explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

357: Flies

2015-08-09T06:20:55Z

173.245.50.157: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 357
| date = December 14, 2007
| title = Flies
| image = flies.png
| titletext = I don't know about houseflies, but we definitely caught a lot of fruit flies with our vinegar bowl. Hooray science!
}}

==Explanation==
The saying "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" means that people are more likely to be won over with politeness than hostility.

When [[Cueball]]'s friend tells him this after he replies to a "{{W|noob}}" using swear words, he then says that the saying is literally false by saying that {{w|balsamic vinegar}} attracts more flies than honey. He then tells his friend to try it with his own {{w|Fruit fly|fruit flies}}. Fruit flies are attracted to the products of fermentation, particularly to alcohol and ethanoic acid. The acidity in vinegar is due mostly to ethanoic acid.

When Cueball's statement is found true, as balsamic vinegar smells like sweet and decomposing fruit to the fruit flies, his friend complains to his mother that she lied to him. He then says that another saying, "a watched pot never boils", is also literally false. That saying means that an event that is monitored with impatient attention will seem to take longer.

In the title text it seems that [[Randall]] explains why he wrote this comic — his vinegar bowl attracted a lot of fruit flies. However, he has not done the experiment with {{w|Housefly|houseflies}}.

The notion of a watched pot not boiling is ascribed to Benjamin Franklin under the pseudonym "Poor Richard". He writes "a watched pot is slow to boil", meaning "Time feels longer when you're waiting for something to happen."[http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/watched-pot-never-boils.html]

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is typing on a computer, and his friend is lying on the floor.]
:"Noob" (on computer): *$@#!
:Friend: Hey, ease up on the noobs. Like my mom always said, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

:[Cueball has turned his chair around.]
:Cueball: No, you don't.
:Friend: You don't?
:Cueball: Nope, set out a bowl of balsamic and a bowl of honey. The vinegar gets more.

:[Cueball's friend is now sitting on the floor.]
:Friend: ...Seriously?
:Cueball: You have fruit flies. Try it yourself.

:Later:
:[Cueball's friend is standing in front of a table, talking into a phone. On the table, there are two bowls, and the bowl on the left seems to be surrounded by flies.]
:Friend: Mother! You ''lied'' to me! And it gets worse. I was watching a pot yesterday, and guess what it did? It ''boiled,'' mother.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Science]]

Talk:1519: Venus

2015-05-03T15:05:19Z

173.245.50.157:

The "Runaway Greenhouse Effect" refers to the continuing increase of a planet's average temperature due to an increase of gases that reflect heat from the planet back toward its surface; Venus is an example of this to the extent that its temperature is not tolerable to Earth-like organisms.

:Considering that our probes are only able to work for few hours on the surface, emphasizing "Earth-like" sounds like understatement. The temperature is not the most dangerous property of Venus, though. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 01:19, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

The "Butterfly Effect" refers to the hypothesis that a small action (such as a butterfly flapping its wings) in a chaotic system such as a planet's weather, can have a large effect (such as causing a storm on the other side of the planet). [[User:The Dining Logician|The Dining Logician]] ([[User talk:The Dining Logician|talk]]) 06:43, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

:...or flip a bit on your hard drive. But then again, that's what Emacs is for, isn't it? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.50.157|173.245.50.157]] 15:05, 3 May 2015 (UTC)

I added a link to Tulip Fever (and clarified the 'links' to the mistold history), which may or may not be 'inspiring' Miss's little tale, but certainly would be interesting if intended to be the so-called-historic basis in this retelling of facts. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.186|141.101.98.186]] 11:19, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

Two of the false statements were referred to as "puns", but that's not how I understand the word pun, so I changed the texts. --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 13:39, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

Any suggestions about where the phrase "I ride the skies atop a screaming bird of ..." comes from? --[[User:RenniePet|RenniePet]] ([[User talk:RenniePet|talk]]) 13:40, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

Sounds like a lyrical/poetic reference.
Maybe we can ask Norm DeMoura? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.166|108.162.221.166]] 22:31, 2 May 2015 (UTC)

The student is [[Hair Bun Girl]], as Hair Bun Girl is any female that has a hair bun. It says on her page that "She is distinguished by her hair that is set up in a bun.", which is the only distinguishing feature seen here.--{{User:17jiangz1/signature|09:41, 03 May 2015}}
:Well I wrote that, when I created the category, and what I meant was that she is any woman. We do not call a child Cueball or Megan (even though they may be drawn this way. I will again delete this reference.--[[User:Kynde|Kynde]] ([[User talk:Kynde|talk]]) 11:22, 3 May 2015 (UTC)

1461: Payloads

2015-04-20T06:30:34Z

173.245.50.157: Corrected "H-11A" in explanation to "H-IIA" (aitch-two-ay), the standard designation of the launch vehicle.

