xkcd: What If?

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Wed Jan 13, 2016 12:01 am

Gamma rays? Isn't that how the Hulk got started? Wouldn't have to worry too much about Aliens taking over with a planet population of Big green humans.

neufer · Post by **neufer** » Sat Jan 23, 2016 2:53 pm

http://xkcd.com/1633/ wrote:
[

xkcd: Possible Undiscovered Planets
Randall Munroe

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 4:04 pm

Space Jetta

What if I tried to re-enter the atmosphere in my car? (a 2000 VW Jetta TDI).
Would it do more environmental damage than it is already apparently doing? — Casey Berg

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Mon Feb 01, 2016 4:06 pm

Europa Water Siphon

What if you built a siphon from the oceans on Europa to Earth? Would it flow once it's set up?
(We have an idea for selling bottled Europa water.) — A group of Google Search SREs

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Mon Feb 08, 2016 4:42 pm

Saliva Pool

How long would it take for a single person to fill up an entire swimming pool with their own saliva? — Mary Griffin, 9th grade

Ron-Astro Pharmacist · Post by **Ron-Astro Pharmacist** » Mon Feb 08, 2016 6:03 pm

What if Mary and Jane (not so sure about a kid being their best bet – they haven't met my dad these days) had a bad case of xerostomia? Would they be inclined do be "digging"?

Maybe dad could benefit from time travel too so he'd think more along the lines of "cotton mouth" production

Definitely

neufer · Post by **neufer** » Mon Feb 08, 2016 8:34 pm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spittoon wrote:
<<The United States Senate has spittoons spread across the Senate Chamber as they are considered a Senate tradition. Similarly, each Justice on the United States Supreme Court has a spittoon next to his or her seat in the courtroom. However, the spittoons function merely as wastebaskets; the last time the spittoon was used for its customary purpose was in the early 20th century.>>

The Taming of the Shrew: III, i

LUCENTIO: Spit in the hole, man, and tune again.

Beyond · Post by **Beyond** » Tue Feb 09, 2016 12:57 am

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:11 pm

Fire From Moonlight

Can you use a magnifying glass and moonlight to light a fire? — Rogier Spoor

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:17 pm

Stop Jupiter

I understand that the New Horizons craft used gravity assist from Jupiter
to increase its speed on the way to Pluto. I also understand that by doing
this, Jupiter slowed down very slightly. How many flyby runs would it take
to stop Jupiter completely? — Dillon

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:19 pm

Niagara Straw

What would happen if one tried to funnel Niagara Falls through a straw? — David Gwizdala

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:23 pm

Eat the Sun

What percentage of the Sun's heat (per day) does the population of Earth
eat in calories per year? What changes could be made to our diets for the
amount of calories to equal the energy of the Sun? — James Mitchell

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:25 pm

Pizza Bird

My boyfriend recently took a flight on a plane with wifi, and while he was up there,
wistfully asked if I could send him a pizza. I jokingly sent him a photo of a parrot
holding a pizza slice in its beak. Obviously, my boyfriend had to go without pizza
until he landed at JFK. But this raised the question: could a bird deliver a standard
20" New York-style cheese pizza in a box? And if so, what kind of bird would it take? — Tina Nguyen

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Wed Jun 15, 2016 5:27 pm

Tatooine Rainbow

Since rainbows are caused by the refraction of the sunlight by tiny droplets of rainwater,
what would rainbow look like on Earth if we had two suns like Tatooine? — Raga

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Thu Jul 28, 2016 3:04 pm

Sun Bug

How many fireflies would it take to match the brightness of the Sun? — Luke Doty

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Sun Oct 23, 2016 4:34 pm

Flood Death Valley

Since Death Valley is below sea level could we dig a hole to the ocean and fill it up with water? — Nick Traeden

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:12 pm

Hide the Atmosphere

Earth’s atmosphere is really thin compared to the radius of the Earth.
How big a hole do I need to dig before people suffocate? — Sam Burke

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:17 pm

Coast-to-Coast Coasting

What if the entire continental US was on a decreasing slope from West to East.
How steep would the slope have to be to sustain the momentum needed to ride
a bicycle the entire distance without pedaling? — Brandon Rooks

