Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1

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If we took material like rock from space and got it back to Earth enough times, would Earth grow as a planet? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by [email protected] to c/showerthoughts

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As the title says. I'm actually thinking about this hard with my friends because everything that's produced on Earth stays on Earth so it doesn't change size, but what if it's not from Earth but it stays on Earth?

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I have no clue what units that c2 formula are actually in 😕

c is the speed of light, so you can use any distance over time unit. But most commonly it's given as 299 792 458 m/s

Like we could define our own units such that 1 unit of e equals 1 unit of m.

So you can't since m is multiplied by c and c isn't equal to 1.

[–] ccunning 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Oof - I have to rethink everything I thought I knew about E=mc^2^ 🫠

I’ve always discounted c^2^ as “just a number” and didn’t consider it was a number of specific units 🫣

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I’ve always discounted c2 as “just a number” and didn’t consider it was a number of specific units 🫣

This is actually very common and I even remember physics teacher basically using the words "don't worry about it, it's just a really big number", because their point was to imaging the big amount of energy you could get from very little mass.

But I mostly blame old documentaries about atom bombs that just threw in the absolute basics to make what is basically explosion porn.

[–] ccunning 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I even remember physics teacher basically using the words "don't worry about it, it's just a really big number"

Ok - This is literally the origin for me. My 8th grade “physical science” teacher told us this.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago

My 8th grade “physical science” teacher told us this.

Yeah, that checks out. It is an interesting concepts that can peak student's curiosity, but to early to really get into quantum mechanics. So for people that don't further pursue an interest in physics, that's often the last impression they are left with.

I had the fortune to have a physics professor as a dad. I carried a laminated double sided periodic table since elementary school. We didn't even have chemistry of physics until secondary school ....

[–] Malfeasant 1 points 9 months ago

Actually you can.