2hot2handle

developing or occurring without apparent external influence, force, cause, or treatment

Pretty much the definition of spontaneous if you ask me.

Yes, afaik in science community that is in fact the correct use of the word, meaning from "environmental" conditions (well, it's test conditions for the environment in this case) and not from an active, localised influence.
- “Spontaneous” is actually the correct word to use here, using its definition in statistical mechanics.
  Here’s an example: https://principlesofchemistryopencourse.pressbooks.tru.ca/chapter/5-6/
- This post isn't showcasing mansplaining. It's showcasing pedantry.
  Just like this comment!
- Spontaneous doesn't mean "happens suddenly without explanation" what are you on about?
- Wrong, wrong, wrong.
  Eh, it definitely has a cause. A known one.
  Nothing to do with the physical definition of spontaneity. Spontaneity of a process just means that the ∆G is negative or total energy of the system is lower after the process, and additional energy isn't required for the process to be thermodynamically allowed. This is, and I can't stress this enough, the simplest of simple thermo.
  for the sole reason which specific molecules is nigh impossible to predict
  Also unrelated, but it is fully impossible to predict, since in trying to predict it well enough you reach quantum scales where everything is probabilistic. That doesn't at all mean everything is spontaneous.
  So, who is correct depends entirely on the mental framing of what someone thinks of when they read "water".
  Nope, the first person is strictly correct and the second is strictly incorrect, as described above.
  Water as an abstract idea of a specific type of fluid? Not spontaneous.
  Nope, exactly spontaneous. You could even forget about water entirely and model this just as a bunch of nuclei and electrons in a box and derive that the lowest energy state has them being in a gas of atoms, and the initial state doesn't, which is enough to demonstrate by our earlier statements that boiling is spontaneous.
  Water as in what will literally happen to the bottle of water in the picture?
  This is "not even wrong" territory.
  This post isn't showcasing mansplaining.
  It absolutely is. We will define mansplaining here as the confidently incorrect dismissal of statements of women by men where we suspect that the genders of the participants may play a role.
  The first part has been demonstrated above. It is also reasonable to assume the second given that we observe this happening to women at a far greater frequency than to men. Although, like with atoms, we cannot prove that this individual instance is a direct result, it is consistent with the probabilistic data and we would need additional evidence to conclude that this particular guy just goes around wrongly correcting everyone equally.
  Nearly valid pedantry at that.
  Once again, not remotely.
- Everything has a cause.
- While you are technically correct, you also misunderstand who the target audience is and what language is required to actually make people understand.
  When speaking to a normal person you don’t want to slap random jargon and care too much about precise definitions. So in that context spontaneous is a great word to describe what is happening. People without deep backgrounds in the field will not understand technical jargon and it will only make them not pay attention.
- I'd still say it's spontaneous because when you reduce pressure you're removing a factor rather than adding one. It's like saying "when you compress a spring and then remove the compression force, it will spontaneously return to its previous length." Water vapor can be seen as water's "natural" state when thero no pressure forcing it to be a liquid. Also saying "simple thermo" to an astronaut is definitely mansplaining, because it implies the other person doesn't know that simple thermo. Maybe it's just pedantry, but in that case damn that's some terrible phrasing.
- Hahaha, under that definition nothing spontaneous can ever occur
- no
- I agree, it really is showcasing pedantry. That man is just an asshole, not a misogynistic asshole. To me, this thread is full of confirmation bias. People who want to see what they personally believe, not objective reality.
- You should be an astronaut

Again, who’s recreating Twitter screenshots really badly, and why? There’s a person on Reddit with like five alts who’s been spamming these posts, and I’m so confused by it.

