explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3071: Decay Chain

2025-04-03T06:26:15Z

172.70.43.67:

... should have gone down to the 5S. That was really rock bottom... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.114.36|172.70.114.36]] 01:53, 3 April 2025 (UTC)
: My old SE was a real workhorse. Small enough to comfortably use in one hand, power button on the top so I don't have to worry about turning it off when gripping it, headphone jack, black background on the reboot screen, and twice as much storage as my current iphone 7. It kept working until the screen cracked and glass was peeling out of the screen, and several months beyond that, when the screen just went blank and refused to turn on. [[User:Firestar233|guess who]] ([[User talk:Firestar233|if you desire conversing]] | [[Special:Contributions/Firestar233|what i have done]]) 05:10, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

No april fools' comic? Sad. [[User:Onestay|Onestay]] ([[User talk:Onestay|talk]]) 01:58, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

:Takes some time. Might still be one.--[[User:Bb777|me, hi]] ([[User talk:Bb777|talk]]) 02:18, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

:Yeah, escape speed was late for 18 days, maybe the new interactive comic will be the same [[User:Aprilfoolsupdate!|Aprilfoolsupdate!]] ([[User talk:Aprilfoolsupdate!|talk]]) 05:06, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

A quick search for "newest iPhone" gave me that 16 (various models) is the newest. That is, if it's newer than 15. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.15.141|172.68.15.141]] 04:39, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

Most stars only produce Bell rotary phones, perhaps producing touch tone or even cordless phones briefly as they move off the main sequence. Massive stars can produce up to Nokia phones, but that's the final stage that stars can produce in their normal lifespan. All smartphones are produced in supernova. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.246.149|172.69.246.149]] 05:32, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

I miss an explanation of the iPhone models. Are these the only ones there are? In which order were they released? (Of course, I could google iPhone, but that would defeat the purpose of this page, wouldn’t it?) It feels strange that there is an iPhone 7, but no 8 and 9, then X (assuming X means 10), 11, 12 only with the addition “pro max” and so on. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.43.67|172.70.43.67]] 06:26, 3 April 2025 (UTC)

Talk:3071: Decay Chain

2025-04-03T06:25:33Z

172.70.43.67:

2817: Electron Holes

2023-08-20T01:51:49Z

172.70.43.67: Holes are more real than you might think.

{{comic
| number = 2817
| date = August 18, 2023
| title = Electron Holes
| image = electron_holes_2x.png
| imagesize = 295x331px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = They tried to report me to the authorities, but because I had the device they couldn't charge me.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BEAM OF EXCITONS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
An {{w|electron hole}} is a quasiparticle denoting a ''lack'' of an electron. Creating a beam that is made out of a lack of a thing is not possible{{citation needed}}, otherwise we'd have "dark beams". It should be noted however, that a hole in the QED vacuum is a real particle, known as the positron. See the {{w|Dirac sea}}.

Here, the electron hole gun might refer to the {{w|anode ray}} tubes.

In this cartoon, the physicist is upset that the idea of the electron hole beam doesn't "make sense", yet the beam is still working to destroy her belongings (or at least create dramatic visual effects) and eventually she resorts to exclaiming simply "Stop it!"

The caption below the comic states that physicist''s'', plural, were angry about this device, implying that this is not the first physicist whose lab he has interfered with. It also implies that the off-screen character—likely [[Beret Guy]], considering his history of seemingly impossible feats and powers—is not a physicist, notably separating them from {{w|Randall Munroe}}, who is. The physicists are also likely angry that they themselves could not come up with such a device, as well as that something as groundbreaking and innovative (as well as seemingly impossible) is being used solely for the purpose of creating chaos.

The title text plays on a double meaning of "charge". When the word is used with "authorities", it's an accusation. However it can also refer to an electric charge. The implication is that the authorities are trying to charge him with electrons (which carry a negative electric charge), but due to the device he can {{w|Carrier generation and recombination|recombine}} the electrons with his electron holes, thus making the authorities unable to "charge" him.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Ponytail, who has her fists clenched and a squiggle above her head, is standing in front of a desk, a beam of electron holes is being fired at a printer on the desk; the beam is shown reacting to the printer, dispersing lightning bolts and 'particles' but causing no obvious damage. There are little '+' signs distributed along the beam and in the circles around the printer, though they're much easier to see in the higher-resolution version of the strip that's displayed if one zooms in on the original comic page.]
:Ponytail: This doesn't even make sense! They're quasiparticles, not real-
:Off-panel voice: ''Pew pew pew''
:Ponytail: ''Stop it!''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Physicists got ''really'' mad about my device that fires a beam of electron holes.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Physics]]