21: Kepler

2013-06-14T01:35:04Z

114.179.18.35: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 21
| date = October 17, 2005
| title = Kepler
| image = kepler.jpg
| titletext = Science joke. You should probably move along.
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Johannes Kepler}} was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, best known for his laws of planetary motion. By using Tycho Brahe's observations of our solar system, Brahe gave Kepler the job of observing and explaining the motion of the planet Mars, Kepler was able to deduce that planets in the system do not move in a circular orbit around the Sun, but rather in an elliptical one. (The suspicious nature of Tycho Brahe's death in 1601, and Johannes Kepler's possible role in his end, constitutes one of history's greatest unsolved murder mysteries - some wonder whether Kepler may have killed him to obtain his data.) According to {{w|Kepler's_laws_of_planetary_motion#Second_law|Kepler's Second Law}}, "A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time."

In the comic, the janitor Kepler also sweeps the same area, although in this case "area" is used in the sense of "surface" (of floor) rather than in the purely mathematical sense.

== Transcript ==
:[Two people stand in an aisle in a store.]
:Person 1: Nice store. How do you keep the floors so clean?
:Person 2: Oh, we hired this dude named Kepler, he's really good. Hard worker. Doesn't mind the monotony. Sweeps out the same area every night.

== Trivia ==
*[Original [[Randall]] quote]: "Another one which, if you don't get, you're probably better off."
*This is the twentieth comic posted to livejournal. The previous was [[20: Ferret]]. The next was [[44: Love]].

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Physics]]

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21: Kepler