Talk:2638: Extended NFPA Hazard Diamond

Are we going to try identifying what material this is? 172.70.82.179 01:50, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

first one off the top of my head, aqua regia? 172.70.38.69 02:46, 28 June 2022 (UTC)Bumpf

Doesn't aqua regia score a 0 in reactivity? N-eh (talk) 03:23, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Or maybe Aqua Velva? That would explain the orange square, although maybe it would be a number larger than 1. 172.70.34.171 22:49, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

My guess would be something radioactive, like uranium or plutonium. Clam (talk) 03:29, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

There are very, very few Health 4 / Fire 0 / Instability 2 compounds. The NIH database lists 4: nitrous oxide, phosphorus oxychloride, phosphorous trichloride, and thionyl chloride (although it's important to note these values aren't always standardized; some authorities consider phosphorus oxychloride to be Health 3, for example). Based on the street value and the number of US agencies who would be concerned about it, my guess is thionyl chloride, a useful industrial chemical which is also used in at least one meth lab synthesis pathway... AND highly regulated as a chemical weapon precursor (to both sulfur mustard and G-series nerve agents). Oh, and it is absolutely a Disposal Pain 4 candidate, too. Qalyar (talk) 04:52, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Not sure what source you consulted for this? Nitrous oxide is 2/0/0/OX and phosphorus oxychloride is 3/0/2/W. The last two you mentioned are 4/0/2 but also carry the W (reacts with water) which is missing in Randall's sign. 172.70.214.81 01:04, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

This search tool from the NIH. I'll blame them for any weirdness (and admittedly, I was a bit surprised to see nitrous oxide at 4/0/2). Qalyar (talk) 01:54, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

It could be the drop ceiling - if it's even moderately unstable that would certainly make it a hazard; it would be a pain in the arse to dispose of; there are probably a few agencies with an interest building regs, etc. that would want to know about it. I'm not sure what kind of street price it would command, though. 172.70.85.211 16:20, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

It could be something that wouldn't normally be classified as a material, like a velociraptor. I'd think more government agencies would want to know about their existence in reality, but it's possible in this universe their existence is less atypical. Edda (talk) 00:03 29 June 2022 (UTC)

Velociraptors would be quite lightweight and extremely valuable, though, so I suspect the street value would be higher. 172.70.91.62 08:40, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

The center square is a free space, but if you win without it you get a special bonus prize. 172.70.42.129 04:18, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Given Randall's fixation with velociraptors, is anyone else thinking the "dropped ceiling" may be a reference to the labs in Jurassic Park?

Possible. The first thing I had to think of was HalfLife (ie Black Mesa). Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 07:34, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Since as a German I never heard of a dropped ceiling before, I automatically assumed it's a ceiling that drops on you. Ouch. 172.71.102.117 19:28, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

We call them "Zwischendecke" ;) Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 08:42, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

As an English speaker myself (rightpondian), I had to say I never knew the term before this comic. To me, they always were "suspended ceilings" (as, apparently, pretty much all the patents for them are, when I checked). Or maybe "false ceiling" but that might include no-gap re-lining to make a plaster ceiling look like it's wood. But "drop ceiling" (reminiscent of the "drop bear"!) is yet another thing our leftpodian cousins surprise me with. ;)

(Sometimes the gap itself is known to me as "crawlspace", though of course you rarely can physically crawl there, not being man-rated (nor ever having ventilation-ducts of convenient me-size, because we tend not to do that so much in the UK), and I've never felt I could escape (say) velociraptors by heading up there, but it's definitely where I "crawl" cables, every now and then, adding new network cables to any given office space, and I can tell you how dusty it gets up there. I've never thought it more than 'ambient' dust, as nice or nasty as that might be considered, but as I feed/thrown cables around from one edge of a room to another I find that it's best done at the end of a work day, and not just so I don't have to work around those who sit beneath...) 172.70.90.173 11:37, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

Does Randall watch Warsaw local news? Yesterday there was an article about an accident with dropped ceiling. Accident with dropped ceiling next day on xkcd gave me uncanny feeling. Tkopec (talk) 09:31, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

I was wondering whether the whole thing was inspired by the 2022 Aqaba toxic gas leak, that it was published well within a day of. Probably not (because 'too soon', especially with deciding what humour to add, assuming he started from scratch) but he might well have heard of it even as he was already mid-way through the drawing/publishing process and felt it ok to press ahead (perhaps modified to make it less likely to be directly associated in some way).

Not worth an in-explanation (or Trivia) mention, but saying it here as a dismissable aside. 172.70.162.5 13:58, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

The "Number of times it's caused one of those terrifying lab accidents that chemists tell scary stories about late at night -> 2" reminds me of the Things I Won't Work With category on Derek's Lowe blog, including famous Sand Won't Save You This Time article about dangers of chlorine trifluoride, with a few scary stories included. --JakubNarebski (talk) 11:04, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

The "smelling weird" one made me remember the one about thioacetone--172.71.114.63 12:53, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

"Weird lab where it's about the soda machine" example, from the Bourne Physics/Chemistry Building at Royal Holloway, University of London (but I'm struggling to find a source I can cite) had a story that was always told on "new student tours" / open days etc. There's a corridor there where an odd pattern of the floor tiles don't match, approx down the middle of most of one corridor, to the vending machine at the end of the hall, which also has 2 mismatched buttons. It's not 100% clear what the unlucky individual did to become highly radioactive, but he then allegedly decided he needed a drink. Later, the clean-up crew, after decontaminating the room where the accident occurred, could tell using a Geiger Counter exactly what route the guy took to the soda machine, including where he staggered - particular floor tiles were radioactive enough to remove and dispose of as "radioactive waste", replacing them with tiles that evidently didn't match the originals very well. Similarly, from the 2 mis-matched buttons on the machine, you can tell from what row/col the unfortunate victim ordered as his last drink. 108.162.241.9 02:58, 29 June 2022 (UTC)