explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2501: Average Familiarity

2021-08-14T02:21:02Z

Curiouscat:

I've never even ''heard'' of olivine. I think most people have heard of quartz (it's the crystal in most electronic watches, and it's pretty), and I suspect feldspar is somewhere in between. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 05:21, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
:If you find a hard white rock, it's probably quartz; very common where I live. Decorative white pebbles? Quartz. Clear, pretty crystals might be the same compound, but they had to be pure to start with and they had to cool really slowly. (Unsigned by 162.158.167.245)
:Well, it helps if you play [https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Stone#DF_Geology_and_Geology_in_Real_Life Dwarf Fortress]. Olivine is one of the green stones (that only really has use as building material/decoration, but makes an impressive megaconstruction mayerial if you find enough of it to make that worthwhile), unlike quartz which features as raw 'gem clusters' more typically cut for decoration of mugs, crossbow bolts, etc. Of course, IRL, quartzes are ''so'' ever-present that they are very easy to forget ''except'' as fancy crystals (either for timekeeping in watches or timewasting in crystal healing) and as such you can actually find them almost anywhere (if you're not stuck on a desert island). [[Special:Contributions/162.158.111.20|162.158.111.20]] 12:37, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

I resemble this comic ... I specialize in probability. Does everyone know that probability=1 means 'certain'? ... I'm not certain ... (Unsigned by 162.158.167.245)
:: In a general probability distribution, a probability of 1 means an event happens "almost surely" rather than "certainly" (see definition [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almost_surely here]). I know the distinction isn't important if one considers only finite sample spaces, but I think it's a cool enough concept that the nitpicking might be interesting to someone.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.63.14|172.69.63.14]] 05:02, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
:: People who went through at least the first half of the math undergraduate program will most likely understand. In the general population, I guess, saying '100 % probability' would work much better than 'probability 1', but still people can get quite upset when something with 99 % probability of success fails, not understanding that 99 % (or even 85 %) does not mean guaranteed success (see for example 14:46 of this video about randomness in video-game design https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwI5b-wRLic). [[User:CryptoNut1269|CryptoNut1269]] ([[User talk:CryptoNut1269|talk]]) 11:08, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

As a chemist, I heard of all of them but, fun fact, there is a mnemonic in the german language known by at least all of the elderly generation: "Feldspat, Quarz und Glimmer - die drei vergess´ ich nimmer!" thats "feldspar quartz and mica - i will never forget the three". These three are the main compunds of granite and obviously this was stuff they had to learn at school. If, in a group of silverheads, start the phrase "Feldspat Quarz und Glimmer ..." and there will always be someone to finish the sentence. --[[User:Pauliprinzip|Pauliprinzip]] ([[User talk:Pauliprinzip|talk]]) 05:45, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

:''and may not even know the definition of "feldspar" beyond "a rock".'' Ironically, I think the person writing this may have overstated the "average Joe"'s familiarity with the word "feldspar", since I couldn't have defined it if you'd asked me. --[[User:Enchantedsleeper|Enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 08:11, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

I got the idea that ''both'' Cueball and Ponytail were geochemists, rather than Cueball being just an average adult. [[User:OblateSpheroid|OblateSpheroid]] ([[User talk:OblateSpheroid|talk]]) 20:02, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
:Seconded. [[User:Danish|Danish]] ([[User talk:Danish|talk]]) 20:12, 12 August 2021 (UTC)

Seemed like the examples of substances the average person might reasonably know the chemical formula for should include a mineral. Halite seems likely (though that name is probably less familiar than table salt). Diamond and graphite were the only other minerals that I could think of that many would know the formulas for (C). Chalk (calcite) seems possible, but less likely. Any other suggestions (or even better, any citations to research)? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.245.5|108.162.245.5]] 21:30, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
:technically water in the form of ice is a mineral. But including salt is a good idea. And I'll look for citations. [[User:Curiouscat|Curiouscat]] ([[User talk:Curiouscat|talk]]) 21:44, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
:I would expect lot of people would be able to name "formula" for more than several elements, along with having some idea how they look OR where they are used. Not as common knowledge as water and salt, but assuming they had SOME chemistry in school, this would be more likely to be remembered than compounds. Also, speaking about diamond, I suppose average people would claim that formula for coal is C, although I suspect that chemists would say that's not correct. -- [[User:Hkmaly|Hkmaly]] ([[User talk:Hkmaly|talk]]) 02:16, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
::I probably wouldn't have been able to tell you the chemical formula for salt off the top of my head, unless you prompted me with "sodium chloride" (but even then, it's a toss-up as to whether I'd get the elements right). I studied chemistry for five years at secondary school and got good grades, but you'd be amazed at how little sticks when you have absolutely no need for it in day-to-day life. --[[User:Enchantedsleeper|enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:Enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 08:56, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

