explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

3001: Temperature Scales

2024-10-21T23:44:03Z

An xkcd fan:

{{comic
| number = 3001
| date = October 21, 2024
| title = Temperature Scales
| image = temperature_scales_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x535px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EXPONENTIAL TEMPERATURE SYSTEM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

There are many different temperature scales. Most of the world uses Celsius, as it is part of the metric system, which most of the world has adopted. However, the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar use the imperial system, where the unit to measure temperature is Fahrenheit. There are also many more temperature scales, most notably Kelvin. This comic showcases these as well as a lot of mostly unused scales.

{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Unit
! scope="col" | Water Freezing Point
! scope="col" | Water Boiling Point
! scope="col" | Notes
! scope="col" | Cursedness
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Celsius || 0 || 100 || Used in most of the world || 2/10 || All but 3 countries use Celsius as their default measurement of temperature. Celsius is effectively Kelvin but about 273 degrees less.
|-
| Kelvin || 273.15 || 373.15 || 0K is absolute zero || 2/10 || Insert explanation here.
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}

3001: Temperature Scales

2024-10-21T23:40:46Z

An xkcd fan: added a basic explanation and started the table

{{comic
| number = 3001
| date = October 21, 2024
| title = Temperature Scales
| image = temperature_scales_2x.png
| imagesize = 740x535px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = In my new scale, °X, 0 is Earths' record lowest surface temperature, 50 is the global average, and 100 is the record highest, with a linear scale between each point and adjustment every year as needed.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EXPONENTIAL TEMPERATURE SYSTEM - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
There are many different temperature scales. Most of the world uses Celcius, as it is part of the metric system, which most of the world has adopted. However, the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar use the imperial system, where the unit to measure temperature is Fahrenheit. There are also many more temperature scales, most notably Kelvin, but this comic showcases a lot of mostly unused scales.

{| class=wikitable
! scope="col" | Unit
! scope="col" | Water Freezing Point
! scope="col" | Water Boiling Point
! scope="col" | Notes
! scope="col" | Cursedness
! scope="col" | Explanation
|-
| Celcius || 0 || 100 || Used in most of the world || 2/10 || All but 3 countries use Celcius as their default measurement of temperature. Celcius is effectively Kelvin but about 273 degrees less.
|-
| Kelvin || 273.15 || 373.15 || 0K is absolute zero || 2/10 || Insert explanation here.
|}

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

{{comic discussion}}

3000: Experimental Astrophysics

2024-10-19T06:09:04Z

An xkcd fan:

{{comic
| number = 3000
| date = October 18, 2024
| title = Experimental Astrophysics
| image = experimental_astrophysics_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x490px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Our experiment will be expensive, but we believe it will produce important spin-offs, especially if we manage to hit the sun from the right angle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SOLAR FLARE WITH ABNORMAL PULSAR READINGS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} is an object theorized by Kip Thorne and Anna Żytkow, which is a red giant or red supergiant with a neutron star at its core. There have been no confirmed sightings, but HV2112 in the small Magellican cloud (SMC) and HV 11417 are both strong candidates.

Cueball is complaining that no one is willing to fund shooting a neutron star into the sun to create the said {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} for direct observation. This is impractical for plenty of reasons {{citation needed}}. First, you would need to find a neutron star and bring it here, which requires ridiculous amounts of energy, mass, and precision. Secondly, having a neutron star anywhere near sun would most likely destroy the solar system as a whole.{{Citation needed}} The sun would also have to turn into a red giant for this, which (normally) takes billions of years and will [[1606|ruin the weather]].

A spin-off usually means something additional that was not originally planned. The title text in this comic is a two-layer joke on the phrase "spin-off", meaning that creating a {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} will likely produce many unintended effects, and will also cause the sun as well as the solar system to start rotating abnormally due to the existence of a neutron star rotating hundreds of times a second and its intense gravity.

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

:[Cueball is standing on a circular stage in front of a poster. The poster shows two stars, one much larger than the other. The smaller star has an arrow pointing to it to the center of the large star.]
:Cueball: A Thorne-Żytkow object is a hypothesized nested star—a red giant with a neutron star inside it.
:Cueball: So far, no TŻOs Have been definitively observed, but your grant could help us change that.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:We're struggling to get funding for our project to slingshot a neutron star into the sun.:

{{comic discussion}}

3000: Experimental Astrophysics

2024-10-19T06:07:36Z

An xkcd fan:

{{comic
| number = 3000
| date = October 18, 2024
| title = Experimental Astrophysics
| image = experimental_astrophysics_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x490px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Our experiment will be expensive, but we believe it will produce important spin-offs, especially if we manage to hit the sun from the right angle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SOLAR FLARE WITH ABNORMAL PULSAR READINGS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} is an object theorized by Kip Thorne and Anna Żytkow, which is a red giant or red supergiant with a neutron star at its core. There have been no confirmed sightings, but HV2112 in the small Magellican cloud (SMC) and HV 11417 are both strong candidates.

Cueball is complaining that no one is willing to fund shooting a neutron star into the sun to create the said {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}}. This is impractical for plenty of reasons {{citation needed}}. First, you would need to find a neutron star and bring it here, which requires ridiculous amounts of energy, mass, and precision. Secondly, having a neutron star anywhere near sun would most likely destroy the solar system as a whole.{{Citation needed}} The sun would also have to turn into a red giant for this, which (normally) takes billions of years and will [[1606|ruin the weather]].

A spin-off usually means something additional that was not originally planned. The title text in this comic is a two-layer joke on the phrase "spin-off", meaning that creating a {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} will likely produce many unintended effects, and will also cause the sun as well as the solar system to start rotating abnormally due to the existence of a neutron star rotating hundreds of times a second and its intense gravity.

