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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
+ | {{incomplete|Created by THE EIFFEL TOWER TAKING A TYLENOL - Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
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This comic uses a table to compare the perceived difficulty of various questions with how easily they're answered in real life. [[Randall]] has a long history of comics with similar themes, comparing perceptions to reality. In this case, both the perception and the reality are divided into three levels of difficulty, giving a total of nine categories. Accordingly three of the problems listed are effectively as difficult as one would expect, and the remaining six are not. All three of the questions whose answers are "actually pretty easy to find out" relate to the Eiffel Tower, though there's no apparent theme among the other six questions. | This comic uses a table to compare the perceived difficulty of various questions with how easily they're answered in real life. [[Randall]] has a long history of comics with similar themes, comparing perceptions to reality. In this case, both the perception and the reality are divided into three levels of difficulty, giving a total of nine categories. Accordingly three of the problems listed are effectively as difficult as one would expect, and the remaining six are not. All three of the questions whose answers are "actually pretty easy to find out" relate to the Eiffel Tower, though there's no apparent theme among the other six questions. | ||
− | It's likely that this comic was at least partially inspired by writing the books ''[[How To]]'', | + | It's likely that this comic was at least partially inspired by writing the books ''[[How To|How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems]]'', [[what if|''What if?'', and ''What If? 2'']], which was published just a few weeks before this comic. These books involve answering very elaborate questions from a scientific point of view. This process likely emphasized that some really strange questions are actually difficult to answer, while some questions that seem simple continue to confound scientific knowledge. ''What if? 2'' mentions the fact that no one understands why static charges separate. |
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! Question !! Perceived Difficulty !! Real Difficulty !! Explanation | ! Question !! Perceived Difficulty !! Real Difficulty !! Explanation | ||
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− | |How tall is the Eiffel Tower?||Easy||Easy||The Eiffel Tower was constructed to be the centerpiece of the {{w|1889 World's Fair}}. At the time of its construction, it was the tallest man-made structure on earth, which meant that its height was widely publicized since it was first constructed ( | + | |How tall is the Eiffel Tower?||Easy||Easy||The height of any structure that can be easily observed can be calculated without much difficulty. The Eiffel Tower was constructed to be the centerpiece of the {{w|1889 World's Fair}}. At the time of its construction, it was the tallest man-made structure on earth, which meant that its height was widely publicized since it was first constructed (330 meters, or 1083 feet). This number is widely published, and easily confirmed. |
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− | |Where was Mars in the sky from Paris on the day the Eiffel Tower opened?||Difficult||Easy||The date of the opening of the tower to the public is well known (May 6, 1889). Since the motions of the planets are predictable, it's clear that calculating the answer should be possible, but it involves enough factors that one might expect it to be very difficult. However, thanks to the existence of [https://in-the-sky.org/skymap.php?no_cookie=1&latitude=48.85&longitude=2.35&timezone=1.00&year=1889&month=5&day=6&hour=9&min=0&PLlimitmag=2&zoom=182&ra=3.78242&dec=20.26465 online tools], which automatically calculate exactly this sort of thing, finding the answer is quite easy. (It was in the constellation of Taurus, and extremely close to where the Sun also was in the sky during that time so probably not easily directly observable) | + | |Where was Mars in the sky from Paris on the day the Eiffel Tower opened?||Difficult||Easy||The date of the opening of the tower to the public is well known (May 6, 1889). Since the motions of the planets are predictable, it's clear that calculating the answer should be possible, but it involves enough factors that one might expect it to be very difficult. However, thanks to the existence of [https://in-the-sky.org/skymap.php?no_cookie=1&latitude=48.85&longitude=2.35&timezone=1.00&year=1889&month=5&day=6&hour=9&min=0&PLlimitmag=2&zoom=182&ra=3.78242&dec=20.26465 online tools], which automatically calculate exactly this sort of thing, finding the answer is quite easy. (It was in the constellation of Taurus, and extremely close to where the Sun also was in the sky during that time so probably not easily directly observable). |
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|How much does the {{w|Eiffel Tower}}'s gravity deflect baseballs in Boston?||Near Impossible||Easy||This problem sounds extremely specific and esoteric, concerning an effect far too small for direct experimentation. But in theory, it's actually a very simple physics problem. {{w|Newton's law of universal gravitation|Gravitational acceleration}} is determined entirely by masses and distance, and here even the mass of the baseball can be ignored. Since the mass of the Eiffel Tower and the geographic details of both the tower in Paris and any given location in Boston (perhaps {{w|Fenway Park}}, a famous baseball stadium) are easy to look up, the calculation is quite simple. | |How much does the {{w|Eiffel Tower}}'s gravity deflect baseballs in Boston?||Near Impossible||Easy||This problem sounds extremely specific and esoteric, concerning an effect far too small for direct experimentation. But in theory, it's actually a very simple physics problem. {{w|Newton's law of universal gravitation|Gravitational acceleration}} is determined entirely by masses and distance, and here even the mass of the baseball can be ignored. Since the mass of the Eiffel Tower and the geographic details of both the tower in Paris and any given location in Boston (perhaps {{w|Fenway Park}}, a famous baseball stadium) are easy to look up, the calculation is quite simple. | ||