Friendly local geologist here, I made some changes especially to the third paragraph because a lot of the science was confusingly written and not really correct (desert islands tend to be made up of primarily silicates? Even volcanic ones. Basaltic rocks have silica in them too, that's what olivine is) I wasn't sure what to do with the second paragraph. It seems a bit unnecessary to talk about quartz so much, since it isn't that relevant to the comic. I was thinking it might be good to have an explanation of the difference between sili'''con''' the element, sili'''ca''' the mineral structure, and what all these minerals actually are might be more relevant? Or at least we could put up what some of the chemical formulas are for quartz and olivine and maybe like albite, anorthite, microcline to represent the feldspars. [[User:Curiouscat|Curiouscat]] ([[User talk:Curiouscat|talk]]) 21:40, 12 August 2021 (UTC)
:I thought (in a prior edit, by someone, may have lost its clarity in subsequent edits by others but I don't have the patience to cross-compare it all) the point was that coral-sands are not silicates, so your classic "lump of 'sand' poking out of the sea" is sparse of the stuff you might want to thrown your rock at. And any suitable rocks, unless you go diving down in the surrounding oceon to rumage beyond the living coral to the seamount/extinct-and-eroded-volcano it has been growing upon. That said, there's a lot of variation out there, so maybe I'm thinking of a too-narrow subset of examples. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.250|162.158.158.250]] 00:14, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
::I never learned much about coral sands, that's interesting. I was taught that most remote islands are young volcanoes, and therefore made up of mostly basaltic rocks. Definitely low-silica, compared to continental rocks, but still silica-containing, so their sands are also silicious. I also know that some forams make silica-based shells and not carbonate-based ones, but I'm not sure how much forams ultimately have to do with the formation of coral reefs or coral sand islands. [[User:Curiouscat|Curiouscat]] ([[User talk:Curiouscat|talk]]) 02:21, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

;Replaced "average Joe" with "average person"
Per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terms_related_to_an_average_person this term is specific to the US, and introduces specificity unrelated to the comic. {{unsigned ip|141.101.76.239}}
:It's pretty common on this wiki for explanations to throw English expressions like this at the reader and expect the, ah, average Joe to understand.
:Also, how does one use [[Template:Unsigned]]? I've definitely misused it once or twice, but reading documentations for it isn't helping (and unfortunately this is not a script; reading the src doesn't help either). [[User:Bubblegum|bubblegum]]-[[User_talk:Bubblegum|talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Bubblegum|contribs]] 05:33, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
::I'm afraid I don't know, but can I say how cool your signature is??
::Also, thanks to the person at the top who replaced "average Joe", as that did bother me too. --[[User:Enchantedsleeper|enchantedsleeper]] ([[User talk:Enchantedsleeper|talk]]) 08:44, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
:::The unsigned template should used like this: <nowiki>{{unsigned ip|141.101.76.239}}</nowiki>, see above for result, except if by a known user, then <nowiki>{{unsigned|Kynde}}</nowiki> should be used, which would produce this (which I leave as my signature now) {{unsigned|Kynde}}
::::You can also add the time/date: <nowiki>{{unsigned|Lupo|13:27, 13 August 2021}}</nowiki> for this result: {{unsigned|Lupo|13:27, 13 August 2021}}

I knew quartz (SiO2) and I recognize the other two, all from having an interest in rocks (and having a little kids-oriented geology book decades ago when I was a wee lass). But beyond quartz, water, and salt, the only other chemical formula that come to mind are acids: H2SO4 and HCl. Mostly from the old rhyme: Jonny was a chemist's son / but Jonny is no more / What Jonny thought was H2O / was H2SO4. :p

Oh, also FOOF ( https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/23/things_i_wont_work_with_dioxygen_difluoride ) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.130.109|172.70.130.109]] 12:39, 13 August 2021 (UTC)

The explanation mentions carbonates as a notable exception to silicates, but sulfate minerals are widespread and economically important (and therefore ubiquitous in their finished forms -- e.g., gypsum -> plaster or drywall). Might deserve a mention? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.221.133|108.162.221.133]] 17:20, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
:I left sulfates out because you usually don't find them laying around on their own except in mines. They exist as deep subsurface veins of ore deposits, but on the surface, gypsum and pyrite and the like typically present as individual crystals in a matrix of feldspars or grossular quartz. Besides silicate rocks, carbonates are the only ones off the top of my head that you can find in huge quantities above ground without silica incorporated somehow. [[User:Curiouscat|Curiouscat]] ([[User talk:Curiouscat|talk]]) 02:21, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

If somebody can run perl scripts, there is a bot linked from [[User:DgbrtBOT]] that could resume autocreation of comic pages. While we're mentioning such things, are comics also published on twitter? would it be good to link the twitter discussions? sometimes an expert comments.

