explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:3065: Square Units

2025-03-25T00:19:31Z

172.70.58.46:

I like this one :) reminds me of trying to use recipes in imperial units with metric equipment [[Special:Contributions/162.158.108.29|162.158.108.29]] 19:48, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

I so want to stand outside Randall's office holding up {{tl|citation needed}} for not giving an actual citation on the title text. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.175.159|162.158.175.159]] 20:07, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

We should start using ares as a common unit of measure. https://www.britannica.com/science/are [[Special:Contributions/172.69.135.15|172.69.135.15]] 20:09, 19 March 2025 (UTC)
:We have done, some still do: {{w|Hectare#Are}} [[Special:Contributions/172.70.163.70|172.70.163.70]] 21:20, 19 March 2025 (UTC)
:I really hate when people use "metric ton" instead of the correct megagram (Mg). [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 12:28, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

The area of eaten vegetation is all well and good, but we really need to know the total volume consumed. In barn-megaparsecs, ideally. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.241.89|172.71.241.89]] 21:26, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

I just got the mail notification for this and the previous comic at the same time. I would say that Randall forgot to send out the previous one before, but surely this is automated, so I guess something went wrong with that setup. [[User:Fabian42|Fabian42]] ([[User talk:Fabian42|talk]]) 00:01, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

Percentages? Could we not? Can't we use multiplication factors instead? [[Special:Contributions/172.70.230.38|172.70.230.38]] 21:30, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

I really want to know what the 80-fold error was now [[User:Thief|Thief]] ([[User talk:Thief|talk]]) 10:54, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
: Here's an error in chemical names instead--Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) occasionally appears as diphenhydrazine, which (if it existed) might be a rocket fuel. Google for it, just for scientific fun. Rocket flight to Australia, now in your local pharmacy! [[Special:Contributions/172.69.71.207|172.69.71.207]] 11:38, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
::There's a dangerous point of confusion between diphenhydramine and dimenhydrinate (Gravol). In medical contexts, the two are often given differing capitalizations to emphasize the differences between the words, to reduce the risk of patients being given the wrong one (e.g. dimenhyDRINATE vs. diphenhydrAMINE). [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 14:51, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
::Realistically, if "diphenhydrazine" is diphenylhydrazine, it would be a much poorer rocket fuel than hydrazine. It's a known substance, used in chemical manufacture, melting point a bit above the boiling point of water, moderately nasty in terms of health risks. Flammable, yes, but not particularly exciting. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 15:05, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
:A particularly vexing origami issue.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.156|172.71.178.156]] 14:42, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
:80-fold error is nothing. I regularly see news articles wrong by factor of 1000, as a result from incorrect translation between languages using [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_and_short_scales long and short scales].

The land area of Australia really depends on when it last rained. There are very large areas that will be completely dry prior to rain that will be flooded after. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 12:28, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
:I used the area from the CIA world factbook that included both land and water area. [[User:TomtheBuilder|TomtheBuilder]] ([[User talk:TomtheBuilder|talk]]) 18:26, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

You should never write `square cm`, etc. but always `cm²`. Same for seemingly standard abbreviations: Don't write `ccm` for "cubic centimeter", but `cm³`. Even though, in spoken language "square centimeter" is correct. Another confusion can sometimes arise from not knowing that squaring or cubing binds less than the centi-/kilo-/... prefix. I.e., `cm³` is `(0.01m)³` not `0.01(m³)`. A liter (`l`) is `0.001m³` or `1dm³ = (0.1m)³`. A milliliter is `0.001l = 0.000001m³ = (0.01m)³ = 1cm³` --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.92|172.69.109.92]] 12:48, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
:All you need to remember is:
:"X units square" = a square of X units = (X units)² '' = X² (units²) ''
:"X square units" = X times a square unit = X (units²) '' = (√X units)² ''
: "X prefixunits" is (X × prefix) units, for the sake of preserving the units ''so "7 decagrammes" is "70 grammes" (or 0.07 kg, if you need that, for whatever reason) [though not to be confused with "grammage", which is "grammes per square metre"!] and "450 nanometres" is "450×10<sup>-9</sup> metres" or "4.5×10<sup>-7</sup> metres"'' [[Special:Contributions/172.69.195.62|172.69.195.62]] 14:26, 20 March 2025 (UTC)
::Getting a bit off-topic, but is "grammage" really a unit or rather a quantity? I.e., "Grammage measured in gram(mes) per square meter", same as "mass in kilogram". Or would you say "Standard office paper has 80 grammage(s)?" (Disclaimer: I'm not a native English speaker, so honest question). --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.89|172.69.109.89]] 15:33, 21 March 2025 (UTC)
::More on-topic: I would never say "X units square" ("5 meter(s) square"), mostly because it sounds weird and unclear. But YKMV (your kilometrage may vary) --[[Special:Contributions/172.69.109.87|172.69.109.87]] 15:43, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

I don't see that the table is too wide to display (on a "normal" full-hd screen). But I agree that more than ~3 significant digits are kind of useless. We could even add a column with the unit "area of Australia" --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.61|172.71.160.61]] 16:19, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

Another point: The percentage "gain" column is mostly wrong, e.g. from 1 to 144 you have a "gain" of 143 or 14300% not 14400% (I'd rather show a gain factor though). --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.160.60|172.71.160.60]] 16:18, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

There are other mistakes being made in communicating the factoid. One is called out by the comic itself (namely the defoliation of Australia in particular rather than a nondescript Australia-sized area of land), but there are others too. For example, it has become more ambiguous whether the factoid is about a single insect or the insect as a species. It'd be somewhat believable if you're talking about an entire species eating that much per day. The other miscommunication is that it's gone from talking about grass to foliage in general, but foliage in general can vary in density a lot more than a patch of grass, creating additional inaccuracies. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.47.53|172.70.47.53]] 17:57, 20 March 2025 (UTC)

"The title text tells us that Randall once found an 80-fold error in a reported distance in a published source. However, it is left as an exercise for the reader to figure out which one." Isn't that what explainxkcd is for? [[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.5|162.158.154.5]] 15:41, 21 March 2025 (UTC)

