explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3027: Exclusion Principle

2024-12-21T16:58:04Z

Chichak: Describe the comic better by giving explanations of the physics involved

{{comic
| number = 3027
| date = December 20, 2024
| title = Exclusion Principle
| image = exclusion_principle_2x.png
| imagesize = 264x336px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Fermions are weird about each other in a standoffish way. Integer-spin particles are weird about each other in a 'stand uncomfortably close while talking' kind of way.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SOCIALLY ANXIOUS ELECTRON - Someone who knows more about physics should explain this. Also, the title text needs explanation. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
This comic is about the four fundamental forces of physics: gravity, electromagnetism, the strong force, and the weak force. In typical xkcd fashion, [[Randall]] also adds a joke entry: "Electrons are weird about each other". This is a description of how two or more electrons cannot share the exact same "spot". The name of this property is Pauli Exclusion Principle, and Randall has made [[658: Orbitals|xkcd 658]] about it. This is not directly a force: electrons on neighbouring spots do not "feel" each others presence and it's not possible to push one electron so hard that it goes into a spot that an electron already has - properties normal forces have. However, the combination of Pauli exclusion with the actual force of electromagnetism makes electrons behave as if there was a force additional to the electromagnetic one, the {{w|Exchange_interaction}}.
This is much harder to understand then simple forces, so Randall jokes that Physicists had given up, resolving to make it a force instead.
Randall makes it sounds like Physicists behaved like politicians, changing the laws (of nature) so that they're easier for them. In reality, humanity does not know a way to change the workings of nature, and scientist merely try to figure out and describe how nature works.

The title text expands from electrons to ''fermions'', the class of particles electron belong to, and ''bosons'', the other class of particles.
All fermions share the property of electrons of not being able to share the same spot. Bosons on the other hand, can do that - you can put two or really any amount of Bosons into one spot. Randall refers to this as "stand uncomfortably close while talking". This gives rise to quantum effects like {{w|superconductivity}}.

Interactions between electrons are different from how human interactions can depend upon the concept of 'personal space', and they are therefore ‘weird’, which also explains the title text.

==Transcript==
:[Inside the panel, there is an underlined header and a numbered list, with the fifth and last item in red:]
:Fundamental Forces
:1. Gravity 
:2. Electromagnetism 
:3. The Weak Interaction 
:4. The Strong Interaction 
:''5. Electrons are weird about each other''

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Big news: Physicists have finally given up trying to explain about the "exchange interaction" and agreed to just make the exclusion principle a force.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Comics with red annotations]]
[[Category:Physics]]

Talk:2630: Shuttle Skeleton

2022-06-08T17:09:02Z

Chichak:

Well, I know what "paint job" I'm putting on the pirate shuttle, in my next TTRPG session. 
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 13:12, 8 June 2022 (UTC)

TaxOnomy.

The joke here is about a recent California court case (https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/06/us/california-bees-fish-court-ruling-scn-trnd/index.html) which declared bumblebees to be considered fish under the California Endangered Species Act. The definition of "fish" listed in the act included invertebrates, which is why skeletons are relevant. [[User:Clam|Clam]] ([[User talk:Clam|talk]]) 14:36, 8 June 2022 (UTC)

Could someone explain why this is a mammal skeleton and not say, something related to a crocodile or a bird? Currently there's only a hint what makes it look like one. Which doesn't say that much to someone who doesn't know mammal skeletons too well. TIA! [[User:Chichak|Chichak]] ([[User talk:Chichak|talk]]) 17:09, 8 June 2022 (UTC)

2485: Nightmare Code

2021-07-07T22:03:09Z

Chichak: /* Explanation */ The audience is most likely extraterrestrial, implied by "Earth language"

{{comic
| number = 2485
| date = July 5, 2021
| title = Nightmare Code
| image = nightmare_code.png
| titletext = Charsets even used to be known as 'alpha-bets' before that word's obvious negative associations caused it to die out.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SCARY ONGOING NANOBOT SWARM, for real human behaviors are so useful! Please mention here why this explanation isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Although not directly mentioned, this comic is another in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|2019–20 coronavirus outbreak|2020 pandemic}} of the {{w|coronavirus}} {{w|SARS-CoV-2}}, which causes {{w|COVID-19}}.

A person using futuristic technology is giving a presentation or lecture. The content of his projected screen includes the names of the first four letters of the Greek alphabet, which he refers to as the Nightmare Code. The presenter expects that the list is familiar to his audience, but that it is novel information to them that it used to have a purpose other than providing arbitrary names to hurricanes, virus variants, and nanobot swarms.

