explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:1442: Chemistry

2022-02-10T00:19:01Z

Mikeb108:

:"I" would have two in Randall's system as a sans-serif element, and four as a serif element. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.202|108.162.249.202]] 00:51, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

::The crossbar on "I" is actually not a serif, it's a part of the letter. Some popular sans-serif fonts that have a crossbar on "I" include Tahoma and Verdana. --[[User:Zagorath|Zagorath]] ([[User talk:Zagorath|talk]]) 13:24, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

What is the force that holds the two or three glyphs of an atom together called? How many bonds does the i's dot in Ti have? Ann how dangerous is comic sans cheMStry? [[Special:Contributions/141.101.104.39|141.101.104.39]] 06:52, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
:Probably not as dangerous as if you were using Aurebesh (look it up).--[[User:KitsunePhoenix|Amaroq (KitsunePhoenix)]] ([[User talk:KitsunePhoenix|talk]]) 03:15, 8 August 2021 (UTC)
:The letter i can only form one bond, as the other side is bonded with its dot. This is pretty basic chemestry![[User:Maplestrip|Maplestrip]] ([[User talk:Maplestrip|talk]]) 08:20, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

::Ok. Let's look at something advanced. Fe. Os. {{w|Ununtrium|Uut}}. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 12:20, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
:::Sorry, but you mean {{w|Nh|Nh}}.
:::Ah, binary atoms. Probably too advanced for this discussion. [[User:Redbelly98|Redbelly98]] ([[User talk:Redbelly98|talk]]) 13:03, 21 July 2018 (UTC)

Presumably hydrocarbon chains are still supported, albeit with hydrogens forming the backbone in a zip-like arrangement. You'd need phosphorous on the end, with a sans serif valence of 1. [[User:SleekWeasel|SleekWeasel]] ([[User talk:SleekWeasel|talk]]) 08:09, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

I believe he is making fun of incompetent chemistry students. I've seen some draw CH4 as C-H-H-H-H, i.e. according to some random and weird rules that have nothing to do with chemistry. - This comic proposes an equally nonsensical new paradigm. - Aeneas, 3rd November 2014, 10:01 CET

The crystalline structure is not like real-life crystalline carbon (neither diamond nor graphite). I removed that but someone should add a bit about it.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.39|141.101.99.39]] 11:48, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Old English Krypton is particularly hazardous and may explode on contact. Dark matter is composed entirely of cursive script elements. [[User:DivePeak|DivePeak]] ([[User talk:DivePeak|talk]]) 12:01, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

"Mydrane" is a trade mark for a company that markets miscellaneous medical supplies. "Hydrane" is a process for coal gasification by hydrogenation, producing ideally mostly light hydrocarbon gases (mostly methane) and a minimum of liquid products. Not clear whether either is relevant here.[[User:Taibhse|Taibhse]] ([[User talk:Taibhse|talk]]) 12:29, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
::Hydrane is probally relevant. The real Mydrane almost certainly isn't. However, two other words come to mind; Mydriasis (the dialation of the pupil) and Myopia (near-sightedness), which could be what was happening to us Chemistry geeks when we first saw that. Also, the "compound" he claims to be Mydrane does somewhat resemble a pair of eyes or a pair of glasses. -[[Special:Contributions/173.245.48.137|173.245.48.137]] 17:42, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Amount vs. number.
In the explanation: "the formation of bonds between elements often relies on the amount of valence electrons an element has." Should read, "the formation of bonds between elements often relies on the NUMBER of valence electrons an element has…"

-Avenue

It would be a very interesting exercise to invent a new set of symbols that WERE accurate using this system.[[User:Seebert|Seebert]] ([[User talk:Seebert|talk]]) 12:47, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