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 8:02 pm

Toaster vs. Freezer

Would a toaster still work in a freezer? —
- My Brother, My Brother and Me, Episode 343,
  discussing a Yahoo Answers question

neufer · Post by **neufer** » Fri Mar 03, 2017 10:19 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

bystander wrote:
Toaster vs. Freezer

Hopefully the freezer is
not badly in need of a defrost.

rstevenson · Post by **rstevenson** » Sat Mar 04, 2017 3:16 am

bystander wrote:Toaster vs. Freezer

Would a toaster still work in a freezer? —
My Brother, My Brother and Me, Episode 343,
discussing a Yahoo Answers question

The piece ends with a character thinking "At least I'm not in Winnipeg." Having lived for 2 years in the mid-80s in what my wife and I have ever since referred to as "the W place", not wanting to speak its full name, I can heartily endorse that sentiment.

Rob

bystander · Post by **bystander** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 3:29 pm

Electrofishing for Whales

I used to work on a fisheries crew where we would use an electro-fisher backpack to momentarily stun small fish (30 - 100 mm length) so we could scoop them up with nets to identify and measure them. The larger fish tended to be stunned for slightly longer because of their larger surface area but I don't imagine this relationship would be maintained for very large animals. Could you electrofish for a blue whale? At what voltage would you have have to set the e-fisher? — Madeline Cooper

neufer · Post by **neufer** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 6:29 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

bystander wrote:Electrofishing for Whales

I used to work on a fisheries crew where we would use an electro-fisher backpack to momentarily stun small fish (30 - 100 mm length) so we could scoop them up with nets to identify and measure them. The larger fish tended to be stunned for slightly longer because of their larger surface area but I don't imagine this relationship would be maintained for very large animals. Could you electrofish for a blue whale? At what voltage would you have have to set the e-fisher? — Madeline Cooper

BDanielMayfield · Post by **BDanielMayfield** » Mon Mar 13, 2017 10:45 pm

But all ol Chaptain Nemo did was tic the squid off. They still had to surface and fight it off with whaling harpoons.

This electrofish for whales tale reminded me of an old Doonsbury cartoon. Jerry Brown is late for a campaign rally. As they wait his supporters are chanting things like "Save the Whales!" and "No more Nukes!", but with waning enthusiasm. Finally after Jerry's a no show someone shouts, "Nuke the Whales!"

neufer · Post by **neufer** » Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:38 am

BDanielMayfield wrote:
But all ol Chaptain Nemo did was tic the squid off. They still had to surface and fight it off with whaling harpoons.

Nemo should have put all that electrical current into lights:
http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php? ... 16#p212516

Starship Asterisk*

xkcd: What If?

Re: xkcd: What If? #140

xkcd: Possible Undiscovered Planets

xkcd: What If? #142 - Space Jetta

xkcd: What If? #143 - Europa Water Siphon

xkcd: What If? #144 - Saliva Pool

Re: xkcd: What If? #144

Re: xkcd: What If? #144

Re: xkcd: What If? #144

xkcd: What If? #145 - Fire From Moonlight

xkcd: What If? #146 - Stop Jupiter

Re: xkcd: What If? #147 - Niagara Straw

Re: xkcd: What If? #148 - Eat the Sun

Re: xkcd: What If? #149 - Pizza Bird

Re: xkcd: What If? #150 - Tatooine Rainbow

xkcd: What If? #151 - Sun Bug

xkcd: What If? #152 - Flood Death Valley

xkcd: What If? #153 - Hide the Atmosphere

xkcd: What If? #154 - Coast-to-Coast Coasting

xkcd: What If? #155 - Toaster vs. Freezer

Re: xkcd: What If? #155 - Toaster vs. Freezer

Re: xkcd: What If? #155 - Toaster vs. Freezer

xkcd: What If? #156 - Electrofishing for Whales

Re: xkcd: What If? #156 - Electrofishing for Whales

Re: xkcd: What If? #156

Re: xkcd: What If? #156