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

:[Cueball is standing on a circular stage in front of a poster. The poster shows two stars, one much larger than the other. The smaller star has an arrow pointing to it to the center of the large star.]
:Cueball: A Thorne-Żytkow object is a hypothesized nested star—a red giant with a neutron star inside it.
:Cueball: So far, no TŻOs Have been definitively observed, but your grant could help us change that.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:We're struggling to get funding for our project to slingshot a neutron star into the sun.:

{{comic discussion}}

3000: Experimental Astrophysics

2024-10-19T06:05:56Z

An xkcd fan:

{{comic
| number = 3000
| date = October 18, 2024
| title = Experimental Astrophysics
| image = experimental_astrophysics_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x490px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Our experiment will be expensive, but we believe it will produce important spin-offs, especially if we manage to hit the sun from the right angle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a THORNE-ŻYTKOW BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} is an object theorized by Kip Thorne and Anna Żytkow, which is a red giant or red supergiant with a neutron star at its core. There have been no confirmed sightings, but HV2112 in the small Magellican cloud (SMC) and HV 11417 are both strong candidates.

Cueball is complaining that no one is willing to fund shooting a neutron star into the sun to create the said {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}}. This is impractical for plenty of reasons {{citation needed}}. First, you would need to find a neutron star and bring it here, which requires ridiculous amounts of energy, mass, and precision. Secondly, having a neutron star anywhere near sun would most likely destroy the solar system as a whole.{{Citation needed}} The sun would also have to turn into a red giant for this, which (normally) takes billions of years and will [[1606|ruin the weather]].

A spin-off usually means something additional that was not originally planned. The title text in this comic is a two-layer joke on the phrase "spin-off", meaning that creating a {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} will likely produce many unintended effects, and will also cause the sun as well as the solar system to start rotating abnormally due to the existence of a neutron star rotating hundreds of times a second and its intense gravity.

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

:[Cueball is standing on a circular stage in front of a poster. The poster shows two stars, one much larger than the other. The smaller star has an arrow pointing to it to the center of the large star.]
:Cueball: A Thorne-Żytkow object is a hypothesized nested star—a red giant with a neutron star inside it.
:Cueball: So far, no TŻOs Have been definitively observed, but your grant could help us change that.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:We're struggling to get funding for our project to slingshot a neutron star into the sun.:

{{comic discussion}}

3000: Experimental Astrophysics

2024-10-19T06:05:17Z

An xkcd fan:

{{comic
| number = 3000
| date = October 18, 2024
| title = Experimental Astrophysics
| image = experimental_astrophysics_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x490px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Our experiment will be expensive, but we believe it will produce important spin-offs, especially if we manage to hit the sun from the right angle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a THORNE-ŻYTKOW BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} is an object theorized by Kip Thorne and Anna Żytkow, which is a red giant or red supergiant with a neutron star at its core. There have been no confirmed sightings, but HV2112 in the small Magellican cloud (SMC) and HV 11417 are both strong candidates.

Cueball is complaining that no one is willing to fund shooting a neutron star into the sun to create the said {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}}. This is impractical for plenty of reasons {{citation needed}}. First, you would need to find a neutron star and bring it here, which requires ridiculous amounts of energy, mass, and precision. Secondly, having a neutron star anywhere near sun would most likely destroy the solar system as a whole.{{Citation needed}} The sun would also have to turn into a red giant for this, which "normally" takes billions of years and will [[1606|ruin the weather]].

A spin-off usually means something additional that was not originally planned. The title text in this comic is a two-layer joke on the phrase "spin-off", meaning that creating a {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} will likely produce many unintended effects, and will also cause the sun as well as the solar system to start rotating abnormally due to the existence of a neutron star rotating hundreds of times a second and its intense gravity.

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

:[Cueball is standing on a circular stage in front of a poster. The poster shows two stars, one much larger than the other. The smaller star has an arrow pointing to it to the center of the large star.]
:Cueball: A Thorne-Żytkow object is a hypothesized nested star—a red giant with a neutron star inside it.
:Cueball: So far, no TŻOs Have been definitively observed, but your grant could help us change that.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:We're struggling to get funding for our project to slingshot a neutron star into the sun.:

{{comic discussion}}

3000: Experimental Astrophysics

2024-10-19T06:04:35Z

An xkcd fan:

{{comic
| number = 3000
| date = October 18, 2024
| title = Experimental Astrophysics
| image = experimental_astrophysics_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x490px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Our experiment will be expensive, but we believe it will produce important spin-offs, especially if we manage to hit the sun from the right angle.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a THORNE-ŻYTKOW BOT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
A {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} is an object theorized by Kip Thorne and Anna Żytkow, which is a red giant or red supergiant with a neutron star at its core. There have been no confirmed sightings, but HV2112 in the small Magellican cloud (SMC) and HV 11417 are both strong candidates.

Cueball is complaining that no one is willing to fund shooting a neutron star into the sun. This is impractical for plenty of reasons {{citation needed}}. First, you would need to find a neutron star and bring it here, which requires ridiculous amounts of energy, mass, and precision. Secondly, having a neutron star anywhere near sun would most likely destroy the solar system as a whole.{{Citation needed}} The sun would also have to turn into a red giant for this, which "normally" takes billions of years and will [[1606|ruin the weather]].

A spin-off usually means something additional that was not originally planned. The title text in this comic is a two-layer joke on the phrase "spin-off", meaning that creating a {{w|Thorne–Żytkow object}} will likely produce many unintended effects, and will also cause the sun as well as the solar system to start rotating abnormally due to the existence of a neutron star rotating hundreds of times a second and its intense gravity.

