explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3215: Solar Warning

2026-03-04T16:24:19Z

130.76.187.47:

No comments yet, add the first comment! [[Special:Contributions/45.178.1.151|45.178.1.151]] 15:32, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

I feel like, the sunglasses in the title text are a reference to the game Minesweeper, in which the iconic sun puts on sunglasses after the minefield has been completely cleared. To start a new game, you click on the sun, the minefield gets reset, the sun takes its sunglasses off and you are facing refreshed "danger". [[Special:Contributions/2A02:3100:B0BF:FE00:383B:CEDD:D49C:6689|2A02:3100:B0BF:FE00:383B:CEDD:D49C:6689]] 16:21, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

: I was thinking only in the context of emoji, but that's actually a really good possibility, too! 16:23, 4 March 2026 (UTC)
:: I forgot to sign my comment. :sadge: [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.47|130.76.187.47]] 16:24, 4 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3215: Solar Warning

2026-03-04T16:23:15Z

130.76.187.47: Forgot to sign my comment. :sadge:

Talk:3215: Solar Warning

2026-03-04T16:22:17Z

130.76.187.47:

Talk:3214: Electric Vehicles

2026-03-03T13:37:36Z

130.76.187.47: edit my own comment :D

How's the transcript, guys? --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:41, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
: Heck if i know [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 03:46, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

idk man, most cars I've encountered sound pretty acoustic to me. EVs are quieter though since they lack combustion engines [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 04:00, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Just added a real life cars-as-instruments section, and to prove I'm human I must select photos with cars. It didn't tell me if I should pick the acoustic ones though, I'm confused. [[Special:Contributions/78.244.70.135|78.244.70.135]] 08:11, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
: Didn't it give you the option to use an audio version of the captcha? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:37, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

You know, it ''is'' possible to run out of charge while you're driving. Then you have to figure out how to move your car or recharge it when there aren't any sources of electricity handy or convenient. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 09:39, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
: That's hardly a unique problem, though - the same is also true of gas-powered cars (or any other fuel you care to mention, for that matter). [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:08, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

When i was in school one teacher was keen on distinguishing batteries from accumulators. a battery was something you use once, an accumulator could be recharged. this was in a non-english speaking country and i am not sure if this strict distinction exists in english. but it could cause such a misunderstanding.--[[Special:Contributions/2001:62A:4:408:2541:D6E7:7A86:B8DC|2001:62A:4:408:2541:D6E7:7A86:B8DC]] 10:25, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

: Until I read the whole paragraph I was thinking accumulator would be the same as a capacitor. Maybe they thought rechargeables are actually giant capacitors, but they aren't. They store energy in a (mostly) reversible chemical reaction (tons of energy, slow to charge-discharge (unless spicy pillow releases magic smoke and fire)). Capacitors hold charge physically along the surfaces of the plates (fast charge-discharge, (relatively) tiny capacity). Totally different storage method. [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.47|130.76.187.47]] 13:34, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3214: Electric Vehicles

2026-03-03T13:34:34Z

130.76.187.47:

How's the transcript, guys? --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:41, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
: Heck if i know [[Special:Contributions/216.25.182.141|216.25.182.141]] 03:46, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

idk man, most cars I've encountered sound pretty acoustic to me. EVs are quieter though since they lack combustion engines [[Special:Contributions/137.25.230.78|137.25.230.78]] 04:00, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Just added a real life cars-as-instruments section, and to prove I'm human I must select photos with cars. It didn't tell me if I should pick the acoustic ones though, I'm confused. [[Special:Contributions/78.244.70.135|78.244.70.135]] 08:11, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
: Didn't it give you the option to use an audio version of the captcha? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:37, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

You know, it ''is'' possible to run out of charge while you're driving. Then you have to figure out how to move your car or recharge it when there aren't any sources of electricity handy or convenient. [[User:Dogman15|Dogman15]] ([[User talk:Dogman15|talk]]) 09:39, 3 March 2026 (UTC)
: That's hardly a unique problem, though - the same is also true of gas-powered cars (or any other fuel you care to mention, for that matter). [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 10:08, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

When i was in school one teacher was keen on distinguishing batteries from accumulators. a battery was something you use once, an accumulator could be recharged. this was in a non-english speaking country and i am not sure if this strict distinction exists in english. but it could cause such a misunderstanding.--[[Special:Contributions/2001:62A:4:408:2541:D6E7:7A86:B8DC|2001:62A:4:408:2541:D6E7:7A86:B8DC]] 10:25, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

: Until I read the whole paragraph I was thinking accumulator would be the same as a capacitor. Maybe they thought rechargeables are actually giant capacitors, but they aren't. They store energy in a (mostly) reversible chemical reaction (tons of energy, slow to charge-discharge). Capacitors hold charge physically along the surfaces of the plates (fast charge-discharge, (relatively) tiny capacity). Totally different storage method. [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.47|130.76.187.47]] 13:34, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3206: Installation

