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"*": "__NOTOC__\n<center>\n<font size=5px>''Welcome to the '''explain [[xkcd]]''' wiki!''</font><br>\n<span style=\"font size:210%;\">We have an explanation for all [[List of all comics (full)|'''3273''' xkcd comics]], and only 38 (1.2%) are incomplete. [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Help us finish them!]]</span>\n</center>\n<span style=\"position: absolute; right:0; padding-top:1.4em; font-size: 100%;\"><span class=\"no-link-underline\">[[3264| </span>'''Go to this explanation''']]</span>\n\n=Latest comic=\n<div style=\"border:1px solid grey; background:#000001; padding:1.5em;\">\n<metadesc>explain xkcd is a wiki dedicated to explaining the webcomic xkcd. Go figure.</metadesc><table class=\"comic-content \" cellspacing=\"5\" style=\"background-color: #FFFFFF;\n border: 1px solid #a2a9b1; color: black; font-size: 88%;\n line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.5em 0 0.5em 1em; padding: 0.2em;\n text-align: center; width:98%; \"><tr><td style=\"font-size: 21px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 800; padding-bottom:11px; padding-top:15px;\">720 Ollie</td></tr><tr><td><ul style=\"text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px;\" class=\"no-link-underline\"><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[1: Barrel - Part 1|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px; white-space: nowrap;\" title=\"\">|<</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[3263|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"\">< Prev</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\"\n class=\"plainlinks\">[https://xkcd.com/3264<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"Open this comic on xkcd.com\">#3264 (June 26, 2026)</span>]</li> </ul></td></tr><tr><td>[[File:720_ollie_2x.png|257x325px|This discovery was key to his demonstration of regular/goofy symmetry violation, which won him gold in the theory portion of the X Games.]]<br /><span style=\"margin-top: 0.9em; margin-bottom: 0em; display:inline-block; font-size: 120%; \"><span class=\"plainlinks\" title=\"\">''[[Title text|Title text]]:''</span> This discovery was key to his demonstration of regular/goofy symmetry violation, which won him gold in the theory portion of the X Games.</span></td></tr><tr><td><ul style=\"text-align: center; margin-top:2px; margin-bottom:10px;\" class=\"no-link-underline\"></li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><ul style=\"text-align: center; margin-top:-7px; margin-bottom:15px;\" class=\"no-link-underline\"><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[1: Barrel - Part 1|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px; white-space: nowrap;\" title=\"\">|<</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\">[[3263|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"\">< Prev</span>]]</li><li style=\"background-color: #6E7B91;\n border: 1.5px solid #333333; border-radius: 3px 3px 3px 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 5px 0 gray;\n display: inline; font-size: 16px; font-variant: small-caps; font-weight: 600;\n margin: 0 4px; padding: 1.5px 0;\" class=\"plainlinks\">[[Special:RandomInCategory/All pages|<span style=\"color: #FFFFFF; padding: 0 12px;\" title=\"\">Random Explanation</span>]]</li> </ul></td></tr></table>[[Category:All comics]][[Category:All pages]][[Category:Comics from 2026]] [[Category:Comics from June]] [[Category:Friday comics]]\n\n==Explanation==\n<div style=\"display: flex; justify-content: center;\">\n{| style=\"background-color: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #aaa; box-shadow: 2px 2px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border-left: 10px solid #0d5bb3; margin: 0 auto; width: auto; max-width: 70%; display: inline-block;\" class=\"notice-incomplete notice_tpl notice\" \n|style=\"padding:0 0.5em; line-height: 330%; text-align: left;\"|[[File:Ambox warning blue construction.png|link=|40x40px]]\n|style=\"padding:0 0.75em; text-align: left;\"| '''This is one of [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|38 incomplete explanations]]:'''<br>This page was created by a spin-\u00bd boson. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, '''[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=edit edit the page]'''![[Category:Incomplete explanations]]\n\n|}\n</div>\n\n[[wikipedia:Tony Hawk|<span title=\"Tony Hawk on Wikipedia\">Tony Hawk</span>]] tells Cueball that doing a single 360\u00b0 spin causes him to land backward rather than forward. This is unexpected, since a 360\u00b0 turn in the xy plane is a full revolution, meaning that it should normally return Tony Hawk to his original position rather than perform a half-rotation (normally the result of a 180\u00b0 spin). As repeating this would reverse his reverse, doubling this to a 720\u00b0 spin is what finally allows him to land forward. Normally, revolving 360*n degrees, for any whole number (n=0, n=\u00b11, n=\u00b12, etc) should leave him pointing the same range as before, but for him he returns to the same orientation if n is even, but he lands with the opposite orientation if n is odd.\n\nThe caption reveals that this is because Tony Hawk is a spin-\u00bd fermion. Spin-\u00bd fermions have the unusual property that they must be rotated through two full turns before returning to their original configuration. This explains the paradox, but is unusual because spin-\u00bd particles are normally very small, only occurring in quantum physics rather than Newtonian physics. Since Tony Hawk is not a subatomic particle,<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester#top|''citation needed'']]]</sup> it is unclear how his skateboard tricks could be described only by quantum physics.\n\nA '''[[wikipedia:Fermion|<span title=\"Fermion on Wikipedia\">fermion</span>]]''' is a classification of particles (or groups of particles) whose intrinsic angular momentum (aka \"spin\") is half-integer multiple of the ''reduced Planck constant''; the behavior of these objects' spin is described via spinors, a type of complex vector. This is in contrast to '''bosons''', whose spin is an integer multiple of the reduced Planck constant, and described by the normal Euclidean vectors you know and love.<sup>[[[285: Wikipedian Protester#top|''citation needed'']]]</sup>\n\nTony Hawk is an American skateboarder credited with inventing the 720, a trick (under normal circumstances) involving two full mid-air rotations. Since Hawk invented it in 1985, larger [[wikipedia:Aerial (skateboarding)|<span title=\"Aerial (skateboarding) on Wikipedia\">mid-air rotations</span>]] have been invented (up to 1260, three and a half rotations), and according to the comic they can have even stranger quantum properties.\n\nThe title text is a riff on the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of [[wikipedia:CP violation|<span title=\"CP violation on Wikipedia\">CP violation</span>]], (something that may have been on [[Randall]]'s mind, recently, due to the [[3263: Baryon Asymmetry|prior comic]]'s subject matter/anti-matter). The [[wikipedia:Footedness#Goofy stance vs. regular stance|<span title=\"Footedness#Goofy stance vs. regular stance on Wikipedia\">regular/goofy styles of riding a skateboard</span>]] could be considered as a physical quality of the \"skateboarder particle\", as values of charge and parity are of subatomic ones. The [[wikipedia:X Games|<span title=\"X Games on Wikipedia\">X Games</span>]] are a prestigious 'street-sport' event that includes competitions in skateboarding as well as other related board- and bike-disciplines. The parallel is made between being able to win a gold medal for impressive skateboarding skills (and demonstrating new tricks, in the process, as Tony Hawk has been known to do) and earning the gold Nobel Prize medal for a scientific achievements in Physics or one of the other established prize categories. So far, nobody has done both of these. But, if this comic is entirely true, perhaps Tony Hawk could be the first to do so.\n\n\"Goofy matter\", and Tony Hawk's involvement in physics, is also the subject of [[2967: Matter]]. Skateboarding is also the subject of [[296: Tony Hawk]].\n\n==Transcript==\n<div style=\"display: flex; justify-content: center;\">\n{| style=\"background-color: #f8f9fa; border: 1px solid #aaa; box-shadow: 2px 2px 2px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); border-left: 10px solid #04b60c; margin: 0 auto; width: auto; max-width: 70%; display: inline-block;\" class=\"notice-incomplete-transcript notice_tpl notice\" \n|style=\"padding:0 0.5em; line-height: 330%; text-align: left;\"|[[File:Ambox warning green construction.png|link=|40x40px]]\n|style=\"padding:0 0.75em; text-align: left;\"| '''This is one of [[:Category:Incomplete transcripts|29 incomplete transcripts]]:'''<br>Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, '''[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=edit edit the page]'''!