explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2922: Pub Trivia

2024-04-19T14:04:43Z

172.68.3.44: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2922
| date = April 19, 2024
| title = Pub Trivia
| image = pub_trivia_2x.png
| imagesize = 422x666px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Bonus question: Where is London located? (a) The British Isles (b) Great Britain and Northern Ireland (c) The UK (d) Europe (or 'the EU') (e) Greater London
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a TRIVIAL BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Here are the answers:
1. All of them.
2. 4, 6, 8, 12, or 20 in Euclidean 3-space
3. Some puddle somewhere.
4. Jaws (this one is bad because it is obvious, not difficult).
5. Countless planetesimals formed the current slate of 8 planets.
6. This question is poorly defined.
7. The last airplane to ever be built is not yet built.
8. This is an open question in math.
9. Not counting the capital Canberra, Australia doesn't have a capital.
10. Many different people have played the drums through the ages.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2909: Moon Landing Mission Profiles

2024-03-22T17:42:08Z

172.68.3.44:

Direct assent was a common method in many sci-fi movies. Including the classic {{w|From the Earth to the Moon (film)|From the Earth to the Moon}} [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 19:18, 20 March 2024 (UTC)

It feels like it needs an addition of more detail from the planned Artemis mission. In several ways it's going to be a "multiple rockets, assembled in orbit" plan (if not Earth orbit, then Lunar), with SLS and Orion scheduled to be cooperating with the Lunar-Starship launch (later, maybe, other independently craft)... which is itself almost a "one big rocket" solution, sticky-taped onto the plan. That's with or without the addition of the dedicated and semi-manned Lunar Gateway moon-orbiting element. I mean, most of the prototypical Apollo-era plans (DA, EOR, LSR and LOR) had their own crazy bits to them, and the full Artemis premise definitely seems crazy as well, if only because the LOR version got chosen for Apollo and pretty much got proven to work. (Or worked enough to even get 13 back home safely!) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.254|172.70.85.254]] 21:04, 20 March 2024 (UTC)
:Which mission profile will the artemis missions use? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.202.135|162.158.202.135]] 06:58, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
::From wikipedia:
:: Artemis 3 (2026) is planned to be the first crewed lunar landing. The mission depends on a support mission to place a Starship Human Landing System (HLS) in a near-rectilinear halo orbit (NRHO) of the Moon prior to the launch of SLS/Orion. After Starship HLS reaches NRHO, SLS/Orion will send the Orion spacecraft with a crew of four to rendezvous and dock with HLS. [...]
::...so it's a kind of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous With Multiple Launches (not sure what its official name is, probably something as pithy as "Skycrane" was). Certainly not unambiguously any one of the main types considered for Apollo/in this comic. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.225|172.69.194.225]] 09:17, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
::: So it's both an earth orbit rendezvous and a lunar orbit rendezvous? --[[Special:Contributions/162.158.94.201|162.158.94.201]] 07:15, 22 March 2024 (UTC)
:::: Depends on how you define the SpaceX contribution (in the [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Artemis_III_CONOPS.svg current plan].
::::*In Earth Orbit, there is due to be unmanned refuelling of the Lunar Starship from 'normal' Starships, which is a sort of EOR, I suppose.
::::**But the Apollo EOR would have been basicically building up small bits, assembling 'a Moon rocket' in space that could avoid the LOR rendezvousing but was too big to launch in one go. The Saturn V helped there, in becoming good enough at lifting to not ''need'' the EOR stage, along with other mission refinements.
::::*Lunar Starship and Orion capsule (and, later, other items, including the Lunar Gateway) meet up in Lunar Orbit ''prior'' to any landing, fulfiling a "multiple rocket LOR" hybrid, one could say.
::::**The equivalent phase for Apollo was the 'pointy bit' command module temporarily disconnecting from the lunar lander (stowed behind it in the same rocket) and reconnecting nose-to-nose (or nose to head?), but it wasn't really a full rendezvous, just a reconfiguration of bits already floating around together. And this happened on the way between Earth and Moon, anyway, so isn't in either Lunar ''or'' Earth orbit. Could have been either, but it just happens in a 'quiet' bit of the mission profile, and probably they also needed the TLI burn to happen before they started messing around 'unpacking' the LM from its shroud, etc.
::::*Lunar Starship then goes down to land on the Moon (hopefully) mirroring Apollo's LM separating from the CM
::::**But none of the plans ever refer to any ''undocking'' stages, by name. Even the Direct Launch approach would probably require disconecting from bits of the rocket stack that they'd discard, at various points, rather than the Single-Stage-To-Moon-And-Back of the Tintin rocket and other popular SF versions of the era.
::::*LS then LORs with Orion (again, hopefully!), as that Starship model isn't going to be useful in getting back down to Earth. It'll perhaps be left for use by the next Orion to arrive (and maybe they'll get more fuel to it), if everything goes to plan.
::::**This is the LOR bit that the used Apollo profile ''really'' refers to, because ascent-stage of the lander had to meet up again with the command module in order to return home. Again, this lander was not set up to get the crew back to Earth (no use carrying heat-shields/etc down to the Moon and back if you didn't have to...), though most bits of landers were either left on the Moon (descent stages) or crashed back into it (ascent stages, once the crew had transfered back), without any plans for re-use by later missions.
::::*Pretty much every plan (past and current) has ''whatever'' kind (and state) of vehicle that departs the Moon then coming straight back into the re-entry (though discarding the last bit of rocketry below the capsule might still be required).
::::**It's possible that future missions will add a post-landing EOR (or similar), perhaps so that Orion's successor can be a reusable ferry back and forth between Earth orbit (ISS/whatever) and Moon orbit (Lunar Gateway/etc) and not need the capsule heat-shield/parachutes, instead crews can hitch rides up/down on Crew Dragons or similar HLSs.
::::Perhaps let's call the Artemis plan something like Multiple Rocket Earth Orbit Refueling Lunar Orbit Rendezvous/Reusable Rockets (MREORLOR/RR, but only cats can pronounce that properly). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.160.166|172.70.160.166]] 11:43, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

I see Lunar Earth Rendezvous will be bad for Earth's climate, tides, stock markets and ecosystems. Has anyone considered the impact this will have on the trout population? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.111.48|172.70.111.48]] 00:02, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
:What is the deal with trout? I’ve seen trout population mentioned in 2 places online. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.44|172.68.3.44]] 17:42, 22 March 2024 (UTC)

The choice of Lunar Orbit Rendezvous wasn't easy for the Apollo planners. Thanks to John Houbolt, the "voice in the wilderness" as he called himself, NASA finally adopted LOR rather than Direct Ascent or Earth Orbit Rendezvous they were planning in the early 60's. [https://www.popsci.com/blog-network/vintage-space/remembering-john-houbolt-nasas-voice-wilderness/ Remembering John Houbolt, NASA’s Voice in the Wilderness] [[User:Orion205|Orion205]] ([[User talk:Orion205|talk]]) 01:09, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
:When you think about it, the complex (re)docking procedures for happen entirely beyond Earth orbit (for all Moon-bound missions). The uncovering of the LM and crew-connection made from the CM early in TLI, and the return of the ascent stage to rendezvous with the CM in lunar orbit.
:How tempting must it have been to just have a single, 'uncomplicated' lander that doesn't rely on potentially awkward coordination well beyond any conceivably timely 'rescue shot' from Earth (LEO construction variations might realistically be still somewhat inaccesable, at the time, but there might yet still have been a chance to do something with a handy 1B sitting on a pad just in case.)
:But it turned out Ok. Maybe better than Ok, as Aquarius (13's LM) was an important temporary 'lifeboat', whereas any single-craft-to-Moon solution with the same engineering failure might have left the crew with nowhere near as survivable a situation.
:As Eleven's initial landing maybe showed (had to choose another landing spot from the one initially aimed for), the Lunar Surface Rendezvous seems to me the trickiest 'rendezvous' variation. At best, the preparatory 'reception lander' might have needed to have been sent again, when the first one encountered the bad landing zone (either landed badly or landed okish but revealed awful conditions to send the manned expedition). At worst, the manned craft lands but not realistically close enough to perform the intended fuel transfer, and very little that they can do about it by then.
:So, looked at one way, it was a crazy decision. In another, it was just workable enough to avoid all the problems that the various other schemes had? [[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.225|172.69.43.225]] 09:01, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

Randall's been thinking a lot about space recently. No complaints from me. [[User:MrCandela|MrCandela]] ([[User talk:MrCandela|talk]]) 02:08, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
: He's probably playing KSP2 :D [[User:Elektrizikekswerk|Elektrizikekswerk]] ([[User talk:Elektrizikekswerk|talk]]) 08:35, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

Getting astronauts to the moon isn't hard. Getting them there (and back) in one piece is.[[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.76|141.101.98.76]] 10:18, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
:[[2906: Earth|Yes, Carl...]] ;) [[Special:Contributions/172.69.194.81|172.69.194.81]] 13:04, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

