[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] How are the oceans sealed? Why doesn't all the water leak out the bottom and go deeper into the earth?

[Assistant]
The oceans are made up of about 8-10 km of igneous rock. There's a whole bunch of deep gabbros, and feeder systems, which then cap out with erupted material forming pillow-basalts surfaces. In time this all gets draped with sediment. It's important to note that when magma moves up through any crust, it passes up through fissures and cracks that it forms on the way, and these are left filled with residual material at the end which solidifies, so there are no great voids or air pockets etc.

Water certainly does percolate and penetrate into oceanic rock. However, igneous rock is not highly permeable, so the volumes of water a pretty small, and indeed those volumes get ever smaller with depth, as the mass of the rock above ensures that pore spaces get smaller and smaller with depth.  Consider, too, that the plates sit on top of 1200 degree mantle, so there is a temperature gradient through the crust - you don't have to go very deep before the temperatures are hot enough to drive buoyancy-related fluid motion, so water cycles through the upper portion of the crust, rather than just forever penetrating deeper.

The water that *is* in the oceanic crust is really important geologically though, as when the ocean plate eventually gets subducted, this water content gets introduced to the mantle, and causes partial melting of the mantle rocks. That is what helps generate the magma at subduction zones which creates subduction volcanism.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Does a chicken know the difference between an unfertilized and fertilized egg?

If so, how? What do they do with unfertilized eggs?

[Assistant] Chickens don't appear to know the difference. They will attempt to hatch eggs even if there is no rooster around. They will sit on eggs that are not their own. In fact, hens will go through "broody" spells where they won't budge off their eggs until they hatch. If you are raising chickens for eggs, this becomes problematic for collecting eggs, so you have to trick them by replacing the real eggs with wooden fakes. Eventually the hen realizes those eggs aren't going to hatch so they lose interest in trying. So really, not only can a hen not tell the difference between a fertilized and unfertilized egg, they can't tell the difference between a real and fake egg.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] I was reading about nebulae on wikipedia and saw that they are formed when the interstellar medium collapses. What exactly is the interstellar medium, and how does it collapse?

[Assistant]
It is essentially empty space, but filled with very little amounts of hydrogen, helium and other atoms. It accretes together over long periods over time, and start collapsing on its own gravity. It also starts to spin, and then it starts to flatten.

Space is supposedly a vacuum, but interstellar medium has a LITTLE bit of matter in it.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Harry Potter] What is the deal with wands anyway?

In the Harry Potter universe all practicing witches and wizards use wands to do magic. However, it is established that magical children can use magic innately. Why use wands at all? Maybe because they can be taken away?

[Assistant]
Wands, and other tools, help focus the magic. To use wandless magic properly requires lots of control and training. Very few wizards, relatively speaking, can do any form of wandless magic, and most of them can only do one or two spells like that.

Children can innately do magic without wands, but they can't focus it to a certain target or repeat it the same way on command. It usually happens in times of distress and they don't even know they are doing at it at the time.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Scared. Doing Research Knowing NOTHING. WWYD?

I won't go into detail, but I've spent three years of college BSing my classes and not truly learning anything past what was needed to pass exams. Believe me, I highly regret doing this. Now, I've landed myself a research position dealing with physics, and I am afraid. I don't remember a thing about physics, and I've forgotten so much calculus. I officially start my project on Monday. What would you do? I'd be grateful for any advice.

[Assistant]
Typically, the daily routine of doing research does not require deep knowledge. There are only a few things done on any given day. You need to pay attention and make sure you can get those things done. On a longer time scale, say a month, you need more knowledge to make plans--but, you will have a lot of opportunities to consult others. In the long run, you have to have knowledge to know when things are not right, how to revise your plans, what the significance of your data is, and also to see what you should do in the long run.

So, take it one day at a time. Pay attention to what you need to do--ask questions if you are not sure. Covering up and screwing up is far worse than learning and correcting. In the meanwhile, start putting together a plan to develop deeper knowledge--like everyday working on your math skills in the evenings.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Star Wars] Why did Maul have a Darth title of he wasn't a lord of the Sith?

[Assistant]
He absolutely was a Sith Lord. There's nothing to indicate he wasn't.

If you're going off of the *Darth Plagueis* novel, beware that that is the ONLY work that suggests he was never meant to be a Sith Lord, just a throwaway apprentice meant as an attack dog.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: In music production, you generally don't want multiple low bass voices because of phase cancellation. Why then do bands and orchestras usually have more than one bass voice, and phase cancellation doesnt seem to be an issue?

[Assistant]
Phase cancellation only really exists in the recorded music world. In acoustic music, its extremely difficult to produce two waves at a perfect 180 phase with each other, and once you factor in complex overtones and slight variations in tuning, two acoustic instruments (or two singers) are almost never going to phase cancel, and if they do, its only fleeting. Two recorded and auto tuned voices are much more likely to phase cancel, especially if its two recordings of the same person or instrument.

Also, outside of the studio, you cant change the volume on specific instruments easily, and bass voices, particularly singers, tend to be harder to hear than their treble counterparts, so ensembles are forced to pile in as many of them as possible.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Planck's quantum hypothesis proves that a body can't emit radiation beyond a certain frequency, but this still means that it will emit waves in ALL THE POSSIBLE FREQUENCIES below this limit. So wouldn't the body still be losing energy at an infinite rate?

Or am I misunderstanding something?

[Assistant]
Your first sentence is simply not true. A blackbody emits at all frequencies. Where did you get that there is an upper limit?

As per your last question, just because it emits at all frequencies it doesn't mean the energy is infinite. The total intensity is the integral of the spectral insensity per unit wavelength. In symbols:

I = integral of d B() from 0 to infinity

Where B () = dI/d and dI is the intensity emitted between wavelength  and +d.

Planck's hypothesis allows you to calculate a form for B() (the blackbody spectrum) which is such that the above integral is finite, even though you integrate over an infinite domain. Instead, the older Rayleigh-Jeans law provides a B() whose integral diverges when integrated down to -> 0 ( -> infinity), which is the ultraviolet catastrophe. That's why under Planck black bodies actually *stop* emitting the infinite energy they should have in the classical theory.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [HALO]Which of Halos game difficulty's are a true representation of Master Chiefs combat ability?

[Assistant]
Heroic.

Canonically, Elite Majors (the red ones) have similar physical and shield strengths to Mjolnir Spartan II's.

Experienced civilians and Marines can complete simulations on this difficulty setting with a few to several deaths, whereas a Spartan II survived the encounter these simulations were based on and completed his objectives with minimal injuries.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Why do lysosomes need a low pH in order to function/degrade proteins?

[Assistant]
Lysosomes need low pH because pH has an effect on protein folding. At neutral pH, the enzymes in lysosomes arent folded in a shape to do anything (it is sequestered, active site is being hidden away due to its shape). At low pH, it folds into something that reveals its active site and then can start breaking down stuff.

This is important because you dont want the enzymes to be active at neutral pH like the cytosol because it can mess up the cytoplasm.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How would gravity behave in a tunnel running through the center of the Earth?

My friend and I can't reach a conclusive answer on this one :
Consider a perfect tunnel (say, a few meters wide) that runs exactly through Earth's center and through to the other side (I'm ignoring any temperature/pressure logistics for the sake of the question) -
What would happen if I were to drop an object down the tunnel?  Would it get stuck somewhere near the middle, or keep a certain pendulum motion around the center of gravity?
Thanks!

[Assistant]
First, assume it's a vacuum. If it were, then it would oscillate back and forth, and would come back to precisely where you released it every time.

If the tunnel wasn't a vacuum (as it "realistically" wouldn't be), then the object would still oscillate, but come less far back every time, due to wind resistance taking some of the energy. So eventually it would loose all of its energy and stay stuck precisely in the middle.

This is also all assuming the Earth is a perfect sphere, which it isn't. But as long as the tunnel was cut so that there was the same amount of earth on one side of the tunnel as the other, then this will still work out.

Edit: Also, if you've had some introductory physics, it's also a fantastic exercise to work out exactly WHY the object would oscillate back and forth.

Edit 2: As LionsFan correctly pointed out, you wouldn't be "stuck" in the middle, but rather it'd feel like you're floating in the direct middle, as if you were in outer space.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[DC] I'm a med student assigned to Arkham Asylum, any tips?

Hey guys! I'm a struggling med student from Flyover Country. I'm dying to be a psychiatrist and to my shock Arkham Asylum in Gotham accepted me to rotate with their doctors! I heard if I do well I can basically get into any psychiatry program in the nation, so I HAD to take up offer!

I've basically lived around cows and tractors and stuff all my life, can anyone give me any tips for my rotation there? Thanks a bunch! :)

[Assistant]
Be polite to the inmates. Containment failures happen, and while your odds of surviving one aren't great, they become worse if someone wants you in particular dead.

That said, don't get too friendly with them either. A pretty young psychologist at Arkham got chummy with the green-haired John Doe and ended up helping him escape. She hasn't been seen since.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How does a wave function change after scattering?

I'm trying to understand scattering theory in QM a little better.

