Ask a physicist anything. (2)

[canehdianhotstuff]

Billions of tons of plastic getting into the ocean from humans is not natural. Just careless.

I don't think plants and cows = as natural as humans either.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

If humans are as natural as plants and cows, then whatever activity we may engage in is also as natural as whatever activity plants and cows engage in. So then why should we "combat" the resulting natural change in climate? If the death of life on the earth is the natural result of nature, then that's as it should be.

Humans have a penchant to alter nature to their own ends. We have this peculiar way of diving the world into the artificial and the natural, even though the artificial is just a reworking of the natural by natural hands. We also have this way of seeing the world as it 'should' be, instead of how it 'is': the world 'should' have nice clean air, the world 'shouldn't' be polluted and uninhabitable.

If Nature is all there is, and is dictacting our actions, what grounds do humans have to deem themselves "special" enough to combat Nature? You're really saying we should engage in combat against ourselves; a Christian idea actually.

It may parallel some Christian ideas, but it's not Christian.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Billions of tons of plastic getting into the ocean from humans is not natural. Just careless.

I don't think plants and cows = as natural as humans either.

Is there any real difference?

 

[canehdianhotstuff]

Is there any real difference?

Ya, plants and animals don't expand their habitat to the point of exhausting it. (unless otherwise influenced by humans.)

As Smith said from The Matrix...

"I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species. I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment, but you humans do not. You move to an area, and you multiply, and multiply, until every natural resource is consumed. The only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet, you are a plague, and we are the cure."


Plants and animals to not nearly affect the environment as much as humans do. There is indeed a difference.

 

[Chesterton]

Humans have a penchant to alter nature to their own ends. We have this peculiar way of diving the world into the artificial and the natural, even though the artificial is just a reworking of the natural by natural hands. We also have this way of seeing the world as it 'should' be, instead of how it 'is': the world 'should' have nice clean air, the world 'shouldn't' be polluted and uninhabitable.

So we're not unique or special, we just have ways which, compared to the rest of the animals, are "peculiar"? And, unlike cows, we have an idea of "should". I got it. And I could practically deduce theism from it.

 

[canehdianhotstuff]

 

[Doveaman]

Billions of tons of plastic getting into the ocean from humans is not natural. Just careless.

This, and for many other reasons, make us the most careless creatures on the planet. Is this how evolution is supposed to work? I'm sure our "ape" ancestor wasn't this careless. He would be appalled by how his children turned out.

 

[SpaceMadness]

This, and for many other reasons, make us the most careless creatures on the planet. Is this how evolution is supposed to work? I'm sure our "ape" ancestor wasn't this careless. He would be appalled by how his children turned out.

Most animals have no regard for the environment, exception being people and then only some of them. Animals are wasteful too, only their waste can always be used by other organic life. It'll be a fun day when hardy plastic munching bacteria evolve.

 

[pgp_protector]

Most animals have no regard for the environment, exception being people and then only some of them. Animals are wasteful too, only their waste can always be used by other organic life. It'll be a fun day when hardy plastic munching bacteria evolve.

Why does that idea scare me?
Plastic munching bacteria + large amounts of plastic in every day life...

 

[catzrfluffy]

What is the thing with the longest formula, like water is H2O, what's the longest one of those?

 

[Nathan Poe]

Ya, plants and animals don't expand their habitat to the point of exhausting it. (unless otherwise influenced by humans.)

Usually something in the habitat keeps the plants and animals in check. Humans, due to their intelligence, have found ways to deal with or work around anything that would otherwise keep them in check.

... until now, possibly.

 

[canehdianhotstuff]

What is the thing with the longest formula, like water is H2O, what's the longest one of those?

Toss up. But if I recall from biochemistry class it is Enaptin a protein in the bodies cytoskeleton of the cells.

Formula is as follows.

C44189H71252N12428O14007S321

 

[canehdianhotstuff]

Usually something in the habitat keeps the plants and animals in check. Humans, due to their intelligence, have found ways to deal with or work around anything that would otherwise keep them in check.

... until now, possibly.

Well, if we took safety labels off of things the problem might solve itself.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

What is the thing with the longest formula, like water is H2O, what's the longest one of those?

It depends on your notation. Some formulae list chemicals according to the number of atoms they have (C[sub]10[/sub]H[sub]15[/sub]O[sub]3[/sub]N[sub]2[/sub]), while some list them according to how those atoms are structured (C[sub]5[/sub]N[sub]2[/sub]C[sub]5[/sub]O[sub]3[/sub]). Basically, you could have an indefinetely long molecular fomula.

Consider DNA: a single human chromatid is billions of nucleotides long, and a nucleotide is about 20-30 atoms big. An entire chromotid (or even a chromosome) is billions of atoms long; to represent it as a symbolic string of Latin letters requires either abbreviations (AAGGCTAGTACGTGACTAG, etc), or an even more lengthy diatrabe.

In short, the longest molecule is beyond writing. DNA is a good example, but by no means the longest.

 

[canehdianhotstuff]

It depends on your notation. Some formulae list chemicals according to the number of atoms they have (C[sub]10[/sub]H[sub]15[/sub]O[sub]3[/sub]N[sub]2[/sub]), while some list them according to how those atoms are structured (C[sub]5[/sub]N[sub]2[/sub]C[sub]5[/sub]O[sub]3[/sub]). Basically, you could have an indefinetely long molecular fomula.

Consider DNA: a single human chromatid is billions of nucleotides long, and a nucleotide is about 20-30 atoms big. An entire chromotid (or even a chromosome) is billions of atoms long; to represent it as a symbolic string of Latin letters requires either abbreviations (AAGGCTAGTACGTGACTAG, etc), or an even more lengthy diatrabe.

In short, the longest molecule is beyond writing. DNA is a good example, but by no means the longest.

DNA isn't exclusively all covalent bonds though, many hydrogen bonds hold pieces of it together that wouldn't otherwise be linked. They are not true bonds and therefore not really one single chemical compound. Adenine bonds only with thymine, and cytosine only with guanine, this because of the arrangement of the atoms for hydrogen bonds to form.

 

[Wiccan_Child]

DNA isn't exclusively all covalent bonds though, many hydrogen bonds hold pieces of it together that wouldn't otherwise be linked. They are not true bonds and therefore not really one single chemical compound. Adenine bonds only with thymine, and cytosine only with guanine, this because of the arrangement of the atoms for hydrogen bonds to form.

True, perhaps I was being overly simplistic. But take one half of the helix: the string of atoms are held together by more than hydrogen bonds. I'm pretty sure you could go all the way up a DNA molecule.

 

[Assyrian]

How about H1N1



yes I know...

 

[Wiccan_Child]

How about H1N1



yes I know...

Exactly! And, to use my example of DNA, we call it just that: DNA. So depending on your notation, you could call anything anything.

 

[Cabal]

Random aside: Smallest molecule is a singly-ionised hydrogen dimer (H2+)*

*What's the tag for sub- and superscripts again....

 

[Wiccan_Child]

Random aside: Smallest molecule is a singly-ionised hydrogen dimer (H2+)*

*What's the tag for sub- and superscripts again....

sub for subscripts, sup for superscripts
[sup]Jolly Good![/sup][sub]What ho![/sub]

So the smallest molecule would be H[sub]2[/sub][sup]2+[/sup]: each proton has its electron stripped, giving it a doubley positive charge.

EDIT: Actually, it would be H[sub]2[/sub][sup]+[/sup], otherwise you'd have a hard time getting these protons to stick together. You can't use the nuclear forces either, because then it's just ionized Helium, and that ain't a molecule. Hmm...