What do protons taste of?

Escadrille Ecosse · May 13, 2024

We'll come back to that shortly but this is a recommendation for Sidewaysers to increase their general knowledge and have a good laugh in the process by listening to...

A Podcast of Unnecessary Detail with Matt Parker (of Humble Pi fame), Steve Mould and Helen Arnie who are quite excellent.

https://festivalofthespokennerd.com/podcast/ and available on Spotify and iTunes.

which is, and I quote "unnecessary detail presented in podcast form". Such as the B-E-D, or banana equivalent dose, for comparing radiation exposure. :nuke:

Or how your on-line web page can tell when you make a mistake typing in your credit card number without knowing your account details. It uses the Luhn algorithm to validate the check digit at the end of the 16 digit string.

There are lots of explanations of the Luhn algorithm on the web but they all seem excessively complex so basically it's this...

1. Ignore the first number in the string - this is also the issuing bank number - eg 5 for Mastercard

2. Then double every second digit (unless the resulting number is more than 9 in which case add the two digits together) so 2 becomes 4 and 8 becomes 7 (2x8=16, 1+6=7)

3. Add all the resulting numbers together

4. The final check digit is 10 minus the remainder (modulo) of the sum from 3. divided by 10

If the sum was 56, then 56 divided by 10 is five remainder 6. 10 minus 6 is 4. So the check number is 4

....

As for what do protons taste of, the answer is sour. Sour things are acidic, with lots of hydrogen ions and the sour receptors in your mouth are designed to detect hydrogen ions.

Since hydrogen consists of a single proton and electron then a hydrogen ion is basically a proton. So protons are sour. :biggrin: