https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=BruhBruhcastexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-05-30T23:58:01ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3168:_Beam_Dump&diff=3909993168: Beam Dump2025-11-15T02:00:54Z<p>BruhBruhcast: </p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3168<br />
| date = November 14, 2025<br />
| title = Beam Dump<br />
| image = beam_dump_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 309x346px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = We're adding some industrial flypaper to minimize reflection or scattering of customers who might complain.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|This page was created by a SAFELY DECELERATING BOT. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
This comic makes a pun on the fact that physics work very differently at the atomic level. In the comic, [[Cueball]], [[Megan]], and [[White Hat]] have apparently hired an accelerator physicist, portrayed as [[Ponytail]], to design a water park. Ponytail has decided that, in the event an emergency stop is activated on a large waterslide, the riders would be diverted to a "beam dump", a large block of graphite which Ponytail believes would safely slow the momentum of the riders. However, unlike in Ponytail's former field of work, the safety of particles (in this case, customers) should be a major concern{{cn}}, and collisions into heavy solid blocks is a physical health risk.{{cn}}<br />
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However, in the context of a particle accelerator, {{w|beam dump}}s are indeed formed of large blocks of graphite, in order to safely slow the particles without having them release large amounts of energy. It could be argued that since this measure is intended for the safety of the operators, and not the particles (customers) it would technically be effective at the original purpose if the blocks are sufficiently large, protecting the operators from high velocity customers -- if not from the lawsuits of any survivors/next-of-kin.{{cn}}<br />
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The title text adds to the joke, with the park designers apparently utilizing {{w|flypaper}} to 'minimize reflection or scattering of customers'. Of course, this would not work, as humans would be able to perceive and avoid the flypaper, unless they are fully boxed in. <!-- I read it as "set up to stop the spatter of the rapidly block-stopped people", but maybe I'm wrong --><br />
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==Transcript==<br />
{{incomplete transcript|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
:[Ponytail is standing in front of a diagram on the wall, pointing at it with a pointer. The diagram has a picture of a waterslide and some untelligible text. The waterslide has two paths at the bottom; one returns to the base of the entrance tower, the other goes to a large black block. On the right stand Cueball, Megan, and White Hat facing her.]<br />
:Ponytail: If the emergency stop is activated, any riders on the waterslide will be diverted into the beam dump, a large graphite block which will safely absorb their momentum.<br />
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:[Caption below panel:]<br />
:We regretted hiring an accelerator phsycist to design our water park.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<noinclude><br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]</div>BruhBruhcast