explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

683: Science Montage

2023-10-23T19:24:31Z

172.69.247.42:

{{comic
| number = 683
| date = January 1, 2010
| title = Science Montage
| image = science_montage.png
| titletext = The rat's perturbed; it must sense nanobots! Code grey! We have a Helvetica scenario!
}}

==Explanation==
This comic makes fun of the artificially dramatized and simplified depiction of science in movies. The unstated premise seems to be that the scientists are trying to get information about a murderer based on a sample obtained from his clothing. The movie version of events involves the two scientists [[Cueball]] and [[Ponytail]] doing exciting things with a control console, {{w|lab rats}}, a device with some kind of beam (perhaps a laser), and a complicated chemical apparatus. The scientists quickly arrive at the firm conclusion that paint on the clothes is from an "{{w|antimatter}} factory" in {{w|Belgrade}}, {{w|Serbia}}.

While not directly used in the study, a {{w|Newton's cradle}} in motion can be seen in the first panel, a device notoriously useless in any serious scientific study, but very often used in movies, for instance as a prop in the office of a professor. There is also a {{w|hamster wheel}}. According to the [http://xkcd.com/683/info.0.json official transcript] it is a {{w|hamster ball}} but it is clearly not a ball as it has spokes, and thus resembles a hamster running wheel, probably for the rats shown in the next panel.

The actual science version shows the same scientists putting a sample into a device (likely a {{w|mass spectrometer}} or a {{w|centrifuge}}). The device apparently takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to analyze the sample (according to the clock on the wall moving from about 10:05 to 11:25). At the end of this process, the only thing learned is that there is ''probably'' no {{w|barium}} or {{w|radium}} in the sample. This conclusion is not very helpful on its own, and is not even very certain.

There are several major concepts about science and technology that movies tend to distort for the purposes of a more exciting plot, both illustrated here. One is that the work involves a lot of different exciting-looking gadgets. Another is that the analysis can be done very quickly, and results in very certain and significant conclusions. Besides this, the scientists often seem to have access to a database full of trivial information from around the world. In reality, a scientific analysis of some sample or data often only requires a single boring-looking machine, takes quite some time, and provides a limited result that must be interpreted very carefully to have any meaning at all.

The title text further illustrates a movie science scene, depicting someone deducing the presence of {{w|nanobots}} simply by observing the behavior of a [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perturbed perturbed] lab rat. The Helvetica Scenario is a fictional experiment, presented in {{w|Switzerland}} (Helvetia is the Latin name for the country), which assumes that removing only the nucleus (the center of an atom) of a "calcium molecule" in one's skin, but still leaving the electron shell at its position, would cause a massive reaction ending up in heavy mutations. The Helvetica scenario was made up by the BBC comedy show {{w|Look Around You}} in the pilot episode, which can be seen [https://youtu.be/t4CRCJUmWsM?t=370 here]. "Code grey" may refer to {{w|Grey goo}}, a hypothetical doomsday scenario involving nanobots. In [[1242: Scary Names]] Grey goo is on the chart and the Helvetica scenario is mentioned in the title text.

Antimatter is also referenced in [[826: Guest Week: Zach Weiner (SMBC)]], [[1621: Fixion]] and [[1731: Wrong]] as well as being the subject of the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' ''{{what if|114|Antimatter}}''. It was also mentioned in another ''what if?'': ''{{what if|79|Lake Tea}}''.

==Transcript==
:[Two columns of four panels are shown below two captions.]
:Left: Movie Science Montage
:Right: Actual Science Montage

:[Below the four rows of panels in the two montages will be described, Movie first then Actual as the two are synchronized in time.]

:['''Movie''': Cueball passes a test tube to Ponytail sitting at a large control console to the left looking at it's glowing screens at the bottom. At the top there is a flashing lamp. Both are wearing lab coats and goggles. A hamster ball and a Newton's cradle stand on a shelf above them.]

:['''Actual''': Cueball stand behind Ponytail, also here both are in lab coats with goggles. Ponytail place a sample from a test tube into a small device standing on a table. An analog clock on the wall above them is at five minutes past ten.]

