explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2863: Space Typography

2023-12-06T19:18:14Z

172.71.114.63:

Are the dot's actually roughly in line with the distances?

[[Special:Contributions/172.71.135.78|172.71.135.78]] 21:31, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

Yes they are. I eyeballed with a screenruler and calculated

* 0.40 AU for Mercury (Should be 0.37)
* 0.72 AU for Venus (0.72)
* 1 AU for earth (reference)
* 1.54 AU for Mars (1.52)
* 5.24 AU for Jupiter (4.98)

[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.94|162.158.202.94]] 21:48, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

But what size font?[[User:Danger Kitty|Danger Kitty]] ([[User talk:Danger Kitty|talk]])
:129 trillion pt, give or take. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.109|141.101.105.109]] 23:02, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
:: Thanks for the decimal-point check. This is my worksheet: [https://i.postimg.cc/tRsmk3c6/Oprimistic-AU.gif Image] (open in new tab) [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 02:13, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

The number of "e"s between h and r required to make Saturn line up is about 59 (tested using 27.2 pt font) [[User:Digin|Digin]] ([[User talk:Digin|talk]]) 22:17, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
: There are currently three different figures in the explanation for how many "e"s are needed. One says the title text is correct as written, brackets and ellipsis and all. One says 59. One says 85. They can't all be right. [[User:LtPowers|LtPowers]] ([[User talk:LtPowers|talk]]) 13:22, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
:: "They can't all be right." Well, they can, if they don't correspond to the same thing. Are we using the font size from the comic, or from the hover text? [[User:Rexon Mobile|Rexon Mobile]] ([[User talk:Rexon Mobile|talk]]) 15:39, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

:: I think the [...] has to be condensing what should be a longer title text. If is was "correct as written", that's an extra 3 dots that don't correspond to planets or anything in that region of space. So unless someone can find some objects in that part of space, I think "correct as written" should be vetoed. Also, can't use periods, colons, or semicolons -- would need to separate the main sentence from the title text addition using perhaps a dash or a comma (as long as a comma isn't as comet). [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 17:22, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
::: The sentence is using only the dots that are part of 'i's. Although the comic's text refers to "dots" without specifying that restriction, we don't have to assume that 'j's and punctuation must also correspond to solar system bodies. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 20:06, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
:::: Who says only the dots over the i's are to be considered? The comic certainly doesn't specify that... it just says "use the dots as a map". Someone early on in the explanation made the ''assumption'' that only the dots on letters (i and j) could, but I don't believe that's a valid assumption. The fact that Randall doesn't end the sentence with a dot implies he knows that dot would count, so he didn't include it, though admittedly he did include a period on the title text. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 16:48, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

I’m curious whether randall brute forced this, trained a neural network, or did it by hand. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.175.179|172.70.175.179]] 22:31, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
:He would probably answer: [[2173: Trained a Neural Net]] [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.217|172.70.42.217]] 22:45, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

Trying to prep an image of a comparison between actual orbits and the comic, but it's taking longer than i'd like [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 23:20, 4 December 2023 (UTC)

I assume brackets around (i) are for the Saturn's rings? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.102.71|162.158.102.71]] 23:26, 4 December 2023 (UTC)
:Ooh, good call. Put that in. [[User:LtPowers|LtPowers]] ([[User talk:LtPowers|talk]]) 13:22, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
:I assumed it was just a way to emphasize the i. In the comic, they are bolded, but that is not possible in title text. - [[Special:Contributions/172.68.27.133|172.68.27.133]] 22:28, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

The long, rambling diatribe about literature seemed odd at first, but I think Charlotte Brontë would be proud she was able to represent Pluto and Charon. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.56|172.69.247.56]] 04:07, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
:I don't understand. What's this about Charlotte Brontë? I don't see any reference to her in this comic.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.112|162.158.155.112]] 20:17, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
:: It's a joke about umlauts. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.48|172.69.247.48]] 06:37, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