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

:[Cueball is standing on a circular stage in front of a poster. The poster shows two stars, one much larger than the other. The smaller star has an arrow pointing to it to the center of the large star.]
:Cueball: A Thorne-Żytkow object is a hypothesized nested star—a red giant with a neutron star inside it.
:Cueball: So far, no TŻOs Have been definitively observed, but your grant could help us change that.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:We're struggling to get funding for our project to slingshot a neutron star into the sun.:

{{comic discussion}}

2935: Ocean Loop

2024-05-21T03:51:48Z

An xkcd fan:

{{comic
| number = 2935
| date = May 20, 2024
| title = Ocean Loop
| image = ocean_loop_2x.png
| imagesize = 317x286px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I can't believe they wouldn't even let me hold a vote among the passengers about whether to try the loop.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by an EXCITED ROLLER COASTER ENTHUSIAST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Upon hearing the term "ocean loop", many people think of horizontal {{w|ocean gyre}}s or {{w|ocean currents}}. This comic illustrated a vertical, rather than horizontal, ocean loop.

The comic shows a large construction, rising out of the sea to dwarf a nearby cruise ship. It involves a submerged water-jet sending water up out of the surface and round a rollercoaster-loop-like water-flume trough. The scale is such that it seems that the ship, once caught in the necessarily powerful stream of water, is intended to be propelled around the inverting loop before "safely" exiting at the other side.

Apart from various other issues regarding {{what if|43|large "loop-de-loops"}}, the stream of water required to maintain this setup would be {{w|Entrainment (hydrodynamics)|acting upon the nearby water}} and so the nearby ship is probably already close enough to be drawn into the loop (with the best option left being to deliberately steer into it, rather than risk being swept uncontrollably into the structure), assuming that it isn't already caught in the tug of the water-jet's inward flow.

Even assuming a "successful" loop (the stresses, and rotation, inflicted by the loop are likely beyond the design limits of such a vessel), the emergence back into the ''relatively'' calm and stationary waters beyond the exiting outflow would be a severe challenge to navigation. On the positive side, due to the nature of buoyancy, if the loop structure itself is capable of withstanding the force of the water being forced round it then it ''should'' be equally capable of withstanding the passage of the ship, unlike an impromptu rail-based loop which might stand up on its own but then shake itself apart when the first carriage is sent around it.

Not only would there be problems for the engineers, ship and navigators, the "ride" wouldn't be pleasant for the ship's passengers in any way. Many of the passengers would suffer extreme injuries from the changes of velocity (up to 230 mph based on a loop radius of 3 x ship length) and rotation (unlike {{w|rollercoasters}}, or even airplanes during simple take-off and landing, passengers aren't normally strapped down). It is possible that the initial extreme undercurrent would likely capsize the ship. Depending upon where in the ship you were, the centripetal forces and the ships rotation may not match for all passengers, forcing anyone not properly secured out towards the bow or stern. As well as the passengers, this also is relevant to all unsecured items (e.g. knives and forks would go flying off tables), as well as the dangers of breakable glass, liquids and many other dangerous objects which could create hazards even (or particularly) against those who have strapped themselves down to prevent their own movement through the ship.

Because of all these safety concerns, the bottom text, "I don't know why the cruise line fired me", suggests that someone in the company immediately realized this would not be a good idea, and seeing as cruise ship operators prioritize safety over whatever "thrill" or "uniqueness" this loop brings, either due to their good heart or because it's illegal {{Citation needed}}, shut down the concept immediately. The title text, "I can't believe they wouldn't even let me hold a vote among the passengers about whether to try the loop", implies that someone with a sadistic nature (maybe [[Black Hat]]?) actually built this loop and had a ship ready to try it. The title text also suggests that not only are those in charge of the ship skeptical about sailing into this loop, but that they are worried that opening the decision-making process to the passengers might favor the exciting risk over the well-founded reason of the staff. However, cruise ships generally don't function as democracies even outside of absurd situations such as the one depicted.

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

:[A cruise ship approaches an enormous loop-de-loop flume. A large jet of water is being propelled into the loop-de-loop.]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I don't know why the cruise line fired me.

==Trivia==
* '''This trivia section was created by a BOT'''
* The [[:File:ocean_loop_huge.png|standard size]] image was uploaded with a resolution/size larger than the supposed 2x version.
* This may have been an error.
* At the time of posting, the image was ''massive'', 4760 x 4295 pixels.

{{comic discussion}}

2931: Chasing

2024-05-11T21:29:29Z

An xkcd fan:

{{comic
| number = 2931
| date = May 10, 2024
| title = Chasing
| image = chasing_2x.png
| imagesize = 462x474px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Certain hybrid events can only happen in certain locations where all the conditions are present; chasers flock to the area in and around Kansas known as tumbleweed-colliding-with-possum alley.
}}

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

This comic is a scatter plot comparing how exciting it is to see various things with how possible it is to chase them using a convoy of coordinated vehicles.

