What do the numbers on the toaster actually represent?

Well the real answer is they're actually arbitrary. Different toasters work in different ways. Some work under a timer system (usually the older ones). However, due to the expense of a timing mechanism, and also the fact that the toaster is already hot when you put in your bread a second consecutive time, it messes with the level of heat exposure that your bread gets.
So newer (and generally the cheaper) toasters use some method of heat measure to determine how long your bread should stay in the toaster. They tend to measure a so-called 'browning factor' of how brown you want your bread to be. However, different toasters use a different method, thus not only releasing the toast at a random time, but also at a different level of brownness. Also the fact that they're super cheap, they have a really shitty measuring mechanism, thus having to constantly change the number dial in order to meet your preferred level of brownness.

Why are chips bags full of air?

Well that's a very good question and I'll be very happy to answer that considering how much of a life I don't have.

Firstly, it's important to say that it's actually nitrogen (don't worry, it's not harmful considering the air is 79% nitrogen). There are 2 reasons for this:

1. The nitrogen is actually put in the bags to stop the chips from becoming crumbs. During the transport process, they travel from manufacturers to wholesalers to retailers to customers and any other intermediaries involved. This leaves a lot of room for damaging the chips and cause them to crumble as they are stored in tight, unstable places. So this process of "sack filling" is where they use air to act as a cushion so you get your chips as whole pieces.

2. The reason they actually use nitrogen is to stop the chips from going stale. Water molecules in the air would cause the chips to go soggy and oxygen causes the oil to go bad and spoils the potatoes. So nitrogen was the next best option.
In saying that, that's not to say companies don't overfill it with air to convince you there's more chips inside, but it's still an important ingredient to ensure that you get crunchy chips and not stale crumbles.


Here's a quote from Jarod Kintz:

“I just bought a bag of potato chips. It was a smart buy, because when this world runs out of clean air, I’ll have plenty in that one little purchase.” 

Too bad for Jarod when he finds out the truth and immediately exhales the nitrogen it back out...