Difference between の and から for denoting a reason/explanation


So I remember that back in the day I learnt that things in Japanese were
explained by using から or an explanatory particle の and then the more formal
version of から is ので.

Ever since then I've just ran with the fact that から says that you're going to
give a reason and の simply makes it sound like you're stating a fact or
explaining something but I'm curious if there are any specific grammatical
differences or nuances that specifically distinguish the two and how ので fits
into all of this. Is it merely a more polite から or is different from both of
them?




So-called "explanatory の" has many functions and it's not a good idea to look
for a direct equivalent in English. See [this
answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/3685/5010) and [this
one](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/5399/5010), and you can see that の
is used way more casually than "because". Using "because" to translate の is
sometimes okay, but unacceptable in many cases.

ので and から are both "because", which is something you use to explicitly denote
a reason. The difference between them is a frequently asked question on this
site. See the following questions.

  * [What are the differences between 〜ので and 〜から?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/411/5010)
  * [When to use ～ので vs ～から](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/4715/5010)

ので and から are not interchangeable in many cases. When it's interchangeable, ので
may sound a bit milder and thus tends to be used in formal situations.

