Editing 2187: Geologic Time

{{comic
| number    = 2187
| date      = August 9, 2019
| title     = Geologic Time
| image     = geologic_time.png
| titletext = Ok, well, we'll be sure to pay you sometime soon, geologically speaking.
}}

==Explanation==
Analogies to explain the passage of billions of years are often used in popular science explanations, to help compress these huge spans of time into something the human mind can comprehend; the football field analogy is one such analogy. Generally when this analogy is used, by Americans, the length of a football field refers to an {{w|American football field}} from goal line to goal line, i.e. not including the {{w|end zone}}s, making for a total distance of 100 yards (about 91 meters). {{w|History of Earth|The Earth is approximately 4.54 billion years old}}; if you were to present a timeline of Earth as long as a {{w|gridiron football}} field—100 yards—then each inch of that length would comprise more than 1.26 million years of Earth's history and each millimeter nearly 50,000 years.

* Complex life refers to the various animal species which arose in the {{w|Cambrian explosion}} 541 million years ago; the length of time that complex life has existed would translate to 11.9 yards on the football field.
* {{w|Evolution of dinosaurs|Dinosaurs are estimated to have first evolved}} as early as 244 million years ago, and survived until the {{w|Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event}} 66 million years ago; thus it would begin at the 5.37-yard mark and continue up to the 1.45-yard mark. 
* Although the {{w|evolution of mammals}} can be dated to around 220 million years ago (depending on definition), they didn't truly become dominant until the aforementioned extinction event paved the way for them to grow and diversify 66 million years ago. The age of mammals therefore extends from the 1.45-yard mark to the goal line (present day).
* {{w|Homo sapiens}} is estimated to be 350,000 years old; our species takes up only a meager 0.28 inches on the football field, or 7.1 millimeters.
* The {{w|Holocene}} era, or the age in which humanity rapidly grew to dominate the Earth, is even less geologically significant, having lasted about 11,650 years so far, which translates about 0.234 millimeters.
* {{w|Recorded history}} begins with accounts dating back to roughly 3500 B.C.E., about 5500 years ago as of this comic's publish date; it would take up a width of about 111 micrometers. {{w|Orders_of_magnitude_(length)#Cellular_to_human_scale|A human hair can be as thin as 17 micrometers, or as thick as 181 micrometers}}, so Megan's claim that all of human history can fit within the width of a human hair depends largely upon the sample being used.

[[Megan]], a {{w|geologist}}, tells a story about how small the timespan of human history is compared to Earth's total history. She does this to juxtapose it with normal human time-scales, to imply that her being two weeks late turning in her project is immaterial by the standards of the Earth's tremendous age. She tries to sell this story to [[Cueball]] and [[Hairbun]], but Hairbun's response does not seem to bode well for Megan.

Megan's delay of two weeks would map to about eight nanometers on the football field.  The most powerful {{w|electron microscopes}} have a magnification of ten million, which would make it look like about eight centimeters (about three inches), so her statement about it being "too small to see even with a powerful microscope" is a bit of an exaggeration.  The most powerful <i>optical</i> microscope has 6500x magnification ([https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/science/08obscope.html New York Times, March 8, 2011]), which would indeed be inadequate.

[[Randall]] states in the caption that this is a trick that geologists always try to use when being late turning something in.

In the title text, Hairbun and Cueball reply by turning Megan's own argument against her. They promise to pay her for her work in what could be considered a short amount of time on the geological scale - which could easily be many, many times longer than Megan's own lifespan. Megan, like all working people, wants to be paid in a timely manner for her work,{{Citation needed}} and would be deeply dissatisfied to have her payment delayed for so long. Thus, Hairbun and Cueball's rebuttal proves a point: when other people require you be punctual, it's easy to dismiss them as just being impatient; when you're the one who needs other people to be punctual, it's not so easy to criticize yourself.

The comparison with a football field is a typical, but doubtful practice to explain people what the size of an area is ([[1257: Monster]]). Here it is used as an analogy with a one-dimensional timescale.

==Transcript==
:[Megan, arms spread out, is delivering a long-winded explanation to Hairbun and Cueball.]
:Megan: Imagine Earth's history as a football field, from the planet's formation at one end to today at the other.
:Megan: Complex life would be largely limited to the final ten yards. Dinosaurs appear at the five-yard line, the age of mammals happens in the last 1½ yards, and humans arise in the final few millimeters.
:Megan: All of written history would fit in a strip narrower than a single hair.
:Megan: "Two weeks" would be too small to see even with a powerful microscope.
:Hairbun: Mm hmm.

:[Caption below the panel:] 
:Geologists always try this when they're late turning something in.

{{comic discussion}}

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