The least chasable are stationary places like the {{w|Grand Canyon}} or {{w|International Date Line}}. It makes no sense to chase them because they don't move around, you simply go to their known locations. At the other end of the chasability spectrum are animals that move around rapidly, and fleeting astronomical and atmospherical phenomena like {{w|clouds}}, {{w|meteors}}, and {{w|aurora}}. However, some of these are difficult to chase because they're small and hard to detect from a moving vehicle, e.g. {{w|gnats}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Entity || Explanation
|-
| {{w|Grand Canyon|The Grand Canyon}}|| Stationary place in Arizona. It's the largest canyon in the US (but not the world), in addition to being very beautiful due to its depth and the color changes from different geological strata. Seeing a famous tourist attraction in person is exciting{{Citation needed}}.
|-
| {{w|Niagara Falls}} || Stationary place on the border of US and Canada, between the state of New York and the province of Ontario. The waterfall is the largest in North America by width and water volume, making it very beautiful to watch.
|-
| {{w|Tourist attractions}} || Other stationary places that attract many tourists (e.g. national parks, monuments, and historic places) are exciting to see {{Citation needed}}.
|-
| {{w|Tourist traps}} || Stationary places that market themselves as tourist attractions, but don't have much to offer and exist mainly to sell food and souvenirs.
|-
| {{w|Sand traps}} || Pits of sand in golf courses. If your golf ball lands in one, it's more difficult to hit it out to the grassy portions (fairways or greens), which is why it's a "trap".
|-
| The International Date Line || A jagged conceptual line running from the North to South poles around 180 degrees of longitude, used to separate the time zones that start and end each day. There's nothing to see at these locations, as the line is a concept and does not actually coincide with anything in real life, and is intentionally mostly in oceans.
|-
| Meteors || Also called "shooting stars". These are fleeting streaks of light that are visible when bits of rock or dust enter the atmosphere and burn up. These are generally rare, making them exciting to see, but there are {{w|meteor showers}} when many are visible due to the Earth passing through a large cloud of dust (usually the remnants of a comet). To astronomy buffs, these can be like natural fireworks shows. Because each meteor streak lasts for a fraction of a second, it's not generally possible to chase them, although if the rock is large enough it may survive to the ground and become a {{w|meteorite}}, which chasers may be able to find by tracking its path through the sky.
|-
| {{w|Rainbows}} || A visual effect that occurs when sunlight is refracted by water droplets in the air, spreading the light into a spectrum of different colors. Their 'location' is relative to each observer, so long as the necessary components combine correctly in the first place, so any coordinated movement is restricted to finding the right sort of standpoint from which a rainbow is visible.
|-
| {{w|Comets}} || Comets are chunks of rock and ice that orbit the sun, usually in highly eccentric orbits that take them from the inner Solar System to the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} or {{w|Oort Cloud}} at the extreme outskirts of the Solar System. Few of them are visible to the naked eye. They're exciting to see because they're rare, and one of the few astronomical objects that looks like more than just a tiny dot because there's a glowing "tail". While they're moving very rapidly through the Solar System, from the Earth they don't appear to move much faster than planets. So there's no need to chase them; when near the Earth, they will be visible from much of the planet for days or weeks.
|-
| {{w|Sunsets}} || Disappearance of the Sun below the horizon, should happen usually once every 24 hours (except close to the poles). Depending on weather conditions, they can sometimes be very pretty. Traveling around the Earth from east to west is needed for a continuous view of a sunset.
|-
| {{w|The Moon}} || Earth's only natural satellite with a predictable orbit. Only 12 people (the {{w|Apollo astronauts}}) have actually visited it in person; the rest of us see it from about 250,000 miles away. Weather permitting, it's visible for about half of every day/night cycle (though may be more obvious when this occurs significantly in the night sky, for several reasons). It doesn't move quickly in the sky, by apparent movement, so little chasing is necessary. A 'supermoon' is when the Moon looks the largest and shiniest, occurring when a full moon appears closest to the Earth in its orbit, though Randall doesn't consider this phenomenon impressive (How To, chapter 21).
|-
| Unusual clouds || Clouds with unique forms or shapes, often resembling something else, like UFOs ({{w|Lenticular clouds}}).
|-
| Regular clouds || Aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets
|-
| {{w|Fog}} || Atmospheric condition where water droplets are very dense near the Earth's surface, resulting in a visible haze. Very few people will chase fog.{{cn}}
|-
| {{w|Rain}} || Water droplets falling from clouds. In most of the world, this is a pretty common occurrence. Unless the volume is extremely high, there's rarely much excitement due to them, but extreme cases may cause flooding that can be dangerous. The only people who typically chase them are weather reporters.
|-
| {{w|Gnats}} || Hardly anybody wants to track down gnats, as they are annoying to chase and difficult to see, but people could theoretically use advanced instruments to do so.
|-
| {{w|Aurora}} || Impressive light displays that result from excitement of the Earth's {{w|magnetosphere}} by charged particles in the {{w|solar wind}}. These are generally only visible in high latitudes, so most people do not live where they're visible. Their visibility can be tracked and forecasted via monitoring of solar wind output from the sun, and particularly intense episodes can be predicted (as well as locations for viewing) on the basis of the solar cycle and solar flare activity. The release of this comic happens to coincide with the strongest geomagnetic storm warning forecasted by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 20 years, with auroras being visible as far south as Florida [https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g4-watch-effect-may-11].
|-
| Your favorite band's shows || Musical acts often plan tours, where they go around the country (or world) putting on shows every few days. Extreme fans with time on their hands may "chase" them by going to a series of their shows. Since the tour dates are planned and publicized well in advance, the shows are easy to find. However, depending on the popularity of your favorite band, this might be an expensive hobby, especially for optimal viewing.
|-
| Rare birds || Many birders will "twitch" to see rare birds, and this requires a fair amount of checking location, behavior, etc. Also, rare birds tend to be exciting to see.
|-
| Regular birds || These are easier to see than rare birds.{{citation needed}}
|-
| Regular balloons || Both children and adults accidentally let go of balloons, and may attempt to chase after them to retrieve them.
|-
| {{w|Tumbleweeds}} || A roughly spherical portion of certain plants that breaks off from its roots and rolls along the ground, propelled by winds. Most people don't find them very interesting to look at. They don't usually travel very quickly, so it would be possible to chase them if you were so inclined (they may be of interest to plant biologists and ecologists).
|-
| {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit_enforcement|Speed traps}} || A section of a road where police often wait for passing drivers who are exceeding the speed limit, so they can catch them and issue speeding tickets. Frequent drivers, especially truck drivers, have developed systems to warn each other of these locations ({{w|citizens band radios}} were once the most popular method, now this can be done using mobile phone using services like {{w|Waze}}).
|-
| {{w|Tornadoes}} || Wanting to witness a tornado is a typical objective of {{w|storm chaser}}s.
|-
| {{w|Whales}} || Widely distributed and diverse group of marine mammals. They are some of the largest animals to ever live, and often travel in groups, making them exciting and easy to see.
|-
| {{w|Icebergs}} || Piece of freshwater ice broken off a glacier or ice shelf. These come in many sizes and shapes, making it interesting to see a new one.
|-
| {{w|Hot air balloons}} || An aircraft whose bag is filled with heated air. These come in many bright designs and colors, making them easy to track from the ground and fun to see.
|-
| {{w|Radiosondes}} || Small instruments carried in weather balloons to gather and transmit atmospheric parameters. There's not much to see in them, but they're easy to track with a proper receiver.
|-
| Neighborhood possums || "Possum" is a common term for {{w|Virginia opossum}}s, the only species of opossum found in North America. In urban areas they will get into human garbage, and may carry diseases, so many may consider them pests and hunt them. A coordinate group of hunters can track them.
|-
| {{w|Ice cream trucks}} || Vans that sell ice cream. They're easy to chase because they often play music and/or ring a loud bell so customers will know they're coming, and make frequent stops to allow customers to make purchases. Young "chasers" also often scream when they hear the trucks coming, so others nearby (particularly parents or caregivers who are needed to provide the money) will be aware.
|-
| Other chasers || May result in an awkward encounter if met in person.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An X Y axis graph]
:[Y axis label:]
:Exciting to see in person
:[X axis label:]
:Possible to chase in a convoy of vehicles coordinating over radio and using instruments and data to find optimal viewing locations?
:[X and Y axis values (from bottom left):]
:No
:Yes