I don't know how relevant this is, but Hydrogen does exist in a metallic phase unde rhigh pressure and temperatures. It's liquid, though, and not crystalline. Also, C2H does also exist, but as a very unstable radical (basically an Acetylene Radical) which seems to be found in space. I have NO idea where Mydrane comes from. There are a lot of Hydrogencompounds ending with -ane (Borane, Silane, Methane), but no idea how this applies here. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.231.188|108.162.231.188]] 14:21, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Question: does N(itrogen) only have two bonds, or are those angles a different kind of bond (perhaps ionic vs covalent)? If so, tungsten (W) would be interesting, for a start... (In fact, going though the elements in my head, from the monoglyph elements it would be the most complex under this system. The diglyphs might give Meitnerium (Mt... but was that previously Une as a systematic triglyph?) or Thulium (Tm) some interesting qualities, depending on how the system actually works. Triglyphs are always intended to be replaced, so I think those are moot.
:Wow, is this a serious question or are you just trolling for conspiracy nuts? Of course the conspiracy theorists will tell you that before the invention of printing all the angles were curves, and they were compressed to tight angles to make blocks of movable type smaller and cheaper. Reputable experimental chemists, however, have reported that the bonds between two tungstens is stronger than between two uraniums and we can attribute the difference to the angles. It is fairly evident that right angles (e.g. at the upper left corners of "F" and "P") are essentially inert, and it appears that bond strength increases as the angle becomes more acute. Opposing angles (e.g. "K") seem to Kancel each other out. This is still a very contentious topic![[User:DivePeak|DivePeak]] ([[User talk:DivePeak|talk]]) 05:09, 4 November 2014 (UTC)

As for symbols that ''are'' accurate, there are a number of systems. Hydrogen is represented on the "gold discs" on the Voyager spacecraft (as a starting key to easily decode other information on there) but without a complete overhaul of a system, I'd imagine ''no'' advanced civilisation will have started out with "let's show it how it actually works" (accurately, and without elements such as phlogiston creeping in!) before giving arbitrary names. Electron-orbital diagrams probably work well, though, for some things. And something that reveals the (for example) pi-bonds works better in combinatory diagrams. I think. It's been a while since I did any serious chemistry.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 14:41, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Oxygen has 6 valence electrons, not two. It forms two bonds because it's got room for two more. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.105|108.162.216.105]] 16:49, 3 November 2014 (UTC)
:In a typographic chemistry system, assuming that molecules can still be 3-dimensional, Oxygen atoms could hypothetically find themselves strung along other atoms whose vertices poke through the O's (like a ring on a pole). If you were to throw quantum tunneling into the mix as well (probably represented by Stencil lettering), then you could have atoms passing through eachother, thus resulting in Oxygen forming into proper chain-links. --[[User:KitsunePhoenix|Amaroq (KitsunePhoenix)]] ([[User talk:KitsunePhoenix|talk]]) 03:15, 8 August 2021 (UTC)

Could Mydrane be My Dr -ane where -ane is the common ending for an alkane. My Dr = CCH...which could be Cape Code Healthcare? ~~rbnm

I wonder how many bonds the capital letter "I" would have-- two or four? Seeing as how Randall writes it in this comic, I'm guessing two. Also, would it be possible for carbon to bond with itself ad infinitum in a chain which looks like the teeth on a zipper ("C", upside-down "C", and so on)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.177|108.162.238.177]] 00:29, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
::Yes, Carbon can form very long chains, and also carbon rings (but only with an even number of carbon atoms).[[User:DivePeak|DivePeak]] ([[User talk:DivePeak|talk]]) 04:23, 4 November 2014 (UTC)
:::Assuming that you're talking Comic Universe, I don't see why it ''can't'' be an odd number of carbons in a ring. Even if we're forced to bend round a ...∩U∩U... sort of thing (only end-connected, between characters, not end-snuggled, IYSWIM) you can have one that bends round outside of the plane of the page similar to a mobius strip and could still 'zipper' in a closed circuit with an odd number.
:::IRL, of course, there's {{w|Cyclopentane}} and {{w|Cyclopropane}} (3- and 5-carbon rings), among others, and {{w|Cycloundecane}} (11-carbon saturated ring, with an irregular and aperiodic "wiggle" around the circuit) shows one way that the Fictional Cyclocarbon could (just with a greater angle of bond between successive carbons, and no hydrogens involved) work with odd numbers. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.112|141.101.99.112]] 07:56, 5 November 2014 (UTC)
::::My bad - I thought the comic universe was only two dimensional and it would have to be an even number. I need to upgrade my screen! [[User:DivePeak|DivePeak]] ([[User talk:DivePeak|talk]]) 02:51, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

