#phlogiston — Public Fediverse posts

The history of chemistry podcast episodes that talk about #phlogiston are VERY confusing. I feel like my head is full of #FixedAir.

Teleporting 20 tons of hydrogen into a vat of red mercury could generate a huge phlogiston cloud, in addition to winding up the conspiracy theorists.
#RedMercury #phlogiston #conspiracy

Void your vowels! Now! Or the phlogiston will win!

😱

#phlogiston #vowels

I asked ChatGPT about alternative terminologies for dark matter:

Advantages of the Term "Cosmic Gravitational Anomaly"

Neutral and Descriptive:
The term "Cosmic Gravitational Anomaly" is neutral, avoiding assumptions about the nature of the phenomenon, while being descriptive of the observed effects on spacetime.

Encourages Exploration:
By not presupposing that the anomaly is due to matter, it encourages researchers to explore a wide range of possibilities, including energy-based explanations.

Improved Communication:
This term can improve communication with both the scientific community and the public, clearly indicating that the phenomenon is a gravitational effect observed on a cosmic scale.

So from now on it's called CGA. Thank you. #CGA #darkmatter #epicycles #phlogiston

Probably a question I should aim at the astrodon.social instance, but then again this isn't an #astronomy question as much as one from speculative/sci-fi...

What would the universe look like if #darkmatter & #darkenergy turned out to be as real as #phlogiston & #aether?

Is a consistent universe even possible then, or does it devolve into locally inconsistent physical laws?

What weirdness should we expect to see?

@mc @emilymbender I can relate. It took me more than 50 years to understand that knowledge of the world is a process for all and everyone, and a few more years to admit that I could have been the guy defending the reality of #phlogiston.