When somebody does the necessary to create the page for 2502: The answer is the double-dagger. (Then the silcrow, double-danda and pilcrow, in turn.) HTH, HAND. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.118|162.158.158.118]] 23:19, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
:NVM. Someone created the page. (But they haven't yet created the Talk page for it, and I still don't have permission to do so, as an IP-only person. Nor done the necessary for the "Next" button to appear above, which I think is a function of adding 2502 to the List Of Comics page or something...) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.118|162.158.158.118]] 23:53, 13 August 2021 (UTC)
:The [[User:DgbrtBOT]] page lists all the steps to get things working right. To get the next button to show up, it requires editing the LATESTCOMIC template to the latest comic number. [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 00:51, 14 August 2021 (UTC)

2501: Average Familiarity

2021-08-14T02:01:55Z

Curiouscat:

{{comic
| number = 2501
| date = August 11, 2021
| title = Average Familiarity
| image = average familiarity.png
| titletext = "How could anyone consider themselves a well-rounded adult without a basic understanding of silicate geochemistry? Silicates are everywhere! It's hard to throw a rock without throwing one!"
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A SILICATE (DON'T WE ALL KNOW THE FORMULA?). do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic claims that experts vastly overestimate how familiar other people are with their own field of study. As an example, [[Randall]] shows a conversation between [[Ponytail]] and [[Cueball]] as two {{w|geochemistry|geochemists}} specializing in {{w|silicate}} chemistry. Although the two scientists understand that the layman does not know all that they know about silicates, they are still under the impression that other people at least know the chemical makeup of {{w|olivine}} and some {{w|feldspar}}s. Cueball also mentions {{w|quartz}}, an even simpler mineral taken for granted by Ponytail.

In truth, the average person can't be expected to know the chemical makeup of ''any'' arbitrarily-chosen substance reliably (or any material at all, if that average person's job and hobby do not involve chemistry — aside from the few that made their way into {{w|common knowledge}}, like NaCl for salt<ref>"Formulae of Common Minerals" Tulane University. Fall 2013. Accessed August 12th, 2021. https://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens211/mineralform.htm</ref> ({{w|Halite}}), H2O for water/ice, or CO2 for carbonic gas), and may not even know the definition of "feldspar" beyond "a mineral", if at all.

It even goes so far as to initially gloss over the 'everyday' knowledge of quartz... until prompted by the slightly-less-overestimating partner in the conversation. Perhaps like a gardener forgetting to mention the lawn he maintains (along with the 'actual' plants in the borders or vegetable patches), there seemed no need to include such a common mineral as a subject of silicate chemistry. Quartz is a basic silicon oxide (SiO2) that many non-chemists ''have'' heard of because it is common and has a variety of uses, though they would not know its chemical structure. Quartz ''can'' be found as distinct large-scale crystals (probably obvious to the layman, as an ice-cube is in a drink) but also features as a hard-wearing micro-constituent of many rocks. Quartz is a major component of most sand (except for coral sands, which are calcium carbonates). Quartz crystals are sometimes made into jewelry and other decorative objects. Most modern clocks use {{w|Crystal oscillator|the resonance frequency of quartz}} to keep time.

In the title text the two geologists express belief that the average person ''should'' be more familiar with silicates because of how ubiquitous they are. Their somewhat-exasperated statement plays on the phrase "you can't throw a rock without hitting one," a standard hyperbole about how common something is. Indeed, {{w|Silicate mineral|silicate}} rocks are extremely common on Earth — not only would a rock thrown in a random direction stand a decent chance of striking a silicate mineral rock but the randomly-selected rock being ''thrown'' also has a very high chance of being a silicate mineral rock. With the exception of a few carbonate deposits, rocks found in large deposits on Earth's surface nearly all have silica in them, even extraterrestrial rocks. The Earth's crust is about 60% silica by weight.<ref>"Constraining crustal silica on ancient Earth" C. Brenhin Keller, T. Mark Harrison. ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' Sep 2020, 117 (35) 21101-21107; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2009431117</ref>

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Cueball are talking. Ponytail has her hand raised, palm up, towards Cueball.]
:Ponytail: Silicate chemistry is second nature to us geochemists, so its easy to forget that the average person probably only knows the formulas for olivine and one or two feldspars.
:Cueball: And quartz, of course.
:Ponytail: Of course.

:[Caption below the panel]
:Even when they're trying to compensate for it, experts in anything wildly overestimate the average person's familiarity with their field.

