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rebus
Can anyone figure out what this rebus wordplay is? Doing a Google search will help you a lot, and is recommended, but reverse image search would be doing basically all the detective work for you, so don't do that. It's easier to figure out if done from left to right and then re-examined as a whole.

It's two things, one of which is an example of the other.

Hint 1:

every element in that image is useful in finding the final answer; also, subtle things like relative sizes of the elements and also visual/physical interpretations of the objects(s) in the image can be of help to finding the final answer, but are not necessarily required.

Hint 2:

Some of the elements in the images are extremely specific things and not general stock images representing the word, but I will not say which ones those are. (if you check the comments I did reveal one)

Hint 3:

It's a chemical compound. (sorry for lack of originality but chemical compounds are great for rebuses!)

EDIT: Look at the comments on Bass's answer below for more hints, clarifications and confirmations.

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to Puzzling :) Please take a tour $\endgroup$
    – ABcDexter
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 21:20
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    $\begingroup$ @Rubio i can vouch that this is original. I waoted for about an hour for him to finish making it $\endgroup$
    – Prince North Læraðr
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 4:13
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    $\begingroup$ On a scale from one to Ethyl-5-amino-1H-pyrazole-4-carboxylate, how likely is it that I have heard the name of this particular chemical compound before? $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 13:55
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    $\begingroup$ @MicCrozier We may be in trouble, since the music is a generic drum beat that could be from any of a hundred different songs. If I had to guess from the particular rhythm of the beat, maybe from late eighties or early nineties? $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 19:38
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    $\begingroup$ @MicCrozier Cupid's dead by Extreme is the closest I could get to a song that begins with a drum beat like that. It's just a little slower than 136 bpm, and it's not exactly the same beat, but all the rhythmic elements are there, so if you can think of a piece with a similar sounding drum line, that may very well be it. $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 20:13

6 Answers 6

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Since the answer is an unfamiliar chemical compound, I don't think any of us can manage this alone, so I started this wiki answer for collaboration. If you want to post a separate answer yourself, please feel free to do so.

Here's the blue band split to pieces to keep ideas (I prefixed mine with my name, but feel free to edit or remove them if you need to) and given hints from comments (in blockquotes) in better order.

enter image description here

Amen

hint: it's not "a" song but it's used in lots and lots of songs all the time. your first comment from 50 minutes ago (EDIT: included below) was on the right track.

..the music is a generic drum beat that could be from any of a hundred different songs. If I had to guess from the particular rhythm of the beat, maybe from late eighties or early nineties?

Bass: the music seems to be a Funk / Soul / Hiphop -type drum beat, quickish and a bit "bouncy". The picture crossed out with the blue symbol seems to be of a broken glass.

North: The first image is something known as an "Amen Break"

enter image description here

Pentacle

Bass: Medal?

North: I was thinking the second image is a star amulet?

Peregrine Lennert: It looks like a pentagram, so maybe something to do with penta-. Update: Sorry for doing this late but wanted to post my own answer first. It's "pentacle"

Be more specific of what kind of medal like object it is, but it's not really a medal, no

penta is close but its not an prefix it's an entire word

enter image description here

Ore

Bass: Hard to tell with so few pixels, but looks like a rock, probably metallic, or possibly molten on one side. Maybe "ore" or "meteorite"? Might be just a lump of some metal too, though.

enter image description here

Bass: Never seen one of these. A water filter? A centrifuge?

Peregrine Lennert: The fourth image appears to be a humidifier, dehumidifier, or maybe an air conditioner. Zooming in, one can see the word cool on the tag. Searching for the specific product in the image doesn't turn up anything useful, so I'm adding my contribution here.

this is the one that requires the subtle visual interpretation of the entire object on the complex plane to help you figure out. It's a very specific product and that hint will help you find it slightly better. you can save it for later.

