Science
Exploring "Why" questions about Science
484 articles
Why do those blue Christmas lights look so fuzzy and blurry whereas other colours are perfectly clear?
Blue scatters more widely than other colors when it passes through the eyeball. Red and green is focused right onto the retina blue is focused slightly in front of it which causes a halo around bright
Why can’t they make space elevators with propellers on them to reduce tension forces?
That would only work in the atmosphere, where the propellers have something to push: air. But the cable will experience the same amount of tension above the atmosphere, where there is no air for the p
Why are electrical lines slack between poles?
Because if they were pulled taut, then a strong wind could bend the poles away from each other and snap the lines, loosing high energy power lines onto the ground below which can be extremely dangerou
Why do gas stoves start at the highest heat setting instead of the lowest?
For lighting. The gas comes out at maximum so it will reach the pilot flame and ignite right away.
Why does the tray in a microwave rotate?
Because there are hot and cooler spots due to the way the microwaves reflect around inside the oven. Rotating the food attempts to distribute the heat in the food more evenly.
Why aren’t rich nations closer to Syria, like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates being pressured into taking in any refugees?
It's hard to pressure a country that beheads people for sorcery in 2015. They aren't exactly rational actors.
why is water able to evaporated below the boiling point? I was always taught 212F (100C) was when water could turn into a gas.
From your answers, it seems like you're looking for [vapor pressure](_URL_2_). When a liquid and gas phase exist together they will form an equilibrium where part of the liquid evaporates until it mak
Why metal is forbidden from the microwave.
Not really an expert on this, but basically the way microwaves work is they send a lot of microwaves (duh) across the heating chamber. This makes the particles of items inside move a lot faster and th
Why do we read Shakespeare? Isn’t the point of a theatrical play to watch it?
Well that's where imagination comes into play, you can basically watch the play in your head while reading - in fact a lot of 'plays' are specifically written to be read as 'armchair theatre'
Why can women have multiple orgasms while men can only have one?
Wow, I think these comments are way off the mark. Do you guys think that cavemen were running trains on the cavewomen? And "The strongest sperm" != The strongest offspring, considering the first sperm