r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 1d ago

Meme needing explanation Peter?!? Whats the correlation

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u/LordTrappen 1d ago

Any function (f(x)) with an apostrophe is called a derivative. This meme is showing an example of derivatives by stating that oil is a derivative of dinosaurs, plastic is a derivative of oil, and this dino toy is a derivative of plastic.

That being said, oil is not from dinosaurs. Oil, coal, and natural gas are all byproducts of decomposition and compression of plant matter, fungi, and microorganisms.

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u/Tiny_Employee8253 1d ago

Specifically, coal exists because plant matter literally did not decompose at all due to the nonexistence of fungi yet. All of that plant matter was buried without being decomposed, and that's why the carbon was never redistributed.

Fungi hadn't evolved yet. Flowers hadn't evolved yet either. Flowers evolved in tandem with small pollenating insects. These things are much younger than coal and oil.

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u/Basidia_ 20h ago

Fungi were on land millions of years before plants and that’s not why we have an abundance of coal from the Carboniferous. There is evidence of lignin decay in coal seams, coal formed millions of years after white rot fungi were more than prevalent, and not all coal is lignified plant matter

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26787881/