== References ==
<references />

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Science]]

2501: Average Familiarity

2021-08-12T22:15:46Z

Curiouscat:

{{comic
| number = 2501
| date = August 11, 2021
| title = Average Familiarity
| image = average familiarity.png
| titletext = "How could anyone consider themselves a well-rounded adult without a basic understanding of silicate geochemistry? Silicates are everywhere! It's hard to throw a rock without throwing one!"
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A SILICATE (DON'T WE ALL KNOW THE FORMULA?). If somebody can run perl scripts, there is a bot linked from [[User:DgbrtBOT]] that could resume autocreation of comic pages. While we're mentioning such things, are comics also published on twitter? would it be good to link the twitter discussions? sometimes an expert comments. do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic claims that experts vastly overestimate how familiar other people are with their own field of study. As an example, Randall shows [[Ponytail]] as a {{w|geochemistry|geochemist}} specializing in {{w|silicate}} chemistry talking to [[Cueball]]. The scientist is under the impression other people at least know the chemical makeup of {{w|olivine}} and some {{w|feldspar}}s. Cueball mentions {{w|quartz}}, an even simpler mineral which they agree to take for granted. In truth, the average person can't be expected to know the chemical makeup of ''any'' arbitrarily-chosen substance reliably (or any material at all, if that average person's job and hobby do not involve chemistry — aside from the few that made their way into {{w|common knowledge}}, like NaCl for salt<ref>"Formulae of Common Minerals" Tulane University. Fall 2013. Accessed August 12th, 2021. https://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens211/mineralform.htm</ref> ({{w|Halite}}), H2O for ice, or CO2 for carbonic gas), and may not even know the definition of "feldspar" beyond "a mineral", if at all.

It even goes so far as to initially gloss over the 'everyday' knowledge of quartz... until prompted by the slightly-less-overestimating partner in the conversation. Perhaps like a gardener forgetting to mention the lawn he maintains (along with the 'actual' plants in the borders or vegetable patches), there seemed no need to include such a common mineral as a subject of silicate chemistry. Quartz is a basic silicon oxide (SiO2) that many non-chemists ''have'' heard of because it is common and has a variety of uses, though they would not know its chemical structure. Quartz ''can'' be found as distinct large-scale crystals (probably obvious to the layman, as an ice-cube is in a drink) but also features as a hard-wearing micro-constituent of many rocks. Quartz is a major component of most sand (except for coral sands, which are calcium carbonates). Quartz crystals are sometimes made into jewelry and other decorative objects. Most modern clocks use {{w|Crystal oscillator|the resonance frequency of quartz}} to keep time.

In the title text the two geologists express belief that the average person ''should'' be more familiar with silicates because of how ubiquitous they are. Their somewhat-exasperated statement plays on the phrase "you can't throw a rock without hitting one," a standard hyperbole about how common something is. Indeed, {{w|Silicate mineral|silicate}} rocks are extremely common on Earth — not only would a rock thrown in a random direction stand a decent chance of striking a silicate mineral rock but the randomly-selected rock being ''thrown'' also has a very high chance of being a silicate mineral rock. With the exception of a few carbonate deposits, rocks on Earth's surface nearly all have silica in them, even extraterrestrial rocks. The Earth's crust is about 60% silica by weight.<ref>"Constraining crustal silica on ancient Earth" C. Brenhin Keller, T. Mark Harrison. ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'' Sep 2020, 117 (35) 21101-21107; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2009431117</ref>

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Cueball are standing and talking. Ponytail has her palm raised.]
:Ponytail: Silicate chemistry is second nature to us geochemists, so its easy to forget that the average person probably only knows the formulas for olivine and one or two feldspars.
:Cueball: And quartz, of course.
:Ponytail: Of course.

:[Caption below the panel]
:Even when they're trying to compensate for it, experts in anything wildly overestimate the average person's familiarity with their field.

== References ==
<references />

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Geology]]

2501: Average Familiarity

2021-08-12T21:59:38Z

Curiouscat:

{{comic
| number = 2501
| date = August 11, 2021
| title = Average Familiarity
| image = average familiarity.png
| titletext = "How could anyone consider themselves a well-rounded adult without a basic understanding of silicate geochemistry? Silicates are everywhere! It's hard to throw a rock without throwing one!"
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A SILICATE (DON'T WE ALL KNOW THE FORMULA?). If somebody can run perl scripts, there is a bot linked from [[User:DgbrtBOT]] that could resume autocreation of comic pages. While we're mentioning such things, are comics also published on twitter? would it be good to link the twitter discussions? sometimes an expert comments. do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic claims that experts vastly overestimate how familiar other people are with their own field of study. As an example, Randall shows [[Ponytail]] as a {{w|geochemistry|geochemist}} specializing in {{w|silicate}} chemistry talking to [[Cueball]]. The scientist is under the impression other people at least know the chemical makeup of {{w|olivine}} and some {{w|feldspar}}s. Cueball mentions {{w|quartz}}, an even simpler mineral which they agree to take for granted. In truth, the average person can't be expected to know the chemical makeup of ''any'' arbitrarily-chosen substance reliably (or any material at all, if that average person's job and hobby do not involve chemistry — aside from the few that made their way into {{w|common knowledge}}, like NaCl for salt<ref>"Formulae of Common Minerals" Tulane University. Fall 2013. Accessed August 12th, 2021. https://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens211/mineralform.htm</ref> ({{w|Halite}}), H2O for ice, or CO2 for carbonic gas), and may not even know the definition of "feldspar" beyond "a mineral", if at all.

