Difference between revisions of "what if?"
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Since 2014 , there's also a book of the blog. | Since 2014 , there's also a book of the blog. | ||
| − | Unlike other sites which answer readers' questions, ''what if?'' typically takes the question beyond the original scope likely intended by the reader and takes it to some extreme for humorous effect. For example, in | + | Unlike other sites which answer readers' questions, ''what if?'' typically takes the question beyond the original scope likely intended by the reader and takes it to some extreme for humorous effect. For example, in {{what if|1|the first article}}, he discusses what would happen if a baseball were pitched at 90% of the speed of light. After effectively describing what would occur as a nuclear explosion, leveling the stadium and the surrounding mile radius, he concludes with the note ''"A careful reading of official Major League Baseball Rule 6.08(b) suggests that in this situation, the batter would be considered 'hit by pitch', and would be eligible to advance to first base."'' |
| − | The questions Randall tackles range from realistic possibilities (e.g. the probability of achieving a | + | The questions Randall tackles range from realistic possibilities (e.g. the probability of achieving a {{what if|2|perfect SAT score by guessing}}) to completely fictional questions (e.g. {{what if|3|How much Force power}} can {{w|Yoda}} output?). In his explanations, Randall, often uses diagrams in an ''xkcd'' style. Regardless of the context, Randall tends to take the questions extremely literally and responds seriously to them, even if they are whimsical (such as the Yoda question). This is clear from his response to the question of what would happen if everybody on Earth stood together and {{what if|8|jumped at the same time}}. After acknowledging that the question has been answered elsewhere, he recaps the result, but then focuses more intently on the unasked resulting issue of the aftermath of everyone on Earth being magically transported to one location as they all try to return home. |
This site is not under [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License] like [[xkcd]] is. | This site is not under [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License] like [[xkcd]] is. | ||
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==The book== | ==The book== | ||
| − | {{Incomplete|Maybe give the most (popular) articles their own link. That would be nice. A full list of all articles can be viewed | + | {{Incomplete|Maybe give the most (popular) articles their own link. That would be nice. A full list of all articles can be viewed {{what if|archive|here}}}} |
Randall announced his ''what if?'' book on 12 March 2014 in [http://blog.xkcd.com/2014/03/12/what-if-i-wrote-a-book/ the blag]. It was published on September 2, 2014, and the UK edition of the book was published on September 4, 2014. | Randall announced his ''what if?'' book on 12 March 2014 in [http://blog.xkcd.com/2014/03/12/what-if-i-wrote-a-book/ the blag]. It was published on September 2, 2014, and the UK edition of the book was published on September 4, 2014. | ||
[[Image:What_If?.jpeg|frame|The general cover of the book]] | [[Image:What_If?.jpeg|frame|The general cover of the book]] | ||
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==Articles== | ==Articles== | ||
| − | + | # {{what if|1|Relativistic Baseball}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|2|SAT Guessing}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|3|Yoda}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|4|A Mole of Moles}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|5|Robot Apocalypse}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|6|Glass Half Empty}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|7|Everybody Out}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|8|Everybody Jump}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|9|Soul Mates}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|10|Cassini}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|11|Droppings}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|12|Rain Drop}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|13|Laser Pointer}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|14|Short Answer Section}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|15|Mariana Trench Explosion}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|16|Today's Topic: Lightning}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|17|Green Cows}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|18|BB Gun}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|19|Tie Vote}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|20|Diamond}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|21|Machine Gun Jetpack}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|22|Cost of Pennies}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|23|Short Answer Section II}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|24|Model Rockets}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|25|Three Wise Men}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|26|Leap Seconds}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|27|Death Rate}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|28|Steak Drop}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|29|Spent Fuel Pool}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|30|Interplanetary Cessna}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|31|FedEx Bandwidth}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|32|Hubble}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|33|Ships}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|34|Twitter}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|35|Hairdryer}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|36|Cornstarch}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|37|Supersonic Stereo}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|38|Voyager}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|39|Hockey Puck}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|40|Pressure Cooker}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|41|Go West}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|42|Longest Sunset}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|43|Train Loop}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|44|High Throw}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|45|ISS Music Video}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|46|Bowling Ball}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|47|Alien Astronomers}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|48|Sunset on the British Empire}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|49|Sunless Earth}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|50|Extreme Boating}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|51|Free Fall}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|52|Bouncy Balls}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|53|Drain the Oceans}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|54|Drain the Oceans: Part II}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|55|Random Sneeze Call}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|56|Restraining an Airplane}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|57|Dropping a Mountain}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|58|Orbital Speed}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|59|Updating a Printed Wikipedia}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|60|Signs of Life}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|61|Speed Bump}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|62|Falling With Helium}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|63|Google Datacenters on Punchcards}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|64|Rising Steadily}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|65|Twitter Timeline Height}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|66|500 MPH}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|67|Expanding Earth}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|68|Little Planet}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|69|Facebook of the Dead}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|70|The Constant Groundskeeper}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|71|Stirring Tea}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|72|Loneliest Human}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|73|Lethal Neutrinos}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|74|Soda Planet}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|75|Phone Keypad}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|76|Reading Every Book}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|77|Growth Rate}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|78|T-rex Calories}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|79|Lake Tea}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|80|Pile of Viruses}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|81|Catch!