Editing 2060: Hygrometer

{{comic
| number    = 2060
| date      = October 17, 2018
| title     = Hygrometer
| image     = hygrometer.png
| titletext = I'm working on assembling a combination declinometer, sclerometer, viscometer, aleurometer, stalagmometer, and hypsometer. I'm making good progress according to my ometerometer, a device which shows the rate at which I'm acquiring measurement devices.
}}

==Explanation==

Here, [[Megan]] is talking to [[Cueball]] about {{w|hygrometer}}s. But before she can even finish explaining what it does, Cueball has looked up, found, and purchased the product. A {{w|hygrometer}} is an instrument for measuring the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, or the amount of water in solids such as soil or wood.

It seems [[Randall]] (or Cueball) loves being able to measure things and therefore finds instruments or measurement tools that end in ''-ometer'' very interesting, and wishes to own all of them. Many {{w|Measuring instrument|measuring instruments}} use the suffix ''-meter'' which is derived from the Greek noun ''μέτρον'' for "measure". The character "o" always belongs to the first term, but it also belongs to old Greek words like ''Thermo''-meter, ''micro''-meter, or even ''hygro''-meter. Other measurement devices such as speedometer use an English word with an "o" appended to mimic the Greek-derived terms, purportedly for easier marketing. Because themes in science often based on Greek terminology that ending at the first part appears often. Nonetheless, Randall believes that this "o" belongs to the general term for measuring devices.

In the title text, Randall states he is working on assembling a combination of usually unrelated measuring instruments, for a purpose that is neither stated in the comic nor easy to guess. The list consists of:

* A {{w|Declinometer|declinometer}} is an instrument to measure {{w|magnetic declination}}.

*A {{w|sclerometer}} is an instrument to measure {{w|scratch hardness}} of a solid by scratching it under some standard conditions and measuring the scratch. Instruments used to measure the elastic properties of concrete surfaces, like the {{w|Schmidt hammer}}, [https://www.pce-instruments.com/english/measuring-instruments/test-meters/concrete-test-hammer-sclerometer-kat_162426_1.htm are also often known as sclerometers].

*A {{w|viscometer}} is an instrument to test the viscosity (difficulty of pouring) of a liquid. For example, honey has a higher viscosity than water.

*An [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/aleurometer aleurometer] is an instrument to evaluate the quality of flour for baking by measuring how much a wet mass of wheat can expand when warmed while keeping its adhesivity.[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleurometer]

*A {{w|Stalagmometric method|stalagmometer}} is an instrument to measure {{w|surface tension}} of fluids by producing a drop and weighing it - the bigger the drop is, the larger surface tension the fluid has.

*The word {{w|hypsometer}} could refer to either of [https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/hypsometer two unrelated instruments] to measure height. One measures heights of a building or a tree by triangulation. The other measures altitude by measuring air pressure through its effect on the boiling temperature of water. It should not be confused with the {{w|altimeter}} which measures altitude by mechanically measuring air pressure (and which also does not follow the -ometer rule and might, therefore, be of less interest to Cueball? Is that the reason why Cueball appears in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypsometer#/media/File:HypsometerGeometry.png a diagram] at the Wikipedia page for hypsometer but not for altimeter?).

Finally, he mentions an ''ometerometer'', a concatenation of ''-ometer'' with itself, which would be a device for measuring devices. It has been included in a humorous list of ''[http://bleeet.blogspot.com/2007/07/other-types-of-ometers.html Other Types of Ometers]'' from 2007, where it was described as measuring the measuring capacities of other measuring devices.

==Transcript==
:[Megan and Cueball are walking and talking. Cueball is holding his phone with one hand, looking at it.]
:Megan: ...A hygrometer is a device for measuring—
:Cueball: ''I want one!'' Ooh, found one for $7.99 with free shipping! I'm buying it.
:Megan: —Humidity.
:Cueball: Oh, cool!

:[Caption below the frame:]
:For some reason, I feel a powerful compulsion to own any device whose name ends in "-ometer."

==Trivia==
At the moment of the release of this comic, one user's [https://www.google.es/search?rlz=1C1NHXL_caES708ES708&ei=EEHHW-DWBJ2vgAbZyrSQAw&q=ometerometer&oq=ometerometer&gs_l=psy-ab.3...1876.4215.0.4448.12.10.0.0.0.0.376.1163.0j3j1j1.5.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..7.4.786...0j0i131k1j0i67k1j0i131i67k1j0i10k1j0i19k1j0i10i19k1.0.iW8nv_ipPpQ Google search for ometerometer] returned mostly porn related content (although in the following hours links relating to the comic itself were climbing positions in the rank). This could be construed to confirm rule 34 as referenced in a previous xkcd comic ''[[305: Rule 34]]'': "if you can imagine it, there is porn about it"; however further research would be required to determine whether the results actually related to ometerometers, or whether they were in fact just spurious unrelated results. If such links were in fact shown to contain reference to any "ometerometer" it would seem that there was porn about ometerometers even ''before'' Randall imagined them. (Since the link given above is not a static representation of the results available at that time, a more accurate citation is needed to confirm an instance of Rule34.)

{{comic discussion}}

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