It even goes so far as to initially gloss over the 'everyday' knowledge of quartz... until prompted by the slightly-less-overestimating partner in the conversation. Perhaps like a gardener forgetting to mention the lawn he maintains (along with the 'actual' plants in the borders or vegetable patches), there seemed no need to include such a common mineral as a subject of silicate chemistry. Quartz is a basic silicon oxide (SiO2) that many non-chemists ''have'' heard of because it is common and has a variety of uses, though they would not know its chemical structure. Quartz ''can'' be found as distinct large-scale crystals (probably obvious to the layman, as an ice-cube is in a drink) but also features as a hard-wearing micro-constituent of many rocks. Quartz is a major component of most sand (except for coral sands, which are calcium carbonates). Quartz crystals are sometimes made into jewelry and other decorative objects. Most modern clocks use {{w|Crystal oscillator|the resonance frequency of quartz}} to keep time.

In the title text the two geologists express belief that the average person ''should'' be more familiar with silicates because of how common they are (either through the education system or just naturally picking up on the world around them). Their somewhat-exasperated statement plays on the phrase "you can't throw a rock without hitting one," a standard hyperbole about how common something is. Indeed, {{w|Silicate mineral|silicate}} rocks are extremely common on Earth — not only would a rock thrown in a random direction stand a decent chance of striking a silicate mineral rock (assuming the thrower is out in a field instead of indoors [or is indoors with brick and tile]) but the randomly-selected rock being ''thrown'' also has a very high chance of being a silicate mineral rock. Rocks nearly all have silicate in them, even extraterrestrial rocks. You would probably have to be standing upon a desert island to be most unable to discover a primarily silicate substance to throw/hit, although dig a little and you may yet find the atoll is founded upon an ancient volcanic plug that is primarily silicates. Otherwise, go to your nearest chalk downland (carbonaceous), but know that your search is over if you see any embedded flint (silicaceous). As a whole, the Earth's crust is about 30% silicon atoms, second in rank only to the oxygen with which it and other elements are commonly bound.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Cueball are standing and talking. Ponytail has her palm raised.]
:Ponytail: Silicate chemistry is second nature to us geochemists, so its easy to forget that the average person probably only knows the formulas for olivine and one or two feldspars.
:Cueball: And quartz, of course.
:Ponytail: Of course.

:[Caption below the panel]
:Even when they're trying to compensate for it, experts in anything wildly overestimate the average person's familiarity with their field.

== References ==
<references />

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Geology]]

2501: Average Familiarity

2021-08-12T21:58:53Z

Curiouscat: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2501
| date = August 11, 2021
| title = Average Familiarity
| image = average familiarity.png
| titletext = "How could anyone consider themselves a well-rounded adult without a basic understanding of silicate geochemistry? Silicates are everywhere! It's hard to throw a rock without throwing one!"
| imagesize =
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by A SILICATE (DON'T WE ALL KNOW THE FORMULA?). If somebody can run perl scripts, there is a bot linked from [[User:DgbrtBOT]] that could resume autocreation of comic pages. While we're mentioning such things, are comics also published on twitter? would it be good to link the twitter discussions? sometimes an expert comments. do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic claims that experts vastly overestimate how familiar other people are with their own field of study. As an example, Randall shows [[Ponytail]] as a {{w|geochemistry|geochemist}} specializing in {{w|silicate}} chemistry talking to [[Cueball]]. The scientist is under the impression other people at least know the chemical makeup of {{w|olivine}} and some {{w|feldspar}}s. Cueball mentions {{w|quartz}}, an even simpler mineral which they agree to take for granted. In truth, the average person can't be expected to know the chemical makeup of ''any'' arbitrarily-chosen substance reliably (or any material at all, if that average person's job and hobby do not involve chemistry — aside from the few that made their way into {{w|common knowledge}}, like NaCl for salt<ref>"Formulae of Common Minerals" Tulane University. Fall 2013. Accessed August 12th, 2021. https://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/eens211/mineralform.htm</ref> ({{w|Halite}}), H2O for ice, or CO2 for carbonic gas), and may not even know the definition of "feldspar" beyond "a mineral", if at all.

It even goes so far as to initially gloss over the 'everyday' knowledge of quartz... until prompted by the slightly-less-overestimating partner in the conversation. Perhaps like a gardener forgetting to mention the lawn he maintains (along with the 'actual' plants in the borders or vegetable patches), there seemed no need to include such a common mineral as a subject of silicate chemistry. Quartz is a basic silicon oxide (SiO2) that many non-chemists ''have'' heard of because it is common and has a variety of uses, though they would not know its chemical structure. Quartz ''can'' be found as distinct large-scale crystals (probably obvious to the layman, as an ice-cube is in a drink) but also features as a hard-wearing micro-constituent of many rocks. Quartz is a major component of most sand (except for coral sands, which are calcium carbonates). Quartz crystals are sometimes made into jewelry and other decorative objects. Most modern clocks use {{w|Crystal oscillator|the resonance frequency of quartz}} to keep time.

