Science
Exploring "Why" questions about Science
484 articles
Why do the lead vocalists get most of the spotlight in music videos?
They typically assume the role as 'front man.' It isn't always the singer, it's whomever you will remember the easiest. The singers voice is usually the most identifiable part of music, so they usuall
Why is destructive interference unnoticeable, say if you have two sources of light and you move them around?
The wavelength of light is smaller than the smallest thing a human eye can see, by far. So these effects are too fine in scale for us to see.
Why does the visible light spectrum appear cyclic to the human eye if the spectrum is based on specific linear wavelengths of light?
Just to add something extra to the excellent explanation already provided... Our color vision is usually a matter of our vision system interpolating between the colors detected by our three flavours o
Why are much-wanted TV shows like Firefly and Arrested Development (well, previously) so hard to get back on the air despite a rabid fan base?
OK, Like you are 5: 1) TV shows are expensive to make; for example an "inexpensive" show such as a reality show on TLC runs about $700,000 per episode. A drama such as Firefly (with special effects) o
Why do cigarettes have so many chemicals in them, why not just tobacco?
most of the dangerous chemicals come from the incomplete burning of the tabacco. Because you dont burn it with enough oxygen there are hundrets of side reactions which make polyarmatic rings carbenes
Why do 8 electrons form a stable shell? Why not 7? 6? 4? 2?
It isn't quite as simple as that, and some heavier elements have more than 8 in their outer shell, but 8 is very common and I'll try to explain why. Electrons are organized into shapes called Orbitals
Why programs spend so much time shutting down/closing? Especially when I can force quit or even pull the plug without causing problems
Programs that are "Not Responding" aka taking forever to shut down or actually frozen, usually make use of multiple processes and/or threads. Today's software applications are not usually linear (take
Why MLB parks are different lengths and yet, baseball tries so hard to keep even and accurate statistics with Homeruns
/u/upvoter222 makes good points, but to add a bit on that: A smaller ballpark does not necessarily mean the odds of hitting home runs is greater. For example, Coors Field is actually pretty average re
Why are modern day toys and electronics so flimsy compared to, say 15 years ago?
Consumers would rather pay less and buy devices more often. If there was more profit to be found by charging more and being durable, that's what you would see. The obsolescence curve for many technolo
Why are memory storage options set up on increments based on the power of two (16gb, 32gb, 64gb etc…)?
When you store something in a memory, you have to remember where you saved it, i.e. the index of the starting byte. E.g.