2026-02-12T12:11:37Z

130.76.187.47: Great Circle ... of carpet

This is what hiking trails should BE! [[User:Explainyourself|Explainyourself]] ([[User talk:Explainyourself|talk]]) 02:47, 12 February 2026 (UTC)
:no. it would be better with [https://xkcd.com/3147/ waterslides.] (/j) --[[User:Utdtutyabthsc|Utdtutyabthsc]] ([[User talk:Utdtutyabthsc|talk]]) 03:19, 12 February 2026 (UTC)
:Hiking trail pavement needs to be sturdy enough to withstand hikers stomping up and down. It also needs to help their hiking boots grip the trail, or at least not do worse at that than bare dirt would. I am not convinced that carpet fits either of those criteria. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 04:15, 12 February 2026 (UTC)
::But now you can hike in your socks. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:40, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

I think this strip is a knowing reference to "outside the asylum", the inside-out home of Wonko the Sane in _The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_.

https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/The_Outside_of_the_Asylum

https://hitchhikers.fandom.com/wiki/Wonko_the_Sane

[[User:Lproven|Lproven]] ([[User talk:Lproven|talk]]) 09:09, 12 February 2026 (UTC)
:How do you reckon that? Other than the presence of a carpet, how does it uniquely reference Wonko's setup, as opposed to being a coincidence? [[User:Elizium23|Elizium23]] ([[User talk:Elizium23|talk]]) 10:07, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

This invention would go really well with outdoor floor-to-ceiling windows. -flatdurian [[Special:Contributions/138.75.249.122|138.75.249.122]] 11:54, 12 February 2026 (UTC)
: Also with the [[2790:_Heat_Pump|manual heat pump]] [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 12:08, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

This cartoon has made me go look at how I can map the great circle starting at my front door and running through my back door. It looks possible, but less easy than I was hoping for. Guess I know how my day is starting. :D [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.47|130.76.187.47]] 12:11, 12 February 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3200: Chemical Formula

2026-01-29T13:37:45Z

130.76.187.47:

I'm disappointed that it wasn't scrollable. [[Special:Contributions/2001:41D0:8:5062:0:0:0:1|2001:41D0:8:5062:0:0:0:1]] 20:20, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
:+1 And funny to think that the universe contains less than a few hundred mol of Americium. --[[Special:Contributions/2001:16B8:CC03:E100:8552:6543:7CF4:9AE7|2001:16B8:CC03:E100:8552:6543:7CF4:9AE7]] 20:57, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
::Time for a campaign to Make Americium Greater? [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 09:32, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:::Some people don't understand sarcasm. Pleaze don't give them ideas. [[User:Gorcq|Gorcq]] ([[User talk:Gorcq|talk]]) 12:15, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

If anyone's interested in an accessible resource for getting more data like this, may I suggest https://ptable.com/#Properties/Abundance/Universe (which I believe derives data from IUPAC sources) [[User:Dextrous Fred|Dextrous Fred]] ([[User talk:Dextrous Fred|talk]]) 20:37, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

surprised to see so much Astatine, he himself declared, that stuff doesnt want to exist so I expected yet a few powers of ten less {{unsigned ip|2a00:6020:479f:6c00:d587:ac2a:d1e2:26a9|21:08, 28 January 2026 (UTC)}}

This does make me curious: how would neutronium be represented in a chemical formula? Or would it be? My impression is it kind of exists 'outside' of chemistry... -Kalil [[Special:Contributions/147.81.60.76|147.81.60.76]] 21:12, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
:Neutron stars would be represented with '''n''' with various mass numbers. And there are no more than 1 mmol (6.02214076×1020) of neutron stars. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C09:EC00:7932:264E:A9E0:8ED0|2001:4C4E:1C09:EC00:7932:264E:A9E0:8ED0]] 21:38, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

What about adding mass numbers? For example, most of the hydrogen is 1H, with small amounts of 2H and trace amounts of 3H. [[Special:Contributions/2001:4C4E:1C09:EC00:7932:264E:A9E0:8ED0|2001:4C4E:1C09:EC00:7932:264E:A9E0:8ED0]] 21:38, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

Oh look, it's the 3200th comic! Yay I guess! --'''''[[User:DollarStoreBa'al|DollarStoreBa'al]][[User Talk:DollarStoreBa'al|Converse]]''''' 22:46, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