Talk:2891: Log Cabin

2024-02-08T16:42:56Z

172.68.3.44: Asked a question

:: "''The odd part about it is the bottom right corner, which appears to be infinitely recursive copies..''"
The whole right side is the left side, shrunk and recursed. Each iteration rotated 90 degrees. The 'shrink' is about 1.616 by my squint, a lot like a "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio Golden Ratio]" LOGarithmic spiral, as NickM says. [[User:PRR|PRR]] ([[User talk:PRR|talk]]) 19:49, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

::This is a LOGarithmic spiral [[Special:Contributions/172.70.210.103|172.70.210.103]] 19:52, 7 February 2024 (UTC)NickM

:: It is precisely the golden ratio, assuming the left side is a square [[User:Terdragontra|Terdragontra]] ([[User talk:Terdragontra|talk]]) 22:09, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Assuming a standard 36" wide front door, then the next "front" door would be 22.27 inches, then 13.78 inches, then 8.53 inches, at which point I doubt the inspector could squeeze through it, though I guess they could still take a peek inside the next recursion. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.34.58|172.68.34.58]] 20:57, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Infinite bedrooms, infinite baths, close to schools and shopping. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.247.48|172.69.247.48]] 21:00, 7 February 2024 (UTC)
::Government: Your property tax comes up to infinite dollars. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.26.160|172.71.26.160]] 21:45, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Interesting comparison with the archetypal "labyrinth". It's actually a fractal version that only avoids being unicursal-with-no-dead-ends due to the off-living-room private spaces being quite trivial offshoots. Which arguably makes it ''fairly'' classical in nature. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.114|172.70.90.114]] 21:18, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Should there be a mention that due to the limitations of the image format, it only actually achieves eight iterations? Which makes sense given that construction materials also have limits, and is still enough that the inspectors might be a bit confused if they don't pay close enough attention. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.60.216|172.69.60.216]] 23:21, 7 February 2024 (UTC)

Write it [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2891:_Log_Cabin&diff=prev&oldid=334498 how you want], I just wanted to avoid calling a room with no bath (but a shower) as a "bathroom", especially when I was mentioning a 'bathroom' with an actual bath in it so soon after. Not that there's a completely unambiguous term for the room with the toilet/lavatory/whatever in it. (For reference, for me it's "the toilet", despite that also being the porceline item itself, and even that is derived from a hairdressing cloth, through a string of euphemisms. But knew that wouldn't be accepted by the wider readership.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.26|172.70.85.26]] 01:49, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:In the USA, any room with a toilet and sink is typically called a "bathroom" whether or not there is a literal bath within. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.131.3|172.70.131.3]] 09:33, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
::Don't think it's particularly a US/UK thing - it's pretty commonly called a 'bathroom' in the UK too. I think the point of the editor above was the potential for confusion between the ''two'' 'bathrooms', and how to avoid it.[[Special:Contributions/172.69.43.243|172.69.43.243]] 09:44, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
:Using a language that allows to say "Sh*thouse" in a nice way (praised be the diminutive!) helps in such cases...[[User:Tier666|Tier666]] ([[User talk:Tier666|talk]]) 10:15, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
::There is a {{wiktionary|Thesaurus:bathroom|truly astounding range of terms}}, in English alone, (and I can think of several not included there, even discounting the rather localised overly-vulgar ''or'' overly-polite ones). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.221|172.70.90.221]] 11:38, 8 February 2024 (UTC)
Are there any non-Euclidean geometries in which you could fit this house without having to shrink the rooms or the people? [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.44|172.68.3.44]] 16:42, 8 February 2024 (UTC)

2890: Relationship Advice

2024-02-05T17:46:10Z

172.68.3.44: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2890
| date = February 5, 2024
| title = Relationship Advice
| image = relationship_advice_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x241px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Good to be a little wary of advice that sounds too much like a self pep talk.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a BOT in the midst of a GRUELING RELATIONSHIP (THIS IS NORMAL) - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:1139: Rubber and Glue

2024-01-29T21:20:17Z

172.68.3.44:

I am not a native speaker, but after some research, I found that rubber/glue refers to the rhyme "I am rubber, you are glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you." If that's true, the current explanation that the topos is meant "to imply that insults of another person are an indication of their own insecurity and weakness" is just plain wrong. [[User:BKA|BKA]] ([[User talk:BKA|talk]]) 15:51, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
*It's really not wrong, it's just a clarification. [[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 19:43, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
:"Which bounces off me and sticks to you" is not meant in the literal sense. The sticks to you portion typically means that the recipient of the insult is implying that the sender is calling out other people by names that apply to themselves. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 00:22, 27 November 2012 (UTC)
::It's basically "I know you are, but what am I?" with different words. [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.53|173.245.54.53]] 05:38, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

The in-joke here is presumably that CRC stands (or stood?) for the Chemical Rubber Company, and the handbook - found in many a physics and chemistry lab - is often referred to as the "Rubber Bible".
[[Special:Contributions/131.251.254.81|131.251.254.81]] 16:07, 26 November 2012 (UTC)

Of note is probably that the book young black hat is reading is known as the "Rubber Bible". From wikipedia: The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics is in its 93rd edition. It is sometimes nicknamed the 'Rubber Bible' or the 'Rubber Book', as CRC originally stood for "Chemical Rubber Company". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRC_Handbook_of_Chemistry_and_Physics

As an aside, this is the first time Black Hat has ever been referred to by a name of any kind. Should we consider calling him "Hatman" now? --[[User:Castriff|Jimmy C]] ([[User talk:Castriff|talk]]) 19:43, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
:The transcript calls him Black Hat. Hatboy is only what the bullies were calling him in an effort to make fun of him. [[User:Erenan|Erenan]] ([[User talk:Erenan|talk]]) 20:22, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
:: Is it just me or does this appear to be a flashback to Black Hat's youth? --[[User:Jeff|Jeff]] ([[User talk:Jeff|talk]]) 23:03, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
:::The size of their heads would make it appear to be so. We could probably approximate his age in the comic from the proportional size of his head to the rest of his body. [[User:Davidy22|Davidy22]][[User talk:Davidy22|<tt>(talk)</tt>]] 03:48, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

::::And also the hat is way too big for him! :) --[[User:St.nerol|St.nerol]] ([[User talk:St.nerol|talk]]) 16:23, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

There ought to be a name for the mind games that children use to abuse each other. The "rubber /glue" phrase, for instance, makes no sense ate all, but among children acts as a real restriction on discourse, a kind of bard curse that ties up the recipient in confusion. I was delighted to see the phrase turned around like this. Yay black hat![[Special:Contributions/64.254.188.208|64.254.188.208]] 14:22, 27 November 2012 (UTC) Noni Mausa, (away from home and don't have my log-in, sorry)

Just as an entertaining comment, Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory uses a form of this insult as such: "I'm polymerized tree sap and you're an inorganic adhesive, so whatever verbal projectile you launch in my direction is reflected off of me, returns on its original trajectory and adheres to you." --[[User:Joehammer79|Joehammer79]] ([[User talk:Joehammer79|talk]]) 14:47, 27 November 2012 (UTC)

I can't help but wonder whether this is a reference to cuil theory. His phrasing is very similar to some of the higher-cuil paragraphs in the original explanation, with the mention of being unable to scream and whatnot. --nobody important

The translator of the spanish version of the Monkey Island video game did not know this expression and translated it as 'Yo soy cola, tú pegamento', which doesn't have any comprehensible meaning. It's considered a geek cult mistranslation, kind of a spanish version of what "All your base are belong to us" is in English. {{unsigned|81.34.231.6}}

:[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoodBadTranslation Link] for those of you that need more information, open up "Adventure Game". [[User:Lcarsos|lcarsos]]_a ([[User talk:Lcarsos|talk]]) 18:09, 28 November 2012 (UTC)

The words black hat uses to terrorize the bullies reminded me of Harlan Ellison's famous horror sci-fi short story "I have no mouth and I must scream":
:I will describe myself as I see myself: I am a great soft jelly thing. Smoothly rounded, with no mouth, with pulsing white holes filled by fog where my eyes used to be. Rubbery appendages that were once my arms; bulks rounding down into legless humps of soft slippery matter. I leave a moist trail when I move. Blotches of diseased, evil gray come and go on my surface, as though light is being beamed from within. Outwardly: dumbly, I shamble about, a thing that could never have been known as human, a thing whose shape is so alien a travesty that humanity becomes more obscene for the vague resemblance. Inwardly: alone. Here. [..snip..] I have no mouth. And I must scream. --unsigned
:Which is also a pretty awesome [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth,_and_I_Must_Scream_(video_game) adventure game]

"frighten the children bullying him, into calling for their mothers" Hmm. It seems to me that 'moooom!' is the kind of incoherent noise that one would make if your mouth were actually full of glue. Seriously, try it. Fill your mouth with - say - banana - then hold your lips together and try to say something. Has Baby Blackhat found a way to literally fill his tormentor's mouth with glue? Maybe? {{unsigned ip|108.162.222.35}}
: No. Calling for parent makes considerably more sense. -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 05:30, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

I see it as proof there is a god.
After insulting the scientists on uk.sci.weather for not realising that their branch and all such branches of science are totally subjective in their nature (think Einstein) then calling me out and insisting my work is subjective and for teaching each other to ignore me as a fantasist; I ended up last night regretting calling them a bunch of dildoes just because they are all, without exception -and completely inexcusably, dildoes, I ended up making a complete hash of my forecasts. An unforgivably stupid error showing my lack of objectivity and ability to check my stuff.