:[Top left quarter:]
:The Grand Canyon
:Meteors
:Rainbow
:Comets
:Niagara Falls
:Sunsets
:The Moon
:Tourist attractions
:Unusual clouds

:[Top right quarter:]
:Aurora
:Tornadoes
:Whales
:Your favorite band's shows
:Icebergs
:Rare birds
:Hot air balloons

:[Bottom left quarter:]
:Tourist traps
:Regular clouds
:Sand traps
:Fog
:Rain
:The International Date Line
:Gnats

:[Bottom right quarter:]
:Regular birds
:Radiosondes
:Neighborhood possums
:Regular balloons
:Ice cream trucks
:Tumbleweeds
:Speed traps
:Other chasers

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]

2931: Chasing

2024-05-11T21:28:33Z

An xkcd fan:

{{comic
| number = 2931
| date = May 10, 2024
| title = Chasing
| image = chasing_2x.png
| imagesize = 462x474px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Certain hybrid events can only happen in certain locations where all the conditions are present; chasers flock to the area in and around Kansas known as tumbleweed-colliding-with-possum alley.
}}

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

This comic is a scatter plot comparing how exciting it is to see various things with how possible it is to chase them using a convoy of coordinated vehicles.

The least chasable are stationary places like the {{w|Grand Canyon}} or {{w|International Date Line}}. It makes no sense to chase them because they don't move around, you simply go to their known locations. At the other end of the chasability spectrum are animals that move around rapidly, and fleeting astronomical and atmospherical phenomena like {{w|clouds}}, {{w|meteors}}, and {{w|aurora}}. However, some of these are difficult to chase because they're small and hard to detect from a moving vehicle, e.g. {{w|gnats}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Entity || Explanation
|-
| {{w|Grand Canyon|The Grand Canyon}}|| Stationary place in Arizona. It's the largest canyon in the US (but not the world), in addition to being very beautiful due to its depth and the color changes from different geological strata. Seeing a famous tourist attraction in person is exciting{{Citation needed}}.
|-
| {{w|Niagara Falls}} || Stationary place on the border of US and Canada, between the state of New York and the province of Ontario. The waterfall is the largest in North America by width and water volume, making it very beautiful to watch.
|-
| {{w|Tourist attractions}} || Other stationary places that attract many tourists (e.g. national parks, monuments, and historic places) are exciting to see {{Citation needed}}.
|-
| {{w|Tourist traps}} || Stationary places that market themselves as tourist attractions, but don't have much to offer and exist mainly to sell food and souvenirs.
|-
| {{w|Sand traps}} || Pits of sand in golf courses. If your golf ball lands in one, it's more difficult to hit it out to the grassy portions (fairways or greens), which is why it's a "trap".
|-
| The International Date Line || A jagged conceptual line running from the North to South poles around 180 degrees of longitude, used to separate the time zones that start and end each day. There's nothing to see at these locations, as the line is a concept and does not actually coincide with anything in real life, and is intentionally mostly in oceans.
|-
| Meteors || Also called "shooting stars". These are fleeting streaks of light that are visible when bits of rock or dust enter the atmosphere and burn up. These are generally rare, making them exciting to see, but there are {{w|meteor showers}} when many are visible due to the Earth passing through a large cloud of dust (usually the remnants of a comet). To astronomy buffs, these can be like natural fireworks shows. Because each meteor streak lasts for a fraction of a second, it's not generally possible to chase them, although if the rock is large enough it may survive to the ground and become a {{w|meteorite}}, which chasers may be able to find by tracking its path through the sky.
|-
| {{w|Rainbows}} || A visual effect that occurs when sunlight is refracted by water droplets in the air, spreading the light into a spectrum of different colors. Their 'location' is relative to each observer, so long as the necessary components combine correctly in the first place, so any coordinated movement is restricted to finding the right sort of standpoint from which a rainbow is visible.
|-
| {{w|Comets}} || Comets are chunks of rock and ice that orbit the sun, usually in highly eccentric orbits that take them from the inner Solar System to the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} or {{w|Oort Cloud}} at the extreme outskirts of the Solar System. Few of them are visible to the naked eye. They're exciting to see because they're rare, and one of the few astronomical objects that looks like more than just a tiny dot because there's a glowing "tail". While they're moving very rapidly through the Solar System, from the Earth they don't appear to move much faster than planets. So there's no need to chase them; when near the Earth, they will be visible from much of the planet for days or weeks.
|-
| {{w|Sunsets}} || Disappearance of the Sun below the horizon, should happen usually once every 24 hours (except close to the poles). Depending on weather conditions, they can sometimes be very pretty. Traveling around the Earth from east to west is needed for a continuous view of a sunset.
|-
