explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:2373: Chemist Eggs

2020-10-17T08:06:45Z

PaulSeed:

Chemists get another solid pummeling from xkcd dot com. Also, double question marks, very Ryan North. [[User:Lightcaller|Lightcaller]] ([[User talk:Lightcaller|talk]]) 00:41, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

You could disguise the smell of your rotten eggs with [https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2012/05/15/things_i_wont_work_with_selenophenol selenophenol] and [https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2009/06/11/things_i_wont_work_with_thioacetone thioacetones]. Nobody will complain about your mere sulphides then... (ETA: I wonder about selenoacetones?)[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.167|162.158.154.167]] 00:53, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Seperately, I recall the time when I was still at school and we'd made some compound that had produced the distinct smell of almonds. Mentioning this later to my father (a chemist himself) he was initially quite concerned before I clarified whatever-it-was as whatever it actually was and not an actual cyanogen compound. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.107.82|141.101.107.82]] 01:03, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

I always heave a mental sigh when I see some bit of safety literature informing me that natural gas smells like rotten eggs. First, as Randall points out, that's not a very useful explanation for most people. Second, it isn't the natural gas (i.e. methane) that has that odour, but the thiols that are added to it as a safety feature. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 02:42, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Pretty sure the current version explanation is wildly overthinking this - sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and sometimes a comic about how weird it is that we reference things smelling like rotten eggs when they’re uncommon is just that. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.28|172.69.34.28]] 05:17, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

Actually, sulphides (H2S in particular) smell more like farts that rotten eggs. But science teachers know that if they use the word "fart" in front of a class, there will be no more work done in that lesson, and probably none by that class.

The kids recognise the smell, of course. We used to call it "fartrogen dioxide". Paul Seed 07:43, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

There was a time, before refrigeration or stock rotation, when bad eggs were much more common. Hence the story of the Curate's egg [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curate%27s_egg], updated here [https://twitter.com/VictorianHumour/status/1014537505587302400]

Talk:2373: Chemist Eggs

2020-10-17T07:43:50Z

PaulSeed: What sulphides really smell like.

Talk:2344: 26-Second Pulse

2020-08-11T09:43:20Z

PaulSeed:

The transcript is calling the character "Hairbun," and while apparently Hairbun has several different renditions, one thing common to them all is that she has a single bun. This character has two buns, as can be seen in the second panel. Probably should not be conflated with a character that has a single bun. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.237.172|108.162.237.172]] 01:13, 11 August 2020 (UTC)
: I think it's [[Science Girl]]? Definitely not Hairbun. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.35.31|172.69.35.31]] 01:20, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Is this pulse a real phenomenon? A cursory google search turned up nil.
Future me: Yes it's real I was just using poor google-fu. https://phys.org/pdf214488694.pdf
::(Could future future you learn to properly indent and sign comments? Just as courtesy.) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.159.18|162.158.159.18]] 01:47, 11 August 2020 (UTC)
:::(And, while you’re at it, don’t forget to point out the Easter egg in your link. The photographer credited. Coincidence? I think not.) [[User:Dhugot|Dhugot]] ([[User talk:Dhugot|talk]]) 07:50, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

XKCD seems to be posted later and later. I mean, it was always somewhat Tuesdayish (I'm in Australia) but now I don't seem to see it until Tuesday afternoons... Am I imagining this, or are the posts getting to be much later than they used to be? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.134.139|172.69.134.139]] 03:10, 11 August 2020 (UTC)
:Back in the olden days, it would update at midnight Eastern time ''sharp'', but those days are long gone. Some comics have come out a day late even in Randall's timezone. --[[Special:Contributions/188.114.103.205|188.114.103.205]] 04:29, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

