Editing 1426: Reduce Your Payments

{{comic
| number    = 1426
| date      = September 26, 2014
| title     = Reduce Your Payments
| image     = reduce your payments.png
| titletext = I tried oxidizing them, but your bank uses some really weird paper and it wouldn't light.
}}
[[File:Sodium_borohydride.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|Sodium borohydride, structural formula. (from Wikimedia Commons)]]
==Explanation==
[[Black Hat]] walks into a room where [[Cueball]] sits in an armchair. Black Hat says to Cueball that he can reduce his mortgage payments, while holding a docket of paper, presumably Cueball's payment check, that looks like it has been dipped into a liquid of some kind. Black Hat uses the same formulation many Internet advertisements use: "Discover this (strange/new/amazing...) trick to (lose weight/reduce your mortgage payments/meet amazing women...)" known as {{w|clickbait}}. Cueball wants to know how and Black Hat responds by mentioning {{w|Sodium borohydride|sodium borohydride (NaBH<sub>4</sub>)}}. Since Cueball fell for Black Hat's bait he exclaims, "I hate you."

{{w|Sodium borohydride}} is a strong {{w|reducing agent}}, meaning in a chemical reaction it will "{{w|redox|reduce}}" another substance. It is in fact used during the [https://www.borax.com/library/articles/news-and-events/news-release/paper's-tiger manufacture of paper], in order to bleach the natural color from the pulp and improve the resulting paper's brightness, opacity, ink-absorption, and strength (among other properties).

This comic is a typical switcharound pun. Cueball expects the value on a bill paid to be reduced, while Black Hat uses the chemical meaning of {{w|Reduction (chemistry)|reducing}}, which would result at a minimum in the bleaching of all ink from the bill therefore making it unreadable.

The complementary chemical reaction to reduction is {{w|oxidation}} (mentioned in [[1693: Oxidation]]), which is what happens if the paper mortgage payment is burned, as referred to in the title text. They go together in {{w|redox}} reactions, which generally involve electron transfer from the {{w|chemical species}} which is oxidized to the one which is reduced. In that case, the pun about light (to start a fire) is that a reduced financial weight may seem light (not heavy). However, some forms of paper - particularly those used for things like receipts - possess a slight coating that limits their flammability. Cueball's statements appear to be made with such a paper, thus preventing Black Hat from burning the statements.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball sits on a sofa and Blackhat walks into the frame from behind.]
:Blackhat: I discovered this weird trick for reducing your mortgage payments!
:Cueball: What?
:Blackhat: Sodium borohydride.
:Cueball: ...I hate you.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Clickbait]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Puns]]