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It's an excellent idea for a Stackexchange site. I just wonder what Discovery, Inc. will think about us stomping on their trademark site, HowStuffWorks.com. Suggest changing the name to "How does that work?" or "What Makes it Go?" – Robert Harvey Jul 26 '10 at 3:47

Good point. I like your suggestion "What Makes it Go?". I would like to add some names to the suggestion list "How Things Work?", "What makes it tick?" and "How Everyday Things Work?". Lets see if the site gets some significant following, then we can give it a new name. – ianjorgensen Jul 26 '10 at 6:48

Could this happen to be similar to Popular Natural Sciences? IMHO all current questions would be on topic there, too. – Tobias Kienzler Jul 26 '10 at 8:46

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94 Example Questions (16 closed)

active oldest votes

up vote 26 down vote

added by thyrgle Jul 30 '10 at 7:15

up vote 23 down vote

added by ianjorgensen, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Nov 19 '10 at 20:56

up vote 21 down vote

added by George Edison, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Nov 19 '10 at 20:55

up vote 21 down vote

added by milesmeow Oct 19 '10 at 15:07

up vote 20 down vote

added by George Edison Jul 26 '10 at 4:48

up vote 16 down vote

added by Tom Carter, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Nov 19 '10 at 20:53

up vote 15 down vote

added by ianjorgensen Jul 25 '10 at 22:10

up vote 12 down vote

added by ianjorgensen Jul 25 '10 at 22:22

	Is this on or off topic? I've tagged it as off-topic because the subject is "every day things" - a tornado doesn't fall into that category (at least not in most parts of the world). I suggest being more specific with "every day things". – Wikis Jul 26 '10 at 7:29
	From HowStuffWorks.com: science.howstuffworks.com/nature/climate-weather/… – Wikis Aug 10 '10 at 20:25
	I think it belongs more to Popular Natural Sciences... Most of the on-topic questions that are popular on this site seems to be human-made stuff. – Barthelemy Oct 18 '10 at 10:19

up vote 11 down vote

added by pek Jul 26 '10 at 6:07

up vote 10 down vote

added by Conroy Whitney Aug 24 '10 at 5:38

up vote 9 down vote

added by Lacek, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Nov 19 '10 at 20:53

I suggest altering the question to correct its grammar: How does a microwave oven heat up food? Or more generally, How do microwaves heat up food? – Tergiver Oct 13 '10 at 17:59

I've altered the question as you suggested. – Lacek Nov 8 '10 at 13:07

up vote 6 down vote

added by Jonas Dec 7 '10 at 4:57

up vote 5 down vote

added by Stewbob Oct 22 '10 at 19:28

up vote 5 down vote

added by Jonas Dec 7 '10 at 4:56

up vote 5 down vote

added by John Dec 10 '10 at 20:23

up vote 4 down vote

added by Sniffer Aug 31 '10 at 19:27

	It would be CD/DVD/BVD now days ;) – Tergiver Oct 13 '10 at 18:02
	Well if we're throwing in formats, what about CD-R/CD-RW/VCD/SVCD/DVD-R/DVD+R/DVD-RAM/HD-DVD? I think the idea is "how does an optical disc work?" and has little to do with the specification of the contents. – George Edison Nov 16 '10 at 1:16

up vote 4 down vote

added by Sniffer Aug 31 '10 at 19:30

up vote 4 down vote

added by milesmeow Oct 19 '10 at 15:08

up vote 4 down vote

added by Chris Taylor Nov 20 '10 at 15:51

up vote 3 down vote

added by Sniffer Aug 31 '10 at 19:29

closed as off topic by Tim H, deceze, Barthelemy, Ryan Berger, Stewbob Oct 22 '10 at 19:25

