XKCD: It's more than a comic

The behavior of photons with wavelengths shorter than the Planck length is undefined in our models of physics. It doesn't mean they're impossible, but we don't have any idea what would happen.

edited 26th May '18 10:08:30 AM by Fighteer

Thats a bit in the computer sim we're living in.

Selection Effect

A take on how certain kinds of scientific studies can be influnced by the fact the subjects willing signed up for them, as they would otherwise be horrifyingly unethical.

xkcd Phone 2000

Huh, yeah, you see the number 2000 appended to a lot of products in order to make them sound superior or futuristic, but considering how long the trope's been around, it just makes things sound dated. That and the fact that the year 2000 has come and gone.

Clearly, we need to move to 3000.

I thought all the -thousands went out of fashion before 2003. I've seen a lot of 6000s and 9000s.

Uh... start with the current year but increase exponentially?

Well, 9000 is not exactly new either.

This talk of round numbered devices reminds me of Aaahh!!! Real Monsters:

• Teacher: Why is this plot device called the Plot Device 5000?
• Inventor: Because the Plot Device 4999 didn't work.

edited 31st May '18 3:33:32 AM by Medinoc

I heard that WD 40 got its name because it was the 40th attempt to find the right substance.

And it wasn't even an attempt at a lubricant. The "WD" stands for "Water Displacement", to prevent corrosion.

An astonishing number of discoveries in the scientific fields have come about by accident, or because someone was trying to do something entirely different and got an unexpected result.

One of my favorites is that the glue used in sticky notes was created while trying to come up with the best super glue. Failure? No, just the wrong application.

Teflon and vulcanized rubbers are also fun cases. Teflon was discovered when Plunkett tried to store a gas and accidentally stabilized it, leaving teflon coating the inside. Vulanized rubber was discovered because Goodyear accidentally dropped the sample he was demonstrating on a hot stove.

Saccharin is even better for the fact that it was only discovered due to bad lab safety. "Saccharin was the first artificial sweetener discovered. It was accidentally found in 1879 by a chemistry research assistant Constantine Fahlberg. Fahlberg was working on new food preservatives when he accidentally spilled some of the compound he had synthesized on his hands. When he went back home that night and ate his dinner that night, he noticed the intense sweetness of the compound. He named the compound saccharin after the Latin saccharum which means sugar. He went back to the lab, tracing his steps until he was able to synthesize saccharin in bulk. "

The version of the saccharin story I heard was that his dinner rolls were surprisingly sweet, which he eventually realized was because the chemical he'd been working with had gotten on his fingers, and from his fingers to the roll.

Mathematics of clickbait.

Yeah, the fact that after he spilled some chemical substance on himself in a lab environment (and no gloves?!) and didn't even bother washing his hands the entire time (even before eating dinner. Ew) definitely says something, and it's not good.

Germ theory was still considered controversial at that point. He may not have believed that washing his hands would have been useful.

Also some chemicals can stick even after a casual scrub.

Everyone who has ever handled fish should be able to confirm that.

Gentlemen have clean hands, the end.

Ignaz Semmelweiss sees what you did there.

I mean, that how my parents explained the opposing argument to Germ Theory to me, but okay.

Germs may have been unknown at the time, but this man was handling potentially dangerous chemicals. Eh, those were strange times.

It sometimes seems like the olden days just had no health and safety but again, a lot of the science we learn in school they hadn't discovered yet so there's a notable cultural difference.