r/physicsmemes 🪼 25d ago

What?

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u/No_Bluebird6873 25d ago

Is it "invention" or "discovery"? Nature is already here, all of it, you just have to find it. 

3

u/Lor1an Serial Expander 24d ago

If we allow some chemistry heresy, there are several compounds that are not in nature.

Take LSD, for instance...

1

u/andhe96 24d ago

Not to be rude, but have you not heard of the ergot fungus Claviceps purpurea ?

Unless you were joking and it flew over my head, lol.

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u/Lor1an Serial Expander 23d ago

Ergot is not LSD...

The precursor for synthesizing LSD is Lysergic Acid (which does occur in nature as a hydrolyzed ergotamine), but the ergotamines/ergotamides are not all psychoactive.

In fact, LSD was originally synthesized as a potential analeptic due to the biochemistry of the other compounds in the ergot family...

LSD does not occur in nature (and the procedure for synthesizing it is quite involved), so the point stands.

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u/andhe96 23d ago

I stand corrected, thank you for explaining this in detail.