xkcd: What If?

Off topic discourse and banter encouraged.
User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #109 - Into the Blue

Post by bystander » Tue Sep 16, 2014 4:20 pm

Into the Blue
  • If I shot an infinitely strong laser beam into the sky
    at a random point, how much damage would it do?
    — Garrett D.
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #110 - Walking New York

Post by bystander » Tue Sep 16, 2014 4:24 pm

Walking New York
  • Could a person walk the entire city of NY in their lifetime? (including inside apartments) — Asaf Shamir
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #111 - All the Money

Post by bystander » Tue Sep 16, 2014 4:27 pm

All the Money
  • People sometimes say "If I had all the money in the world ..." in order to
    discuss what they would do if they had no financial constraints. I'm curious,
    though, what would happen if one person had all of the world's money?
    — Daniel Pino
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #112 - Balloon Car

Post by bystander » Tue Sep 23, 2014 1:25 am

Balloon Car
  • My 12-year-old daughter is proposing an interesting project. She is planning to attach a number
    of helium balloons to a chair, which in turn would be tethered by means of a rope to a Ferrari.
    Her 13-year-old friend would then drive the Ferrari around, while she sits in the chair enjoying
    uninterrupted views of the countryside. Leaving aside the legal and insurance difficulties, my
    daughter is keen to know the maximum speed that she could expect to attain, and how many
    helium balloons would be required.
    — Phil Rodgers, Cambridge, UK
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
geckzilla
Ocular Digitator
Posts: 9180
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 pm
Location: Modesto, CA
Contact:

Re: xkcd: What If? #112

Post by geckzilla » Tue Sep 23, 2014 3:24 am

Two thoughts: First, seems like a novel way to kill someone by tying them to a balloon and having them freeze to death high in the atmosphere. Second, seems like a novel way to steal a Ferrari.
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #113 - Visit Every State

Post by bystander » Sat Sep 27, 2014 8:15 pm

Visit Every State
  • How fast could you visit all 50 states? — as discussed by Stephen Von Worley on Data Pointed
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
Beyond
500 Gigaderps
Posts: 6889
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:09 am
Location: BEYONDER LAND

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by Beyond » Mon Sep 29, 2014 3:37 am

so... what is the equivalent resistance between the two marked nodes, in the above xkcd?
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.

BDanielMayfield
Don't bring me down
Posts: 2524
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:24 am
AKA: Bruce
Location: East Idaho

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by BDanielMayfield » Mon Sep 29, 2014 4:31 am

Beyond wrote:so... what is the equivalent resistance between the two marked nodes, in the above xkcd?
My quick guess would be 1 ohm. Prove me wrong, I dare ya. :lol2:
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.

User avatar
BMAONE23
Commentator Model 1.23
Posts: 4076
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2005 6:55 pm
Location: California

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by BMAONE23 » Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:45 am

BDanielMayfield wrote:
Beyond wrote:so... what is the equivalent resistance between the two marked nodes, in the above xkcd?
My quick guess would be 1 ohm. Prove me wrong, I dare ya. :lol2:
http://m.wikihow.com/Calculate-Series-a ... Resistance
Here is the simple equation

BDanielMayfield
Don't bring me down
Posts: 2524
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:24 am
AKA: Bruce
Location: East Idaho

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by BDanielMayfield » Mon Sep 29, 2014 11:03 am

BMAONE23 wrote:
BDanielMayfield wrote:
Beyond wrote:so... what is the equivalent resistance between the two marked nodes, in the above xkcd?
My quick guess would be 1 ohm. Prove me wrong, I dare ya. :lol2:
http://m.wikihow.com/Calculate-Series-a ... Resistance
Here is the simple equation
Yes, the basic equations are quite simple, but it's a deceptively complex network. I didn't want to get stuck in the road ... :shock:
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.

User avatar
Beyond
500 Gigaderps
Posts: 6889
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:09 am
Location: BEYONDER LAND

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by Beyond » Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:12 pm

The answer is.... stick the ends of the two leads of an Ohmmeter on the two nodes and read what the scale says. :lol2: I've got the meter, but no 1-ohm resistors.
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.

BDanielMayfield
Don't bring me down
Posts: 2524
Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:24 am
AKA: Bruce
Location: East Idaho

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by BDanielMayfield » Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:34 pm

Beyond wrote:The answer is.... stick the ends of the two leads of an Ohmmeter on the two nodes and read what the scale says. :lol2: I've got the meter, but no 1-ohm resistors.
I thought of that too, but the problem is that you'd need an infinite number of resistors ...
Just as zero is not equal to infinity, everything coming from nothing is illogical.

