Metro gets frosty on liquid nitrogen ‘gas’
May 25th, 2007
Blogger Martin Davies has an amusing (if somewhat brief) exchange with a Metro journalist over their description of liquid nitrogen as a gas.
Everyone knew what we meant by ‘gas’ - even if it was wrong scientifically - and that is the purpose of communication, the business we are in.
I replied:
What did you mean by “gas” if not “gas”? Surely using a word correctly is at the very heart of communication?
Taking back science with patronising humour? That’s the kind of sciencepunking we like to see! (link)
Entry Filed under: General
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5 Comments
1. Marty | May 25th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Hey - no need to be so formal! You can call me Marty :)
2. Ithika | May 28th, 2007 at 4:28 pm
What do you expect with the Metro, eh? They are prone to playing fast and loose with all sort of stories and sticking to the facts is about all we can trust they won’t do.
3. Ithika | May 28th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
(Sorry, that previous post came off looking a bit more confrontational than it was meant. Insert a mental “;-)” after the first sentence!)
4. John Matthews | May 31st, 2007 at 12:56 pm
At standard temperature and pressure liquid nitrogen IS a gas - that must have been what our favourite Metro journo meant!
5. Frank the SciencePunk | May 31st, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I can see your point, John, but I think the problem here is that scientifically literate people automatically acknowledge that liquid nitrogen is either under pressure or at very low temperature or both. That doesn’t make the Metro correct.
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