This morning,still feeling foolish, I was thinking how the prophet Daniel would have handled things in the days before he became Chief Magic Practitioner for all of the Babylonian and then Persian Empires:
Daniel 4:25 and
Daniel 2:14
It's the "wisdom and tact" bit I need to work on.

Also my reading skills concerning interpretation could use some glasses; I thought the name of the book Blackhat was reading was the "Orc handbook of chemistry and physics". Doh! (But it works like that though, too.)[[User:Weatherlawyer| I used Google News BEFORE it was clickbait]] ([[User talk:Weatherlawyer|talk]]) 07:37, 14 January 2015 (UTC)
:What the cherry flavoured hell are you talking about? -Pennpenn [[Special:Contributions/108.162.250.155|108.162.250.155]] 05:30, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Can we rename Black Hat "Hatboy"? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.215.215|108.162.215.215]] 14:40, 13 October 2016 (UTC)

"Young Black Hat was mentioned later in [[1753: Thumb War]]" was what I just read. My OCD mind immediately turned to the problem (there's no period) and fixed it. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 16:03, 31 October 2016 (UTC)

I fixed the incomplete sections of the comic by removing the incomplete tag, mentioned the title text, and went into greater detail with Black Hat's taunt. --[[User:JayRulesXKCD|JayRulesXKCD]] ([[User talk:JayRulesXKCD|talk]]) 12:51, 2 November 2016 (UTC)

I love Black Hat's chaos theory so bad. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.3.44|172.68.3.44]] 21:20, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

2848: Breaker Box

2024-01-29T21:14:56Z

172.68.3.44: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2848
| date = October 30, 2023
| title = Breaker Box
| image = breaker_box_2x.png
| imagesize = 560x776px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Any electrician will warn you to first locate and flip the house's CAUSALITY circuit breaker before touching the CIRCUIT BREAKERS one.
}}

{{incomplete}} The explanation doesn't seem clear enough!
==Explanation==
A {{w|distribution board}}, referred to as a "breaker box" here and also commonly referred to as a "fuse box", "breaker panel", "DB box", and many other names, is a metal box attached to a wall, usually in some maintenance area, containing multiple {{w|circuit breakers}} that distribute electricity to various parts of the building. A circuit breaker is an electrical switch, usually in the form of a small lever, which disconnects the circuit from the power source when opened. These breakers are designed to automatically open if too much electrical current flows through them. This is a safety measure to reduce the risk of damage, fire or electrocution in the event of a short circuit or an overloaded line. These breakers can also be opened manually, deactivating the circuit to allow electrical work to be done.

In breaker boxes, each individual breaker is typically labeled to let the operator know what that breaker controls. Typically, the circuit controlled by each breaker will feed an intuitive set of connections: a certain room, or set of rooms, or possibly a set of related services (like overhead lights, or all the outlets on one floor). Some large appliances will have a dedicated circuit and breaker.

However, in houses that have been rewired multiple times (or were poorly wired the first time), this can quickly become overcomplicated with seemingly random connections. Randall lives in Boston where much of the housing stock is from the late 1800s and early 1900s, and he is likely to live in a house with non-ideal wiring, which may have inspired this comic.

The comic satirizes these complex wiring setups, with multiple breakers "controlling" arbitrary things, including some that – in the classic style of xkcd – are puns on the word "breaker" or may be impossible to hook a breaker up to, getting progressively more absurd to the point of nullifying laws and "breaking" certain laws of physics.

===Table of the breaker labels===
{|class = "wikitable"
! Label next to breaker !! Explanation !! Note
|-
! colspan="3"|Left column of switches
|-
| Kitchen lights || The lights in the kitchen. || rowspan="3"| Standard items that could be separate
|-
| Living room lights || The lights in the living room.
|-
| Porch lights || The lights on the porch.
|-
| Bathroom lights and one surprise mystery outlet somewhere || The lights in the bathroom, but also a random outlet.
It is not uncommon for the power supplies to bathrooms (and other rooms with water connections) to be on a separate circuit. This is because water can potentially cause a short circuit, resulting in the breaker opening, and separate circuits minimize the impact and makes the problem easier to locate. These are called "GFCI" or "GFI" (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter [https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/099_0.pdf]) circuits.

It is a standard to connect a bathroom outlet with another outlet also requiring a GFCI, such as basement or outdoors. Another option is that an electrician (or homeowner), having initially reserved an output from the box for such a limited use, may – while adding wiring – chooses to wire seemingly unrelated things into the same circuit. This may make sense (for example, an outlet near a non-bathroom sink or some other water source could reasonably be grouped with the bathroom), or it may simply be out of convenience from how long the wires needed to run (such as an outlet in the room adjacent to the bathroom). In either case, future residents and installers may not be informed of this, and therefore wouldn't realize that the outlet is grouped with that circuit.
| Standard or 'kludged'
|-
| North-facing appliances || colspan="2"|Peculiar and a bit complex to execute. Here's how it might have been set up:
# Install a breaker switch that is actually a mechanical switch to control a smart home automation instead of its normal function
# Replace relevant normal outlets with Wi-Fi-controlled smart outlets
# Use smart home software to create a custom group of all outlets that control all ''north-facing appliances''
# Set up a software automation to selectively toggle this user-defined group of smart outlets when triggered.
* Adding a matching appliance to the house would require editing the automation.

Alternative explanations:
* The switch may be physically wired only to outlets installed on a southern wall in the property (or ''all'' southern walls, for each room that requires them), and you'd ensure that everything connected to these exclusively north-facing outlets also faces directly away from the wall(s).
* The switch could control appliances on the north-facing walls of the house.

Note: "North-facing" has broad interpretation, as lax as northeast to northwest or as strict as {{w|Points of the compass#32-wind compass rose|north by east to north by west}}. It could also be as exact as perfect north, but this would render this breaker completely functionless unless an appliance happens to be ever-so-perfectly aligned.

|-
| Bathtub drain light || colspan="2"|Bathtub drains typically do not have lights, but this breaker provides power to that and only that. Why it isn't already considered a "bathroom light" is unexplained (unless it's for the bit of the pipe that is ''external'' to that room). Perhaps it is a sub-menu of bathroom breaker, but then its position on the panel is unusual in that it isn't next to the bathroom breaker.

It obviously cannot be the "surprise mystery outlet" already referred to earlier as being covered under the switch for the bathroom lights, much apart from it not being a socket/outlet.
|-
| Appliances whose names contain the letter "F" || colspan="2"|Another odd and amusing specification.

To make it work, one might use the "North-facing appliances" setup described above, but just with a different custom group of Wi-Fi-controlled smart outlets chosen to only control appliances with an "F' in their name.

Some common household appliances (kitchen and elsewhere) that this switch might control:
* coffee maker
* refrigerator
* freezer
* fan
* air fryer
* food processor
* waffle iron
* fabric steamer
* fireplace (electric)
|-
| {{w|Hot water heater}} || Usually just a heater that creates (and typically stores) hot water. But given that the next breaker controls the "Regular water heater", this breaker might actually control a water heater that pointlessly heats water that is ''already'' hot.
This is probably a joke about the fact that the common phrase "hot water heater" is [[technically]] redundant or misleading:
* Redundant because the simpler term "water heater" is enough to describe a device that produces hot water.
* Misleading because it's not the purpose of residential water heaters to heat water that is ''already'' hot.

Trivia: In some languages, "hot water" is a separate, single word, so "hot-water heater" can be accurate. One such example is Japanese, where "hot water" is simply referred to as "お湯" ("Oyu"), however this is taken a step further as "hot water heater" is referred to as "給湯器" ("Kyūtōki").
|rowspan="2"|Two "heaters"
|-
| Regular water heater || The heater for regular water. In context with the switch above, this label presumes it's for a heater for heating water that is not yet hot (usually called a "hot water heater", hence the joke). Alternatively, if we assume that a ''hot water heater'' is for ''making'' hot water, this heater must be for making “regular water”, whatever temperature that may mean. Further still, the difference in these labels may be speaking to the nature of the heaters themselves - it could be the case that one of the heaters is abnormally hot to the touch, where the other is a "regular" temperature, but are otherwise both capable of heating water just fine.
|-
| Outlets in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in || colspan="2"|This controls every outlet in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in, such as the dining room and kitchen and – depending on the "normal" habits of the inhabitants – other rooms such as the bedroom, bathroom, or living room (if not already covered by the "living room lights" switch above). Closets and single-purpose rooms such as the laundry room are presumably not included.
|-
| High-pitched hum generator || colspan="2"|Controls a high-pitched hum generator. This is a call-back to [[1590: The Source]], which was released just over 8 years before this comic.
|-
| The solution to the cryptogram below: || colspan="2"|Likely a pun on a "code breaker," something or someone that solves a code, such as Randall's cryptogram, a type of puzzle where a sentence has been encoded using a cipher, usually simple, and the goal is to determine the cipher and recover the original sentence from the encoded one. Randall has not actually written a cryptogram, simply making the label's text illegible to the audience.
2 other explanations:
* The identity of the electrical load sourced from this breaker can be found by solving the cryptogram.
* This switch enables or disables the code's solution somehow, perhaps toggling its knowability or solvability or turning on a computer for solving cryptograms.
|-
| Bugs || colspan="2"|Several interpretations are possible:
* Disable all software bugs in the house*
* Disable all insect bugs in the house – as an efficient form of pest control – perhaps using ultrasonic emitters that drive away bugs (may be a reference to [[2753: Air Handler]]) – or perhaps the house contains noise machines that play sounds of insects or other ways of simulating insects.
* Disable power to all covert listening devices, which would be able to be switched off if wired into the house's electrical grid.
* Disable the whole global category of bugs (insects, arachnids, and other small arthropods), in which case we'd have no more pests and we'd reduce disease like malaria and {{w|Lyme disease}}! Of course, food webs would also collapse, and our world would be overrun with waste.
* All of the above
<nowiki>*</nowiki>Though it's unlikely that it's what Randall is referring to, computer bugs switches actually exist. It's a feature in some video game emulators to either run an unofficial patched version or to stay true to the original system, for example to allow bug-exploit speedruns of a video game.
|-
! colspan="3"|Right column of switches
|-
| A whirring fan you didn't realize was on until now || colspan="2"|Fans generally produce a steady, low-level 'white' noise that people generally stop noticing. When such a fan is turned off, the absence of that noise is quickly noticed. Alternatively, the fan could be somewhere that cannot be heard, with the label on the switch serving as the only reminder of the fan's existence.

Shutting down a fan that you didn't realize was running could be worrisome for a couple of reasons: it could be serving an important function (like HVAC or server cooling) and cause a problem when it's off, or it may be a fan that wasn't supposed to be running, but had been for some time without being noticed.
|-
| Dishwasher || colspan="2"|A dishwasher may find itself with a separate circuit breaker for a few reasons. Commercial-grade dishwashers are often high-load appliances that require more power (incorporating powerful heating units and pumps). Residential-grade dishwashers may not be as energy-intensive, but if the house wasn't originally built with a dishwasher in mind, it is likely new wiring had to be added during its installation, resulting in a breaker that exclusively controls the dishwasher.

Though what "dishwasher" actually means may depend on what the "dishes" of the next switch might be, and thus what additional device may be required to ensure they remain clean. Even at the more trivial end of the interpretation (though not then explaining the following "dishes"), a busy restaurant might have an employee section equipped exclusively for the dishwashing role and separately supplied with power in a similar manner to that suggested for the bathroom.
|-
| Dishes || colspan="2"|Likely a pun on "breaking" dishes.

Of course, dinnerware and dishes are usually not powered devices and wouldn't require a circuit breaker at all; discovering they need their own circuit breaker separate from their dishwasher is a spoof of many common circuit breaker frustrations. Lastly it's also possible the switch powers/controls two or more satellite dishes.
|-
| Hallway lights || The lights in the hallway or hallways. || rowspan="3"|"Hallway" regions
|-
| Hallway outlets || The outlets in the hallway or hallways, presumably the same as the "Hallway lights" hallways. A common confusion when turning off breakers is separate wiring for outlets and lights in the same room. Though having the room go dark is a good mnemonic that it is unpowered, it is not a guarantee, and indeed, wiring them separately allows working on the outlets without having to do it in the dark.
|-
| Hallway floors || Yet another breaker for the hallways, presumably the same hallways as the previous two breakers, adding more confusion and frustration. This breaker has several potential interpretations:
#A master switch for all floors (stories) in the building which include hallways, e.g. the guestroom areas in a hotel, whilst possibly excluding the lobby and service levels
#Outlets in the floor
#Electric underfloor heating (heated bathroom floors are a feature in some houses)
#Electrification of the floors – not common outside of horror and heist movies
#Disabling all floors entirely, so everything resting on the floors falls through
|-
| Social media || colspan="2"|This breaker also has several potential interpretations of "taking a social media break" or "turning off social media":
#'Digital detoxes', where someone says "I'm going to take a social media break" and intends to deny themselves access to all their social media apps.
#A switch for a parent to turn off all social media entering the house to protect their kids and themselves, which references a type of specialized content filter available through Wi-Fi router settings, not traditionally a breaker box.
#A callback to [[908: The Cloud]]. Since most social media platforms are centralized services, it would be theoretically possible to hook up a switch to the main power supply of every server building at once, given some extremely long wires, a breaker capable of handling the abhorrently massive electric load, and agreement from every social media provider.([[1439|optional]])
#The theoretical desire by some to "turn off social media" for the world due to its harmful effects on society. As someone who lived before social media and saw its spread over two decades, Randall may be ruing the impacts of social media on civilization and channeling his desire to put the genie back in the bottle.
#Potentially a play on the phrase “breaking the internet”, meaning going viral on social media, though "breaking social media" is not an idiom.
|-
| State law || This and the next two items are a pun on "breaking the law."
Taken literally, it would either disable enforcement of State Law or nullify every single one, creating a state of lawlessness similar to the premise of the popular movie, "The Purge". It's unclear if this refers to Randall's state of Massachusetts or State Law as a general concept.

If the switch just nullifies State Law within the confines of the house, that would make the home a place where State Law could be broken without consequence.
| rowspan="2"|"Legal" items
|-
| Federal law || An extension of the previous entry. When discussing legal matters (taxes, regulations, etc.) it's not uncommon for state and federal authorities to issue their own statutes, often labeled "state" and "federal" respectively.

The ramifications of nullifying every US Federal law are immense. Disabling Federal Law while keeping State Law would theoretically fulfill the goals of the "States Rights" advocates, groups of conservatives across US history aiming to return Federal power to the States.
|-
| Second law of thermodynamics || The {{w|second law of thermodynamics}} means that things naturally move from order to disorder over time. It also says you can't take heat from a place that's cooler and use it to make a place hotter than the cooler place, unless you use some energy to do it. In short, without adding energy, only the hotter place can warm up the cooler one.

This law of physics was also explored in the What If? article [https://what-if.xkcd.com/145/ Fire From Moonlight].
| rowspan="3"|"Physics" items
|-
| Friction || {{w|Friction}} is the resistive force that opposes the relative motion or tendency of such motion of two surfaces in contact. Disabling friction would mean that all objects slide forever, and would destroy several things as well as make it much more difficult to move around and create energy. Being in a frictionless environment (and a vacuum, as physicists love...) was the subject of [[669: Experiment]].
|-
| Gravity || {{w|Gravity}} is a natural force that attracts two bodies toward each other, proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. Turning gravity off would have extremely dangerous effects, such as the loss of the atmosphere into space, all items being flung away from the Earth, and, perhaps most dangerous, the complete destruction of the planet.

Of course, if this switch is turned off, it may simply mean that objects within the house itself are no longer subject to gravity. This would be '''''far''''' less cataclysmic, and as a bonus, this would make it very different when moving around the house, making it easier to get to higher areas, and move objects, though impossible to place them without some other force being applied, and could prove to cause some problems once the breaker is turned back on, especially for things under said objects.
|-
| Circuit breakers || colspan="2"|Possibly the "master" breaker, controlling the main circuit that supplies power to all other circuit breakers. However, given the other surreal things this breaker box controls, turning it off may possibly make it impossible to turn it on ever again as the switch will no longer function once switched off (i.e.: If this was turned off, it would presumably turn off the functionality of the circuit breaker itself, if it was wired to include itself). Another interpretation is that turning off this breaker should supposedly make this breaker not able to control the power, which leads to a situation similar to the liar's paradox.

Moreover, if this circuit breaker disables all circuit breakers everywhere, it would result in global infrastructure collapse, halting essential services, including transportation, healthcare, and communication, and leading to widespread chaos.

Note that it might be a perfectly valid label if it refers to multiple subsidiary 'boxes', cascaded off this particular one, each containing one or more additional breakers for convenience or safety. e.g. units dedicated to a shed, garage or workshop room which save the need to traipse all the way to this box's utility cupboard location in the event of an otherwise easily resolved power issue.
|-
! colspan="3"|Title text
|-
| colspan="3"|The title text is about {{w|causality}} (not to be confused with {{w|casualty}}), and how to use this (unseen, located elsewhere) breaker along with the last shown switch that (de)powers the illustrated box.