Wow dude, the irony is insane. Can't belive you would steal this.
The entire picture looks completely fake like somebody tried to create a twitter screenshot from scratch in paint.
- You should be able to do a near perfect job in any image editor. They make kits that have all the assets already built.
This post literally has the watermark of the account that creates/posts these. Other people or bots are reposting them, sure, but they're coming from some kind of aggregation account that has this particular style of recreating Twitter threads in a space that fits into the Instagram preference for square images.
Bots building histories. (Not this post, on Reddit)
this shit looks like ms paint

I hate the mansplaining accusation, especially in this context

Fucking let ideas compete. Call him out for being pedantic. If you have to bring gender into nearly any conversation about science, you've already lost

Just shame them with better science

The mansplaining thing in this context is more about an unfounded assumption of ignorance in the other party. Usually one would assume an astronaut to know basic thermodynamics, but the tweet's phrasing implies the other other person doesn't. It's less "you're wrong" and more "why do you think she doesn't know that."
- In this case, though, he's literally wrong. "Spontaneous" has a precise scientific definition and the astronaut is using it correctly.
- unfounded assumption of ignorance in the other party
  That's the joke. Haha, stupid astronaut, you are supposed to know.
  It's obviously too early to make that joke with an astronautess.
The term "mansplaining" is not just about a man being pedantic. It is a man being pedantic or overexplaining to a woman either about something she is likely more knowledgeable on than he is or about something that is such common knowledge it should be assumed that she knows these facts as well as he does. It is a demonstration of misogyny through the assumption that you, a man, knows better than her, a woman, despite all liklihood to the contrary and yet you condescend to her anyway. It's the arrogance and gender bias that is the problem, not the pedantry itself.
- The thing I don't like about the mansplaining accusation is it makes lots of men out to be sexist/misogynistic when they are really just pedantic twits that very well could have commented the same stupid thing to a man. But because it was to a woman someone has to accuse them of being sexist too.
  Don't get me wrong there are a lot of sexist assholes, but just assuming it to be the case off a single comment irks me.
- through the assumption that you, a man, knows better than her
  And what's the evidence that this happened here? You just assumed he was sexist.
- everyone knows that.
  you just explained very common knowledge to people that certainly know it.
  the problem is the terminology…
  men and women condescendingly explain shit to people all the time. If you attach the word “man” to it then you’re being sexist.
  when a man is condescending to a woman because she’s a woman, then that man is being sexist.
  if you assume every time a man is being condescending to a woman they’re being sexist, then you’re sexist.
  every time ANYONE makes a factual claim on the internet and it gets enough traction, someone will chime in and condescendingly explain why they’re wrong. gender is not the only factor.
  ….
  it’s certainly terrible how men are sexist and condescending towards women so often… making a new sexist term doesn’t help that problem.
  also, i’m not assuming your gender and you don’t know mine, i am merely disagreeing with you.
Did you just mansplain mansplaining!?
When will men learn to stop trying to share information?!
- You got me in the first part
  I hope this is sarcasm though
I just saw a person in a suit, then read the "mansplaining" comment, then went back and saw the posters name.
It feels so forced or I am just oblivious. I thought the response was an asshole being an "acktuallllllly" response.
Is there a better term for it?
I feel like mansplaining as a word is similar to feminism as a word. It has assumption of gender rooted into it but its gone past that at this point.
- but its gone past that at this point
  Maybe it shouldn't. I doubt people would like the word feminism being used if it inherently painted women as sexist.
He's just trying to combat misinformation, the gall to accuse someone of sexism after being wrong is staggering.
- She wasn't wrong though. It does happen spontaneously in that it is happening without apparent external cause. There is an external cause, the change in pressure, but it is not apparent. And most people are aware that water boils at low pressures at room temps. He even said it was "basic thermo", so of course a NASA astronaut would know about this basic scientific phenomenon, as would most people.
- Do you honestly believe that the astronaut doesn’t understand how boiling water works?
He's not being pedantic, he's just obviously not familiar with the vocabulary used in chemistry (although he pretends to be).
- No he's making a specific type of joke, but if he were wrong then say that instead
  And if you want more of that type of joke, look up not ken m
It's Kev M.
- What happened to Ken M?
- Ken M has smooth skin
This!!!!

Water in space boils, freezes or evaporates?
Yes

Triple point moment.
- Water is a triple threat in space?

I hope she brought enough tampons

For those who don't get the joke:
Sally Ride, first female NASA astronaut to go to space: "I remember the engineers trying to decide how many tampons should fly on a one-week flight; they asked, “Is 100 the right number?”
“No. That would not be the right number.”
https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/RideSK/RideSK_10-22-02.htm
- I mean, the 10 ish day long mission that recently took 9 months happened, actually with a woman on board. If you said "100 is too much lol" and opted for 10, you'd be laughing out the other side of your face when you started having to improvise sanitation supplies after month three.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Crew_Flight_Test
- Thanks. A little surprised by the current proportion of people that didn't understood that reference.
- To be fair, I have absolutely no idea how many tampons a woman would need either, although 10 per day seems high.

