Failed experiments Memes

Posts tagged with Failed experiments

The Last Surviving Milligrams
Chemistry Lab-life Research
6 days ago 5.5K views 0 shares
The Last Surviving Milligrams
That precious 16 mg sample has been through more purification trauma than a reality show contestant. Six rounds of isolation after failed reactions is the biochemistry equivalent of running a marathon in lab shoes. Your sample isn't just tired—it's contemplating retirement and writing a memoir titled "Diminishing Returns: My Life as a Microscopic Speck." The most tragic relationship in science isn't with your PI—it's with that compound you've been trying to synthesize for months while watching your starting material slowly vanish into the void of contaminated fractions and stuck-to-glassware losses.

The Golden Discovery That Was Actually Pee
Chemistry Scientists Science Materials Research
8 days ago 4.3K views 0 shares
The Golden Discovery That Was Actually Pee
Hennig Brand, the 17th century alchemist who discovered phosphorus, literally boiled down 1,500 gallons of human urine in his basement trying to make gold. Instead, he got a glowing white substance that burst into flames when exposed to air. Science history's most successful failure. The yellow water in the image perfectly captures what his neighbors probably thought was happening when they saw the glow from his windows at night. Turns out the path to elemental discovery is paved with bodily fluids and questionable life choices.

The Scientific Method: Emotional Rollercoaster Edition
Research Science Lab-life Academia Scientists
10 days ago 3.4K views 0 shares
The Scientific Method: Emotional Rollercoaster Edition
The scientific method they taught us in school vs. what actually happens in the lab! First you make an observation with the confused squinting of Fry, then scream "WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" like a deranged meme guy. Your hypothesis? Just a dinosaur plotting something sinister. Then comes the prediction phase where Keanu is utterly bewildered, followed by experiments conducted by... *checks notes*... a chemistry cat with a bowtie. Obviously. When the results come in, you either pump your fist like Success Kid or spiral into existential crisis. If things go sideways, Jackie Chan clutches his head in despair as you reject your hypothesis. Finally, you emerge with a wild-haired "theory" that looks suspiciously like an alien conspiracy. And we wonder why the public doesn't understand science! This is basically peer review in meme format.

He Had 1500 Gallons Of Piss Rotting In His Basement!
Chemistry Science Scientists Materials
13 days ago 5.1K views 0 shares
He Had 1500 Gallons Of Piss Rotting In His Basement!
Fun historical chemistry fact: Hennig Brand, a 17th-century German alchemist, literally boiled down 1,500 gallons of human urine in his basement trying to make gold. Instead, he discovered phosphorus—an element that glows in the dark! The yellow water in this image is reminiscent of his massive urine collection, which he let ferment for weeks before the distillation process. Imagine the smell! His neighbors probably thought he was taking the "p" in PhD way too literally. The man literally struck gold in pee—just not the kind he was hoping for.

Misery Loves Scientific Company
Lab-life Research Academia Science
24 days ago 3.4K views 0 shares
Misery Loves Scientific Company
Nothing warms the cold, dead soul of a scientist like the sweet, sweet schadenfreude of seeing your lab mates' experiments crash and burn too! 🔥 Sure, a beanie keeps your head toasty, socks protect your tootsies, and gloves shield your digits from liquid nitrogen mishaps... but the REAL thermal comfort comes from knowing you're not the only one whose p-values are garbage this week! It's the scientific method's greatest unwritten law: misery + company = slightly less miserable company! Now back to failing spectacularly together! 🧪💥

The Butterfly Effect: When Curiosity Kills
Biology Medicine Science Research
1 month ago 4.3K views 0 shares
The Butterfly Effect: When Curiosity Kills
The dark comedy of scientific discovery sometimes comes at a tragic cost. This tweet perfectly captures the bizarre intersection of internet culture and scientific curiosity gone horribly wrong. Butterfly wings contain cardenolides—potent cardiac glycosides that disrupt sodium-potassium pumps in heart cells. Injecting these compounds is essentially DIY cardiotoxicity. Nature's warning colors aren't just for show, folks! The sarcastic "thank you for testing" comment brilliantly highlights how even catastrophic failures generate valuable data. Darwin Awards meets peer review in the most unfortunate experiment ever.

Hope This Eventually Works!
Biology Evolution Science
1 month ago 5.0K views 0 shares
Hope This Eventually Works!
That's not how genetic engineering works, buddy! This meme hilariously captures the scientific equivalent of "if I eat enough carrots, I'll eventually turn orange." Horizontal gene transfer—the process where organisms transfer genetic material to other organisms without being parents—doesn't quite work by just injecting yourself with plant juice! The character's hopeful thinking that repeatedly injecting plant extracts will somehow grant them photosynthetic powers is peak scientific wishful thinking. Imagine skipping millions of years of evolution with a few DIY syringes! The burnt food images below just add that perfect "my experiments are going great!" chef's kiss to the scientific delusion.

Could This Actually Work? (Medieval Atom Splitting Edition)
Physics Science
3 months ago 6.0K views 0 shares
Could This Actually Work? (Medieval Atom Splitting Edition)
Medieval physicists trying to split the atom be like: "Just hit it really hard with this stick." The meme shows a primitive version of a particle accelerator—a wooden staff with a metal chain attached to what appears to be two halves of a metallic sphere. Spoiler alert: Neutrons don't respond well to blunt force trauma! The energy required to split an atom is approximately 1 million electron volts, which is slightly more than your average medieval blacksmith could generate with a wooden stick. But hey, points for creativity in experimental design! At least they wouldn't have to worry about nuclear fallout when their experiment inevitably failed.

Long Live Wan Hu! Greatest Launch Of All Time
Astronomy Engineering Physics Science
3 months ago 10.3K views 0 shares
Long Live Wan Hu! Greatest Launch Of All Time
The original YOLO space program! Wan Hu's legendary 16th-century attempt to reach the moon with a chair strapped to 47 rockets is basically the medieval version of "hold my beer and watch this." His ambitious DIY spacecraft combined the structural integrity of IKEA furniture with the explosive power of a Michael Bay movie. Physics wasn't exactly on his side—turns out rocket science is actually rocket science! While NASA spends billions on safety protocols, this dude just said "bamboo chair + gunpowder = moon trip" and lit the fuse. The fact that we're still talking about his spectacular failure centuries later proves that epic fails in the name of science never go out of style. He may not have reached the moon, but he definitely reached legendary status!

The Real Scientific Method: When Data Says Nope
Research Science Academia Lab-life
4 months ago 7.9K views 0 shares
The Real Scientific Method: When Data Says Nope
The textbooks LIE to you, my curious friends! The actual scientific method isn't that neat hypothesis-experiment-conclusion flowchart. It's just a scientist vibing until data crashes the party with inconvenient truths! Ever spent six months on an experiment only for your results to whisper "absolutely nothing works like you thought"? That's not failure—that's Tuesday in the lab! Reality has a stubborn habit of rejecting our beautiful theories with ugly facts. But that's where the real science happens—in that soul-crushing moment when your hypothesis gets absolutely demolished by rebellious data!

Quantum Confusion: DIY Edition
Physics Science Academia
4 months ago 14.2K views 0 shares
Quantum Confusion: DIY Edition
When you try to replicate one of the most profound experiments in quantum physics using a flashlight and some construction paper, and suddenly your brain splits into multiple confused states simultaneously. The double-slit experiment demonstrates wave-particle duality—a cornerstone of quantum mechanics that's baffled physicists for centuries. But sure, your DIY version with office supplies should definitely earn you that physics credit! Next time, maybe try proving string theory with some dental floss and a paper clip.