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18076
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Sep 29, 2014 5:41 pm

Beyond wrote:so... what is the equivalent resistance between the two marked nodes, in the above xkcd?
These resistor network problems are routinely assigned in first year college electronics class.

In this case, the answer is about 0.77 ohms (in fact, it's exactly 4/pi - 0.5).
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
Beyond
500 Gigaderps
Posts: 6889
Joined: Tue Aug 04, 2009 11:09 am
Location: BEYONDER LAND

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by Beyond » Mon Sep 29, 2014 8:19 pm

Chris Peterson wrote:These resistor network problems are routinely assigned in first year college electronics class.
But not in Technical School electrical shop classes, at least not the ones i was in w-a-y back in the 60's.
To find the Truth, you must go Beyond.

User avatar
Nitpicker
Inverse Square
Posts: 2692
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2013 2:39 am
Location: S27 E153

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by Nitpicker » Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:44 am

Chris Peterson wrote:
Beyond wrote:so... what is the equivalent resistance between the two marked nodes, in the above xkcd?
These resistor network problems are routinely assigned in first year college electronics class.

In this case, the answer is about 0.77 ohms (in fact, it's exactly 4/pi - 0.5).
In my classes, we failed if we gave the correct answer with no derivation:
http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath668/kmath668.htm

User avatar
Chris Peterson
Abominable Snowman
Posts: 18076
Joined: Wed Jan 31, 2007 11:13 pm
Location: Guffey, Colorado, USA
Contact:

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by Chris Peterson » Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:40 am

Nitpicker wrote:In my classes, we failed if we gave the correct answer with no derivation:
http://www.mathpages.com/home/kmath668/kmath668.htm
Actually, I didn't derive my answer. I ran a sim using a SPICE module in Matlab.
Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
https://www.cloudbait.com

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: xkcd: What If? #113

Post by bystander » Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:55 am

Application of the lattice Green's function for calculating the resistance of an infinite networks of resistors - J. Cserti
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #114 - Antimatter

Post by bystander » Fri Oct 03, 2014 10:55 pm

Antimatter
  • What if everything was antimatter, EXCEPT Earth? — Sean Gallagher
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #115 - Into the Sun

Post by bystander » Sun Oct 12, 2014 7:12 pm

Into the Sun
  • When I was about 8 years old, shoveling snow on a freezing day in Colorado, I wished
    that I could be instantly transported to the surface of the Sun, just for a nanosecond,
    then instantly transported back. I figured this would be long enough to warm me up
    but not long enough to harm me. What would actually happen?
    — AJ, Kansas City
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #116 - No-Rules NASCAR

Post by bystander » Fri Oct 17, 2014 2:14 pm

No-Rules NASCAR
  • If you stripped away all the rules of car racing and had a contest which was
    simply to get a human being around a track 200 times as fast as possible,
    what strategy would win? Let's say the racer has to survive.
    — Hunter Freyer
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #117 - Distant Death

Post by bystander » Sat Oct 25, 2014 4:06 pm

Distant Death
  • What is the farthest from Earth that any Earth thing has died? — Amy from NZ
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #118 - Physical Salary

Post by bystander » Fri Oct 31, 2014 9:12 pm

Physical Salary
  • What if people's incomes appeared around them as cash in real time?
    How much would you need to make to be in real trouble?
    — Julia Anderson, Albuquerque, NM
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
MargaritaMc
Look to the Evenstar
Posts: 1836
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2013 10:14 pm
Location: 28°16'7"N 16°36'20"W

Re: xkcd: What If?

Post by MargaritaMc » Sat Nov 01, 2014 11:35 am

Thanks for posting these, bystander! I always enjoy them but don't remember to go to the website if you don't post the links here.
M
"In those rare moments of total quiet with a dark sky, I again feel the awe that struck me as a child. The feeling is utterly overwhelming as my mind races out across the stars. I feel peaceful and serene."
— Dr Debra M. Elmegreen, Fellow of the AAAS

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21571
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

xkcd: What If? #119 - Laser Umbrella

Post by bystander » Sun Nov 16, 2014 1:36 am

Laser Umbrella
  • Stopping rain from falling on something with an umbrella or a tent is boring. What
    if you tried to stop rain with a laser that targeted and vaporized each incoming
    droplet before it could come within ten feet of the ground?
    — Zach Wheeler
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

User avatar
geckzilla
Ocular Digitator
Posts: 9180
Joined: Wed Sep 12, 2007 12:42 pm
Location: Modesto, CA
Contact:

Re: xkcd: What If?

Post by geckzilla » Sun Nov 16, 2014 1:48 am

Good to know that there are at least three livable autoclaves in Boston.
Just call me "geck" because "zilla" is like a last name.

Post Reply