I was playing, originally with the following, but gave it up when the current table was inserted. Given the complaints about explaining the colours, etc, and a few problems with the one we see (no way of differentiating when it becomes a "square of side BLAH" instead of "BLAH square units", etc), I thought maybe someone might want to give it a revamp. - Note that I took inspiration from the "Template:Diagonal split header" that exists on actual Wikipedia, but flipped it (unfortunately, flipped it so that one defines Bottom Right colour then Top Left colour, but still gives Top Left text before Bottom Right text, which was the ''next'' thing on my list of editing to do). And in the Key I had intended to also demonstrate a value taken from the Bottom Right (X units²) of one row being misused as a Top Left (X x X unit square) 'feed'. One could still apply the colours for how much of an increase (or, occasionally, mild-decrease) of each step (here, based upon the definitive value ''of'' that step, vis-a-vis the prior one(s), not the conversion, which is mostly a fairly accurate and consistant-to-the-statement conversion) there was, but the general trend of a rise in cumulative factor can basically be read easily enough. Oh, and check the figures, maybe. I hand-copied them, for reasons best known to my past self, rather than autogenerated the entire table lines from the same thing that I used to organise the figures I had calculated. Other, non-numeric errors in transcribing/non-consistent formattings may also have slipped in.
{{cot|For what it's worth...}}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0 auto;text-align:center"
! rowspan="2" | Step
! rowspan="2" | Source<hr/>Tells
! rowspan="2" | From<hr/>To
! rowspan="2" | Step<br/>factor
! rowspan="2" | Cumulative<br/>factor
! {{w|Centimetre}}
! {{w|Inch}}
! {{w|Foot (unit)|Foot}}
! {{w|Metre}}
! rowspan="2" | {{w|Acre}}
! rowspan="2" | {{w|Hectare}}
! {{w|Kilometre}}
! {{w|Mile}}
! rowspan="2" | {{w|Australia}}
|-
! style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">X cm<br/>side</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">X cm²</div> 
! style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">X in<br/>side</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">X {{w|Square inch|in²}}</div>
! style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">X ft<br/>side</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">X {{w|Square foot|ft²}}</div>
! style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">X m<br/>side</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">X {{w|Square metre|m²}}</div>
! style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">X km<br/>side</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">X {{w|Square kilometre|km²}}</div>
! style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">X mi<br/>side</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">X {{w|Square mile|mi²}}</div>
|-
| 1
| Megan<hr/>Cueball
| sq. of in ''or'' in²<hr/>either
| 1
| 1
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.54</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.45</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0)" | <div style="text-align:center">1</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">8.33×10<sup>-2</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.94×10<sup>-3</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.54×10<sup>-2</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.45×10<sup>-4</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.59×10<sup>-7</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 6.45×10<sup>-8</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.54×10<sup>-5</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.45×10<sup>-10</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">1.58×10<sup>-5</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">2.49×10<sup>-10</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 8.39×10<sup>-17</sup>
|-
| 2
| Cueball<hr/>Ponytail
| in²<hr/>cm²
| 0.930
| 0.930
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#8FF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.45*</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6<br/>(6.45)</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0)"|<div style="text-align:center">1</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">8.33×10<sup>-2</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.94×10<sup>-3</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.54×10<sup>-2</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.45×10<sup>-4</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.59×10<sup>-7</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 6.45×10<sup>-8</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.54×10<sup>-5</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.45×10<sup>-10</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">1.58×10<sup>-5</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">2.49×10<sup>-10</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 8.39×10<sup>-17</sup>
|-
| 3
| Ponytail<hr/>Hairy
| sq. of cm<br/>(sq. of in)<hr/>cm²
| 6
| 5.58
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#0FF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">6</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">36</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FF8) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.5<br/>(2.36)</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.25*</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">0.197</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">3.88×10<sup>-2</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">6×10<sup>-2</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">36×10<sup>-3</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 8.90×10<sup>-7</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 3.60×10<sup>-7</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">6×10<sup>-5</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">3.6×10<sup>-9</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">3.73×10<sup>-5</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.39×10<sup>-9</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 4.68×10<sup>-16</sup>
|-
| 4
| Hairy<hr/>unknown
| sq of cm<hr/>ft²
| 36
| 201
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">36</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1300</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">14.2</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">201</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#8FF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">>1*</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">>1<br/>(1.40)</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">0.36<br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">0.13</div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 3.20×10<sup>-5</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.30×10<sup>-5</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">3.6×10<sup>-4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.30×10<sup>-7</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.24×10<sup>-4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">5.00×10<sup>-8</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.69×10<sup>-14</sup>
|-
| 5
| unknown<hr/>unknown
| sq. of ft ''or'' ft²<hr/>cm²
| 0.719
| 144
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#8FF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">30*</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">900<br/>(929)</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">12</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">144</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0)"|<div style="text-align:center">1</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">0.305</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">9.29×10<sup>-2</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 2.30×10<sup>-5</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 9.29×10<sup>-6</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">3.05×10<sup>-4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">9.29×10<sup>-8</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">1.89×10<sup>-4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">3.59×10<sup>-8</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.21×10<sup>-14</sup>
|-
| 6
| unknown<hr/>unknown
| cm²<hr/>ft²
| 872
| 1.26×10<sup>5</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">900</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">8.1×10<sup>5</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">354</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.26×10<sup>5</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#8FF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">30<br/>(29.5)</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">900*</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">9</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">81</div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 0.02
| style="background:#FFF" | 8.10×10<sup>-3</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">9×10<sup>-3</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">8.1×10<sup>-5</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">5.59×10<sup>-3</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">3.13×10<sup>-5</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.05×10<sup>-11</sup>
