Template:Book

Used in the what if? index for articles featured in one of the books and for YouTube videos. The title is only needed when different from the blog's. See also the {{blog}} template.

Usage

This template is compatible with dark mode.

For articles featured in a book:

{{book|WHICH-BOOK|CHAPTER-NUMBER|OPTIONAL-CHAPTER-TITLE}}

and for YouTube videos:

{{book|YT-NUMBER|YYYY|MM|DD|https://youtube.link (or video-ID)|VIDEO-TITLE|short-video=yes}}

short-video=yes is optional and is used for shorts to change the numbering and the background color.

Examples book chapters

For the first What If? book:

{{Book|1|CHAPTER-NUMBER}}

For the second What If? 2 book:

{{Book|2|CHAPTER-NUMBER}}

EXAMPLE:{{Book|2|69}}

If an article is available exclusively on the third book (What If? 10th Anniversary Edition) and not in the first two, use this:

{{Book|3|CHAPTER-NUMBER}}


{{book|2|69}}

Produces:

 data-sort-value="20069" style="background-color:var(--background-color-book-2, #fef08a);"|

What If? 2, Chapter 69 and

{{book|1|69|Lightning Stike}}

Produces:

 data-sort-value="10069" style="background-color:var(--background-color-book-1, #bbf7d0);"|

What If?, with a different title, Chapter 69: Lightning Stike and

{{book}}

Produces:

 data-sort-value="0" style="background-color:#000000;"| Template used incorrectly. Click here for instructions. , Chapter unknown

Examples for a YouTube video

{{Book|YT-NUMBER|YYYY|MM|DD|HTTPS://LINK|VIDEO-TITLE}}

{{book|2|2022|12|31|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LSyNhb5Y|What if everyone pointed a laser at the moon?}}

Produces:

 data-sort-value="2" style="background-color: var(--background-color-youtube, #fecaca);"|if everyone pointed a laser at the moon? 2nd video, on 2022‑12‑31

If you want, for a YouTube video you can also use the VIDEO-ID instead of the link. The link is usually enough. Here's how to get the VIDEO-ID

1. Open the YouTube video and look at the link. it will look something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EI08o-IGYk
https://youtu.be/3EI08o-IGYk
https://youtu.be/3EI08o-IGYk?si=gdSF3nIlctPPFbd2

2. The green part is the VIDEO-ID you can use. Example

{{book|2|2022|12|31|2LSyNhb5Y|What if everyone pointed a laser at the moon?}}

Produces:

 data-sort-value="2" style="background-color: var(--background-color-youtube, #fecaca);"|2nd video, on 2022‑12‑31: "What if everyone pointed a laser at the moon?"

Example use in table

Main page: what if? articles.

Title and thumbnail	Reader's question	Summary of Randall's answer	Article available in...  (double-click to sort)
			Blog	Books	YouTube	YT Shorts
Relativistic Baseball	"What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?" —Ellen McManis	The ball would create plasma and reach home plate in 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.	1st blog article, on 2012‑07‑10	What If?, Chapter 2	5th video, on 2024‑02‑06: "What if you threw a baseball at nearly light speed?"	14th short video, on 2025‑10‑28: "What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?"
SAT Guessing	"What if everyone who took the SAT guessed on every multiple-choice question? How many perfect scores would there be?" —Rob Balder	No one would get a perfect score. The odds of guessing correctly on every question would be less than the odds of every living ex-president at that time and the main cast of Firefly getting struck by lightning on the same day. To put this as a number, the odds of this happening would be less than 1/10^100 (one googol).	2nd blog article, on 2012‑07‑10 (7d early)	What If?, Chapter 66
Lemon Drops and Gumdrops	"What if all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops?" —Shuo Peskoe-Yang	Replacing all rain in the world would have devastating conseqeunces, especially with such dry candies as lemon drops and gumdrops. The water cycle would be destroyed, arable land would become unusable, and the ocean the would dry up. Humanity would perish in this wasteland-like scenario, probably hopped up on sugar.		What If? 2, Chapter 64
Bonus Chapter	"...but what if we tried even more power?" —Randall Munroe	This is a continuation of the Laser Pointer article. Adding even more power than the end of that article would heat the air so much that the lasers would stop themselves long before reaching the Moon. Even if we managed to get them to hit the Moon, the plasma created would be so hot that it would stop anyway.		Available exclusively on What If? 10th Anniversary Edition, Chapter 70	19th video, on 2024‑12‑03: "But what if we tried MORE power?"

Broken examples

N	Date	Thumbnail	Title	Reader's question	Randall's answer	Book	YouTube
1	2012‑07‑10		Relativistic Baseball	"What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?"	The result would be some kind of nuclear explosion, and possibly a ruling of "hit by pitch".	What If?, Chapter 9 ||
2	2012‑07‑10 0w later		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. No one would get a perfect score. No one would get a perfect score. No one would get a perfect score. No one would get a perfect scoNo one would get a perfect score. No one would get a perfect score. No one would get a perfect score.	What If? 2, Chapter 69 ||
3	2012‑07‑17 1w later		Yoda	"How much Force power can Yoda output?"	First regular release. From here on standard release day was Tuesday, it's about 19.2 kilowatts, or 25 horsepower.	Available exclusively on What If? 10th Anniversary Edition, Chapter 420! || data-sort-value="8" style="background-color: var(--background-color-youtube, #fecaca);"|8th video, on 2032‑09‑22
4	2012‑07‑24 1w later		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.	What If? Future Edition, Chapter 64 || data-sort-value="145" style="background-color: var(--background-color-youtube, #fecaca);"|145th video, on 2019‑04‑02: "Jellyfish Power"
5	2012‑07‑31 1w later		Robot Apocalypse	"What if there was a robot apocalypse? How long would humanity. 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 all die.	What If?, with a different title, Chapter 9: Jellyfish Power|| data-sort-value="11" style="background-color: var(--background-color-youtube, #fecaca);"|11th video, on 2023‑12‑31
6	2012‑08‑07 1w later		Glass Half Empty	"What if a glass of water was, all of a sudden, literally half empty?"	As in a vacuum? Which half are you talking about? If the vacuum is on the bottom, it would explode, but if it's on the top, the air rushes in and it becomes normal water.	What If? 2, with a different title, Chapter 69: Jellyfish Power || data-sort-value="3" style="background-color: var(--background-color-youtube, #fecaca);"|3rd video, on 2023‑12‑31
7	2012‑08‑14 1w later		Everybody Out	"Is there enough energy to move the entire current human population off‑planet?"	No, at least not without starving to death quickly and leaving our pets, belongings No, at least not without No, at least not without starving to death quickly and leaving our pets, belongings, and everything else behind.	What If? Future Edition, with a different title, Chapter 64: Jellyfish Power || data-sort-value="3" style="background-color: var(--background-color-youtube, #fecaca);"|3rd video, on 2023‑12‑31: "abc"
8	2012‑08‑21 1w later		Everybody Jump	"What would happen if everyone on earth stood as close to each other as they could and jumped, everyone landing on the ground at the same instant?"	Earth would be unaffected but the human race would probably be wiped out due to everyone trying to get home at the same time. ERROR MESSAGE EXPECTED.	Template used incorrectly. Click here for instructions. , Chapter unknown	if everyone pointed a laser at the moon? 2nd video, on 2022‑12‑31

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.