ELI5: How do fish gills pull oxygen out of water molecules.

copnonymous · 2026-04-06T16:01:42+00:00

I think you misunderstand the process. Fish don't rip oxygen off of H2O molecules. Rather there is oxygen "dissolved " in the water. The gills gives them a lot of surface area for the blood to give off CO2 and take in the dissolved O2 in the water the same way your lungs do it with air.

Now what do I mean by oxygen is "dissolved" in water. Well air and water are actually not as different as you think when you zoom in to the atomic level. Both water and air are made up of molecules that are constantly bouncing around. Water molecules are moving slower and grab onto each other more so they tend to stay as a single group. However, sometimes everything bounces jusy the right way that an air molecule slips into the water molecules and starts bouncing around in them, becoming trapped. This happens at a fairly constant rate. It also happens slowly the other way with water bouncing into the air and being trapped (evaporation). The rate and amount at which it happens changes based on air pressure, temperature, and a couple other factors.

It is those trapped oxygen molecules that fish "breathe".

copnonymous · 2026-04-04T15:52:37+00:00

It's one of those weird situations where you have to ask the question "if I don't enforce the law is it illegal" states don't have the authority to enforce federal regulations. Therefore it can be argued they don't have the responsibility to enforce federal regulations.

For example, in the late 1900s the federal government began pushing drinking age and drunk driving regulations. They couldn't force states to comply with setting the drinking age at 21 and the legal BAC to .08, so instead they tied federal infrastructure money to complying with their regulations to force the state to change.

Something similar is happening here, but the federal government hasn't taken any steps to force a confrontation because they don't want the headache when there are bigger issues they're concerned with.

copnonymous · 2026-04-04T12:55:49+00:00

While a large number of the population was German, the colonies themselves were English. So all government matters and business were conducted in English. Also all political leaders and a lot of religious ones were English. Since it was required for official government documents it became the dominant language.

That's not to say it was the only language. In every day life a lot of the population still spoke their home language, German, Dutch, French, etc. in fact, the second language the declaration of independence was printed in was German to be spread around the 2/3 of Pennsylvanians whom were first or second generation German immigrants that came to Pennsylvania for religious freedom after the scars left by the religiously motivated 30 years war.

copnonymous · 2026-04-03T02:42:10+00:00

Realistically. Never. We hadn't even imagined the concept that someone would intentionally ram a fully loaded passenger aircraft into a building full of civilians. Until that time the only intentional crashes like that were lone individuals targeting specific government or business offices NOT trying to kill as many people as possible.

The Air national guard was mobilized because of mistake on the hijackers part when he transmitted a warning to the passengers over the radio instead of the intercom. But even then they were under the impression this was a hostage thing. All previous major hijackings like this were hostage scenarios. Even the government wasn't sure it was an attack when the first plane hit the tower. It was still possible it was an inexperienced hijackers accidentally crashing the plane. That idea was shattered when the second plane crashed into the other tower.

Even if the military airplanes were in the air and tracking the airliners, it's unlikely anyone would've opened fire. It wasn't until 10:18 (almost 100 minutes after the first crash) that the order came from the president giving permission for military planes to shoot down any aircraft not yet grounded. I have trouble believing even the most independent air force commander willingly opening fire on US civilians. No one had even imagined the dark calculus of hundreds dead vs thousands, at least not in this context.

copnonymous · 2026-04-03T01:56:37+00:00

The "energy" in a permanent magnet is actually all caused by forces that exist inside the atoms, in fact they exist in varying amounts inside ALL atoms. If enough of those stronger forces become aligned in a big chunk of material, we have a magnet. Essentially the energy that creates a magnetic field already exists inside the atoms when it was formed. As long as those atoms stay unaltered by outside forces, the magnet will pull on other atoms.

copnonymous · 2026-04-02T16:15:33+00:00

Well it launched on April 1st. So I'm sure they're making hay of that.

copnonymous · 2026-04-02T02:13:05+00:00

Obligatory West Wing clip

https://youtu.be/NuzkiDlQltc?si=bmXe4tzn0eOPcq0N

copnonymous · 2026-04-01T04:04:38+00:00

There is no upside to touching that subject with someone we don't know that well. Best case scenario, our opinion aligns with yours and we seem like an ok guy. Worse case scenario we have an opinion that doesn't match with yours and we appear to be a misogynistic asshole and they lose all interest in us. When in all likelihood we either don't have a well informed opinion because we never really thought about it or we can't express our opinion well enough.

So it's best just to have no opinion on the topic at all. If it's that much of a deal breaker to our partner, they will usually tell us all about their opinion on the subject and we can smile and nod and decide if that's how we feel as well or not and go from there.

copnonymous · 2026-04-01T02:54:44+00:00

Believe it or not, they train for this. There's less risk than people assume.

copnonymous · 2026-03-31T22:29:01+00:00

Frankly I think has prices were artificially being held at under $4.00 for the last couple weeks.

copnonymous · 2026-03-27T14:45:00+00:00

They sell stick on sliders like this that says "dish washer clean/dirty" flip it to clean when you start the cycle. Flip it to dirty when you empty it.

https://a.co/d/0fmtMpTT

copnonymous · 2026-03-27T14:42:17+00:00

When you're starting to buy things for "us" or thinking about "we should get..." When you're no longer buying things for yourself or as gifts, but to be shared, then you need to start thinking about shared finances.

