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Unsolved Chemistry Problems

Title text: I'm an H⁺ denier, in that I refuse to consider loose protons to be real hydrogen, so I personally believe it stands for 'pretend'.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by an unsolved acronym (p>0.05) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.

There is a list of mathematical problems that are yet to be solved (such as P=NP). This comic makes a spin on it, by stating that there are (as of yet) unsolved chemistry problems. The scientist at what is apparently the "grand opening" of a new chemistry lab lists several real chemistry problems, followed by one also-unsolved-but-less-scientific problem (the p in pH)

Arbitrary Enzyme Design:

Enzymes are molecules (usually proteins) that act as catalysts to speed up biological processes. These are often important in understanding and curing diseases, so being able to design new enzymes can be critical in medical research.

Protein Folding:

Proteins are large molecules that consist of chains of amino acids. These amino acids chains become folded in extremely complex ways into intricate 3D structures, and the way a protein is folded is of critical importance to its function. "Misfolded" proteins like prions can be inactive or cause other proteins to become misfolded, which can lead to fatal illnesses. Because of the huge importance of proteins to biological life, biologists have devoted significant attention over many decades to the problem of protein structure prediction. This refers to the ability to predict the 3D structure of a protein based on the amino acid sequence, and remains one of the most important problems in computational biology.

Depolymerization:

Polymers (plastics) are very large molecules formed out of repeating subunits. The huge number of varieties and mixtures in plastics makes recycling them a huge challenge, and there is increasing concern about plastic waste damaging the environment.

Depolymerization is breaking down polymers into the small molecules they were originally made from. This is done through a variety of processes such as using radiation, electrolysis, adding chemicals, and other means. Monomers are described as molecules, typically organic in nature, that can bond with at least 1 other molecule (polyfunctionality), resulting in the formation of larger molecules (polymers).

What the “p” in pH stands for:

“p” shows up in pH, pK_a, pK_b, and other things related to the concentration of H+ ions and OH- ions. The meaning of the "p" in "pH" has been the subject of much dispute. It is sometimes referred to as "power of Hydrogen", but the term was introduced by Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen, who did not publish his results in English, and more accurately translates as "hydric exponent". The letter p could stand for the French puissance, German Potenz, or Danish potens, all meaning "power", or it could mean "potential". All of these words start with the letter p in French, German, and Danish, which were the languages in which Sørensen published.

In the title text, someone, presumably Randall Monroe, claims that they refuse to believe that loose protons are hydrogen atoms, and as such, the “p” stands for pretend. This could work, by saying that it is the pretend K_a and the Pretend K_b. However, hydrogen atoms and loose protons each have a single proton. An ion is an atom or molecular structure whose total number of electrons is not equal to its total number of protons, and which therefore has a net positive or negative charge.

Also, there are three kinds (isotopes) of hydrogen: light or regular hydrogen, sometimes referred as protium, heavy hydrogen or deuterium, and super-heavy radioactive hydrogen or tritium. Though, the two latter can be designated as D and T respectively, it's common to refer any of them as just H. Only the light hydrogen positive ion is equivalent to a loose proton, since deuterium nucleus consists of a proton and a neutron, and tritium nucleus consists of a proton and two neutrons.

Transcript

[Hairbun stands behind a lectern on a podium speaking into a microphone on the lectern. A Cueball like guy stands to the left and another Cueball like guy and Megan stand to the right. There is a large sign hanging in the background along with some ornaments.]

Sign: Grand Opening

Hairbun: Our lab will be working on chemistry's top unsolved problems: arbitrary enzyme design, protein folding, depolymerization, and, of course, the biggest one of all:

Hairbun: Figuring out what the "p" in "pH" stands for.

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