General Knowledge
Exploring "Why" questions about General Knowledge
481 articles
why do bombs and missiles explode in the air above their target? Instead of hitting the ground/target and exploding?
With a ground burst, a lot of the explosion energy is used up by the ground/material very close to the explosion center. An air burst can cause damage over a larger area, but causes less destruction a
why do we like watching the same TV show or movie over and over again?
Our brains like familiar things. Something we already have seen is easier to get into than something brand new because it requires less attention and effort from our brain. It's also sometimes good wa
Why is being anti-immigration considered racism
Being anti-immigration, in and of itself, is not racist. However... there tends to be overlap.
why aren’t all toilets tankless (like the ones in commercial buildings)?
Homes generally do not have access to the high flow water sources required to make one of those toilets work.
Why dont companies like Sony/Microsoft add backwards compatibility for their consoles?
It's not just a matter of adding the code. It's either adding essential parts of the previous generation's chipset (Original PS3 had this,) or creating a program that emulates said chipset in a virtua
Why can routers only use 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz if they’re so congested?
Radio spectrums are like a broad highway. Consider 2.4 and 5 as like the 2 far left lanes on a highway, but there are maybe 6 more lanes. These 6 lanes are reserved for military communications(2 lanes
Why is the term “Caucasian” applied to all white people, regardless of whether they came from the Caucasus region?
In the early 1900s it was believed that white people originated in the Caucasus mountains. At the time, the three "scientific" classifications were Caucasoid, Negroid, and Mongoloid. (Some people stil
Why does a vacuum ‘suck’?
It's not actually that a vacuum sucks, but that any gas will spreed out as there is nothing to contain it. It's just something of higher pressure will move towards lower pressure to even it out.
Why are personal aircraft so expensive? Is it parts/construction or is it because it’s a luxury item?
A few reasons, the main one being FAA certification and relatively low volume. Similar to like how all cars must be crash tested on the road and how safety items on your car must have NHTSA certificat
Why is -3 not an applicable square root of 9?
The square root of 9 is ±3. The principal square root of 9 is 3. Usually you use the things that make sense.