What I'm trying to ask herein more detail than the titleis how can the wave function be calculated after a scattering event? More specifically in the context of Compton and/or Thomson scattering.

[Assistant]
In non-relativistic scattering theory, you just consider an incident plane wave, and an outgoing spherical wave, which has been modified by the interaction potential.

If you assume the incoming particle is moving in the z-direction, you can write the total wavefunction as:

(**r**) = e^(ikz) + *_s_*(**r**),

where e^(ikz) is the incoming particle, and *_s_* is the scattered wave.

The scattered wave can then be written as:

*_s_*(**r**) = f(,)e^(ikr)/r.

This has the form of an outgoing spherical wave which has been modulated by an angle-dependent factor f. f is called the scattering amplitude, and |f|^(2) ends up being the differential cross section.

To find what this function actually looks like, you just solve the time-independent Schrodinger equation for whatever potential is mediating the scattering.

To treat something like Compton scattering, you don't really want to use non-relativistic QM, but rather QFT. In QFT, you don't generally work with wavefunctions anymore, but you can still calculate S-matrix elements and cross sections. A common way to do this is using time-dependent perturbation theory, and Feynman diagrams.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: How do bomb disposal teams decide which wire to cut on a bomb and how do they pinpoint where a bomb is?

Im referencing towards The Hurt Locker film. The scene where Sgt. James finds one bomb which leads to several other bombs, how did he know the first one was there and know which wire to cut?

[Assistant]
Ninety percent of the time, they find a bomb the same way non-explosive-ordnance-disposal (EOD) guys do - someone sees a loose piece of trash that seems suspicious, someone just *said* something to a passing patrol, or there are signs that something's been buried - loose dirt, suspicious tracks, etc. Often, there are only so many places to put an explosive in such a way that they'll be useful - along convoy routes, in areas where troops are passing by somewhat regularly, etc., and so, upon approaching this sort of an area, the guys trying not to get blown up are going to be eyeing every dead animal, trash pile, upturned patch of dirt, and so on with extra wariness.

In some of the less hospitable portions of the Middle East especially, the bomb isn't on a timer like you'd see in a Bond film - a lot of times it's just an old land mine someone found in an old Soviet dump, which has its own set of drawbacks - maybe it needs a certain amount of pressure, maybe it's unreliable and corroded, maybe it's only going to go off if something large and metal drives over it - or there's a simple circuit connected to an antenna. The latter are more common then you'd think, and they require someone watching the bomb's location with a cell phone to actually detonate. So if a patrol sees someone eyeing the area who's not got a good reason already to be doing so... well, see above: it's a pretty good indicator.

And most of the time, there's no particular rush after the thing's been spotted - the troops are pulled back, civilians are warned off the area, and people are posted at a safe distance to redirect traffic. There's no sense risking someone - a very well-trained and in-demand someone, to boot - to go in and cut wires and the like. Nine times out of ten, it's a simple matter of just blowing the thing from a safe distance - send a little robot in to place a charge and press the button when it wheels merrily away, toss an explosive on top of it and light the fuse, and so on. These aren't bombs in the sense of old WWII bunker-busters; if you know it's there, it's just easier, faster and safer to get anyone and anything out of the likely blast radius, back up a little more, and blow the thing up - most likely, it won't have an effective casualty radius of more than few meters anyway, and the end result is just a hole in the road and the EOD guys waddling away to their next date with destiny.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why is New York State proposing to increase only the fast food workers minimum wage to $15/hr and not minimum wage in general?

Why would the fast food workers only get the increase in wage and not say, retail workers or other minimum wage restaurant workers?

[Assistant]
The group looking to raise the rate doesn't have the power to set the wage of retail workers, or other minimum wage restaurant workers. AFAIK the group in question can't even set the wages of fast food workers, just recommendations.

The proposed wage would be recommended by the New York State Department of Labors "Fast-Food Wage Board". As the name suggests, they only have power to make recommendations about the wages of fast food workers.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: why does soda or other carbonated beverages foam up when poured over ice?

[Assistant] Common ice cubes have uneven surfaces. When carbonated water touches those bumpy surfaces, it gives something for the carbon dioxide to cling to. The bubble eventually grows large enough that the upward pull causes it to lose hold of the icecube, float to the surface and break! Before it breaks, it causes the foam you see.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Does the number of people using the internet still have an impact?

I remember back in the day when you couldn't get online simply because too many people were using the internet. Does this still occur today? And why/why not?

What made me think of this is with the current pandemic there are way more people at home using streaming services etc, just interested to see if this will cause difficulties like back in the dark days of dial up.

[Assistant] Not exactly. You couldnt get online in the past because your ISP had a finite number of phone lines able to connect with your modem. Thats not typically going to be the case today, since the ISPs provision hardware for always on connections, versus adhoc connections from modems. That said, theres a big difference between always on connections using a few Kbps continuously and those same number suddenly streaming Mbps. Some areas have been seeing issues more than others. A lot of folks are discovering that cable companies (and fiber to a degree) have shared lines that are overprovisioned (more customers than it can handle at a time). This results in degraded quality, higher latency, and generally not getting the max bandwidth youre paying for. Overall, though, the Internet has been handling things quite well. Mostly because people working from home or gaming takes WAY less bandwidth than streaming Netflix, Hulu, YTTV, Prime Video, etc. which everyone has been doing every evening for a while.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why are there so many islands in the Pacific ocean, but not the Atlantic Ocean?

[Assistant]
Many of the islands are volcanic, and the Pacific is much more volcanically active than the Atlantic. The reason for that, in turn, is that the central Atlantic is a *divergent* boundary between tectonic plates (the plates are moving apart, which produces spread-out, 'ooze-y' undersea lava vents). The boundaries around the Pacific are mostly *convergent* plate boundaries (the plates are pressing into the Pacific plate, either one going beneath the other and forming volcanos (Japan) or crumpling up against it a forming a mountain rage (the Andes).

EDIT: A few people have correctly pointed out that in terms of amount of material, the Atlantic is plenty volcanically active. But for the most part the Atlantic doesn't have eruptions of the kind that the Pacific does, and this volcanism occurs slowly enough that the resulting undersea mountains don't reach the surface (with a few exceptions).


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[DC] How are people able to shoot Superman with Kryptonite bullets?

It seems like a strikingly common occurrence for a guy who's known for being far faster than a speeding bullet.  Off the top of my head it happens in *Superman/Batman:  Public Enemies*, *Justice League:  Doom*, and multiple times in the series *Smallville*.

[Assistant]
Well, one of *Smallville*'s regular criticisms was that it's possible to sneak up on the guy with super-hearing, so during the course of the show, Clark didn't have the best handle on his super-senses.

In *Doom*, he was already incapacitated by Metallo, so shooting him after that was easy.

As for the rest, they probably get hit with bullets all the time like it ain't no thang. Kryptonite bullets may come as a surprise.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5:Is face blindness restricted to humans or is this something that's been observed in other species? Is it understood what causes it?

[Assistant]
Not many animals rely primarily on sight to recognize others, and fewer still rely primarily on facial features.

I would imagine if it happens in animals, it is pretty uncommon and restricted to our closest animal relatives.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How much can we learn or know about an unknown creature from just DNA?

If we were to get only a tissue sample from an unknown species or alien, could we determine if that alien was a vertebrate?  How many limbs it had?  What it looked like?

I know that DNA is the blueprint for life, but can we decode it well enough to "read the directions" yet?

[Assistant]
If it were an unknown Earth species, we would eventually be able to determine its most closely-related currently living species or groups of species. Usually when this is done, there is already a pretty good idea of relatedness, so here, considerably more effort would be required. Then we can say "it probably looks a lot like these guys and has features x,y, and z that they all share."

Our knowledge of what specific genes do is very limited. This unknown species may be found to have the gene that codes for a known blue pigment for example, but whether the creature is ever blue is much more complicated. If you'd never seen humans but had a sample of their genome and looked at closely related extant Earth species, you might expect us to have tails.

This is because of the actual processes of which genes are functional, when they're functional, how they interact, and the incredibly complex process of building the organism are not obvious from the genome. The genome doesn't say "make an arm," it says "when this molecule changes to this shape, transcribe this section of DNA to make this molecule."

As for an alien species, we'll probably never know until we find some aliens. It could be most of our knowledge of Earth applies, because the ways in which genetics function on Earth are pretty much the only way to make things work. Perhaps more likely is that big differences in how DNA and the most integral DNA-related molecules and organelles evolved mean that we'd have to learn a new set of molecular biology. For example, DNA could be written in the same base pairs, but in a different "language" of exons, introns, promoters, etc. Assuming they *have* DNA.

Besides all that, due to the building-on-what-worked-before nature of evolution, even if their biochemistry was similar, they'd probably be incredibly weird and not fit into our traditional types of organisms.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] What did Marx mean when he said that religion was the opiate of the masses?

[Assistant]
It's very important to stress that Marx never said this as a standalone sentence. The full quote reads very differently to the sentence fragment usually cited:

" *Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions; it is the opium of the people.* "

Marx's point in context thus becomes much clearer: religion is an expression of people's suffering and an attempt to survive in the face of it.