Causality, in its simplest form, is the process of cause and effect, meaning that everything that happens only happens because something caused it to happen - in other words, every event is an effect caused by another event. For example, a bag of chips can't just fall onto the floor for ''literally'' no reason - it has to be caused by some other event, such as someone smacking it or a gust of wind blowing it down.

Turning off the circuit breaker using the CIRCUIT BREAKERS switch may lead to a loop, if the disabled breaker can no longer disable itself, leading to it turning back on, etc. Alternatively, turning off the CIRCUIT BREAKER switch might be a one-way street.

Turning the CAUSALITY switch from OFF back to ON might be unlikely to do anything if the circuit breakers upstream of it have been fully deactivated. The separation of cause and effect would ostensibly take precedence over the current switch setting. Turning off CAUSALITY first would prevent either the loop or the permanent disabling of circuit breakers, but would also have many other side effects, including letting switches potentially serve power even if there is no power being served ''to them'', or even spontaneously switching (on or off) without any intervention or reason.

The 'warning', from an electrician, could even be to locate the nominally ''off'' CAUSALITY switch in order to turn it ''on'', or else all other intended effects will possibly not end up being actually actioned. Either way, whether or not turning on/off causality would change the state of causality (at one stage or other being rendered ineffectual) is an exercise left for the reader.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An open breaker box is shown. There are 26 labelled breakers, all of which are on, paired back to back in thirteen rows as a label, switch, switch and label.]
:Kitchen lights / A whirring fan you didn't realize was on until now
:Living room lights / Dishwasher
:Porch lights / Dishes
:Bathroom lights and one surprise mystery outlet somewhere / Hallway lights
:North-facing appliances / Hallway outlets
:Bathtub drain light / Hallway floors
:Appliances whose names contain the letter "F" / Social media
:Hot water heater / State law
:Regular water heater / Federal law
:Outlets in rooms that it's normal to eat pizza in / Second law of thermodynamics
:High-pitched hum generator / Friction
:The solution to the cryptogram below: [Additional squiggled words that are too small/indistinct to read.] / Gravity
:Bugs / Circuit breakers

{{comic discussion}}

2712: Gravity

2023-12-20T19:22:35Z

172.68.3.44: /* Celestial Bodies */

{{comic
| number = 2712
| date = December 16, 2022
| title = Gravity
| image = gravity_2x.png
| titletext = It's a long way down.
}}
{{TOC}}
*To experience the interactivity of the game, visit the {{xkcd|2712|original comic}}.

==Explanation==
This interactive comic promotes Randall's new book [[What If? 2]], which was released in September and is available for purchase. You pilot a small spaceship throughout a vast area in space exploring various bodies and planets within the play area, many containing easter eggs alluding to the book What If? 2 and previous xkcd comics. The flight mechanics are Newtonian so the spaceship can use the gravity of planets to alter its trajectory or enter orbit. The spaceship has indicator circles around it which appear when a gravitational body comes into range, showing the direction towards their center of gravity and the size of the body. A circle also appears around the spaceship whenever it collides with a gravitational body, acting as a shield. The shield remains until the player orients the spaceship upright so its landing gear can deploy.

You can easily fly between planets if you pay attention to orbital mechanics: don't just floor the accelerator. The background stars show your velocity and orientation relative to the nearest gravity well. If you are having difficulties navigating space, point towards a gravity orb and accelerate for only a few seconds. Wait until the background stars spin wildly, and then reduce your velocity to 0 before gently accelerating towards the object.

With a keyboard the arrow keys rotate the spaceship and accelerate it forward and backward. You can also use the standard first-person shooter keys 'w', 'a', 's' and 'd', and the standard vi text editor navigation keys 'h', 'j', 'k', and 'l' to control the spaceship. Despite some spaceships having no unique backward texture, they can all reverse. On mobile the comic will full screen, pressing either side of the center rotates the spaceship, and pressing in the center accelerates it forward. Various additional glitches may occur if you're playing on mobile. Having a starting position slightly below the take-off pad means you're already 'glitched' inside the planet from the off. Escaping the planet may need inverted 'accelerating' (turning perpendicular to the local vertical and thrusting backwards until you can glitch back out into more open space. You may also be trapped within the cannonball 'orbit', with seemingly inconsistent collision-detection, such that you can be sat ''with landing gear extended'' upon features (projectile tracks, etc) that seem not to count as solid for most other purposes.

There is no "universal" point of view — the bottom of the window, "down", is oriented towards the object exerting the most gravity upon the player. Multiple things found in this comic draw attention to this, such as how on Earth Ponytail says to White Hat, "I checked downforeveryoneorjustme.com and it says just me", and he replies "Yeah, I guess down isn't down for everyone." Throughout the play area are coins that change the spaceship into different rockets and non-space-based vehicles.

===Celestial Bodies===

This is a table of all celestial bodies:

{|class="wikitable sortable"
!
!
!
! colspan="4"|References
!
|-
! Name
! Transcript
! Tiles (X, Y)
! What If?
! xkcd
! Movies
! Other
! Explanation
|-
|'''Starting Planet'''

<code>dogplanet</code>
|
Cueball: "To celebrate the world of ''What If? 2'', here is your very own tiny planet to explore!

Megan: "Welcome!"

*Ground caption: "Give someone the science question-and-answer book ''What If? 2'' for the Holidays: xkcd.com/whatif2"

*Cueball feeding T-Rex: "Burger?"

Isaac Newton: "Robert Hooke must be down there ''somewhere!''"

Megan to Cueball: "If you ever get lost in space, just fly down. That's where the ground is."

Beret Guy to squirrel: "Hi!"
|(0, 0)
|Y
|
|
|Y
|The player begins on the launch pad in a landed position. Collecting the orbiting cannonball will transform you into a different rocket, although it does not improve your abilities.

Cueball feeding the T-Rex is possibly a reference to What If #78: {{what if|78|T-rex Calories}}.

{{w|Isaac Newton}} is referencing the {{w|Newton's cannonball}} thought experiment, where a cannon is fired at greater and greater speeds until the cannonball goes into orbit. Newton's comment suggests that instead of demonstrating orbits, he is firing repeatedly to hit his rival, {{w|Robert Hooke}}.
|-
|'''Earth'''

<code>earth</code>
|
"How am I supposed to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs if they keep moving out from under my comet?"

"Unusually high-speed squirrels."

"Jump in! The water's fine!"

"Ugh, the frame rate is really bad out today."

"I don't know why people complain about going down rabbit holes. These lil guys are adorable!"

"Ahh, the mysterious natural wonders of sailing stones"

"I'm Bananas Georg.
Every year our company publishes global per capita banana consumption numbers, so to make the printing easier, I eat enough bananas on December 31st to make sure it's a round number."

"Weird, I feel ''heavier''."

"Hey"

"I checked downforeveryoneorjustme.com and it says just me"
"Yeah, I guess down isn't down for everyone"
|(27867, -35648)
|Y
|Y
|
|Y
|A planet with among other things:
* A {{what if|162|crane dropping a comet}} onto a dinosaur
* Unusually high-speed squirrels (creating a sonic boom). Reference to ''What If? 2'' Chapter 56: Walking Backward in Time, where these squirrels are surprisingly present in the past
* Megan inviting Cueball into a pool
* A region where the frame rate is intentionally limited. Reference to Chapter 56 again, where the weather and sun cycle fast enough to cause similar strange visual effects
* A flagpole
* A literal {{w|burrow|rabbithole}} referencing the figuratively speaking [[wikt:rabbit hole|rabbit hole]]
* Someone playing [[1920|consequence archery]]
* A lake with an eel
* The {{what if|157|earth-moon firepole}}
* A "doot cone," a reference to [[Volcano Types]]
* Two figures being attacked by a third with a sword
* Two kids playing soccer (Catching the ball will turn the spaceship into a soccer ball)
* A farmer on a tractor being stuck in gooey candy. Reference to ''What If? 2'' Chapter 64: Lemon Drops and Gumdrops, where it rains candy
** A nearby hummingbird excited by all the sugar
** Cueball attempting to eat the falling candy, but having it hit his teeth painfully
* A banana pile being consumed by "Bananas Georg" to make the per capita annual banana count round, referencing the "[https://reallyreallyreallytrying.tumblr.com/post/40033025233/average-person-eats-3-spiders-a-year-factoid Spiders Georg]" meme as well as ''What If? 2'' Chapter 11: Banana Church, where he also makes an appearance
* Megan and Cueball digging a hole (in the center of this planet is the "Earth's core", referenced below)
* The {{what if|147|Niagara Falls water being redirected into the LHC}} (Large Hadron Collider)
* Japan leaving earth. Reference to ''What If? 2'' Chapter 50: Japan Runs an Errand
* A tube to the bottom of the ocean. Reference to ''What If? 2'' Chapter 30: Mariana Trench Tube
* Ponytail and White Hat making a reference to [https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com downforeveryoneorjustme.com]
* Two mini asteroid moons: A tiny version of B612 with Little Prince and the rose, plus one with just Cueball standing on it. They can be found by flying straight up from the Super Mario flagpole.
|-
|Earth's Core
|
|(28850, -28570)
|
|
|
|
|[[Cueball]] and [[Megan]] floating in a small space in the center of the planet in inverted rotations. Can be legally accessed using a high velocity collision onto the surface of the planet, although requires tapping the up arrow afterwards many, many times.
|-
|'''Europa'''

<code>europa</code>
|
|(13180, -2540)
|Y
|
|
|Y
|Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons (in real life). A broken, icy crust has a single path into its core.
|-
|Europa's Crust
|
"It's so unfair we don't get to compete in EuroVision."

