Template:Blog

Used in the what if? index, to mark the article number, date of release, and how late/early the article was. It also colors the cell blue. For the books and the YouTube videos, use {{book}} instead. The number is required, and the date is always needed if known. See also the {{book}} template.

Usage

This template is compatible with dark mode.

{{blog|ARTICLE-NUMBER|YYYY|MM|DD|LATE-OR-EARLY}}

• If there is no valid ARTICLE-NUMBER, for some reason, it becomes the 'zeroth' blog article.
• Date details are optional, but require at least a prior blank ARTICLE-NUMBER field
• LATE-OR-EARLY is optional (not needed if the article came out exactly 7d after the previous one) but requires all prior fields (which can be left blank)

If the blog article is not available from the official website, append a suitable explanatory note to the named notAvailable= parameter to prevent the cell from becoming blue. This doesn't depend upon any other fields being filled:

{{blog|ARTICLE-NUMBER|YYYY|MM|DD|LATE-OR-EARLY|notAvailable=NOTE}}

Examples

{{blog|69|2019|12|31|1m 19d late}}

PRODUCES:

 data-sort-value="69" style="background-color:var(--background-color-blog, #d9e2ff);"|

69^th blog article, on 2019‑12‑31
(1m 19d late)

and

{{blog|69|2011|11|24}}

PRODUCES:

 data-sort-value="69" style="background-color:var(--background-color-blog, #d9e2ff);"|

69^th blog article, on 2011‑11‑24

and

{{blog|69}}

PRODUCES:

 data-sort-value="69" style="background-color:var(--background-color-blog, #d9e2ff);"|

69^th blog article

and

{{blog|69|YYYY|MM|DD|1m 19d late|notAvailable=Article published by accident and deleted. [[what if? (blog)#top|Learn more]]}}

PRODUCES:

 data-sort-value="69" |

69^th blog article, on YYYY‑MM‑DD
(1m 19d late)
(Article published by accident and deleted. Learn more)

Thumbnail	Title	Reader's question	Randall's answer	Blog	Books	YouTube
	Relativistic Baseball	"What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?"	The ball would create plasma and reach home plate by about 70 nanoseconds. The result would be some kind of nuclear explosion, destroying everything about a mile from the field. A ruling of "hit by pitch" could be interpreted in this situation.	8th blog article, on 2012‑07‑10 (10d early)	What If?, Chapter 2	5th video, on 2024‑02‑06: "What if you threw a baseball at nearly light speed?"
	SAT Guessing	"What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?"	No one would get a perfect score. The odds of guessing correctly on every question would be less than the odds of every ex-living president at that time and the main cast of Firefly getting struck by lightning on the same day.	69th blog article, on YYYY‑MM‑DD (1m 19d late)
	Yoda	"How much Force power can Yoda output?"	Yoda can output about 19.2 kilowatts, or 25 horsepower. "Yoda power" would cost about $2/hour.	4,207th blog article
	A Mole of Moles	"What would happen if you were to gather a mole (unit of measurement) of moles (the small furry critter) in one place?"	As a mole is such a high number this would be tricky. They would condense into a pressurized sphere of meat that would freeze and occasionally explode from gases.	4th blog article, on 2025‑07‑24
	Robot Apocalypse	"What if there was a robot apocalypse? How long would humanity last?"	Humanity would survive if the robots cared about keeping themselves alive as well. If not, then we would all die.	56th blog article, on 2012‑07‑31
	Glass Half Empty	"What if a glass of water was, all of a sudden, literally half empty?"	If the vacuum were on the bottom half, it would explode, but if it were on the top half, the air rushes in and it becomes normal water.	100th blog article, on 2012‑08‑07
	Test 'removed' article (#4876)	"What if an article was, for some reason, deleted?"	If the vacuum were on the bottom half, it would explode, but if it were on the top half, the air rushes in and it becomes normal water.	4,876th blog article, on 2061‑07‑28 (Article published by accident and deleted. Learn more)

How to link to a what if? article in an explanation

Further information: explain xkcd:Editor FAQ#How do I link to a what if? article?.

what if? is Randall Munroe's blog and book series. To link to one of the blog articles or a book chapter, you should always use the {{what if}} template. It links to the matching row of the what if? articles index, where every official what if? blog article, book chapter, and YouTube video are collected and explained. In the examples, the first part is the identifier of the row you want to reach, while the second part is the text that readers see. There are several kinds of identifiers:

• To link to an article from the blog, use the article number. For example, use {{what if|158|Hot Banana}} to link to the 158^th blog article, which results in: Hot Banana. This is the shortest and most common option, but it only works for articles that were published on the blog.

• To link to a chapter of one of the books, use the book number and the chapter number separated by a hyphen. {{what if|2-63|Walking on the Sun}} links to the 63^rd chapter of the 2^nd book and results in: Walking on the Sun. The book numbers are 1- for What If? (the original book), 2- for What If? 2, and 3- for What If? 10th Anniversary Edition, whose only new chapter is Bonus Chapter ({{what if|3-70|Bonus Chapter}}). If the article is also on the blog, either form works.

• There are two ways to link to an official what if? YouTube video. This is the best option when an article has more than one video and you want to reference a specific one:
  • For full-length horizontal videos, use the number from the "YouTube" column with a Y before it. {{what if|Y1|the ''Hubble'' video}} links to the 1^st video in that column, the Hubble video.
  • For short vertical videos, do the same but with the number from the "YT Shorts" column and an S before it. {{what if|S5|video about light sources}} links to the 5^th short and results in: video about light sources. Long videos and shorts are numbered separately, so Y5 and S5 are different videos.

• You can also simply use the title with the correct capitalisation. {{what if|Pigeon Chair|Pigeon Chair}} results in: Pigeon Chair. This suits articles that exist only in a book.

• To link to a single question of a grouped article, there are two methods:
  • Use the name of the reader who asked it. {{what if|Henry M.|last question of Weird & Worrying #2}} results in: last question of Weird & Worrying #2. This anchor is more precise for multiple-question articles such as Short Answers sections, because it takes readers to the specific question. It cannot be used for anonymous readers: for that, use the method below:
  • Use the full question as written in the index. {{what if|Could life evolve in a constantly running microwave?|first question of Short Answers #5}} results in: first question of Short Answers #5. It is the only option for anonymous readers, but it is longer and might break in the future.

• In all of the options above, leaving out the displayed text also works (e.g., {{what if|130}} results in what if? 130), but it does not show the title, so it is best to always add some displayed text. It usually matches the name of the article itself, but it can also be another wording if it fits your sentence better.
• When linking to a what if? article from one of these pages, you should use a simpler method: what if? (blog), What If? (book), What If? 2, and What If? 10th Anniversary Edition. Because those four pages already embed the index, avoid using the {{what if}} template and instead use a normal anchor wikilink to keep the reader on the same page. To do this, place [[# and then any of the identifiers above, such as [[#2-63|Tire Rubber]] which results in: Tire Rubber (this link will not work outside the four pages).

When you mention an article in a sentence, the words what if? should link to the blog page or the specific book page, and the title should be in italics. You can copy these and replace the coloured parts:

• See the ''[[what if? (blog)|what if?]]'' article ''{{what if|28|Steak Drop}}''. results in: See the what if? article Steak Drop.
• See the chapter ''{{what if|2-38|Eat a Cloud}}'' in ''[[What If? 2]]''. results in: See the chapter Eat a Cloud in What If? 2.