p is for pHunky
Submitted 1 month 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 1 month ago
Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de 1 month ago
It’s not probably?
emuspawn@orbiting.observer 1 month ago
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 1 month 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 1 month ago
We can all speak to the dead. The problem is that they can’t answer.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 1 month ago
That’s why I was careful to say, “speak with dead,” implying a conversation.
JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 1 month 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 1 month ago
All those words have the same meaning.
porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
And the same origin, it’s not a coincidence they all start with P
Gutek8134@lemmy.world 1 month ago
There’s also pico-, prefix for 10^-12
Deconceptualist@lemm.ee 1 month ago
Protons. As in protons, How many. On a weird logarithmic scale with 7 in the middle, of course.
ArsonButCute@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 month 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 1 month ago
Oh we’re going to pHight today, is that it?
pryre@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Easy. Pico Henry. Not sure why chemists are so concerned with such a small amount of magnetism though…
Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
It’s power of Hydrogen. We should’ve been using Watts to measure it this whole time.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 month ago
PornHub
IsoSpandy@lemm.ee 1 month ago
I was taught potenz in my school textbooks. potenz Hydrogen
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 month ago
Phat-ass hydrogen
Siegfried@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Potencial de hidrógeno
Puttaneska@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Negative log of the concentration of…(Hydrogen ions, in pH).
BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 1 month ago
I don’t get what the joke is
fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 month ago
Nobody actually knows what the p means but we keep using it anyway.
SharpieThunderflare@lemmy.ca 1 month 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 1 month ago
I scrape the bottom of the internet barrel through a special firefox container.
lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de 5 weeks 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.