Penn And Teller Get Hippies To Sign Water Banning Petition

[Conza88]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw

Something to keep in mind. When signing a petition, OR contract's etc.

 

[JaylieWoW]

Even more interesting than the video are the comments below it saying things like... "so typical of Cato bullying..". Funny how some of those commenting are actually appearing to defend the signers of the petition. Hmm... maybe they WERE one of the signers.

I like Penn & Teller. I saw the show on racism and I thought it was pretty decent. Would have like to have seen them pull Lincoln into it though.

 

[soapmistress]

The one they did on circumcision was awesome!

 

[Flirple]

The one they did on circumcision was awesome!

...and a bit difficult to watch.

Great series. Love Penn and Teller.

 

[Joseph Hart]

Wait a second... P&T contradicted themselves, they said the political movement is just for money, yet they are making money for a political tv show agenda. Think about it. I love the show but don't be a hypocrite.

 

[Flirple]

Wait a second... P&T contradicted themselves, they said the political movement is just for money, yet they are making money for a political tv show agenda. Think about it. I love the show but don't be a hypocrite.

It would be hypocritical if P&T were railing against greed and consumerism. They are not. They are unapologetic advocates of materialism and consumerism because it is is solely responsible for the dramatic improvement of the human condition. Profit incentives are a cornerstone of libertarian theory in general and P&T's in particular.

 

[literatim]

http://www.dhmo.org/

 

[runderwo]

They are unapologetic advocates of materialism and consumerism because it is is solely responsible for the dramatic improvement of the human condition.

By improvement in the human condition, you mean by promoting ignorance and debt slavery?

 

[Michael Ingram]

http://www.dhmo.org/

Haha, that's great

 

[jumpyg1258]

I much as I like Penn and Teller, I don't like my science getting messed up. Saying water is H2O is wrong, wish people would learn something from high school chem classes, its HOH. 1 Hydrogen (H - Acid) and 1 Hydroxide (OH - Base), Hydrogen Hydroxide. Not Dihydrogen Monoxide which is not chemically possible if I recall correctly and in fact that would be an acid.

 

[jumpyg1258]

In fact, Penn and Teller stole that idea as you can see from this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dihydrogen_monoxide

 

[LibertyIn08]

I much as I like Penn and Teller, I don't like my science getting messed up. Saying water is H2O is wrong, wish people would learn something from high school chem classes, its HOH. 1 Hydrogen (H - Acid) and 1 Hydroxide (OH - Base), Hydrogen Hydroxide. Not Dihydrogen Monoxide which is not chemically possible if I recall correctly and in fact that would be an acid.

H2O is generally considered an acceptable shortening, at least within all of the chemistry classes I've taken. Although you are correct that HOH is at least more proper than H2O.

 

[amy31416]

H2O is generally considered an acceptable shortening, at least within all of the chemistry classes I've taken. Although you are correct that HOH is at least more proper than H2O.

I looked water up on IUPAC and couldn't find an official statement. HOH is certainly more accurate structurally, but then can we really write H2SO4 for sulfuric acid?

H2O was always used in the chem textbooks I studied and I don't have a problem with it as it's the way we chemists abbreviate things, and have for a long time. We don't write out the structure unless we're doing an exercise in the structure of a molecule.

As we know there are many names for different chemicals. Hydrogen peroxide is HOOH, or is it dihydrogen dioxide? Ethanol is CH3CH2OH, or C2H5OH, or it's empirical formula is C2H6O. It's also called ethyl alcohol and grain alcohol. While chemistry is an empirical science, it started out as alchemy, which was grounded in very unscientific things...and the closest thing we had to Linnaeus was Mendeleev, who didn't get into naming molecular structures for obvious reasons.

 

[LibertyIn08]

I looked water up on IUPAC and couldn't find an official statement. HOH is certainly more accurate structurally, but then can we really write H2SO4 for sulfuric acid?

H2O was always used in the chem textbooks I studied and I don't have a problem with it as it's the way we chemists abbreviate things, and have for a long time. We don't write out the structure unless we're doing an exercise in the structure of a molecule.

As we know there are many names for different chemicals. Hydrogen peroxide is HOOH, or is it dihydrogen dioxide? Ethanol is CH3CH2OH, or C2H5OH, or it's empirical formula is C2H6O. It's also called ethyl alcohol and grain alcohol. While chemistry is an empirical science, it started out as alchemy, which was grounded in very unscientific things...and the closest thing we had to Linnaeus was Mendeleev, who didn't get into naming molecular structures for obvious reasons.

I believe the reason H2O is used in place of HOH is that H2O is a non-existent form, and as such, we can use the simplification. The issue is that each branch of chemistry has fallen upon different standardizations for naming conventions, as you showed with your explanation of ethanol.

As for H2SO4, I don't see why there would be a need to write it in this manner, especially as it is an obscuration. I think H2O was simply easy to say and write out, as it is a common beginner's compound.

 

[amy31416]

I believe the reason H2O is used in place of HOH is that H2O is a non-existent form, and as such, we can use the simplification. The issue is that each branch of chemistry has fallen upon different standardizations for naming conventions, as you showed with your explanation of ethanol.

As for H2SO4, I don't see why there would be a need to write it in this manner, especially as it is an obscuration. I think H2O was simply easy to say and write out, as it is a common beginner's compound.

Gadzooks. Hard to believe I actually used to teach this stuff. Organic nomenclature is far easier, there's a set of rules at least. In the basic molecules, like water, ethanol, peroxide, etc., they existed far before any rules were introduced.

H2O is written that way because it's the empirical formula. During exercises where structure is important to the chemical reaction, it was always written H/O\H (it's supposed to be a triangular shape). When doing chemistry on paper, sometimes the three-dimensional shape matters, sometimes it doesn't. I recall doing plenty of things where I had to write out H2SO4 in it's actual shape with charges and all that. In reactions, the shape is important much of the time.

 

[LibertyIn08]

Gadzooks. Hard to believe I actually used to teach this stuff. Organic nomenclature is far easier, there's a set of rules at least. In the basic molecules, like water, ethanol, peroxide, etc., they existed far before any rules were introduced.

H2O is written that way because it's the empirical formula. During exercises where structure is important to the chemical reaction, it was always written H/O\H (it's supposed to be a triangular shape). When doing chemistry on paper, sometimes the three-dimensional shape matters, sometimes it doesn't. I recall doing plenty of things where I had to write out H2SO4 in it's actual shape with charges and all that. In reactions, the shape is important much of the time.

Yep, I'm quite familiar with all of this from my chemistry classes the past two years, and would agree the organic nomenclature is much simpler.

Thankfully, I will not be going into chemistry for my undergraduate studies.