If you had a time machine, what would you do with it?

[lets all go out for some frosty chocolate milkshakes]

Quack98 is my old username

well this is awkward

i guess we BOTH learned an important lesson in looking at peoples profiles properly today! (i noticed you left this bit out in your reply but i hope you didn't assume i was a dude b/c science speak because that'd be sexist and scientific academia already has a sexism problem)




im not sure if you're going to persue science beyond mandatory GCSE Science so i dunno if you'll read all this so im gonna fake-quote it so you can skip if it you don't care but im hoping someone will find it useful so here's a small lesson on entropy up to pre-statistical thermodynamics

but what you were proposing (entropy = time) involves talking about quantum mechanics and time asymmetry and macroscopic/microscopic states and something called "Loschmidt's Paradox", i was just being crabby b/c you were an idiot and didn't look at my gender symbol there on the left but yeah like i said its a bit too wishy washy for a proper definition of entropy w/o sitting there and actively talking about certainty of Arrow of Time and superimpositions of things and invoking statistical thermodynamics

if you choose to persue physics or chemistry past GCSE which i think is a good idea (im obvs biased), until you get up to undergrad level, entropy is more best described as "disorder in a system" and "things like to be disordered = they increase in entropy" which is very laymans terms but it has to be up until uni level/A level physics without saying stuff that makes arsehole scientists like me mad or ultimately confusing/boring the hell out of teenagers and annoying teachers with faux-smartass questions "but like, if its MORE entropy then like, why is ΔS negative? like ohmygod, talk about stupid?"

until then its about stuff like "solid ---> liquid" or "liquid -> gas" = an increase in entropy b/c the particles are more disordered (and vice versa, a liquid becoming a solid means the molecules are less disordered and thus an overall decrease in entropy)

a process like X ----> Y + Z is also an increase in entropy (one molecule to two [or more] molecules) and again, vice versa b/c entropy favours more seperate molecules rather than less molecules b/c of stuff to do with Configurations of States which you won't learn about for a good while yet

from there you combine it w/ Thermodynamic Mathematic Principles to go onto stuff about something called "gibbs free energy" which tries to predict whether stuff will or won't happen by itself via entropy and basic thermodynamic principles
gibbs free energy explains why ice melts and why liquids mix if left over time and how you can smell a fart on a bus (most of these have a "negative gibbs energy change") and helps to explain why entropy is a factor with regards to the heat of things making stuff happen i.e. why sometimes you need to be above a certain temperature to make a reaction happen

and then it gets into complicated stuff like Actual Reasons why people salt the roads when its icy (stuff about molalities and equilibrium chemistry and solvents/solutes and an impure solvent having a lower melting point than a pure solvent] and how you can explain it all w/ the power of Maths

but even to understand how it works properly even at that level you gotta be solid w/ algebra and calculus and basic thermodynamic principles MATHEMATICALLY otherwise its just dG and dU and VdP and funny ∫ symbols and you have no idea why one equation = the other and you get an F in the exam

hence why its handwaved in general until uni-level thermo classes/A Level Physics and its left to be this magical force of disorder b/c thats the only real way of getting it across until then
and then you get to statistical thermodynamics and quantum mechanics and then suddenly it's magical forces again but you kind of have powerful Maths Theory behind it this time as opposed to having read a half-remembered New Scientist article like most peoples ideas of entropy

this is what people mean when they talk about the second law of thermodynamics and entropy because a lot of things prefer a higher entropic state and tend to evolve unreclaimable entropic energy (commonly another way to think of entropy in a more real-world sense is "entropy as unreclaimable energy in the form of inevitable heat loss" if that helps you understand the 2nd law of thermodynamics better)

and eventually all energy in the universe will become unusable energy hence the whole thing about thermal equilibrium you were alluding to which is heat death
there's talk at the moment about gravity being something to counter this heat death and a lot of cosmological quantum theory that i only know a little bit about only b/c MY PARTNER (megaphone feedback sounds) did his PhD in black holes and knows a tonne more about cosmological quantum physics gravitational su(N) crap than i do but he's a maths lecturer and im a chemist in training



i guess i get too caremad when people talk about science principles and it turns out they're actually doing a bunch of handwaving and navelgazing about stuff like entropy being a magical force of chaos cos of The Scientists Dialemma where people think they understand quantum mechanics b/c they read/saw The Watchmen once and they try to talk to me about How Much They Know About Quantum Mechanics its all in the mind maaaaan the universe is infitnite possibilities maaaaaan

