Editing 2504: Fissile Raspberry Isotopes

{{comic
| number    = 2504
| date      = August 18, 2021
| title     = Fissile Raspberry Isotopes
| image     = fissile_raspberry_isotopes.png
| titletext = Grandma's shelf-stable blackberry pie meson recipe was a huge seller until her farm was shut down by a joint FDA/NRC investigation.
}}

==Explanation==
[[Ponytail]] is admiring her {{w|raspberry}} fields telling [[Cueball]] she expects a good harvest...if they do not get too many fissile raspberry isotopes. To this, Cueball has to ask ''Too many '''whats?'''''

The comic is thus a joking analogy to {{w|nuclear chain reactions}}, in which the {{w|nuclear fission|fission}} (splitting in two) of one {{w|atomic nucleus}} releases {{w|neutrons}}, which then strike other nuclei and cause them in turn to fission, releasing more neutrons. This chain reaction releases a great deal of energy and is what makes possible both {{w|nuclear power}} and {{w|nuclear bombs}}. 

A {{w|fissile isotope}}, such as {{w|uranium-235}}, is one that is sufficiently large and unstable to undergo such a chain reaction, as opposed to the more common and less unstable {{w|uranium-238}}. Ponytail fear that her raspberries have too many unstable isotopes so that her fields risk undergoing a similar fission-driven chain reaction. This chain reaction is depicted in the second panel, and she explains that if this happens the entire crop may be gone in seconds. It sounds like this is only dangerous for her economy, i.e. all the berries destroyed, but not a runaway explosion that destroys her field and any living thing nearby.

In real life, raspberries don't undergo such chain reactions.{{citation needed}} As an {{w|aggregate fruit}}, raspberries (as well as blackberries mentioned in the title text) resemble [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f0/Nucleus_drawing.svg/1024px-Nucleus_drawing.svg.png common depictions of atomic nuclei], with each drupelet corresponding to a nucleon (proton or neutron), which is probably why they are the subject of the comic.  (The actual "appearance" of atomic nuclei, in contrast to the common depictions, is complicated by Heisenbergian uncertainty, quantum effects, and strong nuclear force interactions.)  Perhaps these raspberries are byproducts of the experiments depicted in [[1949: Fruit Collider]].

This comic is also a pun on "pi mesons" or {{w|pions}}, subatomic particles that transmit the {{w|strong nuclear force}}, and the similarity in name to a {{w|pie}}, the food type, as in a {{w|raspberry pie}}. The transmission of the strong nuclear force happens most importantly in the atomic nucleus and is responsible for keeping the nucleus intact, ''i.e.'', preventing it from undergoing fission despite the strong repulsive {{w|electromagnetic force}} present from all the positively-charged {{w|protons}}.

Raspberry pies (and pie mesons of such) are not to be confused with {{w|Raspberry Pi}}, a very popular microcontroller widely used for hobbyist or educational projects.

Ponytail claims that her berries are protected (bound) by fresh raspberry pie mesons. Cueball states he hopes they hold, but Ponytail is confident as these pies are made from her grandma's recipe, ''i.e.'', it is actually a fresh pie made from the berries. The faith in the pie recipe being able to impede the danger references the convention of "Just like Grandma used to make", nostalgia for an infallible cookery ancestor, in this case a hallowed family recipe that acts to {{w|Neutron moderator|mitigate}} any budding {{w|Aggregate fruit|'berry'}} chain-reaction.  [[2366: Amelia's_Farm_Fresh_Cookies|Grandma's baking]] is not always so fondly remembered and, in this case, it could be some (in)famous inertness and solidity to the product that is reassuring, not any form of culinary excellence.

The title text mentions that the grandma's "blackberry pie meson" recipe was a huge seller, but that then the farm was shut down by a joint FDA/NRC investigation. This refers to the {{w|Food and Drug Administration}} (FDA) and the {{w|Nuclear Regulatory Commission}} (NRC). The FDA is responsible for the regulation and inspection of food in the U.S., and the NRC for the regulation and inspection of nuclear facilities and materials. A hypothetical "blackberry pie meson" might well run afoul of both, being both nuclear and therefore subject to NRC regulations and permitting requirements, and unhealthy to eat and thus violating FDA rules. This could in addition also violate the FDA's rules on radiation emitting products. One might be able to imagine the FDA discovering that the blackberry pies are functioning to contain a nuclear chain reaction, and calling in the NRC to consult. The FDA took a similarly incongruous interest in physics in the title text of [[2216: Percent Milkfat]]. 

It is mentioned that the pies were {{w|Shelf-stable food|shelf stable}}, which means it can last a long time without being in a refrigerator. This may be because of its innate radioactivity keeping it free from germs. This may also explain why they were shut down by both the above-mentioned agencies.  The word "stable" also describes {{w|Stable_nuclide|atoms}}, and therefore substances, that do not spontaneously undergo nuclear decay, though a stable isotope may result directly from the decay of an unstable one.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Cueball are standing in a field, looking at rows of crops disappearing in the distance over rolling hills.]
:Ponytail: I reckon it'll be a good harvest.
:Ponytail: So long as we don't get too many fissile raspberry isotopes.
:Cueball: Too many ''whats''?

:[In a half height panel is shown a picture of a raspberry with an arrow to a situation where it is splitting in to two equal parts. From the split there also comes two small drupelets flying out as shown with arrows. Below these two situations is a smaller sketch of how one of these two drupelets will eventually hit another raspberry, which will send out three drupelets when splitting, two of those hitting other berries, that each send out two drupelets. The lower of these are not depicted hitting any, but the upper split hits two again, which each send out two, in an ongoing chain reaction. The depiction stops there. Above this panel is what Ponytail tells Cueball:]
:Ponytail (narrating): If a raspberry breaks in half, it releases fragments which can cause more splits. Within seconds you've lost the whole crop.

:[Ponytail and Cueball are standing in an empty panel talking.]
:Ponytail: Luckily the berries are bound by fresh raspberry pie mesons.
:Cueball: I hope they hold.
:Ponytail: It's my grandma's recipe. They'll hold.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Food]]
[[Category:Nuclear weapons]]
[[Category:Puns]]