{{comic
| number = 1461
| date = December 17, 2014
| title = Payloads
| image = payloads.png
| titletext = With a space elevator, a backyard full of solar panels could launch about 500 horses per year, and a large power plant could launch 10 horses per minute.
}}

A larger version of the image can be found [http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/payloads_large.png here].

==Explanation==
This comic is an infographic representing the launch mass of various spacecraft and artificial satellites, and the {{w|Low Earth orbit|low Earth orbit}} payload capacity of various space launch vehicles. Rather than using standard units of mass such as kilograms or pounds, Randall has assigned values based on the mass of a horse. Based on cross checking researched masses and payloads with the number of horses depicted, it appears that one horse unit is defined as 450 kg, or perhaps 1000 lb. In cases where the mass is less than one horse, an alternative measure of dogs has been used, where one dog appears to be roughly 40 kg. In the case of {{w|Vanguard 1}}, even a dog is too large a measure, so instead the unit squirrel is used to represent its 1.47 kg mass.

The overall comic may be an allusion to {{w|horsepower}}, a similar-sounding but completely different concept. Horsepower is a measurement of {{w|power (physics)|power}} ({{w|work (physics)|work}} per unit time). Another commonly referenced unit for power is the {{w|watt}}. 1 horsepower is meant to be approximately the amount of power a horse can deliver. In contrast, Randall uses the horse to measure {{w|mass}} (of particular spacecraft, and of the maximum payload launch vehicles can carry).

The top pane of the comic (black background) shows the mass of various spacecraft, while the bottom (white background) shows the payload capacity (to low Earth orbit) of launch vehicles. Along the bottom of the image is a timeline, relating to the launch date of the entries.

There are also several joke insertions:
*T-Rex - A dinosaur, but fairly unlikely to be found orbiting Earth.
*Pegasus - An actual {{w|Pegasus (rocket)|launch vehicle}}, but also the name of a {{w|Pegasus|mythical flying stallion}}. The payload is given as "one Pegasus", which comes out to be slightly less than "one horse".
*Atlas-Centaur - Again, an actual {{w|Atlas-Centaur|launch vehicle}}, but also a reference to the half-human half-horse creatures of Greek mythology. The payload is given in "centaurs", which come out to be slightly more than "horses".
*1981 {{w|Oldsmobile}} - Not a launch vehicle, but in fact a car. The payload is given as 4 horses, which may relate to the carrying capacity (by weight) of the Oldsmobile, not the ability of an Oldsmobile to launch that payload into low Earth orbit.

The Pegasus, 1981 Oldsmobile, and Stratolaunch spacecraft are depicted horizontally, because these vehicles launch from a horizontal starting position and use forward momentum to facilitate their launch.

An unlabelled launch vehicle is shown below the H-IIA near 2002. From the payload and date it is believed to represent the {{w|Delta IV#Delta IV Medium|Delta IV M}}. Whether its lack of labelling is intended or a mistake in unknown.

The title text refers to a favourite subject of Randall's - The {{w|space elevator}}. A space elevator is a (currently theoretical) mechanism for travelling into space, consisting of a very long (>35,000km) cable and counterweight connected to the Earth at the equator. The cable rotates at the same rate as the earth, and thus appears stationary when viewed from earth. It is then possible to climb the cable into space, and even use it as a slingshot to launch vehicles.

In the title text, the amount of power required to lift a horse into space has been investigated, with the launch capacity of a back yard solar array and large power station compared. A rudimentary (and possibly incorrect) calculation in the discussion section puts the required power output of the solar array at 315kW and the power station at 3.3GW.

===Tables===
The tables below contain data relating to each entry on the comic image.

*Name - Should be as shown in the comic
*Launch date - Date of first flight
*Mass/payload (horses) - Value as given in comic
*Mass/payload (kg) - Independently researched value

Where the researched launch date or mass/payload don't seem to match the comic, they should be identified with ?

