28 replies to this topic

[Affray]

Do you know where you can find the mambo number pi on the Internet? Or do I have to take out the singing track and sing pi into it? (please have a link, I'm horrible at singing xD)

Also, how did she put the quadratic formula to the tune of the macarena? Maybe I don't remember the macarena right or something....

No idea.
I only know them because I remember them from school.
I will try to find a video somewhere though.

Not to mention that personification is actually a linguistic technique used to help people imagine foreign concepts. It's actually considered better to use personification when explaining this sort of thing because it becomes relate-able to humans. Well, depending on which linguist you follow, I imagine Orwell would turn in his grave.

Man I love science.

Personification and misinformation are two different concepts. I understand saying, "imagine that atoms are in this huge moshpit; they tend to expand and get away from each other, et cetera."
Saying that air expands "because it wants to" is incorrect.

Yes, technically you are correct in a very strict literal sense.
Luckily, we are all intelligent enough to already know that an atom does not have wants that it acts on and prefer not to waste time argueing semantics about something that has no real effect on anything other than the complexity of learning a set of information.

Creating metaphors and hypothetical situations, such as your mosh pit, is making the subject more complex than it needs to be, and is therefore less efficient science.

Squabbling over minute details that do not really change the informtaion being learned, only the format in which it is learned, is frivolous.

[flcl_grim]

They change the information being learned in that they do not mention the information involved at all.
At least a moshpit makes sense--the molecules bump into each other. The molecules have a tendency to spread further apart as they mash against each other in the "moshpit."

Air WANTS to be stable, so...what? So it makes a declaration to the rest of the air to stabilize?

"Air tends to stabilize its pressure over time." That is simple, explanatory, and perfectly understandable.

Sorry to rant on such a small forum, but when people use the inanimate-will gambit in order to handwave a crucial understanding of why tendencies arise, it irks me. It makes it "simple" when simplicity is not the point.

(It also bleeds into a territory that a teacher or mentor seldom feels comfortable in: Sometimes we have to say, "I have no fucking idea, but that is how it tends to be. We are still researching the HOW, but we know the WHAT, so run with it.")

[Affray]

Simplicity in these cases is the starting point of understanding.
As I said, technically you are literally accurate in your words.
It is just a small change in nomenclature that does not in any way effect the knowledge being learned.

It tends to stabilize over time, so it does, is just as clear as, it wants to stabilize its pressure, so over time it does.
Same exact thing, different wording.
No less right or wrong than the other, the only difference is how perfectly literal you feel it should be.

[flcl_grim]

When we go into a deeper form of understanding, the want is completely useless.
"Air wants to stabilize its pressure. This is due to the natural intermolecular bumps and bops that eventually even out the spaces between each particle."
"Air tends to stabilize its pressure. This is due to the natural intermolecular bumps and bops that eventually even out the spaces between each particle."

The first example makes no sense. Air does not want to do it because of some natural phenomenon; I hope my point is clear, now. The "want" method is a way of simplifying things in a too-final explanation. It leaves little "HOW" or "WHY" to be asked, since we cannot walk up to an object and ask it why it "wants" to do something it naturally tends to do.


And yes, I am sorry for being pedantic. It has a purpose, though (as stated above).

[Affray]

Your point has been clear since your first post explaining it.

I just think that you are underestimating the intillect of others.
Though "want" is used in place of "tend", does anyone using the former have a less solid understanding of the concept?

As I said with the Noble Gases being referred to as "The Cool Kids", never once have I thought that atoms of other elements had a desire to become like these balanced atoms, but it did make the concept stick in my head for all fo time.

This thread was created because another user wanted to know what exactly wind was and why it does what it does.
So should we give perfectly exact literal answers to someone who desires to learn about the processes of something, or should we explain it in a manner that isequally accurate, but easier to explain.

Sometimes being pedantic has purpose, sometimes it over-formalizes something that does not need it.

[Calvary]

I would just like to point out that as someone who actually doesn't understand how wind works exactly, the whole 'atoms wants' thing did in a small way help me understand the concept better. Since that is what the whole point was - making an explanation that made sense - I think the argument can end there any way.

[Affray]

I would just like to point out that as someone who actually doesn't understand how wind works exactly, the whole 'atoms wants' thing did in a small way help me understand the concept better. Since that is what the whole point was - making an explanation that made sense - I think the argument can end there any way.

Decent, knowledge for everyone!

I would call it a debate, arguments imply hurt feelings, and we are all adults here.
Except for those of us that are not adults, but they are still cool.

[Coconut Man]

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements. Only he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the War. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, and that the cycle is broken. But I haven't lost hope. I still believe that somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.



Anyways, back on-track, now that the concept of wind has been somewhat established, let's look at what it can do.



These are firewhirls, or rather tornadoes that meet with a large source of fire.

Expanding on that, it seems that the most likely circumstance under which these phenomena occur is a wildfire (and, of course, the conditions required for a tornado to form). I didn't research this, however, so don't take this for fact.

This is just the most extreme example I could find, and one that most people don't know exist, thus being the most interesting.

[SIlhouette]

Wind on earth is a vector system, which means that there can NEVER be wind blowing everywhere! There HAS to be a point where it is calm!

<3 science!!!!!