Editing 1637: Salt Mine

{{comic
| number    = 1637
| date      = February 1, 2016
| title     = Salt Mine
| image     = salt_mine.png
| titletext = This one is a little bland. Pass the saltshaker?
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|This is a summary, not an explanation}}
Ponytail has built a particle detector in a salt mine, while Cueball and Megan are probably eating a form of rock salt.  When asked by Hair Bun Girl to explain why the particle detector has been built in the salt mine, Ponytail claims that the salt will block out cosmic rays; whether this will actually work is a matter of debate. Based on the wording of her response, it is clear that Ponytail knows about Megan and Cueball's ulterior motives, but either doesn't care or is planning to do the same thing.

This comic could be a reference to two unusual uses of salt mines. The first is the use of salt mines to house particle detectors such as the the Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven detector, started in Lake Erie in 1979. Placing a detector deep in a salt mine blocks out cosmic rays, which would interfere with detection. The IMB detector was initially used to search for proton decay in very pure water kept in the mine. Although the IBM became famous for detecting neutrinos from a supernova 1987a, it never observed a single proton decay out of 10^31 protons. At the time, even a single observation would have contributed to the Grand Unified Theory, predicting that protons eventually decay. In the comic, when Ponytail says "Yes, That's definitely why", it could refer to the large expectations that such detectors had promised. However, instead of building a detector in a salt mine to prevent interference from cosmic rays during the experiment, Ponytail built one in a salt mine because the salt is tasty. This is absurd, because pure mineral salt has an extremely strong taste. This is why salt is usually used as flavouring, and not as a food in of itself.

The second is the use of salt mines for exotic restaurants, such as the 'Wieliczka' Salt Mine, in Poland - a use for mines which is more rare than particle physics detectors. The Wieliczka mine contains a complete bar, hardwood seating, and gourmet chefs located 125m below ground. Dishes are seasoned with Wieliczka salt mine salt, and is used liberally in the selections. In the comic, Cueball and Megan are shown as possible employees of the particle detector, but are instead eating something with salt, which could be a humorous reference to scientists unable to find proton decay results and becoming distracted instead.

Notice that the title text says "This one is a little bland. Pass the saltshaker?", which implies Cueball and Megan are eating something other than salt that they would like to add salt to taste.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript}}

{{comic discussion}}