|-
| 7
| unknown<hr/>unknown
| sq. of ft<hr/>ft²
| 1.03
| 1.30×10<sup>5</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">914</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">8.36×10<sup>5</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">360</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.30×10<sup>5</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#0FF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">30</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">900</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">9.14</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">83.6</div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 2.06×10<sup>-2</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 8.36×10<sup>-3</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">9.14×10<sup>-3</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">8.36×10<sup>-5</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">5.68×10<sup>-3</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">3.23×10<sup>-5</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.09×10<sup>-11</sup>
|-
| 8
| unknown<hr/>unknown
| sq. of ft<hr/>acres
| 900
| 1.17×10<sup>8</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.74×10<sup>4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">7.53×10<sup>8</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">1.08×10<sup>4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.17×10<sup>8</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">900</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">8.10×10<sup>-5</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">274</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">7.53×10<sup>4</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 18.6
| style="background:#FFF" | 7.53
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">0.274</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">7.53×10<sup>-2</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">0.170</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">2.91×10<sup>-2</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 9.79×10<sup>-9</sup>
|-
| 9
| unknown<hr/>unknown
| acres<hr/>(via hectares)<br/>m²
| 1.08
| 1.25×10<sup>8</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.84×10<sup>4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">8.09×10<sup>8</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">1.12×10<sup>4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.25×8<sup>4</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">933</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">8.71×10<sup>5</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#8FF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">283*</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">8.00×10<sup>4</sup><br/>(8.09×10<sup>4</sup>)</div>
| style="background:#0F0" | 20
| style="background:#8F8" | 8<br/>(8.09)
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">0.284</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">8.09×10<sup>-2</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">0.176</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">3.13×10<sup>-2</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.05×10<sup>-8</sup>
|-
| 10
| unknown<hr/>unknown
| sq. of m<hr/>sq. of km
| 79,000
| 9.92×10<sup>12</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">8.00×10<sup>6</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.40×10<sup>13</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">3.15×10<sup>6</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">9.92×10<sup>12</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.62×10<sup>5</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.89×10<sup>10</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">8.00×10<sup>4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.40×10<sup>9</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.58×10<sup>6</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 6.40×10<sup>5</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#0FF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">80</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.40×10<sup>3</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">49.7</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">2.47×10<sup>3</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 8.32×10<sup>-4</sup>
|-
| 11
| unknown<hr/>unknown
| sq. of km<hr/>mi²
| 1
| 9.92×10<sup>12</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">8.00×10<sup>6</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.40×10<sup>13</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">3.15×10<sup>6</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">9.92×10<sup>12</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.62×10<sup>5</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.89×10<sup>10</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">8.00×10<sup>4</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.40×10<sup>9</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.58×10<sup>6</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 6.40×10<sup>5</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">80</div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">49.7</div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#0FF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">6.40×10<sup>3</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">2.47×10<sup>3</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 8.32×10<sup>-4</sup>
|-
| 12
| unknown<hr/>Hairbun
| sq. of mi<hr/>Australia
| 2530
| 2.51×10<sup>16</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">4.02×10<sup>8</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.62×10<sup>17</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">1.58×10<sup>8</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">2.51×10<sup>16</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">1.32×10<sup>7</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.74×10<sup>14</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">4.02×10<sup>6</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.62×10<sup>13</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 4.00×10<sup>9</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.62×10<sup>9</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">4.02×10<sup>3</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.62×10<sup>7</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#0F0) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.50×10<sup>3</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">6.25×10<sup>6</sup></div>
| style="background:#8FF" | 2<br/>(2.11)
|-
| 13
| Hairbun<hr/>White Hat<br/>Danish<br/>Blondie
| Australia<hr/>n/a
| 0.950
| 2.38×10<sup>16</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">3.92×10<sup>8</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.54×10<sup>17</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">1.54×10<sup>8</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">2.38×10<sup>16</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">1.29×10<sup>7</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.66×10<sup>14</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">3.92×10<sup>6</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.54×10<sup>13</sup></div>
| style="background:#FFF" | 3.80×10<sup>9</sup>
| style="background:#FFF" | 1.54×10<sup>9</sup>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">3.92×10<sup>3</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">1.54×10<sup>7</sup></div>
| style="background:var(--background-color-neutral,#eaecf0);color:inherit;background:linear-gradient(to top left,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 49%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 49.5%,var(--border-color-base,#a2a9b1) 50.5%,var(--background-color-neutral,#FFF) 51%);line-height:1.2;padding:0.1em 0.4em;"|<div style="margin-right:2em;text-align:left">2.44×10<sup>3</sup></div><br/><div style="margin-left:2em;text-align:right">5.94×10<sup>6</sup></div>
| style="background:#0FF" | 2
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0 auto;text-align:center"
|+ Key to cell hues
! colspan="3" | Spoken Values !! rowspan="2" | Unspoken<br/>Values
|-
! 'Fact' value !! (Additional) !! Conversion
|-
| style="background-color:#0F0" | Exact || style="background-color:#8F8" | Exact || style="background-color:#0FF" | Exact || style="background-color:#FFF" rowspan="3" | Calculated<br/>({{w|Significant figures#Rounding to significant figures|3SF}})<hr/> * = from Rough
|-
| style="background-color:#FF0" | Rough<br/>(Better?) || style="background-color:#FF8" | Rough<br/>(Better?) || style="background-color:#8FF" | Rough<br/>(Better?)
|}
{{cob}}
I more or less left it at the stage where I was considering adding and removing a few of the enforced line-breaks to make the rows of equal height (thus consistent with the diagonals), and also refine the positions of the align-left/align-right texts a bit better. But I'm not sure I'd want it, as it is now, actually replacing the current version. Maybe could act just as inspiration for the corrections necessary to the one we have noe, instead.... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.58.46|172.70.58.46]] 00:19, 25 March 2025 (UTC)