| {{w|The Moon}} || Earth's only natural satellite with a predictable orbit. Only 12 people (the {{w|Apollo astronauts}}) have actually visited it in person; the rest of us see it from about 250,000 miles away. Weather permitting, it's visible for about half of every day/night cycle (though may be more obvious when this occurs significantly in the night sky, for several reasons). It doesn't move quickly in the sky, by apparent movement, so little chasing is necessary. A 'supermoon' is when the Moon looks the largest and shiniest, occurring when a full moon appears closest to the Earth in its orbit, though Randall doesn't consider this phenomenon impressive (How To, chapter 21).
|-
| Unusual clouds || Clouds with unique forms or shapes, often resembling something else, like UFOs {{w|Lenticular clouds}}.
|-
| Regular clouds || Aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets
|-
| {{w|Fog}} || Atmospheric condition where water droplets are very dense near the Earth's surface, resulting in a visible haze. Very few people will chase fog.{{cn}}
|-
| {{w|Rain}} || Water droplets falling from clouds. In most of the world, this is a pretty common occurrence. Unless the volume is extremely high, there's rarely much excitement due to them, but extreme cases may cause flooding that can be dangerous. The only people who typically chase them are weather reporters.
|-
| {{w|Gnats}} || Hardly anybody wants to track down gnats, as they are annoying to chase and difficult to see, but people could theoretically use advanced instruments to do so.
|-
| {{w|Aurora}} || Impressive light displays that result from excitement of the Earth's {{w|magnetosphere}} by charged particles in the {{w|solar wind}}. These are generally only visible in high latitudes, so most people do not live where they're visible. Their visibility can be tracked and forecasted via monitoring of solar wind output from the sun, and particularly intense episodes can be predicted (as well as locations for viewing) on the basis of the solar cycle and solar flare activity. The release of this comic happens to coincide with the strongest geomagnetic storm warning forecasted by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 20 years, with auroras being visible as far south as Florida [https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g4-watch-effect-may-11].
|-
| Your favorite band's shows || Musical acts often plan tours, where they go around the country (or world) putting on shows every few days. Extreme fans with time on their hands may "chase" them by going to a series of their shows. Since the tour dates are planned and publicized well in advance, the shows are easy to find. However, depending on the popularity of your favorite band, this might be an expensive hobby, especially for optimal viewing.
|-
| Rare birds || Many birders will "twitch" to see rare birds, and this requires a fair amount of checking location, behavior, etc. Also, rare birds tend to be exciting to see.
|-
| Regular birds || These are easier to see than rare birds.{{citation needed}}
|-
| Regular balloons || Both children and adults accidentally let go of balloons, and may attempt to chase after them to retrieve them.
|-
| {{w|Tumbleweeds}} || A roughly spherical portion of certain plants that breaks off from its roots and rolls along the ground, propelled by winds. Most people don't find them very interesting to look at. They don't usually travel very quickly, so it would be possible to chase them if you were so inclined (they may be of interest to plant biologists and ecologists).
|-
| {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit_enforcement|Speed traps}} || A section of a road where police often wait for passing drivers who are exceeding the speed limit, so they can catch them and issue speeding tickets. Frequent drivers, especially truck drivers, have developed systems to warn each other of these locations ({{w|citizens band radios}} were once the most popular method, now this can be done using mobile phone using services like {{w|Waze}}).
|-
| {{w|Tornadoes}} || Wanting to witness a tornado is a typical objective of {{w|storm chaser}}s.
|-
| {{w|Whales}} || Widely distributed and diverse group of marine mammals. They are some of the largest animals to ever live, and often travel in groups, making them exciting and easy to see.
|-
| {{w|Icebergs}} || Piece of freshwater ice broken off a glacier or ice shelf. These come in many sizes and shapes, making it interesting to see a new one.
|-
| {{w|Hot air balloons}} || An aircraft whose bag is filled with heated air. These come in many bright designs and colors, making them easy to track from the ground and fun to see.
|-
| {{w|Radiosondes}} || Small instruments carried in weather balloons to gather and transmit atmospheric parameters. There's not much to see in them, but they're easy to track with a proper receiver.
|-
| Neighborhood possums || "Possum" is a common term for {{w|Virginia opossum}}s, the only species of opossum found in North America. In urban areas they will get into human garbage, and may carry diseases, so many may consider them pests and hunt them. A coordinate group of hunters can track them.
|-
| {{w|Ice cream trucks}} || Vans that sell ice cream. They're easy to chase because they often play music and/or ring a loud bell so customers will know they're coming, and make frequent stops to allow customers to make purchases. Young "chasers" also often scream when they hear the trucks coming, so others nearby (particularly parents or caregivers who are needed to provide the money) will be aware.
|-
| Other chasers || May result in an awkward encounter if met in person.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An X Y axis graph]
:[Y axis label:]
:Exciting to see in person
:[X axis label:]
:Possible to chase in a convoy of vehicles coordinating over radio and using instruments and data to find optimal viewing locations?
:[X and Y axis values (from bottom left):]
:No
:Yes

