Talk:Thiotimoline

Whence the name

Does anyone know where he got the name thiotimoline? To me it sounds like theo-time-line, but this is, of course, speculation 68.232.110.205

Well, the "thio" prefix indicates a sulfur functional group, and the "-ine" suffix indicates that this is an organic amine, and the rest of it probably does have something to do with time, yeah. Of course, that's just speculation. DS 22:15, 15 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Incomplete reference

The sentence about Spider Robinson at the very end is incomplete. I don't have the collection to put in the correct info myself. —Preceding unsigned comment added by CarlFink (talk • contribs) 20:07, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

forgot to note a while back that I completed this reference with related info. Tkech (talk) 21:13, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

Chemical properties

My copy of The Early Asimov states "the compound thiotimoline will dissolve in water … in minus 1.12 seconds. That is, it will dissolve before the water is added.". note two uses of the word "dissolve", and not "break down" as stated in the article. --Redrose64 (talk) 15:04, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Rosacea Karlsbadensis rufo

Is the name "correct" (in the appropriate sense of the term 8-)? Presumaby the binomial name is just "Karlsbadensis rufo", and "Rosacea" is the family name? If so the latter should not be in italics. On the other hand, if Rosacea is the genus, then "Karlsbadensis" should be the species (hence it should be uncap'ed) and "rufo" should be a variety. Duh? --Jorge Stolfi (talk) 17:52, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

I've just dug out "The Early Asimov: Volume 1", and on p. 113 we have "Rosacea Karlsbadensis rugo", with that exact spelling (note third word), capitalisation and italicisation. So, I'd say genus Rosacea species Karlsbadensis subspecies rugo, with the species capitalised presumably because Karlsbad is a place name? I do see what you're getting at, because Rosaceae is a valid family. On the other hand, in the article in question, Asimov deliberately set out to reference bogus journals, so why not describe a phoney genus too? --Redrose64 (talk) 18:25, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Red Indians

Regarding this edit, does the wording "Red Indians" occur in the original text? --SoledadKabocha (talk) 19:54, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

It just says Indians. The point is that Indians is ambiguous: the speaker meant inhabitants of India in the present day, and the listener thought he meant Native Americans in the past. Richard75 (talk) 20:48, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

My copy of

• Asimov, Isaac (1985) [1976]. Buy Jupiter. London: Granada. p. 247. ISBN 0-586-04398-5.

which is admittedly an anthology, and not the original appearance in Astounding, just says "Indians". --Redrose64 (talk) 21:02, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

So why not use "Native Americans" to avoid the possibility of the outdated (politically incorrect) terminology offending someone? --SoledadKabocha (talk) 02:02, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

The whole point it was a pun, unfortunately lacking political correctness, but it cannot be helped. Staszek Lem (talk) 03:37, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, sorry, I wasn't really thinking hard enough (about the very reply I just got here). Strangely enough, I had no trouble getting the pun before that edit had been made to the article. I will not alter the article; I just wanted to check. --SoledadKabocha (talk) 04:26, 6 March 2014 (UTC)

And to clarify what it is specifically that I didn't think hard enough about: If the word "Indians" appears in the original text, that makes it undesirable to say "Native Americans." However, I see that someone has wikilinked the term in question, making it clear enough. --SoledadKabocha (talk) 23:38, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

A chemical formula, mostly in jest

Possibly not worth adding to the article, but the chemical formula of thiotimoline seems to be C_nH_20+mO₂₀N₃ if the nitro group is present and C_nH_20+mO₁₈N₃ if it is not. Here, n represents the (unknown) number of carbon atoms; I'm not going to work out the minimal value. The number of hydrogens bonded directly to carbon is represented by m. Roches (talk) 14:54, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

Intention

I have now twice added "intended to be mixed" instead of "when it is mixed". This has nothing to do with intention or lack on intention, it has to do with the fact that grammatically, if thiotimoline dissolves BEFORE it is mixed, that you cannot say it happens WHEN it is mixed. If different method of expressing that it is not at the time of mixing, but before, I welcome a change.(I'm working on possibilities now) I know this is science fiction and illogical, I recognize this. If English had a conditional tense this might be easier to describe. Perhaps it can be noted that it dissolve before it is mixed, without simultaneously saying it happens when it is mixed. Cuvtixo (talk) 16:54, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

You could just put "when" in quote marks to indicate it's not quite when. Richard75 (talk) 19:36, 2 April 2017 (UTC)

Images

The Spanish version es:tiotimolina contains nice 3D and 2D structures only I have no experience with adding pictures to a page. Simon de Danser (talk) 05:04, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

These images are File:Tiotimolina-3D.png and File:Tiotimolina-2D.png, and they are on commons. However, they could be seen as misleading, since thiotimoline is a fictional substance, and Asimov does not give details of its structure. In particular, a two-dimensional image cannot represent a four-dimensional molecule except in the most general way. It's like trying to represent a three-dimensional molecule as a straight line with dots at intervals: this is OK for some inorganic compounds and the simple unbranched alkanes, but nothing else. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 10:42, 1 August 2017 (UTC)

endochronic

The term endochronic appears to be a legitimate scientific term used in articles such as Endochronic theory, non-linear kinematic hardening rule and generalized plasticity: a new interpretation based on generalized normality assumption, Some comments on the endochronic theory of plasticity, HYSTERETIC ENDOCHRONIC THEORY FOR SAND and others. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Deathmare (talk • contribs) 07:18, 8 August 2017 (UTC)

But you could go further.

1. Using the endochrometer to detect the dissolution of the sample - one could use the output of that machine to trigger a robot to add water into a second batch of thiotimoline.
2. This second sample would have it's water added 1.2 seconds before the first sample had water added...so the second sample would in fact dissolve 2.4 seconds before you added the water to the original sample.
3. With a sufficiently long chain of such devices, one could arrange for the endochronicity to be extended to an arbitrary degree.
4. Finally, all you need is an additional step that adds water to the first sample if (and only if) a certain horse wins the Kentucky Derby.
5. PROFIT !

SteveBaker (talk) 04:00, 4 August 2021 (UTC)

@SteveBaker: I suggest that you read "Thiotimoline and the Space Age". --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 20:13, 4 August 2021 (UTC)

Notability and article subject

Regarding the notability tag, wouldn't this article be easier to justify if it was introduced in the lead as an article about the stories themselves, written by a famous and award-winning author, rather than an article about a fictional substance? Richard75 (talk) 13:13, 10 March 2024 (UTC)

I think the notability tag is rather bogus, since it's been fairly well-known among science-fiction fans -- at least as much as Unobtainium before the first Avatar movie was released... AnonMoos (talk) 14:16, 10 March 2024 (UTC)