Talk:3035: Trimix

The 'standard' and '2x' sized images had unexpected sizes, so an imagesize parameter has been added to render the image consistently with other comics on this website. See the web archive for more details. --TheusafBOT (talk) 05:15, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

yeah, the image on xkcd.com looks comically large for me, and I think this might be related to this. 172.69.155.86 15:50, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Not for me. I’m on Safari, and it looks pretty normal. 42.book.addict^{Talk to me!} 16:08, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

I'm on Chrome and it looks much larger than usual. .-. --1234231587678 (talk) 16:50, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Well, I'm also on Chrome, and it looks totally normal. Normal size on Edge too. RadiantRainwing (talk) 14:35, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

"Comically large"? If anything, the regular size is comically small. Why doesn't randall post comics in HD like everyone else? 141.101.109.167 20:15, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Because it's stick figures and thus unnecessary. Also, (at least on chrome) the image is so large that it overflows the boundaries. Likely a glitch, but maybe a pun, yeah. Stallman (talk) 04:53, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

XKCD is more than just stick figures, and what exactly are the boundaries? They should be at least 1920x1080. Just how large was the "glitched" image? 141.101.109.167 20:31, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

I thought the "over-inflated" image was part of the pun... - 172.70.210.177 17:48, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

It's a glitch. If it was part of the comic, it would appear oversized on all devices and screen sizes. To me it's looking normal on firefox for android, but oversized on firefox flatpak on a 1366px width monitor. 172.70.140.242 18:34, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Whatever size it is, it will, by its nature, be comically so.172.68.186.132 09:25, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

I'd question whether you could get a scuba tank to float with any amount of helium. Since you're dealing with a fixed size tank the most lift you going to get would be less than the weight of the air that the tank displaces (lift = weight of air - weight of tank - weight of helium, iirc). A typical aluminum Ali 80 tank has a volume of 11.1 liters which displaces only about 151g of air while the tank itself weighs 14kg StumbleRunner (talk) 07:17, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Now that you mention it ... I was distracted from the practicalities by the voice of Marvin the Martian running around in my head. Something about an earth-shattering kaboom. 172.71.151.165 07:33, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Yes of course a SCUBA tank cannot create any float since it cannot change it's volume (except when exploding). This is the reason why it would not work. No matter how much helium is compressed (that it it the problem the gas is compressed!) inside it. I have added this, and are not sure the text beneath this makes any sense. Someone deleted my addition but I hope this was a case of edit conflict they did not care to resolve, rather than they deleted it on purpose!? --Kynde (talk) 08:11, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

I think, on revue, I happened to restore anything you thought lost (albeit in my words, not yet knowing what you'd done) when correcting/removing the awkward misunderstanding that helium is "anti-gravity" in the 'true explanation' bit. (Yes, it's the conceit of the comic, but should not then have been used in the genuine bit of the Explanation. You only become more buoyant if you have less weight in a given volume. For an effectively unchanging volume, more of even a lighter gas is heavier. And you can never have little enough of any gas to make a Scuba-tank buoyant at sea-level air pressures.) 172.70.90.118 11:13, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

I cannot say if it was you who did this, I do not think so, since yo wrote several hours later here, and in both you comments case and the case where something was deleted it is different IP addressees. But the current explanation has taken the gist of what I intended and made it much better, so I'm happy with the current explanation which is much better than my attempt ;-) --Kynde (talk) 08:23, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

Oh, I (above IP, whatever I now appear as) never claimed the fault of wiping out your prior effort, and still don't. I'd gone back to check what you might have lost out on, and but my first reading/writing of it had only ever been later. ;) I haven't taken note of the respective IPs (there's some flexibility of assignment, even moment to moment, but also a degree of geographic clustering that differentiates some of us from all but a few of the rest of us 'anons'), but I like that it at least superficially bears out my innocence in that matter.

However, it's gratifying to know that one's small contribution (amongst all the other worthy ones, equally creditable) should be appreciated. It's by many stochastic improvements that all decent articles are eventuallg formed. :p 172.70.162.164 12:20, 10 January 2025 (UTC)

There is no question here. Boyancy is provided by making the container (the tank in this example) lighter for its volume than the equivalent amount of air. With a balloon, the container volume increasaes as you increase the helium, making the container more boyant. A tank does not expand, and thus gets less boyant as increased helium adds to its mass per volume. The very best that you could do would be to fill the tank with a vacuum, but even then it would still weight more than the equivalent amount of air due to the weight of the tank itself.Geek Prophet (talk) 18:04, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Trimix is also the name of one of the strongest injectible erectile dysfunction drugs. This was my first thought when I saw the comic title. Even after I recognized my error I half expected a double-entendre on "inflation".Geek Prophet (talk) 18:07, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

When I first found the comic and googled “trimix”, the school Securly filter blocked it because of that exact reason. It was only when I switched to my personal computer that I realised my mistake. 42.book.addict^{Talk to me!} 21:31, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

That's the Scunthorpe Problem, for ya... ;) 172.70.85.70 22:51, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

Won’t breathing too much helium cause Inert gas asphyxiation/suffocation? 42.book.addict^{Talk to me!} 21:55, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

yes. yes it will. However, when breathing at depth, there is the around the same partial pressure of oxygen as in the atmosphere at the surface, so you breathe it just fine as the oxygen will diffuse into your lungs just the same without the risk of oxygen toxicity. The helium just acts as a filler gas, acting to also reduce the risk of nitrogen narcosis by reducing the partial pressure of nitrogen, and is chosen because it is easy to breathe because it is light. consequently, mixtures with low amounts of oxygen are not safe to breathe closer to the surface as there is not a high enough partial pressure of oxygen to support consciousness. (i know i just told you information you could have gotten from simply reading the wikipedia article yourself guess who (if you desire conversing | what i have done) 07:06, 10 January 2025 (UTC)