Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 November 27

= November 27 =

Mycoplasma vs mushrooms
Is there some connection between mycoplasma (a class of bacteria) and mycology (the study of mushrooms)? Or is the name resemblance coincidental, or what? The mycoplasma article didn't say anything about this. Thanks. 2601:644:8501:AAF0:0:0:0:6375 (talk) 04:36, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
 * You can look up Wiktionary mycoplasma says the word means "fungus shaped". mycology can be checked out too. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 07:04, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I didn't think of looking there. 2601:644:8501:AAF0:0:0:0:6375 (talk) 23:13, 27 November 2023 (UTC)

Ozone-like smell after carbon dioxide buildup
I used to cover myself entirely with a blanket (up to the head) while sleeping and noticed that after unbearable CO2 buildup there and pulling the blanket down to breathe openly I sense ozone-like smell for a few seconds which rapidly disappears. Is it because of ground-level ozone, oxygen itself or something else? 212.180.235.46 (talk) 13:39, 27 November 2023 (UTC)


 * what on earth does ozone smell like im curious mushi ( ? ) 14:52, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
 * See ozone, second paragraph. Or stick your nose near a photocopier. Bazza (talk) 14:55, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
 * One can readily generate small amounts of ozone from static discharges (see Static_electricity) caused by blankets, especially nylon ones in a dry atmosphere. Mike Turnbull (talk) 17:13, 27 November 2023 (UTC)
 * It maybe just due to bad breath, when you breathe deeply, perhaps you get to smell it. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 10:24, 28 November 2023 (UTC)
 * I do not have a reference, but I have assumed it is temperature change. I get the same ozone-smell sensation when I walk out of a warm house into the cold outside, just for a few seconds. The change from breathing warm air to cold air appears to be the trigger more than anything else... at least for me. 12.116.29.106 (talk) 13:15, 28 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Indeed, it appears to happen to me in cold weather rather than in warm weather. 212.180.235.46 (talk) 13:22, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

Interaction picture transformable into Heisenberg picture
Since matrices can basically be treated as a type of vector and vice versa, could the Heisenberg picture transformed into the Dirac Picture? 2A02:8071:60A0:92E0:9D32:9360:2436:9F78 (talk) 16:41, 27 November 2023 (UTC)


 * The Heisenberg picture can be transformed into the Schrödinger picture, and (in a non-relativistic setting) the latter can be transformed into the Dirac picture, so by taking the product of the two operators you should be able to skip the middle man. --Lambiam 09:44, 28 November 2023 (UTC)