485: Depth

2025-11-24T05:58:24Z

2601:300:4083:1C70:C442:2C72:39EC:66D6: "sexytimes" how did nobody edit that out after all this time

{{comic
| number = 485
| date = October 6, 2008
| before = [[#Explanation|↓ Skip to explanation ↓]]
| title = Depth
| image = depth.png
| titletext = The Planck length is another thousand or two pixels below the comic.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic is a companion piece to [[482: Height]], which explored a {{w|logarithmic scale}} from the edge of the observable universe down to the Earth's surface. ''Depth'' continues the process, viewing logarithmically smaller scales from Earth's atmosphere down to the interior of a single {{w|proton}}. This combination is reminiscent of Charles and Ray Eames' 1977 short film [http://youtu.be/0fKBhvDjuy0 Powers of Ten].

Here's a walk through the entire comic:

* At the top, we see a cutaway view of a story apartment complex. From left to right, different activities can be seen in the apartments; [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] playing in a ball pit, Megan {{w|exorcising}} {{w|Windows Vista}}, [[Ponytail]] and Megan playing ''{{w|Guitar Hero}}'' or a similar game, Cueball at a desk, and what appear to be people having sex.
* The view descends into Cueball's tower PC.
* Entering the computer's internals, we see a mouse plugged into the PS/2 (6-pin mini-DIN) connector. This is a visual pun, since the mouse is an actual rodent and not a handheld device.
* Next, we dive into the CPU. We see a multi-layered pun on the question "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" There may be a pun with a chip's connector pin, but the more obvious reference is Randall's answer of 32,767 = 215 - 1, the largest possible value of a signed 16-bit integer. Adding one rolls back over to -32,768, which is 32,768 devils or "negative angels." (See [[571: Can't Sleep]] for a similar joke and a more elaborate explanation.)
* A blood-sucking mosquito appears to be "leeching" a torrent.
* A {{w|segfault}} is a problem with memory access.
* {{w|Dust mite}}s are small arachnids that feed on house dust and are known to cause allergies. {{w|Rust mite}}s are very small mites that live on plants and cause discoloration of leaves and fruit, or small galls.
* We zoom in on a memory unit on the CPU. Cueball is being {{w|rickrolled}}, as indicated by the label "pixel on {{w|Rick Astley|Rick Astley's}} shoulder."
* A "fork();" command points at one of several unlabeled spermatazoa. Forking and sperm are capable of spawning "child processes."
* {{w|Peter Norton}} is the founder of {{w|Norton Antivirus}}. He is shown fighting a biological virus, rather than informatic malware.
* Showing the relative scale of {{w|carbon nanotubes}}, the suggestion is that these then lead on to a more megastructural {{w|Space Elevator}}, for which carbon nanotubes are often cited as a suitably strong component needed for the cable.
* We soon zoom in on a silicon atom in the CPU. In the {{w|electron cloud}}, the squiggles made out of arrows are {{w|Feynman diagram}}s. A Feynman diagram in the shape of a stick figure is saying "Sup?", a pun on the "Sup" particle (supersymmetric partner 'squark' to the Up quark) and an abbreviation of the greeting "What's up?"
* An 'iPod Femto' is shown, as a pun on the '{{w|iPod Nano}}' (both are {{w|SI prefixes}}), both of which refer to units far smaller than any iPod that has ever, or likely will ever, be created.
* {{w|Brian Greene}} is a theoretical physicist and {{w|Popular science|pop scientist}} who discusses the nature of the universe. The picture of him knitting is a pun on {{w|string theory}} and PBS miniseries {{w|The Fabric of the Cosmos}}. The term 'knitting furiously' shows up in the 1857 Volume 14, page 46 (available via [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uva.x004827161&seq=54&q1=%22knitting+furiously%22 HathiTrust] and [https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/DX1902024403/NCUK?sid=bookmark-NCUK&xid=7a92dc49 Gale] ([https://go.gale.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CDX1902024403 preview])) of {{w|The Monthly Packet}}. Furthermore, Greene doing something furiously references "{{w|Colorless green ideas sleep furiously}}", a correctly-formulated sentence that nonetheless conveys no meaning or logic.
* The {{w|Planck length}} (<big>ℓ</big>P) is the smallest theoretically measurable distance, defined by three fundamental constants in physics: the {{w|speed of light}} in a vacuum (c), {{w|Planck constant|Planck's constant}} (h), and the {{w|gravitational constant}} (G). The Planck length is vastly smaller than any known particle that isn't a point mass, and modern physics is a long way from investigating such a scale. The comic is 2,050 pixels tall, and Randall mentions the Planck length is roughly a further two thousand pixels past Brian Greene.

==Transcript==
:Sizes Accurate on a vertical log scale
:[Series of images of characters doing various things. The things they are doing are listed in left to right order.]
:Cueball and Megan playing in a ball pen
:Megan using witchcraft to ban vista "Out, Vista!"
:Ponytail and Megan play Rock Band
:A couple is having sex under the cover in bed.
:[Below this series of images, an image of a man on the computer.]
:Cueball is on a computer and the image expands as it goes down. Here are the labels from left to right, up to down:
:CD
:DVD
:Case
:North Bridge
:PS/2
:Mouse (rodent)
:RAM
:CPU Socket Pin
:32,767 Angels Dancing (one more and they'd roll over and become {{w|Two's complement|32,768 Devils}}), Rice, Torrent (a bug), CPU, upcoming segfault
:dust mite
:hair
:OVUM
:Data (a pixel on Rick Astley's shoulder), rust mite, fork();
:Peter Norton fighting a bacteriophage
:memory
:carbon nanotubes
:space elevator
:a line of silicon (Si), Electron Cloud, a man made out of arrows saying "sup?"
:silicon nucleus
:IPod femto
:Brian Greene knitting furiously [next to his knitting needles there is text saying ''clink, clink'']

==Trivia==
*The ballpit inside the apartment is a reference to [[150: Grownups]], in which Megan filled her apartment with playpen balls.
*The structure next to the couple in bed could be an elliptical dish to increase the sound from their [[Loud Sex]].
*[[1162: Log Scale]] and [[482: Height]] are other comics about the use of log scales.
*[[271: Powers of One]] mocks the concept of getting cool effects by zooming in/out by, instead of a log scale, using powers of one.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Large drawings]]
[[Category:Illustrations of scale]]
[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring real people]]
[[Category:Rhythm Games]]
[[category:Sex]]

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485: Depth