3063: Planet Definitions

2025-03-15T02:40:35Z

172.70.58.46: /* Explanation */ Compatible indent of bullets (without, looks too outdented).

{{comic
| number = 3063
| date = March 14, 2025
| title = Planet Definitions
| image = planet_definitions_2x.png
| imagesize = 653x1435px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Under the 'has cleared its orbital neighborhood' and 'fuses hydrogen into helium' definitions, thanks to human activities Earth technically no longer qualifies as a planet but DOES count as a star.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|The explanation is too short.}}

This comic addresses the {{w|IAU definition of planet|controversy of whether of Pluto is a planet}} and explores many definitions, most of them humorous/nonsensical, of what a planet could be.

;Traditionalist: <u>{{w|Pluto}} is a planet</u> (9 planets)
:In modern times, there was {{w|IAU definition of planet#Background|no formal definition of a "planet"}} prior to 2006. However, it was generally accepted as a colloquialism that there were nine planets around the {{w|Sun}}, Pluto included (starting with Pluto's discovery in 1930 ([[988|Tradition]] is whatever Baby Boomers grew up with). As more sophisticated methods of mapping the {{w|Solar System}} were developed and {{w|Eris (dwarf planet)|Eris}} was discovered to be even more massive than Pluto, it became clear to astronomers that a more standardized definition was needed. In 2006 the International Astronomical Union (IAU) published their formal redefinition of a "planet" to require a planet to be gravitationally dominant within its orbit, disqualifying Pluto (and Eris) which is now considered a "dwarf planet." This has been subject to push back from countless people, including [https://arxiv.org/abs/2110.15285 some planetary scientists], but in numbers mostly nostalgic laypeople dissatisfied with Pluto being "demoted" or otherwise relegated.

;Modern: <u>Pluto is not a planet</u> (8 planets)
:When the IAU redefined what a planet is in 2006, Pluto no longer qualifies as a planet. (since it wasn't able to clear its neighborhood around its orbit) Using the modern definition of a planet, only eight celestial objects qualified.

;Expansive: <u>Dwarf planets are planets</u> (17+ planets)
:It is likely that since the term "dwarf planet" contained "planet" in its name, Randall considered those as also planets under this category.
:It is also likely that the number of planets includes the ones that are considered planets and the ones that are considered to have compacted into fully solid bodies, {{w|Dwarf planet#Most likely dwarf planets| as defined by Grundy ''et al.'',}} those being {{w|Ceres (dwarf planet)|Ceres}}, Pluto, Eris, {{w|Makemake}}, {{w|Haumea}}, {{w|Gonggong (dwarf planet)|Gonggong}}, {{w|Quaoar}}, {{w|Orcus (dwarf planet|Orcus}} and {{w|Sedna (dwarf planet)|Sedna}}.

;Ultratraditionalist: <u>Only the classical planets are planets</u> (5 planets)
:The {{w|classical planets}} are objects found and considered by the Greek astronomers in classical antiquity to be considered planets. Their definition of "planet" considered visible objects that move across the sky relative to the fixed stars. There are seven classical planets, but if one were to only consider the ones that fall under the IAU's definition of a planet (this being ''less'' traditional), then there would only be five. (The Sun and the {{w|Moon}} would be disqualified)

;Condescending: <u>Only giant planets are planets; the rest are big {{w|asteroid}}s</u> (4 planets)
:This definition may refer to the {{w|giant planets}}, planets much larger than the {{w|Earth}}. Only the four outer planets fall under this definition.
;Simplistic: <u>Anything gravitationally round is a planet</u> (37+ planets)
:Using the Wikipedia {{w|list of gravitationally rounded objects of the Solar System}}, there are 37 objects listed. That includes the Sun, 8 planets, 9 dwarf planets and 19 {{w|Natural satellite|moon}}s.

;Grounded: <u>Only objects a spaceship has landed on are planets</u> (10 planets)
:This list includes objects in the Solar System that a spacecraft has {{w|List of landings on extraterrestrial bodies| performed a soft landing on}}. The list includes {{w|Venus}}, Earth, {{w|Mars}}, the Moon, {{w|Titan (moon)|Titan}}, {{w|433 Eros|Eros}}, {{w|25143 Itokawa|Itokawa}}, {{w|162173 Ryugu|Ryugu}} and {{w|101955 Bennu|Bennu}}. Notably, {{w|comet}} landings are not included in the list.

;Regolithic: <u>Anything covered in dirt and ice and stuff is a planet</u> (infinite)
:This list excludes the {{w|Gas Giant}}s and the {{w|Ice Giant}}s. The list would likely include dwarf planets, asteroids, moons and comets. This is effectively the opposite of the "condescending" definition: every object in the solar system is included in one definition or the other (except for the Sun).

;Lunar: <u>You can't be a planet if you don't have a moon</u> (12+ objects)
:Only some objects in the solar system have known and acknowledged moons orbiting them. The value given may be {{w|List of natural satellites| the number of planets and dwarf planets}} that have moons, when excluding {{w|Haumea}} for not reaching {{w|hydrostatic equilibrium}} despite having moons. The Sun is excluded because its satellites are not moons, because ... oh, look, a Squirrel!

;Solipsistic: <u>Earth is the only planet</u> (1 planet)
:{{w|Solipsism}} is the idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. Randall extrapolated this idea to mean that only one's own planet that they are standing on is sure to exist.

;Judgemental: <u>Only the prettiest ones are planets</u> (6 planets)
:This list is likely formulated from Randall's own perception of the prettiest planets in the Solar System. Strangely, seven objects are highlighted:
:* Earth
:* Jupiter
:* One of Jupiter's moons (unclear)
:* Saturn
:* One of Saturn's moons (unclear, possibly Titan)
:* Neptune's moon (probably Triton)
:* Pluto

;Empiricist: <u>Only worlds that I, author of this table, have personally seen are planets</u> (12 planets)
:This list may refer to the celestial objects in the Solar System that have been made visible at night, probably using with an optical telescope (a hobbyist one, perhaps Randall's, or from time borrowed on a major institutional installation). Jupiter's {{w|Galilean moons|four largest moons}} are technically visible but hard to distinguish due to Jupiter's brightness, while Neptune is too faint to see with a naked eye. Apparently Randall has also seen Uranus. This is fairly rare, since it usually requires a telescope pointed in just the right direction. Technically [https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/advice/skills/how-see-uranus-in-night-sky Uranus ''is'' visible to the naked eye] under the very best viewing conditions, but these conditions are rare and it again requires knowing exactly where to look.

;Marine biologist: <u>Only objects with oceans are planets</u> (6+ planets)
:This list includes Earth, {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}, {{w|Ganymede (moon)|Ganymede}}, {{w|Callisto (moon)|Callisto}} and {{w|Enceladus}}.

;Maritime: <u>Only objects with ''surface'' oceans are planets</u> (2 planets)
:In the comic Earth and a Saturnian moon, likely Titan, are highlighted. Earth is the only body known in the solar system to have liquid water on the surface significant enough to be called an ocean. The highlighted moon of Saturn is most likely Titan due to its liquid seas of methane and nitrogen.

;Universalist: <u>They're all planets</u> (infinite)
:This list claims that all objects are planets.

;Existantialist: <u>What if {{w|outer space|space}} ''itself'' is a planet???</u> (Duude)
:This list is different from the list above as it claims that all of space, rather than only the objects existing in space, are planets. The interjection ''Duude'' expresses one's amazement at this 'revelation' and replaces the number count.