:['''Movie''': A small glowing sample has been placed next to a rat inside a cage standing on a table. Ponytail, is holding a glowing implement up towards the cage; she has another rat in her hand and also a rat sitting on top of her head. Cueball is speaking into a device with a curled wire going to the wall, possibly a wall telephone.]
:Caged Rat: ''Squeak!''

:['''Actual''': Cueball is behind Ponytail standing in front of the machine which is working on the sample. The clock on the wall above them is at ten minutes past ten.]
:Machine: ''...whirrrrrr...''

:['''Movie''': Zoom in on Ponytail who pulls on two levers on a machine, which is shooting a beam of some sort downwards onto a sample, possibly the same as in the cage with the rat.]

:['''Actual''': Cueball and Ponytail still waits for their sample to be analyzed in the small device. The clock on the wall above them is at twenty five minutes past eleven. Cueball has removed his goggles and is holding them in his hand.]
:Machine: ''...whirrrr...''
:Machine: ''Bing!''

:['''Movie''': Zoom in on Cueball who is operating a complicated-looking chemical apparatus with a scope, flasks, coils, and bubbles.]
:Cueball: Paint flecks from the killer's clothing match an antimatter factory in Belgrade!
:Ponytail (off panel): Let's go!

:['''Actual''': Cueball look over Ponytail's shoulder while she examine the sample she has just taken out of the small device. He has put his goggles back on. The clock is hidden behind their spoken text. Presumably this occurs right after the ''bing''.]
:Cueball: Okay, we've determined there's neither barium nor radium in this sample.
:Ponytail: Probably.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Animals]]

2844: Black Holes vs Regular Holes

2023-10-20T18:21:22Z

172.69.247.42:

{{comic
| number = 2844
| date = October 20, 2023
| title = Black Holes vs Regular Holes
| image = black_holes_vs_regular_holes_2x.png
| imagesize = 525x743px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Created by the collapse of: [massive stars] [Florida limestone bedrock]
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BLACK HOLE CREATED BY CHILDREN AT THE BEACH - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is a comparison between {{w|Black Holes}} and regular, everyday {{w|Hole|holes}}.

{| class="wikitable"
!
! scope="col"| Black Hole
! scope="col"| Regular Hole
! Scope="col"| Explanation
|-
! scope="row" | Usually formed by...
| Supernovas, colliding stars
| Shovels, small mammals
| Black holes are created by stars going into supernova, and occasionally by two stars colliding. On the contrary, regular holes are often created by humans using shovels, as well as small animals such as ants, moles, and dogs.
|-
! scope="row" | Falling in is...
| Definitely fatal
| Sometimes fatal
| Falling into a black hole is almost always fatal.{{citation needed}} On the other hand, if a regular hole is deep enough, it is possible for someone to die by falling into it.
|-
! scope="row" | Created by the Big Bang
| Maybe
| No
| Like many other celestial objects, black holes may have been created by the {{w|Big Bang}}, however ordinary holes were almost definitely not created this way.
|-
! scope="row" | Created by children playing at the beach
| I ''REALLY'' hope not
| Yes
| Children commonly dig holes in sand at beaches, however if one were to create a black hole at the beach, this could prove cataclysmic.
|-
! scope="row" | Source of many precious metals
| Indirectly
| Yes
|
|-
! scope="row" | Einstein imagined falling into one
| Yes
| Probably at least once
|
|-
! scope="row" | A component of Dark Matter
| Maybe
| Probably not
|
|-
! scope="row" | Created by the Large Hadron Collider
| No
| Yes
| There were concerns when the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was initially put into operation that it would create a black hole that would destroy the Earth. This did not happen{{citation needed}}. However, the LHC is mostly underground, and it's construction required the digging of many holes.
|-
! scope="row" | Massive stars often collapse into them
| Yes
| No
| If a star is large enough, when the star dies, it may still have enough gravity to collapse back into itself, commonly creating black holes. This does not happen with regular holes, and would likely mean the end of the world.
|-
! scope="row" | Explored by humans in famous sci-fi stories
| Yes
| Yes
| Many sci-fi stories and movies explore black holes and regular holes alike.
|-
! scope="row" | Fatal to get a big one in your body
| Yes
| Yes
| If a black hole appeared inside of a person's body, they would almost definitely die instantly.{{citation needed}} The same goes for a regular hole - if you cut out a massive section of a human's body, they would likely bleed out.
|-
! scope="row" | Some of them are the mouths of wormholes
| Maybe
| Yes
| Black holes are commonly portrayed to be the entrances of {{w|Wormholes}}, especially in sci-fi stories. On the other side, many species of worms live in shallow holes, with a "mouth" on the surface - the "mouth" of the "worm hole".
|-
! scope="row" | Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne argued that<br>any information that falls into them is lost forever
| Yes
| No
| The {{w|Black hole information paradox}} is a paradox arising from the storage of information within black holes. Scientist {{w|Stephen Hawking}}, who is famous for his research into black holes, said that black holes release their energy over time, eventually disappearing, through {{w|Hawking Radiation}}. According to this theory, if information was also to enter the black hole, it would be released alongside this radiation. On the other hand, the {{w|No-hair theorem}} states that all black holes are completely identical outside of three key features: mass, spin, and electric charge. If information that fell into a black hole is released with Hawking radiation, then that means that there ''must'' be more than three properties of black holes.<br/>
On the other hand, information that falls into a normal hole is not lost forever, and can likely still be reobtained, especially if the information is stored physically.
|-
! scope="row" | Commonly inhabited by Meerkats
| Undetermined
| Yes
|Meerkats commonly live in holes underground, although it is unknown if this includes black holes.
|-
! scope="row" | '''(Title Text)''' Created by the collapse of
| Massive stars
| Florida limestone bedrock
| As mentioned before, Black holes are often created by the collapse of massive stars. On the other hand, many {{w|Sinkholes}} in Florida are caused due to most {{w|bedrock}} in the state being made of {{w|Limestone}}, which is naturally soluable - that is, easily dissolved in water. The collapse of this limestone is commonly attributed to many sinkholes in the state.
|}