The presenter refers to Greek as a language from Earth: this implies that the audience is mostly extraterrestrial - on Earth, everything is Earth implicitly. This may be the reason that they're unaware of the Greek language: the nightmare code may have spread beyond Earth, but a rather small Earth language may not be common knowledge.

Atlantic Hurricanes and tropical storms are {{w|Tropical_cyclone_naming|named}} once they have sustained wind speeds of 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) or more. The names for these storms go from A-W each year (each letter has a name randomly chosen from a predefined list), with {{w|Tropical_cyclone_naming|21 names allocated each yearly period}}. When the 21 names are exhausted, Greek letters were once used to continue naming storms as needed, although the World Meteorological Organization decided not to use Greek letters when naming storms from 2021 onward. Perhaps in this vision of the future, the naming lists have given way to using the Greek alphabet exclusively.

Virus variants may also be {{w|Variants_of_SARS-CoV-2|given names}} once they are deemed sufficiently nightmarish. At the time of this writing, eleven variants of {{w|SARS-CoV-2}} have been labeled with Greek letters. Previously, variants were named informally for the region in which they were identified (as were many viruses themselves), but this practice has ceased due to risks of discrimination and the {{w|perverse incentive}} of countries to suppress health information for the sake of saving face. A place may become (in)famously known as the origin of a disease by such a name, even if it originated elsewhere; an example is {{w|Spanish flu}}, which was actually first observed in the US state of Kansas. Nowadays vague names such as 'bird flu' or partly-informed geographic names tend to be better referenced by their {{w|hemagglutinin}} and {{w|neuraminidase}} subtypes, such as "H1N1" and "H9N2". The more technical coronavirus identification system uses a term such as "lineage B.1.617.2", whose awkwardness makes it unlikely to replace better-known names such as the "Kent variant" or "Indian variant".

Another set of historic nightmares the audience clearly knows about, which are still in our own future, are nanobot swarms, presumably nanoengineering failures and/or deliberate misuses of nanotechnology of the {{w|Gray goo}} type. Significant recurring or sequential events have seemingly earned the need to differentiate their outbreaks, and Greek letters have been used to do this. One may even be tempted to speculate that the futuristic figure and his presentation equipment float in space because the Earth has been rendered uninhabitable as a result of one or more of said nanotechnology disasters.

The cultural forgetfulness about the neutral basis of the old letters, after perhaps who-knows-what nanobot disasters that may have scoured the Earth clean of all things Greek, has led to no other common use for them ''except'' for their use in identifying far too many crises. The words themselves thus are instantly associated to bad times for almost everyone.

The title text indicates that future people stopped using the term "alphabet" (which derives from the first two elements of the Greek alphabet) due to some negative associations of the word "alpha" and/or "beta" which caused the word "Alphabet" to fall out of casual use in the future. It is unclear why it has negative connotations, although it might have something to do with Alphabet Inc. (which owns Google), which may have caused the nanobot swarms. The Alphabet is now called "Charset", for "character sets".

==Transcript==
:[A Cueball-like person is giving a presentation while wearing futuristic gear, including a visor with an antenna rising from it, a backpack-like appliance of some kind, and a futuristic pointer. The audience is not pictured. The presenter is floating rather than standing. The presentation is projected from a small device near the bottom of the frame, and the appearance of the presentation suggests it is a hologram. The content of the slide shows the names of the first four letters of the Greek alphabet:]
:Alpha
:Beta
:Gamma
:Delta

:Presenter: We all know the '''''Nightmare Code''''', used to assign neutral names to scary ongoing lists, such as hurricanes, virus variants, and nanobot swarms.
:Presenter: But did you know it actually originated as the letters of an ancient Earth language?

