675
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] PointyFluff@lemmy.ml -1 points 41 minutes ago

It's not that hard. this is a skill issue, OP.
Please do not vote or have children.

[-] xthexder@l.sw0.com 19 points 7 hours ago

Most circuit diagrams do not draw current flowing in any direction at all. It's just labeled + and -. I don't see anything wrong with this.

[-] deHaga@feddit.uk -1 points 7 hours ago

Logically the switch comes before the bulb.

[-] BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 4 hours ago

That depends, do you want high or a low side switch? There are valid reasons for either depending on what you’re doing.

[-] Johanno@feddit.org 9 points 6 hours ago

But the current doesn't care

[-] deHaga@feddit.uk 0 points 7 hours ago

The switch comes before the bulb

[-] nomen_dubium@startrek.website 11 points 10 hours ago

feels like this should be a skeletor quote!

[-] bleistift2@sopuli.xyz 304 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)
[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 9 points 10 hours ago

IMHO Franklin is one of the few who would go straight to "what is it?" without blinking.

[-] howrar@lemmy.ca 81 points 1 day ago

Turns out Benjamin Franklin had it right, and it was this time traveler that caused him to flip it to the wrong direction.

[-] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 21 points 15 hours ago

While funny, this doesn't work because the time traveler told him specifically which one is negative.

[-] OpenStars@piefed.social 17 points 20 hours ago

Damn time travelers, ~~always~~ ~~never~~ messing things up!

[-] SLVRDRGN@lemmy.world 24 points 1 day ago

Man, this one is a good one.

[-] orbitz@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago

Always love their comics but since I don't know crap about this stuff it's amusing to see how this one is relevant to a meme. Wish I knew more but only so much I've learned so far. One day perhaps but not today.

[-] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

The contributors on this site do an excellent job explaining the comics. Not really ELI5, but more ELI15.

It's okay to not understand every comic, someone else out there figured it out and explained it to us.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 17 points 20 hours ago

While we're at it, is a compass needle's North pole actually a South so that it points North? Or is the Earth's North pole actually South so that the needle's North pole points to it?

(I know that I could look this up, I just want to confuse people.)

[-] Siethron@lemmy.world 5 points 10 hours ago

We decided on North long before we discovered magnetism. But the magnet poles of the earth flip from time to time so ehhh.

[-] mexicancartel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 18 hours ago

But that's by design, while this is a convention problem

[-] j4yc33@piefed.social 14 points 20 hours ago

OMG-O-S-H every circuit designed with conventional current just exploded because of your revelation here.

/s

My friend, this is the same branch of science that got us to space with calculations assuming spherical cows.

[-] Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works 106 points 1 day ago

You just have to ignore the existence of electron flow. Conventional current flow is all that matters, and the only people who use electron flow are those who design integrated circuits and lunatics

[-] BartyDeCanter@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Are you implying that there are IC designers who aren’t lunatics?

[-] ch00f@lemmy.world 80 points 1 day ago

You forgot science enthusiasts who are desperately trying to impress people.

[-] Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works 101 points 1 day ago

They get lumped in with the lunatics

[-] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 27 points 1 day ago

We don't want 'em.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 20 points 1 day ago

You mean to tell me that there are people out there whose job it is to design lunatics?

That's fucking awesome. Like a real-life comic book author.

[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 9 points 1 day ago
[-] PointyFluff@lemmy.ml 1 points 38 minutes ago

Depends on what she tastes like.

[-] ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

It's also useful to think of the "ground" plane as a sort of well of potential charger carriers that the conventional current model overlooks. Aside from simultaneously visualising what's happening inside simple ICs like BJTs / MOSFETs and the circuit diagrams I've found it a useful way for checking for common mode noise in circuit and PCB design.

I guess this makes me a lunatic? Don't know until we test it;

Someone give me an ~~asylum~~ makerspace to takeover!

[-] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 3 points 14 hours ago

It's also useful to think of the "ground" plane as a sort of well of potential charger carriers

I...think I understand ground loops (audio) now.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] ThomasWilliams@lemmy.world 50 points 1 day ago

The current does flow from positive to negative. Electricity is not the flow of electrons - they just generate the field that the electric wave flows through. The electrons don't actually move very far. The wave flows outside of the wire, not in it.

load more comments (4 replies)
[-] morto@piefed.social 59 points 1 day ago

"all models are wrong, but some are useful"

[-] TheRealKuni@piefed.social 66 points 1 day ago

And that’s why we have positrons instead of the much-cooler-sounding negatrons.

[-] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 54 points 1 day ago

Man, they have positrons and negatrons now? The Transformers franchise is wild.

[-] Assassassin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 1 day ago

We gotta keep them out of sports, they are too strong.

[-] MajorMajormajormajor@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

The south^of Cybertron^ will rise again?

[-] TheFogan@programming.dev 11 points 1 day ago

Oddly when it came time to negotiations, they somehow realized actually calling yourself a Decepticon, was not a good name for inspiring trust.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] _druid@sh.itjust.works 28 points 1 day ago

But then I get to talk about all those holes flowing.

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

Uhhhh......pornhub is that way ----->

[-] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 2 points 13 hours ago

I'm sure someone has uploaded some current diagrams...

[-] _druid@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 day ago

Wait, no, but first, imagine marbles in a straw!

[-] takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 day ago

Pornhub is that way ----->

[-] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

Imagine a chain getting tugged back and forth

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] Fedizen@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago

Couldn't you fix this by also defining electrons as positive? Imo the physicists and electrical engineers should fight it out.

[-] veroxii@aussie.zone 6 points 20 hours ago

All words are just made up.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] IntriguedIceberg@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago

Could someone explain what makes one pole negative/positive? Like, could we have named them Alice/Bob or is there a specific reason we went with +/-?

[-] Dalvoron@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 day ago

Guessing here, but +/- is good for describing them as binary opposites as that system already exists. This is a good thing assuming there are two types of charge/pole which behave in opposite ways (Eg move differently in a field). It's also just good to use numbers so that we can describe the amount of + and the amount of -, which numbers already do. It also allows us to describe neutral as neither + nor -, but 0. Again, we already have a scaffold there for numbers and it's easy to copy it for new things when that makes sense.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 02 Feb 2026
675 points (97.5% liked)

Science Memes

18651 readers
2398 users here now

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.



Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Behave like an intellectual and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.
  4. Infographics welcome, get schooled.

This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.



Research Committee

Other Mander Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Practical and Applied Sciences

Memes

Miscellaneous

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS