Editing 2423: Project Orion
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{{comic | {{comic | ||
| number = 2423 | | number = 2423 | ||
− | | date = February | + | | date = February 11, 2021 |
| title = Project Orion | | title = Project Orion | ||
| image = project_orion.png | | image = project_orion.png | ||
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | + | {{incomplete|Created by a FADED PHYSICIST. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | |
− | + | White Hat and Cueball are having a conversation. In the first panel, Cueball is telling White Hat about his gardening experiences. White Hat tunes out for the middle two panels, and when he starts paying attention again, Cueball is discussing {{w|Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)|Project Orion}}. | |
− | + | Project Orion was an ambitious plan to launch enormous spaceships into orbit by detonating a series of nuclear bombs below them. The force from the explosions would be absorbed by a pusher plate on the bottom of the rocket, which is the detail Cueball is sharing when White Hat tunes back in. It was considered feasible for construction, but abandoned out of concerns for both cost and the idea of spaceships literally armed with atomic bombs. People probably daydream about this project because it seems like it could provide for rapid and massive entry into space, but was halted due to the intense danger. We likely have had sufficient technology for some time now to, with extensive additional engineering, somehow make this safe, but the space of risk is still so large and with such intense impact that such things are not allowed to happen. | |
− | The | + | The fact that physicists' conversations tend to converge towards Project Orion is similar to how Randall's conversations tend to converge towards carcinization in [[2418: Metacarcinization]]. This may turn out to be part of a series, similarly to the scaled world series, that will show similar examples in other fields, such as meteorologists' conversations converging toward tornadogenesis, mathematicians' conversations converging toward the Riemann hypothesis, or Randall's conversations converging toward raptors. |
− | Project Orion has been mentioned before, in [[786: Exoplanets]], where Beret Guy sums it up as "nuke-riding city ships" | + | The alt text transitions to another cool nuclear rocket tech, [http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist2.php#fissionfragment dusty plasma fission fragment rockets]. |
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+ | Project Orion has been mentioned before, in [[786: Exoplanets]], where Beret Guy sums it up as "nuke-riding city ships." | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
− | :[Cueball is | + | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
− | :Cueball: Our garden grew really well last year, so we think we might put a second raised bed along the garage, if we can find a... | + | :[Cueball is explaining to White Hat.] |
− | + | :Cueball: Our garden grew really well last year, so we think we might put a second raised bed along the garage, if we can find a... [text fades to white] | |
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− | :[ | + | :[White Hat stares into space for 2 frames.] |
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− | :[ | + | :Cueball: [text fades back in] ...thanks to X-ray [ablation?], the pusher plate would absorb the nuclear blast, recoil, and then return to position for the next bomb. Such a wild idea! Probably good that it was abandoned. |
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{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
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[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]] | [[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]] | ||
[[Category:Physics]] | [[Category:Physics]] | ||
− | [[Category: | + | [[Category:Convergence]] |