;Spiteful: <u>''Only'' Pluto is a planet</u> (1 planet)
:This list is a malicious play on the demotion of Pluto by demoting all other planets except Pluto instead, leaving Pluto as the only planet in the Solar System.

;(title text) {{w|Star}}: <u>Earth is a star</u> (2 stars)
:In May 1934, Mark Oliphant, Paul Harteck and Ernest Rutherford at the Cavendish Laboratory, published an intentional deuterium fusion experiment, and made the discovery of both tritium and helium-3. This is widely considered the first experimental demonstration of fusion. Randall considers that this makes Earth fall into the category of a star due to the human-induced ability for Earth to fuse hydrogen into helium using nuclear fusion.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A table with 3 columns, the headers labelled "Definition", "# of planets", and "Solar system" and 17 rows.]
:[In each row, the first column has a single word, in bold, and a descriptive sentence, the second column has a digit or other 'value', the third column is a drawing of the Solar system, featuring various bodies and a selection of moons: The Sun, Mercury, Venuse, Earth + The Moon, Mars + two moons (Phobos and Deimos), a small selection of Asteroid Belt bodies (Ceres and other smaller examples), Jupitor + four moons (likely Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto), a ringed Saturn + usually one moon (probably Titan) or two (Enceladus?), Uranus + four or five moons (likely to be Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, and Oberon, but one of these over the face of Uranus only in some versions of the image), Neptune + one moon (probably Triton), Pluto + one moon (Charon), four more plutoid/Kuiper Belt objeccts (probably Haumea, Makemake, Gonggong and Eris, in distance order), the first two of them with distinct moons indicated (entirely dependent upon which main objects they are).]
:[Each row's illustrated solar system has indivudal combinations of green highlights applied to the otherwise repeated diagram.]
:[Row 1: Definition:] Traditionalist: Pluto is a planet [Number:] 9 [Highlit: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto]
:[Row 2: Definition:] Modern: Pluto is not a planet [Number:] 8 [Highlit: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune]
:[Row 3: Definition:] Expansive: Dwarf planets are planets [Number:] 17+ [Highlit: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Ceres (in Asteroid Belt), Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the further main bodies]
:[Row 4: Definition:] Ultratraditionalist: Only the classical planets are planets [Number:] 5 [Highlit: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn]
:[Row 5: Definition:] Condescending: Only giant planets are planets; the rest are big asteroids. [Number:] 4 [Highlit: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune]
:[Row 6: Definition:] Simplistic: Anything gravitationally round is a planet [Number:] 37+ [Highlit: The Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, The Moon, Mars, Ceres (without other asteroids), Jupiter + moons, Saturn and Titan, Uranus and its moons, Neptune and its moon, Pluto and the four further dwarf planets]
:[Row 7: Definition:] Grounded: Only objects a spaceship has landed on are planets [Number:] 10 [Highlit: Venus, Earth, The Moon, Mars, five (non-Ceriese) asteroids and Titan]
:[Row 8: Definition:] Regolithic: Anything covered in dirt and ice and stuff is a planet [Number:] [infinity symbol] [Highlit: Mercury, Venus, Earth, The Moon, Mars, Ceres and across all other asteroids from the Asteroid Belt, the moons of Jupiter, the moon(!) of Saturn, the moons of Uranus, the moon of Neptune, Pluto and Charon, all remaining dwarf planets and their moons]
:[Row 9: Definition:] Lunar: You can't be a planet if you don't have a moon [Number:] 12+ [Highlit: Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and three(!) of the other dwarf planets in the Kuiper belt]
:[Row 10: Definition:] Solipsitic: Earth is the only planet [Number:] 1 [Highlit: The Earth]
:[Row 11: Definition:] Judgemental: Only the prettiest ones are planets [Number:] 6 [Highlit: The Earth, Jupiter and one of its moons (not identified), Saturn, one of ''two'' Saturnian moons in this image and Pluto]
:[Row 12: Definition:] Empiricist: Only worlds that I, author of this table, have personally seen are planets [Number:] 12 [Highlit: Mercury, Venus, The Earth, The Moon, Mars Jupiter and its four moons, Saturn and Uranus]
:[Row 13: Definition:] Marine biologist: Only objects with oceans are planets [Number:] 6+ [Highlit: The Earth, three Jovian moons, the two illustrated Saturnian moons]
:[Row 14: Definition:] Maritime: Only objects with [next word in italics] surface oceans are planets [Number:] 2 [Highlit: The Earth and Titan]
:[Row 15: Definition:] Universalist: They're all planets [Number:] [infinity symbol] [Highlit: All drawn objects, including The Sun and all moons]
:[Row 16: Definition:] Existantialist: What if space [next word in italics] itself is a planet??? [Word, in italics:] Duude [Highlit: The whole third column cell]
:[Row 17: Definition:] Spiteful: [next word in italics] Only Pluto is a planet [Number:] 1 [Highlit: Pluto]

==Trivia==
*The 'Judgemental' definition has 7 colored objects instead of the labelled 6.
*[https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/archive/6/66/20250314195557%21planet_definitions_2x.png The initially released version of the comic] had two errors that were later fixed:
**The 'Traditionalist' definition had Neptune's satellite {{w|Triton (moon)|Triton}} colored instead of Pluto.
**The 'Modern' definition had Pluto colored as a 9th planet. It appears that the images for 'Traditionalist' and 'Modern' were swapped.
{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Comics edited after their publication]]

3047: Rotary Tool

2025-02-06T12:34:16Z

172.70.58.46: Table

{{comic
| number = 3047
| date = February 5, 2025
| title = Rotary Tool
| image = rotary_tool_2x.png
| imagesize = 528x468px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = It was great until my thumb slipped and I accidentally launched my telescope into the air at Mach 8.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by THE CONCEPT OF TIME ITSELF. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

It is common to find multipurpose handheld tools that can function as higher-speed drills and lower-speed screwdrivers, switching between modes with a slider. The tool in this comic appears to have extended that concept to the extreme, covering both very high-speed and very low-speed tools. Presumably the tool has a rotating part at one end that can accept multiple attachments to facilitate the different uses.

All of these speeds are sensible for the specified uses. However, engineering a single tool to perform reliably across the required range of speeds is likely to be deeply impractical. Equally, designing the base unit such that it can be usefully employed to all these purposes would be a substantial challenge. For example, a household drill needs to be both portable and reasonably bulky, whereas a record player needs good stability, and a dental drill needs to be small enough to moved flexibly and delicately. In any case, it's highly unlikely that any individual would have a need for all these uses, so the market for such a tool would be extremely limited.

The title text highlights one of the downsides of combining functions in this way — the potential for using the wrong setting for the task at hand, by carelessness or clumsiness, with detrimental effects. In this case, while attempting to use the "sidereal telescope mount" option with an actual telescope, the user accidentally changed the tool to a much higher speed setting, launching it into the air at a {{w|hypersonic speed}}. More commonly, attempting to insert a screw while on the drill setting could cause damage to the item being screwed together, the screw itself, or the screwdriver bit.

The speed of the dental drill might seem excessive, but according to [https://sableindustriesinc.com/what-is-a-high-speed-handpiece-how-it-works-speed-more/ Sable Industries], a manufacturer of high-speed dental drills, they can run "at speeds of between 300,000 and 450,000 RPM." They squirt water as they rotate to cool the bits down, so they don't overheat (a further design complication for this multitool).

The precession setting refers to the {{w|precession of the equinoxes}}, which happens on a 26,000-year cycle that corresponds to the RPM rate shown. The average person does not need to adjust their telescope for such minor shifts, certainly not on a constant basis.{{cn}} This may be beneficial for scientists making precise measurements but they would have more powerful and dedicated tools to this end. For commercial use by the public, this would not be remotely necessary.

The speeds labeled "record player" are intended to correspond to standard rotational speeds of {{w|Phonograph record|phonograph records}}. The intended playback speed standardized at 78 rpm (not 72 rpm as depicted in the comic) in the 1920s, with a diameter of 10 inches. The speed and size, as well as the required width of the groove encoding the music, dictated a playing time of about 3 1/2 minutes per side. Beginning in the late 1940s, records designed to be played back at 33 1/3 rpm (close enough to the 33 rpm in the comic) were produced, to allow longer play times (hence the LP designation, for "long play") on similar-sized records, which standardized on a 12 inch diameter. This was commonly used to release an "album" of songs, totaling about 22 minutes per side. Concurrently, an alternate format, 7 inch diameter records designed to be played at 45 rpm, was produced, allowing about 5 minutes per side. This was often used to release "singles" (a single song on each side of the record). The 33 1/3 and 45 rpm playback speeds supplanted 78 rpm, and remain the standards today.

{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto"
|+ Caption text
|-
! Function !! Speed (rpm) !! Revolution time !! Notes
|-
| Sidereal Mount Precession Adapter || 0.000000000073 || 260000 years || see [Axial Precession](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axial_precession)
|-
| Sidereal Telescope Mount || 0.00070 || 23.8 hours || Seems off; a [sidereal day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_time) is 23.93 hours.
|-
| Hour hand on a clock || 0.0014 || 12 hours
|-
| Minute hand on a clock || 0.017 || 60 minutes
|-
| Second hand on a clock || 1 || 1 minute
|-
| 33 rpm Record Player || 33 || 1.8 seconds
|-
| 45 rpm Record Player || 45 || 1.3 seconds
|-
| 72 rpm Record Player || 72 || 0.8 seconds
|-
| Screwdriver || 300 || 0.2 seconds
|-
| Drill ||1500|| 40 milliseconds
|-
| Airplane Propeller ||2500|| 24 milliseconds
|-
| Dremel || 35000 || 1.7 milliseconds
|-
| Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge || 60000 || 1 millisecond
|-
| Dental Drill || 300000 || 0.2 milliseconds
|-
|}

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

:Multi-function rotary tool

:[A slider on the side of a tool with various settings.]
:<u>Speed (rpm)</u> <u>Function</u>
:0.000000000073: Sidereal mount precession adapter
:0.00070: Sidereal telescope mount
:[Following three are labeled "clock hands":]
:0.0014: h
:0.017: m
:1: s
:[Following three are labeled "record player":]
:33: 33
:45: 45
:72: 72
:300: Screwdriver [Current setting]
:1500: Drill
:2500: Airplane propeller
:35 000: Dremel
:60 000: Uranium enrichment centrifuge
:300 000: Dental drill

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Telescopes]]

1335: Now

2024-11-02T18:56:19Z

172.70.58.46: Undo revision 355325 by 172.71.210.77 (talk) Comic is dynamic, but not truly animated.

{{comic
| number = 1335
| date = February 26, 2014
| title = Now
| image = now.gif
| titletext = This image stays roughly in sync with the day (assuming the Earth continues spinning). Shortcut: xkcd.com/now
}}
*The image above is accelerated to show a full day's spin in a few seconds. The actual comic completes one revolution per day.
*For the current state, see [http://xkcd.com/now/ xkcd.com/now].

==Explanation==
The picture is divided in 24 segments representing the 24 hours of the day. At noon and midnight, the break between segments is indicated by the tip of a dark grey triangle.

The picture rotates by 3.75 {{w|degree (angle)|degrees}} every 15 minutes, as does the Earth so that it is constantly up to date in showing which regions are currently at which times of day. The picture change seems to happen halfway through a 15-minute time increment (that is, at 7½, 22½, 37½, and 52½ minutes after each hour), so that the picture is always correct for the nearest multiple of 15 minutes.

The map projection of the earth in the middle of the picture shows an {{w|azimuthal equidistant projection}} with the {{w|South Pole}} in the center. This is unusual, as such projections {{w|Flag of the United Nations|typically}} put the {{w|North Pole}} in the center. But, in this case, may be necessary for the map rotation and the corresponding {{w|24-hour analog dial|24-hour clock}} graduations to both be the more conventional clockwise. Another reason might be just to depict all major land-masses (including {{w|Time in Antarctica|complicated Antarctica}}, which is not otherwise referenced) in a non-discontinuous manner. [[Randall]] was playing on projections before in [[977: Map Projections]].