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:COVID-19]]
[[Category:Language]]
[[Category:Artificial Intelligence]]
[[Category:Hurricanes]]
[[Category:Biology]]

Talk:2485: Nightmare Code

2021-07-05T22:37:21Z

Chichak: questioning humans have forgotten about the greek language assumption

As I feared, I got into an Edit Conflict after doing (significantly more than I intended) editing of my own 'starter' explanation. '''Now resolved - thank you for your patience...'''  [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.124|141.101.98.124]] 20:24, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

Is the Alphabet gag in the Title Text related to Alphabet, the company that owns Google? [[User:Kev|Kev]] ([[User talk:Kev|talk]]) 17:32, 5 July 2021 (UTC)
:It would be more expected that Alphabet would change their name if Alpha and Beta become associated with nightmare codes. OTOH, many thought that the Corona beer brand would suffer marketing problems during the pandemic, but it wasn't impacted very much. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 20:21, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

@Kev Well, the speaker ''is'' wearing Google Glass. [[User:Lightcaller|Lightcaller]] ([[User talk:Lightcaller|talk]]) 20:22, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

The speaker specifically mentions "'''Earth''' Language" and wears something that might well be some kind of life support. I don't think they are addressing earth-based humans, but rather some more diverse audience that is mostly not from earth. Many of them obviously don't know old earth languages too well. But the usage of the nightmare code seems to have spread beyond earth. Therefore, there's no implication that (earth-based) humans have forgotten the Greek language, the speaker may simply be giving a talk about their culture. -> I think the first paragraph is making wrong assumptions. @Abd are you sure? [[User:Chichak|Chichak]] ([[User talk:Chichak|talk]]) 22:37, 5 July 2021 (UTC)

1659: Tire Swing

2016-03-23T13:46:54Z

Chichak:

{{comic
| number = 1659
| date = March 23, 2016
| title = Tire Swing
| image = tire_swing.png
| titletext = If we find one of those tire dumps, the next time he tries to get his truck back we can just retreat and let him have it.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, two characters (possibly [[Hair Bun Girl]] and [[Megan]]) have just completed a tire {{w|swing (seat)|swing}}: A common (or at least stereotypical) makeshift swing created by hanging a car (or larger) tire from a length of rope, typically tied to the branch of a tree.

Vehicle tires have a limited lifespan. The natural end of their life is when the pattern of raised treads on the circumference of the tire, which promote traction on the road, are worn down to a point where they are no longer effective enough. Tires can also become damaged in other ways, such as puncture.

Used tires are a {{w|Tire recycling}} notable ecological problem for a number of reasons (e.g. their size, the quantity produced, their relatively short lifespan, and the fact that they are difficult and slow to break down). A tire swing represents a functional use for otherwise useless old tires.

In the second panel of this comic, Hair Bun Girl muses that there are huge dumps filled with old tires that have no use. In the third panel, she continues that maybe they should use a tire from such a dump next time they make a tire swing. The presumption is that perhaps they used a brand new tire, or a tire from some other source. However, Megan's response (coupled with the title text) suggests that, in fact, the tire they used was stolen. Hair Bun's reply suggests the victim put up a fight and they had to take the tire by force.

The title text goes further, suggesting that they stole the victim's entire truck - possibly just to harvest the tire needed for the swing - and that he may have attempted unsuccessfully to recover the truck.

==Transcript==
:[Hair Bun Girl and Meagan are standing under a tree as Hair Bun Girl adjusts a tire swing hanging from one of the branches.]
:Hair Bun Girl: Ok, looks good.

:Hair Bun Girl: I read that there are these huge dumps everywhere full of millions of old tires that no one knows what to do with.

:Hair Bun Girl: We should use one of those next time.
:Meagan: Yeah. That guy was real mad.
:Hair Bun Girl: I would ''not'' want to fight him again.

{{comic discussion}}
my explanation of the comic, which was sort-of obsoleted by someones edit:
<blockquote>Girl1 and Girls2 just finished making a tire swing. They did not use a discarded tire but rather stole one, even fighting the rightful owner turning the theft into a robbery.</blockquote>
the women do not look like Megan and Hair Bun Girl to me, are they new?
sorry for commenting here, but I do not have rights to create a new page, which seems to be necessary for posting the fire comment. Will move once the comment section is created.

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]

1659: Tire Swing

2016-03-23T13:39:18Z

Chichak: titletext joke

{{comic
| number = 1659
| date = March 23, 2016
| title = Tire Swing
| image = tire_swing.png
| titletext = If we find one of those tire dumps, the next time he tries to get his truck back we can just retreat and let him have it.
}}

==Explanation==
When the two girls discuss the problem of properly disposing of old tires, the reader is led to infer from the first panel that the girls have made their tire swing from one such old tire, taken from a dump.

However, subsequent panels show that the girls have actually taken this tire from someone's vehicle, and "that guy" was "real mad" that they did so.

The title text one-ups the joke implying they stole not only a tire but a whole truck, which the rightful owner tried to get back at least once. They fended him off to use at least one more tire of his truck
==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]