In the title text the two geologists express belief that the average person ''should'' be more familiar with silicates because of how common they are (either through the education system or just naturally picking up on the world around them). Their somewhat-exasperated statement plays on the phrase "you can't throw a rock without hitting one," a standard hyperbole about how common something is. Indeed, {{w|Silicate mineral|silicate}} rocks are extremely common on Earth — not only would a rock thrown in a random direction stand a decent chance of striking a silicate mineral rock (assuming the thrower is out in a field instead of indoors [or is indoors with brick and tile]) but the randomly-selected rock being ''thrown'' also has a very high chance of being a silicate mineral rock. Rocks nearly all have silicate in them, even extraterrestrial rocks. You would probably have to be standing upon a desert island to be most unable to discover a primarily silicate substance to throw/hit, although dig a little and you may yet find the atoll is founded upon an ancient volcanic plug that is primarily silicates. Otherwise, go to your nearest chalk downland (carbonaceous), but know that your search is over if you see any embedded flint (silicaceous). As a whole, the Earth's crust is about 30% silicon atoms, second in rank only to the oxygen with which it and other elements are commonly bound.

== References ==
<references />

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Cueball are standing and talking. Ponytail has her palm raised.]
:Ponytail: Silicate chemistry is second nature to us geochemists, so its easy to forget that the average person probably only knows the formulas for olivine and one or two feldspars.
:Cueball: And quartz, of course.
:Ponytail: Of course.

:[Caption below the panel]
:Even when they're trying to compensate for it, experts in anything wildly overestimate the average person's familiarity with their field.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Geology]]

Talk:2501: Average Familiarity

2021-08-12T21:44:38Z

Curiouscat:

Talk:2501: Average Familiarity

2021-08-12T21:40:22Z

Curiouscat:

Talk:2061: Tectonics Game

2021-08-09T05:02:12Z

Curiouscat:

'''Please never move discussions to other sections; the chronological order has to be respected.''' --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:51, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

Wrote my first transcript. Hopefully it isn't terrible, haha. [[User:IYN|IYN]] ([[User talk:IYN|talk]]) 17:13, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:Not bad, but please do not remove the incomplete tag too soon. Even my smaller changes don't convince me right now that it's complete. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 17:34, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:There's no explanation ''OR'' transcript for the Title-text, yet. Sooo...
:[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 18:41, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

I know very little about stars. Can anyone explain what the type in the title text is? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.70|162.158.63.70]] 18:23, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

The nice thing about this game is you could represent the Earth by a 1000-pixel wide map, and it would take over a decade before anyone could tell whether you'd actually implemented anything. -- [[User:Dtgriscom|Dtgriscom]] ([[User talk:Dtgriscom|talk]]) 20:53, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

In Panel 2, there is a box with the following information

<pre>
Single Multi
LT 80 GT 440 T
LM 15 GT 3 GT
LA 2 MT 0 T
LL 580 GT 0 T
</pre>

What does this mean? The measurements seem to be in gigatonnes, hence a measure of mass. CO2 releases are often measured in Gigatonnes. The geochemical carbon cycle is a significant long term negative feedback loop, so I guess these relate to CO2, but I can't guess the specifics. [[User:Zeimusu|Zeimusu]] ([[User talk:Zeimusu|talk]]) 15:00, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

:Just a guess, but I think it could be the amount of life, as a goal is to "keep your biosphere rich". Single and multi then mean single- and multicelled, and the terms on the left could be "Life-Terrestrial", "-Marine", "Aerial" and "Littoral" [[User:Emil|Emil]] ([[User talk:Emil|talk]]) 11:29, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

::And if you look at the [https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tectonics_game_2x.png high-DPI image] you can see that the second row of achievements in the last panel, underneath the stages of mountain, is not "{{diff|164457|achievements in the formation of an atoll}}" but evolutionary stages of life: (1) non-cellular (or cellular but prokaryotic?), (2) cellular with a nucleus (eukaryotic), (3) multicellular, and (4) what looks like a side-view of a mammalian eye. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.158|162.158.155.158]] 17:22, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

'''An Actual Game'''

Here is a section for people who are looking into actually developing a game. (With time warp obviously.)

Seriously though, this could actually be a fun (and educational) simulator, similar to KSP. --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.10|172.69.142.10]] 02:31, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

My wife is trying to physically restrain me from immediately starting to write this game...int main ( int arggggg...ow...get off [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 16:52, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:If the comment section of this comic is anything to go by, you could sell it for a buck a pop and get...I dunno...$12 at least? [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 19:01, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Who wants to help me make this? [[User:Blacksilver|Blacksilver]] ([[User talk:Blacksilver|talk]]) 17:24, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

With a sufficiently large time warp, this actually sounds like it would be pretty fun. [[User:Ahiijny|Ahiijny]] ([[User talk:Ahiijny|talk]]) 18:20, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Hey, guys reading your comments I can see several people, including myself, might be interested in making a game like this. Perhaps we should coordinate efforts to make one? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.246.100|162.158.246.100]] 23:15, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

I can’t make a game if I could I would. I really want to see some xkcd fan group release this as a game.