The list of cities and countries doesn't match the map exactly - notice how the continent of Australia is shifted counterclockwise of the words "most Australian cities". This is because the map is centered relative to the {{w|time zone}}s and the local variations. The map shows the configuration of time zones concerning {{w|daylight saving time}} (also known as summer time) at the time of the comic's initial release (February 2014); it was being observed in parts of Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, and other countries not named in this comic. If the map were to stay accurate through the year, the location of place names would have to move over the next few months as parts of the southern hemisphere went off DST and parts of the northern hemisphere went onto it; however, the map failed to change on the morning of March 9 as it should have (to recognize the start of DST in North America).

In many countries "{{w|business hours}}" are considered to be from 9  am to 5  pm. With some exceptions, including emergencies, it is generally considered rude to place a {{w|telephone}} call to someone's residence when most people are asleep; Randall portrays this period as extending from 10 pm to 8 am. This may be a reference to the 10 pm "cutoff" time [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0WeQJW-H3Y discussed] in an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."

"Rude to Call" was also the name used by a G-mail experimental opt-in feature in 2009 which added a crossed-out phone symbol next to the sender if it was night in the sender's time zone when the reader loaded the email on their screen.

At midnight at UTC we can see this situation:
*00:00 UTC {{w|Greenwich Mean Time}}
::UK, Portugal
::West Africa
*01:00 UTC {{w|Central European Time}}
::Most of central Europe
::Nigeria, and many more countries belonging to the {{w|West Africa Time}} zone
*02:00 UTC {{w|Eastern European Time}}
::Eastern Europe, many countries like Bulgaria, Romania or Greece
::The {{w|Levant}}
::Egypt
*03:00 UTC {{w|UTC+03:00}} (East Africa Time, Eastern Europe Forward Time, and Arabia Standard Time)
::Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Somalia, and more
::Kaliningrad and Belarus
::Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and more.
::Iran is at {{w|Iran Standard Time}}, using an offset of UTC+03:30
*04:00 UTC {{w|UTC+04:00}}
::{{w|Moscow Time}} (became UTC+03:00 on 26 October 2014, a couple of years after the publication of this comic)
::United Arab Emirates, Mauritius, and more
::Afghanistan is at {{w|Time in Afghanistan}}, using an offset of UTC+04:30
::Iran is at {{w|Iran Standard Time}}, using an offset of UTC+03:30
*05:00 UTC {{w|UTC+05:00}}
::Pakistan, Western Australia, Maldives and some France former colonies.
::Afghanistan is at {{w|Time in Afghanistan}}, using an offset of UTC+04:30
::India and Sri Lanka using {{w|UTC+05:30}}
::Nepal is using a much more odd offset at {{w|UTC+05:45}}
*06:00 UTC {{w|UTC+06:00}}
::Bangladesh, Bhutan...
::UK {{w|British Indian Ocean Territory}}
::Russia at {{w|Yekaterinburg Time}}, also Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
::China only use {{w|Time in China|one time zone}} (+08:00) but Xinjiang and Tibet unofficially use +06:00
::India and Sri Lanka using {{w|UTC+05:30}}
::Nepal is using a much more odd offset at {{w|UTC+05:45}}
*07:00 UTC {{w|UTC+07:00}}
::South-east Asia like Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and more
::Christmas Island belonging to Australia
::Russia is also using the {{w|Omsk Time}}
*08:00 UTC {{w|UTC+08:00}}
::Western Australia
::China uses only {{w|Time in China|one time zone}} while the country spans about five.
::Singapore
::Philippines
::Perth
*09:00 UTC {{w|UTC+09:00}}
::Japan
::The Koreas
*10:00 UTC {{w|UTC+10:00}}
::Brisbane and the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria
::US: Guam and Northern Mariana Islands
*11:00 UTC {{w|UTC+11:00}}
::Micronesia, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu
::Russia {{w|Vladivostok Time}}
*12:00 UTC {{w|UTC+12:00}} or {{w|UTC−12:00}}
::Kamchatka (a Russian peninsula at the east Siberia), Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu and more
*13:00 UTC {{w|UTC+13:00}} or {{w|UTC−11:00}}
::New Zealand, Kiribati, Tonga
*14:00 UTC {{w|UTC+14:00}} or {{w|UTC−10:00}}
::Hawaii, Samoa
::French Polynesia, Cook Islands, and more
::Line Islands, belonging to Kiribati
*15:00 UTC {{w|UTC−09:00}}
::{{W|Time in Alaska|Alaska}} (some islands of Alaska is at -10:00 and a few city's are at -08:00)
::French Polynesia
*16:00 UTC {{w|UTC−08:00}} or {{w|Pacific Time Zone}}
::US West Coast
::Canada or (British Columbia and Yukon)
::Mexico (Baja California)
*17:00 UTC {{w|UTC−07:00}} or {{w|Mountain Time Zone}}
::US: Denver, and much more
::Canada: Alberta (Calgary, Edmonton), British Columbia, more
*18:00 UTC {{w|UTC−06:00}} or {{w|Central Time Zone}}
::Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Nicaragua and more
::US: Chicago, Texas except of some most westernmost counties, and many more
*19:00 UTC {{w|UTC−05:00}} or {{w|Eastern Time Zone}}
::Eastern Canada like Ontario or Quebec
::US East Coast including New York and Florida.
::But also Cuba, Haiti, Panama and much more countries
*20:00 UTC {{w|UTC−04:00}} or {{w|Atlantic Time Zone}}
::Canadian Maritimes: New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia. (Newfoundland uses {{w|UTC-03:30}})
::Chile
::Greenland
::Most of the Caribbean Islands.
*21:00 UTC {{w|UTC−03:00}}
::Coastal Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, French Guiana, the UK Falkland Islands, and more
*22:00 UTC {{w|UTC−02:00}}
::UK: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
::Brazil: Fernando de Noronha
*23:00 UTC {{w|UTC−01:00}}
::Cape Verde
::Azores (part of Portugal)

==Technical notes==
When first posted, the picture was exactly 12 hours off. Somewhere around 5:10 UTC, this was fixed. The original version also included a listing for Inland Brazil; this could have created a conflict with US East Coast when Daylight-Saving Time begins in the US, and it has been removed.

The names used for the image files refer not to {{w|Universal Time|UTC (Universal Time)}} as one might expect but rather to the time exactly 12 hours off of that. The name of the image file linked from the page matched Universal Time during the first few hours, but the file-naming scheme did not change when the comic was corrected.

==Transcript==
:[The comic is a moving circle with a static outer ring.]

