User:FaviFake

TO DO:

•  ✓ Done  - Add the missing articles, i'm working on that.
•  ✓ Done  - Re-add all the hyperlinked article titles. They were removed by mistake.

• Upload the thumbnails of articles that don't have them. (Download them from HERE and then click 100x in the table below. Then upload, making sure to add the file to [[Category:What If? Images]].

• Keep improving the explanations, they're all still too short!

• Populate the two columns Book and YouTube (You don't need to own the books to help! The book chapters are already on this page: What If? chapters. Simply move what's already there, like this:</big>

YouTube:

{{yt|YTNUMBER|YYYY|MM|DD|YTLINK|VIDEOTITLE}}

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

Books: For the first book:

{{book1|CHAPTER-NUMBER}}

For the second book:

{{book2|CHAPTER-NUMBER}}

EXAMPLE:{{book2|69}}

✓ Done  - I added all the missing articles! The table is complete. Help by doing the above. Thanks!

N	Date	Thumbnail	Title	Reader's question	Randall's answer	Books	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".	Featured in What If?, Chapter 2	5th YT video, on 2024‑02‑06: What if you threw a baseball at nearly light speed?
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.
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.
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.	Featured in What If?, Chapter 10
5	2012‑07‑31 1w later		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 all die.
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.
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 and everything else behind.
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 almost all humans would probably be wiped out due to everyone trying to get home at the same time.		9th YT video, on 2024‑04‑16: What if everyone jumped at once?
9	2012‑08‑28 1w later		Soul Mates	"What if everyone actually had only one soul mate, a random person somewhere in the world?"	Almost nobody would find their soul mate.	Featured in What If?, Chapter 6
10	2012‑09‑04 1w later		Cassini	"What would the world be like if the land masses were spread out the same way as now ‑ only rotated by an angle of 90 degrees?"	Mass biosphere collapse.
11	2012‑09‑11 1w later		Droppings	"If you went outside and lay down on your back with your mouth open, how long would you have to wait until a bird pooped in it?"	195 years. Assuming you are in a area with a reasonable amount of birds. But why would you want to catch bird poop in your mouth?
12	2012‑09‑18 1w later		Raindrop	"What if a rainstorm dropped all of its water in a single giant drop?"	The surrounding area would be obliterated and there would be mass confusion for many following years.
13	2012‑09‑25 1w later		Laser Pointer	"If every person on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at the same time, would it change color?"	Not with regular lasers, but with more power, you could destroy the world.
14	2012‑10‑02 1w later		Short Answer Section	"How long would the Sun last if a giant water hose were focused upon it?"	The Sun would become a black hole with all the mass of the water.
14	2012‑10‑02 1w later		Short Answer Section	"What if you shined a flashlight (or a laser) into a sphere made of one‑way mirror glass?"	One-way glass does not exist. The light shines through just like normal glass.
14	2012‑10‑02 1w later		Short Answer Section	"If Michael Phelps could hold his breath indefinitely, how long would it take for him to reach the lowest point in the ocean and back if he swam straight down and then straight back up?"	Michael Phelps would die somewhere between 100 and 400 meters of depth. If he was immune to pressure, then it would take 3 hours to swim to the bottom of the Marianas Trench and back.
14	2012‑10‑02 1w later		Short Answer Section	"In the first Superman movie, Superman flies around Earth so fast that it begins turning in the opposite direction. This somehow turns back time [... ] How much energy would someone flying around the Earth have to exert in order to reverse the Earth's rotation?"	Superman wasn't pushing the Earth. He was flying superluminally and was thus travelling back through time.
14	2012‑10‑02 1w later		Short Answer Section	"How fast would you have to go in your car to run a red light claiming that it appeared green to you due to the Doppler Effect?"	About one sixth of the speed of light.
14	2012‑10‑02 1w later		Short Answer Section	"What would happen if you opened a portal between Boston (sea level) and Mexico City (elev. 8000+ feet)?"	There would be winds of 440 mph (708 km/h) sucking Boston into Mexico City.
14	2012‑10‑02 1w later		Short Answer Section	"When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. Her kitchen had something called Bauhaus chairs, which are full of holes, approx 5‑6 millimeters in diameter in both back and seat. During this lovely dinner I was forced to liberate a small portion of wind and was relieved that I managed to do so very discretely. Only to find that the chair I sat on converted the successful silence into a perfect, and loud, flute note. We were both (luckily) amazed and surprised and I have often wondered what the odds are for something like that happening. We kept the chairs for five years but despite laborious attempts it couldn't be reproduced."	This... isn’t actually a question, but thank you for sharing!
15	2012‑10‑09 1w later		Mariana Trench Explosion	"What if you exploded a nuclear bomb (say, the Tsar Bomba) at the bottom of the Marianas Trench?"	It would warm a small patch of the ocean and not do much. With a bigger bomb, it could destroy the world.
16	2012‑10‑16 1w later		Today's topic: Lightning	"How dangerous is it to be in a pool during a thunderstorm?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 19: Lightning
16	2012‑10‑16 1w later		Today's topic: Lightning	"What would happen if you were taking a shower or standing under a waterfall when you were struck by lightning?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 19: Lightning
16	2012‑10‑16 1w later		Today's topic: Lightning	"What would happen if you were in a boat, plane or a submarine that got hit by lightning?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 19: Lightning
16	2012‑10‑16 1w later		Today's topic: Lightning	"What if you were changing the light at the top of a radio tower and lightning struck? Or what if you were doing a backflip? Or standing in a graphite field? Or looking straight up at the bolt?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 19: Lightning
