> Not to be confused with gravitational waves from massive stellar bodies, [gravity waves] are an atmospheric phenomenon when a packet of air rises and falls due to variations in buoyancy.
For those similarly confused by the title as I.
stronglikedan 11 hours ago [-]
I used to thing programmers were bad a naming things until I became interested in physics.
DiggyJohnson 11 hours ago [-]
Related to this discussion, astronomers’ usage of ‘metal’ is a fun example.
dmoy 10 hours ago [-]
"it can't be that bad, can it?"
> astronomers use the word metals as convenient shorthand for all elements except hydrogen and helium
what, ok
layer8 8 hours ago [-]
To keep on topic, that makes Earth's and Mars' atmospheres consist of metals.
Isn't there predicted to be liquid metallic hydrogen in Jupiter's core?
kadoban 9 hours ago [-]
Yeah, fun, right?
I've looked up why before, tldr it's just because historically astronomers have never had to care in any detail about chemical reactions (this is not strictly true of course, but somewhat close for at least a large subset). So they just need a term for "crap that came from stars".
Eh, that grosses over the defining difference that hydrogen, helium, and a little bit of lithium are everywhere everywhen all at once because of The Bog Bang, whereas everything else is concentrated due to being produced in supernovas and neutron stars.
hamilyon2 11 hours ago [-]
And musicians!
dylan604 10 hours ago [-]
Salts in chemistry too
andrewflnr 5 hours ago [-]
Worse than math, where set theory, type theory, group theory, and category theory all exist and refer to barely-related things?
bane 5 hours ago [-]
Wait until you spend time learning probability, or worse, biology.
divbzero 4 hours ago [-]
One type of gravity waves can be seen on Earth where its atmosphere meets large bodies of water. These are commonly known as ocean waves.
erkt 8 hours ago [-]
I am cynical but, I am pretty sure the ambiguity was intentional
NotYourLawyer 6 hours ago [-]
Seriously, what a dumb title. Anybody who knows what gravity waves are is gonna read it and go “what?? no.”
pfdietz 5 hours ago [-]
You are confusing gravity waves and gravitational waves.
Gravity waves are waves where the restoring force on some medium comes from gravity. Waves you see on the surface of water, for example, are gravity waves.
For those similarly confused by the title as I.
> astronomers use the word metals as convenient shorthand for all elements except hydrogen and helium
what, ok
I've looked up why before, tldr it's just because historically astronomers have never had to care in any detail about chemical reactions (this is not strictly true of course, but somewhat close for at least a large subset). So they just need a term for "crap that came from stars".
Gravity waves are waves where the restoring force on some medium comes from gravity. Waves you see on the surface of water, for example, are gravity waves.