1733: Solar Spectrum

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Solar Spectrum

Title text: I still don't understand why the Sun paid the extra money for Transitions lenses.

Explanation

This is a reference to pictures of the sun wearing sunglasses, often used to denote good weather. The alt text is most likely a reference to a specific advert using this image.

Transitions are a type of coating used prescription spectacles that allow the lens to turn dark when exposed to UV light such as that found in sunlight. The sun choosing to get transition lens would prove a waste of money as the lenses would be permanently transitioned to be dark, so a pair of ordinary sunglasses would likely have proved more cost effective.

Transcript

This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

[A graph, showing the sun's spectral lines.] [The labels match lines in this order:] Calcium Calcium Hydrogen Calcium Iron Hydrogen Iron Iron Hydrogen Iron Magnesium Iron Those giant sunglasses Sodium Oxygen Those giant sunglasses Those giant sunglasses Those giant sunglasses Oxygen Those giant sunglasses

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Discussion

Sun in sunglasses is also in whatif "Into the sun" and I'm 99% sure this is not the only xkcd appearance of that... --162.158.86.119 11:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Why is Randall using JPEG for the second time in a row? Gosh, the comics look horrifying when zoomed in. 108.162.244.67 12:35, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

It looks like a .PNG to me, maybe the .jpg was temporary for an upload deadline? 108.162.241.127 12:54, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

The one on this page has always been a png file (see the first revision). This also means that whoever wrote the complaint must have had access to this same file, which has not been updated here since. Of course Randall may have had another version up first, but that seems highly unlikely... --Kynde (talk) 14:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Are the spectral lines actually accurate apart from the sunglasses? Wouldn't surprise me to much... (Meh, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraunhofer_lines, believably close). 141.101.105.10 12:51, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Yes very accurate also the sunglasses lines are there in the real spectrum. --Kynde (talk) 11:43, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

I feel we need an explanation of the concept of spectral lines for those readers not familiar with absorption spectra 141.101.70.91 13:21, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

According to Wikipedia, absorption lines occur because solar radiation within the sun’s photosphere is absorbed at frequencies that match the energy difference between two quantum mechanical states of electrons bound to atoms or molecules. The absorption that occurs due to the transition between these two states is referred to as an absorption line and a spectrum is typically composed of many lines. These lines are dark because the light at those frequencies has been absorbed. In the case of an atom, absorption typically occurs when an electron is boosted from a less energetic inner orbital to a more energetic outer orbital in the process of absorbing a photon of light. Emission spectra are due to the opposite process.

Please consider the possibility that the title text mention of Transitions may hinge on the absorption process's quantum state transitions. Run, you clever boy (talk) 18:37, 17 September 2016 (UTC)

I think he's referring to the spectral lines of transition metals - not pictures of the sun wear glasses. The transition lenses reference is a play on words. 108.162.218.154 13:27, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Can we figure out what sunglasses he is referring to by comparing the spectral absorption of different brands? 108.162.246.119 14:06, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Any good links to "permanent" images of a sun with sunglasses? Guess there is none of Wikipedia? --Kynde (talk) 14:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

I agree this refers to "Transitions" light-reacting prescription sunglasses / regular reading glasses. However, Google won't give me a sun wearing sunglasses picture unless I type in "sun" and "sunglasses". Not for Transitions or Reactolite, not for weather forecasts, not for emojis. With eyes yes, big smile too, but not shades. I suppose because it actually is a stupid thing for the sun to have. Otherwise, nearest I get: http://www.essilor.com/en/BrandsAndProducts/Lenses/Photochromics/Pages/CrizalTransitions.aspx  :-) "30% faster" (than what? taking off the glasses?) Robert Carnegie [email protected] 141.101.98.90 15:11, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

See: http://imgur.com/a/35RDC 162.158.203.147 14:18, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Is there a category for comics without characters? Are there enough comics to need a new category? GizmoDude (talk) 14:27, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

There are many many comics without characters, so it would be a huge job to make such a category and they do not necessarily have anything in common like two comics with Blondie for instance does. So I would say no. --Kynde (talk) 14:38, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

"Charts" looks right, seems implicitly to cover "infographics" (btw I agree with worrying about readers who don't know what spectral lines actually are although clearly everyone writing here does, or thinks so). Another possible edition for other cases is "Landscapes" but those in fact tend to have people in (or Mars rovers or such), also landscape in the sense of vista may be covered by "Large drawings" unless that specifically means "Image is larger than the pane on screen", since there also isn't a Scroll it" category. Alternatively... "Spectacles". Robert Carnegie [email protected] 141.101.98.90 15:23, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Ya'll should keep in mind the large number of multivitamins that use rainbows as part of their branding and often some form of spectra/spectrum as part of the brand name. Here's a relevant image: http://centrum.com/sites/default/files/wheel_silver_adults_0.png 173.245.48.65 17:59, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Except Centrum is the only brand I've seen that does that. 141.101.70.61 08:03, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

There's another image of a Sun with sunglasses (and a giant banana) at http://what-if.xkcd.com/129/ Jojonete (talk) 22:59, 15 September 2016 (UTC)

Great thanks adding this --Kynde (talk) 11:43, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

And perhaps we should acknowledge John Finnemore's terrific sketch about J M W Turner painting sunglasses on the sun (transcribed here: http://j-f-s-p.livejournal.com/5403.html). 141.101.70.49 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Given that all the lines for the sunglasses are in the red-orange spectrum I took it as a joke about glasses <a href=https://www.google.com/search?q=orange+wraparound&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=orange+wrap+around+glasses>similar to these.</a> Sorry I can't find the exact model I've seen in ads from the early 90s of wraparound over regular glasses that were orangish (old style Blue Blockers.) 108.162.216.128 14:22, 16 September 2016 (UTC)

The idea of the sun wearing transitions lenses became even more silly when I did a little research and found that the silver chloride that they often make transitions lenses with actually has a lower melting point (455°C) than glass itself typically has (1400°C to 1600°C.) I'm not sure that this has any relevance, but I was trying to find a plausible connection between the fabrication of transitions lenses as opposed to standard lenses and the use a sun (a sentient sun) might have for them. 173.245.50.83 15:37, 16 September 2016 (UTC) Sam

Hey, the example image of the sun's spectral lines in the description is just a tetch too big. I can't see it all at once, but if I set my zoom to 90%, I can see all of it just fine. I tried to resize it, but I'm not sure it worked. Feel free to revert it or fix it if you know how. NotLock (talk) 05:55, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

I have loaded a smaller version of the image from Wikipedia. Hope this workd, because with you edit the image did not show at all. --Kynde (talk) 11:43, 18 September 2016 (UTC)

Thanks! I think I tried to do a similar thing 6ish months ago, and it worked, but the image took time to render to a different size if I recall correctly (which I might not be doing at all). I googled "Wikipedia markup, and tried to follow the instructions there, but evidently it didn't work. Thanks for taking the time to fix this! -- NotLock (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

My impression, before reading the comments, was that "those giant sunglasses" referred to those giant novelty sunglasses that are usually used as a silly prop. 162.158.186.30 16:35, 15 October 2019 (UTC)

This is a reference to pictures of the sun wearing sunglasses, often used to denote good weather. The alt text is most likely a reference to a specific advert using this image.