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Re: xkcd: What If?
Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 8:53 pm
by Beyond
neufer wrote:geckzilla wrote:
What if you increased the mass of the earth to the mass of the sun?
We would all be living on a white dwarf and I would be somewhat more degenerate than usual.
Only somewhat
![Question :?:](./images/smilies/icon_question.gif)
There's hope for us yet
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
xkcd: What If? #54 - Drain the Oceans: Part II
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:10 pm
by bystander
Drain the Oceans: Part II
- Supposing you did Drain the Oceans, and dumped the water on top of the Curiosity rover,
how would Mars change as the water accumulated? — Iain
xkcd: What If? #55 - Random Sneeze Call
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:13 pm
by bystander
Random Sneeze Call
- If you call a random phone number and say “God bless you”, what are the chances
that the person who answers just sneezed? On average, not just in spring or fall. — Mimi
xkcd: What If? #56 - Restraining an Airplane
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:15 pm
by bystander
Restraining an Airplane
- If you wanted to anchor an airplane into the ground so it wouldn't be able to take off,
what would the rope have to be made out of? — Connor Childerhose
xkcd: What If? #57 - Dropping a Mountain
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:17 pm
by bystander
Dropping a Mountain
- What if a huge mountain—Denali, say—had the bottom inch of its base disappear?
What would happen from the impact of the mountain falling 1 inch? What about 1 foot?
What if the mountain's base were raised to the present height of the summit,
and then the whole thing were allowed to drop to the earth? — John-Clark Levin
xkcd: What If? #58 - Orbital Speed
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:20 pm
by bystander
Orbital Speed
- What if a spacecraft slowed down on re-entry to just a few miles per hour using rocket
boosters like the Mars-sky-crane? Would it negate the need for a heat shield? — Brian
Is it possible for a spacecraft to control its reentry in such a way that it avoids the atmospheric compression
and thus would not require the expensive (and relatively fragile) heat shield on the outside? — Christopher Mallow
Could a (small) rocket (with payload) be lifted to a high point in the atmosphere where
it would only need a small rocket to get to escape velocity?— Kenny Van de Maele
xkcd: What If? #59 - Updating a Printed Wikipedia
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 9:22 pm
by bystander
Updating a Printed Wikipedia
- If you had a printed version of the whole of (say, the English) Wikipedia, how many printers
would you need in order to keep up with the changes made to the live version? — Marein Könings
Re: xkcd: What If?
Posted: Fri Aug 23, 2013 10:01 pm
by neufer
What If bystander ignored "What If?" for a hundred straight Tuesdays.
Would he EVER be able to catch up at that point
![Question :?:](./images/smilies/icon_question.gif)
Re: xkcd: What If?
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 12:24 am
by Beyond
NO
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
He's an Apathetic Retiree. He doesn't have enough mustard to catch-up that much.
But then, neither do any of us.
Re: xkcd: What If?
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 2:40 am
by geckzilla
I think he would but that is an awfully long time for him to be offline. Some kind of disaster would have to strike.
Re: xkcd: What If?
Posted: Sat Aug 24, 2013 4:05 am
by bystander
It wasn't all my fault. These were all posted within the last 10 days.
Re: xkcd: What If?
Posted: Sun Aug 25, 2013 2:39 pm
by owlice
Great reading with my Sunday coffee; thanks for posting these!!
xkcd: What If? #60 - Signs of Life
Posted: Tue Aug 27, 2013 2:35 pm
by bystander
Signs of Life
- If you could teleport to a random place of the surface of the Earth,
what are the odds that you'll see signs of intelligent life? — Borislav Stanimirov
xkcd: What If? #61 - Speed Bump
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 5:44 pm
by bystander
Speed Bump
- How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? — Myrlin Barber
Re: xkcd: What If? #61
Posted: Tue Sep 03, 2013 8:04 pm
by Beyond
I liked the baseball at the speed of light link. One pitch and it's all over, for quite a ways.
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
ing
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
Re: xkcd: What If? #1
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 1:16 am
by Ann
Beyond wrote:I liked the baseball at the speed of light link. One pitch and it's all over, for quite a ways.
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
ing
![Exclamation :!:](./images/smilies/icon_exclaim.gif)
My goodness me (to the relativistic baseball)!
There was a "Slow down" campaign in Sweden a number of years ago, and I remember one poster saying (but in Swedish) "It is the velocity that kills you".
Isn't that true.
Ann
Re: xkcd: What If? #1
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 2:03 am
by Beyond
Velocity is what starts the ball rolling for other events to take place that makes the Big mess that does you in.
![Yes. :yes:](./images/smilies/yes.gif)
Re: xkcd: What If? #1
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 2:10 am
by rstevenson
Ann wrote:... I remember one poster saying (but in Swedish) "It is the velocity that kills you".
Isn't that true.
It's not the velocity, it's the abrupt
reduction in velocity that gets ya. [We need a SPLAT! smiley.]
Rob
Re: xkcd: What If? #1
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 2:36 am
by Beyond
But with the "relavistic" baseball (which never makes it to you), there isn't any abrupt reduction in velocity, it's the nuclear conditions that it generates that gets ya. [We also need a little mushroom cloud smiley]
Re: xkcd: What If? #1
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 2:47 am
by rstevenson
Sorry, I lost track of which kind of death we were talking about.
Rob
Re: xkcd: What If? #1
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 3:54 am
by Beyond
Completely understandable, given that there are so many ways to chose from.
![Laughing :lol2:](./images/smilies/asterisk_laugh.gif)
Re: xkcd: What If? #1
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 4:30 am
by bystander
xkcd: What If? #62 - Falling With Helium
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 7:01 pm
by bystander
Falling With Helium
- What if I jumped out of an airplane with a couple of tanks of helium and one huge, un-inflated
balloon? Then, while falling, I release the helium and fill the balloon. How long of a fall would
I need in order for the balloon to slow me enough that I could land safely? — Colin Rowe
Re: xkcd: What If? #62
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 3:56 am
by owlice
The question never got answered!
xkcd: What If? #63 - Google's Datacenters on Punch Cards
Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 5:48 pm
by bystander
Google's Datacenters on Punch Cards
- If all digital data were stored on punch cards,
how big would Google's data warehouse be? — James Zetlen