Recent comments in /f/explainlikeimfive
[deleted] t1_j23pr3w wrote
Reply to comment by NuAngel in ELI5 What is the purpose of continuously spinning a lasso before throwing it? by Asian_1nvasion
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marjan21 t1_j23pdgk wrote
Reply to ELI5: If I "break my back" due to over-flexion (as opposed to sheer impact), what's actually happening? Given the vertebrae are connected by soft tissue, shouldn't that tear before any bones do? by Potatopolis
"Breaking your back" means that one or more of the bones in your spine (which helps you stand up straight and move around) has been damaged or broken. When you over-flex or bend too much, it can put a lot of pressure on these bones and they might break. It's like if you bend a pencil too much, it might snap. The soft tissues in your spine, like muscles and tendons, help hold the bones together and keep them in place, but they might not be strong enough to stop the bones from breaking if you bend too much.
mazamayomama t1_j23pblx wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in ELI5: Why is it uncomfortable to, for example, put your hand or body in cold water, but pleasurable to drink it? by EastmanNorthrup
Note many people are actually hypersensitive to heat/cold in their mouths is extremely painful usually due to weak enamel, stomatitis, cavities, gum disease etc
marjan21 t1_j23ow4h wrote
Reply to ELI5: Why is it uncomfortable to, for example, put your hand or body in cold water, but pleasurable to drink it? by EastmanNorthrup
When you put your hand or body in cold water, your body's natural response is to try to warm itself up. It does this by sending more blood flow to your skin and by making you shiver. This can make you feel uncomfortable or even cold. On the other hand, when you drink cold water, it can actually help to cool your body down. This can be especially refreshing on a hot day or after you have been exercising. It can also help to quench your thirst. That's why it can feel pleasurable to drink cold water.
Masseyrati80 t1_j23orzs wrote
Reply to ELI5: Why is it uncomfortable to, for example, put your hand or body in cold water, but pleasurable to drink it? by EastmanNorthrup
Our sense of perception of heat is "hard-wired" to warn us about an environment that's going to suck out our body heat (unpleasant feeling --> avoid when possible), but not to warn us about drinking cold water, as it would have been a bad idea to skip an opportunity to rehydrate when water is available.
Independent-Office80 OP t1_j23o84h wrote
Reply to comment by lector57 in ELI5_Random Variables? What really is the difference btw finding the probability of say..."getting 2 heads in a coin tossed three times" and "Finding the Probability mass function of a Random Variable 2"?? Their concepts are so similar but I feel I'm thinking wrong and there's actually a difference! by Independent-Office80
Oh. Doesn’t really explain much. But thanks a lot for taking your time to explain the previous. Means alot!
lector57 t1_j23o467 wrote
Reply to comment by Independent-Office80 in ELI5_Random Variables? What really is the difference btw finding the probability of say..."getting 2 heads in a coin tossed three times" and "Finding the Probability mass function of a Random Variable 2"?? Their concepts are so similar but I feel I'm thinking wrong and there's actually a difference! by Independent-Office80
It depends on the experiment/situation
Independent-Office80 OP t1_j23o0gg wrote
Reply to comment by lector57 in ELI5_Random Variables? What really is the difference btw finding the probability of say..."getting 2 heads in a coin tossed three times" and "Finding the Probability mass function of a Random Variable 2"?? Their concepts are so similar but I feel I'm thinking wrong and there's actually a difference! by Independent-Office80
Oh. I get that now. Thanks. Could you elaborate on the inner workings of the PMF? Like, how it’s calculated on the inside? Thanks!
Duke_De_Luke t1_j23o09x wrote
Reply to comment by police-ical in ELI5: How does "acquired taste" work? And how are some tastes able to be acquired no problem, while others will never be acquired? by PuzzleBrain20
Sambuca is a big no no. Automatic gag reflexes even if I smell it. Worst drunk of my life, probably 15-20 years ago.
barrycarter t1_j23nwys wrote
Reply to ELI5_Random Variables? What really is the difference btw finding the probability of say..."getting 2 heads in a coin tossed three times" and "Finding the Probability mass function of a Random Variable 2"?? Their concepts are so similar but I feel I'm thinking wrong and there's actually a difference! by Independent-Office80
You're correct in thinking they are (almost) the same thing, but it's easier for average people (including people starting out in statistics) to think of "fair dice", "fair coin", "roulette wheel" or "what are the chances Ms Johnson has two boys..." versus something like "the discrete uniform distribution of {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6}" or "assume an independent binary process repeated 3 times..." or whatever.
So, why "(almost)"? Because, in the real world, there are no fair die, no fair coins (I believe a study recently showed that the way most people flip coins, the side that was up originally is more likely to be up after the flip), gender distribution at birth is unequal (more boys born than girls), and so on. There isn't even really such a thing as a random sample since we have no way to generate true randomness.
So, the whole coin/marbles/roulette wheel/etc thing is just a way to make statistics more accessible to the beginners and the average person
lector57 t1_j23nv4r wrote
Reply to comment by Independent-Office80 in ELI5_Random Variables? What really is the difference btw finding the probability of say..."getting 2 heads in a coin tossed three times" and "Finding the Probability mass function of a Random Variable 2"?? Their concepts are so similar but I feel I'm thinking wrong and there's actually a difference! by Independent-Office80
Like in algebra
x² is a function. A formula. X is the variable
Substitute x=2 and you get a value
In prob the random variable X can take different values.
