this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2025
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Science Memes

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Welcome to c/science_memes @ Mander.xyz!

A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.



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If you are here asking: "Is this a science meme?"

Probably, yes. We use the Dawkins definition of meme: a replicating idea, not just an image macro with a fact on it. A good post here doesn't need to teach you something. It needs to make you ask something: who, what, where, when, and especially why or how.

Science isn't a filing cabinet of facts, it's a conversation. For example, a photo of an eel or other localized wildlife counts because most people never see one, and wonder is the first step of inquiry. A car meme counts if it makes you curious about what's under the bonnet. If you want to talk about something you noticed in the world, chances are someone else wants to talk about it too.

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[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

The Earth is ~~sufficiently~~ larger than anything one would drop off a tower that the weight of the dropped thing doesn't matter at all

F=ma.

Two items of the same shape will have the same amount of air resistance. If they have significantly different masses, the two object experience commensurately different accelerations (or reduction in acceleration), even if the force is the same.

If you take a balloon full of tetrahexofluroride (a gas 6x the density of air) and a chunk of iron the exact same size and shape and throw them off a building, I guarantee the iron chunk will hit first.

How does your model of the universe explain the hammer and feather dropped on the moon by Apollo 15's David Scott landed at the same time?

It's called a vacuum, which is famous for not having air resistance. Y'know, the thing we're talking about?

To perform the experiment properly on Earth where there is air resistance, you need to pick a shape and range of masses that minimize the effect of air resistance