Science
Exploring "Why" questions about Science
484 articles
Why do gas stations charge extra for using credit/debit when it seems no one else does?
Visa/MasterCard (an association that sets the rules and takes 1/100th of every transaction) does not allow their merchants to charge more for credit transactions. It's a blacklisting offense that will
Why is it often recommended to fully charge electronics before using them for the first time?
Imagine that your battery is an opaque water bottle. When you first get it, it has some amount of water in it. You have no idea how much water is actually in it because you can't see the water.
Why don’t we have the $3, 60-year LED lightbulb yet? Why aren’t LED bulbs getting cheaper as promised?
I think mostly with the longevity and power savings combined, they only need to beat the incandescent by so much before the accountant/actuary tells them they can get more money for the product. So, u
Why did people in places like Africa develop darker skin when black absorbs the most light compared to lighter colors?
Dark skin is caused by melanin. When the sun hits your skin it gets absorbed by melanin and not by your skin cells. This is a good thing because if your skin cells absorb the sun it can cause damage t
Why do cockroachs can survive after a nuclear attack?
This is a ELI5 explanation, it's more technical, but contains the good bits. Radiation damages your DNA (anything's DNA, not just humans). Most of the time, this just kills the cell.
Why aren’t electrical prongs hot when they’re removed from an outlet?
Heating occurs when there's a significant amount of resistance. Significant resistance can occur if the material you're using is a poor conductor, or if you're using a conductor that's physically too
Why does mixing lights result in a different color than mixing paint?
Mixing light together is simple addition. Adding red light to green light gives you yellow light, add in blue and get white light. Paint, on the other hand, is about absorption and reflection.
Why does lightning often occur in ‘double strikes’?
Lightning first comes down in a flurry of haphazard lines trying to find the path of least resistance to the ground. This is called the lead. When the lead finds the path to the ground, you can see a
Why does the Black Lives Matter movement not protest black on black violence in Chicago?
Because the purpose of the movement is to bring attention to the high ratio of black victims of police brutality. Black victims of police violence are often overlooked and their stories disappear. The
Why do cooling towers for nuclear power plants have to be so tall?
I would like to comment that cooling towers are *not* a feature of Nuclear power plants. Some nuclear plants do not have then, and many non-nuclear plants do have them. [Example.](_URL_2_) You can tel