::My notification script has to check for new comics a lot more often because of how inconsistent the post times are; however, because of the relatively short check interval I know that new comics are posted mostly between 8pm-midnight (UTC) but many as wide as 4pm and 1am the next day.
::...actually, I think I'm going to go plot the post times I have and find out what my data says. [[User:Vaedez|Vaedez]] ([[User talk:Vaedez|talk]]) 05:38, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Something similar happened in Oklahoma last year and until the real explanation was found the pulse was a mystery: [https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2019/09/strange-waves-rattled-entire-state-scientists-know-why/ National Geographic’s Article]

The location was probably just not determined exactly. The giant was actually buried at 0° 0° for convenience. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 08:28, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

As well as Poe's poem, I wonder if Randall is also thinking of HP Lovecraft's story "The Call of Cthulhu", and of the great old one Cthulhu, unawake beneath the oceans at R'lyeh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu Paul Seed 09:43, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2312: mbmbam

2020-06-28T21:38:08Z

PaulSeed:

So ... what would the MMMbop unit be?
:: the power of love

This has gotta be at least the third or fourth time he's referenced MBMBaM. https://what-if.xkcd.com/155/ and https://xkcd.com/1836/ I know are two more examples, but there might be more. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.13|162.158.107.13]] 00:54, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Am I the only one thinking that mbmbam should be a unit of ''work'', not energy? Force x distance... High school physics was a long time ago though. [[User:Philosophicles|Philosophicles]] ([[User talk:Philosophicles|talk]]) 03:15, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:Work is energy [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.154|172.69.62.154]] 05:28, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:: The only difference could be absolute or relative energy, comparable to height above sea level vs. distance. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.193|141.101.69.193]] 06:36, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:My first instinct was "that´s a torque". But of course angles have no unit, and so torque and energy must have the same. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 07:15, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
::Please forgive my ignorance here: Is not a "degree" an angular unit?
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:20, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
:::The concept that a plane angle is a dimensionless unit is a tenet of the International System of Units (SI). It works something like this. "Degrees" and "Radians" are two ways of expressing the same thing, the size of an angle. If you have an angle and you draw an arbitrary circle with the angle's vertex as the circle's center, so that your angle now "subtends" an arc of the circle, then the size of your angle in radians is defined to be the length of that arc divided by the length of the radius of the circle. The circumference of the whole circle has length 2π·r, so an angle of 360 degrees is also an angle of 2π·r/r radians. The numerator and the denominator are dimensionally both lengths. Dividing a length by a length yields a dimensionless quantity, i.e. one with no "unit". Consequently radians are dimensionless, and so are degrees. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 19:52, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Is my vision going blurry, or does that second panel say "milliibarn"? -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 09:09, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

: Yes, two 'i' before the barn. That must be a mistake. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.192|108.162.229.192]] 10:28, 28 May 2020 (UTC) <-- Either that or it's milli - i*barn, going into imaginary dimensions. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 11:58, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

: MBMBaM's tagline is "an advice show* for the modern era", not an advice podcast.

: Reminds me of how this symbol: "μ" means both "micro" (micrometer is μm.), and "friction" (frictional constant of X would be μ = X), and the population statistical average (the average acceleration due to gravity on the surface of earth is μ_gravity), and something like 20 other things according to this wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(letter)#Use_as_symbol [[User:Tsumikiminiwa|Tsumikiminiwa]] ([[User talk:Tsumikiminiwa|talk]]) 15:53, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
::: Reminds me of the old joke: Several kittens have found their way up onto a sloping roof, which one falls off first? The one with the lowest μ... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.218|162.158.155.218]] 21:52, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

:: "It's an advice show for the ''modren'' era", not modern. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.15|162.158.79.15]] 19:35, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

I went ahead and removed the statement that "mbar" is more common than "mb," since the preferred abbreviation depends on the field. In atmospheric science, "mb" is nearly universal. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.201|162.158.187.201]] 17:19, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

anyone following that podcast who can shed light on the arrangement of the dashes? why is there non between "and" and "me" but between all the other words? (my-brother-my-brother-and [[2109|(how do I emphasize a space?)]] me) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:40, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Can anyone please explain (to me) the role of white hat in this comic? He is not part of the conversation and just makes more or less random statements, concluding in "I hate you". What am I missing here? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 19:54, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

