2411: 1/10,000th Scale World

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1/10,000th Scale World

Title text: OCEAN PLAY AREA RULES: No running, no horseplay, no megatsunamis, and no trying to pry the wreck of the Titanic off the bottom.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by a 1/10,000TH SCALE WEATHER BALLOON. Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Models of large-scale objects (cars, airplanes, etc.) are typically produced at a given scale, given as a ratio between the original object (the first number) and the model (the second number). The same applies to maps and globes. What Randall has here, though, is neither a map nor a model but a seemingly complete copy of Earth, at a 1:10,000 scale.

Real-world phenomena are reproduced at scale, even if this wouldn't happen with a model. The scale world even has a scale atmosphere, and visitors are cautioned to keep their heads below the death zone, which is approximately two and a half feet above the surface.

There are warnings to prevent the visitors from accidentally doing something cataclysmic. Digging up the Yellowstone Caldera could potentially reactivate the supervolcano there. Likewise, the "ocean play area rules" in the title text tell visitors not to create any megatsunamis, which could conceivably be induced by a cannonball dive.

Transcript

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Discussion

This sounds like a cool theme for a game jam. Bwisey (talk) 07:30, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

The comment about airplanes being close to the speed of a bullet in the explanation wouldn't be relevant due to the scale, so they wouldn't be fast compared to the scale of the people here, and with some rough calculations, I think it would take multiple seconds to pass through the thickness of a human body, so if the people were normal properties and the plane moving at its speed being proportional to its scale (thus making its speed seem normal from the perspective of someone shrunk down and on the plane looking at the rate at which it travels compared to its own length or looking at the model surroundings rather than the giant person), it shouldn't cause significant injury. Granted, as such speeds it wouldn't be able to fly, but the same sort of concerns apply to a lot else here, like the thundercloud and the rate the atmosphere gets thinner at altitude.--162.158.74.207 07:54, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

"Also, airplane speed very similar to the speed at which a bullet is fired" - That is true for real world aircraft; it is not at all given for the 1/10000th scale world. (It depends on if time is scaled or just spatial dimensions) 162.158.134.84 09:59, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

The rant about private vs public research seems a tad coat-racky. Yngvadottir (talk) 12:08, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

I agree, so I removed it. There's no indication that Randall meant anything more by it than the usually fun activity of playing with balloons would be harmful if done to weather balloons. Bischoff (talk) 13:45, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Do disasters in the model have consequences in the real Earth, like in the first row of xkcd #1515? Not being allowed to create megatsunamis or trigger the Yellowstone Supervolcano would support this, but being allowed to step on cities that do not have especially pointy towers would oppose it.162.158.186.220 14:07, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

This, ladies, gents, and variations thereupon, is the xkcd I know and love. Lightcaller (talk) 14:34, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

I would really like this on a poster. 172.68.57.33 16:12, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

That'd be good. In large format. (Though, if it's a 10,000:1 scale printing I see a couple of problems.) 141.101.99.19 21:16, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Wouldn't an airplane be to the people about twice the speed of a garden snail? Sarah the Pie(yes, the food) (talk)

A model Airbus A380 would be about 7.3 mmm long but the scale factor for its volume and mass (assuming it has the same overall density as a full size one) would be 1:1,000,000,000,000 so its mass would be about half a milligramme! I'm not sure where 'half a kilogram' came from.

I thought comparisons of scale were an oft-revisited theme for xkcd, so was disappointed not to find a category for them; though I tried to list some of them, I didn't find nearly as many of them as I thought there ought to be. Only just noticed the reference in discussion here to 1515, which kind of supports my suspicion that there are lots I didn't find. --Pi one (talk) 17:06, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

I like how the curvature of the world is drawn to scale as well. IE: imperceptibly curved. 108.162.216.182 17:13, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

Probably not actually related to the comic, but the notes in the explanation about how "earth on this scale would be the size of an asteroid" made me think of the Little Prince, which Randall is known to be fond of. -MeZimm 162.158.74.85 18:26, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

For comparison the Queen's Museum model of NY City is at a scale of 1:1,200. 1:10,000 maps of many areas are available, so you could lay out a county or so in your living room. Not as good as a model but still interesting.173.245.54.121 22:33, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

As recently added to the explanation, but in case anyone missed it and yet would finds it of interest: http://www.mapascotland.org/ 162.158.155.85 22:41, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

This reminds me of the planet Dwarf Terrace-9 from Rick and Morty. Possible reference? 173.245.54.19 23:59, 14 January 2021 (UTC)

A fun bit of trivia I noticed is that the Kármán line (the "edge of spaaaace") would be a little below the height of a typical utility pole (10.67 m).108.162.245.82 00:36, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Usual models are fragile ; however, I wonder if Randalls scaled copy of Earth, apparently with enough gravity to have atmosphere and with planes capable of flight despite being very slow, would somehow be more sturdy and feature cities which you wouldn't be able to damage by stepping on them. THAT may be the reason why the rules are mostly for protection of the guests: airplanes and weather balloons may be only things they can damage directly, however the tsunami and volcanoes are still dangerous. -- Hkmaly (talk) 11:00, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Imagine the cities being made of LEGO bricks. Not like the buildings built from LEGO bricks but that single LEGO bricks (or other LEGO pieces) ARE the builidngs. Ever stepped on a LEGO brick barefooted? It hurts AF... Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 12:13, 15 January 2021 (UTC)

Could the scale aircraft imply that Randall has created 1:10000 humans to fly them? These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk) 04:47, 17 January 2021 (UTC)

Am I the only one who thinks this genuinely sounds like a fun exhibit/theme park? Or is that part of the intention of the comic? 108.162.219.54