digit in old mechanical computational machines, and examples of that algorithm are found [in this wiki article, along with an explanation of how it works in decimal]( URL_0 )


Question: How do rivers like Roe River maintain crystal clear water?

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 How do rivers like Roe River maintain crystal clear water?

First is flow speed; if a river moves fast its likely to take pollutants that cause staining (leaves, algae) further down stream so build up of leaf matter etc is prevented which prevents staining. Second is the source of the river, a lake can trap the leaves, or give algae a good place to grow, which allows the staining to occur meaning the river(s) coming from that lake are likely to be as stained as said lake. So basically as long as a river flows fast enough to ensure most plant matter is washed downstream, and the source isn't stained (meltwater, some hotsprings) then you are going to have clear water. If the source is stained or the river flows slow enough for plant matter to build up then it is probably going to be stained also.


Question: Why does our hands become cold in winters but not so warm in summers?

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 Why does our hands become cold in winters but not so warm in summers?

Your brain and your heart are the most important parts of your body. So there is a "program" in the back of your brain that says "If we're too cold, divert heat to heart and brain." To try and keep you alive as long as possible. We can live with out a finger or the tips of our ears but not with a literal frozen brain or heart. So it's taking warmth and blood away from your extremities like your fingers, toes, nose, ears and using that to warm up your brain and heart. So you don't become cold you get less hot.


Question: Why do news anchors speak with such an odd tone of voice and delivery during newscasts, rather speaking conversationally?

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 Why do news anchors speak with such an odd tone of voice and delivery during newscasts, rather speaking conversationally?

Journalists and news reporters need to sound as fair and objective as they can. Their job is to report the facts and not to impart any judgement towards those facts. A lot of the verbal cues that signal "conversational tone" to us also tend to imply some small judgments. So the more a reporter works to remove those "judgmental" sounding verbal cues, the less natural they sound when they are reading the news.


Question: If computer code is written in a software interface, what did the person who wrote the code for the interface use?

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 If computer code is written in a software interface, what did the person who wrote the code for the interface use?

The very first programs were written by physically setting switches by hand Then came punch cards and tape which could set switches automatically Once you move to "writing" you're talking about writing in assembly. There are basic instructions and how to execute them baked into the chip. It reads in the he code for ADD and the appropriate switches get activated Once you've got assembly going you can write something to let you write in assembly. With that you can write a C compiler, and it's turtles all the way up to stuff like Java and JavaScript


Question: why does Hulu play the same ads over and over, knowing very well we'll hate them more for it?

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 why does Hulu play the same ads over and over, knowing very well we'll hate them more for it?

TL;DR: You may be seeing an ad very regularly because it is a very large order that is specifically being served to your age/gender/location. The business featured in the ad will pay different fees to have their commercial run more or less often. ----- Ad streaming services like Hulu, GoogleAds, or those served in mobile games work much like renting any other advertisement. The merchant who wants to place the ad will design what it looks like, sounds like, says, etc. and then pay the ad streamer to play it a certain number of times. When you rent a billboard you pay for X-number-of-days on display. When you pay for a TV commercial or radio message you pay for X-number-of-seconds. When you pay for a GoogleAd, you pay for X-number-of-clicks. When you rent from an internet streaming service you pay for X-number-of-streams. Say that a streamer like Hulu gets two ad orders, one is for Product A and 10 million views and the other is for Product B and 1 million views. The Product A commercial is 10x more likely to appear than Product B because they need to serve it more times to fill the larger order. There are also a couple of other factors involved depending on the complexity of the advertising network. If the advertiser uses targeted ad placement (like Hulu and Google) then when a merchant buys an ad they can put in an extra criterion -- 10 million views by males, aged between 18 and 30, living in North America. The ad streamer will then use data related to your IP address and their own personal databases (such as your Hulu account) to make good guesses at when to play which ad. You may be seeing an ad very regularly because it is a very large order that is specifically served to your age/gender/location.


Question: How do people initially determine the amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fat in a food item?

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 How do people initially determine the amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fat in a food item?

Foods are pretty complex, so the tests used also get complicated pretty quickly, but there are a couple basics. For fat, you can weigh the food first, then wash out the fat with special liquids (solvents). You can remove the solvents from the fat to get the weight of fat alone. For protein, people usually look for the element nitrogen. There are specific measuring methods to get the amount of nitrogen in the sample, and then a mathematical formula is used to convert that to an amount of protein. Carbs are kind of assumed to be what's left over from the other two kinds of tests.


Question: What about alcohol makes it a good cleaning agent?

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 What about alcohol makes it a good cleaning agent?