{|
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
|
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Spacecraft mass
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Mass (horses)
!Mass (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik 1|Sputnik}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/sputnik1.htm]
|1957-10-04
|2 Dogs
|83.6
|-
|{{w|Vanguard 1}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/vanuard1.htm]
|1958-03-17
|Squirrel
|1.47
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 5}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/pioneer5.htm]
|1960-03-11
|Large Dog
|43
|-
|{{w|Venera 1}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/venra1va.htm]
|1961-02-12
|1
|643.5
|-
|{{w|Mariner 2}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/marner12.htm]
|1962-08-27
|3 Dogs
|202.8
|-
|{{w|Apollo Command/Service Module|Apollo}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/apolocsm.htm]
|1964-05-28
|67
|30,329
|-
|{{w|Venera 7}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/ven3vv70.htm]
|1970-08-17
|3
|1,180
|-
|{{w|Pioneer 10}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/pior1011.htm]
|1972-03-03
|7 Dogs
|258.8
|-
|{{w|Skylab}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/skylab.htm]
|1973-05-14
|171
|77,088
|-
|{{w|Venera 9}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/venra4v1.htm]
|1975-06-08
|11
|4,936
|-
|{{w|Voyager 2}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/voyager.htm]
|1977-08-20
|2
|800
|-
|{{w|Space Shuttle|Shuttle (Total)}}[http://www.braeunig.us/space/specs/orbiter.htm]
|1981-04-12
|206
|104,328?
|-
|{{w|Space Shuttle|Shuttle (Payload)}}
|1981-04-12
|54
|24,400
|-
|{{w|Mir}}
|1986-02-20
|288
|129,700
|-
|T-Rex
|N/A
|15
|6,800
|-
|{{w|Hubble}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/hst.htm]
|1990-04-24
|25
|11,110
|-
|{{w|Compton Gamma Ray Observatory}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/gro.htm]
|1991-04-05
|38
|17,000
|-
|{{w|Corona_(satellite)|Keyhole 3}}†
|1961
|40
|1150
|-
|{{w|International Space Station}}
|1998
|932
|450,000
|-
|{{w|Cassini-Huygens|Cassini}}
|1997-10-15
|11
|5,300
|-
|{{w|Huygens (spacecraft)|Huygens Lander}}
|1997-10-15
|1
|319
|-
|{{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}}
|2004-03-02
|6
|2,900
|-
|{{w|Opportunity (rover)|Opportunity}}
|2003-07-07
|5 Dogs
|185
|-
|{{w|Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/dawn.htm]
|2007-09-27
|3
|1,240
|-
|{{w|TerreStar-1|Terrastar}}*
|2009-07-01
|15
|6,910
|-
|{{w|Dragon (spacecraft)|Dragon}}[http://www.astronautix.com/craft/dragon.htm]
|2010-06-04
|17
|8,000
|-
|{{w|Tiangong-1}}
|2011-09-29
|19
|8,506
|-
|{{w|Curiosity (rover)|Curiosity}}
|2011-11-26
|2
|900
|-
|{{w|KH-7 Gambit|Keyhole 7}}†
|1963-07-12
|40
|2000
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion (Capsule)}}
|2014-12-05
|20
|8,913
|-
|{{w|James Webb Space Telescope|James Webb Telescope}}
|2018-08 (Projected)
|14
|6,200
|-
|{{w|Orion (spacecraft)|Orion}}
|2014-12-05
|20
|8,913
|-
|{{w|Orion Service Module}}
|2017 (Projected)
|25
|12,000
|-
|{{w|Deep Space Habitat|Orion Deep Space Habitat}}
|2021 (Projected)
|65
|28,750 & 45,573
|}
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Terrastar is believed to be a mis-spelling of {{w|TerreStar-1|TerreStar}}, based on its mass and launch date.

<nowiki>†</nowiki>Keyhole 3 and 7 seem to be errors; Keyhole 3 satellites were launched between 1961 and 1962 and Keyhole 7 between 1963 and 1967. 
The dates and masses in the comic more closely correspond to the {{w|KH-11 Kennan|Keyhole 11}}.
|