16	2012‑10‑16 1w later		Today's topic: Lightning	"What would happen if lightning struck a bullet in midair?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 19: Lightning
16	2012‑10‑16 1w later		Today's topic: Lightning	"What if you were flashing your BIOS during a thunderstorm and you got hit by lightning?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 19: Lightning
17	2012‑10‑23 1w later		Green Cows	"If cows could photosynthesize, how much less food would they need?"	4% less. There just isn't enough area.
18	2012‑10‑30 1w later		BB Gun	"In Armageddon, a NASA guy comments that a plan to shoot a laser at the asteroid is like “shooting a b.b. gun at a freight train.” What would it take to stop an out‑of‑control freight train using only b.b. guns?"	40000 people and some magic. Stopping an asteroid with a laser on the other hand is a lot easier.
19	2012‑11‑06 1w later		Tie Vote	"What if there's LITERALLY a tie?"
20	2012‑11‑13 1w later		Diamond	"If a meteor made out of diamond and 100 feet in diameter was traveling at the speed of light and hit the earth, what would happen to it?"	Nothing made of matter can travel at the speed of light, but at the closest speed observed (99.99999999999999999999951% of the speed of light, the speed of the Oh My God Particle), the Earth would explode with enough force to obliterate the entire solar system.
21	2012‑11‑20 1w later		Machine Gun Jetpack	"Is it possible to build a jetpack using downward firing machine guns?"	Yes, but you need to talk to the Russians to do it right.
22	2012‑11‑27 1w later		Cost of Pennies	"If you carry a penny in your coin tray, how long would it take for that penny to cost you more than a cent in extra gas?"	Never.
23	2012‑12‑04 1w later		Short Answer Section II	"If my printer could literally print out money, would it have that big an effect on the world?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 18: Short-Answer Section
23	2012‑12‑04 1w later		Short Answer Section II	"What would happen if you exploded a nuclear bomb in the eye of a hurricane? Would the storm cell be immediately vaporized?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 18: Short-Answer Section
23	2012‑12‑04 1w later		Short Answer Section II	"If everyone put little turbine generators on the downspouts of their houses and businesses, how much power would we generate? Would we ever generate enough power to offset the cost of the generators?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 18: Short-Answer Section
23	2012‑12‑04 1w later		Short Answer Section II	"Using only pronounceable letter combinations, how long would names have to be to give each star in the universe a unique one word name?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 18: Short-Answer Section
23	2012‑12‑04 1w later		Short Answer Section II	"I bike to class sometimes. It's annoying biking in the wintertime, because it's so cold. How fast would I have to bike for my skin to warm up the way a spacecraft heats up during reentry?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 18: Short-Answer Section
23	2012‑12‑04 1w later		Short Answer Section II	"How much physical space does the internet take up?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 18: Short-Answer Section
23	2012‑12‑04 1w later		Short Answer Section II	"What if you strapped C4 to a boomerang? Could this be an effective weapon, or would it be as stupid as it sounds?"		Featured in What If?, Chapter 18: Short-Answer Section
24	2012‑12‑11 1w later		Model Rockets	"How many model rocket engines would it take to launch a real rocket into space?"	About 65,000, give or take a few.
25	2012‑12‑18 1w later		Three Wise Men	"The story of the three wise men got me wondering: What if you did walk towards a star at a fixed speed? What path would you trace on the Earth? Does it converge to a fixed cycle?"	No, but it does make some really cool patterns. The word "Bethlehem" was misspelled in this article.
26	2012‑12‑31 2w later		Leap Seconds	"Every now and then we have to insert a leap second because the Earth’s rotation is slowing down. Could we speed up Earth’s rotation, so that we do not need Leap Seconds?"	With 50 000 planets B-612 hitting the Earth each second and a few assumptions, we could stop worrying about leap seconds.
27	2013‑01‑08 1w later		Death Rates	"If one randomly chosen extra person were to die each second somewhere on Earth, what impact would it have on the world population?"	Not much. The world just has too many people.
28	2013‑01‑15 1w later		Steak Drop	"From what height would you need to drop a steak for it to be cooked when it hit the ground?"	From the very edge of the atmosphere and even then it might not be fully cooked.
29	2013‑01‑22 1w later		Spent Fuel Pool	"What if I took a swim in a typical spent nuclear fuel pool? Would I need to dive to actually experience a fatal amount of radiation? How long could I stay safely at the surface?"	As long as you don't touch strange things and you don't swim too close to the fuel rods, it would be just like a regular pool. Except for the fact you would never make it to the pool.		8th YT video, on 2024‑04‑02: What if you swam in a nuclear storage pool?
30	2013‑01‑29 1w later		Interplanetary Cessna	"What would happen if you tried to fly a normal Earth airplane above different Solar System bodies?"	It would be difficult to fly on Mars, so you would crash. The gas giants also have this problem, and you would freeze and tumble. Titan and Venus are the best bets, but Titan is cold and Venus is full of sulfuric acid.
31	2013‑02‑05 1w later		FedEx Bandwidth	"When ‑ if ever ‑ will the bandwidth of the Internet surpass that of FedEx?"	NEVER!!!
32	2013‑02‑12 1w later		Hubble	"If the Hubble telescope were aimed at the Earth, how detailed would the images be?"	A smudge of colour.		1st YT video, on 2023‑11‑29: What if we aimed the Hubble Telescope at Earth?
33	2013‑02‑19 1w later		Ships	"How much would the sea level fall if every ship were removed all at once from the Earth's waters?"	Less than a human hair's width.
34	2013‑02‑26 1w later	100px	Twitter	"How many unique English tweets are possible? How long would it take for the population of the world to read them all out loud?"	Forever, literally.