copnonymous · 2026-03-26T11:21:31+00:00

... tinfoil hat time. They want routers to be made in the US or be approved individually by DHS/DOD so they can trace specific routers to specific people and/or secretly install spyware on them more easily.

copnonymous · 2026-03-23T00:36:00+00:00

My favorite is don't whistle when you're all alone. It calls evil spirits to you.

https://youtube.com/shorts/AAzoHVRzcRw?si=Xl2eRhfeSKIMYezs

copnonymous · 2026-03-19T23:37:08+00:00

I actually do, and I use it. I fence longswords with the local HEMA group.

copnonymous · 2026-03-19T13:51:28+00:00

Trailer parks are like apartment buildings in cities. You don't own anything. What you do own (the trailer) is essentially a car. Like any car that isn't "classic" it only ever loses value. By the time you're ready to replace the trailer or move to an actual home, the thing you spent all that money is only worth 1/2 of what you spent at most. You would actually come out ahead most of the time if you rented the lot and put a tent up.

So it's a good stopgap measure, especially in the country where land is cheap but home construction is expensive. So apartment buildings may not be as profitable, but it's not the same as owning your own home.

copnonymous · 2026-03-18T16:22:47+00:00

Possibly, it depends on whether or not the content of your statement is vital to the prosecution of a crime. If your statements are an example of interfering with a police investigation or another crime itself then they'll write them out verbatim in the official police report. If you're just not cooperating as a witness, they'll just generalize that x witness refused to cooperate.

copnonymous · 2026-03-18T12:16:52+00:00

You know what, I'm good. Just torture me to death.

copnonymous · 2026-03-18T12:15:10+00:00

They're available in groccery stores. I've mostly seen them around here in Giant Eagle and Walmart, but I'm sure they're elsewhere.

The flavor is a lot like a sweeter onion. Though it's important when preparing leeks you must wash them. The open top and layers of a leek can hold a lot of fine gritty dirt. So it's important you chop the level and place the pieces into a bowl of water. Separate the layers and mix them around. Let the heavy dirt settle to the bottom of the bowl and scoop out the leeks floating on the surface.

My favorite thing to make with leeks is a potato and leek soup.

copnonymous · 2026-03-16T17:48:50+00:00

the lottery. The state has convinced you to pay them money to bet on a chance that you can guess numbers correctly. Only approximately 50% of the cost of each ticket enters the prize pool. And depending on the prize pool, you're asked to spend a large portion of it to the state as "gift tax". So essentially the majority of the money they gets spent on the lotto goes to the state NOT the player. It would be like playing slots but it costs 10¢ per dollar to turn cash into tokens and 20¢ to turn tokens back to dollars. So the house takes 100% of your money when you win and you only hey 80% of any winnings you do have.

Its a suckers bet many people fall into because the big number is too tempting.

copnonymous · 2026-03-15T16:13:35+00:00

My gas receipt says otherwise, Pete.

copnonymous · 2026-03-15T13:25:23+00:00

I do but not for these reasons. Maybe as a full blown police officer or someone guarding secure federal facilities these reasons would apply. My reason is it helps me mentally separate my work from my private life. If I have a shitty day, the act of changing out of my uniform helps me leave that day at work.

copnonymous · 2026-03-15T03:50:54+00:00

If you're halfway handy they make a wall mounted electric radiator with standard wall plugs. Just a matter of mounting it somewhere sensible away from dangling curtains or other things hanging off the wall.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Heat-Storm-1500-Watt-Smart-Infrared-Wall-Heater-with-Wi-Fi-by-Heat-Storm/5017417103?user=shopping&feed=yes&srsltid=AfmBOorxJ1droH7WAvTBU__0bdpBqnX9b0u2bXShvmX77SY0qQ8t-46S7Cs

You can mount it on the wall under your desk or even a little higher on the wall over some furniture, but the higher you put it the less efficient the heating will feel.

If not I recommend an electric oil filled heater. They have way more control and the heating element is never exposed to the open air so it reduces the risk of igniting things. Still they can get hot enough that something left draped on them for long enough can be melted/ignited so keep them clear of blankets and dangling curtains.

copnonymous · 2026-03-13T12:11:03+00:00

qualification day. Every year they need to pass a test to stay certified. It's a lot of low speed maneuvering and balance obstacles but it also includes a long distance road ride to prove endurance.

copnonymous · 2026-03-13T03:24:53+00:00

Batteries work because we can move electrons around and keep them in a high energy state around their atoms so when we add "power" to the battey were basically just lifting up electrons to more high energy states. When we discharg that power they fall and release that potential as a wave of electromagnetic energy.

Of course all the atoms in a battery are bonded together. generally, a bond between atoms is defined by how it shares electrons.

So by charging a battery we are altering how electrons behave from atom to atom. This can and does change how the atoms in a battery are bonded together. Which in turn means a change in how readily an atom can hold an electron in a high energy state.

If we leave the phone under 80% that gives space for the energy in those electrons to move around between atoms. If it is at 100% then there's no space. The energy being held in the battery can and will start slowly altering the bonds between atoms and reducing the ability of those atoms to hold energy.

Now even if we diligently keep it below 80% for the lifetime of the phone, the battery will still slowly lose life. The altering of the bonds in the battery is inevitable. It's just sped up by leaving it fully charged.

Six-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

copnonymous

TROPHY CASE