==Transcript==
{| class="wikitable"
!
! scope="col"| Black Hole
! scope="col"| Regular Hole
|-
! scope="row" | Usually formed by...
| Supernovas, colliding stars
| Shovels, small mammals
|-
! scope="row" | Falling in is...
| Definitely fatal
| Sometimes fatal
|-
! scope="row" | Created by the Big Bang
| Maybe
| No
|-
! scope="row" | Created by children playing at the beach
| I ''REALLY'' hope not
| Yes
|-
! scope="row" | Source of many precious metals
| Indirectly
| Yes
|-
! scope="row" | Einstein imagined falling into one
| Yes
| Probably at least once
|-
! scope="row" | A component of Dark Matter
| Maybe
| Probably not
|-
! scope="row" | Created by the Large Hadron Collider
| No
| Yes
|-
! scope="row" | Massive stars often collapse into them
| Yes
| No
|-
! scope="row" | Explored by humans in famous sci-fi stories
| Yes
| Yes
|-
! scope="row" | Fatal to get a big one in your body
| Yes
| Yes
|-
! scope="row" | Some of them are the mouths of wormholes
| Maybe
| Yes
|-
! scope="row" | Stephen Hawking and Kip Thorne argued that<br>any information that falls into them is lost forever
| Yes
| No
|-
! scope="row" | Commonly inhabited by Meerkats
| Undetermined
| Yes
|}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2814: Perseids Pronunciation

2023-08-11T14:55:00Z

172.69.247.42:

I'm afraid to google the Kentucky Meat Shower. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.139|162.158.158.139]] 14:43, 11 August 2023 (UTC)
:I can give you a very quick summary: when startled, vultures will sometimes regurgitate their last meal, both to lighten themselves for a quick escape, and make a potential predator lose its appetite. Apparently, something startled a bunch of vultures at the same time, and nobody knows exactly what. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.42|172.69.247.42]] 14:55, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

"can" is repeated in the title text. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.68.54|141.101.68.54]] 14:53, 11 August 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2796: Real Estate Analysis

2023-07-01T12:24:51Z

172.69.247.42:

I suspect the hover text is reference to the song ‘Rocket Man’ and the lyric ‘Mars ‘ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids’ but I’m not sure it’s strong enough to include. Thoughts? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.11|172.71.242.11]] 16:10, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
:I don't know if that would be my first interpretation, but it's not necessarily wrong. Feel free to add it! (This wiki is supposed to include multiple interpretations if they exist.) [[User:DownGoer|DownGoer]] ([[User talk:DownGoer|talk]]) 17:32, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
:It seems like a bit of a stretch to me. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:33, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

He omitted Pluto, but included the Moon, which isn't any kind of planet. Furthermore, the Moon should get a much higher score on proximity to shops than all the other planets (it's only 250K miles away, versus hundreds of millions of miles). [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 18:33, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
:Massive disrespect to Pluto :( [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.110|172.70.210.110]] 18:37, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
:The Moon is okay but there's no atmosphere. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.50|162.158.158.50]] 21:18, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
::For atmosphere, you really want to look into Venus and the gas giants (cool name for a band?). Pluto, on the other hand, has a lot of heart. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.42|172.69.247.42]] 12:24, 1 July 2023 (UTC)
:He also omitted Sol. More people have worshipped it than Earth, so it's even more glaring than Pluto. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.147.36|172.71.147.36]] 23:53, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

Isn't "proximity to shops and restaurants" a significant contributor to most "walkability score[s]"? It seems weird that the x and y axes are confounded in such an obvious way, is there a deeper message? [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 21:16, 30 June 2023 (UTC)
:If I live across the street from a store, but that street’s a busy highway, I’d say I lived near a store, but I wouldn’t necessarily want to walk there. [[User:Intara|Intara]] ([[User talk:Intara|talk]]) 05:42, 1 July 2023 (UTC)

The moon and Mercury should also be pretty good in the "low noise" and "scenic" scales. Depending on whether one wants to count radio noise, and the effects of the magnetic tornadoes on Mercury. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:33, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

2787: Iceberg

2023-06-09T20:05:47Z

172.69.247.42: /* Explanation */ People only use 10% of urban legends.

{{comic
| number = 2787
| date = June 9, 2023
| title = Iceberg
| image = iceberg_2x.png
| imagesize = 258x397px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = 90% of the iceberg is hidden beneath the water, but that 90% only uses 10% of its brain, so it's really only 9%.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a MISSUNDERSTOOD ICEBERG - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The [https://www.agcas.org.uk/write/MediaUploads/Resources/ITG/iceberg_metaphor.pdf Iceberg metaphor] is a famous metaphor sometimes [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31633371/ misattributed to Freud]. It asserts that the majority (often stated as 90%) of an iceberg is below the surface, as a metaphor for the invisible aspects of the thing being compared. For instance, the majority of mass in the universe does not appear to be in the form of ordinary ("baryonic") matter but dark matter or dark energy. Excluding dark energy, dark matter accounts for about 85% of the total mass of the universe. So baryonic matter is like the "tip of the iceberg," visible above the surface, while dark matter is the invisible majority of the iceberg below the surface.

The author deliberately misunderstands the metaphor by taking it literally. He thinks the teacher is saying the part of an iceberg below the surface is literally made of dark matter. He points out that the Titanic sank after its hull hit an iceberg underwater, which wouldn't be possible if it were made of dark matter. Dark matter is not known to interact at all with baryonic matter, except by gravity, and we have only ever detected it gravitationally.

The title text references the myth that we use only 10% of our brain, and we could become more intelligent or powerful by "unlocking" the remaining 90%. If icebergs had brains, and the 90% in the "dark matter" part underwater used only 10% of its brain, while the tip used 100% of its brain, then most of the cognition would occur in the tip. However, the "9%" figure would still be meaningless; it should instead be 9/19 = 47.37%. In reality, human beings use pretty much all of their brain. They just don't use it all at the same time. Doing so wouldn't result in heightened intelligence or superpowers, but a (most likely fatal) seizure.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail is standing on a podium and pointing to a chart depicting an iceberg in the water.]
:Off screen voice: But then how did it interact with the ordinary baryonic matter in the Titanic's hull?
:[Label of iceberg above the water:] Normal Matter
:[Label of iceberg beneath the water:] Dark Matter

:[Caption below panel:]
:My Hobby: Refusing to understand the iceberg metaphor

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category: Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category: My Hobby]]
[[Category: Physics]]