Marx was unambiguously an atheist materialist, but he was not an "anti-theist" in the way that he has often been presumed to be.

[edit: spelling]


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5:Why do corporations who cause deaths only get fined, but people get imprisoned?

Why is it, if a corporation causes deaths through gross negligence, they only get fined, but, if a person did the exact same thing, they would be charged with manslaughter and imprisoned?

Specific (theoretical) example: If a company failed to check and enforce safety regulations regarding the securing of unstable large objects and one fell down and killed people, the company would be fined. But if a person fails to properly secure materials they are transporting on their car and some falls off and kills people, they get charged with manslaughter.

[Assistant]
To some extent it's a matter of scale and sadly, cost.

Who do you put in jail? The people who marketed the product? People who developed it? Management? Upper management? CEO? For a corporation of 1000+ people, how much does it cost to conduct a thorough investigation to determine the difference between indifference, competence, and true criminal negligence?

In cases where companies knew something was dangerous and sold it anyways, a lot of times this information comes out decades later as scientific and medical knowledge advances. Sometimes it's outside the statute of limitations, and investigations in general are much more difficult years down the line.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Could an object get trapped in the expansion of space?

Okay, I have really no background in physics, let alone astrophysics, and the expansion of space kind of boggles my mind.  But I have a question:

If someone, say, future-humans, built a vessel that featured an essentially self-sustaining ecosystem (who knows if that's even at all feasible, maybe not) and fired it off into space on a trillion year journey toward another galaxy, would that vessel eventually get 'stranded' between galaxies, reaching a point where it would never be able to reach another galaxy or return home?

I guess my question could be summarized, "Are there dead zones where space is expanding such that objects could get stuck in it and never be able to reach other objects again?"

[Assistant]
The expansion of the Universe is currently accelerating. Assuming it continues to do so - which depends on the exact mechanism causing the acceleration - then yes, it would be possible to travel so far away from the Milky Way that you could never return (or even send a signal back home), and you could also find regions such that you're (in the distant future) out of communication with *all* galaxies. The longer the acceleration continues, the shorter the distances are to those galaxies from which you won't be able to go home.

This is because in an accelerating universe, less and less of the cosmos becomes visible over time. In a sense, galaxies sufficiently far apart are expanding from each other so quickly that they'll "outrun" any light which one sends to the other.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why are there so few students at Hogwarts?

I'm rewatching the Sorcerer's Stone, and I noticed something.
There's only around 10 students in Harry's class in Gryffindor.
There's 4 houses, which makes 40 students total in Harry's class. If that's the average, for all 7 years of classes that makes 280 students.
That's odd, considering Hogwarts is a huge castle and could clearly accommodate a large number of students. And I believe Hogwarts is the only major magical academy in the UK.
I know the Wizard population is much lower than the Muggle population, but surely there'd be more students than that needing to go to school?
Unless some wizards homeschool, which also doesn't make sense considering there appears to be no tuition to attend Hogwarts.

What gives?

[Assistant]
Ah!  You've discovered the drawback to using the Pensieve!  You're only seeing Harry Potter's memories - and in this case, his memories from when he was eleven years old.  There are many more students than the ones with whom he directly interacted or remembers having seen.  He probably was more interested in when the pudding would show up than pay attention to every single student being sorted on his first night.  He probably rarely ever went into any other dorm rooms, so you only see the handful of boys with whom he shared quarters.

As far as tuition - there is, indeed, tuition - but it's just not something that a kid would be thinking about.  (Especially a kid who won't ever have to worry about draining his bank account.)  There are scholarships and waivers for wizard families of lower economic fortune.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do our tummies rumble when we are hungry?

[Assistant]
This can be explained by a closer look at how the digestive system functions.

The digestive system is, in essence, a long tube that starts at the mouth and ends at the anus. This tube connects with the various organs and passages that play important roles in digestion. One of the most important things to know about the digestive system is the manner in which it propels food. Waves of muscle contractions move and push the contents continually downward in a process called peristalsis. In addition to moving your meal along its digestive path, these contractions also help churn food, liquid and different digestive juices together, rendering them into a gooey mix known as chyme.

Stomach growling is the result of this process. Moving with those solid and liquid chyme ingredients are gasses and air. As all these ingredients get pushed around and broken down into easy-to-absorb bits, pockets of air and gas also get squeezed and create the noises we hear. Stomach growling can happen at any time -- not just when you're hungry -- but if there's food in your stomach or small intestine, the growling becomes quieter. It's like putting a pair of sneakers in the dryer by themselves versus with a load of towels. The towels muffle the noise of the shoes as they bounce around.

But you may be wondering -- if your stomach is empty, why are the muscle contractions that digest food happening to begin with? The reason has to do with hunger and appetite. About two hours after your stomach empties itself, it begins to produce hormones that stimulate local nerves to send a message to the brain. The brain replies by signaling for the digestive muscles to restart the process of peristalsis. Two results occur: First, the contractions sweep up any remaining food that was missed the first time around. Second, the vibrations of an empty stomach make you hungry. Muscle contractions will come and go about every hour, generally lasting 10 to 20 minutes, until you eat again.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
What gives orbitals their non-spherical shape?

How come the orbitals of electrons aren't uniform within a certain distance, ie always spherical (apart from the s-orbital)? Is it because the charge in the nucleus isn't evenly distributed? I can't seem to find answers anywhere that explains the underlying physics/chemistry of the different shapes, and I can't think of a reason as to why it "shouldn't" be spherical.

[Assistant]
If you think about orbitals in the "classical" sense, of a point particle circling around an object that's attracting it, then, yeah, anything other than spherical (or elliptical) orbitals seems weird.

But remember that particles are waves. Orbitals, in particular, are standing waves. A good analogy are the strings of a guitar. The "easiest" standing wave on a guitar string is one where the oscillation is 0 at the ends and maximum in the middle. But you can also have waves where there's zero oscillation in the middle and maximum oscillation at the 1/4 and 3/4 point.

So with the orbitals, you also get standing waves that have complicated patterns of nodes. So then you get the spherical s-orbital, the two-lobed p orbital, the four-lobed d orbital and so on.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[DC][Justice League: War] How come the Green Lanterns do not know who Darkseid is?

So as I was watching this, it got me thinking, not only Hal didn't know who Darkseid was, but the ring couldn't scan it, he even claims the ring knows what the Guardians know. Assuming this New Gods and Old Gods thing is as big as it's made to be, given how strong they are and the scale of the threat Apokilips seems to be, isn't it weird how the Guardians of the Green Lantern core simply do not know any of it?

[Assistant]
One thing you need to know to understand GLs is that Guardians Lie. What they truly know has surprisingly little bearing on what they tell the Corps, especially during one of the (many) times they're attempting to manipulate the Corps to serve their own purposes.

Essentially, the Guardians probably know about Darkseid, but for one reason or another, decided not to tell the Corps about him.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: The plot of the Dark Knight.

As many times as I've seen this movie, I have never been able to full understand the film. And also, I would like an explanation of Batman's ending words of the film.

[Assistant]
It helps to understand that the primary conflict in the film takes place not between The Joker and Batman, but rather between The Joker and Harvey Dent.

On the one side, you've got Harvey, who is determined to drag Gotham, kicking and screaming, away from the criminal slum it was turning into. Aided by Lieutenant/Commissioner Gordon, the Mayor and Batman, he's had a lot of success in that effort, and as such has managed to win Gotham's respect, trust and most importantly, hope.

Enter The Joker. He's a self-described agent of chaos. His goal is to create anarchy in Gotham, anarchy that could never really happen as long as Harvey Dent existed as a source of hope. So in order to create the anarchy he wanted, he had to beat Harvey Dent. But more importantly, he had to completely destroy Harvey's entire image, turn him from a symbol of hope to a symbol of despair.

Spoiler alert!

By killing Rachel the way he did--forcing Harvey and Rachel to confront her imminent death together--The Joker was able to create the despair in Harvey that he needed. The idea was that the people of Gotham would see that Harvey Dent, their White Knight, had turned into a psychopathic killer at the Joker's hand. All hope would be gone, and Gotham would descend into anarchy. Batman recognized that strategy and short-circuited it.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Why have the number of "bits" in commercial computer processors stopped increasing?

In the 20th century, major advances in computing were marked by the number of bits the machine was capable of processing. 8 bit machines, 16 bit, 32 bit and then 64 bit. But it seems we never got to a 128 bit machine (or if we did it was never made commercially) why have commercial computers never adopted 128 bit technology?

[Assistant]
TL;DR: We dont need more. 64-bit computers will be around for a long time.

Some background.

Lets take a very simple processor. It has 2 bits. This means it holds up to 4 possible values (00 = 0, 01 = 1, 10 = 2, and 11 = 3).

It can handle 2 bits of data at a time. It can receive 2 binary digits at a time, add 2-binary-digit numbers at a time, store 2-binary-digit numbers at a time, etc... Another thing it does 2-digit a time is address memory. Memory has different slots. Each slot has an address. So one instruction might be store the current value in address 01.