35	2013‑03‑05 1w later		Hair Dryer	"What would happen if a hair dryer with continuous power was turned on and put in an airtight 1x1x1 meter box?"	Bad things. Like lava, and the burning of North America.
36	2013‑03‑12 1w later		Cornstarch	"How much cornstarch can I rinse down the drain before unpleasant things start to happen?"	Define unpleasant. Megan seems to be having fun.
37	2013‑03‑19 1w later		Supersonic Stereo	"What if you somehow managed to make a stereo travel at twice the speed of sound, would it sound backwards to someone who was just casually sitting somewhere as it flies by?"	Assuming the stereo is indestructible then yes.
38	2013‑03‑26 1w later	100px	Voyager	"With today's technology, would it be possible to launch an unmanned mission to retrieve Voyager I?"	We could possibly spend a ton of money and resources to get a probe to Voyager. Getting it back is another story.
39	2013‑04‑02 1w later		Hockey Puck	"How hard would a puck have to be shot to be able to knock the goalie himself backwards into the net?"	This is another impossible scenario.
40	2013‑04‑09 1w later		Pressure Cooker	"Am I right to be afraid of pressure cookers? What's the worst thing that can happen if you misuse a pressure cooker in an ordinary kitchen?"	The worst thing? Science.
41	2013‑04‑16 1w later		Go West	"If everybody in the US drove west, could we temporarily halt continental drift?"	Not even by a bit.
42	2013‑04‑23 1w later		Longest Sunset	"What is the longest possible sunset you can experience while driving, assuming we are obeying the speed limit and driving on paved roads?"	95 minutes at the right place at the right time.
43	2013‑04‑30 1w later		Train Loop	"Could a high‑speed train run through a vertical loop, like a rollercoaster, with the passengers staying comfortable?"	No, not even if we change the requirements to just the passengers staying alive.
44	2013‑05‑07 1w later		High Throw	"How high can a human throw something?"	16 giraffes.
45	2013‑05‑14 1w later		ISS Music Video	"Is this the most expensive music video ever?"	No. Just no.
46	2013‑05‑21 1w later		Bowling Ball	"I've been told that if the Earth were shrunk down to the size of a bowling ball, it would be smoother than said bowling ball. My question is, what would a bowling ball look like if it were blown up to the size of the Earth?"	The finger holes would collapse and then not much would happen.
47	2013‑05‑28 1w later		Alien Astronomers	"Let's assume there's life on the the nearest habitable exoplanet and that they have technology comparable to ours. If they looked at our star right now, what would they see?"	They would see pretty much nothing with regular telescopes. The detection could be possible with radio technology.
48	2013‑06‑04 1w later		Sunset on the British Empire	"When (if ever) did the Sun finally set on the British Empire?"	It hasn't set and it won't for thousands of years.
49	2013‑06‑11 1w later		Sunless Earth	"What would happen to the Earth if the Sun suddenly switched off?"	We would see a variety of benefits across our lives but we would also freeze and die.
50	2013‑06‑18 1w later		Extreme Boating	"What would it be like to navigate a rowboat through a lake of mercury? What about bromine? Liquid gallium? Liquid tungsten? Liquid nitrogen? Liquid helium?"
51	2013‑06‑25 1w later		Free Fall	"What place on Earth would allow you to freefall the longest by jumping off it? What about using a squirrel suit?"	Mount Thor would allow the longest fall an‑AAAAAAAAAAA...
52	2013‑07‑02 1w later		Bouncy Balls	"What if one were to drop 3,000 bouncy balls from a seven story parking structure onto a person walking on the sidewalk below? Should the person survive, what would be the number of bouncy balls needed to kill them? What injuries would occur and what would the associated crimes be?"	Around 3 000 000 balls. Death would occur and you would be charged with manslaughter or murder.
53	2013‑07‑09 1w later		Drain the Oceans	"How quickly would the ocean's drain if a circular portal 10 meters in radius leading into space was created at the bottom of Challenger Deep, the deepest spot in the ocean? How would the Earth change as the water is being drained?"	NETHERLANDS RULE!!! P.S., everyone dies, new islands everywhere.
54	2013‑07‑16 1w later		Drain the Oceans: Part II	"Supposing you did Drain the Oceans, and dumped the water on top of the Curiosity rover, how would Mars change as the water accumulated?"	it would split into many islands and the Netherlands will take over.
55	2013‑07‑23 1w later		Random Sneeze Call	"If you call a random phone number and say “God bless you”, what are the chances that the person who answers just sneezed? On average, not just in spring or fall."	The chances are 1 in 40000.
56	2013-07-30 1w later		Restraining an Airplane	"If you wanted to anchor an airplane into the ground so it wouldn't be able to take off, what would the rope have to be made out of?"	Whale hair.
57	2013-08-06 1w later	100px	Dropping a Mountain	"What if a huge mountain—Denali, say—had the bottom inch of its base disappear? What would happen from the impact of the mountain falling 1 inch? What about 1 foot? What if the mountain's base were raised to the present height of the summit, and then the whole thing were allowed to drop to the earth?"	The first scenarios are pretty boring. the last is devastating.
58	2013-08-12 1w later	100px	Orbital Speed	"What if a spacecraft slowed down on re-entry to just a few miles per hour using rocket boosters like the Mars-sky-crane? Would it negate the need for a heat shield?"
58	2013-08-12 0w later	100px	Orbital Speed	"Is it possible for a spacecraft to control its reentry in such a way that it avoids the atmospheric compression and thus would not require the expensive (and relatively fragile) heat shield on the outside?"
58	2013-08-12 0w later	100px	Orbital Speed	"Could a (small) rocket (with payload) be lifted to a high point in the atmosphere where it would only need a small rocket to get to escape velocity?"
59	2013-08-20 1w later	100px	Updating a Printed Wikipedia	"If you had a printed version of the whole of (say, the English) Wikipedia, how many printers would you need in order to keep up with the changes made to the live version?"	6, but they would cost much more than you could afford and filing would be a nightmare.
60	2013-08-27 1w later	100px	Signs of Life	"If you could teleport to a random place of the surface of the Earth, what are the odds that you'll see signs of intelligent life?"	70% of the time you would end up in the ocean.
61	2013-09-03 1w later	100px	Speed Bump	"How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live?"	Surprisingly fast, but beware destroying the city, and fines.
62	2013-09-10 1w later	100px	Falling With Helium	"What if I jumped out of an airplane with a couple of tanks of helium and one huge, un-inflated balloon? Then, while falling, I release the helium and fill the balloon. How long of a fall would I need in order for the balloon to slow me enough that I could land safely?"	2500 cubic feet.
63	2013-09-17 1w later	100px	Google's Datacenters on Punch Cards	"If all digital data were stored on punch cards, how big would Google's data warehouse be?"	Big enough to bury the world many times.
64	2013-09-24 1w later	100px	Rising Steadily	"If you suddenly began rising steadily at one foot per second, how exactly would you die? Would you freeze or suffocate first? Or something else?"	Assuming you had a good coat, you would survive to the death zone and die.
65	2013-10-01 1w later	100px	Twitter Timeline Height	"If our Twitter timelines (tweets by the people we follow) actually extended off the screen in both directions, how tall would they be?"	Very tall.
66	2013-10-08 1w later	100px	500 MPH	"If winds reached 500 mph, would it pick up a human?"	Absolutely! But first worry about what caused the 500 MPH winds...
67	2013-10-15 1w later	100px	Expanding Earth	"How long would it take for people to notice their weight gain if the mean radius of the world expanded by 1cm every second? (Assuming the average composition of rock were maintained.)"	10 years, give or take.
68	2013-10-22 1w later	100px	Little Planet	"If an asteroid was very small but supermassive, could you really live on it like the Little Prince?"	Yes, but it would be very inconvenient.
69	2013-10-29 1w later	100px	Facebook of the Dead	"When, if ever, will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than of living ones?"	A decade or a century, depending if Facebook would still be popular.
70	2013-11-05 1w later	100px	The Constant Groundskeeper	"How big of a lawn would you have to have so that when you finished mowing you'd need to start over because the grass has grown?"	Very big, bigger if you're a cougar.
71	2013-11-12 1w later	100px	Stirring Tea	"I was absentmindedly stirring a cup of hot tea, when I got to thinking, "aren't I actually adding kinetic energy into this cup?" I know that stirring does help to cool down the tea, but what if I were to stir it faster? Would I be able to boil a cup of water by stirring?"	No, and don't even try.
72	2013-11-19 1w later	100px	Loneliest Human	"What is the furthest one human being has ever been from every other living person? Were they lonely?"	Possibly the Apollo Astronauts but they definitely weren't lonely.
73	2013-11-26 1w later	100px	Lethal Neutrinos	"How close would you have to be to a supernova to get a lethal dose of neutrino radiation?"	About 2.3 AU.
74	2013-12-03 1w later	100px	Soda Planet	"How much of the Earth's currently-existing water has ever been turned into a soft drink at some point in its history?"	0.0000005%.
75	2013-12-10 1w later	100px	Phone Keypad	"I use one of those old phones where you type with numbers—for example, to type "Y", you press 9 three times. Some words have consecutive letters on the same number. When they do, you have to pause between letters, making those words annoying to type. What English word has the most consecutive letters on the same key?"	Nonmonogamous
76	2013-12-17 1w later	100px	Reading Every Book	"At what point in human history were there too many (English) books to be able to read them all in one lifetime?"	Depends, as many were burned.
77	2013-12-31 2w later	100px	Growth Rate	"What height would humans reach if we kept growing through our whole development period (i.e. till late teens/early twenties) at the same pace as we do during our first month?"	10 to 12 meters.
78	2014-01-07 1w later	100px	T-rex Calories	"If a T-rex were released in New York City, how many humans/day would it need to consume to get its needed calorie intake?"	One large-sized one or two small-sized ones per day.
79	2014-01-14 1w later	100px	Lake Tea	"What if we were to dump all the tea in the world into the Great Lakes? How strong, compared to a regular cup of tea, would the lake tea be?"	Not strong enough to make a difference.
80	2014-01-21 1w later	100px	Pile of Viruses	"What if every virus in the world were collected into one area? How much volume would they take up and what would they look like?"	It would be like a Super Bowl of pus.
81	2014-01-28 1w later	100px	Catch!	"Is there any way to fire a gun so that the bullet flies through the air and can then be safely caught by hand? e.g. shooter is at sea level and catcher is up a mountain at the extreme range of the gun."	It is possible, but beware the police.
82	2014-02-05 1w later	100px	Hitting a comet	"Astrophysicists are always saying things like "This mission to this comet is equivalent to throwing a baseball from New York and hitting a particular window in San Francisco." Are they really equivalent?"	The baseball is much harder.
83	2014-02-11 1w later	100px	Star Sand	"If you made a beach using grains the proportionate size of the stars in the Milky Way, what would that beach look like?"	It would be a bunch of boulders with some patches of sand.
84	2014-02-18 1w later	100px	Paint the Earth	"Has humanity produced enough paint to cover the entire land area of the Earth?"	So close!!! But no, only about as much as the land area of Russia.
85	2014-02-25 1w later	100px	Rocket Golf	"Assuming that you have a spaceship in orbit around the Earth, could you propel your ship to speeds exceeding escape velocity by hitting golf balls in the other direction? If so, how many golf balls would be required to reach the Moon?"	If you cheat, a bag a little smaller than the Moon.
86	2014-03-04 1w later	100px	Far-Traveling Objects	"In terms of human-made objects, has Voyager 1 travelled the farthest distance? It's certainly the farthest from Earth we know about. But what about the edge of ultracentrifuges, or generator turbines that have been running for years, for example?"	The Mariner 1 has traveled much farther than Voyager 1.