:[Top left quarter:]
:The Grand Canyon
:Meteors
:Rainbow
:Comets
:Niagara Falls
:Sunsets
:The Moon
:Tourist attractions
:Unusual clouds

:[Top right quarter:]
:Aurora
:Tornadoes
:Whales
:Your favorite band's shows
:Icebergs
:Rare birds
:Hot air balloons

:[Bottom left quarter:]
:Tourist traps
:Regular clouds
:Sand traps
:Fog
:Rain
:The International Date Line
:Gnats

:[Bottom right quarter:]
:Regular birds
:Radiosondes
:Neighborhood possums
:Regular balloons
:Ice cream trucks
:Tumbleweeds
:Speed traps
:Other chasers

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]

2931: Chasing

2024-05-11T21:27:17Z

An xkcd fan: Added links, better explanations and started the explanation for unusual clouds. Also fixed some grammar.

{{comic
| number = 2931
| date = May 10, 2024
| title = Chasing
| image = chasing_2x.png
| imagesize = 462x474px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Certain hybrid events can only happen in certain locations where all the conditions are present; chasers flock to the area in and around Kansas known as tumbleweed-colliding-with-possum alley.
}}

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

This comic is a scatter plot comparing how exciting it is to see various things with how possible it is to chase them using a convoy of coordinated vehicles.

