Editing 3004: Wells

{{comic
| number    = 3004
| date      = October 28, 2024
| title     = Wells
| image     = wells_2x.png
| imagesize = 306x402px
| noexpand  = true
| titletext = You do have to be careful, though--sometimes, instead of water, you hit this free fuel that you can sell for a lot of money instead.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a WATERLOGGED OIL DRILL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A water {{w|well}} is a hole dug in the ground, deep enough to reach underground {{w|aquifers}}. They have been used for thousands of years as a source of water by people who don't live close to usable surface water sources like rivers and lakes.

This comic pokes fun of the seemingly improbable characteristics of wells; talking about how water "randomly" forms below the surface of the ground and how they "magically" refill themselves. In reality there are complex systems (the {{w|water cycle}}) that dictate the formations of the underground pools that the wells take from and the underground rivers that refill them.

The title text points out that in some cases, people intending to drill water wells instead found oil beds. Oil is a very valuable energy source<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCfGVLKr5oM</ref>, so they became very wealthy as a result. This is the source of the idiom "struck oil" to mean receiving a windfall as a result of a lucky occurrence. But you have to be careful -- if you blindly "drink whatever you find at the bottom", as Megan says, you'll get very sick if it's oil rather than water.{{cn}} Oil tends to be buried much deeper than water.

This comic bears similarity to a [https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1993/06/11 Calvin and Hobbes comic from 1993] that was popular in Randall's area, in that it points out properties of a common natural drink that can appear disgusting when the underpinnings are left out.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Megan is on the left hand side and is facing Cueball who is on the right side and facing her. Megan has her left hand raised.]
:Megan: I need water, so I think I'll dig a deep hole and drink whatever liquid I find at the bottom.
:Cueball: What will you do after you drink it all? Dig another hole?
:Megan: I dunno. Hopefully it magically refills itself or something.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It's ridiculous that wells work.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Geology]]