Author Topic: Science that makes you cringe  (Read 49011 times)

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #50 on: 05 May, 2021, 12:54:23 pm »
This from another source is a doozy:

Quote
“A go-to hydration tip is to drink at least half your bodyweight in ounces of water,” says Wickham.

I feel like there's some information missing here. I mean, drinking 40+ litres of water a day would certainly help me stay hydrated, but I don't know why expressing that as 1400oz would make any difference.

Put it into USAnian: if you weigh, say, 180 pounds you should drink 180/2=90 ounces of water. That's about 11 cups. Litres?  We don't need those foreign units [about 2.5L - ed.]

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #51 on: 05 May, 2021, 01:00:59 pm »
Put it into USAnian: if you weigh, say, 180 pounds you should drink 180/2=90 ounces of water. That's about 11 cups. Litres?  We don't need those foreign units [about 2.5L - ed.]

Yeah, but that's not what the quote actually says, and I'm choosing to interpret it literally to MAKE A BLOODY POINT.

One thing I had drummed into me at school - and one of the few things that has stuck with me from science lessons - is that you always state your units when giving any measurements.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #52 on: 05 May, 2021, 01:04:28 pm »
One thing I had drummed into me at school - and one of the few things that has stuck with me from science lessons - is that you always state your units when giving any measurements.

That's the sort of thing a scientist would do, and clearly has no place in marketing *checks notes* fruity water.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #53 on: 05 May, 2021, 01:20:48 pm »
Also, the entire '8-glasses-a-day' is a Totally Made Up Thing.

Humans don't need constant hydration, especially when they're doing nothing more strenuous than sitting at a desk and clicking a mouse.
Yep, as soon as the topic is hydration, there's going to be bluster, exaggeration, semi-science, pseudo-science and pure marketing.

Nevertheless, inventing an entire new phase of matter is exceptionally bold.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #54 on: 05 May, 2021, 01:50:05 pm »
Nevertheless, inventing an entire new phase of matter is exceptionally bold.

The thing that makes it really stand out as bullshit is that they can't decide whether it's a new phase of matter or a completely different compound (H3O2) that isn't actually water and has different physical properties to water.

I suppose at least they're not telling us to drink hydrogen peroxide. I mean, it has more oxygen in it than ordinary water, so it must be good for us, right?
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Kim

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Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #55 on: 05 May, 2021, 02:16:53 pm »
I suppose at least they're not telling us to drink hydrogen peroxide. I mean, it has more oxygen in it than ordinary water, so it must be good for us, right?

Only when combined with antioxidants.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #56 on: 05 May, 2021, 02:18:40 pm »
I suppose at least they're not telling us to drink hydrogen peroxide. I mean, it has more oxygen in it than ordinary water, so it must be good for us, right?

Only when combined with antioxidants.

Don't give them ideas!  ;D
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #57 on: 05 May, 2021, 02:35:16 pm »
I suppose at least they're not telling us to drink hydrogen peroxide. I mean, it has more oxygen in it than ordinary water, so it must be good for us, right?

Only when combined with antioxidants.

Don't give them ideas!  ;D

Been done: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide. There's a section on uses of hydrogen peroxide in alternative medicine.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #58 on: 05 May, 2021, 02:48:31 pm »
 :o
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #59 on: 05 May, 2021, 02:53:34 pm »
'Gel water' is cheap - sniff back your snot and swallow it.
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #60 on: 05 May, 2021, 04:00:39 pm »
At Scouts last week, I gave the little terrors* a survival on the moon exercise I'd stumbled across. List of items, rank in importance when a hypothetical space ship crashes on the moon etc etc.

One item was a pair of automatic pistols, with ammunition.  The "official" answer said that these could be used as propulsion devices, presumably in an action/equal and opposite reaction kind of a way.

Conservation of momentum.  Let’s say the bullet has a mass of 50g, and the astronaut plus gun have a combined mass of 100kg.  The bullet is accelerated to 2,000mph. Assuming equal and opposite and conservation of momentum the astronaut will be accelerated to 50 / 100, 000 * 2,000 = 1 mph.  Moon’s gravity is roughly 1/6 of Earth’s. I’ll let someone else work out how soon the astronaut will hit the surface again and lose their speed, or how often the gun needs to be fired and at what angle to optimise time moving above the surface.

ian

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #61 on: 05 May, 2021, 04:17:33 pm »
Nevertheless, inventing an entire new phase of matter is exceptionally bold.

The thing that makes it really stand out as bullshit is that they can't decide whether it's a new phase of matter or a completely different compound (H3O2) that isn't actually water and has different physical properties to water.

I suppose at least they're not telling us to drink hydrogen peroxide. I mean, it has more oxygen in it than ordinary water, so it must be good for us, right?

But surely if you ingested water with more hydrogen you'd get lighter and lose weight. Gel water is the new weight loss sensation.

