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Here come more Oppograms, this time science-related courtesy of our fortnightly challenge.

The rules: In each set of words, find the opposite of each word, then anagram the letters of all opposites to get one term.

The oppograms below form one physics term, one chemistry term, and one biology term (not necessarily in that order).

  1. abnormal original ignore plagiarise (2 words, 16 letters)
  2. imagined water seldom [sent items] (2 words, 20 letters, "sent items" has one opposite)
  3. straighten lazy shack (2 words, 14 letters)

Hint 1: Which is which term

#1 is physics, #2 is biology, #3 is chemistry

Hint 2: Clarification on some words people seem to be having trouble on

Instead of lazy, I could have used dull.
Instead of ignore, I could have used dismiss.
Abnormal is not average.
Original is a noun in this context, not an adjective.

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  • $\begingroup$ u sure, there are 14 letters in the last one?? I get 15... $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 16:09
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, I'm sure. Also, I will put up some hints later today. $\endgroup$
    – Business Cat
    Commented Jun 9, 2016 at 16:12

3 Answers 3

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Guess for 2: imagined water seldom [sent items]

"occured* ice daily inbox"
anagrams to: deoxyribonucleic acid (2 words, 20 letters)
I know the correct spelling should be "occurred", but I don't know how to spoiler comments to ask about this, so I'm posting as a WIP answer instead..

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  • $\begingroup$ This is correct. Not sure how I missed that glaringly obvious typo though, good job for figuring it out anyway! $\endgroup$
    – Business Cat
    Commented Jun 8, 2016 at 18:36
  • $\begingroup$ Hooray, thanks for the confirmation! I'll keep thinking on the other two.. $\endgroup$
    – user812786
    Commented Jun 8, 2016 at 18:40
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My guess for number 1 is:

Terminal Velocity

abnormal

norm

original

tail (original meaning beginning or first, tail meaning end or last)

ignore

levy (to impose)

plagiarize

cite

Yielding:

norm tail levy cite -> terminal velocity

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  • $\begingroup$ This was not my intended answer, but it (mostly) fits. $\endgroup$
    – Business Cat
    Commented Jun 8, 2016 at 19:39
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This a wiki post to gather ideas. Feel free to use it in your answer !

First Oppogram

abnormal original ignore plagiarise (2 words, 16 letters)

Opposite ideas :

abnormal -> normal (6) // typic (5) // usual (5) // norm (4)
original -> copy (4) // used (4) // old (3) // tail (4) // banal (5) // fake (4) // faux (4)
ignore/dismiss -> know (4) // heed (4) // attend (6) // note (4) // keep (4)
plagiarise -> create (6) // renew (5) // give (4) // cite (4)

Word ideas :

Chemistry terms (16 letters) from wikipedia glossary

activation energy
addition reaction
buffered solution
chemical reaction
conjugated system
molecular formula
molecular orbital
organic chemistry
Quantum mechanics
radioactive decay
reactivity series

Physics (16) from glossary of physics

Absolute Humidity
Absolute pressure
Adiabatic cooling
Adiabatic heating
Angular frequency
Astronomical unit
Avogadro constant
Babinet Principle
Centrifugal force
Centripetal force
Covalent compound
Definite integral
Emission spectrum
Fermats principle
Hamilton princple
Laplace transform
Linear elasticity
Liouville theorem
Mass spectrometry
Materials science
Maxwell equations
Mechanical filter
Molecular physics
Phase equilibrium
Physical quantity
Quantum mechanics
Rotational energy
Thermal radiation
Utility frequency
Variable resistor

Third Oppogram :

straighten lazy shack (2 words, 14 letters)

Opposite ideas

straighten -> bend (4) // move (4) // curve (5) // twist (5) // warp (4) // fold (4)
lazy / dull -> fresh (5) // lively (6) // active (6) // keen (4) // eager (5)
shack -> manor (5) // castle (6) // mansion (7) // villa (5) // home (4) // house (5) // palace (6)

Word ideas

Chemistry (14) from wikipedia glossary

activity series
electric charge
saline solution
transition metal
vapour pressure

Physics (14) from glossary of physics

Absolute motion
Amorphous solid
Bessel function
Brownian motion
Circular motion
Current density
Elastic modulus
Electric charge
Escape velocity
Fluid mechanics
Linear actuator
Machine element
Newtonian fluid
Nuclear physics
Planck constant
Quantum physics
Rydberg formula
Solid mechanics
Simple harmonic
Structural load
Surface tension
Tensile modulus
Volta potential

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  • $\begingroup$ I will say that the correct physics term is listed here, but the chemistry one isn't. $\endgroup$
    – Business Cat
    Commented Jun 10, 2016 at 14:16
  • $\begingroup$ @BusinessCat could you please clarify whether the correct physics term is listed in the first set of physics words (the 16 letter set) or the second set (the 14 letter set) ..... since adding and removing plurals could easily make a 14 letter word a 16 letter one and vice versa $\endgroup$
    – G.One
    Commented Oct 13, 2017 at 15:09

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