Negatrons and Positrons would have so much better names
reDUcTIon iS gAIn
Submitted 7 months ago by narwhal@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/e2cdcd8c-e861-4fff-b635-14401a655456.png
Comments
vakbrain@programming.dev 7 months ago
PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Unrelated, but what is the origin of this image? I feel like I’ve seen it often over the years and don’t know where it came from originally.
NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 7 months ago
It looks like a super genetic stock image, and I always assumed that’s what it is.
TheDarkQuark@lemmy.world 7 months ago
This is the oldest I could find (from 2013): dailyrecord.co.uk/…/john-niven-were-living-high-2…
expatriado@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Benjamin Franklin’s ultimate prank
rebelsimile@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
What, and live with negativity at the heart of every atom?
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
You say that as if it makes less sense
JPSound@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Still not as fun as spin up/spin down quarks. Are they spinning? Not at all. And Charm quarks. What the hell does that even mean, science nerds? We also have the strange quark… aren’t they all really strange or have you just completely given up?
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 7 months ago
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_particles
The hypothetical particle names get messy, lol.
Sabre363@sh.itjust.works 7 months ago
Some great names. Sneutrino, zino, wino
Etterra@lemmy.world 7 months ago
What if I told you the original selection of terms “positive” and “negative” was arbitrary?
Anyway a positively charged electron exists. It’s called a positron.
AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Bananas emit either positrons or antiprotons at an average of 1 every 90 minutes, IIRC. Eat your antimatter kids! The potassium is good for you.
mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
What if we just assume current flows from negative to positive?
TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 7 months ago
explain this one to me?
Abnorc@lemm.ee 7 months ago
In Benjamin Franklin’s experiments, he came up with the convention that we use today to define a “positive” charge. As it turns out, electrons, discovered much later, are negatively charged according to the convention. Lots of chemical and physical reactions involve electrons as charge carriers, so lots of physical phenomena have this weird opposite thing going on. E.g. electric current or “conventional current” flows in the opposite direction of electron current. Chemical reactions are also weird. Reduction reactions involve a reduction in electric charge, but gaining an electron. The model works just fine, but it can be tricky and/or annoying at times.
grozzle@lemm.ee 7 months ago
adding to abnorc’s excellent answer - circuit diagrams are all drawn as if charge carriers are positive (this is called “conventional current”), but because electrons are negative, this can get very confusing when you’re dealing with components where the flow of charge is one-way only (diodes, transistors, batteries, photometers…)
affiliate@lemmy.world 7 months ago
this would also be society if counterclockwise and clockwise were swapped. it’s the universal way to talk about 2d rotations but pretty much nothing (except a clock) ends up turning clockwise. it didn’t have to be this way
grozzle@lemm.ee 7 months ago
that’s not arbitrary - the hour hand of a clock mimics the shadow of a sundial.
it makes sense, in the northern hemisphere, where 90% of people live.
match@pawb.social 7 months ago
so it goes the opposite direction that the earth does, great
fishos@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Ummm… Have you ever used a screw? Bottle cap? “Right tighty, lefty loosey”? A car wheel when going forward? Literally 99% of things tighten clockwise.
You’re the person people have to say “no, your other left” for, aren’t ya?
SqueakyBeaver@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 months ago
Just wanna say, a car tire moves a different direction based on your perspective.
If you’re looking at the driver side of the car, the tires move counterclockwise, whereas if you’re looking at the other side, the tires appear to rotate the other way.
Perspective changes a lot of things, it’s pretty cool.
mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 months ago
Also 99% of things loosen anticlockwise. So why preffer tighten over loosen?
affiliate@lemmy.world 7 months ago
i don’t ever use bottle caps or cars. but in the case of screws (and bottle caps), the choice to make them tighten clockwise and loosen counter clockwise is entirely arbitrary.
my main point is that i think it’s confusing that clockwise is negatively oriented and counterclockwise is positively oriented (in the mathematical sense). and the mathematical definition of orientation is ultimately dependent on trigonometry. and it just feels wrong that clocks are negatively oriented.
You’re the person people have to say “no, your other left” a lot to, aren’t ya?
no.
zqwzzle@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
You can get a clock that is set up counter clockwise to mess with people
MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 7 months ago
Ahh! Don’t let the secret of time travel get out!
nikaaa@lemmy.world 7 months ago
No, I think it makes sense.
Living organisms use ions internally (positive charges) because they produce something (like fruits).
Technology uses negative charges because it harvests those fruits, and takes them away (negative).
mdd@lemm.ee 7 months ago
Electrons are considered positive in cars.
dwemthy@lemdro.id 7 months ago
Oilrig
not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world 7 months ago
I recognise the grandstand from the Marylebone Cricket Club, but they tore down the rest of the stadium. I guess that’s a good thing?
Metostopholes@midwest.social 7 months ago
Relevant XKCD:
Image
Title text: Sure, we could stop dictators and pandemics, but we could also make the signs on every damn diagram make sense.
degen@midwest.social 7 months ago
Well obviously the robots would be good instead of evil that way
Malgas@beehaw.org 7 months ago
Right, like the guy with the negatronic brain isn’t going to be evil. Come on!
turnipjs@lemmy.ml 7 months ago
test: Image