this post was submitted on 01 May 2024
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Science Memes

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It definitely was a good idea though (sopuli.xyz)
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 83 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, for mining, by doing what the meme says (I don't know what "fossilized algae" refers to, but it makes the nitro not go boom, when it really wants to boom). After seeing what it was eventually used for (bombs. Lots and lots of bombs) he regretted ever making it. He set up the Nobel Peace Prize as a result, to try and even the scales a bit, so to speak

[–] [email protected] 85 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don’t know what “fossilized algae” refers to

Looked it up:

Nobel found that when nitroglycerin was incorporated in an absorbent inert substance like kieselguhr (diatomaceous earth) it became safer and more convenient to handle, and this mixture he patented in 1867 as "dynamite".

Diatomaceous earth consists of the fossilized remains of diatoms, a type of hard-shelled microalgae.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel#Nobel_Prize

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Ooh. Diatomaceous earth is also the best safest healthiest most humane method of fending off bed bugs.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I'm all for being humane but I would stab a bed bug with a pin and yell "die, fucker". Same goes for mosquitos, ticks and fleas.

Isn't diotemacious earth cancer causing if you breath it in?

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Most shit will cause lung cancer if you make it into a powder and inhale enough of it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Water. (Snow or frost)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Pretty sure that if you got snow in your lungs you would get pneumonia, or perhaps frostbite in your lungs. if you get frost bite in your lungs repeatedly, just as any other repeated injury it can increase your risk of cancer in those cells that are repeatedly damaged.

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

What if you got Celtic Frost, or David Frost into your lungs?

Or how about Frosted Cornflakes? (Fun fakt: Tony the Tiger’s real name is Anthony Tigris, but his close friends call him ‘Panties’ for binomial reasons as well as his penchant for white lacies)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

In this case it's pretty much the same risk as inhaling asbestos dust. Fun fact, in the past, beer was filtered through asbestos, which was perfectly safe because asbestos is only dangerous when inhaled. Nowadays it's filtered through Kieselgur because its properties are pretty much identical to those of asbestos.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Fortunately, diacontagious (or however you spell it) earth is not very “humane”. It cuts their wax layer as they crawl through it, leaving just enough of a gap that they can’t contain moisture, and they dehydrate / mummify to death.

This fun fact brought me much comfort while I lied in bed, slapping every itch and wincing at every breeze.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

DE is abrasive, and that does help, but the main reason it works is because it is a desiccant, so like a silica packet it dehydrates the insect.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

Not when you mix it with nitroglycerin.