Knowing that, you now know the two major benefits of more bits: handling bigger numbers at the same time and being able to address bigger memory.

Lets start with the memory. With 32 bits, you get 4 gigabytes of memory. Your processor can only use 4 gigabytes of memory because thats all it can address. It doesnt have enough bits to represent 4 gigabytes and 1. Its like trying to represent the number 1000 with only 3 decimal places. You can only go up to 999.

We got to the point where we needed more than 4 gigabytes of memory so we created 64-bit computers. Because of the exponential nature of adding more digits where adding a digit doubles the number of values you can have, 64 bits give us a memory limit of 16 exabytes. Thats over 17,000,000 terabytes and were nowhere near 1 terabyte of memory.

The size of numbers it can handle at a time is even less impactful because:

1. Its rare to need to use huge numbers like that in most applications.

2. Its relatively easy to work around in applications that do need them.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5:The infatuation that humans seem to have with gold?

All down the lines of history it has been seen as something with value, yet it didnt have any practical use. Why are we so drawn to it?

[Assistant]
Let me count the ways...

Gold is pretty shiny and it shines the colour of the sun. Yellow. There's lots of old religions that worship the sun or sun gods and generally the sun gets a lot of respect for making plants grow.

It's a very malleable metal, which makes it great for jewelry.

It's rare and therefore expensive.

It's expensive, so it becomes a symbol of wealth or a symbol of no expense being spared.

It's inert, so it sticks around for ages.

It's now vital to the electronics industry, so there will always be demand.

It's value doesn't fluctuate anywhere near as much as money, so it makes a good commodity to buy when money looks weak.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why are humans more susceptible to sunburn on a hot sunny day, rather than a cold sunny day?

[Assistant]
In the seasons when days are hotter, the sun typically has a more direct angle relative to the Earth. In colder seasons, the angle is increased, leading to less direct exposure.

However, you can get sunburn in sub-zero temps. It all depends on the angle of the Sun/intensity of the UV radiation.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Is it possible to harness gravity as a means of producing energy?

[Assistant]
Sure - pile up a bunch of water behind a wall and only let it out through a hole so it has to push past a turbine on the way.

Hydroelectric dams are the most straightforward use of gravity for energy production. Similar methods using a pump followed by a generator are use for energy storage, too.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Is there an upper limit to the amount of energy a photon can have?

Whenever you see an EM spectrum chart, it always ends at gamma rays. Why is this? Are all photons with more than 100 KeV just referred to as gamma rays?

[Assistant]
If Lorentz symmetry is not violated, any photon has any energy in the right reference frame, so it can be arbitrarily high. However, interacting with such a photon might cause black holes to form.

I don't think that's what you were asking though. X-rays and gamma rays are basically the same thing except x-rays are typically produced from electron interactions and gamma rays are produced from nuclear and particle interactions. There is no special name for even higher energy photons.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] What factors affect mosquito bite size and duration?

[Assistant] Mosquitoes release a protein that helps keep your blood from clotting. This protein causes swelling and itching. The more protein the more significant the reaction, so the longer the mosquito is attached, or the larger it is, may indirectly factor into the bite's total size. As far as how long it lasts, the more protein/bigger it is, the longer it will last. Factors such as temperature and pH could also influence how long the protein remains active in the area as well though. For example the protein denatures at warm temperatures, which is why a hot spoon placed on the site can relieve itching.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Without air, is there terminal velocity?

If I'm accelerated by gravity toward, say, a black hole, if there's no air to slow me down to a given terminal velocity. Does that mean I just keep accelerating until I approach c (assuming I don't reach the mass first)?

[Assistant] With no force to stop you, Newtonian mechanics says that you will simply accelerate indefinitely. Of course, we know from special relativity that nothing with a finite non-zero mass can ever reach the speed of light. So, with nothing to stop you, you would simply speed up and draw ever closer to c, before you eventually collided with the black hole. That is, assuming that you and the black hole are simply points separated on a straight line. For a real, spinning, black hole, you would experience more interesting effects like spaghettification when you cross the event horizon.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Dune] Why does House Corrino give Arrakis out as a fief instead of keeping it in as part of a Royal Demense?

It seems weird to me that they would allow such a source of wealth and power to be controlled by one of the other great houses. Surely nobody would be able to object to what is literally the most important planet in the known universe being under the direct administration of the Emperor (and even if they did theyd have to deal with the Sardaukar *and* the Emperor controlling the Spacer guild with their monopoly on spice).

[Assistant]
The emperor is still a player in the Landsraad, consolidating too much power would paint a target on him. He can stand up to any individual house, or even several houses but if enough people get sick of his shit they will gang up on him.

Then add into it the guild probably wouldnt be too excited about the power consolidation here which leads back to pissing off the wrong people.

Finally look at the day to day logistics of arrakis, the place is a god damned nightmare to rule over. Its enough of a carrot for the other houses, as in "Hey look over this very important piece of land and you will become more powerful and wealthy than staying on your backwater planet. No need to thank me for giving your house this opportunity, just remember that the emperor is entrusting you with this fantastic boon on your house". From there you can use it as a threat or a reward in back room dealings. "Hey take care of this problem and Ill reward you with Arrakis" "Hey if you dont deal with this Ill take away arrakis from you and doom your house

Then the other houses will try to curry favor to be the ones put in charge, which means less people making moves against your leadership. Which means they fight each other trying to get into your good graces which means fewer assassins which means prolonged leadership.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Bringing family to reception at a conference?

I am attending a conference next month and my grandparents will be in the same city. My school is putting on an alumni and friends reception at a beautiful venue in honor of the conference. I told my grandparents about it and they would like to attend with me. They have helped support me in my graduate school education and mean a lot to me so it would be hard to tell them no. Do you think anyone have a problem with this?

[Assistant]
I would ask the organizers of alumni event if you can bring quests or not. Sometimes those events require registration fees as well to cover food and drinks. In most cases you can register a guest as well.
If it's held at the same venue as the conference, you might want to ask those organizers as well. I've been to conferences where they rigorously checked ID badges when entering the venue and you would not be able to bring in anyone who wouldn't be registered. So definitely check with the appropriate people. Would be a shame to show up with your grandparents and to then find out they can't enter the event.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Is it end-to-end encryption if the servers (e.g. WhatsApp) generate the encryption keys?

I mean, sure: it is end-to-end encryption nonetheless.

But if the server (or whatever computer) creates the keys in the first place, couldn't they be accessible from that very computer (thereby putting all encrypted data at risk)?

ELI14 or 15, I do know my IT stuff a little.

[Assistant]
It's not end-to-end if the servers generate the keys.

With WhatsApp the servers don't generate the keys.  You and the receiver do.  That's the whole point of specifying that it's end-to-end encryption.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Trek TNG] Does Data turn off internal programs when playing cards?

I assume he means to have fun, but he could essentially count cards and predict probabilities based on opponents statistics, does he somehow stupify himself in order to have fun and be a match?

[Assistant] Actually data had commonly refused to join due to this but Riker convinced him to play on the basis that poker takes more than just statistics and math. Data went into the first game overconfident and sure he would win, and promptly lost to Riker due to a bluff since data has always had a problem detecting lying in humans. (TNG S2E9)


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: why do we often get really weird, vivid dreams when we are sick? I've woken up from sleep while sick and had difficulty separating reality from what I just dreamed.

[Assistant]
When you're sick, your body raises it's temperature because that can help fight off the infection. But, your brain is temperature sensitive. If it gets too hot, this can cause neurons to fire uncontrollably, basically creating seizures. This can lead to very vivd images and dreams forming in the brain because more of the brain "supports" what you think you saw.  A normal dream is quickly forgotten because you subconsciously realize that you lacked a lot context and sensory input to back up what you experienced.

This also applies to people with neurological disorders like MS.  They have to be careful when working out because if they get too hot, it can make their symptoms worse.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Forgotten Realms] How is it that none of them Dwarven mines ever struck oil or coal?

[Assistant]
There isn't any, and there's a good reason.

Ao, apparently, created the world a few hundreds of thousands of years ago. There simply hasn't been enough time for coal or oil to form. (which also conveniently explains why its still at medieval technology after all this time. The resources needed for an industrial revolution isn't there)


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why is building a Mars colony the next big space mission? Why not a colony on our very own moon?

[Assistant]
Mars has an atmosphere that somewhat protects against space debris like micro meteorites, and the moon has no protection at all. The solar system is full of dust and sand sized particles and the Earth and Moon frequently pass through these regions; they are what cause the frequent meteor showers seen throughout the year. However on Earth they burn up harmlessly in the atmosphere, but on the Moon they would be like bullets raining down randomly. Any long term colony on the Moon would need to be under ground for the protection of critical infrastructure and colonists.

There is also a possibility of terraforming Mars through the work of colonies over centuries. The Moon lacks the materials and the gravity for an atmosphere.

Eventually we will likely use the Moon as a launch platform for our space program because of it's lower gravity well and the presence of water in some of the craters for fuel. That is a very long way off though.

