this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2024
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xkcd

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https://xkcd.com/2943

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I'm an H⁺ denier, in that I refuse to consider loose protons to be real hydrogen, so I personally believe it stands for 'pretend'.

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[–] arken@lemmy.world 46 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This one is easy. As we know from words like "photon" and "triumph", "pH" is actually pronounced "f".

[–] kralk@lemm.ee 2 points 10 months ago

I wanted to make that joke 😟

[–] randomaccount43543@lemmy.world 46 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 28 points 10 months ago (3 children)

You need a 4 year degree to understand the wall of text in that explanation.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 29 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I was about to say "not really," but then I remembered that I have a couple of those, so yeah, probably.

[–] StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I really hope you're joking. It's written with high school level vocabulary at most.

[–] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 3 points 10 months ago

Exponents and Logarithms can be first taught in Middle School in many places, but sometimes get revisited during Calculus in AP High School or at University level.

[–] JASN_DE@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Explainexplainxkcd.com when?

[–] Puttaneska@lemmy.world 35 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

They told me at school that ‘p’ meant ‘negative log’. So ‘pH’ means ‘the negative log of the concentration of Hydrogen ions in moles/litre’.

pH 1 is 1 x 10^-1^ (strong acid)

pH 7 is 1 x 10^-7^ (neutral)

pH 14 is 1 x 10^-14^ (alkaline)

(Chemistry was a long time ago, though)

[–] Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

You're missing a 4 in the alkaline line

[–] Puttaneska@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

Thank you (4 now added!)

[–] overload@sopuli.xyz 25 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Isn't it Potential of Hydrogen?

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

That's what I was taught back in 6th Grade.

[–] overload@sopuli.xyz 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

For what it's worth, my job is as an analytical chemist, dealing with pH readings every single day, and I've always thought this was correct.

[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 4 points 10 months ago

Are We Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

[–] callcc@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

The funny thing is that I intellectually knew that there were plenty of non-English speaking scientists, but that knowledge was never considered.

[–] assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Something like that. It's an incredibly weird term.

[–] RememberTheEnding@lemmy.blahaj.zone 14 points 10 months ago

I assumed it was rho (ρ) of hydrogen since rho is used for density...

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 11 points 10 months ago
[–] p5yk0t1km1r4ge@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

It stands for peeps mcgoo

[–] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

It stands for "piled".