Editing Talk:2458: Bubble Wrap

<!--Please sign your posts with ~~~~ and don't delete this text. New comments should be added at the bottom.-->
In another 25 years, unpopped bubble wrap will be the only source of pure air left in the world. [[User:RAGBRAIvet|RAGBRAIvet]] ([[User talk:RAGBRAIvet|talk]]) 04:42, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

:In 25 ''thousand'' years, scientists will use bubble wrap to see what the air what like today, in a similar fashion to how we use ice core samples to look at the atmosphere from thousands of years ago. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.249.74|108.162.249.74]] 04:54, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
::mmm, air time capsule. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.204|162.158.63.204]] 13:55, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

WD-40 is not a lubricant.  [[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.244|172.68.65.244]] 05:16, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
: You're right, but in the time it took for you to post the comment, you could have just fixed it. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 07:21, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
:: Are you sure? Its not ''lube'' despite its penetrating powers, I'll concede to that. But why wouldn't it be a lubricant? Its an oil based product, I need more context. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.170.142|172.69.170.142]] 07:29, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
::: You're right, that since it's oil based it can and sometimes is used as a short term lubricant. However it is not advisable to use it (or other penetrating oils) that way. They generally evaporate too quickly to be used long term. You'd have to constantly reapply it to moving parts. [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 09:27, 4 May 2021 (UTC)
:: WD-40 actually _removes_ any existing oil. Its major ingredient, which is also responsible for the smell, is Kerosene.  That is also the active ingredient in _Liquid Wrench_, which frees up stuck parts. That's probably why many people mistake it for a lubricant.  When the Kerosene evaporates, it leaves behind a waxy coating (isoparrafins). Its design purpose is to waterproof. The wax, if over-applied, can also treat squeaky hinges, which is another reason people confuse it with some kind of oil.
So, it contains a *penetrating solvent*, which is oil in the sense of lamp oil, but not the sense of oil for lubrication. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.148|172.69.34.148]] 06:47, 5 May 2021 (UTC)

Could the comic be some sort of mocking people who taste all weird stuff from wine? Or basically anyone who has a distinguished taste on [wine, whiskey, tobacco, cheese etc]? [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:59, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

I relegated the "sound of popping bubblewrap" out of being the single explicit reason why people like doing it, although obviously different people have different needs (up to and including annoying ''other'' people by the noise they create, as perhaps the primary reason to pop the bubbles when given the opportunity), but it's a complex issue. [https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/Why-Do-People-Like-Bubble-Wrap-So-Much There's various explanations out there], and I know I get ''more'' frustrated when I have to try harder to pop 'pop resisting' stuff, even with the same end sound, or can be satisfied with pin-pricking with something sharp to 'doodle' a pop-pattern (and/or flood-fill a methodical 'wasteland' of poppedness) even if it gives nothing more than a faint 'snick'/hiss sound whilst doing it.

...but, no, I've never thought of sniffing it. I suppose I always imagined it was inflated with compressed gasses, like "packaged in a protective atmosphere", for foodstuffs, even though this now sounds ridiculously over-engineered to waste fractionated atmosphere or chemically-evolved gas rather than just blow in (filtered) atmosphere, or even just letting the plastic layers settle down over the original ambient airgap when fusing the 'bubble edges' down between them - however they actually do it.

And then there's the old chestnut about using helium-filled bubble-wrap to reduce/nullify (charged by weight) shipping costs! Note, though, that it's commonly suggested, if you search around, and then commonly refuted by (among other things) the economics of buying enough helium-filled packaging to make any postage-rate change. I suppose you could invest in equipment to split water (powered by solar power) and try infusing it into a standard air-pocket wrapping (could that break even, eventually?), though shipping companies might well consider the Hindenbubblewrap strays outside their standard handling processes so no longer benefits from the sought after lightness-discount. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.146|141.101.98.146]] 09:45, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

I think that some times bubble wrap is made with out air and then sent out and inflated where it is needed.

Bubble wrap is usually made of LDPE, polyethylene. This polymer is quite permeable for many chemicals, especially more lipophilic ones. WD-40 "smell" definitely wouldn't stay in a bubble for long and neither would most components of diesel exhaust. I think the comparison between bubble wrap and ice cores is thus too far fetched since bulk ice provides _much_ better isolation than an LDPE foil. But I am not sure if Randall is aware that all three smells rely on a quite esoteric view and wouldn't work even in theory.

Would it be appropriate to add to "one could detect unique odors present in the factory" a reference to the movie "Fly Me to the Saitama" where the hero (Rei Asami) proves his Tokyo-ness by identifying some Tokyo districts from the air contained in glass bottles? Thank you  [[User:Dhalber|Dhalber]] ([[User talk:Dhalber|talk]]) 17:54, 4 May 2021 (UTC)

Uhh, I live in a warehouse district, & I'm not sure what survey of air in industrial zones was the basis for the current description for this comic, but the statement "In reality, the air inside most factories is much like the air anywhere else" definitely needs a big citation next to it; or I'll be happy to call bullshit. Even a brand new ultra-modern factory begins to smell like the things in it, after just a few months of operation. 

Also, regarding the smell of WD-40 & diesel fumes: I can easily believe that solvents in WD-40 would penetrate polyethylene plastics... but bubble wrap ''does'' often smell like WD-40 & diesel exhaust, for whatever reason. 
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:03, 4 May 2021 (UTC)