this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] Vinny_93 128 points 3 months ago (2 children)
[–] TheTetrapod 35 points 3 months ago (3 children)

People always argue that -num isn't a legitimate way for the name of an element to end, but I never see you guys talking about Platinium.

[–] Vinny_93 20 points 3 months ago

All words are made up and language isn't real

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Then we also need to talk about Sodum, Potassum, Magnesum, Plutonum, Uranum, Cadmum, Chromum, Titanum and a bunch more. Why should Aluminum be the outlier?

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 66 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Team aluminum all the way. A higher up where I work is obsessed with stainless steel, he gets these monstrous heavy duty tables made out of SS that hold objects 1/3 of their weight. Makes lab rearranging a nightmare lol.

[–] [email protected] 92 points 3 months ago (1 children)

STEEL IS AN ALLOY, YOU PHILISTINE

[–] waigl 38 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The actual aluminium that people work with in actual real life are also alloys.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Your heresy is forgiven because you used the superior spelling of the metal in question.

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[–] Wogi 24 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Aluminum is where it's at, and where it is, is everywhere.

Your cans? Aluminum. Your car? Mostly aluminum. Old wiring, you better believe that's aluminum. Your fucking phone screen is aluminum, sand paper is aluminum, half the birth stones are all aluminum let's fucking goooo baybee

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[–] Garbanzo 42 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Two punches for calling it Aluminium

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Us Americans are too excited about making stuff with our Uh-loo-min-um that we just skip pronouncing some of the vowels

[–] VonCesaw 36 points 3 months ago (7 children)

Guy that named it called it Aluminum

Weirdo types that decided they were in charge of naming things decided to name it Aluminium so it "matched" the likes of other metals like titanium, iridium, etc

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

And thanks for that. Aluminum is a stupid ass name.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Guy that named it called it Aluminum, Alumium, and Aluminium. Aluminium stuck, even in the US.

Then some weirdo types decided they were in charge of naming things in the US decided it needs to be Aluminum. It took them about 50-90 years to succeed.

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[–] bazus1 7 points 3 months ago

IKR I'm so glad I can pronounce Aluminum the right way.

[–] CodexArcanum 26 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Always been more of an iridium man myself

[–] [email protected] 29 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] CodexArcanum 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Not as bad as those osmium-heads, plus we've got sparkle and color!

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Aluminum is F grade allomantic material.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Love a good ferromagnetic metal but how about that electric conductivity of copper

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

dwarf fortress taught me that aluminum is basically mithril

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That's because the only way to get aluminum, historically, was to find nuggets of it. The process for extracting it from bauxite wasn't invented until the mid to late 1800s. This is reflected in Dwarf Fortress, as aluminum metal has the same value as platinum and bauxite is a near-worthless construction material.

[–] shneancy 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I've never played that game but that's so cool

[–] [email protected] 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (10 children)

I can't think of many things you encounter every day that just use straight iron. Only alloys that use iron

Meanwhile, you'll use very pure aluminum all the time

[–] repungnant_canary 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You as a human use pure iron. But non-animate objects, yeah mostly alloys

[–] HauntedCupcake 12 points 3 months ago

Uh, I hate to break it to you, but literally all the iron in the human body is either part of a protein or bound to other molecules. It's not an alloy per se, but it isn't exactly pure iron

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (2 children)

He's right, though. I can't think of a metal more versatile than aluminium

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I saw something the other day where a dude talking about a car they were fixing up said they used aluminum for the finish because it looked better than steel and I'm just like "that sounds like how I've heard girls prefer eggshell to off-white. They're the same color!"

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Car guys are just the male equivalent of horse girls

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Non drinkable metals are just lame. You cannot even make a good cocktail without Mercury or Gallium.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Every metal is drinkable as a hot soup

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Team Stainless Steel all the way. Strong and tougher than that weak aluminum shit.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago (4 children)

...anodised aluminium beats stainless steel in every application except hardness...

[–] ikidd 9 points 3 months ago

You... aluminum-loving sonofabitch.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Ever heard of hardened steel you aluminum loving mf?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 months ago (8 children)

At least we can all agree that diamond is the hardest metal.

[–] VonCesaw 16 points 3 months ago

Dragonforce is the hardest metal known to man, it is the metal you use to break diamond

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago

Found the astronomer.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 months ago

Soft ass non-magnetic piece of shit aluminum

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I still can't believe there's people pronouncing it aluminium instead of aluminium

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You do realise that aluminium (ium) is not spelled the same as aluminum (um) ? It's not a case of the same letters being pronounced two different ways

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

Can confirm Rust is superior!

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

Don’t get me started on titanium! 🙄

[–] Pirky 10 points 3 months ago

Titanium is awesome, though. Has similar corrosion properties to aluminum (in that it only oxidizes on the surface), is similar in strength to iron/steel, but is only about 60% of the weight iron. So it's lighter.
Plus if you mix in molybdenum and I think some nickel, you can have yourself a very long lasting spring that won't sag like steel springs after several years.
Main downside is it's so expensive compared to iron :(

[–] superweeniehutjrs 8 points 3 months ago

Together they are thermite!

[–] moshankey 7 points 3 months ago (14 children)

As a former cyclist, steel is real. I’ve seen aluminum bikes fail (as in, break at the top and down tube)during a ride. Screw your aluminum!

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