The least chasable are stationary places like the {{w|Grand Canyon}} or {{w|International Date Line}}. It makes no sense to chase them because they don't move around, you simply go to their known locations. At the other end of the chasability spectrum are animals that move around rapidly, and fleeting astronomical and atmospherical phenomena like {{w|clouds}}, {{w|meteors}}, and {{w|aurora}}. However, some of these are difficult to chase because they're small and hard to detect from a moving vehicle, e.g. {{w|gnats}}.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Entity || Explanation
|-
| {{w|Grand Canyon|The Grand Canyon}}|| Stationary place in Arizona. It's the largest canyon in the US (but not the world), in addition to being very beautiful due to its depth and the color changes from different geological strata. Seeing a famous tourist attraction in person is exciting{{Citation needed}}.
|-
| {{w|Niagara Falls}} || Stationary place on the border of US and Canada, between the state of New York and the province of Ontario. The waterfall is the largest in North America by width and water volume, making it very beautiful to watch.
|-
| {{w|Tourist attractions}} || Other stationary places that attract many tourists (e.g. national parks, monuments, and historic places) are exciting to see {{Citation needed}}.
|-
| {{w|Tourist traps}} || Stationary places that market themselves as tourist attractions, but don't have much to offer and exist mainly to sell food and souvenirs.
|-
| {{w|Sand traps}} || Pits of sand in golf courses. If your golf ball lands in one, it's more difficult to hit it out to the grassy portions (fairways or greens), which is why it's a "trap".
|-
| The International Date Line || A jagged conceptual line running from the North to South poles around 180 degrees of longitude, used to separate the time zones that start and end each day. There's nothing to see at these locations, as the line is a concept and does not actually coincide with anything in real life, and is intentionally mostly in oceans.
|-
| Meteors || Also called "shooting stars". These are fleeting streaks of light that are visible when bits of rock or dust enter the atmosphere and burn up. These are generally rare, making them exciting to see, but there are {{w|meteor showers}} when many are visible due to the Earth passing through a large cloud of dust (usually the remnants of a comet). To astronomy buffs, these can be like natural fireworks shows. Because each meteor streak lasts for a fraction of a second, it's not generally possible to chase them, although if the rock is large enough it may survive to the ground and become a {{w|meteorite}}, which chasers may be able to find by tracking its path through the sky.
|-
| {{w|Rainbows}} || A visual effect that occurs when sunlight is refracted by water droplets in the air, spreading the light into a spectrum of different colors. Their 'location' is relative to each observer, so long as the necessary components combine correctly in the first place, so any coordinated movement is restricted to finding the right sort of standpoint from which a rainbow is visible.
|-
| {{w|Comets}} || Comets are chunks of rock and ice that orbit the sun, usually in highly eccentric orbits that take them from the inner Solar System to the {{w|Kuiper Belt}} or {{w|Oort Cloud}} at the extreme outskirts of the Solar System. Few of them are visible to the naked eye. They're exciting to see because they're rare, and one of the few astronomical objects that looks like more than just a tiny dot because there's a glowing "tail". While they're moving very rapidly through the Solar System, from the Earth they don't appear to move much faster than planets. So there's no need to chase them; when near the Earth, they will be visible from much of the planet for days or weeks.
|-
| {{w|Sunsets}} || Disappearance of the Sun below the horizon, should happen usually once every 24 hours (except close to the poles). Depending on weather conditions, they can sometimes be very pretty. Traveling around the Earth from east to west is needed for a continuous view of a sunset.
|-
| {{w|The Moon}} || Earth's only natural satellite with a predictable orbit. Only 12 people (the {{w|Apollo astronauts}}) have actually visited it in person; the rest of us see it from about 250,000 miles away. Weather permitting, it's visible for about half of every day/night cycle (though may be more obvious when this occurs significantly in the night sky, for several reasons). It doesn't move quickly in the sky, by apparent movement, so little chasing is necessary. A 'supermoon' is when the Moon looks the largest and shiniest, occurring when a full moon appears closest to the Earth in its orbit, though Randall doesn't consider this phenomenon impressive {{How To}}.
|-
| Unusual clouds || Clouds with unique forms or shapes, often resembling something else, like UFOs {{w|Lenticular clouds}}.
|-
| Regular clouds || Aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets
|-
| {{w|Fog}} || Atmospheric condition where water droplets are very dense near the Earth's surface, resulting in a visible haze. Very few people will chase fog.{{cn}}
|-
| {{w|Rain}} || Water droplets falling from clouds. In most of the world, this is a pretty common occurrence. Unless the volume is extremely high, there's rarely much excitement due to them, but extreme cases may cause flooding that can be dangerous. The only people who typically chase them are weather reporters.
|-
| {{w|Gnats}} || Hardly anybody wants to track down gnats, as they are annoying to chase and difficult to see, but people could theoretically use advanced instruments to do so.
|-
| {{w|Aurora}} || Impressive light displays that result from excitement of the Earth's {{w|magnetosphere}} by charged particles in the {{w|solar wind}}. These are generally only visible in high latitudes, so most people do not live where they're visible. Their visibility can be tracked and forecasted via monitoring of solar wind output from the sun, and particularly intense episodes can be predicted (as well as locations for viewing) on the basis of the solar cycle and solar flare activity. The release of this comic happens to coincide with the strongest geomagnetic storm warning forecasted by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 20 years, with auroras being visible as far south as Florida [https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g4-watch-effect-may-11].
|-
| Your favorite band's shows || Musical acts often plan tours, where they go around the country (or world) putting on shows every few days. Extreme fans with time on their hands may "chase" them by going to a series of their shows. Since the tour dates are planned and publicized well in advance, the shows are easy to find. However, depending on the popularity of your favorite band, this might be an expensive hobby, especially for optimal viewing.
|-
| Rare birds || Many birders will "twitch" to see rare birds, and this requires a fair amount of checking location, behavior, etc. Also, rare birds tend to be exciting to see.
|-
| Regular birds || These are easier to see than rare birds.{{citation needed}}
|-
| Regular balloons || Both children and adults accidentally let go of balloons, and may attempt to chase after them to retrieve them.
|-
| {{w|Tumbleweeds}} || A roughly spherical portion of certain plants that breaks off from its roots and rolls along the ground, propelled by winds. Most people don't find them very interesting to look at. They don't usually travel very quickly, so it would be possible to chase them if you were so inclined (they may be of interest to plant biologists and ecologists).
|-
| {{w|https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limit_enforcement|Speed traps}} || A section of a road where police often wait for passing drivers who are exceeding the speed limit, so they can catch them and issue speeding tickets. Frequent drivers, especially truck drivers, have developed systems to warn each other of these locations ({{w|citizens band radios}} were once the most popular method, now this can be done using mobile phone using services like {{w|Waze}}).
|-
| {{w|Tornadoes}} || Wanting to witness a tornado is a typical objective of {{w|storm chaser}}s.
|-
| {{w|Whales}} || Widely distributed and diverse group of marine mammals. They are some of the largest animals to ever live, and often travel in groups, making them exciting and easy to see.
|-
| {{w|Icebergs}} || Piece of freshwater ice broken off a glacier or ice shelf. These come in many sizes and shapes, making it interesting to see a new one.
|-
| {{w|Hot air balloons}} || An aircraft whose bag is filled with heated air. These come in many bright designs and colors, making them easy to track from the ground and fun to see.
|-
| {{w|Radiosondes}} || Small instruments carried in weather balloons to gather and transmit atmospheric parameters. There's not much to see in them, but they're easy to track with a proper receiver.
|-
| Neighborhood possums || "Possum" is a common term for {{w|Virginia opossum}}s, the only species of opossum found in North America. In urban areas they will get into human garbage, and may carry diseases, so many may consider them pests and hunt them. A coordinate group of hunters can track them.
|-
| {{w|Ice cream trucks}} || Vans that sell ice cream. They're easy to chase because they often play music and/or ring a loud bell so customers will know they're coming, and make frequent stops to allow customers to make purchases. Young "chasers" also often scream when they hear the trucks coming, so others nearby (particularly parents or caregivers who are needed to provide the money) will be aware.
|-
| Other chasers || May result in an awkward encounter if met in person.
|}

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[An X Y axis graph]
:[Y axis label:]
:Exciting to see in person
:[X axis label:]
:Possible to chase in a convoy of vehicles coordinating over radio and using instruments and data to find optimal viewing locations?
:[X and Y axis values (from bottom left):]
:No
:Yes

:[Top left quarter:]
:The Grand Canyon
:Meteors
:Rainbow
:Comets
:Niagara Falls
:Sunsets
:The Moon
:Tourist attractions
:Unusual clouds

:[Top right quarter:]
:Aurora
:Tornadoes
:Whales
:Your favorite band's shows
:Icebergs
:Rare birds
:Hot air balloons

:[Bottom left quarter:]
:Tourist traps
:Regular clouds
:Sand traps
:Fog
:Rain
:The International Date Line
:Gnats

:[Bottom right quarter:]
:Regular birds
:Radiosondes
:Neighborhood possums
:Regular balloons
:Ice cream trucks
:Tumbleweeds
:Speed traps
:Other chasers

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]