Nature
Exploring "Why" questions about Nature
487 articles
why do rainbows split so cleanly into 7 distinct colours? Why isn’t there a gradient or some sort.
The idea that the rainbow can be divided into seven colours was invented by Isaac Newton. The rainbow is a smooth sequence of all the possible primary colours - colours representable by a single frequ
Why would it be illegal to collect rain in barrels?
Because the law was originally made to prevent someone gathering rainwater from huge areas, as that would prevent it from going into the river, fucking over downstream people. Then when they wrote the
Why aren’t “season tickets” to your favorite bands a thing?
I can't speak for everywhere, but the bands I would subscribe too aren't in my area more than once a year, and when they are - it's part of a bigger concert. I would much prefer to just buy tickets on
Why doesn’t wind cause the air pollution in China to disperse?
Because the sources of that air pollution are pumping it out faster than the wind can carry it away. There may also be some temperature inversions inhibiting sir movement, depending on the season and
Why aren’t trees in dense forest areas buried half way up the trunk from all the soil dead plants and leaves make?
* The mass from the leaves comes, in part, from the soil. The leaves later become soil, round and round. * The leaves compact down a fair bit.
Why do so many Train tracks run along creeks and rivers?
Rivers tend to form in places that have a long, continuous, mostly-gradual path from high to low places. This is exactly the sort of path trains need, as they cannot climb (or safely descend) very ste
Why aren’t trains more widely used in the US as there are in Europe?
Europe is relatively compact. Going from London to Paris takes only a few hours. Going from Los Angeles to Chicago takes days.
Why is there a rise of radical conservative officials in public office around the world right now (e.g. USA, Brazil, South Korea, Britain, Ukraine, Hungary, etc.)?
It's simple. 1% of the world population ,who are continually hording the world's wealth at the expense of the rest of the 99%, have been doing such a good job that lately, that the 99% started to take
Why is Microsoft so adamant about getting Windows 10 on everyone’s PC?
One of Microsoft's biggest costs has been legacy support: providing help and compatibility for old versions of windows. Microsoft would like to eliminate older versions of their OS so that they don't
Why do the Alps have more glaciers than the Rocky mountains if the Rocky Mountains have a comparable number of peaks at or over 13,000 Feet/4,000 meters?
There's an enormous difference in rainfall between the Rocky Mountains and the Alps. While these maps are pretty general, the difference is enough to be obvious. [The Rockies](_URL_0_) are almost enti