and they do a meandering stoner rant which ends up them less admitting they don't actually understand the Copenhagen Interpretation at all and more "i did a form of neuro-linguistic programming without realising it" but its a feelgood story about how they solved their own self-esteem problems via willpower so i keep quiet cos its easier and also polite
but entropy deffo ain't a feelgood story ever in science at all thats literally the first thing you find out about it

obviously im a lot less anal about it in real life b/c this is the internet and its easy to sit around and be an arsehole like i am on here but ehhhh



well that was my boring science rant thanks for listening like i had fun talking about it because im gay for science anyway so everyones a winner

i wish i could get in a time machine and escape my own boring rant about physics

p.s. if anyone else wants to get into a time machine and escape my crappy/boring posting sorry in advance but it's a universal constant no matter which universe you escape to unfortunetly

[quack98]

I'm not sure why I put 'he', Ive known your female for ages  oh well...

As for pursuing science, I don't think there's enough money in science based jobs, so it'd probably only be to A-level, but I read your speech(?) anyway 

As for whatever principle I was using; I'd just assumed that to make sense based in my knowledge of both entropy and 2nd law, I didn't realise it was an actual theory...

Back on topic; changed my mind, I'm now shooting either Adam or Eve and see how nature meets those timelines up 

[Sebastian Moran]

As for pursuing science, I don't think there's enough money in science based jobs

ok
idk what youd count as science-based. it depends if you include maths/tech/engineering or not, maths opens up a whole load of boring-looking but high-paying accountancy jobs. 
/beaten to death by angry mathematicians 
but that average yearly salary for bog-standard straightforward physical scientists aint looking all that shabby, even if you ignore all of the not-100%-science-just-using-bits-of-it jobs. 
 
iirc STEM subjects are used in a lot of jobs or are generally good degrees to have because it makes you Look Good and like you can handle... sciencey stuff?? 
wait, are the government still waxing lyrical about how the countrys running out of scientists or did i imagine that to make myself feel better? 

not that it matters all that much, do something that You Enjoy because its not worth doing something thats high-paying but (you cant stand) if you develop an alcohol dependence just to get through the course and/or the job you wind up with.
im just saying if thats the only reason youre dismissing science then maybe Reconsider.
but if thats just the cherry on the icing of the I Dont Want To Do Science cake then fair enough haha. 
 
welp all that is what i keep telling myself (sighs), maybe i should use a time machine to go back and give myself a boot up the arse when i least expect it, to get my act together and work hard. 
at this rate all im hoping for is a job which pays off my student loan and hopefully doesnt make me want to stab myself in the face 8+ hours a day. 
 
id say "ill go back in time and save myself the debt and sense of crushing failure" but then i wouldnt have met Cool People and learnt stuff about this course/done stuff that i do love... honest... i have to... i love chemistry.. 
 
um. 
stay in school kids. 
do something you like. 
be happy. 
......
peace.

[The name master]

Well, I've got a time machine now! Hmmmm..... I know! Let's kill Hitler!

OK, bad joke.....

[Petzbreeder]

First I'd go forward in time to find the best cure for cancer that is available, then I'd go back in time and save my friend.

[Captain Jigglypuff]

If I told you, I'd have to eradicate you.

[SirBlaziken]

I would've drafted Sammy Watkins and not Justin Gilbert

Also would've kept Cleveland from selling to Haslam.

[Pam-the-Lamb]

 My friend's mother.

So I can be his dad.

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Still not going to say sunce I would have to make sure no one would ever know what I did but some of the deeds would benefit the future.

[lets all go out for some frosty chocolate milkshakes]

id stab my past self thru the heart with an ice pick so i wouldnt have to read their terrible posts. jesus christ. //drowns self in saucer of water//

[Milsap]

I'd watch the Egyptians build the pyramids. And film it.

'It was aliens'. Honestly...

[Kpyna]

someone else has probably already said it, but i'd go to where the winning powerball ticket was sold the day before it was sold, never worry about anything with money again, and buy a whole bunch of planet fitnesses for that guaranteed ROI, use that money for other fun adventures in time.

[lets all go out for some frosty chocolate milkshakes]

'It was aliens'. Honestly...

tell me about it lmao

a lot of "it was aliens" sentiment re: egyptians is dogwhistle racism, because people literally can't believe black people in the past are capable of building that stuff on their own

[Milsap]

Slave labour, wasn't it? Lottie would know more than me.

[That Girl in the 'Roo Suit]

Most of them would have been paid. Possibly decent wages too, seeing as they were building the legacy of their ruler, who was effectively a God on earth. Probably a few slaves too though