Giraffe

  • I brake for Giraffes
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #62 on: 10 May, 2021, 07:12:39 am »
Article about making an area suitable for reptiles: needs sunshine, so put it on the S side of the valley.

Many years ago my then gf gave me directions to her friends' house. Roughly: along A-road to village, 2nd. R, house some way down on R, sundial on front of house. I said that it would be on the L. She thought for a moment then asked how I knew that. Well, N along A-road, R, so heading E, house on R would face N.
A sundial is a solar device - it stops when in shade. Needs a back-up battery.
2x4: thick plank; 4x4: 2 of 'em.

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #63 on: 10 May, 2021, 07:21:54 am »
Recently saw a house with a solar panel on the north-facing roof slope. There was none on the south-facing slope. Why?
Move Faster and Bake Things

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #64 on: 10 May, 2021, 07:40:41 am »
Recently saw a house with a solar panel on the north-facing roof slope. There was none on the south-facing slope. Why?
Was it in the southern hemisphere?
Quote from: Kim
Paging Diver300.  Diver300 to the GSM Trimphone, please...

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #65 on: 10 May, 2021, 07:57:08 am »
Recently saw a house with a solar panel on the north-facing roof slope. There was none on the south-facing slope. Why?
Was it in the southern hemisphere?
There's a new-build-look-a-bit-Victorian round the corner from me with a solar panel on a north-facing aspect of the roof.

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #66 on: 10 May, 2021, 08:32:35 am »
Recently saw a house with a solar panel on the north-facing roof slope. There was none on the south-facing slope. Why?
Was it in the southern hemisphere?

Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond my control, I have not been in the southern hemisphere recently, not since 2018 in fact.
Move Faster and Bake Things

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #67 on: 10 May, 2021, 08:40:12 am »
Quote
"GPS is often only accurate to 4-5m. W3W divides the world into 3x3m squares, so it is more accurate than GPS."


(Have I ever mentioned how much I loath W3W?)
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #68 on: 10 May, 2021, 08:40:16 am »
Nevertheless, inventing an entire new phase of matter is exceptionally bold.

The thing that makes it really stand out as bullshit is that they can't decide whether it's a new phase of matter or a completely different compound (H3O2) that isn't actually water and has different physical properties to water.

I suppose at least they're not telling us to drink hydrogen peroxide. I mean, it has more oxygen in it than ordinary water, so it must be good for us, right?
H3O2? My remembered chemistry is about on the same level as you say yours is, but I'd like them to run a diagram of that past someone who knows.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ian

Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #69 on: 10 May, 2021, 10:17:34 am »
I think they're adding up water plus a free hydroxyl (OH) which does happen (but H2O+OH- doesn't equal H3O2). Pure water is a complex molecular fluid that comprises all manner of associations between water molecules and the constituent ions, of which much pseudoscience is claimed. It's the same crap that leads to the 'structure of water' claimed by advocates of homoeopathy, that somehow information can be 'imprinted' in these structures. In reality, these associations are fleeting, lasting pico- and nanoseconds and part of the standard thermodynamic (and stochastic) processes that govern molecular interactions in such a fluid.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #70 on: 10 May, 2021, 12:05:31 pm »
Recently saw a house with a solar panel on the north-facing roof slope. There was none on the south-facing slope. Why?

Maybe they were holding the compass upside-down or didn't want to give the house prices cancer or something?

There's an argument for encouraging west-facing solar panels, in order to give greater output when the grid needs it most.

Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #71 on: 10 May, 2021, 12:17:28 pm »
Recently saw a house with a solar panel on the north-facing roof slope. There was none on the south-facing slope. Why?

Maybe they were holding the compass upside-down or didn't want to give the house prices cancer or something?

There's an argument for encouraging west-facing solar panels, in order to give greater output when the grid needs it most.
Or a compass like one of the two in this picture:

(Bought the compass, walked out of shop, looked at sky, looked at compass, was pretty sure we don't keep the sun in the north at midday, walked back into shop, swapped it out)
There are two ways you can get exercise out of a bicycle: you can
"overhaul" it, or you can ride it.  (Jerome K Jerome)

Bluebottle

  • Everybody's gotta be somewhere
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #72 on: 10 May, 2021, 10:28:33 pm »
A propos compasses. I may or may not work for a teaching establishment that has a name that is synonymous with a certain meridian. There is a scupture on the lawn of said institution that is meant to be a sundial. Whoever installed it needed a bit more supervision- north points east.
Dieu, je vous soupçonne d'être un intellectuel de gauche.

FGG #5465

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: Science that makes you cringe
« Reply #73 on: 11 May, 2021, 08:42:59 am »
A propos compasses. I may or may not work for a teaching establishment that has a name that is synonymous with a certain meridian. There is a scupture on the lawn of said institution that is meant to be a sundial. Whoever installed it needed a bit more supervision- north points east.

All responsibility for scientific accuracy evaporated at the word sculpture.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

<i>Marmite slave</i>