The mass function is a formula. Substitute a specific value of X and you get the probability of obtaining the result X in the experiment
mazamayomama t1_j23noyr wrote
Reply to ELI5: Why is it uncomfortable to, for example, put your hand or body in cold water, but pleasurable to drink it? by EastmanNorthrup
Mostly because your mouths "wet", a ton of energy is required to heat or cool, water/saliva acts as thermal sink any hot soup or cold popsicles transfer energy only changes a few degrees and absorbs heat readily when changing state (ice/steam). If your mouth or tongue/gum skin were real dry it would be burned or freeze immediately instead. People with cavities, weak enamel, gum disease or Stomatitis are VERY hypersensitive to cold and heat in mouth is painful to them.
Conversely if you ran your hand under hot or cold water before touching something you'd be fine for a bit, is why wet newspaper is used for glassblowing, etc https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eGqln2ZvTMQ
[deleted] t1_j23nbjy wrote
[deleted] t1_j23nbic wrote
responsiblecircus t1_j23n3xo wrote
Reply to comment by ResponseMountain6580 in ELI5: Does period flow level impact how you feel while pregnant? by UnashamedLiar
Yeah, I’m all for people using home remedies and traditional medicines so long as the potential for harm is very low even if it’s mostly placebo effect… but “yoni steaming” is absolutely not something I would ever recommend anyone to try. Too much potential to hurt yourself in a number of ways and essentially zero chance of actual benefit. The uterus is essentially a self-cleaning organ (*unless you have a medical condition that affects it) and there is no evidence that I’m aware of to suggest that harm is caused by any residual uterine lining tissues remaining within the uterus until the following period. There’s a great distinction between that and, say, TSS caused by a forgotten tampon — which can in fact be dangerous. (Why is it different? Primarily because a tampon remains in the vaginal vault and has the potential to harbor lots of bacteria. Generally speaking the uterus is not such a breeding ground.)
Which is a long way of saying: if you have a vagina please don’t try to steam anything out of it. Cleaning the skin outside the introitus with a mild pH balanced soap is more than sufficient for 99% of vagina owners.
professorjaytee t1_j23n1hn wrote
Reply to comment by Aururai in ELI5 why do electric vehicles have one big battery that's hard to replace once it's expired, rather than lots of smaller ones that could be swapped out based on need (to trade off range/power/weight)? by ginonofalg
The point is, you need more chargers and battery units than driving units. Smaller batteries may make the issue worse, not better.
Aururai t1_j23ml4x wrote
Reply to comment by professorjaytee in ELI5 why do electric vehicles have one big battery that's hard to replace once it's expired, rather than lots of smaller ones that could be swapped out based on need (to trade off range/power/weight)? by ginonofalg
Forklifts, at least the older ones generally used lead acid batteries, or a variant, not lithium based. So they are orders of magnitude less energy dense, hence why you would need to swap every 2 hours in a forklift.
I've seen a few warehouses where they had a forklift battery swapping station where there was always one forklift ready for use, so you drive in, grab the charged one and they would swap the batteries on it and get it ready for another person.. but these warehouses had hundreds of forklifts
Independent-Office80 OP t1_j23mkfi wrote
Reply to comment by lector57 in ELI5_Random Variables? What really is the difference btw finding the probability of say..."getting 2 heads in a coin tossed three times" and "Finding the Probability mass function of a Random Variable 2"?? Their concepts are so similar but I feel I'm thinking wrong and there's actually a difference! by Independent-Office80
So they are just different representations of the same concept?
ginonofalg OP t1_j23m1r0 wrote
lector57 t1_j23lvi7 wrote
Reply to ELI5_Random Variables? What really is the difference btw finding the probability of say..."getting 2 heads in a coin tossed three times" and "Finding the Probability mass function of a Random Variable 2"?? Their concepts are so similar but I feel I'm thinking wrong and there's actually a difference! by Independent-Office80
The coin tosses is your random experiment.
There are several possible results: 0, 1, 2,3 heads.
The number of heads obtained is the random variable. It's not fixed, you don't know the value until you perform the actual experiment.
The probability distribution is a formula that gives you the probability for each value.
So "what is the probability of obtaining 2 heads in 3 tosses" is exactly the same question as asking the value of the distribution (that is, probability mass function) when X=2
This is similar as in algebra... You have a function, for example f(x)=x² and you can ask it's value for any given x. For example when x=2, the function takes value 4
If you wanted to know the probability of getting no heads, if X="number of heads" is your random variable, you substitute X=0 on the appropriate mass function for this kind of problem
DeusRexy t1_j23ltxv wrote
Reply to ELI5 why do electric vehicles have one big battery that's hard to replace once it's expired, rather than lots of smaller ones that could be swapped out based on need (to trade off range/power/weight)? by ginonofalg
Worked in lithium ion battery manufacturing for awhile, people in comments have already mentioned that there are smaller batteries inside the power pack, but no sizes were really told.
Each battery is different, but each of the small batteries I would say the average is something like a Capri Sun pouch, some are bigger, some are smaller. Also, they are pouches, with layered cathode and anode layers (negative/positive), with separator layers between and an electrolyte slurry inside.
hasdigs t1_j23q4t1 wrote
Reply to Eli5: Would it be easier or harder for a pregnant woman to give birth in zero gravity? Apart from there being no gravity, would it be any different at all from giving birth while on earth? by The_Guy_Who_Wanders
It is almost certainly much more dangerous. Any bleeding in zero G doesn't drain due to gravity so it just keeps pooling up in the same place. Not so much a problem for little cuts and bruises but anything more serious is going to be bad for the mother. Also being in zero G changes your blood pressure quite a lot and causes swelling in different parts of the body so there could be complications to the mother from that and if the fetus was grown in zero G and not just birthed there it is 100% gonna have issues because of that but we don't know what they are.
You could guess at all kinds of things that would probably be not great too but I guess we don't really know til we try, at the very least you would want a team of doctors present.