History
Exploring "Why" questions about History
491 articles
Why does baking soda cure canker soars?
It doesn't cure them per-say. But the canker sores are typically infested with bacteria that like acidic environments. Likewise, the pain receptors exposed by the sore will react from acidic things.
Why the depiction of guns were a common thing in the 20th century children’s cartoons, however it causes plethora of controversy, if shown in recent cartoons ?
Simply put, it was a different time. Classic Toons drank alcohol, smoked, crossdressed, were racist, and participated in violence today's censors fear the young will imitate if given the least opportu
Why is the fourteenth century the thirteen hundreds?
Because the first century was the zeroes (1 AD to 100 AD). Counting up from there, the fourteenth century has to start in 1301 AD for the numbering to make sense.
Why does squinting (or looking through a small hole) improve your vision?
It's more of a physics question than a biology one, but this is why. When your eye is completely open, there is light coming in from several angles, many, many angles. However, your poor eyes take the
Why is Prince Philip not “King Philip” if he is married to the Queen?
There are two types of queen: queen regnant (who actually reigns as monarch), like the current one, or queen consort, who is queen by virtue of being married to the king. There is only one type of kin
Why didn’t Germany or their allied nations have much insurgency after the world wars?
Germany *did* have a lot of unrest after the first world war. That's what led to the second world war in the first place. When the second world war ended, steps were taken to try and prevent the same
Why have elephants been tamed as war animals in the ancient world but never tamed for domestic things like farming?
But they have. In certain areas, such as India and SE Asia, they are routinely used for logging in mountainous terrain. But they eat a whole lot, and the upkeep is prohibitively high relative to the i
Why would you jail someone for not making child support payments, if they definitely can’t make payments from jail?
To punish them. If they're already not making payments, putting them in a situation where they're not going to pay isn't going to mean you lose anything. Any jail is hardly the first response; you rea
Why can we recognise a person talking a certain language but we can’t speak it?
Because a language isn't just the words and how they're ordered, it's how phenomes and individual consonant and vowel sounds are governed. It's the speed at which it's delivered. Even if we don't unde
Why does the speedometer in my Honda Civic 4 door sedan have markings up to 150 mph?
That speedometer is probably used on a wide variety of vehicles, some of which may be able to go that fast. It wouldn't be cost-effective to manufacture separate speedometers for each model of car.