"The region of the solar system where liquid water can exist on the surface is the habitable zone, and the region where it can exist beneath the surface of moons is the Eurozone."

"WHIRRRR"
|
|Y
|
|
|
|Europa's crust, with a single entrance into the core demarcated by an octopus leaving a hole.
EuroVision is a European song competition that includes many European countries, and it's not too much of a leap to claim that "Euro" includes Europa

Cueball states that Europa, with liquid underneath its surface, is in the Eurozone, a pun on the ''other'' Eurozone.

A Roomba whirs across the icy crust.

Cueball has a hairdryer and is melting the surface of the crust. A direct reference to {{what if|35|What If's Hairdryer}}.
|-
|Europa's Core
|"We've always used neutrinos for astronomy, but if we place my 'optical telescope' in orbit above the kryosphere, we could potentially observe the universe using electromagnetic waves. Who knows what else there is out there besides stars! There could be other worlds!"

"Hi, I'm Annie. Welcome to the depths of Europa. There's some weird stuff down here."

"We were caught in a powerful November gale on the Great Lakes outside Whitefish Bay. Our ship foundered and sank here." "This is Jupiter's moon Europa." "It was a REALLY powerful gale."

"Does our book club really need this much secrecy?" "That sounds like a question a SPY would ask."
|
|
|
|Y
|
|A watery ocean with octopi looking out into the great unknown using telescopes. This is a reference to octopus's intelligence here on earth! It may also be a reference to (Spoilers!) a certain 2013 science-fiction film featuring Europa, if not a 1987 book. There's also a secret path leading to a book club, through the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The woman presenting herself as Annie is a reference to Annie Rauwerda, the creator of the popular social media accounts {{w|Depths of Wikipedia}}.

The November gale discussion is a reference to the Gordon Lightfoot song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and the actual events described in the song.
|-
|'''B-612'''

<code>b612</code>
|
Probe: "Asteroid deflection mission to earth. The package is delivered. Commencing planetary threat neutralization."

Sign: "Welcome to B-612"
|(2610, 3700)
|Y
|Y
|
|Y
|A reference to [[618: Asteroid|Asteroid]]. In a tragic turn of events, the Earth-bound asteroid being blown up is the home of {{w|The Little Prince|the little prince}}.
|-
|'''Dog Park Planet'''

<code>dogplanet</code>
|
[Dog Park]

"I want more dogs!"

"Ball! Again!"

"I hope it lands soon."

"English adjective order means that you're "Clifford the Big Red Dog" but not "Clifford the Red Big Dog""

"You can't have too many dogs!"

|(1240, 11230)
|Y
|Y
|
|
|A planet covered in dogs, along with dog walkers, some fences, and a sign that reads "Dog Park". Two dogs watch a ball which is traveling in what appears to be a circular orbit around the planet. One dog is much larger than anything else on the planet. A hole is being dug by two dogs. Visible at the bottom, there is an empty space in the center of the planet in the shape of a dog bone.

Planets named "Giant Dog Planet" and "Tiny Dog Planet" appear in [[1253: Exoplanet Names]].

Ponytail's explanation of adjective order was originally miswritten, saying "Clifford the Red Big Dog" twice.

The two Cueballs excited by all the dogs reference ''What If? 2'' Chapter 60: Dog Overload.
|-
|'''What If? 2 Planet'''

<code>goodhart</code>
|
Cueball to White Hat: "The tower over there is the Vehicle Assembly Building, and then behind it is the Vehicle Disassembly Building."

Ponytail to Cueball: "You know how tires pollute the environment with rubber particles? Well, I've developed a solution."

"MMM SPIDERS HOMF HOMF"

Shooting star caption: "THE MORE YOU KNOW"
Sauropod: "Oh no!"

Person on uncontrolled helicopter: "AAAAAA"

Geyser: "Fwoosh!"
Cueball and Megan: "Oooh!"

Giant phone crushing city: "ALERT" "Giant phone crushing city" "Dismiss" "More"

Cueball with jetpack: "Wheeeee!"

Cueball to Megan: "Do you ever look up at the night sky and think, "Wow, I bet those little white dots taste ''delicious!''"

Neighbor: "Why is my house on fire ''again?!''"
Cueball: "Dunno"
Laser captioned: "Laser"

Person with Washington Monument: "Okay, let it drop!"
|(-13300, -3260)
|Y
|Y
|
| Y
| In aerospace, a Vehicle Assembly Building is where spacecraft are constructed. Randall Munroe whimsically refers to the launchpad as the Vehicle Disassembly Building.

Contains a figure in a cave saying "MMM SPIDERS HOMF NOMF", which refers to [[1268: Alternate Universe|Alternate Universe]] and may also be a reference to the [https://reallyreallyreallytrying.tumblr.com/post/40033025233/average-person-eats-3-spiders-a-year-factoid Spiders Georg] meme.

Collecting the small dot above the mountain peak will turn the spaceship into a flying person figure.

''What If? 2'' references include:
* A car preventing rubber pollution by being in a rubber ball, referencing Chapter 25: Tire Rubber
* People catching helicopters, one by the skid and another by the blade, referencing Chapter 2: Helicopter Ride (by the blade is reportedly more effective for downing the helicopter)
* Old Faithful, which appears in Chapter 8: Geyser
* A giant phone, presumably running on archaic {{w|vacuum tube}}s, from Chapter 36: Vacuum Tube Smartphone
* A jetpack takeoff appearing in Short Answer Section #1
* A T-Rex being weighed against an elephant, referencing Chapter 7: T. Rex Calories
* Igniting a house with a laser, referencing Chapter 37: Laser Umbrella
* Dropping the Washington Monument to propel a plane, referencing Chapter 18: Airliner Catapult
|-
|'''The Sun'''

<code>sun</code>
| "The sun is governed by magnetohydrodynamics, or 'Magic' for short"

"My countertop!"

"This will make a good soup base"

"Can I touch it yet?" "No, be patient. It's still too hot. Give it another 20 or 30 billion years."

"It's okay. I'm wearing five layers of sunscreen."

TV Anchor: "The forecast for today is lots of sun"

"This should be enough sunscreen"
|(-14950, 12080)
|Y
|Y
|
|
|Difficult to escape from if you hit the core. The description of magnetohydrodynamics is a reference to [[1851: Magnetohydrodynamics]]. Throwing a countertop into the Sun is a reference to {{what if|89|What If? Tungsten Countertop}}. Both the five layers of sunscreen (effective against ultraviolet) and the ten-meter blob (still ineffective against heat) are references to ''What If? 2'' Chapter 62: Sunscreen. Waiting for it to cool down before touching it may reference Chapter 64: Walking on the Sun.
|-
|Sun's Core
|Cueball: "The core of the sun may seem hot, but it only produces about as much energy per volume as a lizard" Megan: "Wow. So how many lizards are there?" Cueball: "No-one knows."
|
|Y
|
|
|
|Difficult to escape from. Can be escaped by rotating around the Sun until reaching an escape-like velocity. Comparing the Sun's heat per volume to lizards is a reference to {{what if|148|What If? Eat the Sun}}.
|-
|'''Soupiter'''

<code>soupiter</code>
|"I think it's chicken noodle? Hard to tell."
|(-800, -9040)
|Y
|
|
|
|A model of the solar system filled with soup out to the orbit of Jupiter. As commented by Cueball, noodle soup. Soupiter was the title of ''What If? 2'' Chapter 1, but it filled the Solar System ''out to'' Jupiter and became a black hole, rather than another fun planet.
|-
|'''Earth without Japan'''

<code>nojapan</code>
|"Something is missing."
|(-7680, -5850)
|Y
|
|
|
|Earth, except it's missing Japan. Reference to ''What If? 2'' Chapter 50: Japan Runs an Errand.
|-
|'''Just Japan'''

<code>japanmoon</code>
|
|(-5930, -5800)
|Y
|
|
|
|A moon with water surrounding... just Japan. In ''What If? 2'', this is a possibility for where Japan might go without intending to return.
|-
|'''A blob labeled "Pigeons"'''