For most of the dialogue, Megan and Cueball are discussing some oddities of dimensional units and making puns, while White Hat struggles to keep up.
His utterances can be seen as
1) True but lacking insight ("UNITS ARE WEIRD")
2) A valid pun but out by about 10^50 ("ONE PODCAST")
3) Freaking out because it is all too weird for him ("PLANCK YEAST!")
4) Final breakdown due to some very high level punning by Cueball and Megan ("...I HATE YOU")

In the last panel, Cueball and Megan link Planck yeast (not a thing) and unleavened (yeast-free)
bread to several concepts in theoretical physics:
Quantum foam, the curvature of space time, and M-theory.
M-theory suggests that space-time has eleven ("unleavened") dimensions, and is described by Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory) as a unification of superstring theories.
The five consistent versions of superstring theory apparently suggests that space-time has only ten dimensions, so this may be a rare error by Randall. Or I may just have misunderstood.
--Paul Seed 21:34, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

== mbar ==

I cite wikipedia:

''The unit's official symbol is bar; the earlier symbol b is now deprecated and conflicts with the use of b denoting the unit barn, but it is still encountered ...''

I wonder since when, und who still uses *mb*, since I have never encountered that in my life. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.92|162.158.88.92]] 04:05, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

:never seen it either. But the comic doesn't state that it is common, just that it is possible. See also comment above on atmospheric science. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:40, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

:Here's a link to a page with multiple uses of mb with the meaning millibarn. It's in the [https://books.google.com/books?id=VVezDAAAQBAJ&pg=SA11-PA174 CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (97th ed., 2016)], a "comprehensive one-volume reference reasource for scientific research". [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 13:28, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Talk:2312: mbmbam

2020-06-28T21:34:56Z

PaulSeed:

So ... what would the MMMbop unit be?
:: the power of love

This has gotta be at least the third or fourth time he's referenced MBMBaM. https://what-if.xkcd.com/155/ and https://xkcd.com/1836/ I know are two more examples, but there might be more. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.107.13|162.158.107.13]] 00:54, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Am I the only one thinking that mbmbam should be a unit of ''work'', not energy? Force x distance... High school physics was a long time ago though. [[User:Philosophicles|Philosophicles]] ([[User talk:Philosophicles|talk]]) 03:15, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:Work is energy [[Special:Contributions/172.69.62.154|172.69.62.154]] 05:28, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:: The only difference could be absolute or relative energy, comparable to height above sea level vs. distance. Sebastian --[[Special:Contributions/141.101.69.193|141.101.69.193]] 06:36, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

:My first instinct was "that´s a torque". But of course angles have no unit, and so torque and energy must have the same. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.74|162.158.88.74]] 07:15, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
::Please forgive my ignorance here: Is not a "degree" an angular unit?
::[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 17:20, 29 May 2020 (UTC)
:::The concept that a plane angle is a dimensionless unit is a tenet of the International System of Units (SI). It works something like this. "Degrees" and "Radians" are two ways of expressing the same thing, the size of an angle. If you have an angle and you draw an arbitrary circle with the angle's vertex as the circle's center, so that your angle now "subtends" an arc of the circle, then the size of your angle in radians is defined to be the length of that arc divided by the length of the radius of the circle. The circumference of the whole circle has length 2π·r, so an angle of 360 degrees is also an angle of 2π·r/r radians. The numerator and the denominator are dimensionally both lengths. Dividing a length by a length yields a dimensionless quantity, i.e. one with no "unit". Consequently radians are dimensionless, and so are degrees. [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 19:52, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Is my vision going blurry, or does that second panel say "milliibarn"? -- [[User:Peregrine|Peregrine]] ([[User talk:Peregrine|talk]]) 09:09, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

: Yes, two 'i' before the barn. That must be a mistake. --[[Special:Contributions/108.162.229.192|108.162.229.192]] 10:28, 28 May 2020 (UTC) <-- Either that or it's milli - i*barn, going into imaginary dimensions. [[User:Cellocgw|Cellocgw]] ([[User talk:Cellocgw|talk]]) 11:58, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

: MBMBaM's tagline is "an advice show* for the modern era", not an advice podcast.