It's a solvent. Solvents lack a particle that they want to "grab" from another particle, to put it as ridiculoisly simply as possible. Not all solvents are created equal, though. Water is the "universal" solvent because it allows most organic matter like skin cells to dissolve in it. I.e. washing your hands. Alcohol is a common cleaning agent due to it's polarity picking up a very wide variety of matter we commonly remove from other matter. That, paired with its abundant availability, make it a great cleaning tool. There are far superior substances, though. Gasoline and butane are much better at doing the job, but with their own very obvious side effects when poured onto your hardwood floor while you grab your pack of smokes out of that jacket you left in the kitchen. Edit: if you want to know *exactly* how solvent power is ranked, feel free to look into the "Hansen Soluability Parameters", which break down solvents into a scoring system based on molecular arrangement.


Question: Why do people consider MSG to be bad for health?

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 Why do people consider MSG to be bad for health?

Based on several very anti-MSG people I've met, it's because of the following reasoning: We should limit our salt intake. Salt is a seasoning. MSG is kind of like salt, but has a chemical name. Chemicals are bad. MSG must be a manmade salt-equivalent. MSG is therefore bad. It was frequently compared to aspartame, with the exact same reasoning - it's a 'fake version' of a thing we should limit our intake of anyway. As to why they do it? I think it makes people feel smart to "know better" than other people, even if they have to make up reasons why other people are wrong. Same with most climate change deniers - it ultimately boils down to "other people say things, but I know better than them."


Question: what do scientists believe existed before the beginning of everything? Like before the Big Bang, if that’s the beginning.

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 what do scientists believe existed before the beginning of everything? Like before the Big Bang, if that’s the beginning.

This is sort of a variation of the the "Prime Mover" or the "Unmoved Mover". Obviously, there is no way to have observed it. I've attached a Youtube video with physicist Brian Greene discussing this question. Bertrand Russell was of the opinion that mathematics support, or at least provide for the possibility of something spontaneously generating out of nothing. Which is very difficult to wrap one's head around. There could have been more big bangs. There is the multiverse theory where our own big bang was just a very small quantum blip in a very large cosmic "sea" where universe sized bubbles come in and out of existence in the blinking of an eye (in a process that takes 20 billion years). It could be because of dark gravity. Keep in mind we don't truly understand dark gravity, and that takes up something like 95% of the known universe. [ URL_2 ]( URL_0 ) [ URL_3 ]( URL_1 )


Question: Sometimes when surgeons make an incision, theres little to no blood coming from the cut. Why is it when I get a tiny paper cut that theres more blood than a much deeper surgical incision?

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 Sometimes when surgeons make an incision, theres little to no blood coming from the cut. Why is it when I get a tiny paper cut that theres more blood than a much deeper surgical incision?

Two main reasons: 1) When anesthesiologists send you to sleep, they don't just make you unconscious - you get a lot of other medicine which decreases blood pressure, slow down the blood flow, causing the blood to leave the skin and go deeper inside the body (the same what happens when you are feeling cold), and stops a lot of signals which normally fire when you get wounded. 2) The surgeons' scalpel is SHARP. It makes a very nice, very thin cut, without causing too much damage in the tissue around the cut. Paper, on the other hand, is like a saw blade - it causes tons of damage, fibres of paper going deep inside the wound, opening up and extorting pressure on the wound, splitting open a lot of cells which send signals to the body, opening up the blood flow to get white ~~body~~ blood cells into the area. Ninja edit: this is how paper looks like under the microscope: URL_0


Question: Is theoretically any device connected to the internet vulnerable to attacks from hackers?

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 Is theoretically any device connected to the internet vulnerable to attacks from hackers?

Security researcher here: Theoretically? No. Practically, absolutely. If there's a device out there connected to the internet, it likely has some services running on it, and due to the complexity of software development/networking/much more, no one person knows everything a device is doing. This is where criminal hackers come into play, by applying common research techniques as well as reverse engineering skills, they are able to develop exploits that take advantage of flaws in software and services. The general rule in security is that "everything can be hacked"\*, but the defensive idea is to make it so time consuming and not worthwhile for criminals to try and attack. No one wants to spend 2k hours trying to make your smart fridge warm(Well, at least most criminal hackers, I'd like to imagine(though I'm sure there's a few out there!)).


Question: why and how exactly do batteries maximum capacity reduce over time?

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 why and how exactly do batteries maximum capacity reduce over time?

Batteries are all about chemistry - when you charge them, you break apart chemicals into other ones, and when you discharge, you allow the resultant chemicals to recombine to the original chemicals. But as you use them, some of the chemicals break down or recombine into different chemicals, chemicals that don't break down or recombine in the same way, and the chemicals that break down in this way can't work in the battery any more. 'Active' chemicals are lost to the charge/discharge cycle, so the battery can't store as much charge. For instance, lithium ion batteries can form stable lithium oxide when discharged, this lithium oxide is too stable to be broken down again when you charge the battery. This lithium is locked up, can't be used to store charge any more. When it charges, the Cobalt can oxidise, and that cobalt is then locked away. These so called 'side reactions' happen more when the battery is hot, or when the battery nears full charge or full discharge. So a battery will last longer if you keep the battery cool when charging by not using the phone, or you keep it between 20% and 80% charge; but that is not very convenient.