87	2014-03-11 1w later	100px	Enforced by Radar	"I've occasionally seen "radar enforced" on speed limit signs, and I can't help but ask: How intense would radio waves have to be to stop a car from going over the speed limit, and what would happen if this were attempted?"	Intense enough to cause a medium sized nuclear explosion. Better to just carry a sign.
88	2014-03-18 1w later	100px	Soda Sequestration	"How much CO2 is contained in the world's stock of bottled fizzy drinks? How much soda would be needed to bring atmospheric CO2 back to preindustrial levels?"	Enough soda to cover Earth with ten layers of cans.
89	2014-03-25 1w later	100px	Tungsten Countertop	"How far would a tungsten countertop descend if I dropped it into the Sun?"	It would be vapourized before it got close to the Sun.
90	2014-04-03 1w later	100px	Great Tree, Great Axe	"If all the seas were one sea, What a great sea that would be! If all the trees were one tree, What a great tree that would be! If all the men were one man, What a great man that would be! If all the axes were one axe, What a great axe that would be! And if the great man took the great axe, And cut down the great tree, And let if [sic] fall into the great sea, What a great splish-splash that would be!" ... How great would all of these things be?"	The tree and splash would be great. The others not so much.
91	2014-04-08 1w later	100px	Faucet Power	"I just moved into a new apartment. It includes hot water but I have to pay the electric bill. So being a person on a budget ... what's the best way to use my free faucet to generate electricity?"	Just give it away as drinking water.
92	2014-04-15 1w later		One-Second Day	"What would happen if the Earth's rotation were sped up until a day only lasted one second?"	Everything on Earth would die, but if it happened when the Moon crosses the plane of the Earth, then everything in the Solar System will die (whether there is a difference is debatable).
93	2014-04-22 1w later		Windshield Raindrops	"At what speed would you have to drive for rain to shatter your windshield?"	Fast enough so you would need a speedometer in scientific notation.
94	2014-04-29 1w later		Billion-Story Building	"My daughter — age 4.5 — maintains she wants a billion-story building. It turns out not only is that hard to help her appreciate this size, I am not at all able to explain all of the other difficulties you'd have to overcome."	First of all, it would not stand under its own weight. Also, it would be many times the distance the Earth is from the Moon.
95	2014-05-06 1w later		Pyramid Energy	"What took more energy, the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza or the Apollo Mission? If we could convert the energy to build the Great Pyramid, would it be enough to send a rocket to the Moon and back?"	No
96	2014-05-14 1w later		$2 Undecillion Lawsuit	"What if Au Bon Pain lost this lawsuit and had to pay the plaintiff $2 undecillion?"	They would not be able to pay off the debt, even if they forced humanity to work as slaves from now until the stars die.
97	2014-05-20 1w later		Burning Pollen	"What if you were to somehow ignite the pollen that floats around in the air in spring? Other than being a really bad idea, what effect would it have?"	It would just warm up the air by a bit.
98	2014-05-27 1w later		Blood Alcohol	"Could you get drunk from drinking a drunk person's blood?"	Not before other nasty things happened.
99	2014-06-03 1w later		Starlings	"I was watching this video and was wondering: How many birds there would need to be for gravity to take over and force them into a gargantuan ball of birds?"	Enough to make a black hole
100	2014-06-11 1w later		WWII Films	"Did WWII last longer than the total length of movies about WWII? For that matter, which war has the highest movie time:war time ratio?"	From here on standard release day was Wednesday.
101	2014-06-18 1w later		Plastic Dinosaurs	"As plastic is made from oil and oil is made from dead dinosaurs, how much actual real dinosaur is there in a plastic dinosaur?"	Not much
102	2014-06-25 1w later		Keyboard Power	"As a writer, I'm wondering what would be the cumulative energy of the hundreds of thousands of keystrokes required to write a novel."	Less than enough energy to microwave a burrito.
103	2014-07-02 1w later		Vanishing Water	"What would happen if all the bodies of water on Earth magically disappeared?"	Like with most of the other scenarios, everyone dies.
104	2014-07-09 1w later		Global Snow	"From my seven-year-old son: How many snowflakes would it take to cover the entire world in six feet of snow? (I don't know why six feet...but that's what he asked.)"	Too many.
105	2014-07-16 1w later		Cannibalism	"How long could the human race survive on only cannibalism?"	................................
106	2014-07-23 1w later		Ink Molecules	"Suppose you were to print, in 12 point text, the numeral 1 using a common cheap ink-jet printer. How many molecules of the ink would be used? At what numerical value would the number printed approximately equal the number of ink molecules used?"	An 18 digit number.
107	2014-07-30 1w later		Letter to Mom	"What’s the fastest way to get a hand-written letter from my place in Chicago to my mother in New Jersey?"	Missiles, obviously.
108	2014-08-13 2w later		Expensive Shoebox	"What would be the most expensive way to fill a size 11 shoebox (e.g. with 64 GB MicroSD cards all full of legally purchased music)?"	There are many options (precious materials, hard drugs, physical file storage, etc.), but they all cap out at ~$2,000,000,000.
109	2014-08-20 1w later		Into the Blue	"If I shot an infinitely strong laser beam into the sky at a random point, how much damage would it do?"	Most of the time it would not hit anything.
110	2014-08-27 1w later		Walking New York	"Could a person walk the entire city of NY in their lifetime? (including inside apartments)"	30 years to walk, much longer for the sentence.
111	2014-09-02 1w later		All the Money	"People sometimes say "If I had all the money in the world ..." in order to discuss what they would do if they had no financial constraints. I'm curious, though, what would happen if one person had all of the world's money?"	The only thing to do would be to make a swimming pool, as it is unlikely anybody else would agree with your claims to all the money and property.
