explainlikeimfive
explainlikeimfive
431 Comments
ELI5 How does alkaline water work if your stomach is acidic?
Wouldn’t it neutralize in your tumtum?
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explainlikeimfive
129 Comments
ELI5 - How does file compression work? If it makes the file take up less space, why don't we automatically compress any file we save?
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explainlikeimfive
655 Comments
ELI5: Why don't daily drive cars get their speed capped to 150km/h, for example, since you cannot drive that fast in most places anyway?
In my country it's almost impossible to drive past 120km/h since there's traffic jams everywhere, bad roads condition, and the regulations. The only place whe
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explainlikeimfive
11 Comments
ELI5 why we don't have blood clots WAY MORE often...
If platelets stick to each other, and there are millions of them in a drop of blood, then how is blood not constantly clotting?
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explainlikeimfive
240 Comments
ELI5: Why are decimeters so uncommonly used?
I’m an American so I generally use imperial units, but whenever I see SI units being used, you’ll see many measurements in meters, centimeters, and milimeters,
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explainlikeimfive
45 Comments
ELI5: How does the body generate heat and why is it around 98.6f?
What part of your body is responsible for generating heat? Is it just the byproduct of your body working? If so, why does it constantly remain within 1 degree o
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explainlikeimfive
142 Comments
ELI5: Why can't most life on earth ingest, digest, and extract energy from things that aren't fats, carbs, or proteins? Why aren't there organisms that eat stuff like copper, diamond, rock, clay, etc.?
I did not get an exact answer when I looked this up myself. The best answer that was given was "because we're carbon-based lifeforms", which doesn't really help
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explainlikeimfive
18 Comments
Eli5 how does sunscreen work on your skin and why do we need to apply it every hour or 2?
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explainlikeimfive
101 Comments
ELI5: How much internet traffic *actually* passes through submarine cables?
I've been reading a lot about submarine cables (inspired by the novel Twist) and some say 99% of internet traffic is passed through 'em but, for example, if I'm
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explainlikeimfive
32 Comments
ELI5: how do vinegar eels get into vinegar?
Never heard of them before a whatisit post which lead me down a rabbit hole. I get they are mostly harmless and people in the US probably have never seen/heard
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explainlikeimfive
23 Comments
ELI5 How do we feel the "wet" sensation?
It's summer, I've been in water quite a bit lately so Im curious, what is the process that the skin go through to tell whether its in contact with something wet
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explainlikeimfive
163 Comments
ELI5:Why don't car tires use innter tubes?
I'm sure there's a simple and reasonable explanation but it seems weird to me! Edit: Argh typo in the title, I'm a big dumb Edit again: Thankyou everyone for
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explainlikeimfive
4 Comments
ELI5 Economic Strike Protections
We are potentially looking at an economic strike where I work. Can someone explain to me the protections involved? I’ve read everything on the national labor re
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explainlikeimfive
143 Comments
ELI5 How the first people to measure the circumference of earth do it?
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explainlikeimfive
7 Comments
ELI5 why does music start sounding out of tune when I’m at concerts?
Hi all, I’m an avid metal fan and love going to concerts. One thing that sucks is towards the end of the concert, my ears start getting fatigued. The weird thin
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explainlikeimfive
23 Comments
ELI5 How does it benefit Google or OpenAI if people choose to use their respective LLM models?
I understand the pay to use model but so many companies are creating their own models and allowing limited free usage now. Is it just bragging rights and other
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explainlikeimfive
36 Comments
ELI5: If grip depends only on the perpendicular force and the coefficient of friction and not on the contact patch area, why are sport cars using slick and wide tyres? Doesn't larger contact area reduce the load on the tyre, reducing grip?
I've always heard that slick tyres are for more contact patch area, but why is that something desidered?
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explainlikeimfive
486 Comments
ELI5: Why do so many websites care that you're using a VPN?
Plenty of websites won't let browse them, if you're on a VPN. Why do they care? Many of them give generic login errors, if they're a site where you have an acco
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explainlikeimfive
65 Comments
ELI5: If you bend a metal stick a little bit, it springs back, but if you bend it more, it stays bent. Why?
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explainlikeimfive
16 Comments
ELI5 How does the temperature of a bullet affect the wound it causes?
Supposedly a flying bullet is very hot (supposedly it can be 100–300°C or 212–572°F on arrival) How does it affect the wound? Does it burn the skin it first
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explainlikeimfive
15 Comments
ELI5. How can the speed that the universe is expanding be measured?
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explainlikeimfive
8 Comments
ELI5 The difference between Existentialism and Absurdism
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