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|How many ants are there?||Difficult||Difficult||While the existence of ants is a mundane part of life for many people, there are so many of them that coming up with a total number of ants in the whole world sounds exceedingly difficult. It is, in fact, a difficult problem, but experts have done a significant amount of work and have come up with well-founded estimates [https://phys.org/news/2022-09-ants-earth-quadrillion.html in the range of 20 quadrillion ants on earth]. | |How many ants are there?||Difficult||Difficult||While the existence of ants is a mundane part of life for many people, there are so many of them that coming up with a total number of ants in the whole world sounds exceedingly difficult. It is, in fact, a difficult problem, but experts have done a significant amount of work and have come up with well-founded estimates [https://phys.org/news/2022-09-ants-earth-quadrillion.html in the range of 20 quadrillion ants on earth]. | ||
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− | |What time of year did the Cretaceous impact happen?||Near Impossible||Difficult||The "Cretaceous impact" | + | |What time of year did the {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event|Cretaceous impact}} happen?||Near Impossible||Difficult||The "Cretaceous impact" happened approximately 66 million ago. The margins of error on calculating something that ancient are necessarily thousands of years wide at least, the notion of determining the time of year seems impossible. In fact, the problem is a difficult one, but many of the animals killed in the impact were fossilized, and comparing those fossils to seasonal growth cycles [https://www.science.org/content/article/springtime-was-season-dinosaurs-died-ancient-fish-fossils-suggest has led to the suggestion that the impact happened in spring in the northern hemisphere.] |
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− | |Why does your hair get a static charge when you rub it with a balloon?||Easy||Near Impossible||Inducing a {{w|Static electricity|static charge}} by {{w|Triboelectric effect|rubbing together two materials}} is a method that's been known since ancient times. Since human hair has a marked tendency to develop a positive charge, and the latex commonly used in balloons tends to develop a negative charge, rubbing the two together is a very simple way to create an electric field. This process is so simple that it's used for both party tricks and as a fun demonstration of electrical phenomena. Because of this simplicity, most people would assume that the phenomenon is well understood. So it's surprising that the actual mechanism remains an unsolved problem in physics. This also has previously been mentioned in [[1867: Physics Confession]]. The title text quotes [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360674587_Derivation_of_a_governing_rule_in_triboelectric_charging_and_series_from_thermoelectricity a | + | |Why does your hair get a static charge when you rub it with a balloon?||Easy||Near Impossible||Inducing a {{w|Static electricity|static charge}} by {{w|Triboelectric effect|rubbing together two materials}} is a method that's been known since ancient times. Since human hair has a marked tendency to develop a positive charge, and the latex commonly used in balloons tends to develop a negative charge, rubbing the two together is a very simple way to create an electric field. This process is so simple that it's used for both party tricks and as a fun demonstration of electrical phenomena. Because of this simplicity, most people would assume that the phenomenon is well understood. So it's surprising that the actual mechanism remains an unsolved problem in physics. This also has previously been mentioned in [[1867: Physics Confession]]. The title text quotes [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/360674587_Derivation_of_a_governing_rule_in_triboelectric_charging_and_series_from_thermoelectricity a paper] explaining that, as common as this phenomenon is, there's still no theory that can adequately explain what we observe. |
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− | |How does {{w|Tylenol (brand)|Tylenol}} work?||Difficult||Near Impossible||Tylenol is a brand name for {{w|Paracetamol|paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen}}, a drug commonly sold without prescription for pain relief and fever reduction. This drug has been widely used since 1950, and has been well established as being both effective and safe when used properly. Although one would expect the biological mechanism for any drug to be complicated, most people would assume that a drug that's been widely used and studied for so long to be well-documented. Surprisingly, however, the precise action still isn't fully understood. | + | |How does {{w|Tylenol (brand)|Tylenol}} work?||Difficult||Near Impossible||Tylenol is a brand name for {{w|Paracetamol|paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen}}, a drug commonly sold without prescription for pain relief and fever reduction. This drug has been widely used since 1950, and has been well established as being both effective and safe when used properly. Although one would expect the biological mechanism for any drug to be complicated, most people would assume that a drug that's been widely used and studied for so long to be well-documented. Surprisingly, however, the precise action still isn't fully understood. |
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|How can {{w|Theory of relativity|relativity}} be reconciled with {{w|quantum mechanics}}?||Near Impossible||Near Impossible||This remains one of the {{w|Theory of everything|great unsolved questions}} in physics. The problem sounds almost unsolvable to laypeople, and remains unsolved even to experts in the field. | |How can {{w|Theory of relativity|relativity}} be reconciled with {{w|quantum mechanics}}?||Near Impossible||Near Impossible||This remains one of the {{w|Theory of everything|great unsolved questions}} in physics. The problem sounds almost unsolvable to laypeople, and remains unsolved even to experts in the field. | ||
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==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
+ | {{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} | ||
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[[Category:Charts]] | [[Category:Charts]] | ||
[[Category:Science]] | [[Category:Science]] | ||
− | [[Category: | + | [[Category:Animals]] |
[[Category:Medicine]] | [[Category:Medicine]] | ||
[[Category:Physics]] | [[Category:Physics]] | ||
[[Category:Astronomy]] | [[Category:Astronomy]] |