this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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Science Memes

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[–] buycurious@lemmy.world 131 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Reminds me on this chemist joke:

A man brought his chemist friend to the bar for a drink with the other friends. When asked what he wanted, the chemist decided that since she's the designated driver, she'll order water. "I'll have some H20, please!" the chemist said, with the man replying "I'll have some H20 too!"

The man died of ingesting hydrogen peroxide.

[–] HonoraryMancunian@lemmy.world 110 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And the joke's alternative anti joke punchline:

The bartender served them both water, because he fully understands everyday human interaction and translated the request as intended.

[–] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Well, for as much as you use the chemical formula for water in your everyday human interactions, anyway

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The bartender didn't mind, since he has a sense of humor and understood he worked in an entertainment facility where people derive fun from saying and doing goofy things with friends and acquaintances, and this isn't even be the weirdest thing he has heard a patron say this week.

"Your mom is so fat, when she sits around the house ... she's morbidly obese."

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 50 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Little Billy was a chemist

Little Billy is no more

For what he thought was H2O

Was H2SO4

[–] mustardman@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 1 year ago

I've heard it as:

Little Billy took a drink, of which he'll drink no more.

For what he thought was H2O was H2SO4.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

For better meter: Johnny was a chemist's son, but Johnny is no more / What Johnny thought was H2O you get the idea.

[–] lunarul@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago

"I'll have some H20, please!" the chemist said

To which the bartender replied "I'm sorry, but we don't have icosatomic hydrogen"

[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 29 points 1 year ago

I love the sequel to that one, too. Same set up. ... The first man orders H20 The second man says "why would you say that? It's incredibly pretentious, and you look like a jerk. Just order water." The first man frowns and sulks because his murder plot has been foiled.

[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

is it called hydrogen peroxide because there’s one hydrogen per oxide?

[–] ornery_chemist@mander.xyz 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's actually because "per" is used to denote the maximum "proportion" of an element. Compare "oxide", which is just one oxygen. "per-" is also used in chemistry in the sense of the Latin prefix "per-", which attaches to adjectives and verbs and such to convey the sense of "very" or "all the way". For example, sometimes we refer to molecules as being "perdeuterated" when all hydrogen atoms have been replaced with the heavy isotope deuterium.

[–] Akasazh@feddit.nl 5 points 1 year ago

So, technically, yes

[–] protist@mander.xyz 69 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] Jajcus@kbin.social 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Suprisingly mild and not very reactive. And I wondered if this even exists.

[–] Umbrias@beehaw.org 18 points 1 year ago

Uranium - it makes things safer!

[–] peopleproblems@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago

it is a confirmed human carcinogen.

See, that's the good stuff

[–] Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works 22 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Thanks. I was wondering if it was a liquid or not. Crystaline solid.

Ok, but definitely don't drink it if it's liquid then.

[–] TheObserver@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Thanks for saying that saved me a click

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[–] ArtisinalBS@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

Oh my god I didn't think it was an actual molecule...

[–] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 57 points 1 year ago

Sweet, a yellow cake dispenser! It's strangely difficult to acquire

[–] argv_minus_one@beehaw.org 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This must be what Nuka-Cola is made of.

[–] ornery_chemist@mander.xyz 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Pfff U(IV)? More like U's a little bitch that can't add that weeny little O-O single bond. The only oxyuranium species worthy of entering my body are stripped of all valence electrons. Good ol peruranic acid, U(O)2(OH)2, that's the real quencher!

[–] Knusper@feddit.de 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don't want to drink pure H₂O either...

[–] Umbrias@beehaw.org 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I mean, unless I'm missing something it should be fine as long as you get salts another way.

[–] notacat@mander.xyz 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Correct. I have no idea why people are freaking out over drinking water. We constantly eat and drink things that have wildly different osmolarity than our cells and yet here we still are. Our stomach and intestinal mucosa cells are not going to burst if we accidentally drink a milkshake (a hyperosmotic solution).

[–] Umbrias@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

From what I can tell, they were told about osmosis and did not understand the actual volume of water involved in the quirky example of extremeness.

[–] Knusper@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Going to link the comment of @ParsnipWitch@feddit.de, as that's a better explanation than I could have provided: https://feddit.de/comment/2620197

@can@sh.itjust.works

[–] Umbrias@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So exactly what I said. Balance it with other salts and you're fine. Most water doesn't have enough salts to balance your system anyway, that's called saline, and you would notice if you drank it.

Pure water is fine and will have no significant difference to any given generally safe tap water.

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[–] can@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

No? What would it be like?

[–] Aux@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It will damage your skin and mucous membranes. Pure H2O is quite reactive and will drain minerals from the environment. If your body is such an environment, it will get minor damages.

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[–] Chais@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Probably tasting remarkably bland and would likely mess with your electrolyte and mineral levels.

[–] Yoryo@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago (6 children)

Isn't it just distilled water?

[–] ParsnipWitch@feddit.de 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

Like in the other comments, you can drink distilled water as long as you only drink a "normal amount".

It's still an interesting thing to know, that you actually starve when drinking large quantities of distilled water (well, in theory since you have other stuff in your body that enriches the water with minerals anyway).

Through osmosis the cells on your mucosae will try to equalise the mineral content between the water and themselves. But since distilled water has no minerals they will take in so much water that they burst.

If you would drink liters and liters of distilled water, the cells responsible for taking in minerals will all be gone and you starve long-term.

Short-term you die from organ failure anyway, with your body desperately trying to keep in the minerals. This is the same as the good old water intoxication. Just that you reach that threshold faster with distilled water.

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[–] DasRundeEtwas@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

it basically is, although most distilled water does contain a small amount of contaminants, so it would likely not count as cemically pure.

as for drinking it: i've found this article, according to which you shouldnt expect health problems, provided you eat a healthy diet. As most minerals we consume come from our food, not the water.

then again it supposedly tastes bland, is more expensive than tap water (provided your tap water is safely drinkable) and why even take the risk?

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"Purified water is water that has been mechanically filtered or processed to remove impurities and make it suitable for use. Distilled water was, formerly, the most common form of purified water, but, in recent years, water is more frequently purified by other processes including capacitive deionization, reverse osmosis, carbon filtering, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, ultraviolet oxidation, or electrodeionization. Combinations of a number of these processes have come into use to produce ultrapure water of such high purity that its trace contaminants are measured in parts per billion (ppb) or parts per trillion (ppt). "

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purified_water

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[–] siipale@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I have drunk a cup of ultra pure water. Taste wasn't very different from tap water. I have no idea if it messed with my electrolyte levels much but seemed to be safe to drink.

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[–] stebo02@sopuli.xyz 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

wouldn't it be uranium dihydrogen ~~per~~ tetraoxide?

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I believe that would be H2O2?

H2O4 would be Tetraoxidane if I’m not mistaken, but neither of those takes into account the U (Uranium) at the end there.

Of course, I don’t know much about how things would go beyond production, they may reach with each other and ultimately settle into something else.

[–] stebo02@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you're right, so the original post has not just one but two mistakes

[–] Philharmonic3@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

I learned a rhyme once that's relevant:

Danny was a scientist, but now he is no more, for what he thought was H2O, was H2SO4

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