: Reminds me of how this symbol: "μ" means both "micro" (micrometer is μm.), and "friction" (frictional constant of X would be μ = X), and the population statistical average (the average acceleration due to gravity on the surface of earth is μ_gravity), and something like 20 other things according to this wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mu_(letter)#Use_as_symbol [[User:Tsumikiminiwa|Tsumikiminiwa]] ([[User talk:Tsumikiminiwa|talk]]) 15:53, 28 May 2020 (UTC)
::: Reminds me of the old joke: Several kittens have found their way up onto a sloping roof, which one falls off first? The one with the lowest μ... [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.218|162.158.155.218]] 21:52, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

:: "It's an advice show for the ''modren'' era", not modern. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.79.15|162.158.79.15]] 19:35, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

I went ahead and removed the statement that "mbar" is more common than "mb," since the preferred abbreviation depends on the field. In atmospheric science, "mb" is nearly universal. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.187.201|162.158.187.201]] 17:19, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

anyone following that podcast who can shed light on the arrangement of the dashes? why is there non between "and" and "me" but between all the other words? (my-brother-my-brother-and [[2109|(how do I emphasize a space?)]] me) --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:40, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

Can anyone please explain (to me) the role of white hat in this comic? He is not part of the conversation and just makes more or less random statements, concluding in "I hate you". What am I missing here? [[User:Bischoff|Bischoff]] ([[User talk:Bischoff|talk]]) 19:54, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

For most of the dialogue, Megan and Cueball are discussing some oddities of dimensional units and making puns, while White Hat struggles to keep up.
His utterances can be seen as
1) True but lacking insight ("UNITS ARE WEIRD")
2) A valid pun but out by about 10^50 ("ONE PODCAST")
3) Freaking out becasue it is all too weird for him ("PLANCK YEAST!")
4) Final breakdown due to some very high level punning by Cueball and Megan ("...I HATE YOU")

In the last panel, Cueball and Megan link Planck yeast (not a thing) and unleavened (yeast-free)
bread to several concepts in theoretical physics:
Quantum foam, the curvature of space time, and M-theory.
M-theory suggests that space-time has eleven ("unleavened") dimensions, and is described by Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory) as a unification of superstring theories.
The five consistent versions of superstring theory apparently suggests that space-time has only ten dimensions, so this may be a rare error by Randall. Or I may just have misunderstood.
--Paul Seed 21:34, 28 June 2020 (UTC)

== mbar ==

I cite wikipedia:

''The unit's official symbol is bar; the earlier symbol b is now deprecated and conflicts with the use of b denoting the unit barn, but it is still encountered ...''

I wonder since when, und who still uses *mb*, since I have never encountered that in my life. --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.88.92|162.158.88.92]] 04:05, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

:never seen it either. But the comic doesn't state that it is common, just that it is possible. See also comment above on atmospheric science. --[[User:Lupo|Lupo]] ([[User talk:Lupo|talk]]) 06:40, 29 May 2020 (UTC)

:Here's a link to a page with multiple uses of mb with the meaning millibarn. It's in the [https://books.google.com/books?id=VVezDAAAQBAJ&pg=SA11-PA174 CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (97th ed., 2016)], a "comprehensive one-volume reference reasource for scientific research". [[User:JohnB|JohnB]] ([[User talk:JohnB|talk]]) 13:28, 29 May 2020 (UTC)