It's inevitable that we will branch out into space when it becomes economically viable. The first country or company to bring an iron rich asteroid into Earth orbit, and find a profitable way of mining it, is going to make so much money, it will be like a gold rush. Imagine what would happen if SpaceX took possession of a small asteroid with a trillion dollars worth of iron on it. Every enterprise on Earth would be racing to do the same. Once space becomes profitable, jobs, then people, then colonists will follow in it's wake just like discovering The Americas did 500 years ago.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why are so many public elementary/middle/high schools in America still based on an agrarian (9 month, Sept to June) calendar as opposed to a year round calendar?

It just seems to make sense to switch.

[Assistant]
It's a settled cultural concept, and we've built everything around it. The "cost" of changing would be far greater than any benefits.

For example: many kids get summer jobs. This not only provides them with income but also work experience. A lot of conventions for teachers, educators, kids, etc. are scheduled for the summer.

In addition, the summer is sort of a "safety valve" for all sorts of things. Teachers who need to take classes, or kids that need to take summer school to "catch up."

Finally, even though it has agrarian roots, we've molded modern society around it. All sorts of industries rely on the concept of the "summer vacation," and for a lot of them it makes economic sense to capitalize off of huge amounts of visitors concentrated in a three-month period.

*Could* we change it? Sure, we could. But why? The system in place works pretty good.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia] How did they acquire the pub in the first place?

After Frank comes back into their lives in Season 3, his money keeps the pub afloat. But before that, the Gang would have had to go about getting the lease, the business permit and the alcohol license, which is kind of a big deal, as Pennsylvania have some of the most strict alcohol regulations in the US. How did they manage that?

[Assistant]
When you watch the earlier seasons it's obvious that the gang had their shit together a little bit more.  As seasons have passed something is going on where every member of the gang is showing some kind of mental decline.  Dennis is devolving further into sociopathy.  Mac has exhibited delusions of being a bad ass, extreme weight fluctuations, and an increasingly difficult time hiding his homosexuality.  Dee is becoming increasingly more promiscuous, depressed, and attention seeking.  Charley's mental faculties fluctuate from week to week.  Frank has shown the sharpest decline going from a business magnate to a drug abuser showing signs of dementia.

There has to be something in the bar itself or the gangs' lifestyle that is the root cause.  Maybe some kind hidden gas or chemical leak (possibly radon) is effecting them.  That may explain why the gang Dennis, Charley, and Mac could afford the bar in the first place.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: I hate reading things from my own echo chamber, but I have such a low tolerance for the hate directed at me from the opposing side that I cant read it either.

I dont like the idea that Im in an echo chamber or a circle jerk.  I try to avoid most political articles on Reddit that support my narrative, because I would very much like to have compassion and understanding for the other side (cant really do that in those environments).

However, whenever I visit those subreddits dedicated to the other side, they are hateful themselves. I would leave my echo chamber, but I cant because the other side is just as hateful (specifically against people like me). Whats the point of leaving one side for the other, or even trying to understand the other side, when it seems as though, to understand both sides of the political argument, you have to wade through so much hate that it becomes too exhausting to even attempt?

I did my fair share of bashing around election time, but after this long, whats the point? Both sides are just as angry today as they were during the election. This is why circlejerks exist. Your echo chamber is not better than mine.

[Assistant]
If you really want to step out of your paradigm, you should try stepping out into the real world and genuinely get to know people of different paradigms. Like, hang out with them, ask them questions, get to know why they think the way they do, and what their beliefs are, well enough that you can recite them back to the person and have them confirm that you understand where they're coming from.

If you do this, you still might not agree with them, but you'll probably have a much better understanding of what makes them tick.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do characters in games have a separated "graphic model" and a "hit box model"? Why can't the graphic model be used to detect hits?

[Assistant]
There's probably multiple reasons, to start though hit detection can be expensive depending on the complexity of the model and the speed of the game (the faster things move the more often you have to check and the less time you have to complete that check).

The more complex the "hit detection" model, the more intensive it is to check. Take two spheres for example. If you know the center point and radius of both spheres, all you need to do is ask "Is the distance from center A to center B equal to or smaller than the radius of A + B?" If the answer is yes, the objects have collided. This gets slightly more complex with rectangles, but it's still pretty easy.

Now if you change one object to a polygon with 800 sides/polys (a very simply character model in modern times). You now have to check the position of all 800 sides to determine if it collided with another object because you don't have a single "center" for all polygons and can't simply check distance from a non-existent center.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Wh40k/Terminator] Can an infantryman with a lasgun kill a t-800?

[Assistant]
Probably, yes. Despite the usual 'Flashlight' jokes, Lasguns are superior to modern conventional firearms in almost every way, and are reliably able to penetrate Imperial Flak Armour and the infantry beneath. Under ideal circumstances, the can even blow off limbs.

It wouldn't be a one-shot deal of course, but it's probably doable.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] For how long do you need to maintain 'escape velocity' in order to escape Earth's gravitational pull?

[Assistant]
Some clarification first. Suppose there is some central gravitating mass *M* and we want to calculate the speed *v* needed for some negligible test mass *m* to escape to infinity. That is, *v* is the speed required of a *free* particle (no force other than gravity) for that particle to get arbitrarily far away from the central mass.

The central mass may not be symmetric, but it has some gravitational potential *U* associated with it, which depends, in principle, on (*x*, *y*, *z*), or whatever your favorite coordinate system is. The total energy of the test mass is

> E = mv^(2)/2 + mU

and this energy is conserved. If we use the convention that U = 0 at infinity, then for a free particle to just barely escape to infinity, it would have to be at rest at infinity. In other words, at infinity, both U = 0 and v = 0, which means E = 0. But since energy is conserved, we must have

> 0 = v^(2)/2 + U

at all points along the particle's trajectory. The speed is thus given by

> v = (-2U)

(Remember that U < 0, so this makes sense.) This is the equation for escape speed. Since *U* depends on (x, y, z), so does *v*. That should make sense to you. The farther away the particle begins, the smaller *v* has to be to guarantee escape. So *v* depends on position as well.

---

Okay, now let's make this more specific. Suppose the gravitating mass *M* is spherically symmetric with radius *R*. Then the potential exterior to this mass is U = -GM/r where r measures distance from the center of the body. When we talk about *the* escape speed of this planet (or star or whatever), we mean the escape speed at the surface of the planet. So we mean *v**_esc_* at r = R. From the formula above, we get

> v*_esc_*(R) = (-2U(R)) = (2GM/R)

So if the particle is on the surface of the planet and has velocity v = (2GM/R), it escapes to infinity. (Assuming, of course, it's not initially pointed toward the planet itself.) That's it. There's no maintenance required; we are neglecting any effects of a possible atmosphere. If the particle has that speed on the surface for whatever reason, it escapes; it doesn't have to do anything else.

---

I should make this point very explicit though: the escape speed is the speed necessary only for a *free* particle. A rocket ship, for instance, need never reach the local escape speed at all. As long as its rockets give it enough thrust to just barely counteract the gravitational force (fully counteracting gravity is not even necessary), the rocket will escape. It can do so at an arbitrarily slow speed if it wanted to.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Marvel/Doctor Who] Would Daredevil's "sight" stop a Weeping Angel?

[Assistant]
I believe that the statue effect is described by the doctor as a quantum lock. This implies A) that it's observation rather than direct sight that makes them statues resting on the reasonable assumption B) that the "quantum lock" relates to an observation of the system state as in real world quantum mechanics and C)that a quantum mechanical observation (which collapses the wave function of a particle/system) requires a conscious being to observe the system in the dr who universe.

Since an observation in the real world is the result of any information exchange with the exterior of the system rather than only that which is mediated by photons, it stands to reason that daredevil's perception would qualify as an observation, locking the angels into their statue state.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: how does going to war make a country richer?

[Assistant] It doesn't usually make the country as a whole richer, but it might make the small group of people in charge richer, especially if they own or have investments in industries that would profit from war (weapons industries). Additionally, war can be a way of getting new land and resources which can also add wealth. Again, usually this wealth only gets earned by a small already rich group while the common people don't profit from their country being in war.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] How come if I put Rain-X on my windshield the rain/snow beads off but on cold mornings it's able to have frost stick to it?

[Assistant] Rain-X is effective on water in its liquid state because it is a hydrophobic surface treatment. It causes water to bead up and roll off. It is not as effective against snow because frozen water is hanging on by friction instead of surface tension, and won't bead up until it melts.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Why does rising steam from a power plant or factory appear to be relatively still from a distance, but when viewed up close it appears chaotic and quick moving? Is there a name for this effect?

[Assistant] From a distance you're only viewing the largest features of the smoke cloud.  Up close, you're viewing much smaller, faster moving features of that cloud.  Due to the fractal nature of such an object these features are different sized but similar looking.  Next time approach the cloud but be mindful to focus only on the largest features of the cloud.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: Comparisons with concentration camps or the Holocaust are disrespectful and ill intended.

Everytime anything happens, people somehow try to compare it to the Holocaust and it's consequences.