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

	This is a good question and certainly is on topic, but I want to caution people from asking questions that state a precondition like this. (I'm referring to the fact that the question assumes that the ozone does protect us from the sun's rays.) Although in this case, it is true - I think the question could be worded differently. – George Edison Nov 25 '10 at 23:27
	I agree with @George Edison, and as such am voting this "not a good example". – lindes Dec 11 '10 at 20:58
	@George I think you are fussing too much on this. If the ozone isn't protecting us, then an Answer can state that, problem solved. – Tshepang Dec 13 '10 at 0:44

up vote 3 down vote

added by Stewbob Oct 22 '10 at 19:29

up vote 3 down vote

added by NatFan9 Nov 25 '10 at 18:24

up vote 3 down vote

added by Dean Dec 4 '10 at 20:50

Oh, you mean the electricity ones! – Jonas Dec 7 '10 at 4:58

up vote 3 down vote

added by Denis Otkidach Dec 10 '10 at 11:14

up vote 2 down vote

added by Sniffer Aug 31 '10 at 19:28

A little broad, but still perhaps on-topic. – George Edison Nov 16 '10 at 1:18

up vote 2 down vote

added by Sniffer Aug 31 '10 at 19:29

up vote 2 down vote

added by Stewbob Oct 22 '10 at 19:27

And the corollary question, "Why is there air?" – Greg Nov 22 '10 at 1:25

up vote 2 down vote

added by kchau Oct 26 '10 at 21:43

Not a good example. The moon doesn't make waves, it causes tides. The wind causes waves. Or kids jumping up and down in the pool cause waves. I'm not really sure. – Greg Nov 22 '10 at 1:32

Did this question get re-worded? It doesn't seem to mention waves, but @Greg's comment seems to indicate that it used to? – lindes Dec 11 '10 at 20:54

Indeed, looks like the Q was revised after Greg's comment. – Christopher Dec 20 '10 at 23:32

up vote 2 down vote

added by Randz, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Nov 19 '10 at 20:51

up vote 2 down vote

added by SurDin Nov 22 '10 at 7:28

up vote 2 down vote

added by kchau Dec 8 '10 at 21:59

up vote 2 down vote

added by Tshepang, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Dec 23 '10 at 14:26

I was curious of someone was going to refer to Stack Overflow for this one :-) – Tshepang Dec 14 '10 at 1:37

up vote 2 down vote

added by DarkLightA Dec 22 '10 at 10:03

up vote 1 down vote

added by Wikis Jul 26 '10 at 7:31

closed as off topic by George Edison, ianjorgensen, Conroy Whitney, Tim H, bemace Oct 7 '10 at 3:44

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

This question is to show how an "every day thing" can still produce a difficult question. How can someone answer this? Is the question about fuel, steering, electrics, road use, traffic, ...? That is, I think some guidelines are necessary on asking questions - on specific they should be. – Wikis Jul 26 '10 at 7:32

Off-topic - too broad. – George Edison Jul 26 '10 at 18:17

The answer will either have to be an essay, or overly simple. – Mild Fuzz Oct 17 '10 at 12:55

A good answer to this question would be a simple overview that named specific components (as Pavel Radzivilovsky suggested: engine, braking, steering systems, etc.). Each component would merit its own question: "how does a gas engine work?", "how does ABS work?", etc. I would hate to see the car question thrown out just because it contains too many sub-components. – e.James Nov 14 '10 at 18:18

Great on-topic example. Many of you are insisting one should just ask about the individual parts, but an explanation of the individual parts cannot replace an explanation of the whole. You can tell me how engines, steering, exhaust, drive shafts etc can work, but you can never tell me how a car works without some simple explanation linking the components together. There is nothing wrong with simple explanations if you can tell someone "I recommend you ask separately about the specifics of how engines, steering, exhaust etc works." – Jonathan Hobbs Dec 22 '10 at 11:07

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up vote 1 down vote

added by Pavel Radzivilovsky, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Nov 19 '10 at 20:54

up vote 1 down vote

added by Pavel Radzivilovsky Aug 31 '10 at 10:49

closed as off topic by Refael Ackermann, Lacek, bemace, Ryan Berger, NinjaSquirrel117 Nov 17 '10 at 1:00

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

up vote 1 down vote

added by In the Booley House Aug 31 '10 at 19:46

up vote 1 down vote

added by In the Booley House Aug 31 '10 at 19:48

up vote 1 down vote

added by Jeremy, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Nov 19 '10 at 20:52

closed as off topic by Greg, firedfly, solomongaby, Regent, Nate Bross Dec 20 '10 at 17:10

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

Stock markets are such fundamental instruments of economy I think they deserve a good explanation to those who understand their purpose but don't understand their operation. The term "stock market" hides a wonderfully complex system of commodities, futures and gilts trading, never mind the interconnected nature of markets and the rise and rise of microtrading... – Christopher Dec 20 '10 at 23:35