Relevant XKCD:
Title text: Sure, we could stop dictators and pandemics, but we could also make the signs on every damn diagram make sense.
this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2024
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Well obviously the robots would be good instead of evil that way
test: 
e: you can link them directly
Negatrons and Positrons would have been so much better names
Unrelated, but what is the origin of this image? I feel like I’ve seen it often over the years and don’t know where it came from originally.
It looks like a super genetic stock image, and I always assumed that's what it is.
This is the oldest I could find (from 2013): https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/john-niven-were-living-high-2319290
Benjamin Franklin's ultimate prank
What, and live with negativity at the heart of every atom?
You say that as if it makes less sense
Still not as fun as spin up/spin down quarks. Are they spinning? Not at all. And Charm quarks. What the hell does that even mean, science nerds? We also have the strange quark... aren't they all really strange or have you just completely given up?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_particles
The hypothetical particle names get messy, lol.
Some great names. Sneutrino, zino, wino
What in the name of waluigi is this
Sleptons just sound lazy
What if I told you the original selection of terms "positive" and "negative" was arbitrary?
Anyway a positively charged electron exists. It's called a positron.
Bananas emit either a positron or an antiproton at an average of 1 every 90 minutes, IIRC. Eat your antimatter kids! The potassium is good for you.
What if we just assume current flows from negative to positive?
explain this one to me?
In Benjamin Franklin’s experiments, he came up with the convention that we use today to define a “positive” charge. As it turns out, electrons, discovered much later, are negatively charged according to the convention. Lots of chemical and physical reactions involve electrons as charge carriers, so lots of physical phenomena have this weird opposite thing going on. E.g. electric current or “conventional current” flows in the opposite direction of electron current. Chemical reactions are also weird. Reduction reactions involve a reduction in electric charge, but gaining an electron. The model works just fine, but it can be tricky and/or annoying at times.
adding to abnorc's excellent answer - circuit diagrams are all drawn as if charge carriers are positive (this is called "conventional current"), but because electrons are negative, this can get very confusing when you're dealing with components where the flow of charge is one-way only (diodes, transistors, batteries, photometers...)
this would also be society if counterclockwise and clockwise were swapped. it’s the universal way to talk about 2d rotations but pretty much nothing (except a clock) ends up turning clockwise. it didn’t have to be this way
that's not arbitrary - the hour hand of a clock mimics the shadow of a sundial.
it makes sense, in the northern hemisphere, where 90% of people live.
so it goes the opposite direction that the earth does, great
You can get a clock that is set up counter clockwise to mess with people
Ahh! Don't let the secret of time travel get out!
Ummm.... Have you ever used a screw? Bottle cap? "Right tighty, lefty loosey"? A car wheel when going forward? Literally 99% of things tighten clockwise.
You're the person people have to say "no, your other left" a lot to, aren't ya?
Just wanna say, a car tire moves a different direction based on your perspective.
If you're looking at the driver side of the car, the tires move counterclockwise, whereas if you're looking at the other side, the tires appear to rotate the other way.
Perspective changes a lot of things, it's pretty cool.
edit: Driver side in my case is (when viewed from the back) the left side
I thought you messed up the sides but then realised driver side is not the same on every country
oh I also forgot that lol
Fair point. Car wheels are a bit of a bad example. Probably shouldn't have included them, but I'll at least argue that means that 50% of wheels are clockwise and 50% are counter, so it negates itself.
Also 99% of things loosen anticlockwise. So why preffer tighten over loosen?
Tighten = on/activated. You use a cap buy putting it on to seal the container. You out a screw in to join the wood. You do the thing it's meant to do in a clockwise fashion.
What's the purpose of a cap? To keep things in. The purpose of the spout itself is to let them in.
Clockwise wins.
The purpose of a cap is to both open and close the lid. A seal is usually used to keep it tight
The purpose of the cap is to BE the lid. Otherwise it's a bottle.
*Be the lid that opens as well as close
Not just to close
i don’t ever use bottle caps or cars. but in the case of screws (and bottle caps), the choice to make them tighten clockwise and loosen counter clockwise is entirely arbitrary.
my main point is that i think it’s confusing that clockwise is negatively oriented and counterclockwise is positively oriented (in the mathematical sense). and the mathematical definition of orientation is ultimately dependent on trigonometry. and it just feels wrong that clocks are negatively oriented.
You're the person people have to say "no, your other left" a lot to, aren't ya?
no.
I'm not sure why you're saying its clocks that are wrong rather than the other stuff. Currently we have x = r cos(𝜃) and y = r sin(𝜃), and that's what makes anti-clockwise rotations mathematically natural. But if we instead just used x = r sin(𝜃) and y = r cos(𝜃) then clockwise would be the natural positive rotation. And in that case, the unit circle would start at the top and go around clockwise... like we do for compass bearing (and clocks of course). So perhaps that would be better than changing what clocks do.
"the choice is arbitrary".
Except it's not as many other have pointed out. You're just confused and trying to spread your confusion to others. Yes, advanced math gets complex, that's advanced math. Don't drag trig into this when you're just confused.
"the choice is arbitrary".
Except it's not as many other have pointed out. You're just confused and trying to spread your confusion to others. Yes, advanced math gets complex, that's advanced math. Don't drag trig into this when you're just confused.
Also "I don't use bottle caps or cars"? Seriously just buzz off with that. You don't live anywhere where you're not using the simple machine of a screw. I hope Archimedes is rolling clockwise in his grave right now.
Oilrig
No, I think it makes sense.
Living organisms use ions internally (positive charges) because they produce something (like fruits).
Technology uses negative charges because it harvests those fruits, and takes them away (negative).
Electrons are considered positive in cars.
I recognise the grandstand from the Marylebone Cricket Club, but they tore down the rest of the stadium. I guess that's a good thing?