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xkcd #2943: Unsolved Chemistry Problems (imgs.xkcd.com)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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https://xkcd.com/2943

Alt text:

I'm an H⁺ denier, in that I refuse to consider loose protons to be real hydrogen, so I personally believe it stands for 'pretend'.

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (4 children)

The xkcd breaks it down for us, basically we don't know because the person who coined the term never specified what it was. It's either: puissance, potens, or potenz. Which means potency in French, ~~Dutch~~ Danish and German, the three languages the scientists published in.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Dutch and Danish are not the same language. So yeah, the Danish scientist published in Danish, not Dutch.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Oh shit, my bad lol.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I was taught it meant 'potential' but that was 6th Grade in the US, so I guess it was all a lie.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

Thank you. I think the decades-old chemistry-class flashback distracted me from thoroughly absorbing the full post!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Can the term potency also be used to refer to the exponent in English? Because that is what is meant by the terms in the other languages and I haven't come across that usage of the word potency in English

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I think that's accurate, the exponent is what it's referring to, but the pedantic types are worried about what the p literally means.