<code>pigeons</code>
|
|(-9020, -2490)
|Y
|
|
|
|A reference to Chapter 6 of ''What If? 2'', where it would take 1.6 x 10^25 pigeons to lift you and a chair up to the halfway point of Australia's Q1 skyscraper.
|-
|'''Starship Enterprise'''

<code>enterprise</code>
|
|(2389, -60879)
|Y
|
|
|
|Star Trek reference: The Enterprise-C, 2344, commanded by Captain Garrett's. While defending a Klingon outpost, the weapons discharges resulted in the creation of a temporal rift, through which the badly damaged Enterprise drifted. In the comic, there is a large, invisible gravity distortion near the Enterprise-C.
|-
|'''Dinosaur Planet'''

<code>qwantz</code>
|"Welcome... to Jurassic Park."
|(20403, -49559)
|
|
|Y
|
|An homage to [https://www.qwantz.com/ Dinosaur Comics], a webcomic Randall has mentioned several times before. All the dinosaurs on the planet are black-and-white versions of the clip art dinosaurs in that comic. Also references the Jurassic Park movies, with CEO John Hammond welcoming paleontologists Dr. Sattler and Dr. Grant to the planet. The long grass depicted is a plot point in later films.
|-
|'''Cat blocking traffic flowing through portals'''

<code>roads</code>
|
|
|Y
|
|
|
|Roads in space may reference ''What If? 2'' Chapter 5: Cosmic Road Trip.
|-
|'''Edge of the Universe'''

<code>outside</code>
|"Welcome, traveler!" (found inside the edge of the bubble universe)
|(6081, 26138)
|
|Y
|
|
|It looks like a planet labeled "edge of the universe". Outside the universe, so inside the "edge of the universe" planet, is another universe, the bubble universe, whose outside is labeled "edge of the bubble universe". Hidden entrance is between 10 and 11 'o clock. It is a reference to [[Bubble Universes]].
|-
|'''A tree larger than the planet it's growing on'''

<code>roads</code>
|
|
|
|Y
|
|
|May be a reference to [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)|Petit Trees]]. More probably, a reference to ''The Little Prince'', a French children's novel about a traveler from a distant asteroid. In the novel, baobab trees are a serious threat to the Prince's home asteroid, as they are so large that their roots would engulf the asteroid entirely. Randall has alluded to The Little Prince numerous times before, especially in what-if articles.
|-
|'''Milliways'''

<code>outside</code>
|
|''in code:'' (0, -14500)'', in game:''(0, 29000)
|
|
|Y
|Y
|A reference to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe from ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. On one side of the planet, Ponytail, Cueball, Megan, and other characters gather on the patio of the Milliways restaurant; on the other side, the Sojourner rover examines a rock.
|-
|'''The Great Attractor'''

<code>greatattractor</code>
|
|(-596048, 247952)
|
|Y
|
|
|Beret Guy stands on the surface of a large ball labeled "The Great Attractor". The gravity is extremely strong (over 200 times that of the black holes), leading to various bugs and collision issues. It's a reference to [[Great Attractor]], in which Beret Guy is gravitationally attracted to the Great Attractor more strongly than usual.
|-
|'''Present'''

<code>present</code>
|
"I didn't do any of my Christmas shopping yet because I was too busy drawing tiny planets."

"I'm done with my shopping! I got everyone What if? 2"

"...You got me my own book?"

"Yeah! I figured that since you wrote it, it must be right up your alley."

"It does make a good gift, though. You can get it at xkcd.com/whatif2"

"I got you this present!"

"Is it an angry bobcat?"

"It might not be."
|in code: <code>[22820,-18920]</code> in game: <code>[45640,37840]</code>
|
|Y
|
|
|The xkcd cast react to giving each other What if 2? as a present. Black Hat gives Cueball a "gift" which he claims, "might not be a bobcat", a reference to [[A-Minus-Minus]] A quarter of the planet was missing on the release day, but it's fixed now.
|-
|'''Black hole cluster'''

''from'' <code>maw1</code> ''to'' <code>maw14</code>
|
|
|
|
|Y
|
|A cluster of black holes with extremely high gravitational strength, set to the maximum of 2048. Not particularly easy to land on with multiple conflicting gravitational fields, but once landed on, rather difficult to escape. Likely a reference to the [[wikia:w:c:starwars:Maw Cluster|Maw Cluster]] in Star Wars.
|-
|'''Remnant'''

<code>remnant</code>
|"All right, that's close enough"
"Oh no"

{{w|Walkin' on the Sun|"So don't delay, act now, supplies are running out"}}

"In 5 billion years, the Sun will run out of fuel and suffer gigennial burnout."

"The immense gravity of the sun's remnant means that this is the tallest possible skyscraper."
|(19620, 3800)
|Y
|
|
|Y
|A white dwarf stellar remnant, with high gravity (making it difficult to escape, although it's possible to achieve escape velocity by flying sideways). Has various small landmarks, including a "skyscraper" and suspension bridge, using a penny for scale. There is a set of images of a rocket descending towards the planet, falling, and then trying to escape by sledding. The band is performing Smash Mouth's "Walkin' on the Sun". Most of these are references to ''What If? 2'' Chapter 63: Walking on the Sun.
|-
|'''Steerswoman Planet'''

<code>steerswoman</code>
|"As a Steerswoman, I have to answer any question anyone asks me, or I'm expelled from the order."
"What's one question that you would be unwilling to answer?"
"Oh no."

"Handle this artifact with great care. It contains a magical wizard's potion which the ancients called 'trinitrotoluene'"
|(-35070, -2500)
|
|
|
|Y
|A reference to the Steerswoman series of books by Rosemary Kirstein. Includes a number of references to the series, including a group of people observing a small object orbiting the planet.

Trinitrotoluene is better known as {{w|TNT}}, a powerful explosive.
|-
|'''Peeler'''

<code>peeler</code>
|
|(-9270, 620)
|Y
|
|
|
|A reference to the question posed by ''What If? 2'' Chapter 13: Lose Weight the Slow and Incredibly Difficult Way. A large potato peeler is seen removing the earth's crust.
|}

===Spaceships===

This is a table of all spaceships:

{|class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Filename
! Name
! Description
! Location
|-
| <code>ship2</code>
| '''Default'''
| The starting spaceship.
| It is possible to change back to this spaceship by collecting a dot located within the Black Hole cluster
|-
| <code>ship-tintin</code>
| '''Tintin'''
| Spaceship in the shape of the {{w|Destination Moon (comics)|moon rocket from Tintin}}
| On the starting planet; can be obtained by collecting the cannonball in orbit
|-
| <code>ship-figure</code>
| '''Figure'''
| Stick figure
| On Goodhart, atop the mountain up which Sisyphus is pushing his boulder.
|-
| <code>ship-soccer</code>
| '''Soccer Ball'''
| Soccer-ball-shaped spaceship
| On Earth, between two figures playing ball
|-
| <code>ship1</code>
| '''Alternative Spaceship'''
| Default spaceship with KSP-style parachutes on both sides of the spaceship. The parachutes seem to disappear on landing.
| Only available by using console to change Comic.ship = ship1
|}

==Data and Maps==

View the data embedded in the comic on [[2712: Gravity/Data|this page]].

Maps created by the community:
*https://bacontime.github.io/xkcd2712 | A zoomable map of the universe with markers for all planets, coins and with the option to highlight secret passages
*https://www.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/zpe7bz/i_rendered_the_entire_what_if_2_universe_as_a/ | The whole universe rendered as one big image

==Hacks==
Various modes and hacks have been found or developed by the community and can be activated by opening the browser console (F12, Ctr+Shift+I or Cmd+Option+I to open your browser's developer tools, then choose the Console tab) and typing a command. <div class="mw-collapsible mw-collapsed leftAlign" style="width:100%">
 
*'''Speedhack:''' <code>ship.engines = "warp"</code> - Speed hacking, sets speed to 1.4x. set to "standard" to reset to normal speed
*'''Teleport to planet:''' <code>[Comic.voyager.pos.x, Comic.voyager.pos.y] = Comic.planetRects.'''''origin'''''.slice(0,2)</code> - teleport near a planet, in this example near earth. You'll still have to fly a bit towards the nearest planet to reach it. Replace '''''origin''''' with the ID of the planet you want to go to, from the table above.
*'''Teleport to coordinate:''' <code>[Comic.voyager.pos.x, Comic.voyager.pos.y] = '''''[0, -2000]'''''</code> - teleport to an exact coordinate. <code>[0, -2000]</code> happens to take you to the starting area.
*'''Improved radar:''' <code>Comic.wayfinderFarDistance = Infinity</code> - make the direction of all objects visible. This can be hard to understand though. reset with <code>Comic.wayfinderFarDistance = 10000</code>.
*'''Chaos Mode:''' <code>ship.engines="infinite improbability drive"</code> - Seems to randomly teleports the ship. A reference to its namesake in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
*'''Insta Death:''' <code>ship.shields = false</code> - Kill the player if they land on a planet, the code never sets it to false, so it seems to be always true.
*'''No Clip:''' <code>noclip = true</code> - Enables noclip.
*'''Select ship:''' <code>Comic.ship = "ship-tintin"</code> - Select ship (use filename from list of ships)
*'''Autorotate:''' <code>Comic.cameraRotation = false</code> - View does not rotate with ship
*'''Goggles:''' <code>ze.goggles()</code> - returns a warning: "they do nothing!". This is a reference to Hoverboard, where ''ze.goggles()'' would give you the ability to see false walls. Both of which are a reference to the Simpsons episode "Radioactive Man" (season 7, episode 2), where Rainier Wolfcastle, playing Radioactive Man, complains that his safety goggles do nothing against a deluge of acid, sounding like "Ze goggles, zey do nothing!" with his accent.
*'''Python:''' <code>python("import antigravity")</code> - reverses gravity, so the ship falls away from planets. A reference to [[353: Python]]. Reset with <code>Comic.gravityConstant = 100</code>.
*'''Light Mode''' <code>Comic.lightMode = true</code> - inverts the color of the comic. reset with <code>Comic.lightMode = false</code>
</div>
 

