p is for pHunky
Submitted 2 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz
https://mander.xyz/pictrs/image/d720a12e-50f6-4816-9745-4cb138d87a93.png
Comments
emuspawn@orbiting.observer 2 months ago
Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
It’s not probably?
emuspawn@orbiting.observer 2 months ago
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Søren Sørensen, who came up with the concept of pH, wasn’t clear on the mean of the letter “p”. It does involve powers of 10, which can also be measured with electrical potential, so the best guess are “potential” or “power”, or several words that mean “power” in other languages and also happen to start with “p”. Bottom line, we don’t know, and unless somebody discovers more of Sørensen’s notes or a way to speak with the dead, we never will.
Geodad@lemmy.world 2 months ago
We can all speak to the dead. The problem is that they can’t answer.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 2 months ago
That’s why I was careful to say, “speak with dead,” implying a conversation.
JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 2 months ago
That’s actually an interesting one.
The ‘p’ could have a different meaning for a variety of languages. ‘Puissance’ in French, ‘Potenz’ in German, ‘potential’ or ‘power’ in English, ‘pondus’ or ‘potentia’ in Latin, or ‘Potens’ in Danish (probably the Danish one originally, since it was a Danish chemist who first introduced the measurement).
It’s very fun that because of the vagueness, various languages can have its meaning directly translated to their own.
mmddmm@lemm.ee 2 months ago
All those words have the same meaning.
porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
And the same origin, it’s not a coincidence they all start with P
Gutek8134@lemmy.world 2 months ago
There’s also pico-, prefix for 10^-12
Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 2 months ago
Protons. As in protons, How many. On a weird logarithmic scale with 7 in the middle, of course.
ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
The p is for potential, as in potential Hydrogen. pH can be used to establish a concentration of protium (H+) in solution. When learning about pH in school, we used pOH (potential hydroxide) as well to speak about bases.
TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Oh we’re going to pHight today, is that it?
pryre@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Easy. Pico Henry. Not sure why chemists are so concerned with such a small amount of magnetism though…
Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month ago
It’s power of Hydrogen. We should’ve been using Watts to measure it this whole time.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 months ago
PornHub
IsoSpandy@lemm.ee 2 months ago
I was taught potenz in my school textbooks. potenz Hydrogen
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 months ago
Phat-ass hydrogen
Siegfried@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Potencial de hidrógeno
Puttaneska@lemmy.world 2 months ago
Negative log of the concentration of…(Hydrogen ions, in pH).
BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 2 months ago
I don’t get what the joke is
fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 months ago
Nobody actually knows what the p means but we keep using it anyway.
SharpieThunderflare@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Why is there a random watermark on an xkcd? The original is here, for anyone who wants the alt text: xkcd.com/2943/
fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 months ago
I scrape the bottom of the internet barrel through a special firefox container.
lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
Fair, but also, you could look up XKCD comics by their name or transcript and link to them directly when you come across them.