Editing 1175: Moving Sidewalks

{{comic
| number    = 1175
| date      = February 18, 2013
| title     = Moving Sidewalks
| image     = moving sidewalks.png
| titletext = I think I could spend hours just stepping on and off of conveyor belts moving at various speeds.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] are getting ready to ride an array of mini-conveyor belts, each going at a speed multiple of the first ones. Assuming they both take the one in front of them, each conveyor belt will speed them up a little bit more with little effort on their part, ultimately reaching a point where they are going very fast and are close enough to be able to high-five each other.

For the most central conveyor belts, there is no speed indicated: it could still be 5x, or a further increase to 6x. No number could also indicate a mere 1x or even a non-moving belt, which would make the whole setup tricky for a much different reason.

The average moving walkway speed globally is 3 feet/second (~1m/sec), so Cueball and Megan would only be travelling about 2/3 average human running speed by the time they meet. Even with the opposing forces added to their high five, it would be very unlikely for them to injure each other (though the slap would more than likely be painful). If they are additionally running along their belt setups, it might hurt some more.

The title text may be a reference to a music video made by OK Go, "Here It Goes Again", in which the band jumps on and off of various treadmills in a similar fashion.

A series of parallel accelerating conveyor belts is also a long distance travel mechanism used in Isaac Asimov's Robot Detective novels.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball and Megan on the opposite far ends of a bidirectional moving sidewalk.  Arrows indicate that one half will carry Cueball from left to right, while the other half will carry Megan from right to left.  In each direction, the sidewalk is made up of a series of individual conveyors.]
:Cueball: Ready?
:
:[A diagram labels various individual conveyors as follows.]
:[Outermost conveyors:] Moving Sidewalk 
:[Second and second-last conveyors:] Moving Sidewalk (2x Speed)
:[Next conveyors:] 3x Speed
:[Next conveyors:] 4x Speed
:[Innermost conveyors:] 5x Speed
:[Spot between the two sidewalks, directly in the center:] High-Five Location
:
:Megan: Ready.

==Trivia==
This comic was originally uploaded with all the arrows facing in the opposite direction, before Randall updated it with the current image.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]