I came here specifically to see if this game existed and I'm irritated it doesn't yet. People with better coding and geological skills than me, you have an interested party. {{unsigned ip|108.162.221.83}}

I'm fully on board. If and when this thing hypothetically gets popular, I'll be like, "Hey, I was there!" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.46.5|172.68.46.5]] 04:12, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I have a feeling that making this game would be an awful like No Man's Sky, all the physics would be extremely difficult to manage and take years to iron out fully. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.246.88|162.158.246.88]] 15:03, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I would love to help. I'm thinking something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reus_(video_game). But just with planetary modification abilities. {{unsigned ip|108.162.237.58}}

If anyone's interested I made a discord server where we can talk about making this: https://discord.gg/4MGZT7n [[User:MutedAjar|MutedAjar]] ([[User talk:MutedAjar|talk]]) 05:18, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

I'm surprised no one's brought up SimEarth, which you start out by terraforming a barren planet, making sure life forms, evolves to sentience, and watch it leave for the stars [[Special:Contributions/172.69.22.140|172.69.22.140]] 00:30, 23 October 2018 (UTC)

<big>'''It's going to happen!'''</big> Working title is "Tectonica" (yeah - in the cartoon it's "Tectonics!" but you can't have a '!' in a URL and we liked "tectonica" better). Nothing to see YET but we have [https://tectonica.fun tectonica.fun] registered and active technical discussion and the promise of some minimal "getting started" code. Plan is to have it run in-browser for portability and to be written in C++/wasm and WebGL for speed. And, yes, we'll add an "accelerated realtime" button for those more impatient players <sight>. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 19:04, 28 October 2018 (UTC)
:This doesn't explain the comic, I've moved it to the trivia section. And if the provided link there will be not much more than a single picture it's even NOT valid for the trivia section. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 18:42, 29 October 2018 (UTC)
:: Oh good god no! It shouldn't even be in the trivia section at all until something is actually running and looking somewhat like a playable game. I didn't intend this to be something to go into the "explain" at all. Just that anyone else who thinks this might make a pretty decent game MIGHT come here - see this in the Talk and head over to make it happen. [[User:SteveBaker|SteveBaker]] ([[User talk:SteveBaker|talk]]) 01:53, 30 October 2018 (UTC)
:::Thanks for your reply, it's removed from the trivia section. You could have done this too. --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 20:27, 30 October 2018 (UTC)

<big>'''Unity version!'''</big>

A (currently) small splinter group has formed that would rather use Unity to create the game. While I respect the decision to build the game in C++/wasm, I feel that the barrier to entry is slightly too high for most people to begin contribution. In contrast, Unity is well-documented and there are many tutorials available online already for those who wish to contribute. We have a discord server available here: https://discord.gg/4QP6d6q [[Special:Contributions/172.69.42.40|172.69.42.40]] 22:07, 15 November 2018 (UTC)

'''Other Real Time Games'''

This is for discussion of other real time games. (I.E. Desert Bus) --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.142.10|172.69.142.10]] 02:34, 20 October 2018 (UTC)

I have this horrible urge to find the Desert Bus source code and mod it to make "Desert Bus 2: Walt Disney Land to Walt Disney World" [[Special:Contributions/172.68.90.88|172.68.90.88]] 21:53, 19 October 2018 (UTC)SiliconWolf
:From what I gather, part of the "magic" of Desert Bus is the whole lotta hours of repetitive nothing, and I seriously doubt the trip between Disneys is filled with nothing to see. :) Otheriwse I find this to be an awesome idea, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

It's like playing Desert Bus for the rest of your life... :) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.154|162.158.63.154]] 18:23, 19 October 2018 (UTC) Scott
:As soon as I saw the headline that this was about other real time games, first and only thought was Desert Bus, LOL! Which I've only heard of (primarily from Angry Video Game Nerd). :) [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

:I thought it appropriate to add Desert Bus to the main description as a real world example of a tedious real-time game that goes to a ridiculous extreme... though much less extreme and ridiculous than the one in the comic. [[User:N0lqu|-boB]] ([[User talk:N0lqu|talk]]) 21:17, 19 October 2018 (UTC)

