this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
384 points (96.8% liked)

Asklemmy

45385 readers
830 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
Cloak@lemmy.ml
mekhos@lemmy.ml
tmpod@lemmy.pt
14specks@lemmy.ml
384
What are some commonly known facts that are too bizarre for you to believe to be true? (lemm.ee)
submitted 2 years ago by zirzedolta@lemm.ee to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml
474 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

For me it is the fact that our blood contains iron. I earlier used to believe the word stood for some 'organic element' since I couldn't accept we had metal flowing through our supposed carbon-based bodies, till I realized that is where the taste and smell of blood comes from.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 018118055@sopuli.xyz 63 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Calcium is a metal. We have metal bones.

[–] Urist@lemmy.ml 54 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

From Wikipedia on bones:

Bone matrix is 90 to 95% composed of elastic collagen fibers, also known as ossein,[5] and the remainder is ground substance.[6] The elasticity of collagen improves fracture resistance.[7] The matrix is hardened by the binding of inorganic mineral salt, calcium phosphate, in a chemical arrangement known as bone mineral, a form of calcium apatite.[9]

So the statement is a bit faulty, not only because of the relative low amount of calcium in our bones, but also because it appears as a mineral. We distinguish between salts and metals because of their chemical properties being quite different (solubility, reflectiveness, electrical conductivity, maleability and so on).

Edit: I do realize the point of the comment was not to be entirely factual, so if I am allowed as well I would say science is pretty metal.

[–] Adalast@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

We also distinguish between metals and non-metals by field of study. Ask an astronomer which elements are metals sometime.

[–] Urist@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

How so? I thought they were mostly determined by their positions in the table of periodic elements.

[–] Adalast@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Lol, they are. In astronomy anything heavier than Helium. is considered a metal.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallicity

[–] Urist@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago

Well TIL. It makes sense that from an astronomical perspective the use of metal as a qualitative distinction of material properties makes less sense than as a distinction of mass.

[–] 018118055@sopuli.xyz 6 points 2 years ago

Thanks for the reality injection!

The statement was glib but even the partial truth of it made me wonder when I first learned it.

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 8 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Oh my... I refuse to accept this as reality

We're all organically powered metal meat machines? 😭

[–] Turun@feddit.de 9 points 2 years ago

In the same sense that we contain a massive volume of gas, because there is a lot of hydrogen in our bodies. Yes, hydrogen is a gas, and yes, there is a lot of it on our body. But it's bound, so it doesn't count.

It would be more accurate to call it stone than metal, because the calcium in our bones is also bound to other elements, which means it does not exhibit its usual metal characteristics.

[–] wahming@monyet.cc 5 points 2 years ago

The meat is suffused with more metal throughout it

[–] mitchell@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 1 points 2 years ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/GggK9SjJpuQ

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] gonzo0815@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 years ago

By the sound mine make I would have thought free jazz.

[–] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 1 points 2 years ago

They sure don't feel metal.