Me is not the designation of two carbon chains. Methane is CH4. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.147|108.162.221.147]]rbnm

Any idea why the title text says "usually" more reactive? Do we have examples of where serifs could be less reactive than their sans serif counterparts?[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.90|108.162.229.90]] 11:51, 9 November 2014 (UTC)
:Usually: For example, serif oxygen and sans-serif oxygen are both inert.[[Special:Contributions/199.27.133.126|199.27.133.126]] 23:45, 9 November 2014 (UTC)

Now if someone comes up with a species with the formula C2H, we know what to call it. Maybe the ion C-≡CH? [[User:Promethean|Promethean]] ([[User talk:Promethean|talk]])

I was never good at chemistry so this is probably a dumb question, but would it be possible to rename the elements to actually work with this convention? Obviously ignoring the fact that some elements may form too many bonds for any letters we have. [[User:Mikeb108|Mikeb108]] ([[User talk:Mikeb108|talk]]) 00:19, 10 February 2022 (UTC)

Talk:2570: Captain Picard Tea Order

2022-01-21T18:46:00Z

Mikeb108:

...{{w|Builder's tea|Builders}}. I mean, Picard is French and Trek(/Randall) is 'Merican but I suspect it would still be a valid option to give the Ready-Room replicator... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.126|172.70.91.126]] 23:31, 19 January 2022 (UTC)

In ''Star Trek: Picard'', Picard is seen requesting "tea, earl gray, decaf". [[Special:Contributions/172.69.68.202|172.69.68.202]] 03:33, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:I would call for a {{citation needed}} here. In case you can supply it, put it in the table under defac. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:22, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
::I put it in with [https://tvline.com/2020/01/26/star-trek-picard-premiere-easter-eggs-earl-grey-decaf/] as ref. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.50.43|172.68.50.43]] 14:29, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
::But how warm is it? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 20:09, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

Presumably infinite tea could be the beverage to accompany [[1099|Endless Wings]]. [[User:Nitpicking|Nitpicking]] ([[User talk:Nitpicking|talk]]) 03:45, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
::This joke should only come on a [[1099: Tuesdays|Tuesday]]! And I'm annoyed you beat me to it ;-) But at leat I found another infinity joke first [[1433: Lightsaber]]. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:22, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:I assumed infinite tea was just a bad pun - as in 'To infinite tea and beyond!' [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.85|162.158.159.85]] 09:12, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
::[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VSYmGSJtCA To infinity and beyond] from Toy Story you mean? Good point.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:22, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

I showed it to a friend an their response was: "[In early 20th century England] they added condensed beef stock to their tea for breakfast", so ''meaty'' tea is very much a possibility. Then they linked some brand promotional materials for "Vimbos: The Prince of Fluid Beef" and "Vimbos: an ox in a teacup". Because I was just about to sign off for the evening, I'm not going to do the due diligence to research, cite, and edit the main article to reflect this discovery--but I thought it should at least be written here to see if others found it interesting enough to add. [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 04:21, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:{{w|Bovril|Bovril}} is a standard beef tea [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.79|172.70.85.79]] 07:40, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
::''Meaty'' is also a term that could be used to describe robustly flavoured teas, such as an Assam. Not likely to be used for Earl Grey, though.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.85|162.158.159.85]] 09:18, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:::Should be added to the explanation... --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:22, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

The concept of iced tea is not normal, especially as Picard is English. Almost but not quite, totally unlike tea. [[User:Arachrah|Arachrah]] ([[User talk:Arachrah|talk]]) 08:46, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:Intravenous tea, on the other hand, is an entirely reasonable request. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.85|162.158.159.85]] 09:13, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
::But we agree that Icetea is? Could be seen as that. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:22, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:Picard is actually natively, and by name, French. Born not far from the Swiss border, his family running a vinyard there. Though he indeed seems to be quite the Anglophile (steadfastly English by accent!) and we don't entirely know how the (re)merging of Europe may have affected cultural and social inheritances on the other side of the Eugenics Wars (and other civilisation-upturning shifts in terran future-history) from where we are now. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.5|172.70.162.5]] 12:45, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
::Are you thinking of Patrick Stewart being English? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 20:09, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:::Me? (172.70.162.5, just above.) Not really. Stewart is from Kirklees (not far from Huddersfield, though an accent or two away), yet unless he consciously drifts back he tends to stick to his professional English voice. But Picard is from eastern France ''and proud of it'', though his accent (when speaking English) is also very... English.
:::When an episode has him on the Holodeck, at least when he's having fun without some Holodeck-located threat currently happening, he can drift into a Shakespearean bit-part dialect or Film Noir-style American to suit the program running at the time, but Picard's natural tone seems to be quite RP. Obviously proving that the future has developed the near-perfect scenario of traditional French wine being made by those with cut-glass English accents. :-p [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.121|172.70.90.121]] 20:36, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

