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Joined 3 years ago
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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • You’re on the right track.

    Mass is a property of matter, they’re not the same thing.

    A water molecule is the same matter as two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen, yet the molecule has less mass. The difference comes from the energy released when the molecule is formed. Fusion is the same, forcing two atoms together releases a neutron with lots of energy. Same matter, less mass.

    It’s the opposite with fission. One atom splits into two and two really fast neutrons, and the total mass is less than the original atom. The matter isn’t destroyed, but some of its mass is converted into energy.

    Matter can be destroyed by annihilating it with antimatter, but that hardly counts because we have to make the antimatter by turning energy back into mass and that also creates an equal amount of matter.









  • I went to St Louis the day before the eclipse in 2017. It was a spur of the moment decision, literally decided to go that morning. My friend suggested we spend the night in a Walmart parking lot and the nearest one was on the other side of the river.

    Driving through the area in the morning, I wondered how we survived the night. Holy shit. Half the city is abandoned, there’s guys with AKs sitting in their porches, and the only other businesses were gun stores and pawn shops.