An unregistered user (198.48.180.159) added a note that the chemical formula "C11H15NO2" (i.e. C11H15NO2) "has 302 registered isomers". I don't know the source for that number or where those isomers are registered. (It's the formula for MDMA, which is, as noted, "not good to eat".) Would that be the CAS registry? [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 23:20, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
: Don't know if this works, but here's a site that does immediately return 302 compounds: https://pubchemlite.lcsb.uni.lu/compounds?query=C11H15NO2 [[Special:Contributions/8.17.60.225|8.17.60.225]] 04:19, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

10^26 atoms of americium is about 40 kg. But it looks like humans produced tons of americium: https://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/np_237_and_americium.pdf
. If there are other civilizations in the observable Universe, then the amount of americium in the Universe is even higher. So I guess the formula counts only naturally produced elements. But even then it seems underestimated. [[User:Alexei Kopylov|Alexei Kopylov]] ([[User talk:Alexei Kopylov|talk]]) 23:45, 28 January 2026 (UTC)
:In everything that I've checked (I expanded the "list of names" into a table), I could ''not'' discover any universal quantity of americium that was close to Randall's apparent source. Can't exclude the possibility that artificially nucleogenesis played a part in his figures (while mine are from how much was created 'naturally'), but I've just had to go along with it being a completely wrong figure (for the ultimate universal ranking). Much as boron might be given slightly mismagnituded.
:However, if anyone thinks they have the same source that led to the comic's values (and can reconfirm beryllium's estimated order of magnitude, which is the ''only'' reason I decided to start on compiling this amount of extended data, which is actually for all 118 humanly known elements), then you're welcome to correct anything that I left in an incorrect state. [[Special:Contributions/81.179.199.253|81.179.199.253]] 00:16, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

...but what if you had a mole of universes? {{unsigned ip|99.109.3.237|00:50, 29 January 2026 (UTC)}}

In the explanation, towards the end of the formula for the universe, it says U₁₀². Would that mean that there are only about 100 uranium atoms in the whole universe? That seems way too low. Did the explainer confuse the powers of 10 with rankings (in reverse)? --[[Special:Contributions/208.59.176.206|208.59.176.206]] 03:48, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:I'm not sure where the error came from, but about half the numbers are drastically too low. Remember, a mole is 6.02*10^23. [[Special:Contributions/174.94.104.215|174.94.104.215]] 05:34, 29 January 2026 (UTC)
:Fixed. The powers were just in descending order, one by one. The current values reflect the actual amounts, give or take one or two orders of magnitude. --[[User:1234231587678|1234231587678]] ([[User talk:1234231587678|talk]]) 06:04, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

In the first paragraph of the explanation it says that the number for helium would be about a third as the number for hydrogen. This seems to compare the total masses for both elements instead of the number of atoms. Hydrogen should account for aprox. 92% of the atoms while Helium is approx. 8%. [[Special:Contributions/2A02:810D:9B99:7800:DECB:CADA:B418:2F1A|2A02:810D:9B99:7800:DECB:CADA:B418:2F1A]] 05:58, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

Re "Other more complex atoms, up to atomic mass 56, formed later ... as a result of stellar nucleosynthesis". Not all of them; there is another way. Boron and Beryllium are produced by cosmic ray spallation, the splitting of heavier atoms by the impact of energetic particles. [[Special:Contributions/2A12:F43:141A:9F00:A0FA:9260:7BAF:8D57|2A12:F43:141A:9F00:A0FA:9260:7BAF:8D57]] 13:16, 29 January 2026 (UTC) dww-uk

How do we count the atoms that all rollled up into a singularity and otherwise vanished from the universe except to leave a big pinch in it that causes weird gravity effects. [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.47|130.76.187.47]] 13:37, 29 January 2026 (UTC)

Talk:3193: Sailing Rigs

2026-01-13T12:57:31Z

130.76.187.47:

Here before all the "here im first" comments [[User:TheTrainsKid|TheTrainsKid]] ([[User talk:TheTrainsKid|talk]]) 05:06, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

I can't help but notice that he forgot about cutters. [[User:PDesbeginner|PDesbeginner]] ([[User talk:PDesbeginner|talk]]) 05:07, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

:D [[User:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|Qwertyuiopfromdefly]] ([[User talk:Qwertyuiopfromdefly|talk]]) 05:15, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

Flettner Rig may refer to https://xkcd.com/3119/ [[Special:Contributions/73.225.91.80|73.225.91.80]] 06:19, 13 January 2026 (UTC)
:Yes, but also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_rotor [[Special:Contributions/130.76.187.47|130.76.187.47]] 12:57, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

I see Randall has taken up a new hobby :D [[Special:Contributions/152.115.135.109|152.115.135.109]] 08:21, 13 January 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia does have a kite rig web page. That's a real thing, but usually not as pretty as here. And I suppose you could do helium balloons. Robert Carnegie rja.carnegie@gmail.com [[Special:Contributions/85.115.54.203|85.115.54.203]] 11:46, 13 January 2026 (UTC)