Q: How am I on the fourth?
A: getting colder. think smaller also, liquids. hope that helps narrow it down.

it does not say cool on the tag. another hint is that the word on the tag probably won't help you figure out what it is. though here is a hint: if you figure out what the entire object in the foreground containing all the elements can be interpreted as being, combined with my last comment in reply to you, I can then tell you how to use that information to help you figure out what it is.

enter image description here

Rate

Bass: Maybe "rate" or "slope"?

enter image description here

Tu

Bass: Seems to be a stereotypical French guy pointing at me. Maybe some pronoun in French? Like "Tu"?

enter image description here

Ion

Bass: again hard to tell, but it's either a light, or high speed burning gas. Possibly "-lite", or the name of the gas, since we are going for a chemical compound.

Peregrine Lennert: It looks like the exhaust from a jet engine, or something similar.

F1Krazy: I'm pretty sure this is a Hall-effect thruster, also known as an ion thruster. Since we're looking for a chemical compound, the important word here is probably "ion".

Seventh object: you're getting a bit colder. the name for this one includes the entire object and not just the gas/emittance part.

Extra hint: the seventh object at the end is what will help you figure out the tiny extra hint to help you find the name of the fourth object.

Background:

Bass: Seems to be the complex plane, mirrored horizontally.

Full answer:

Q: how likely is it that I have heard the name of this particular chemical compound before? –

A: unlikely because it is obscure and useless I believe. but it’s not ridiculously long or complicated though is long.

global hint: knowing how the reversed complex plane and everything plays into the other word of the rebus is also important but will not help you find the name of the chemical compound (unless you use that information to narrow it down a bit if you have knowledge of chemistry.) [this is actually a really big hint (but not for the objects in the foreground) if you interpret it properly]

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  • $\begingroup$ First object: you're getting close just need to combine and refine those 2 objects to get the word. but you're getting too general now, it's not an adjective. (no more hints for this first object because it has gotten too many) $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 23:33
  • $\begingroup$ Second object: Be more specific of what kind of medal like object it is, but it's not really a medal, no. $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 23:33
  • $\begingroup$ Third object: Ore is correct $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 23:34
  • $\begingroup$ Fourth object: this is the one that requires the subtle visual interpretation of the entire object on the complex plane to help you figure out. It's a very specific product and that hint will help you find it slightly better. you can save it for later. $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 23:35
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    $\begingroup$ @NikhilEshvar ah, cool, so we get "amen-pentacle-ore-something" which sounds like amino-penta-chloro-something" $\endgroup$
    – Bass
    Commented Mar 14, 2018 at 12:28
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This math rebus... is it:

a reverse complex plane?

Because the larger object is the reverse of a

complex plane, with I in it.

Can’t make heads or tails of the arrow yet. Something to do with resonance frequencies, rocks, and home devices?

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  • $\begingroup$ nope the rebus is not mathematics related at all. it’s to do with mainly chemistry but i don’t want to give more information than that. also it is not technical at all so don’t overthink it. the elements in the image are related to their words only not their concepts or mathematical behaviour. $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 10, 2018 at 23:31
  • $\begingroup$ @diobuceulb umm out of all of this I see physics, I see math (derivatives, complex plane), I see rocks, what the **** is chemistry? I’m a chemistry nerd and I don’t see chemistry yet. $\endgroup$
    – JSCoder says Reinstate Monica
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 0:49
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    $\begingroup$ it's a chemistry rebus because the answer is a chemistry related term, what part of that do you not understand? the elements in the rebus don't have to all also be related to the thing the answer is related to. $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 11, 2018 at 3:52
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My (very) partial answer:

(whatever the reversed complex plain is) aminepentachlor(possibly an o here)(#4)ra(might be an e and/or a space here)tu ion (or something along these lines

Reasoning:

We don't know the meaning of the background yet, so I'm not sure where it goes. The first one is Amen, as it is an "Amen Break" with no break signified by the broken glass being crossed out. The closest chemical term I can think of is amine or amino (Found by North). The second object is a pentacle (Found by me). The third is a picture of ore (Found by Bass). Combining the last two gets us "pentachlor" signifying a compound/ion with 5 chlorines. I am not sure how #4 fits in here, maybe it is an anion I am unsure) Fifth is "Rate" (Found by Bass). Sixth is Tu (found by Bass), unsure how it fits in). Seventh is "Ion" (found by F1Krazy).