People say the same thing to other men. Is it mansplaining then too?

Yeah, Men do it to each other all the time too. The sociological context when that happens makes it much less difficult to manage though, as there isn't the cultural tendency to dismiss other men when they imply they have an understanding of a field that is perceived as typically male-exclusive (hard sciences, mechanics, etc.). It's a term to describe a complicated and fairly important topic, that has unfortunately become a meme for people to rail against because it's been characterized as a criticism of an entire group (men) and not as it's intended (as a comment on a specific person's behavior).
- It also has an anti-intellectual aspect to it. People like to explain things, that’s sort of the whole idea behind science, is to be able to do that. Sometimes people try to explain things and they’re wrong. And that’s okay, it’s part of the process of science. Further, the notes of patronization are subjective and not everyone would agree they’re present here.
  So to automatically label things like this as “mansplaining” makes a few unfair assumptions.
Yeah, it is. The act of mansplaining isn't gender specific. It is about the attempt to raise someone's status above someone else by nitpicking what they said, with often obvious facts.
The men doing it to women just seem more popular, but men and women do it to anyone.
- The fact that the boiling is not spontaneous is not obvious especially on account of how it’s not true. So that definition is going to need some tweaking. And anyway I think it’s much more likely that the person just didn’t notice they were replying to an astronaut than that they thought they could elevate their status. They were trying to share their (incorrect) knowledge.
- The definition says the opposite. But even if it was the case, it should NOT be used like this becaue it is specifically targeting men, which would be sexist. Being the very thing it meant to destroy.

It's a pedantic take that makes sense and is fun. It relies on spontaneous having multiple meanings.

A spontaneous person randomly does weird things. A spontaneous occurring change happens without the environment promoting it.

There is no man's planning. This is willful ignorance to enable a joke.

Edit: literally Kev M

Didn't notice it was a woman at first, but isn't it an appeal to authority? The fact that someone is an astronaut doesn't mean they can't also be a dumb fuck. Just look at Russians - Oleg Artemyev, Tereshkova, Rogozin. I'm not familiar with NASA astronauts but surely some of them were also complete idiots as well?

The fact that someone is an astronaut doesn’t mean they can’t also be a dumb fuck. Just look at Russians
Did they teach you that in school? The same school where they taught you Sally Ride was the first woman in space?
I'd say being an astronaut pretty much negates being dumb as fuck, especially in the early days.
- Germany sent the first rocket out in space, and both the URSS and the USA benefited from the Nazis to make things happen.
  Russia? They can't even launch an ICBM nowadays.
  Also, being "first" is good but kind of a dick measuring contest IMO.
- Not sure I get your point. I wasn't implying that all the Russian cosmonauts are dumb fucks, just that the only cases I'm familiar with all being Russians.
The guy is clearly "mansplaining" though.
Is there a gender neutral version of mansplaining?
- Themsplaining?

He's right tho, so....?

You should look up the definition of boiling.
It isn't that he's wrong, it's that his input was both unnecessary and irrelevant.
- Also, spontaneity is fairly vague. At best he's just arguing semantics
It says in textbooks that in a vacuum water will spontaneously boil so arguing that it’s not spontaneous is wrong.
It happens as pressure decreases but unlike conventional boiling where you can see nucleate boiling it can instead happen all at once without you adding heat to the system
Most importantly he’s trying to argue semantics with a person who is much smarter than him and then ends it with a condescending “simple thermo”.
Large airplane flies overhead.
- Wouldn't say it flies. It just glides because a giant threw it

yeah she may be a nasa astronaut and everything, but probably still doesn’t know as much as i do about boiling water. (i have cooked lots of pasta)

Are all image links on Lemmy.zip blocked by cloudflare?

EDIT seems to be working again now.

I'm having issues with the proxied ones (451 Unavailable for legal reasons). Luckily you can use Redirector or similar to un-proxy them automatically.
- I’m using a web app on an iPhone. Not sure that will work for me.
It happens sometimes for me too, short periods only tho (last few months).