For what it's worth, the asteroid belt spans the area covered by the word "measure" [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.152|172.71.222.152]] 14:10, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
:It would be nice if the word gaps were aligned that way, but there is no obvious alignment with either the edges of the asteroid belt, or the location of the Kirkwood gaps. The asteroid belt would stretch from the middle of the M in "measure" to the P in "space", with the most prominent Kirkwood gaps corresponding roughly to the letters A, R and E. [[User:Rexon Mobile|Rexon Mobile]] ([[User talk:Rexon Mobile|talk]]) 15:33, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
:If he really wanted to represent the asteroids, I think he might have found a way to include a word like "riiii[...]iiight" so there would be lots of dots. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 15:51, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
::So '''a'''steroids are mostly between the As in "measure" and "space". Neat. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.114.63|172.71.114.63]] 19:18, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

I added the table with the count of 'e's and adjusted the wording where it said 85 'e's from the Sun to say an extra 13 'e's in the word "here". I worked this out using an image from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_System#/media/File:Solar_System_distance_to_scale.svg) in PowerPoint but don't have upload privileges to post. Would be nice if someone could do that. [[User:Denver87|Denver87]] ([[User talk:Denver87|talk]]) 15:30, 5 December 2023 (UTC)

Amazingly (assuming my math was right so please someone check) the sun to scale would be very close to the size of the actual dots used to represents the planets. (Planets wouldn't be visible.)

I don't see why the mnemonic for the order of the planets would be relevant to this comic. Should it be removed? [[User:Rexon Mobile|Rexon Mobile]] ([[User talk:Rexon Mobile|talk]]) 17:40, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
: Absolutely. No relevance to the comic. removed [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 18:18, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
:: I put it in because it was another mnemonic about the solar system. [*shrug*] [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 19:59, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
: what?! it should at least be mentioned. this comic wouldn't exist in a world without well-known solar system mnemonics :D
: [[User:Lordpipe|Lordpipe]] ([[User talk:Lordpipe|talk]]) 10:35, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

== what if? news! ==

I can't find it anywhere here, but there is now an official what if youtube channel with (currently) two videos uploaded! Also, I think the most recent one *isn't* a duplicate of one already covered in other what if? media! (yeah i know this isnt related to the comic but this is where people will see it)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.61|162.158.175.61]] 23:38, 5 December 2023 (UTC)Bumpf
:No, it's been covered somewhere in one of Randall's books. But for anyone who's wondering, here's the link. https://www.youtube.com/@xkcd_whatif
:: If it's been covered already, i find it strange that its first upload was November 30, 2023... [[User:SomeoneIGuess|someone, i guess]]([[User talk:SomeoneIGuess|talk i guess]]|[[Special:Contributions/SomeoneIGuess|le edit list]]) 00:19, 6 December 2023 (UTC)
::: A quick reading of the video's comment indicate that it is taken from the first book, so "the most recent one *isn't* a duplicate of one already covered in other what if? media!" is incorrect, no matter when the free access was added on Youtube. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.233.107|162.158.233.107]] 08:35, 6 December 2023 (UTC)

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-20T22:36:54Z

172.71.114.63: Undo revision 289553 by 162.158.106.113 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2648
| date = July 20, 2022
| title = Chemicals
| image = chemicals.png
| titletext = It's hard to believe, but lots of kids these days ONLY know how to buy prepackaged molecules.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BIG MOLECULE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
In this comic, Megan mentions that you can find the chemical formulas for chemicals online, and that they spend a lot on fancy chemicals. Bizarrely, she suggests that "they can assemble" their chemicals themselves. When Megan says this she is holding a sheet that contains the chemical formula for {{w|nitrobenzene}}. This would be difficult without some fancy chemistry equipment.{{citation needed}} This formula also adds to the humor because the synthesis of nitrobenzene is highly exothermic{{citation needed}} and thus extremely dangerous, and gives a reasonable response to Cueball's comment as to why more people don't "manufacture" their own chemicals.