Does anyone else remember the old DOS game: 688 Attack Sub? Where it felt like you were waiting forever for your torpedo to hit? I liked that they told you that, in the real world, it's much slower than it is in the game.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.6|172.68.65.6]] 18:46, 19 October 2018 (UTC)
:Back then I had a demo (I believe I recall it was on 1 disk and ran off the disk, so I could play on any computer I encountered). Been a while, but I believe it was one specific scenario with a bit of randomness thrown in (like the decisions other ships made), and I played it many, many times. Since it was the demo either the part about not-real-time torpedoes wasn't in there or I always jumped straight to the gameplay, LOL! [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

Not really sure where to put this, so posting it here: Too bad the comic wasn't a bit longer. Could have had Ponytail respond to "It's real time" with "Of course not. It's a million times faster." "Whew." "Yeah, just 400 more years until your first mountain achievement." {{unsigned|Trlkly}}
: Actually, at 1 million times faster, it would only take 0.4 years, or about 5 months. {{unsigned ip|141.101.88.196}}

Are you sure the second row of achievements is about atolls? It looked more like evolution of life to me (single celled, multicellular, something, fish). -- [[Special:Contributions/162.158.62.33|162.158.62.33]] 11:35, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

I was immediately reminded of Wobbler's (or Pratchett's, depending on which side of the 4th wall you look from) "Journey to Alpha Centauri" - and it turns out it was actually made into a "real" game too. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.210.22|162.158.210.22]] 09:03, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

Didn't / doesn't have the MS Flight Simulator a real time mode? I think I somewhere read something about that some time ago. Dunno if true, wikipedia doesn't say anything about that. [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 10:23, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
:@Elektrizikekswerk: yes, it did. I recall one of the challenges on Message Boards at the time was to complete Sydney-LAX in real time (~12 hours continuous flying) in poor weather. I'm searching for evidence of this and will update once I can link it together. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.63.88|162.158.63.88]] 14:03, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
::Some facts: MS Flight Simulator (MSFS) is dead since 2009, MS closed it and they sold something to someone but not much happened since than. AND it wasn't really a game, it was a realistic simulator you couldn't use it without some general knowledge about aviation. Fifteen years ago I've flown many legs about two up to four hours, in real-time. Besides the starting and landing phase it was boring, just because the autopilot does nearly everything - the only important thing was interacting with ATC (Air Traffic Control) and following their instructions along your flight path. Four hours monitoring the radio, adjusting your flight level slightly, drinking coffee or getting a meal - just as the real thing is for a professional pilot (assisted by the autopilot). --[[User:Dgbrt|Dgbrt]] ([[User talk:Dgbrt|talk]]) 19:37, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

I think it's important to note that the 10k final achievement requires the player to "Out do" Everest (8,848m) which might not be possible under Earths gravity. Unless the achievement for mountains isn't measured from Sea-Level (in which case, Hawaii's Mauna Kea would've JUST made this achievemnt at 10,203M) or if it doesn't take place on Earth. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.238|108.162.237.238]] 18:05, 24 October 2018 (UTC)

Other than the aforementioned Desert Bus, the only real-time thing I can think of is part of the The Simpsons Freemium game Tapped Out. Cletus has a farm that can grow various crops which are generally silly and many related to the show, but one is titled "Corn. Actual corn", which takes 90 days to complete (most of the longest things are 24 hours, with only a handful of items being longer), the gag being that in real life corn apparently takes 90 days to grow. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 05:45, 5 November 2018 (UTC)

== It already exists as software!!! ==

This kind of program already (sort of) exists and is used by professional geologists. In general it's called section balancing (Wikipedia calls it [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_restoration section restoration]). The objective of the programs is normally to move backwards through time to see how the earth looked in the distant past, but they can either animate starting from the past up to the present day or could move into the future. Some examples are [https://www.mve.com/software/3d-kinematic 3D Kinematic] from Midland Valley, [http://www.beicip.com/2d-kinematics-basin-modeling KronosFlow] from Beicip-FranLab or their older product LOCACE, [http://www.pdgm.com/products/kine3d Kine3D] from Paradigm, and [https://www.software.slb.com/products/igeoss Dynel3D] from iGeoss (now Schlumberger). [[User:Jlhollin|Jlhollin]] ([[User talk:Jlhollin|talk]]) 17:24, 28 November 2018 (UTC)
:I wondered about this! I'm a geologist, and as far as I know our modeling software for the mantle is not that fantastic, but it would be a place to start for anyone looking to make the game irl. I love my field but it constantly astounds me how much we still don't know. I remember my Igneous and Metamorphic Petrology profs getting into a heated debate over what mechanism drives plate tectonics: slab-pull or ridge-push, with no resolution either way. And LiDAR, so important for the surveying we do, wasn't available until the 80s or later. Even our foundational theory of plate tectonics has only been accepted since the 50s. Anyway this is my favorite xkcd comic because if this was a real game geologists would probably be using it for research, and I would play it nonstop even though petrology isn't my specialty. [[User:Curiouscat|Curiouscat]] ([[User talk:Curiouscat|talk]]) 05:02, 9 August 2021 (UTC)