Honestly this doesn't have anything to do with current events. What motivated me to make this post has nothing to do with the current war, but a conspiracy meme I saw comparing social media "surveillance" to a concentration camp. But I do believe this also applies to comparisons more serious events. The holocaust is an event on its own, recent, and shouldn't be compared outside it's historical context.

Most of the times people only used this to forward their argument. There is no actually worry about the parallels, and the only reason they use it is because no one would "support" something that is comparable to the holocaust.

If something is as bad as the holocaust, you should probably be able to argument against it on your own, without relying on the Holocaust's historical impact.

*My main problem isn't the comparisons persay, but how lightly it's used just to make a specific view "unquestionable".*

Edit: the last part is the view needing change persay. I am not saying comparisons can't be made, but that 9 out of 10 times they are disingenuous.

[Assistant]
The Holocaust didnt come out of a vacuum.

Part of never again is noticing the steps leading up to it, calling it out, and avoiding it.

If you wait until things have gotten actually as bad as during the Holocaust, yeah, that kind of defeats the point of never again.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: The assumption that two men who share a close bond/intimate connection are homosexual is gender coding and contributes to toxic masculinity culture

I have been thinking about this for a long time and I am pretty conflicted. On the one hand I hear complaints about assuming that a heterosexual man and woman can't spend time together if they're married to other partners, but I hear similar assumptions that men who share a strong bond with each other must be homosexual. It feels unfair to myself, as a heterosexual man, because I think it locks me out of potentially meaningful relationships with other men. It seems like that relationship will be judged by more conservative folks, but assumed homosexual by more liberal folks.

I hope I have explained my perspective enough...

[Assistant]
> The assumption that two men who share a close bond/intimate connection are homosexual is gender coding and contributes to toxic masculinity culture

Isn't then the real reason an even deeper underlying assumption: that being in a homosexual relationship is something bad/undesirable?

Perhaps that's what's contributing to toxic masculinity culture?


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [National Treasure] How did finding the treasure affect the US/World economy?

[Assistant]
According to the wiki page, the movie says the treasure is worth about $10 billion dollars. Though most of it was donated. Even if it were not, to give you a perspective, the current U.S. GDP is between 15 and 16 trillion dollars. You would have to get an economist to explain the finer points but essentially the effect would be like a drop in a very large bucket of water. There may be some sort of ripple effect but that's about it.

The real question is what effect did the treasure have on our current understanding of history. It would completely revolutionize several branches of history and would most likely unveil new information about entire civilizations.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why do we get that feeling were being 'watched' or 'followed' in a dark room and similar places?

It just doesn't make sense, everyone knows that feeling and you start to get scared which leads to freaking yourself out and I don't understand how it works because there's never anything there.

[Assistant] Your body doesn't like darkness because it can't see well. So it tells you to be cautious, because something might be out there. If it's wrong, there's no harm. If your body doesn't make you cautious and it's wrong, you could die. So your body will err on the side of caution and make you think you're being followed, because that's more likely to keep you alive.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Gas prices have been on the decline for a while, but why have food prices not dropped, since they were originally raised (in part) due to high transportation costs?

I understand that it takes a while for the industries to adjust to fuel costs, but shouldn't we see some effect on consumer goods and consumables?  Or are they just enjoying the extra margin?

[Assistant] Companies are always quick to pass on rising costs to their customers, but slow to pass on savings. This is especially true when there are multiple companies the product has to go through (farms, transportation companies, processing companies, supermarkets) before it gets to you.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [WH40K] If the Emperor had managed to complete his Webway Project before being put on the Golden Throne, would things have turned out any better for Humanity?

[Assistant]
The reason the Emperor *has* to sit on the Throne is because a massive hole got ripped into the Human Webway, and the Throne is the only thing keeping the Warp from spilling out. If the Webway had been complete, the Throne would just be a life-support system. Maybe without the extra strain of keeping *literal Hell from spilling through*, some of the Emperor's vast power could go towards healing himself, but maybe not; Horus had some pretty nasty weapons.

Also, the Imperium would kick everyone's ass with near-instantaneous intra-galactic travel.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
What is the reasoning behind a capital gains tax of 20% but income tax being >30%?

US-based situation, and I know income tax varies from state to state, but lets assume capital gains of assets held long-term are taxed at 20% and income from salary is taxed at roughly 1/3rd of your gross pay check.

What is the argument for capital gains being significantly lower? Is it because this amount is already much bigger than income every year? To encourage investment instead of consumption? Belief that private allocation of capital is more socially optimal than govt spending?

[Assistant]
As per the introduction to Chapter 9 - Investment, of *Advanced Macroeconomics, Fifth Edition,* by David Romer:
>The combination of firms investment demand and households saving supply determines how much of an economys output is invested; as a result, investment demand is potentially important to the behavior of standards of living over the long run.

Essentially, capital investment is the primary driver of economic growth. The view is that lower capital gains taxes provides incentive for higher levels of investment. That is an explanation of why a policy maker might want capital gains taxes to be lower. Is there a good reason for income taxes to be high?

From the same textbook, Romer says
>Both capital taxes and labor-income taxes distort individuals labor-leisure choice, since both reduce the overall attractiveness of working. But the capital income tax also distorts individuals intertemporal choices.

Romer's contention is that capital gains taxes are *more* distortionary than income taxes, since investments are just savings vehicles, and savings is just deferred consumption, they distort choices across time.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why are many Australian spiders, such as the funnel web spider, toxic enough to drop a horse, but prey on small insects?

As Bill Brison put it, "This appears to be the most literal case of overkill".

[Assistant]
Here is the low-down.  Spiders' prey is often much more mobile than the spider is.  Flying insects, jumping insects, and other quick moving prey only need a second to escape a few feet out of the spider's grasp.  Even if the venom kills the prey after it escapes, it doesn't get the spider a meal and is thus ineffective.  This situation means there is a large evolutionary incentive for the spider's venom to be EXTREMELY fast acting, which means the venom is extremely potent.  When it bites a horse, it doesn't kill the horse immediately, but the potent venom still has enough oomph to kill it slowly.

For a similar example in the marine environment, see the cone snail and its gnasty cocktail of toxins!


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Is philosophy tube's explanation of the differences between analytic and continental philosophy accurate?

Going to be an undergrad soon and majoring in philosophy (and therefore don't know anything about anything). While I will be investing in learning both sides I would like to think long term and try to understand the differences now so I can make the best decisions when enrolling and signing up for classes. Thanks.

[Assistant] Not really: the two distinctions they suggests are "logical" versus "wooly" and "mostly done in the UK" versus "mostly done in continental Europe", neither of which is particularly helpful or accurate. And they suggest that Kant is the beginning of continental philosophy, which is crazysauce on pancakes.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why does Vitamin B have so many variations?

[Assistant] Vitamins are grouped together based on their function within the body. B vitamins are mostly associated with metabolic functions, as well as DNA synthesis. Because of the wide range of different molecules we can metabolize, there are a large group of associated B vitamins compared to other groups.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Legend of Zelda] Why was Toon Link able to lift the Master Sword if Young Link couldn't.

I understand that Toon Link is older than young link but if I remember from OoT they said that Link awoke at the right age to hold the Master Sword, Toon Link seems younger than Adult Link, so why was he able to hold the sword?

[Assistant]
Young Link picked up a sword for the first time barely minutes before the Deku Tree asked him to hop inside and start killing monsters. He's completely self taught, and if he were to try to fight Ganondorf with a sword too large and heavy to wield effectively, he' just get himself killed. Hence, the Master Sword decided to at least wait until he was physically strong enough to hold the thing competantly.

Toon Link on the other hand had lived his entire life in a town occupied by a master swordsman with a well-regarded ~~fencing~~ swordsmanship academy. He has far greater competency with a blade at the start of his journey, as evidenced by his ability to perform dodging rolls and counterattacks, and it seems that the Master Sword felt this was enough to counteract his small size.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
What gives water it's high heat capacity?

What gives water it's high heat capacity? I am aware that the hydrogen bonds between water molecules require large amounts of energy to break but it does not make sense to me why the molar and specific heat capacities of water are so high when covalent bonds in other materials are stronger and should require more energy to break.

[Assistant]
You're right it's not the inter molecular bond strength. Ammonia has a higher heat capacity yet lower inter molecular bond strengths when compared to water. Strong hydrogen bonds explains the high heat of vaporization / high boiling point but not the heat capacity.

Heat capacity is determined by the number of energy states (vibrational, rotational, kinetic etc) to raise the temperature. Ammonia has more vibrational states than water.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Hegels phenomenology of spirit paragraph 175

self consciousness achieves its satisfaction only in another self consciousness

I have been trying to understand and play around with this quote for a while and cant understand its application.  I can see why a self consciousness being would get satisfaction from another one, but why only?