Today's comic premise may have been prompted by recent news that [https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2022-07-15/for-the-first-time-in-history-we-can-modify-atomic-bonds-in-a-single-molecule.html scientists have found a way to assemble and change atoms in a single molecule] by modifying its bonds. Or it may also be completely unrelated.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Megan and Cueball standing next to each other. Megan has her palms raised.]
:Megan: You know how our company spends a lot on expensive chemicals?
:Cueball: Yeah?

:[Megan holding up a piece of paper with a chemical formula on it, as well as some computation for the number of atoms needed]
:Megan: Well, I just learned you can look up all of the formulas online!
:Megan: We can just buy the atoms in bulk and assemble them here!

:[Cueball still standing. Megan walking off-panel to the right]
:Cueball: I wonder why more places don't do that.
:Megan: People have no idea they're getting ripped off by Big Molecule!

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Chemistry]]

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-20T22:36:09Z

172.71.114.63: Undo revision 289551 by 162.158.106.113 (talk)

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-20T22:27:50Z

172.71.114.63: Undo revision 289545 by 108.162.245.167 (talk)

2648: Chemicals

2022-07-20T22:27:13Z

172.71.114.63: Undo revision 289543 by 108.162.245.167 (talk)

Talk:2638: Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond

2022-06-28T12:53:21Z

172.71.114.63: wash your hands

Are we going to try identifying what material this is? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.82.179|172.70.82.179]] 01:50, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:first one off the top of my head, aqua regia? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.38.69|172.70.38.69]] 02:46, 28 June 2022 (UTC)Bumpf
::Doesn't aqua regia score a 0 in reactivity? [[User:N-eh|N-eh]] ([[User talk:N-eh|talk]]) 03:23, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:My guess would be something radioactive, like uranium or plutonium. [[User:Clam|Clam]] ([[User talk:Clam|talk]]) 03:29, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
::There are very, very few Health 4 / Fire 0 / Instability 2 compounds. The NIH database lists 4: nitrous oxide, phosphorus oxychloride, phosphorous trichloride, and thionyl chloride (although it's important to note these values aren't always standardized; some authorities consider phosphorus oxychloride to be Health 3, for example). Based on the street value and the number of US agencies who would be concerned about it, my guess is thionyl chloride, a useful industrial chemical which is also used in at least one meth lab synthesis pathway... AND highly regulated as a chemical weapon precursor (to both sulfur mustard and G-series nerve agents). Oh, and it is absolutely a Disposal Pain 4 candidate, too. [[User:Qalyar|Qalyar]] ([[User talk:Qalyar|talk]]) 04:52, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
The center square is a free space, but if you win without it you get a special bonus prize. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.42.129|172.70.42.129]] 04:18, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Given Randall's fixation with velociraptors, is anyone else thinking the "dropped ceiling" may be a reference to the labs in Jurassic Park?
:Possible. The first thing I had to think of was HalfLife (ie Black Mesa). [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 07:34, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Does Randall watch Warsaw local news? Yesterday [https://tvn24.pl/tvnwarszawa/mokotow/warszawa-wilanow-ul-branickiego-straz-miejska-interweniowala-w-sprawie-walacego-sie-budynku-5766504 there was an article about an accident with dropped ceiling]. Accident with dropped ceiling next day on xkcd gave me uncanny feeling. [[User:Tkopec|Tkopec]] ([[User talk:Tkopec|talk]]) 09:31, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

The "''Number of times it's caused one of those terrifying lab accidents that chemists tell scary stories about late at night -> 2''" reminds me of the [https://www.science.org/topic/blog-category/things-i-wont-work-with Things I Won't Work With] category on Derek's Lowe blog, including famous [https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/sand-won-t-save-you-time Sand Won't Save You This Time] article about dangers of chlorine trifluoride, with a few ''scary stories'' included. --[[User:JakubNarebski|JakubNarebski]] ([[User talk:JakubNarebski|talk]]) 11:04, 28 June 2022 (UTC)
:The "smelling weird" one made me remember the one about [https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/things-i-won-t-work-thioacetone thioacetone]--[[Special:Contributions/172.71.114.63|172.71.114.63]] 12:53, 28 June 2022 (UTC)