xkcd: What If?

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 6:02 pm

What if there's LITERALLY a tie? — Nate Silver (Twitter, 2012 Jan 04)

For more on how elections work, see CGP Grey's videos:
[list]The Electoral College
Politics in the Animal Kingdom[/list][/i]

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 6:15 pm

Ah, those poor Floridians.

emc · Post by **emc** » Wed Nov 07, 2012 10:33 pm

My favorite so far is the Green Cows… I wonder if I could get a grant from Obama to do a study on cultivating solar powered cows?

Ann · Post by **Ann** » Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:04 am

bystander wrote:Tie Vote

What if there's LITERALLY a tie? — Nate Silver (Twitter, 2012 Jan 04)

For more on how elections work, see CGP Grey's videos:
[list]The Electoral College
Politics in the Animal Kingdom[/list][/i]

xkcd wrote:
If you’re in the US, don’t forget to vote—your vote could make or break a tie.

And if you’re voting in Florida, keep an eye on the sky.

The votes are counted, and a winner has been found, in every state of the United States - except in, hmmmm, Florida.

Ann

Politics Schmolitics · Post by **Politics Schmolitics** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 6:07 pm

emc wrote:
bystander wrote:BB Gun

In Armageddon, a NASA guy comments that a plan to shoot a laser at the asteroid is like “shooting a b.b. gun at a freight train.”
What would it take to stop an out-of-control freight train using only b.b. guns? — Charles James O'Keefe
Take an amount of BB guns to equal the weight of the train and melt them down into a large block then place the block on the track moving from the opposite direction toward the train at the same speed.

Hypothethically speaking - to stop a freight train weighing 70k tons moving at 90 mph with .177 cal 5.1 grain bb's fired from Daisy bb guns would require some thing like 63.4 billion bb's and guns no further than 1 foot in front of the train....probably ought to make it 64 billion even, just to be safe.

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 5:00 pm

Diamond

If a meteor made out of diamond and 100 feet in diameter was traveling at the speed of light and hit the earth,
what would happen to it? — Aidan Smith, Age 8, via his father Jeff

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Tue Nov 13, 2012 5:03 pm

You probably wouldn't be around long enough to find out.

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Nov 20, 2012 5:30 pm

Machine Gun Jetpack

Is it possible to build a jetpack using downward firing machine guns? — Rob B

2birds · Post by **2birds** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 8:57 am

What if Microsoft didn't exist?

Frumpy Stiltskein · Post by **Frumpy Stiltskein** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 5:47 pm

2birds wrote:What if Microsoft didn't exist?

Then Apple probably wouldn't, either and Atari would be selling phones.

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed Nov 21, 2012 6:03 pm

2birds wrote:What if Microsoft didn't exist?

We would still be running Digital Research CP/M derivatives.

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 5:19 pm

Cost of Pennies

If you carry a penny in your coin tray, how long would it take for that penny to cost you more than a cent in extra gas? — Rob B

geckzilla · Post by **geckzilla** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:25 pm

Thanks for helping xkcd rob me by linking to that article, bystander!

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Nov 27, 2012 7:28 pm

xkcd wrote:You’re welcome.

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:25 am

Short Answer Section II

In today’s article, I give shorter answers to several reader questions. (Previous installment here.)

If my printer could literally print out money, would it have that big an effect on the world? — Derek O'Brien

What would happen if you exploded a nuclear bomb in the eye of a hurricane? Would
the storm cell be immediately vaporized? — Rupert Bainbridge (and hundreds of others)

If everyone put little turbine generators on the downspouts of their houses and businesses, how much power
would we generate? Would we ever generate enough power to offset the cost of the generators? — Damien

Using only pronounceable letter combinations, how long would names have to be
to give each star in the universe a unique one word name? — Seamus Johnson

I bike to class sometimes. It's annoying biking in the wintertime, because it's so cold. How fast
would I have to bike for my skin to warm up the way a spacecraft heats up during reentry? — David Nai

How much physical space does the internet take up? — Max L

What if you strapped C4 to a boomerang? Could this be an effective weapon,
or would it be as stupid as it sounds? — Chad Macziewski

Ann · Post by **Ann** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 1:52 am

I love the idea of giving each star in the universe a unique pronounceable name about 24 characters long. And who can resist the name JoeBidenJoeBidenJoeBiden for a star?

What star is that?

Ann

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 2:56 am

Ann wrote:I love the idea of giving each star in the universe a unique pronounceable name about 24 characters long. And who can resist the name JoeBidenJoeBidenJoeBiden for a star?

What star is that?

Ann

Ann, you'll just have to Bide-n your time, to find out.

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Dec 11, 2012 5:43 pm

Model Rockets

How many model rocket engines would it take to launch a real rocket into space? — Greg Schock, PA

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:38 pm

Three Wise Men

The story of the three wise men got me wondering: What if you did walk towards a star at a fixed speed?
What path would you trace on the Earth? Does it converge to a fixed cycle? — N. Murdoch

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 5:26 pm

Leap Seconds

Every now and then we have to insert a leap second because the Earth’s rotation is slowing down.
Could we speed up Earth’s rotation, so that we do not need Leap Seconds? — Anton (Berlin, Germany)

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 5:45 pm

Death Rates

If one randomly chosen extra person were to die each second somewhere on Earth,
what impact would it have on the world population? — Guy Petzall

neufer · Post by **neufer** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:02 pm

bystander wrote:Death Rates

If one randomly chosen extra person were to die each second somewhere on Earth,
what impact would it have on the world population? — Guy Petzall

. http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 50#p190601

If one randomly chosen idiot were to die each second somewhere on Earth,
what impact would it have on YouTube videos?

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Tue Jan 08, 2013 6:13 pm

neufer wrote:
. http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 50#p190601

If one randomly chosen idiot were to die each second somewhere on Earth,
what impact would it have on YouTube videos?

They would increase!! The other 'idiots' would begin to see there is more space to post idiotic things in, and thus increase their output of idiocracies

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 3:23 pm

Steak Drop

From what height would you need to drop a steak for it to be cooked when it hit the ground? — Alex Lahey

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:18 pm

Spent Fuel Pool

What if I took a swim in a typical spent nuclear fuel pool? Would I need to dive to actually experience
a fatal amount of radiation? How long could I stay safely at the surface? — Jonathan Bastien-Filiatrault

Starship Asterisk*

xkcd: What If?

xkcd: What If? #19 - Tie Vote

Re: xkcd: What If? #19

Re: xkcd: What If? #17

Re: xkcd: What If? #19 - Tie Vote

Re: xkcd: What If? #18

xkcd: What If? #20 - Diamond

Re: xkcd: What If? #20

xkcd: What If? #21 - Machine Gun Jetpack

Re: xkcd: What If?

Re: xkcd: What If?

Re: xkcd: What If?

xkcd: What If? #22 - Cost of Pennies

Re: xkcd: What If? #22

Re: xkcd: What If? #22

xkcd: What If? #23 - Short Answer Section II

Re: xkcd: What If? #23

Re: xkcd: What If? #23

xkcd: What If? #24 - Model Rockets

xkcd: What If? #25 - Three Wise Men

xkcd: What If? #26 - Leap Seconds

xkcd: What If? #27 - Death Rates

Re: xkcd: What If? #27 - Death Rates

Re: xkcd: What If? #27 - Death Rates

xkcd: What If? #28 - Steak Drop

xkcd: What If? #29 - Spent Fuel Pool