112	2014-09-17 2w later		Balloon Car	"My 12-year-old daughter is proposing an interesting project. She is planning to attach a number of helium balloons to a chair, which in turn would be tethered by means of a rope to a Ferrari. Her 13-year-old friend would then drive the Ferrari around, while she sits in the chair enjoying uninterrupted views of the countryside. Leaving aside the legal and insurance difficulties, my daughter is keen to know the maximum speed that she could expect to attain, and how many helium balloons would be required."	A balloon just big enough to lift you would be pushed down by the wind, and a balloon big enough to counteract that would lift up the car along with you. The way to achieve this result is parasailing.
113	2014-09-24 1w later		Visit Every State	"How fast could you visit all 50 states?"	In just over 6 hours, in 5 satellite orbits.
114	2014-10-01 1w later		Antimatter	"What if everything was antimatter, EXCEPT Earth?"	Our existence would end, but much slower than in most other situations, from outer-space gas and meteorites.
115	2014-10-08 1w later		Into the Sun	"When I was about 8 years old, shoveling snow on a freezing day in Colorado, I wished that I could be instantly transported to the surface of the Sun, just for a nanosecond, then instantly transported back. I figured this would be long enough to warm me up but not long enough to harm me. What would actually happen?"	You would not be warmed if you went to the surface. The core, on the other hand, would vapourize you.
116	2014-10-15 1w later		No-Rules NASCAR	"If you stripped away all the rules of car racing and had a contest which was simply to get a human being around a track 200 times as fast as possible, what strategy would win? Let's say the racer has to survive."	If the rider has to survive, 90 minutes is the limit based on human G-force tolerances. If survival is not a priority, you have built a particle accelerator.		3rd YT video, on 2023‑12‑19: What if NASCAR had no rules?
117	2014-10-23 1w later		Distant Death	"What is the farthest from Earth that any Earth thing has died?"	The farthest that any human has died is about 167 kilometers. In terms of any living thing, however, bacterial spores on Voyager 1 are dying every few months, setting a new record each time.
118	2014-10-30 1w later		Physical Salary	"What if people's incomes appeared around them as cash in real time? How much would you need to make to be in real trouble?"	A normal person would not get buried. A CEO, on the other hand, would be in trouble.
119	2014-11-13 2w later		Laser Umbrella	"Stopping rain from falling on something with an umbrella or a tent is boring. What if you tried to stop rain with a laser that targeted and vaporized each incoming droplet before it could come within ten feet of the ground?"	It would be very complicated, not worth it, and would probably catch everything around you on fire.
120	2014-11-20 1w later		Alternate Universe What Ifs	"Dispatches from a horrifying alternate universe"
121	2014-12-11 3w later		Frozen Rivers	"What would happen if all of the rivers in the US were instantly frozen in the middle of the summer?"	Every river in the US would flood, but we'd probably be fine.
122	2014-12-18 1w later		Lava Lamp	"What if I made a lava lamp out of real lava? What could I use as a clear medium? How close could I stand to watch it?"	It would be too bright to watch and it would turn into rock quickly.
123	2014-12-31 2w later		Fairy Demographics	"How many fairies would fly around, if each fairy is born from the first laugh of a child and fairies were immortal?"	They would have the same birth rate as humans, and they would become a major part of the ecosystem.
124	2015-01-08 1w later		Lunar Swimming	"What if there was a lake on the Moon? What would it be like to swim in it? Presuming that it is sheltered in a regular atmosphere, in some giant dome or something."	It would be super-cool, given that lower gravity would increase the size of splashes and the height of jumps.
125	2015-01-15 1w later		Bowling Ball	"You are in a boat directly over the Mariana Trench. If you drop a 7kg bowling ball over the side, how long would it take to hit the bottom?"	Two hours and 20 minutes.
126	2015-01-22 1w later		Stairs	"If you made an elevator that would go to space (like the one you mentioned in the billion-story building) and built a staircase up (assuming regulated air pressure) about how long would it take to climb to the top?"	A week or two.
127	2015-01-28 1w later		Tug of War	"Would it be possible for two teams in a tug-o-war to overcome the ultimate tensile strength of an iron rod and pull it apart? How big would the teams have to be?"	Not too big.
128	2015-02-05 1w later		Zippo Phone	"What in my pocket actually contains more energy, my Zippo or my smartphone? What would be the best way of getting the energy from one to the other? And since I am already feeling like Bilbo in this one, is there anything else in my pocket that would have unexpected amounts of stored energy?"	The Zippo has more energy than your phone, but your hand would have even more.
129	2015-02-12 1w later		Black Hole Moon	"What would happen if the Moon were replaced with an equivalently-massed black hole? If it's possible, what would a lunar ("holar"?) eclipse look like?"	It would not have a big impact unless it happened during the space age.
130	2015-02-19 1w later		Snow Removal	"I've long thought about putting a flamethrower on the front of a car to melt snow and ice before you drive across it. Now I've realized that a flamethrower is impractical, but what about a high-powered microwave emitter?"
131	2015-02-27 1w later		Microwaves	"I have had a particular problem for as long as I can remember. Any time I attempt to heat left over Chinese food in a microwave, it fails to heat completely through somewhere. Usually the center but not always and usually rice, but often it will be a small section of meat. It's baffling and has made me automatically adjust heating times to over 2 minutes. In most cases this tends to heat the bowl or plate more than the food. So I suppose the question is what is the optimal time to heat left over Chinese food in the microwave, how about an 800 watt microwave?"	The release date in the archive is the wrong year 2014. From here on there seems to no longer be a standard release day for some time.
