xkcd @lemmy.world randomaccount43543 @lemmy.world 5 mo. ago

xkcd #2943: Unsolved Chemistry Problems

Alt 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'.

36 comments

https://explainxkcd.com/2943
- You need a 4 year degree to understand the wall of text in that explanation.
  
  I was about to say "not really," but then I remembered that I have a couple of those, so yeah, probably.
  
  Exponents and Logarithms can be first taught in Middle School in many places, but sometimes get revisited during Calculus in AP High School or at University level.
  
  I really hope you're joking. It's written with high school level vocabulary at most.
- Explainexplainxkcd.com when?
  
  s0n
This one is easy. As we know from words like "photon" and "triumph", "pH" is actually pronounced "f".
- I wanted to make that joke 😟
They told me at school that ‘p’ meant ‘negative log’. So ‘pH’ means ‘the negative log of the concentration of Hydrogen ions in moles/litre’.

pH 1 is 1 x 10^-1 (strong acid)

pH 7 is 1 x 10^-7 (neutral)

pH 14 is 1 x 10^-14 (alkaline)

(Chemistry was a long time ago, though)
- The xkcd breaks it down for us, basically we don't know because the person who coined the term never specified what it was. It's either: puissance, potens, or potenz. Which means potency in French, ~~Dutch~~ Danish and German, the three languages the scientists published in.
  
  Dutch and Danish are not the same language. So yeah, the Danish scientist published in Danish, not Dutch.
  
  Can the term potency also be used to refer to the exponent in English? Because that is what is meant by the terms in the other languages and I haven't come across that usage of the word potency in English
  
  Thank you. I think the decades-old chemistry-class flashback distracted me from thoroughly absorbing the full post!
  
  I was taught it meant 'potential' but that was 6th Grade in the US, so I guess it was all a lie.
- You're missing a 4 in the alkaline line
  
  Thank you (4 now added!)
Isn't it Potential of Hydrogen?
- That's what I was taught back in 6th Grade.
  
  For what it's worth, my job is as an analytical chemist, dealing with pH readings every single day, and I've always thought this was correct.
  
  Same for me
- Something like that. It's an incredibly weird term.
I assumed it was rho (ρ) of hydrogen since rho is used for density...
Power
It stands for peeps mcgoo
It stands for "piled".

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