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  • $\begingroup$ you're really close! you just need to figure out #4 and it will all make sense including the background. also see my comment the other answer above. $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 14, 2018 at 19:30
  • $\begingroup$ @diobuceulb, is the way the background plays into the answer a hint using what a complex plane is used for in chemistry and referring to a paper on the answer? $\endgroup$
    – Yellvis
    Commented Mar 16, 2018 at 19:31
  • $\begingroup$ nope, try to find out different words for a complex plane. it's all rebus/wordplay based $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 17, 2018 at 4:08
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PARTIAL ANSWER!!!.
I hope this is helpful, I just realized this.

The reverse complex plane tells us to read the compound BACKWARDS, since its reverse. In addition, AMINE is a suffix word, or comes at thee END of a word, rather than amino- the prefix version. The OP has confirmed that the word is amine.

So actually what we have is

Tu-ion-Ra(te?)-(?fourth word perhaps cation or anion)-pentachlor-amine.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ion would come before tu $\endgroup$
    – Yellvis
    Commented Mar 14, 2018 at 23:06
  • $\begingroup$ or-pentacl-amine not pentachlor-amine, due to reversing the name $\endgroup$
    – Yellvis
    Commented Mar 14, 2018 at 23:14
  • $\begingroup$ Not everything has to be flipped though. $\endgroup$
    – Prince North Læraðr
    Commented Mar 14, 2018 at 23:19
  • $\begingroup$ Possibly, but I feel that if it was reversed, the objects would be in that order. $\endgroup$
    – Yellvis
    Commented Mar 14, 2018 at 23:20
  • $\begingroup$ nope this is wrong. if i were to give a hint it would be don't overthink the background lol. $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 15, 2018 at 0:39
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Crazy answer hints: (Hopefully might help someone)

#1: 2-amino (2 and amen) or 1-amino (the circle points to the +1)
#2: 1-penta (By graph it's in 1 therefore pentacle+1)
#3: 1-ore (1+ore)
#4: ?!?
#5: forate?!? (4 in graph and rate => 4-rate)
#6: 5-tu (5 in graph and tu)
#7: 3-ion (-2i=-6 => i=3)

Hint and findings based on comment:

#1: amine (amen)
#2: pentachl (pentacle)
#3: or (ore)
#4: ?!? (beginning with o maybe for chloro...)
#5: rate (rate)
#6: tu (tu)
#7: ion (ion)

Findings: #6+#7 could be considered as T+Io which leads to TiO which is Titanium Oxide. So maybe we find chemical names and abbreviations too?!?

Answer attempt 1:

Penta-1,4-dien-3-one, 1-amino-1-trifluoromethyl-5-(4-methoxyphenyl)- ? This is the first thing that came when I searched vaguely

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    $\begingroup$ close but there is not number association in the rebus therefore there are no numbers in the compound name. the rest are correct but it's not amino it's amine. furthermore the words in the rebus are almost identical to the final word. for example amen ---> amine not amino which includes the extra o sound. $\endgroup$
    – LDR
    Commented Mar 14, 2018 at 19:28
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deleting my account so here it is

it's amen break not break pentacle ore OCUP rate tu ion, on complex coordinates backwards (coordination complex)

or

amminepentachlorocuprate (II) ion which is a coordination complex

the hint to find OCUP was to see that the foreground object is a rocket and if you do a database search of rocket related terms with the word "cup" which is what it looks like, "apollo cup" will bring up the search result for the product webpage of something called OCUP." pretty lame hint but there were other ways to find it too, just a bit too obscure to be easy to do.

thanks everyone for trying this rebus and i'm glad you all got as far as you did with it.

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    $\begingroup$ Drats, I had the entire name, just wasn't sure how the background fit in. If you had just said ion specifically, I would've been able to answer it right away. $\endgroup$
    – Yellvis
    Commented Mar 20, 2018 at 12:53

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