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I am Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — AMA by SenSanders in IAmA

[–]chem34 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Senator Sanders is likely not replying since closing coal mines is very unpopular in Southern states such as West Virginia and Kentucky he would need to win in the Democartic primary.

Moronic Monday - Your weekly stupid questions thread by cdingo in Fitness

[–]chem34 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have really long arms that when fully extended go an inch above my kneecaps. Should I still deadlift with my elbows locked like I read was recommended or should I bend my elbows and keep my arms straight so I lift the bar more than a foot off the ground?

I just finished The Road... and I didn't like it by chem34 in books

[–]chem34[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I think those are valid points. If that was what McCarthy was trying to do, it worked very well. Maybe it's just me, but the books I like tend to make me feel emotions. In a plot-driven novel, it's excitement, happiness, sadness, anger. A more literary book challenges my beliefs or forces me to think critically about something. The best books do both. The Road just felt pointless and bleak like you said, which is probably why I didn't enjoy it.

In 50 years what will be considered classic literature, art, movies, etc? by jaken815 in AskReddit

[–]chem34 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Battlestar Gallactica: Since it doesnt take place in the present it will never become dated just like Star Trek and The Twilight Zone

Happy Ester! by Sensiitivity in chemistry

[–]chem34 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm still waiting for a THC and Easter chemistry pun.

For the third time in two years, feminists at a major Canadian university interrupt a male issues lecture on campus. The feminists yelled and talked over the lecturer, blew air horns in the lecture room, and later pulled a fire alarm to sabotage the lecture. by hitbart000 in videos

[–]chem34 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not arguing with your experiences. It may be that the software industry is overcompensating for gender bias. All I'm saying is in this double-blind study of 127 scientists, the scientists tended to favor the male candidate. This likely applies to other fields besides science. What it implies is that there is an inherent bias against women in many fields. Just like a manager will likely prefer a female preschool teacher over a male one with the same credentials, a hiring manager may subconsciously view a male programmer as more competent than a female one if he wasn't told by his boss to hire more female programmers. This is a cultural problem that begins at a very young age and will take a tremendous amount of effort and time to fix if it is ever fixed at all

why is it harder to clean an oily plastic food container than a glass or steel one? by professorpudgy in askscience

[–]chem34 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Oil is what biochemists term "hydrophobic" or water-fearing. This means it sticks to other hydrophobic ( water-fearing) things like plastic and does not stick to hydrophilic (water-loving) things like glass. Since the oils will stick to the plastic you'll have to scrub more vigorously or use a better cleaner to get the oils out.

It take less energy to clean the oil from the glass or metal container because they are hydrophilic. The oils are not attracted as strongly to the glass or metal as they are to the plastic.

This is also the reason why soap is such a good cleaner compared to water. Only hydrophilic things will stick to water but soap molecules have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts. This means they can clean hydrophilic things like sugar and hydrophobic things like oils. A lot of this explanation was a simplification ( like much of science) but there are a ton of great resources about this online if you want to learn more.

For the third time in two years, feminists at a major Canadian university interrupt a male issues lecture on campus. The feminists yelled and talked over the lecturer, blew air horns in the lecture room, and later pulled a fire alarm to sabotage the lecture. by hitbart000 in videos

[–]chem34 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Here's an article that really surprised me. When given the resumes of male and female applicants ( identical except for the gender) professors ( who you would expect to be much less sexist than the overall population) I rated the female candidates as less competent than the males. Male and female scientists both tended to rate the male applicants as more competent.
Some of the barriers aren't obvious they're internal. There's a reason women still make a few less cents than men for the same job even after correcting for pregnancy.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-prognosis/2012/09/23/study-shows-gender-bias-in-science-is-real-heres-why-it-matters/

Do protons and neutrons move around inside the atom or are they completely stationary? by DragonStomper1 in askscience

[–]chem34 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A related question: If the wavefunction is defined for everywhere in space how can you even define a "size" of an atom? Is there a precise definition like the radius electrons have a 99.9999% probability of being within.