https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Dismalphysicistexplain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-05-14T07:45:21ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=3091:_Renormalization&diff=3782203091: Renormalization2025-05-20T09:12:48Z<p>Dismalphysicist: Defined renormalisation more clearly</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 3091<br />
| date = May 19, 2025<br />
| title = Renormalization<br />
| image = renormalization_2x.png<br />
| imagesize = 221x345px<br />
| noexpand = true<br />
| titletext = Applying renormalization to bullies successfully transformed Pete & Pete's Endless Mike into Finite Mike.<br />
}}<br />
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==Explanation==<br />
{{incomplete|This page was created by an electron shoved in a locker. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}<br />
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This comic refers to {{w|renormalization}}, which is a procedure for removing infinities associated with self-interaction in quantum field theory. It makes an analogy between this and the kind of enforced 'self-interaction' that happens in the {{tvtropes|StopHittingYourself|'stop hitting yourself' meme}}. This involves the aggressor using a part of the victim's anatomy, typically the hand, and forcibly striking them with it, then accusing them of perpetrating the violence against themself. [[Randall]] claims that renormalization started out as a way for physicists to do something similar to innocent electrons.<br />
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The title text refers to the character Mike Hellstrom, nicknamed Endless Mike, from the 1989 TV sitcom {{w|The Adventures of Pete & Pete#Enemies|The Adventures of Pete & Pete}}. It links back to renormalization, because renormalization lets you remove infinities to get finite solutions, so in that sense it would turn Endless Mike into Finite Mike.<br />
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==Transcript==<br />
: [Cueball poking an atom. Megan looks at it with a hand on her chin]<br />
: Cueball: ''Hey, electron!''<br />
: Cueball: ''Stop hitting yourself!''<br />
: Cueball: ''Stop hitting yourself!''<br />
: Megan: ...Wait.<br />
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:[Caption below the panel:]<br />
: Renormalization actually started out as an effort to bully electrons.<br />
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{{comic discussion}}<noinclude><br />
[[Category:Physics]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]</div>Dismalphysicist