this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 week ago (3 children)

How so? Absolute zero is the coldest possible temperature, it's physically impossible for an object to be colder. Saying that's arbitrary is like saying it's arbitrary to define 0 m/s as not moving.

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

0 m/s as not moving.

Well, technically...

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

If the earth rotates but the object doesnt does it move?

If the object remains still in space but the earth moves away from it, does it move?

[–] owsei 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Every decision is arbitrary in some way. We, as humans, defined it would be better to arrange the periodic table a certain way, based on characteristics of the elements, but the characteristics chosen are arbitrary. We could've just chosen a different set for ordering, like alphabetical.

Tho, that's a correct (IIRC) yet weird usage of "arbitrary", and since language exists to talk, not to be correct, we might as well not use this definition of arbitrary and stick to what conveys information better.

Edit: I'm wrong! perhaps "correct" was the word I meant to say, not sure tho.