132	2015-03-07 1w later		Hotter than Average	"I saw a sign at a hot springs tub saying "Caution: Water is hotter than average" with water at about 39°C. Although they were presumably trying to say "hotter than the average swimming pool," this got me wondering: What is the average temperature of all water on the Earth’s surface, and how does that temperature compare to 39°C?"	There is a water average. Give the signmakers some credit.
133	2015-03-17 1w later		Flagpole	"So, you're falling from a height above the tallest building in your town, and you don't have a parachute. But wait! Partway down the side of that skyscraper there's a flagpole sticking out, sans flag! You angle your descent and grab the pole just long enough to swing around so that when you let go you're now heading back up toward the sky. As gravity slows you and brings you to a halt, you reach the top of the skyscraper, where you reach out and pull yourself to safety. What's the likelihood this could happen?"	The first of two longer shifts in release day two weeks in a row which resulted in only two releases over three weeks, resulting in the eight break in total.
134	2015-03-28 2w later		Space Burial	"I've often joked I'd like to have my remains put into orbit. Not in a "scatter my ashes" sense, but, like, "throw my naked corpse out the airlock" sense. Honestly, my main motivation is to baffle someone in the distant future, but it's an interesting scientific question: what would happen to my body in orbit over the course of years, decades or centuries?"	The second of two longer shifts in release day two weeks in a row which resulted in only two releases over three weeks, resulting in the eight break in total.
135	2015-04-05 1w later		Digging Downward	"What would happen if I dug straight down, at a speed of 1 foot per second? What would kill me first?"	Magic, because science just works like that.
136	2015-04-12 1w later		Spiders vs. the Sun	"Which has a greater gravitational pull on me: the Sun, or spiders? Granted, the Sun is much bigger, but it is also much further away, and as I learned in high school physics, the gravitational force is proportional to the square of the distance."	The Sun. But spiders are a lot more scary.
137	2015-12-31 36w later		New Horizons	"What if New Horizons hits my car?"	The second longest break up til summer 2016, the only one to have been announced. The ninth break in total.
138	2015-12-31 2w later		Jupiter Submarine	"What if you released a submarine into Jupiter's atmosphere? Would it eventually reach a point where it would float? Could it navigate?"	The sixth two weeks break, tenth break in total. Answer: NO!!!!!
139	2015-12-31 1w later		Jupiter Descending	"If you did fall into Jupiter's atmosphere in a submarine, what would it actually look like? What would you see before you melted or burned up?"	You would see...brown.
140	2015-12-31 7w later		Proton Earth, Electron Moon	"What if the Earth were made entirely of protons, and the Moon were made entirely of electrons?"	First and shortest of two long breaks in a row, the 11th break in total. For the answer, the universe would be destroyed.
141	2016-12-31 17w later		Sunbeam	"What if all of the sun's output of visible light were bundled up into a laser-like beam that had a diameter of around 1m once it reaches Earth?"	Second and longest break so far of two long breaks in a row, the 12th break in total. From here on standard release day was again Tuesday. Answer: A literal Death Star.
142	2016-01-20 1w later		Space Jetta	"What if I tried to re-enter the atmosphere in my car? (a 2000 VW Jetta TDI). Would it do more environmental damage than it is already apparently doing?"	Actually, it would be more clean than it is currently!
143	2016-01-26 1w later		Europa Water Siphon	"What if you built a siphon from the oceans on Europa to Earth? Would it flow once it's set up? (We have an idea for selling bottled Europa water.)"	No, at least not with a siphon.
144	2016-02-02 1w later		Saliva Pool	"How long would it take for a single person to fill up an entire swimming pool with their own saliva?"	8345 years.
145	2016-02-09 1w later		Fire From Moonlight	"Can you use a magnifying glass and moonlight to light a fire?"	NO!!!!!!
146	2016-02-16 1w later		Stop Jupiter	"I understand that the New Horizons craft used gravity assist from Jupiter to increase its speed on the way to Pluto. I also understand that by doing this, Jupiter slowed down very slightly. How many flyby runs would it take to stop Jupiter completely?"	This can never happen, even if we were to throw Earth at Jupiter.
147	2016-02-26 1w later		Niagara Straw	"What would happen if one tried to funnel Niagara Falls through a straw?"	From here on there is no longer any standard release days. Answer: The International Niagara Committee, the International Niagara Board of Control, the International Joint Commission, the International Niagara Board Working Committee, and probably the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee would be angry. Also, the Earth would be destroyed.
148	2016-03-12 2w later		Eat the Sun	"What percentage of the Sun's heat (per day) does the population of Earth eat in calories per year? What changes could be made to our diets for the amount of calories to equal the energy of the Sun?"	The seventh two weeks break, 13th break in total.
149	2016-03-26 2w later		Pizza Bird	"My boyfriend recently took a flight on a plane with wifi, and while he was up there, wistfully asked if I could send him a pizza. I jokingly sent him a photo of a parrot holding a pizza slice in its beak. Obviously, my boyfriend had to go without pizza until he landed at JFK. But this raised the question: could a bird deliver a standard 20" New York-style cheese pizza in a box? And if so, what kind of bird would it take?"	The eight two weeks break, 14th break in total.
150	2016-05-23 8w later		Tatooine Rainbow	"Since rainbows are caused by the refraction of the sunlight by tiny droplets of rainwater, what would rainbow look like on Earth if we had two suns like Tatooine?"	First two months break of at least two in a row, the 15th break in total.
151	2016-07-21 9w later		Sun Bug	"How many fireflies would it take to match the brightness of the Sun?"	Second two months break of at least two in a row, the 16th break in total. The release date in the archive is the wrong month June. It was released between 18-20 July, as the link here was posted on the 20th. But on the archive page is says it was released on June 21, which should probably have been July 21.
