Science
Exploring "Why" questions about Science
484 articles
Why do gas stations with the same name, have different prices from location to location?
Most such gas stations are part of something called a franchise, which means that the physical gas station you're at doesn't actually belong to the company that owns the name. Instead, the owner of th
Why does the US try to prevent places like Iran form getting a nuclear bomb while its own country has thousands and is the only country ever to use one?
"Deterrent. Mutually assured destruction." We only ever used the nuclear bomb because it was an extremely dire circumstance. During the Cold War turning into atomic dust was an extremely likely possib
Why do Atomic Bombs make a “Mushroom” shaped cloud when they detonate?
Hot air rises. When there is a large enough source of heat, it creates a column of hot air that is much hotter in the center than on the edges. The center of the column rises faster, causing the air a
Why are reheated fries always so much worse than fries you just purchased from a restaurant/fast food place?
When frying, you quickly boil away the water on the outside of whatever you fry by dropping it in hot oil and dehydrate the exterior of it. Normally, there's something starchy there that then forms a
Why is it that we can consume substantially more liquid by weight than we can food?
Liquid is absorbed faster. Water fastest of all as it needs 0 digestion. Solid foods start chemical reactions and your body notices it and has to work before it can be advanced to the intestines.
Why do trained muscles get more volume rather than density?
They get both volume and density, but there's an effective limit on how dense muscle tissue can be since it still needs to move and breathe and heal. There's less of a limit on volume, and it's also m
Why does cheese go hard when you melt it then let it go cold?
When you heat the cheese up past a certain point, moisture is released, which when it cools down, makes it harder as it is more dense. Water in cheese makes it softer.
Why do some people get dizzy/feel uneasy while reading or using an electronic device while in a car
My LI5 explanation - You work out where you are and how you are moving from both your eyes, and the motion detection organs in your ears. When you are in a car, your eyes see the device in front of yo
Why a humidifier doesn’t use as much energy as an electric kettle?
A kettle's job is to boil a whole lot of water very fast. A humidifer's job is basically boil a small amounts of water slowly. The amount of energy used to boil 1L of water in a kettle dry is the same
Why does 76 F/24 C with the heat running feel different from the same temperature with air conditioning?
There are lots of things going on with how you think a temperature feels but the basic idea is that we don't really sense the absolute temperature. We sense differences in temperature. The simplest wa