• Vespair@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      You understand that the reason we make candles out of wax is because it’s a solid fuel, right? The same reason candles work is the reason wax paper isn’t oven safe.

      • jasondj@ttrpg.network
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        1 year ago

        A lot of people think that the wick itself is the fuel. I only recently realized that it’s “wicking” up melted wax, and the wax itself is the fuel.

          • Vespair@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            It breaks my heart that examining and understanding the world around you is the kind of thing people disparage

        • Vespair@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, I recently learned that most people are totally misunderstanding candles when Hank Green had to do a whole series on “where does the wax go?” on tiktok. Blew my mind that it wasn’t obvious to everyone.

          • _jonatan_@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            If someone had asked me “what percentage of people know how candles work?” I would probably have answered something like “95% of those over the age of 5”. This is very disconcerting. Not that candles are terribly important, but just the lack of reasoning.

            • zalgotext@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              Is it really that weird to not fully understand how candles work? They’re rarely used nowadays if you have electricity, and it’s not exactly the most intuitive - I mean wax melts, and reveals more wick, and the wick is the thing you set fire to, so I don’t think it’s that weird to think the wick is burning.

              • _jonatan_@lemm.ee
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                1 year ago

                I would assume people goong “ok, so the wick burns but what is the purpose of the wax? Oh it’s the fuel duh”

      • Gamey
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        1 year ago

        I play with candle wax since I am four years old and it’s always shocking to me how little many people understand about the world around them!