this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 days ago (1 children)
  • Number of hydrogen atoms in a single molecule of water (H2O): 2
  • Number of stars in our (ENTIRE) solar system: 1

That's the joke.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

Thanks, I never would have been able to understand 2>1 if you hadn't written up that amazing power point slide.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago

Iits not a lot, but it's crazy that it happened twice.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago

There are fewer hydrogen atoms in a single molecule of water than there are fingers on my hand.

Check and mate.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

Ken M made a similar joke a while back right?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Obligatory "what about Jupiter"

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Okay, I'll bite. "what about it?"

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (2 children)

It's a Y-class brown dwarf star. Saturn likely is as well.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Apparently not though:

Today, the International Astronomical Union places the dividing line between brown dwarfs and planets at 13 Jupiter masses. This is the minimum mass required to ignite deuterium fusion.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

IAU is well known for coming up with shitty arbitrary classifications about nomenclature that many astronomers don't agree with. They are wrong here because they don't take into account post-Cassini/Juno understanding of gas giant morphology. The IAU definition is outdated and highly misleading.

Copied from another reply I gave in this thread:

I've seen 13 MJ argued as a boundary, but it's selected somewhat arbitrarily and based around idealized models of Deuterium fusion, which has never been observed, and which is a process these brown dwarves would only undergo for a brief flash in their early life. Deuterium isn't abundant enough for its fusion to significantly alter the stellar morphology that has already become established for objects larger than Saturn. Saturn is our solarsystem's example of an object that does not fit cleanly into one side or the other of a mass-based binary classification scheme for determining a hard boundary between "planet" and "star". To understand what is a planet vs what is a star, study Saturn.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Ok, that's interesting! I didn't realize there was controversy around this definition.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

The planet definition that excluded pluto was decided upon at the end of an IAU conference after most planetary scientists had left. As a result, only dynamicists are happy with it. Planetary geologists in particular HATE it and have always vocally pushed back.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

And if you want more, check out what I said last time this meme was posted.

As someone who worked as an astrophysicist for 9 years, I assure you that the question of "what is a planet?" is a nuanced discussion with a lot of diverse opinions and no clear answer that gets endlessly debated by students as they learn that these definitions aren't as cut and dry as irresponsible science communicators made it seem during the disastrous and highly politically motivated demotion of Pluto to dwarf planet.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'd say Jupiter would need to be about 3 times massive to count as one. And more realistically around 10ish.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 days ago

Based on what criteria?

Jupiter is large enough for the hydrogen to become a plasma and dissolve the rocky "planetary" core that was once at the center. Morphologically, it has passed the transition from planet to star. Saturn appears to be somewhere along that transition and is harder to cleanly classify.

Morphologically, Jupiter is a star.

I've seen 13 MJ argued as a boundary, but it's selected somewhat arbitrarily and based around idealized models of Deuterium fusion, which has never been observed, and which is a process these brown dwarves would only undergo for a brief flash in their early life. Deuterium isn't abundant enough for its fusion to significantly alter the stellar morphology that has already become established for objects larger than Saturn. Saturn is our solarsystem's example of an object that does not fit cleanly into one side or the other of a mass-based binary classification scheme for determining a hard boundary between "planet" and "star". To understand what is a planet vs what is a star, study Saturn.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

Infeel like this gets reposted here at least once a month, but this one has a different t pic, and way more likes

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago (1 children)

So do we not count the mini suns being created at places like Livermore Labs? 🤔

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 days ago

We can't make plasma dense enough to have significant convention over radiance, and the longest active run is only a minute or so. We're a good way away from plasma stable enough to be called a star, although it's getting closer. Hydrogen bombs are probably the closest we have so far.

[–] [email protected] 213 points 1 week ago (8 children)

Me: That doesn't seem right. OH. Oh, I am stupid.

[–] [email protected] 139 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I am impressed by how clever that was. Well done.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 days ago

It's almost impossible to see the last two words because your brain is already reeling from the rest of the statement. It took me a few tries to finally parse it.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Not stupid. Our brain can just get tripped up sometimes and read what it expects to read instead of what's really there. The sad part is that there are educated people in the US even today that would be surprised or even argue against you if you stated the other version (more atoms in a glass than in our galaxy). Our science education is woefully lacking now.

What blew me away that I learned not too long ago is the notion that if the galaxy was the size of the US, our solar system would be the size of a fingerprint. Try to even visualize that. (reference is the Epic Spaceman YT channel)

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

We had a young, hippy science teacher through 70s grade school. Looking back, that woman made more impact on my life than any other teacher.

Every year, every fucking year, she'd start with the difference in fact and opinion. "Yeah, I get it already. Can we move on?" Apparently not many others got that bit of education.

She taught the scientific method and how it works, she taught how to experiment, how to measure. I still set a beaker down and wait for it to settle before moving on. And I'm not in science!

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 1 week ago (8 children)

That is a masterfully crafted mansplaining trap.

Chappeau.

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[–] [email protected] 76 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Click here if you don't understandThere is only one star in our solar system - the Sun.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

And if you somehow still don't get it, click hereMeanwhile, there are two hydrogen atoms in a water molecule - H~2~O

[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 week ago (19 children)

If you're still having trouble, click here2 is greater than 1

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And if all of this continues to elude you, click hereYou just lost The Game^TM^.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Drats, it seems I've been outplayed! ಠ⁠ಗ⁠ಠ

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It's 2 > 1, so correct two hydrogens versus one star: Sol

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 week ago (2 children)

There are more memes estimating the size of the universe than there are stars in the galaxy.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 week ago (1 children)

With greater hydrogen comes greater responsibility.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago (13 children)

Most people have more balls than there are stars in our solar system.

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