2903: Earth/Venus Venn Diagram

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Earth/Venus Venn Diagram

Title text: Actually, the fact that Mars is still orbiting safely over here means that it was technically an *Euler* apocalypse, not a Venn one.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by an interplanetary impact. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

A Venn diagram compares two or more sets (such as properties of objects) and shows, in overlapping areas, traits or properties common to all sets that feature in that overlap and in the non-overlapping regions those that are unique to the respective sets. (Positions outside of all sets might indicate properties not present in any of them, although often this is left implicit, especially when many things are not already included in some way.) This diagram is simultaneously both a Venn diagram and a proximity illustration.

• As a proximity illustration, it depicts Earth and Venus smashing into each other, resulting in "shockwaves and production of impact ejecta" occurring where they collide. The relative circle sizes are accurate; the circumference of Venus is 5% smaller than Earth's.
• As a Venn diagram, it accurately shows what traits the planets have in common in the event of a collision: "shockwaves and production of impact ejecta." It also shows that what can now be meaningfully called 'Earth' and 'Venus' exists only outside the impact zone, since within it the two are inextricably mingled.

Shockwaves refer to intense, high-pressure waves caused by the immense force of the impact, that propagate through the materials of both planets at speeds exceeding the speed of sound.

Impact ejecta refers to the material expelled from the impact site, consisting of molten rock, vaporized material, and solid debris, flung out at high velocities due to the energy released by the collision.

The title text notes that Mars is still orbiting by itself, though presumably out of the frame of the "diagram", since we can't see it, but the suggestion is that it has a 'set-circle' of its own. All things not Earthly or Venusean (or, now, both) could be marked as outside the bounded areas, but given the existence of the rest of the entire universe of items, beyond the shown sets, it would seem superfluous to mention only Mars, and also be misleading in the non-Venn sense (suggesting that Earth and Venus are not colliding within space, but somehow already within a much larger Mars). Therefore, with a disconnected "Mars circle/set" this actually makes the overall system an Euler diagram rather than a Venn one, as every bounded area in any way represented in a Venn diagram must partly intersect with every other, in every possible combination. An Euler diagram need only represent intersections/separations that have any contents worth noting, often allowing it to be much simpler than a similar order of Venn diagram (especially beyond the use of three sets, where circles need to be distorted into increasingly less symmetric outlines.

Previously, xkcd has referenced Euler or Venn diagrams in their own right, as well as alluded to the differences. In a reversal of that particular example, the title text also grants this the title of an "Euler apocalypse" to emphasize that it represents an important event rather than merely the abstract analysis of properties that either type of diagram normally represents. Going off of this, a "Venn apocalypse" would consist of every body in the universe being in the process of colliding, simultaneously. This would be dangerous.^{[citation needed]}

Transcript

[Two circles are drawn so they overlap. The segments of the circles that overlap are drawn in dashed lines. Each circle has a label and text are written in the central overlapping part the circle. Above the circles there is a caption:]

Earth/Venus Venn Diagram

Left: Earth

Right: Venus

Center: Shock-waves and production of impact ejecta

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Discussion

See also 2721: Euler Diagrams 108.162.245.49 07:13, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

Isn't this also a sexual innuendo? I mean... shock waves producing ejecta? Venus? anyone? 162.158.189.33 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Sure, as always it is only mentioned, whenever there is not a sexual innuendo by scientists, as collisions and planets and diagrams turn them on. Sebastian --172.68.110.65 11:56, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

That is really funny. But no there is no sexual reference in a collision between planets. What is in the middle is what would happen in the collision zone. Venus is the name of a planet here... --Kynde (talk) 12:57, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

All a matter of perspective - depends how Earthy your interpretation is.172.71.242.176 14:55, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

Rename the "Venus" circle to "Theia" and you get The Giant-impact hypothesis for the creation of the Moon. Meteo (talk) 13:11, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

I didn't get this at first, but I broke down laughing once I did, I can't quite pinpoint why but this is top tier xkcd right here. Terdragontra (talk) 19:53, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

The "Citation Needed" on "This Would Be Dangerous" is killing me. OmniDoom (talk) 01:27, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

Minor update, just read 285: Wikipedian Protester and that just makes everything even better. OmniDoom (talk) 01:33, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

who tf keeps vandalising this place--162.158.74.24 11:01, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

idk, but it's not funny. --1234231587678 (talk) 20:32, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

fr. like, JUST STOP IT ITS USELESS AND ANNOYING 42.book.addict (talk) 21:02, 8 March 2024 (UTC)

The Venn diagram explanation sounds flawed: "As a Venn diagram, it shows that there is a region of one sphere that is still recognizably Earth, a region of the other that is still recognizably Venus, and a region common to both that consists of "shockwaves and production of impact ejecta," and that this area of overlap is now neither Earth nor Venus, but an intermingled combination of the two." - But a Venn diagram is about logical relations, so the shapes and sizes of the areas are irrelevant. To me, that's the whole point of the joke, that it's really hard to see a drawing of round planets when your mind is trained to see a drawing of abstract logical relations under the title "Earth/Venus Venn Diagram". (Like, I stared at the comic blankly for minutes, thinking, why the heck should Earth and Venus only have shock waves and impact ejecta in common...) Transgalactic (talk) 16:01, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

The fact that Venus and Earth have, in a fact-only reading, potentially more things in common isn't really an issue. That would presuppose that Venn and/or Euler diagrams must show everything possible in any given (possibly composite) region. Although the Venn must have a sub-region for every possible combination of possibilities (or none), and the Euler must have one for every combination (of featured sets) that has an item requiring placing, you don't need to place every possible entity anywhere it can be. (You can, by logic, e.g. the subsets A-and-not-B, B-and-not-A, A-and-B and neither-A-nor-B in an A+B diagram, but even then you don't need to give C and not-C additional). Something that might feature in both Earth and Venus (logically, like... solar neutrinos? the remains of some of earth's spacecraft?) could be placed there, but we also don't list all the things in neither (ice volcanos, the Greater Magellanic Cloud, colourless green ideas sleeping furiously) in the surrounding not-either space.

ok, I get it, I should have written, "why should Earth and Venus' most relevant commonalities be shock waves etc." Transgalactic (talk) 15:00, 13 March 2024 (UTC)

Anyway, this is more a case of the joke. You see a diagram, perhaps others see a representation of a collision (and argue that the shockwave is probably not confined to the combined "volume that was" of both bodies, and impact ejecta is probably jetting out of the collision zone (well into space, and some is probably raining down on the 'safe' edges of the respective planets - all in all just adding to the current problems, though it's doubtful that it changes the ultimate fate of everyone, or not, if they have sturdy enough umbrellas). And it works (FCVO 'work') for both viewpoints. 172.70.90.220 19:00, 12 March 2024 (UTC)

I don't see how this answers my point, so I edited the explanation to clarify the difference between the illustration of an Earth/Venus collision and the representation of Earth/Venus logical relations. Transgalactic (talk) 15:00, 13 March 2024 (UTC)

Sorry to break it to you, guys, but a Venn diagram cannot show a "collision moment". It's about abstract relations of commonality and difference. In this case we can infer that the diagram can only apply during a collision event, but the Venn diagram doesn't actually say so. If you feel that talking about separate "Venus" and "Earth" entities etc. is overly complicated language, fine, find a way to cut away the clutter, but please don't turn the whole explanation of the Venn diagram into an explanation of something that isn't a Venn diagram. Transgalactic (talk) 21:53, 19 March 2024 (UTC)