}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|82|Hitting a Comet}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|83|Star Sand}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|84|Paint the Earth}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|85|Rocket Golf}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|86|Far-Travelling Objects}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|87|Enforced by Radar}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|88|Soda Sequestration}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|89|Tungsten Countertop}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|90|Great Tree, Great Axe}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|91|Faucet Power}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|92|One-Second Day}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|93|Windshield Raindrops}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|94|Billion-Story Building}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|95|Pyramid Energy}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|96|$2 Undecillion Lawsuit}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|97|Burning Pollen}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|98|Blood Alcohol}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|99|Starlings}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|100|WWII Films}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|101|Plastic Dinosaurs}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|102|Keyboard Power}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|103|Vanishing Water}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|104|Global Snow}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|105|Cannibalism}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|106|Ink Molecules}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|107|Letter to Mom}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|108|Expensive Shoebox}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|109|Into the Blue}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|110|Walking New York}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|111|All the Money}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|112|Balloon Car}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|113|Visit Every State}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|114|Antimatter}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|115|Into the Sun}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|116|No-Rules Nascar}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|117|Distant Death}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|118|Physical Salary}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|119|Laser Umbrella}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|120|Alternate Universe What Ifs}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|121|Frozen Rivers}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|122|Lava Lamp}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|123|Fairy Demographics}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|124|Lunar Swimming}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|125|Bowling Ball}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|126|Stairs}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|127|Tug of War}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|128|Zippo Phone}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|129|Black Hole Moon}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|130|Snow Removal}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|131|Microwaves}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|132|Hotter Than Average}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|133|Flagpole}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|134|Space Burial}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|135|Digging Downward}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|136|Spiders Vs. the Sun}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|137|New Horizons}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|138|Jupiter Submarine}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|139|Jupiter Descending}} | |
| − | + | # {{what if|140|Proton Earth, Electron Moon}} | |
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[[Category:Meta]] | [[Category:Meta]] | ||
Revision as of 16:57, 29 October 2015
- Not to be confused with 17: What If.
what if? is a blog hosted on the xkcd.com domain and written by Randall Munroe with entries posted every month. On the blog, Randall uses his degree in physics and strong scientific background to discuss hypothetical physics questions apparently submitted by readers. Since 2014 , there's also a book of the blog.
Unlike other sites which answer readers' questions, what if? typically takes the question beyond the original scope likely intended by the reader and takes it to some extreme for humorous effect. For example, in the first article, he discusses what would happen if a baseball were pitched at 90% of the speed of light. After effectively describing what would occur as a nuclear explosion, leveling the stadium and the surrounding mile radius, he concludes with the note "A careful reading of official Major League Baseball Rule 6.08(b) suggests that in this situation, the batter would be considered 'hit by pitch', and would be eligible to advance to first base."
The questions Randall tackles range from realistic possibilities (e.g. the probability of achieving a perfect SAT score by guessing) to completely fictional questions (e.g. How much Force power can Yoda output?). In his explanations, Randall, often uses diagrams in an xkcd style. Regardless of the context, Randall tends to take the questions extremely literally and responds seriously to them, even if they are whimsical (such as the Yoda question). This is clear from his response to the question of what would happen if everybody on Earth stood together and jumped at the same time. After acknowledging that the question has been answered elsewhere, he recaps the result, but then focuses more intently on the unasked resulting issue of the aftermath of everyone on Earth being magically transported to one location as they all try to return home.
This site is not under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License like xkcd is.
Randal took a hiatus from updates from May 2015 to July 14th 2015 with a note stating "What If updates are temporarily on hold, and will resume on July 14th, 2015 at 7:49:59 AM EDT." This was the date and time that the New Horizons probe achieved its closest approach to Pluto. The article for July 14th was about the New Horizons probe.
The book
|
This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Maybe give the most (popular) articles their own link. That would be nice. A full list of all articles can be viewed here If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks. |
Randall announced his what if? book on 12 March 2014 in the blag. It was published on September 2, 2014, and the UK edition of the book was published on September 4, 2014.
The general cover of the book
It is just like 'xkcd:volume 0' a compilation of some questions from the website, but half of them are new.
In the UK edition of the book, Randall included a preface about his thoughts on the units used in the UK. (The Metric System)
Summary
The summary on the back of the book reads:
Randall Munroe left NASA in 2005 to start up his hugely popular site XKCD 'a web comic of romance, sarcasm, math and language' which offers a witty take on the world of science and geeks. It now has 600,000 to a million page hits daily. Every now and then, Munroe would get emails asking him to arbitrate a science debate. 'My friend and I were arguing about what would happen if a bullet got struck by lightning, and we agreed that you should resolve it . . . ' He liked these questions so much that he started up What If.
