ELI5: Why did Iraq invade and annex Kuwait in 1990? How could they have not anticipated that much stronger countries allied to Kuwait would intervene and drive them out?

Iraq invaded Kuwait for financial reasons mostly. Kuwait supported Iraq during the war with Iran. After the war Iraq was in debt to Kuwait for something like $15 billion. Kuwait refused to debt relief. Kuwait was over prducing oil when there was already a glut. This drives the price of oil down which is bad for Iraq because they are really far in debt not just to Kuwait but to many countries around the world to the tune of $60 billion. Also Iraq accused kuwait of slant drill across the border into Iraq and pumping oil from Iraqi oil fields.

Now, how does Iraq invade Kuwait and not expect retaliation from the U.S. and other? Iraq at the time was the most powerful military in the region and the U.S. and Russian had just wound down the cold war. Iraq calculated we wouldn’t be able to stomach another conflict with Vietnam and Afghanistan in our rearview mirror.

Another reason they thought the U.S. wouldn’t get involved was a matter of mixed signals from the U.S. ambassador. Statements such as “ we have no opinion on Arab-Arab conflicts” and that the U.S. did not intend to “start an economic war against Iraq”. This was said while Iraqi forces were forming on the border with Kuwait. These statements and others, said and not said, was seen as a go ahead for invasion.

The U.S. didn’t think Iraq was really going to annex Kuwait. The U.S. believed it was just posturing by the Iraqis to put pressure on Kuwait for debt relief and lower oil prduction. I’ve heard that Saddam was surprised by the response from the U.S.

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ELI5: if matter can't be created or destroyed, how does matter currently exist? Isn't the existence of matter already breaking that law?

Matter can definitely be created and destroyed. Mass-energy, however, is preserved. Now if you want to go further with “then how was mass-energy created?” you’re getting into “Beginning of the universe” stuff and we don’t know how that functioned.

Bear in mind that a physical law doesn’t mean “Mother nature has to obey the speed limit” it means “We pretty much always see Mother Nature obey the speed limit.” It is an observation of how we see the universe functioning, not a limit we put on how the universe can function.

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ELI5: Why is dead weight (unconscious person) so heavy when the person's weight doesn't change?

When a person is alive and with-it, they “participate” in being held by making sure weight is distributed to your core. Getting a floppy body to have its weight distributed to your core muscles is hard and this makes balancing difficult and causes you to engage relatively weak muscles.

Even young children will do this instinctively, making them much easier to carry.

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ELI5:How do terrestrial ant colonies survive torrential downpours without flooding in and drowning them?

Water does flood in. However, ants usually dig colonies at least a foot deep. That creates a lot of surface area relative to the tiny entrance hole, so the dirt absorbs the rain quickly. Ants also build chambers at the top of upward sloping tunnels, so water can’t flow in.

As a last-ditch effort, some species will form living rafts that can float on top of floodwaters.

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ELI5:Why do airline passengers have to put their seats into a full upright position for takeoff? Why does it matter?

You’re most likely to have some sort of accident during takeoff and landing. This is also why your tray tables have to be up and you can’t have laptops during these times: ease of evacuation. If your seat is back, and something happens and the plane needs to be evacuated quickly, you just made it harder for the person behind you to get out.

Extra: I’ve gotten this message lots of times, and as has been beautifully explained, your window thing has to be up so, in the event of an emergency, emergency personnel can see into the plane/you can see a fire, should there be one.

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ELI5: If the age of the universe is about 14 billion years old how come the diameter of the universe is 93 billion light years?

Because space itself can expand faster than the speed of light.
The speed of light is the fastest anything can move through space. Space itself, however, doesn’t have that limitation in expansion.

Also worth mentioning that is only the observable universe that is 93 billion light years in diameter. No matter where you are in the universe, you can only observe the 93-billion-light-year sphere centered at your location. Move beyond that edge, and your sphere just has a different center. You’ll never observe the entire universe. As such, we have no reason to believe the universe has a edge at all. It may be much MUCH wider than 93 billion light years, or it may be truly infinite.

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ELI5: Why does putting a mug of water in the microwave keep bread from getting soggy when heated?

The water acts as a ‘dummy load’ when you have it in the microwave with bread. So it reduces the amount of energy going to the bread. Think of it in terms of cranking down an energy knob. The higher the energy the faster it heats up which means it gets soggy. If you have less energy and cook it slowly and evenly it won’t get soggy.

It’s assumed the bread is frozen. Why is the bread frozen? It stays fresher longer. Good for when you’re living by yourself and don’t go through food as fast. As a poor graduate student who knows the struggle lol.

Can I lower the power for the same effect? Yes, basically it will do the same thing. Lowering the amount of energy reduces the amount of 'work’ used to heat the bread. You’ll have a lower temperature and this will allow for the heat to dissipate evenly throughout the bread.

Wait a minute, what happens if I heat room temperature bread? If you heat it the moisture from the bread will be released and moisten the bread. If you do this with water that water will be 'added’ to the atmosphere in the microwave and may condense to make the bread wet on the outside. Of course if you heat it long enough it will dry out or burn.

Why does bread get soggy? At room temperature for example the bread is saturated with moisture, kind of like a damp sponge that has been sitting out for a couple hours. If you heat it up it softens the pores of the material and you get that 'soggyness’. When heating frozen bread at high temperatures it can be concentrated in certain areas and the heat may not be able to spread out. If you lower that temperature the heat can spread out and let the vapor escape.

I worked in a bioenergy lab for a year with some people who studied pyrolysis with domestic and industrial microwaves. We had a metal 'mixer’ to mix up the wood pellets or other biomass. We used water as a dummy load so that the microwaves would not be reflected back and damage the magnetron.

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