{| class="wikitable sortable"
!colspan="4"|Launch vehicle capacity
|-
!Spacecraft
!Launch date ''{{w|ISO 8601}}''
!Payload (horses)
!Payload (kg)
|-
|{{w|Sputnik (rocket)|Sputnik Launcher}}[http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/spuk71ps.htm]
|1957-10-04
|1
|500
|-
|{{w|Thor-Able|Thor}}
|1958-04-24
|3 Dogs
|120
|-
|{{w|Mercury-Atlas}}
|1960-07-29
|3
|1,360
|-
|{{w|Saturn I}}
|1961-10-27
|20
|9,070
|-
|{{w|Proton-K}}[http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/protonk.htm]
|1967-03-10?
|44
|19,760
|-
|{{w|Atlas-Centaur}}[http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/atlntaur.htm]
|1962-05-08
|8 Centaurs
|3,630
|-
|{{w|Titan IIIA}}
|1964-09-01
|7
|3,100
|-
|{{w|Saturn IB}}
|1966-02-26
|45
|21,000
|-
|{{w|Soyuz (rocket)|Soyuz}}
|1966-11-28
|14
|6,450
|-
|{{w|Saturn V}}
|1967-11-09
|262
|118,000
|-
|{{w|Black Arrow}}
|1969-06-27
|4 Dogs
|135
|-
|{{w|N1 (rocket)|N1}}
|1969-02-21
|211
|90,000?
|-
|{{w|Long March 1}}
|1969-11-16
|2
|300*
|-
|{{w|N-I (rocket)|N-I}}
|1975-09-09
|4
|1,200?
|-
|{{w|Delta 0100|Delta 0900}}
|1972-07-23
|3
|1,300
|-
|{{w|Ariane 1}}
|1979-12-24
|3
|1,400
|-
|{{w|Satellite Launch Vehicle|SLV}}
|1979-08-10
|1 Dog
|40
|-
|{{w|N-II (rocket)|N-II}}
|1981-02-11
|4
|2,000
|-
|{{w|Oldsmobile#1970s-1980s|1981 Oldsmobile}}
|1981
|4
|N/A (Model dependent)
|-
|{{w|ASLV}}
|1987-03-24
|4 Dogs
|150
|-
|{{w|Long March 4A}}
|1988-09-06
|9
|4,000
|-
|{{w|Ariane 4}}
|1988-06-15
|16
|5,000-7,600?
|-
|{{w|Shavit}}
|1988-09-19
|6 Dogs
|350-800?
|-
|{{w|Energia}}
|1987-05-15
|218
|100,000*
|-
|{{w|Pegasus (rocket)|Pegasus}}
|1990-04-05
|1 Pegasus
|443
|-
|{{w|Atlas I}}[http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/atlasi.htm]
|1990-07-25
|13
|3,630?
|-
|{{w|PSLV}}
|1993-09-20
|8
|3250
|-
|{{w|J-I}}[http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/j1.htm]
|1996-02-11
|2
|850
|-
|{{w|Long March 3B}}
|1996-02-14
|27
|12,000
|-
|{{w|H-IIA}}
|2001-08-29
|22
|10,000
|-
|(unlabelled) {{w|Delta IV#Delta IV Medium|Delta IV M}}?*
|2002-09-20
|21
|4200-6882
|-
|{{w|Delta IV Heavy|Delta IV-H}}[http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/delheavy.htm]
|2004-12-21
|64
|28,790
|-
|{{w|Falcon 1}}
|2006-03-24
|1
|670 (Proposed)
|-
|{{w|Ariane 5#Variants|Ariane 5ES}}[http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/arine5es.htm]
|2008-03-09
|47
|21,000
|-
|{{w|H-IIB}}
|2009-09-10
|37
|19,000?
|-
|{{w|Unha}}
|2009-04-05
|2 Dogs
|100[http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/legacy/assets/documents/nwgs/Wright-Analysis-of-NK-launcher-3-18-09.pdf]
|-
|{{w|Atlas V|Atlas V 541}}
|2011-11-26
|38
|17,443[http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/ssc/cls/AVUG_Rev11_March2010.pdf]
|-
|{{w|Falcon 9}}
|2013-09-29
|29
|13,150
|-
|{{w|Antares (rocket)|Antares}}
|2013-04-21
|14
|6,120
|-
|{{w|Stratolaunch carrier aircraft|Stratolaunch}}
|2016 (Projected)
|14
|6,100
|-
|{{w|Falcon Heavy}}
|2015 (Projected)
|118
|53,000
|-
|{{w|Space Launch System|SLS Block 1}}
|2018-11 (Projected)
|156
|70,000[http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/664158main_sls_fs_master.pdf]
|-
|{{w|Space Launch System|SLS Block 1B}}
|2021 (Projected)
|217
|100,000?
|-
|{{w|Space Launch System|SLS Block 2}}
| 2030's (Projected)
|289
|130,000[http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/664158main_sls_fs_master.pdf]
|}

*The unlabelled launch vehicle is believed to be the Delta IV M, based on its payload and date.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Animals]]
[[Category:Space]]