Science Trivia Challenge - 8 June 1 PM CST

[Borek]

pH=15 should be possible in theory, too, right? Just based on the available number of water molecules...

I am not sure. In theory yes, but in practice even strong bases are way too weak, and they won't be dissociated 100%. Kb for NaOH is something like 0.6 (compare that with Ka for HCl in the 10^-4 range).

This is quite convoluted, as pH is in general defined using H⁺ activity, not concentration, and in highly concentrated solutions activity coefficients take some unexpected values (initially they go below 1, but then they rise). So while there is no doubt it is possible to have solution with pH higher than 14, I have no idea whether it can get up to 15. I know solutions with pH around -1 were reported in the literature.

 

[drizzle]

Today's trivia was very good, I liked it. :DNot that I answered any question. :red face:

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Thanks for the trivia MM!

 

[adjacent]

The trivia was very good, I even got -1 point. lol

 

[Evo]

That was fun, and I think the length of time was perfect.

 

[Matterwave]

Was there a thread where you submitted answers or were they supposed to be PM'd to Micromass?

 

[micromass]

Was there a thread where you submitted answers or were they supposed to be PM'd to Micromass?

It happened in the chatroom! I notice I forgot to add the answers to my questions... Dumb me... Let me fix that.

 

[Matterwave]

There's a chat room? ._.

 

[micromass]

There's a chat room? ._.

https://www.physicsforums.com/chat/flashchat.php

 

[Matterwave]

Also, I've heard that there's a fungus that lives underground and spreads across like 3 states...I vaguely remember reading this on cracked...if true, wouldn't that be much larger than any tree in terms of volume?

 

[Evo]

I posted about the fungus, I was ignored, but I do believe the fungus is larger.

The largest living fungus may be a honey fungus[201] of the species Armillaria ostoyae.[202] A mushroom of this type in the Malheur National Forest in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, U.S. was found to be the largest fungal colony in the world, spanning 8.9 km² (2,200 acres) of area.[203][204] This organism is estimated to be 2400 years old. The fungus was written about in the April 2003 issue of the Canadian Journal of Forest Research. While an accurate estimate has not been made, the total weight of the colony may be as much as 605 tons[vague]. If this colony is considered a single organism, then it is the largest known organism in the world by area, and rivals the aspen grove "Pando" as the known organism with the highest living biomass. It is not known, however, whether it is a single organism with all parts of the mycelium connected.[204]

It seems to be an issue of whether it is truly a single organism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Largest_organisms#Fungi

 

[Matterwave]

Somebody has some 'splainin' to do...