https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=24.63.133.106 2026-07-06T18:56:14Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.30.0 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=346:_Diet_Coke%2BMentos&diff=30510 2013-03-16T14:47:23Z

<p>24.63.133.106: A Diet Coke + Mentos experiment causes a boy's father to magically appear</p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 346<br /> | date = 2012-08-04<br /> | title = Diet Coke+Mentos<br /> | image = diet_coke_mentos.png<br /> | titletext = The cola+Mentos trick is up there with corn starch+water (vibrating platter optional) in scientific coolness out of common kitchen supplies.<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> This strip exploits irony using the popular meme of mixing Mentos into a bottle of soda. There was a period of time when a large portion of videos depicting this phenomena floated around the Internet, but the novelty starts to wear off once you've seen a bunch of these. So, you expect the character in the strip to show off the incredible phenomena to his friend, because it's &quot;the coolest thing&quot;, but it turns out instead of fizzling Diet Coke everywhere, the friend's father magically shows up (presumably from the dead or from abandonment). That would surely be &quot;cooler&quot; than just some soda reacting with sugars. This hints that the author might consider the fad unworthy of too much excitement, and that he considers people's liberal use of the phrase &quot;the coolest thing&quot; unjustified.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> Friend 1: This is the coolest thing. You just drop the mentos in the Diet Coke...<br /> Friend 2: Uh huh.<br /> Friend 1: Give it a moment...<br /> [Diet Coke starts to fizzle.]<br /> [Someone teleports into frame in a magic puff.]<br /> Friend 2: D-Dad?<br /> Dad: I'm back, son. We can be a family again.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> &lt;!-- Include any categories below this line--&gt;</div>

24.63.133.106 https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=1186:_Bumblebees&diff=30477 2013-03-15T13:29:28Z

<p>24.63.133.106: </p> <hr /> <div>{{comic<br /> | number = 1186<br /> | date = March 15, 2013<br /> | title = Bumblebees<br /> | image = bumblebees.png<br /> | titletext = Did you know sociologists can't explain why people keep repeating that urban legend about bumblebees not being able to fly!?<br /> }}<br /> <br /> ==Explanation==<br /> There is an {{w|Bumblebee#Flight|often repeated legend}} that according to the laws of aerodynamics, {{w|Bumblebee|bumblebees}} cannot fly. In fact, it would be more accurate to say that all the mechanics of bumblebee flight are not known and that the approximations to the aerodynamics equations which work well for fixed-wing aircraft, do not work for bumblebees. In recent years, there have been more sophisticated computer models of bumblebee flight, and they have found that bumblebee wings do indeed produce adequate lift.<br /> <br /> The strip also creates a fallacy that because experts can't explain something, they must not be able to understand it (when in reality, the fact in question should be verified first). For example, in this case, it is stated as fact that bumblebees ''can'' fly planes. Since physicists can't seem to be able to explain why that is, physicists have more to learn. Without the knowledge that bumblebees can't fly planes (the knowledge physicists are implied to lack), it's assumed physicists would continue working on the problem ad infinitum until a layman pointed out the assumption is not true.<br /> <br /> ==Transcript==<br /> :Science fact:<br /> :[A bumblebee is perched on the steering handle of an airplane.]<br /> :Physicists still can't explain how bumblebees can fly airplanes.<br /> <br /> {{comic discussion}}<br /> [[Category:Comics with color]]</div>

24.63.133.106