Soil Science - Tumblr Posts
Sometimes I think about the thread of "terms that jumpscare AO3 users" and, as an environmental scientist, I would like to contribute:
In pedology (dirt science), there's something called the Permanent Wilting Point, and I've had to watch my prof write "PWP" on the board with a straight face on numerous occasions
taking soil science and they're like "don't call it dirt we want to treat it seriously and respectfully in this class instead of brushing it off with the word 'dirt'" or whatever and like. valid. but I want to call it dirt class so bad
I think the whole first chapter of this textbook is just "SOIL IS COOL >:^( and you better not call it dirt"
what the heck is a Limnic Haplosaprist that's not a real thing
smectite goes crazy fr
what's the coolest thing you've learned in dirt class?
gotta be real, I thought so hard about this and I Do Not Know, but yesterday we used a carcinogen in lab. uh. they made us wear gloves and safety goggles but mine were so scratched up that I went to the fume hood and rinsed out the containers we put the carcinogen stuff in and then I went back to my group's table and threw my gloves away and took off my horrible scratched safety goggles and then I looked at the containers and was like um guys is it just me or are those still a little too yellow (the carcinogen-containing solution was yellow) and we asked a TA and she was like yeah probably go re-rinse those and so I used a different pair of safety goggles and they were SO much better and I could actually see this time so I did adequately rinse the containers yippee. that was was pretty cool
I do get the sense that you're looking for more of a fact, though, so I'll tell you that there is this website where you can look at the molecular structure of different soils and it is super cool!
(ignore that it's on smectite. I just put it there because that's what I was looking at. btw smectite has crazy shrink-swell properties so do not build your house on it)
you know I've thought about this and I think soil scientists might be the collectively nerdiest area-of-study-based group of people I have every come across. like, in every group of people, there are those who are fanatics, but there are also those who are just kind of there without being too obsessed, but every single soil scientist I have met has been totally bananas for soil.
today on shocking soil science information, apparently people put battery acid in soil sometimes. on purpose. to help. and it works
oh yeah but I feel like I should also add a disclaimer here that Battery Acid Is Dangerous, So Don't Do This Unless You're A Professional Who Knows Exactly What You're Doing
today on shocking soil science information, apparently people put battery acid in soil sometimes. on purpose. to help. and it works
guess what. the semester is over and I need to repot some plants so today I went to the store and bought DIRT. yeah that's right the scientists can't stop me anymore. DIRT DIRT DIRT DIRT DIRT
I might be able to help with the one about dirt and dust!
First of all, I would say that dust has to be dusty to be dust, so there's that.
Second of all, dirt isn't necessarily dirty. One of the things my soil science professor said about why we were going to call it soil for the purposes of that class was that "dirt" is out of place, and "soil" is not. So if it's under your fingernails or on the bottom of your shoes or in your bed, then it's dirt. If it's in your garden or the woods or wherever else of the many, many places it should be, then it's soil. I'm not sure what this means for your question, but it could be useful to think of.
Dirt is also not the only thing that can make something dirty. So if you got something you didn't want in your dirt, say, laundry detergent or gasoline, then you could say the dirt is dirty. I mean, you probably wouldn't, but you could.
You could also determine if something is dirty by if it would make you dirty, which we definitely do, at least subconsciously, and in that case, dirt is pretty certainly dirty.
I don't know if this is helpful, but also, dust is dirt. Technically. You ever wipe up some dust and notice it looks like a little dirt? That's because it's very fine soil particles. Dry clay-size ones. So uh. Take that if you wish.
Also, glitter: glitter is not a color but a quality. This is because glitter is basically the same as a bunch of little mirrors. I mean, not very high quality mirrors, but mirrors. The requirement for something to be a mirror is for it to be reflective, right? Pretty much. There are different colored mirrors out there, just like there are different colors of glitter. Essentially glitter is just anything with [a] small reflective surface[s]. That's why glitter doesn't look as cool in photographs and is hard to capture in illustration- because light moves differently irl.
What I’m thinking about:
If “nox” is night, and “lumos” is light, then is night-light “noxlumos”?
What color is crow blood? I always thought it was purple, but a group of crows is called a murder, so…
If flamingos are pink because they eat shrimp, what do cardinals eat to make them so red… *GASP*
If we humans treat women with lower respect than men, is it the same with apes? After all, we are descended from them. And do apes also have races like humans? Can apes be racist?
I want food.
The opposite of “firefly” is “waterfall”.
If watermelons are called watermelons because they have a lot of water, and humans are mostly made of water, aren’t we supposed to be called “waterorganisms”?
If people really do grow white hair because their children make them mad, then what did mom do to grandma?!
Is dirt dirty? Is dust dusty? I NEED ANSWERSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!
If you name your dog Yanny, then is he going to come to you when you say, Laurel?
Is one nostril stronger than the other?
People say if you’re an optimist, the glass is half-full. But if you’re truly an optimist, why don’t you just refill the glass?\
If your American, you speak English, but you’re not English. If you’re English, you speak English, but you are also British, but you don’t speak British... WHAT.
Do you know you’re dead when you’re dead?
How much wood could the woodchuck really chuck? He’s gonna have teeth problems after that.
What the hell is wrong with people in math problems…
Is glitter a color?
You can’t walk into an empty room, it wouldn’t be empty anymore.