3025: Phase Change
Phase Change |
![]() Title text: Even when you try to make nice, smooth ice cubes in a freezer, sometimes one of them will shoot out a random ice spike, which physicists ascribe to kiki conservation. |
Explanation[edit]
This comic is a reference to the bouba/kiki effect (the cutest-sounding scientific effect!), which finds that people, regardless of what linguistic and cultural background they come from, have a tendency to associate lower-pitched sounds (such as "bouba") with objects that are big and round and higher-pitched sounds (such as "kiki") with smaller and sharp objects. Some real life examples are the antonyms 'high-low', 'rigid-flowing', and 'tiny-huge'. This is partly due to humans' needs to categorize things.
The comic intentionally conflates this with the phase transition that water undergoes around 0 degrees Celsius. Water in its liquid state can be described as soft and round, as can the sound of the word "water" itself. In contrast, ice is hard and crystalline, giving it the potential to form hard edges and sharp points. The word "ice" also contains a sharp hissing sound.
In the above-freezing section of the graph, there are pictures associated with the following (bouba) words: drop, drip, pour, splash. In the below-freezing section of the graph, the pictures are associated with the following (kiki) words: ice, icicle, snowflake, ice cube, iceberg.
The title text refers to ice spikes, which are caused by the uneven freezing of ice in a freezer. The title text expands on the joke by claiming that ice cubes wish to maintain the pointiness of objects characterized as "kiki."
Transcript[edit]
- [A vertical graph is shown, indicating temperature in degrees Celsius, with a horizontal dotted line at zero degrees and positive temperatures above it. The graph has labels against gradation marks for -10, -5, 0, 5 and 10 °C, a mark for each other whole degree present and extends to meet the top and bottom border of the graph's frame, at approximately ±11.5°C. The area above the dotted line is filled with several illustrations of liquid water in various forms: dripping down from a surface, forming a droplet, pouring from a glass, splashing onto a surface of water, etc. This area is labeled "Bouba" with an arrow pointing up. The area below the dotted line is filled with illustrations of ice in various forms, namely icicles hanging from a surface, two ice cubes (one with a small ice spike), a snowflake, a thin piano-shaped piece of ice and a thicker sheet of ice on water along with an iceberg. This area is labeled "Kiki" with an arrow pointing down.]
- [Caption below the panel:]
- When water's temperature falls below 0°C, it undergoes a phase transition from bouba to kiki.



Discussion
Baba is First. P?sych??otic?pot??at???o (talk) 17:02, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
- what Rustykid52 (talk) 16:26, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- Rustykid is you 162.158.202.133 18:48, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- I believe Psychoticpotato is referencing a phenomena wherein "baba" is generally easier for a baby to say, than either "dada" or even "mama" & it also happens to sound a bit like "bottle"; ergo, it's often one's 'first word'.
- ProphetZarquon (talk) 18:55, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- Baba is You Caliban (talk) 20:42, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
Thanks Randall, I hate it. 😊 Caliban (talk) 18:07, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
Oi, why was my transcript deleted? 172.69.134.64 21:52, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
- It’s been restored. Maybe pop a message to Apollo11 if you want an explanation from him? 42.book.addictTalk to me! 23:01, 16 December 2024 (UTC)
The comic may have been inspired by the Ologies podcast episode on mnemologie part one posted on December the fourth. There Dr. Michael Yassa exblains the effect. 162.158.111.86 (talk) 00:57, 17 December 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
For water vapour we use fushu. From r/linguisticshumor 172.69.165.2 (talk) 01:01, 17 December 2024 (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
About the phrase 'as can the sound of the word "water" itself [being "soft and round"]' - "Water" is a mix, the beginning and end are "soft/round" but the middle is quite "hard/sharp." 172.71.170.109 15:01, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- Depends. It's only fairly sharp in my accent, and virtually gone in other dialectical variations. And even at its 'hardest', it can be likened to the pitter-pat of rain on a surface (hard surface, yes, but much 'softer' rain). 172.69.43.182 17:59, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
I think that this also relates to a nonsense shape theory (ex, the bouba kiki theory, to be exact) but I'm not entirely sure... A dream demon (talk) 15:16, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- I don't know if you trying to say exactly what (part of) the article already says, or something different that I don't understand. 172.69.43.182 17:59, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
- I have no idea what I'm saying either 🫠 A dream demon (talk) 21:22, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
Does Bouba also have a delivery service? ProphetZarquon (talk) 18:55, 17 December 2024 (UTC)
Hey, uhh... so I've just gone down a very very very long and dark and also very sad XKCD rabbit hole at midnight even though tomorrow I've got like 4 tests, so I'm just gonna hurry this up.
Number of frames in "Time" (comic 1190): 3094.
Number of comics today: 3025.
I wonder what will happen for comic 3094. Maybe he's been saving his special comic for 3094. I don't know. But maybe, just maybe, something waits there. Sorry, I just had to get this thing off my chest. Also, yes, I know it's unlikely. But the number is so close. Wait for it... DollarStoreBa'al (talk) 05:20, 18 December 2024 (UTC)
How does bo'o'oh'wa'er measure in this scale? 172.70.47.94 12:58, 22 December 2024 (UTC)
A kiki is also something a Scissor Sister would like to have. These Are Not The Comments You Are Looking For (talk) 02:30, 23 December 2024 (UTC)