:[The outermost part of the static ring is divided in 22 segments representing the 24 hours of the day. The Noon (11 AM - 1 PM) and Midnight (11 PM - 1 AM) segments cover two hours which are not segmented. The ring is divided so it is yellow from 6 AM to 6 PM and dark grey on the other half.]
::Noon - 6 PM - Midnight - 6 AM

:[The innermost part of the static ring is light grey and divided in two sections that cower from 9 AM to 5 PM and from 10 PM to 8 AM respectively. They contain descriptions of the time intervals.]
::Business hours (9-5)
::Rude to call

:[The rest of the image consist of a rotating part.]

:[On the innermost part of the circle is the Earth as seen from the south pole. Each continent has a different color. The colors are
:*Europe: Red
:*Africa: Cyan
:*Asia: Green
:*Oceania: Purple
:*North America: Blue-violet
:*South America: Olive green
:*Antarctica (The south pole): Light grey

:[Two segmented rings circle the map - these give the names of the continents (not the Antactica) and the color of the ring match the color of the continent on the map. Each segment cover the part of the map with the given continent. The one with Europe is merged with the one for Asia - and the color also merges from red to green along Turkey and Russia where the transition from Europe to Asia occurs.]

:[On the inner ring are the names of the following continents (white text on a segment with the color of the continent)]
::Africa
::Oceania
::South America

:[On the second of these rings are the names of the following continents (white text on a segment with the color of the continent)]
::Europe Asia
::North America

:[On the outermost ring of the moving circle are written names of regions, countries and cities of the Earth over the part of the map in which time zone they belong. All the text is color coded to match the color of the continent they belong to as given on the central map. The text is written in four lines. Below the names are sorted by color and reading from left to right first - and only sorting top to bottom if needed.]

:[Europe - Red text:]
::UK - Most of Europe - Eastern Europe

:[Africa - Cyan text:]
::West Africa - Nigeria - Egypt - East Africa

:[Asia - Green text:]
::The Levant - Iraq - Iran - Moscow - Afghanistan - Pakistan - India - Southeast Asia - Java - China - Singapore - Philippines - Japan - The Koreas - Kamchatka

:[Oceania - Purple text:]
::Perth - Brisbane - Most Australian cities - New Zealand

:[North America - Blue-violet text:]
::Alaska - US West Coast - Denver - Mexico - Chicago - Texas - Eastern Canada - US East coast - Canadian Maritimes

:[South America - Olive green text:]
:: Coastal Brazil

==Implementations==
There are currently several implementations of the Now comic available for several different platforms:

Windows:
:A [https://github.com/leipert/xkcd-now-clock script] that automatically updates the wallpaper for the current time.

Linux:
:A [https://github.com/151henry151/randall-clock-desktop-background bash script] that automatically updates the wallpaper for the current time, written for a Debian system running i3. May work well for other linux distributions as well.

Android:
:An [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.phillab.xkcd_now Android widget] version of the comic.

Cross-Platform:
:An [https://github.com/BruceJohnJennerLawso/xkcd-Now/releases/tag/1.02 offline version of the comic] made using C++ and SFML.

==Timed Links==
{| class="wikitable"
|+ Links to each individual comic image
|-
!00h!!01h!!02h!!03h!!04h!!05h
|-
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/00h00m.png 00h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/00h15m.png 00h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/00h30m.png 00h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/00h45m.png 00h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/01h00m.png 01h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/01h15m.png 01h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/01h30m.png 01h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/01h45m.png 01h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/02h00m.png 02h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/02h15m.png 02h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/02h30m.png 02h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/02h45m.png 02h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/03h00m.png 03h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/03h15m.png 03h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/03h30m.png 03h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/03h45m.png 03h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/04h00m.png 04h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/04h15m.png 04h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/04h30m.png 04h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/04h45m.png 04h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/05h00m.png 05h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/05h15m.png 05h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/05h30m.png 05h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/05h45m.png 05h45m]
|-
!06h!!07h!!08h!!09h!!10h!!11h
|-
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/06h00m.png 06h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/06h15m.png 06h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/06h30m.png 06h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/06h45m.png 06h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/07h00m.png 07h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/07h15m.png 07h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/07h30m.png 07h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/07h45m.png 07h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/08h00m.png 08h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/08h15m.png 08h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/08h30m.png 08h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/08h45m.png 08h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/09h00m.png 09h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/09h15m.png 09h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/09h30m.png 09h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/09h45m.png 09h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/10h00m.png 10h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/10h15m.png 10h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/10h30m.png 10h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/10h45m.png 10h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/11h00m.png 11h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/11h15m.png 11h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/11h30m.png 11h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/11h45m.png 11h45m]
|-
!12h!!13h!!14h!!15h!!16h!!17h
|-
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/12h00m.png 12h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/12h15m.png 12h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/12h30m.png 12h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/12h45m.png 12h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/13h00m.png 13h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/13h15m.png 13h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/13h30m.png 13h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/13h45m.png 13h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/14h00m.png 14h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/14h15m.png 14h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/14h30m.png 14h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/14h45m.png 14h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/15h00m.png 15h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/15h15m.png 15h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/15h30m.png 15h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/15h45m.png 15h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/16h00m.png 16h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/16h15m.png 16h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/16h30m.png 16h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/16h45m.png 16h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/17h00m.png 17h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/17h15m.png 17h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/17h30m.png 17h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/17h45m.png 17h45m]
|-
!18h!!19h!!20h!!21h!!22h!!23h
|-
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/18h00m.png 18h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/18h15m.png 18h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/18h30m.png 18h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/18h45m.png 18h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/19h00m.png 19h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/19h15m.png 19h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/19h30m.png 19h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/19h45m.png 19h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/20h00m.png 20h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/20h15m.png 20h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/20h30m.png 20h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/20h45m.png 20h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/21h00m.png 21h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/21h15m.png 21h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/21h30m.png 21h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/21h45m.png 21h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/22h00m.png 22h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/22h15m.png 22h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/22h30m.png 22h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/22h45m.png 22h45m]
|[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/23h00m.png 23h00m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/23h15m.png 23h15m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/23h30m.png 23h30m]<br />[http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/now/23h45m.png 23h45m]
|}

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Dynamic comics]]
[[Category:Time]]