Technology
Exploring "Why" questions about Technology
491 articles
Why can programs on my computer be completely unresponsive but pressing control+alt+delete is always instant?
This is because the program is stuck in some sort of loop, so sending commands to the program does not work. Ctrl+alt+del sends an interrupt, which means that it tells windows to drop everything it's
Why is it that AA batteries can have a small form factor and hold 2700mAh while my phone battery is huge and stores less?
mAh or mili Amp Hour isn't a measurement of energy. Amps measure the amount of electrons flow per second, but does not take into account the "Pressure" behind those electrons Energy(Watt Hours) is Amp
Why does an e-reader screen flicker so badly on each refresh?
There are two reasons for this. The pixels of an e-reader is based on the physical movement of the pigments to the back or the front of the screen. These pigments can get stuck just like an old etch &
Why is battery still required for the car’s engine to keep running?
During the operation, the battery just serves as energy storage in case electrical demands exceed the output of the alternator at any given time, which is rare. But in most cars, the alternator (which
why movies with good screenplays only have one or two writers, while the typical (and bad) blockbuster scripts often have up to three to four writers?
Because with more writers some movies tend to get written and rewritten, to the point that the story makes no sense anymore. An example would be [Prometheus](_URL_0_), which was passed repeatedly betw
Why do some downloads not show file size and / or ETAs?
When you make an HTTP connection, there are a bunch of pieces of metadata that are sent before the data. One of those is Content-Length, which tells your client how long the data portion is going to b
why do GPS satelites need such an accurate clock?
You have a bunch of satellites in space, sending signals that say, "My clocks says 5:00:00.123", "My clock says 5:00:00.124", over and over again. Your GPS measures the differences it takes for the si
Why does video compression make red so pixelated?
This can be an effect of "Chroma subsampling": _URL_0_ In ELI5, more compression is done to the color parts of images/video than to the black-and-white parts of it. This saves a lot of space but is no
Why are smartphone screens made out of glass rather than tougher and shatter-proof plastic?
Even the best polycarbonate will still scratch, and the scratches refract the light of the display. Glass is hard enough to resist scratching (pretty important on a touch screen device)
Why is it that the majority of sinks dispense aerated bubbly water rather than a smooth uninterrupted stream? Is this done on purpose? If so why?
Yes it's done on purpose, the tap of your sink has an aerator on it. If you look at it from below, you can see the little mesh screen, and you can unscrew it if you really want to. It's in place to re