\n|}\n</div>[[Category:Incomplete transcripts]]\n:[Tony Hawk and Cueball are talking. Tony Hawk is holding his skateboard. An image, above the heads of Tony Hawk and Cueball, depicts Tony Hawk doing two 360-degree turns on a skateboard]\n\n:Tony Hawk: Something weird I've noticed is that if I do a 360 ollie, I land backward. I have to do a 720 to land going forward.\n\n:Caption: Tony Hawk discovers that he's a spin-\u00bd fermion.\n\n<br><div style=\"clear: both\"></div><span id=\"Discussion\"></span><span style=\"position: absolute; right:0; padding-top:1.7em; font-size: 105%;\">[[File:comment.png|21x21px|link=//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit]]<span class=\"no-link-underline\">[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit </span>'''Add comment'''] [[File:new topic.png|21x21px|link=//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit§ion=new]]<span class=\"no-link-underline\">[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit§ion=new </span>'''Create topic (use sparingly)'''] [[File:refresh discuss.png|21x21px|link=//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=purge]]<span class=\"no-link-underline\">[//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=API&action=purge </span>'''Refresh'''] </span><h1>Discussion</h1>\n<div class=\"disctemp\" style=\"border:1px solid grey; background:#f6f6f6; padding-top:0.5em; padding-left:1.5em; padding-right:1.5em; padding-bottom:2.5em;\">\n<br>''No comments yet, [//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Talk:API&action=edit add the first comment]!''</div>__NOTOC__\n----\n\n<span style=\"position: absolute; left:0; padding-top:1.35em; font-size: 105%;\"><span class=\"no-link-underline\"> [[File:new topic.png|21x21px|link=3264#Discussion]][[3264#Discussion| </span>'''View comic discussion''']]</span><br><br></div>\n\n== New here? ==\n<div style=\"float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em\">[[:Special:ContributionScores/10/30/nosort,notools]]<div style=\"font-size:0.85em; width:28em; font-style:italic\">[[Special:ContributionScores|Lots of people]] contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have [//www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Special:Contributions&contribs=newbie just joined]. You can do it too! Create your account [[Special:UserLogin/signup|here]].</div></div>\n\nYou can read a brief introduction about this wiki at [[explain xkcd]]. Feel free to [[Special:UserLogin/signup|create an account]] and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|comics]], [[:Category:Characters|characters]], [[What If? chapters|''What If?'' articles]], and [[:Category:xkcd|everything in between]]. If it is referenced in an [[xkcd]] comic, it should be here.\n\n* If you're new to wiki editing, see the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ]] for a specific guidance to this wiki and the more general help on [[mw:Help:Editing pages|how to edit wiki pages]]. There's also a handy [[wikipedia:Help:Cheatsheet|<span title=\"Help:Cheatsheet on Wikipedia\">wikicode cheatsheet</span>]].\n\n* Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]].\n\n* You can browse the comics from the [[List of all comics (full)|list of all comics]] or by navigating the category tree at [[:Category:Comics]].\n\n* The incomplete explanations are listed [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|here]]. Feel free to help out by expanding them!\n\n== Rules ==\n\nBe a jerk!\n\nThere are a lot of comics that have set-in-stone explanations; only put one interpretation in the wiki page for each comic.\n\nIf you want to talk about a specific comic, don\u2019t.\n\nPlease only submit material directly unrelated to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that cannot legally be posted or freely edited. On-topic or other appropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked. Get good.\n\nIf you need assistance from an [[explain xkcd:Administrators|admin]], post a message to the [[explain xkcd talk:Sandbox|Admin requests]] board.\n\n[[Category:Root category]]\n\nRecent comments: [[:Special:RecentChanges]]"
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