- If your cells suddenly lost the power to divide, how long would you survive?
- How dangerous is it, really, to be in a swimming pool in a thunderstorm?
- If we hooked turbines to people exercising in gyms, how much power could we produce?
- What if everyone only had one soulmate?
- When (if ever) did the sun go down on the British empire?
- How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live?
- What would happen if the moon went away?
In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, studded with memorable cartoons and infographics. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion. Far more than a book for geeks, WHAT IF: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions explains the laws of science in operation in a way that every intelligent reader will enjoy and feel much the smarter for having read.
The summary on the back of the UK edition of the book reads:
Hey! Thanks for looking at my book. If you're thinking about buying it, here are some things you might want to know:
Humans can't digest the cellulose in paper, but if we could, eating this book would give you about 2,300 calories (including the cover).
This book can't stop most bullets; if you want to use it for armour, you may want a lot more than one copy.
If you have a good arm, you could probably throw this book about 45 feet. With practice, it's possible to throw a book every 800 milliseconds, which means that if human attackers are sprinting towards you, you'll have three or four chances to hit them before they reach you. If, on the other hand, you're being attacked by a coyote, it's higher top speed means you'll have only one chance to hit it. Aim carefully.
HIDDEN FEATURE: The inside of this book has words and pictures, plus a special UK foreword. It answers many important questions, including whether you could jump from a plane with a helium tank and inflate balloons fast enough to slow your fall and survive (yes) and whether you could hide from a supersonic windstorm in Finland (yes, but it won't help).
Articles
- Relativistic Baseball
- SAT Guessing
- Yoda
- A Mole of Moles
- Robot Apocalypse
- Glass Half Empty
- Everybody Out
- Everybody Jump
- Soul Mates
- Cassini
- Droppings
- Rain Drop
- Laser Pointer
- Short Answer Section
- Mariana Trench Explosion
- Today's Topic: Lightning
- Green Cows
- BB Gun
- Tie Vote
- Diamond
- Machine Gun Jetpack
- Cost of Pennies
- Short Answer Section II
- Model Rockets
- Three Wise Men
- Leap Seconds
- Death Rate
- Steak Drop
- Spent Fuel Pool
- Interplanetary Cessna
- FedEx Bandwidth
- Hubble
- Ships
- Hairdryer
- Cornstarch
- Supersonic Stereo
- Voyager
- Hockey Puck
- Pressure Cooker
- Go West
- Longest Sunset
- Train Loop
- High Throw
- ISS Music Video
- Bowling Ball
- Alien Astronomers
- Sunset on the British Empire
- Sunless Earth
- Extreme Boating
- Free Fall
- Bouncy Balls
- Drain the Oceans
- Drain the Oceans: Part II
- Random Sneeze Call
- Restraining an Airplane
- Dropping a Mountain
- Orbital Speed
- Updating a Printed Wikipedia
- Signs of Life
- Speed Bump
- Falling With Helium
- Google Datacenters on Punchcards
- Rising Steadily
- Twitter Timeline Height
- 500 MPH
- Expanding Earth
- Little Planet
- Facebook of the Dead
- The Constant Groundskeeper
- Stirring Tea
- Loneliest Human
- Lethal Neutrinos
- Soda Planet
- Phone Keypad
- Reading Every Book
- Growth Rate
- T-rex Calories
- Lake Tea
- Pile of Viruses
- Catch!
- Hitting a Comet
- Star Sand
- Paint the Earth
- Rocket Golf
- Far-Travelling Objects
- Enforced by Radar
- Soda Sequestration
- Tungsten Countertop
- Great Tree, Great Axe
- Faucet Power
- One-Second Day
- Windshield Raindrops
- Billion-Story Building
- Pyramid Energy
- $2 Undecillion Lawsuit
- Burning Pollen
- Blood Alcohol
- Starlings
- WWII Films
- Plastic Dinosaurs
- Keyboard Power
- Vanishing Water
- Global Snow
- Cannibalism
- Ink Molecules
- Letter to Mom
- Expensive Shoebox
- Into the Blue
- Walking New York
- All the Money
- Balloon Car
- Visit Every State
- Antimatter
- Into the Sun
- No-Rules Nascar
- Distant Death
- Physical Salary
- Laser Umbrella
- Alternate Universe What Ifs
- Frozen Rivers
- Lava Lamp
- Fairy Demographics
- Lunar Swimming
- Bowling Ball
- Stairs
- Tug of War
- Zippo Phone
- Black Hole Moon
- Snow Removal
- Microwaves
- Hotter Than Average
- Flagpole
- Space Burial
- Digging Downward
- Spiders Vs. the Sun
- New Horizons
- Jupiter Submarine
- Jupiter Descending
- Proton Earth, Electron Moon