152	2016-12-31 14w later		Flood Death Valley	"Since Death Valley is below sea level could we dig a hole to the ocean and fill it up with water?"	After two 8 weeks breaks this one waited almost three months. Regarding the question it could be done, but why did the guy asking the question whish to do such a horrible thing Randall ends up asking back. Most of the what if? goes with citing temperature records and other trivia actually naming a Jeopardy master. At least two comics coming out right after this was referencing this article. 1748: Future Archaeology and 1750: Life Goals.
153	2017-01-30 2w later		Hide the Atmosphere	"Earth’s atmosphere is really thin compared to the radius of the Earth. How big a hole do I need to dig before people suffocate?"	With close to 15 weeks this was the second longest break between articles so far. The hole needs to be Very big it turns out, but under the right circumstances a five mile hole over the entire state of Texas might suffice... But beware of messing with the Texans.
154	2017-02-08 1w later		Coast-to-Coast Coasting	"What if the entire continental US was on a decreasing slope from West to East. How steep would the slope have to be to sustain the momentum needed to ride a bicycle the entire distance without pedaling?"	The article is about the slope needed to be able to coast on a bike, without using the pedals, across mainland USA. It turns out the ramp would need to be five miles high (8 km) to make this possible, and that would be at a speed slower than walking. Also you would need oxygen the first third of the way down... Unlike the last article, out after almost a 15 weeks break, this one was released only a bit more than week after that. It is almost a year ago that two comics have been released with less than two full weeks between them (that was #147 released February 26, 2016). In that year (assuming no more comics before February 26 2017), only 8 articles where released including both 147 and this one.
155	2017-02-28 3w later		Toaster vs. Freezer	"Would a toaster still work in a freezer?"	With less than 3 weeks between releases, releases seems to have become more regular in the beginning of 2017. The question is not asked of Randall this time, but rather one he has found discussed on Episode 343 of the advice podcast My Brother, My Brother and Me (links are those given in the article) where the three brothers McElroy are discussing a Yahoo! Answers question.
156	2017-03-09 1w later		Electrofishing for Whales	"I used to work on a fisheries crew where we would use an electro-fisher backpack to momentarily stun small fish (30 - 100 mm length) so we could scoop them up with nets to identify and measure them. The larger fish tended to be stunned for slightly longer because of their larger surface area but I don't imagine this relationship would be maintained for very large animals. Could you electrofish for a blue whale? At what voltage would you have have to set the e-fisher?"	Second time with less than two weeks between release in 2017. The answer focuses more on the bad side effects of electrofising, both long term effect on fish and also mentions killing of Dolphins. So it seems more of an protect the animal article than an answer. But the fact is that larger animals (and especially mammals) is likely to die rather than just get stunned. But it is also harder to get any effect in saltwater, which explains why electrofishing is mainly done in rivers and lakes. The higher conductivity of saltwater makes to current prefer to avoid the less salt whale rather than go through it. This is less of an issue in fresh water. So basically it just won't work on blue whales.
157	2018-12-31 91w later		Earth-Moon Fire Pole	"My son (5y) asked me today: If there were a kind of a fireman's pole from the Moon down to the Earth, how long would it take to slide all the way from the Moon to the Earth?"	After two in as short period of time in March 2017 more than a year (62 weeks) passed before the next entry came in May 2018... After a discussion of the extreme challenges that this set-up would face (an extreme form of the challenges of a space elevator), Randall details the different domains of the new slowest extreme sport: climbing out of the Moon's gravity, accelerating through the middle transfer phase, and then decelerating to your supersonic arrival on earth. Fun.
158	2022-12-31 234w later		Hot Banana	"I heard that bananas are radioactive. If they are radioactive, then they radiate energy. How many bananas would you need to power a house?"	Just under four years passed before a new What If. This new release is probably due to the upcoming release of the What If? 2 book. Bananas are not very radioactive; it would take an absurdly large number. However, gathering that many bananas in one place would have negative consequences. New York no longer exists.
159	2022-12-31 9w later		Hailstones	"My 4 year old son and I were wondering about soccer ball sized hail today. How much damage would a hail storm with size 5 soccer ball sized hail do?"	Two month between releases, and relased two weeks after the previous comic promoting the new book, 2636: What If? 2 Countdown. No real chance of producing that big hail stones, but if they could be lethal even if staying indoors.
160	2022-12-31 13w later	100px	Transatlantic Car Rental	"My daughter recently received her driver's permit in the US, and aspires to visit mainland Europe someday. She has learned enough about the rules of the road to know never to drive into the ocean; however, she jokingly suggested that given a sufficient quantity of rental cars, she could eventually get to Europe by driving east repeatedly. The question is, how many vehicles would it take to build a car-bridge across the Atlantic?"	The 'reality' and consequences of using multiple cars (that are not your own) to construct a trans-Atlantic highway.
161	2022-12-31 8w later	100px	Star Ownership	"If every country's airspace extended up forever, which country would own the largest percentage of the galaxy at any given time?"	Australia owns most of the galaxy at certain points in time.
162	2022-12-31 4w later	100px	Comet Ice	"Could I cool down the Earth by capturing a comet and dropping it in the ocean, like an ice cube in a glass of water?"	The comet either burns up in the atmosphere or speeds up global warming.