[Assistant]
Because Hegel in this paragraph is in a way repeating and then going beyond Hobbes' discussion of felicity in *Leviathan*, chapter VI. Hobbes writes there: "*Continual success* in obtaining those things which a man from time to time desireth, that is to say, continual prospering, is what men call felicity... There is no such thing as perpetual tranquility of mind, while we live here; because life itself is but motion, and can never be without desire." So, this 'felicity' is in a sense impossible; it depends upon the constant occurrence of a desire, and then the appearance of a natural object which is its satisfaction. The self knows that it ought to be, and ought to enjoy its being, but the self's experience of desire is to find itself constantly serving the needs of the not-self (e.g. dealing with the material needs of a living body as something of objective independence). So, the satisfaction of natural desires and the endless struggle of satisfying the living body is not the realization of the self, it is rather the service of something else (as Hegel puts it: "Thus self-consciousness, by its negative relation to the object, is unable to supersede it; it is really because of that relation that it produces the object again, and the desire as well").

Hobbes and Hegel diverge then as Hegel claims that "self-consciousness" still gives us the certainty that that "tranquility of mind" can still be achieved. Only the employment of *another* self-consciousness "as the inorganic universal nature of Life" can bring us this satisfaction. The "inorganic universal nature of Life" of one's self is the selfhood of another (being careful to note that Hegel makes the distinction between desire and recognition; desire here is an immediate *having* of another self for oneself), which can be used as an instrument for its demands for, primarily, the *knowledge* from another self-consciousness. Only another self-consciousness can supply the conceptual content that is demanded here. Just as a maturing infant requires the conceptual guidance and assistance of others in order to survive and grow, so does self-consciousness in its *Bildung* (compare the discussion of *Bildung* and the self-consciousness of substance in 28). This is how self-consciousness is "reflected into itself", as mentioned in the following paragraph. So in short answer to your question: "self-consciousness achieves its satisfaction only in another self-consciousness" can only mean that the desiring self must preoccupy itself with and assimilate the conceptual content of another self-consciousness, and conversely as well that self-consciousness knows that it must communicate and pass on its experience.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Often, death from disease is actually caused by the immune system's reactions. Why does the body allow this to happen?

As I understand it, with some diseases, the body's reactions are what actually result in the death of the victim. Why does the body allow itself to be destroyed by it's own immune system? Is this a kind of self destruct system designed to prevent the spread of deadly illness in groups?

[Assistant]
It is often not correct to think of the body as a logical actor.

Sometimes, it is better to think of it as a glorified chemical reaction.  When given stimulus A, B will occur.  B is perhaps "beneficial" in the general case, but in a specific case may result in the death of the organism.

If there are instances where the body kills itself, there isn't necessarily a "good" reason for it.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Wars] Why do starships sink when theyre hit?

They immediately sink directly toward the planet, or elsewhere in space. Why??? Theyre not ships sinking in the ocean.

[Assistant]
Ships in star wars don't enter into a stable orbit when they're above planets, instead opting to use antigrav repulsorlifts to remain suspended in space.

This however means that when repulsorlift system suffers a malfunction that gravity will pull the ship down like any other object.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5:Why are most/all sniper rifles bolt action? Why can't they use a semi-automatic mechanism like most other weapons?

[Assistant]
I could be wrong on this, but the bolt action rifle would minimize extraneous movement that might alter the trajectory of the bullet.  Remember that even small fractions of a degree might be the difference between a hit and a miss, so it's important to keep everything as still as possible.  In a semi-automatic mechanism, the movement of the gun as it works to reload a bullet may very well knock your shot off far enough that it would cause a problem.   Nothing moves in a bolt action mechanism until you're reloading.

Edit: the bullet has a trajectory, not the gun. Edited for the proper noun.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Galaxy Quest] How did the Thermians build the Omega 13 device without knowing what the hell it was?

The Thermians based their entire society, including their technology, on what was known to them from the "historical documents" transmitted from Earth, otherwise known as the television show *Galaxy Quest*. Yet the show was canceled before ever revealing the function of the Omega 13 device, and Mathesar admits that the Thermians have no idea what it does. How did the Thermians build a highly-advanced piece of technology without knowing what it does, especially when the television show provides no basis for figuring it out?

[Assistant]
The Thermians are a phenomenally advanced society, even more technologically advanced than was seen during their first personal interactions with humans.  Their problem was that due to their culture and philosophy they had literally no idea how to turn any of this technology towards violence.

The *Galaxy Quest* videos guided them in weaponizing their technological achievements.  Some of the technology they repurposed had been developed generations ago, and some of their knowledge of this technology had been lost when violent races attacked them.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: There is no Reason to Believe that Sexual Promiscuity is Immoral.

I saw that there's already a thread about whether sexual promiscuity is "bad" in a general sense, but I believe this is a distinct question.

Apart from adherence to religious dogma, I can't think of a logical reason to believe that sexual promiscuity is immoral. Consensual sex is fundamentally a matter between the parties involved. If the parties properly disclose relevant information about one another and consent with all that in mind, I can't see how either party is harmed. Nor can I see how any other party is implicated, except possibly for a child born out of the sex.

On that note, I'll grant that the parties to sex would have a moral duty to any child conceived and born due to the sex. But I don't think that makes the sex itself immoral.

[Assistant]
As do all moral judgements, it depends on the moral system. Depending on one's core beliefs, sexual promiscuity may or may not be "moral" for a particular person and their peers.

Examples:

Having sex defiles the soul/mind/etc. = having sex is morally wrong.
Consenting adults can do whatever they want = having sex is morally neutral.
Staying a virgin over the age of sixteen is losing at life = *not* having sex is morally wrong.

A conservative community, a group of rationalists and a college fraternity will make different moral judgements on promiscuity depending on their moral systems. It is also not uncommon for a single person to employ several conflicting moral systems at the same time (*"if they sleep around, they're a slut" + "if they don't sleep with me, they're a frigid bitch"*), because people are not inherently rational.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Wreck-It Ralph] Where was Turbo all those years!?

Where was Turbo between when TurboTime and RoadBlasters got unplugged, and Sugar Rush got plugged in? Based on their video resolutions, the two games are at least several decades apart.

Everyone assumed he was dead, but really he was lurking around the arcade the whole time. If he was an egomaniac, why didn't he try to takeover a different game much earlier, instead of waiting decades? What was he doing, and where?

Also, if "King Candy" is only Turbo's disguise to usurp the rightful throne of Vanellope Van Schweetz, does that mean no other copy of Sugar Rush has a King Candy? Or did Turbo "murder" King Candy and replace him?

[Assistant]
He kept hopping from game to game. Obviously his first attempt was unsubtle and inevitably self-destructive as he got RoadBlasters taken out of commission, but over the years he learned more about the code, more about infiltration, and more about how to transition into a game he had no place being in.

As for if King Candy was a new concoction of Turbo's, or he supplanted him... good question.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why do animals make/understand eye contact if most of them dont have a wide array of facial expressions and rely more on body language?

EDIT: I got the answer I was looking for but if you think you have a better one be my guest :)

[Assistant] Lots of animals use sight as an important tool. For instance, hunting. As such, being aware that something is looking at you can be important. Whether it is to know you are attracting the attention of a predator (freezing when a cat looks at you), or getting noticed by prey (like a cat pausing in its stalk). Even though it isn't being used to necessarily convey an expression, it contains important information, like "danger!"


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How common is general anesthesia in dental practice?

Regional anesthesia is used the most in my area despite the difficulty of the dental procedure (pulling wisdom teeth for example). General anesthesia is the last option and barely suggested.
So how common is general anesthesia in dental practice in other countries?

[Assistant]
Anaesthetist from Australia here. General anaesthesia for dental work is not uncommon. It just doesn't happen in the dentists office anymore. If you need a GA you will be booked into an operating list in a hospital. GA lists for dental work are usually reserved for difficult wisdom teeth extractions, special needs patients, and occasionally for extremely anxious patients.

General anaesthesia by a trained anaesthetist in an appropriate environment is quite safe.

But having it done in your dentists chair at their office is.......sub optimal.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do some drinks like beer or coffee make me have to pee so quickly and frequently?

[Assistant]
The term for theses kinds of things is "diuretic".
They suppress the bodies natural mechanism for retaining water. When you suppress this, more water makes it through the kidneys and into the bladder and needs excreting.

These compounds do this by mimicking a hormone your body naturally makes to regulate the amount of water in your blood.

Diuretics upset the balance, make you pee more and then make you thirty - because they've made your body lose more water than it actually wanted to.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Daredevil] Why does his suit advertise the fact that he's blind?

The odds of somebody making note of this is slim, but why take the risk? Why not just wear a normal mask of some kind, and prevent a lucky enemy from being able to narrow down the majority of the city's population as possible secret identities?

If somebody finds out that Daredevil is blind, all they have to do is start finding blind people...

Note that I'm not trying to point out some kind of continuity error of make fun of the hero. I don't know much about him, and maybe there's a side to his personality that explains all this.

[Assistant]
It doesn't, though. In 616, he wears red lenses. Big deal, everyone else wears white or yellow all the time. In the MCU, he wears a black cloth over his eyes, but there are cloths that you can see through quite easily.

Topping it off, he looks around quite normally as Daredevil.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Planet of the Apes/King Kong] The Simian Flu virus makes it to Skull Island. What happens?

A German-owned tanker, the Elch, full of crew infected by ALZ-113 drifts off course and runs aground on one of the reefs surrounding Skull Island.  The natives steal aboard in the night and find the dead and dying crew.

