User talk:Blackcloak

Welcome!

Hello, Blackcloak, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! --best, kevin [kzollman][talk] 07:15, 21 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

You have no Idea (re: Ohm's Law)

That title regards your next edit- re: intimately comment where you cut a phrase. I've seen far to many masters degree holders that were totally baffled by what would be instantly obvious to a decent tech. Too many junior engineer hires, that couldn't figure out simple common base biasing on a transistor-transistor coupled multistage amplifier. They aren't digital or something.
Disagree this was a good deletion. The topic is germane to the discussion. This thing is an educational work, introducing a related topic so intertwined with the main one on the table is hardly inappropriate.
Keep in mind you don't know whether the reader is a Mensus with seven PHDs or a grade school kid trying to figure out what something said. If it's not confusing, I suggest including it. Don't let your own knowledge cloud your judgement. There is no reason in Wikipedia to be overly terse, or narrowly focused on topic like in a printed encl. where every column-inch counts.
I have a bright neighbor, an eye doctor who gets totally lost when discussing the return path on a simple series lighting circuit--his broken headlamp gizmo that he uses for examining retinas... Some peoples brains just can't get around certain concepts. FrankB 06:57, 31 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Actually I do have an idea or two: Ohm's Law)

The topic is Ohm's Law, not how to correct problems with teaching masters degree students how to use Ohm's law. When you know something 'intimately,' you can apply that knowledge without having to think about it. When you come across an individual who has managed to complete a masters degree program in EE and still does not have a working knowledge of Ohm's Law, you know something about the quality of the master's program that individual claims to have completed.
"Disagree this was a good deletion." The material is not germane to the discussion at the point where it was inserted. Besides, the text is poorly written. Resistivity is its own topic, and the strain effects section adequately presents the underlying ideas of the deleted text, although in the context of making small changes to cross-sectional area and length. The link to resistivity was added. Ohm's law (the formula) does not actually contain the idea of resistivity directly. So, maybe, for the sake of being more complete, someone should write a separate section contrasting the meanings of resistance and resistivity.
I wrote the "elementary explanation ..." section, as well as others of an introductory nature. Relative to other Wikipedia entries, this entry on Ohm's Law does a far better job of helping young readers understand what is going on. That's not to say it could not be done better. My sense for clear communication is the only thing that drives my decisions as to what should be deleted or improved. (Take a peek at the Ohm's Law entries under other languages if you want to see terse.)
As for your bright neighbor (I've known my fair share of the type.), there are some simple concepts that he never learned. He probably does not understand conservation of energy, conservation of charge, and a host of other physical ideas. I would start by getting him to understand what a manometer is and how it works. Then you can tackle a battery. I wrote the 'hydrologic analogy' section in an attempt to help individuals just like your neighbor. Blackcloak, 1 April 2006

Re errors in Carbon Dioxide article

I reverted because you did not edit the current page, but an older page, probably the one you last edited on 17 January, 9.28 revision, thus restoring multiple errors that you appear to have introduced yourself at that revision (please correct me if I am wrong), and which had been corrected by user:William M. Connelley. I suggest you look back at the section "Isolation" and the Categories to see what I am talking about. Your revision at 8.35 on 17 Jan is correct, but your 9.28 revision on 17 Jan introduced multiple errors. If you want to restore those edits, I suggest you explain to the community what positive contribution they make to the article. From my perspective they look like vandalism and a waste of the time and energy of other editors. In addition, I tend to agree with user:Raymond arrit that your additions lacked clarity. On the blocking - I don't see any reason for you to have been blocked, but then I don't have administrator privileges, so you will should look elsewhere for an answer to that.Plantsurfer (talk) 08:48, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Response to Plantsurfer

To say that I introduced multiple errors without describing the nature of the errors is distinctly unhelpful and disrepsectful. To suggest that in any way my contributions are vandalism is cleary wrong and you should review Wiki policy on the subject. When an addition lacks clarity, you should try to improve, not remove. Your reverts were not made in good faith. Regarding blocking, I don't see any indication that I have been blocked (in fact, never having been blocked, I don't know what to look for), but several attempts to edit were not accepted by Wikipedia.

Regarding your reference to the Isolation section, the part that appears to be relevant to my attempted contributions is:

Carbon dioxide is soluble in water, in which it spontaneously interconverts between CO2 and H2CO3 (carbonic acid). The relative concentrations of CO2, H2CO3, and the deprotonated forms HCO3- (bicarbonate) and CO32-(carbonate) depend on the pH. In neutral or slightly alkaline water (pH > 6.5), the bicarbonate form predominates (>50%) becoming the most prevalent (>95%) at the pH of seawater, while in very alkaline water (pH > 10.4) the predominant (>50%) form is carbonate. The bicarbonate and carbonate forms are very soluble, such that air-equilibrated ocean water (mildly alkaline with typical pH = 8.2 – 8.5) contains about 120 mg of bicarbonate per liter.

First, there is no mention of interrelationship of temperature, solubility and equilibrium. Perhaps, at the ocean surface, equilibirum (mass transport of co2)is always assumed.

While I can't say I fully understand all that is being said, I infer from the text that on a weight ratio basis, approx. .0001 of the mass of surface ocean water is the dominate species of co2. The wording suggests that the mass of this bicarbonate (OH- attached to CO2, presumably) is taken to include both the OH and the CO2, which means the CO2 (only) equilibrim mass ratio is closer to .00009. That implies that surface seawater (in equilibrium) accepts one molecule of CO2 for every 3000 molecules of water. Whereas, in the atmosphere (at sealevel, say), the corresponding ratio is about one molecule of CO2 for every 4000 molecules of 'air' (N2,O2). If you care to take the time, let me know if I'm close.

I could not figure out what you mean by 'Categories.' blackcloak (talk) 19:53, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The errors that I am referring to were many tens of question marks replacing earlier arrows in the Isolation section and other content elsewhere. Why did you do that? I have no agenda against your substantive edits (or the arguments you raise above), and suggest that if you feel they were justified you should simply replace them. But please do it by editing the current revision of the page, not an old one, otherwise you revert other people's legitimate edits. Best wishesPlantsurfer (talk) 21:00, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What are you talking about? Question marks? Arrows? I have no idea how any such thing happened. I certainly did not do it, at least not intentionally. So I guess I have to say I'm sorry if somehow my attempt at contributing created some spurious, albeit highly annoying, artifacts. It may have something to do with keeping the editing page open for long periods of time- like an hour. Anyway, please understand that such a thing was not done intentionally. Had I been in your position, I would have simply replaced the section with a correct older version.

Further, I did not start my edits with an old version, I used the current version, and replaced, on a paragraph by paragraph basis, usually also making further wording/phrasing improvements. If you look carefully you'll probably see the differences.

I think we both have to acknowledge that these editing/transmitting systems are not fool proof and that systematic errors occur without our knowledge. It would not surprise me at all to learn that some of these problems have to do with the way Wikipedia's servers handle the updating of text that originates through many different browsers (I use IE7(XP) and IE6(98SE).) 67.87.73.86 (talk) 00:12, 19 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]