Niels helping Niels.

[NNadir]

I came across this paper this morning during my regular journal reading: Enhanced Photoaging of Functionalized Nanoplastics by Cadmium Ions and Corresponding Diverse Transport Behaviors of Products in Porous Media: Mechanisms and Modeling Siyi Sun, Xuelian Wang, Yan Liang, Nan Xu, Yinglin Liu, Xiangrong Yang, Feng Du, and Haijun Chen, Environmental Science & Technology 2025 59 (19), 9779-9789.

(It's so nice that we'll have toxic cadmium leaching all over the world when all those wonderful CIGS solar cells are transformed into electronic waste.)

The abstract reads as follows:

The photoaging of nanoplastics (NPs) mediated by heavy metals and the transport mechanisms of the products have been widely overlooked. This study demonstrated that cadmium ion (Cd(II)) mediation accelerated the photoaging of polystyrene NPs (carboxyl-modified CNPs, amino-modified ANPs, sulfonate, and amino comodified SANPs) by generating more •OH and ¹O₂, thereby altering their physicochemical properties and consequent transport behavior. Kinetic attachment models and Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek theory proved that the Cd(II)-mediated photoaging process had diverse effects on the transport and retention of surface-functionalized NPs in water-saturated sand media. In particular, Cd(II) mediation at 50 mg/L increased the hydroxyl and carboxyl groups on aged CNPs, facilitating their transport...

I added the bold.

Quoth I to myself: "Self? What the fuck is Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek theory?"

For questions like this, God created (on the unpublicized 8th day) Wikipedia, which calls this theory "DLVO theory."

Quoth Wikipedia referring to the Yukawa Potential where:



Quoth I to myself: "Self? What the fuck is Bjerrum length?"

On the For questions like this, God populated (on the unpublicized 9th day) Wikipedia, with this entry:

Bjerrum Length.

...where it is written:



(On the unpublicized 42nd day, God posted on the internet how to pronounce "Bjerrum," - Be Am" which is not relevant here.)

Quoth I, "Self? Who the fuck is Bjerrum?"

On the unpublicized 31,550,660th day, God placed this entry on Wikipedia: Niels Bjerrum, which has the following entry:

Contribution to the Bohr Model of the atom:

Bjerrum worked with Nernst in Berlin and contributed to chemical physics in four papers (1911–1914). The subject of the papers is the kinetic and quantum theories through absorption measurements in the infrared to elucidate the constitution and the optical and thermal properties of matter. He advanced the studies of specific heat that had been made for solids by Albert Einstein, Walther Nernst, and Lindemann. He showed the connection of specific heats and the spectrum as required by the quantum theory. Using the quantum hypothesis, the infrared absorption spectra of water vapor were shown to link to the line broadening caused by molecular rotational frequencies that vary discontinuously and to radiating atoms that do not rotate. This phenomenon was mentioned by Niels Bohr as contributing greatly to his 1913 model of the atom because it provided agreement with specific heat investigations which suggested that the rotational energy of atoms must be very small.[7][8]

There seems to have been a conspiracy among people named "Neils" in Denmark to foist quantum mechanics on us, Godless as it is.

I really need to get a life, don't I?

Well you learn something every day, and then you die.

Have a pleasant Memorial Day weekend.

[MLAA]

1. May you always have cause to visit the temple of Wikipedia every day! This is my wish for such a curious mind as yours.

[erronis]

2. The situation in Iceland (an even more 'inbred' spot than Denmark) is more dire.

https://www.re.is/blog/icelandic-names/ (found this not via the blessed Wikipedia, but by my favorite search engine 'kagi'.)

Traditionally, there are no family names in Iceland. Iceland is keen to hold onto the old patronymic (increasingly matronymic) custom whereby the child is given its father’s or mother’s Christian name and is referred to as the son or daughter of. Iceland is a country that values tradition and customs and has a strong sense of family. But it also means there’s no family lineage carried down through a single surname. You would imagine Iceland’s naming system would make it difficult to trace a family tree. Not so. The Book of Icelanders - ‘Íslendingabók’ is used to trace genealogy and dates back well over a thousand years. In fact, it’s probably easier for Icelanders to trace their family tree than people from other countries. The extensive database, the relatively small population and a keen interest in family heritage - pretty much a national obsession - means the population keeps well up-to-date with their family lineage.