==Trivia==
The objects in the mini universe of this browser game are all at fixed positions and do not interact through gravity, however, the ship controlled by the player is affected by gravity. While this makes it technically a relatively easy integration problem (of the position of the player ship forward in time), the integrator used seems to be a relatively simple one, but certainly not a simplistic one, because it does not conserve angular momentum. This can be seen when one manages to get into orbit around some object, e.g., the core of the sun. The orbit slowly decays over time.

The logic for extending the landing legs and landing is rather simple. A ship can (normally) land if it is facing away from the surface it collides with, and if its momentum is more-or-less directed towards the surface. Once landing is triggered, the ship will rotate to face directly away from the object exerting the most gravity on the player, regardless of how sloped the surface is. The only way to get into space again is to accelerate forwards, as neither turning nor accelerating backwards cancels the landed state. All of this can be abused to land on almost everything. To land on the underside of an object, simply point your ship away from the object and slowly accelerate backwards to counteract the force of gravity. Landing on the side of an object is more difficult, as ships cannot accelerate sideways. The first method is to accelerate backwards to launch yourself upwards and towards the object so that at the top of your arc you will collide with the object. Then, rotate your ship accordingly to land. Method two is to just repeatedly slam your back of your ship into the object until you land. Note that with any of these weird landing methods, your ship will turn to face away from the source of gravity and can clip into objects.

Executing <code>window.python("import antigravity")</code> or <code>python("import antigravity")</code> as Javascript on the page will reverse gravity, multiplying the gravity constant by -1.

Executing <code>window.ze.goggles()</code> or <code>ze.goggles()</code> as Javascript on the page will show a warning in the console: "<code>they do nothing!</code>"

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
===Origin:===
Megan: Welcome!

Cueball: To celebrate the world of what if? 2, here is your very own planet to explore!

Ground text: Give someone the science question-and-answer book what if? 2 for Christmas:
xkcd.com/whatif2

Beret Guy: Hi!

Megan to cueball: If you ever get lost in space, just fly down. That's where the ground is.

Sir Isaac Newton: Robert hooke must be own there somewhere!

Cueball to dinosaur: Burger?

===B612:===

Robot: Asteroid Deflection mission to earth. The package is delivered. Commencing planetary threat neutralisation.

===Europa:===

====Surface:====

Roomba: Whirrr

Cueball to Megan: The region of the solar system where liquid water can exist on the surface is the habitable zone, and the region where it can exist beneath the surface of moons is the Eurozone.

Cueball's hairdryer: Whirrr

Megan to Cueball: It's so unfair that we don't get to compete in Eurovision

====Underwater:====

Blondie: Hi, I'm Annie! Welcome to depths of Europa! There's some weird stuff down here!

Unnamed sailor guy to Cueball: We were caught in a powerful November gale on the great lakes outside Whitefish bay. Our ship foundered and sank here.

Cueball to Unnamed sailor guy: This is Jupiter's moon Europa.

Unnamed sailor guy to Cueball: It was a really strong gale.

Octopus: We've always used neutrinos for astronomy, but if we place my new "optical telescope" in orbit above the kryosphere, we could potentially observe the universe using electromagnetic waves.

Octopus: Who knows what else there is besides stars! There could be other worlds!

=====Secret book club=====

Cueball: Does our book club really need this much secrecy?

Danish: Sounds exactly like the sort of question a spy would ask!

===nojapan & japanmoon:===

Megan: something is missing

===Goodhart:===

Guiser: Fwoosh!

Cueball & Megan: Oooh!

Alert on the giant phone: Alert! Giant phone crushing city! Dismiss. More.

Cueball in jetpack: Wheeeee!

Cueball to Megan: Do you ever look up at the night sky and think "Wow, I bet those little white dots taste Delicious!"

Cueball 1: Why is my house on fire again?!

Cueball 2: Dunno

Cueball: Okay, let it drop!

Cueball to White hat: Over there is the vehicle assembly building, and then behind it is the vehicle disassembly building.

Ponytail to Cueball: You know how tires pollute the environment with rubber particles? Well, I've developed a solution.

Cueball: Mmm spiders Homf Nomf

Brontosaurus: Oh no!

Text above star falling on Spinosaurus: The more you know

Cueball & pilot of Helecopter 1: Aaaaaa

===Soupiter:===

Cueball or Ponytail (impossible to tell): I think it's Chicken Noodle? Hard to tell.

===Earth:===

Beret Guy: I don't know why people complain about going down rabbit holes. These lil guys are adorable!

Ponytail to Megan: Ah, the mysterious natural wonder of sailing stones

(as cueball is climbing the firepole down to earth): Climb Climb Fling Fling Boom

Volcano: Doot!

Hummingbird: Yesssssss!

Candies as they fall on cueball's teeth: Plink

Cueball: Ow!

Candies as they fall on cueball's teeth: Plink

Cueball: Ow!

Bananas Georg: I'm bananas Georg. Every year, our company publishes global per capita banana consumption numbers, so to make the printing easier, I eat enough bananas on December 31st to make sure it's a round number.

Cueball to Megan, both in deep pit: Weird, I feel heavier.

Ponytail: I checked downforeveryoneorjustme.com and it said just me.

White hat: Yeah, I guess down isn't down for everyone.

Person in crane: How am I supposed to cause the extinction of the dinosaurs if they keep moving out from under my comet?

Knit cap while looking at supersonic squirrel: Unusually high speed squirrels

Megan to cueball: Jump in! The water's fine!

Knit cap: Ugh, the frame rate's really bad out today. (if you go in the rectangle containing the words, the whole game begins to stutter.)

===Sun:===

====Outside:====

Jill: This would make a good soup base.

Hairy to Cueball: Can I touch it yet?

Cueball to Hairy: No, Be Patient. It's still to hot. Give it another 20 or 30 billion years.

Unnamed guy with baseball cap: My countertop!

Megan to Cueball: The sun is governed by Magnetohydodynamics, or "Magic" for short.

====Inside:====

Hairy: This should be enough sunscreen.

Ponytail on the news: The forecast for today is lots of sun

Cueball 1 to Cueball 2: It's okay, I'm wearing five layers of sunscreen

=====Core:=====

Ponytail but with black hair to Cueball: The core of the sun may seem hot, but it only produces about as much energy per volume as a lizard.

Cueball to Ponytail but with black hair: Wow. so how many lizards are in there?

Ponytail but with black hair to Cueball: Nobody knows.

===Remnant:===

Band consisting of 2 Hairies & a Beret guy: So don't delay, act now, supplies are running out

Spaceship captain: All right, that's close enough.

Spaceship captain: Oh no.

Ponytail 1 to Cueball 1: The immense gravity of the sun's remnant means that this is the tallest possible skyscraper.

Ponytail 2 to Cueball 2: In 5 billion years, the sun will run out of fuel & suffer gigential burnout.

===Dogplanet:===

Cueball: I want more dogs!

dog 1: Ball! Again!

dog 2: I hope it lands soon.

Ponytail: English adjective order means that you're "Clifford the big red dog" but not "Clifford the red big dog"

Cueball to Ponytail: You can't have too many dogs!

===Quantz:===

Gardener: Welcome ... to Jurassic park.

===Enterprise:===

Ground text: U.S.S. Enterprise

Ground text: NCC-1701-C

===Greatattractor:===

Ground text: The Great Attractor

Ground text: The Great Attractor

Ground text: The Great Attractor

Ground text: The Great Attractor

Ground text: The Great Attractor

Ground text: The Great Attractor

Ground text: The Great Attractor

= Page Discussion =
Due to the length of this article, the [[Talk:2712: Gravity|Comic Discussion]] is not fully transcluded here.

[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Book promotion]]
[[Category:Interactive comics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Bobcats]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Comics with animation]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
[[Category:What If?]]
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