Seeking to appease the spirits of the island for the transgressions of these outsiders they kidnap the only female crew member, Eleni Kalivas, the Elch's replacement engineer after the previous engineer succumbed to the Simian Flu.

The natives have all now exposed themselves to the virus.  Kalivas is prepared by the natives and strung up to become a bride of Kong, who was never captured in this world.  The drums beat.

What happens next?

[Assistant]
Not much. Kong is not particularly smarter than a real gorilla, and the flu only seems to increase relative intelligence.

The Gorillas that live with Caesar don't seem to be all that smart, being mostly seen in fighting and defense roles, and Kong would be much the same: Smart, but not much more so. Nothing really changes.

Also, much of the ape's culture seems to be based around what Caesar  taught them. He'd be even less developed than Caesar's minions.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why would a woman who has her tubes tied get an IUD?

I feel like I have a level of ignorance appropriate for a true ELI5 on this one! I am dating a woman who has told me that her tubes are tied. She recently had a bit of a scare with a mass on an ovary (which thankfully turned out ok). She mentioned that she is getting an IUD soon. Why would she be getting an IUD? We are both in our 40s.

(Note: When she mentioned the IUD I was confused and didn't ask why. I will do that the next time I see her but in the meantime I was curious.)

EDIT: Thanks folks, very enlightening!

[Assistant] Hormonal control.  Also, tube tying does have a failure rate and if they did a scan they may have seen something that gave them concerns regarding the continued efficacy of that form of birth control (some tube tying versions use clips, for instance.)


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Fallout] How important was the Pip-Boy to the success of the greatest figures of the wastelands success?

Numerous figures have appeared since the bombs dropped that have proved overwhelmingly influential in the grand scheme of things. The Sole Survivor, the Lone Wanderer, the Chosen One, the Courier...

All of them had a Pip-Boy. Could they have done what they did without one?

Ignore situations where it was objectively necessary, like using it to open Vaults in 4.

[Assistant]
It's hard to say how much of the PIP-Boy's interface is "real" and how much is a gameplay convention.

For example, in game you can change your character's clothes through the PIP-Boy menu. In-universe, however, it's unlikely that it can make an outfit instantly appear on you at the push of a button.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] If I leave my laptop on charge for 2 weeks will the battery be substantially degraded?

[Assistant] Other guy is outright wrong. Any reasonably modern charge controller will know how to keep from damaging the battery, and it's 100% fine to leave your laptop plugged in all the time. You don't need to "cycle" the battery by draining it occasionally, that just wastes your limited charge cycles.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Batman] What's the worst thing Batman has done to a criminal, just short of killing them?

[Assistant] What he did to Lord Death Man. LDM has a power that brings him back to life if he dies. Batman drops him out of a skyscraper, Catwoman runs over him in a truck, then Batman shoves his broken body into a safe then launches it into space, where LDM will constantly die then resurrect for all eternity.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How does the TSA continue to function despite the 4th amendment?

The fourth amendment protects from unreasonable search and seizure and yet the TSA can take your liquids if they're not clear and are larger than a certain size, can pat you down, you have to go through the body scanners, etc. How are these not considered a violation of the 4th amendment?

Note: I'm not necessarily against these precautions, however I don't see how they're constitutional.

[Assistant]
>The fourth amendment protects from *unreasonable* search and seizure

The lower courts have decided that what the TSA is doing is *reasonable*, and the Supreme Court hasn't said otherwise.  The lower courts think it is reasonable because previous events have shown that air travel can be a danger to individual and national security, and the elevated precautions have become necessary.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What is being in a manic state? Why can't they see it?

[Assistant]
Humans are surprisingly bad at recognizing our own brain states.  Sometimes people don't even consciously recognize their emotions and how they modify their moment to moment behavior.

Mania tends to also come with impulsivity and racing thoughts that can make it very hard for the person to engage in things like self-examination as their mind can be going a mile a minute.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Star Wars] I've just finished the construction of my lightsaber however, my lightsaber has a cortosis-weave crossguard, what would be the best form for me to study?

[Assistant] Any one, really - cortosis guard is good, but it's better not to rely on it, and in general not to let other lightsaber blades this close to your hands. Focus on what situations you're going to find yourself and pick your area of study accordingly. It looks like you're worrying about facing other lightsaber wielders in combat - then usually second and ~~third~~ fifth forms offer good offensive and fencing movements.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: McDonald's employees! Why is the ice cream machine always down?

[Assistant] Sometimes it's out of ice cream and we just say it's down. Sometimes the whole store is out of ice cream and we say it's down. Sometimes the machine is broken and we say it's down. Sometimes it's overheated and we say it's down. Sometimes we don't feel like serving ice cream so we say it's down.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [FF7] Why, if Aeris is to spend her life running/hiding from Shinra, does she remain in Midgar?

[Assistant]
It was pretty hard to escape Midgar from the slums, every path we see in game involves going through the upper plate, which is where she'll most likely be spotted.  Knowing Shinra, they probably arrest anyone on the upper levels who looks like they belong in the slums on sight.

Past that, it's really easy to hide in the slums.  A gang of terrorists was able to hide out there after bombing one of the reactors.  Shinra dropped a whole plate on them rather than try and go through the slums to find the individuals responsible.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] If prions are extremely hard to destroy, and they convert other proteins into prions, could every protein on Earth become a prion, similar to the Grey Goo scenario? How likely is this?

[Assistant]
Based on our current knowledge, prion proteins can only misfold the original protein. There are other factors, but for example the PrP protein is only misfolded by the PrP prion. It can't misfold PKA.

Source: Biochemist with lab mates working on prion filament structures.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
What's the best way to turn a Jedi to the Dark Side?

There's this cute Jedi chick snooping around on Nar Shaddaa.

Gonna go for it.

[Assistant]
Slowly. If this is a play to get a date for the Life Day party this weekend, you might as well quit now or the Jedi might well cut your hand off. And then you'd have no date at all.

Unless a person desires the darkness, it must be brought up gradually, almost to the point that no perceptible change is occurring. Darth Sidious' tempting of Anikin Skywalker took years, and I'd argue that it was rushed. If Skywalker had been even slightly more critical or if his Masters had been more helpful, he might not have turned at all. To Sidious' credit, external factors pressed his hand and it did work out.

To make a long story short, you have to figure out what she values most in the galaxy, then slowly threaten it (without getting caught, mind you). If she values peace, make war. If she values freedom, introduce tyranny. If she values her friends, endanger them. But *slowly*. You want her to feel anxious and worried, not completely powerless. Not yet.

Next, you'll need to increase how much power (e.g. influence, rank, status) she has, either by urging her to take it or by manipulating the situation so she is given some. Show her how her (slightly) increased power can help fix what is wrong. She'll start off using the power with the best of intentions, and will probably do a lot of good.

At that point, start tightening the screws. Make her start to grab for power. She'll still say it is order to serve the Light, and she may even be right. But enough power, taken quickly enough...it will lead to her downfall. Put obstacles in her way. Force her to make the tough choices for the greater good. In time, she like thousands before her will fall.

In the end, she will cast off the restrictions of the Jedi Order and do whatever she needs to do in order to meet her goals. Only then will she be free.

Good luck!


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: What is the difference between Cable TV and Cable Internet? Why doesn't TV ever need to stop and load like streaming services?

As far as I know everything is coming through the same wire. The cable box starts almost instantly when you pick a channel and is consistent from there.

When using streaming services there is a load time, and after that there is always a chance for it to slow down, lose quality or pause itself.

Both are HD feeds, and both are coming through the same wire. Why can't netflix achieve that same consistency?

[Assistant]
Cable TV is 1000 guys in a room all screaming at the top of their lungs about different subjects. You and anyone else interested chooses which one you want to listen to and go stand next to him.

Cable Internet is a million guys in a room being quiet, you ask a few questions until you figure out which one you want to have a full fledged conversation with, then you go find a quiet out-of-the-way corner to have that conversation in. However, there's only so many corners, and other people may interrupt the conversation, or they might want to talk to the same guy and his attention is divided between the two conversations.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: If nothing ever really touches due to the empty space between atoms, how are we able to feel things?

[Assistant] Though things never directly "touch", doesn't mean they can't impose forces on one another. Things don't "touch" because atoms' electrons repel each other through the electromagnetic force (like the two N poles of two bar magnets). This repelling deforms your skin, and this movement/deformation is perceived by your sensory neurons as touch.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: how did most teachers come to be female when historically women got less education than men?

[Assistant]
Traditionally, up until the middle of the 19th century most teachers were male. That's because most formalized teaching was for older students.

Around that time, the concept of elementary aged education grew. Because it was for younger children, there was a perspective that it was considered women's work, as it was child rearing. On top of that, much of the teaching of young children was already being performed by mothers. In some countries this has grown to go all through high school.

Two other factors come in to play here. Being "women's work", it wasn't originally taken as seriously, resulting in lower pay and a poor reputation, both of which have lingered on in some ways, some subtle, some overt. Also, as women were entering the work force, it was a place where they *could* get a job, which hasn't always been the easiest for women.