I kind of think that the explanation should give more emphasis to the fact that the whole comic is basically just a convoluted set-up for the Earl Grey joke.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.145|141.101.98.145]] 09:20, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:Agree have just added a line to that affect. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:22, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
::Disagree that this was the whole purpose. It's a punchline, but not sure it dictated where it was eventually going. That it goes into it twice (least-normal affix and then the titletext) reads more as stumbling to that conclusion rather than carefully aiming at this particular wham-line. But YMMV. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.22|172.70.86.22]] 12:50, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

I disagree that separating the tea into segments would not be possible. You simply need a segmented mug or cup. That would, though, probably prove difficult to drink, unless he used a straw.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.145|141.101.98.145]] 09:28, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

While I'm normally the first to jump in on the [citation needed] joke, that would have to be applied to almost every single line of the explanation, so I propose Not Doing That. I accept criticism and counter arguments --[[User:256.256.256.256|Evidently the unfunny person here]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|talk]]) 09:45, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:Great, this has been used way too much. It is often not very funny. And in my opinion should really be used only when citation is needed{{citation needed}} :-p --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:22, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
::I disagree on that last thing, for that we have {{Actual citation needed}} [[User:256.256.256.256|256.256.256.256]] ([[User talk:256.256.256.256|talk]]) 12:31, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

Could the "infinite" also be a reference to the paperclip maker thought experiment - the replicator will consume the universe to get raw materials and energy to make more and more tea. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.225|141.101.98.225]] 10:09, 20 January 2022 (UTC)
:Definitely a problem with a machine that makes thing out of energy, is that is need lots of energy. --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:22, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

I liked "verbose". Most software run from a command line has a "-verbose" or "-v" option which causes it to give more information about what it's doing, usually useful for the purpose of debugging. Rather than providing more information about the tea, I expect that "tea, earl grey, verbose" would result in the replicator giving a step-by-step explanation as it looks up the recipe for tea, selects appropriate raw materials (does it use particles from the air or something?), begins replicating, finishes replicating, and tests that the final product is within normal parameters. Of course, this might mean that the replicator runs more slowly while doing this; which could be useful if he's getting tea as an excuse to take a break from an argument of some kind. Perhaps the replicator even has a 'traditional' tea making mode, where it pauses and describes a more conventional method of tea-making as if there were an invisible chef with a kettle and a teapot somewhere just out of sight. [[User:Angel|Angel]] ([[User talk:Angel|talk]]) 11:07, 20 January 2022 (UTC)

What if the countdown is actually to season 2 of [[https://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2021/09/09/star-trek-picard-season-2-release-date-plot-cast/|Picard]]
:{{w|Star Trek: Picard (season 2)}} is set to run from March 3, which both Wikipedia (link before) and [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8806524/episodes?season=2 IMDb] agrees upon så bad to miss by more than a month, and what would the plane in the image have to do with this anyway ;-) --[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 12:08, 21 January 2022 (UTC)

How about Jean Lucwarm tea? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.69.90|172.69.69.90]] 00:41, 21 January 2022 (UTC)
How about we don't. That is an AWFUL pun! ( which means I wish I had thought of it first 'cause I actually find it hilarious ;^)[[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.153|172.70.130.153]] 11:30, 21 January 2022 (UTC)

I'd like to think that the Earl Grey mentioned at the bottom was CGP Grey as an Earl. [[User:Mikeb108|Mikeb108]] ([[User talk:Mikeb108|talk]]) 18:46, 21 January 2022 (UTC)