explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2568: Spinthariscope

2022-01-14T20:22:04Z

Jimblandy: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2568
| date = January 14, 2022
| title = Spinthariscope
| image = spinthariscope.png
| titletext = Other high scorers are melt-in-your-hand aluminum-destroying gallium and tritium-powered glowsticks. Lawn darts are toward the other end.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SPINTHARISCOPE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
As stated in the comic, a {{w|spinthariscope}} is a device with a small amount of radioactive material and a screen. When one of the radioactive atoms decays, it emits an {{w|alpha particle}}, which strikes the screen, which emits a small flash of light. You can see these flashes by looking through a lens.

It was invented in 1903 initially as a scientific instrument, but was soon replaced by more accurate and quantitative devices. But the original device was still popular for some time as an educational toy for children, and you can still get them today.

The joke in the comic is that most people have little understanding of radiation, and overreact to any mention that something is radioactive. So when Cueball tells Megan, White Hat, and Ponytail that the toy contains radioactive material, they're shocked and scared. But the amount of radioactive material in the toy is very tiny, so there's practically no risk from it. The caption says that the ratio between the assumed danger and the actual danger is highest of any known toy.

The title text mentions some other materials that sound dangerous but aren't. At the opposite end of the spectrum is {{w|lawn darts}}, a toy containing large darts that are thrown at a target that's placed on the ground. These can cause severe injury if you accidentally hit a person (and a few children were even killed), so they were banned in the US in the 1980's.

Randall should claim that spinthariscopes have the highest ''product'', not ''ratio'', of "that can't be safe and legal" to actual safety and legality. The quantity he intends is one that increases as freakout and actual safety/legality increase, as a product would. A ratio of the two quantities would decrease as actual safety/legality increases.

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

:[Cueball] It's a spinthariscope, a 1940s toy with a radioactive isotope inside. If you let your eyes adjust to total darkness and look into the lens, you can see the flashes of individual atoms decaying.
:[Megan] What??
:[White Hat] AAAAA!
:[ponytail] Get it away!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Fun fact: spinthariscopes have the highest ratio of "that can't possibly be safe and legal" to actual safety and legality of any known toy.

{{comic discussion}}

2568: Spinthariscope

2022-01-14T20:20:28Z

Jimblandy: Note misuse of 'ratio'. This is explainxkcd, after all.

{{comic
| number = 2568
| date = January 14, 2022
| title = Spinthariscope
| image = spinthariscope.png
| titletext = Other high scorers are melt-in-your-hand aluminum-destroying gallium and tritium-powered glowsticks. Lawn darts are toward the other end.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SPINTHARISCOPE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
As stated in the comic, a {{w|spinthariscope}} is a device with a small amount of radioactive material and a screen. When one of the radioactive atoms decays, it emits an {{w|alpha particle}}, which strikes the screen, which emits a small flash of light. You can see these flashes by looking through a lens.

It was invented in 1903 initially as a scientific instrument, but was soon replaced by more accurate and quantitative devices. But the original device was still popular for some time as an educational toy for children, and you can still get them today.

The joke in the comic is that most people have little understanding of radiation, and overreact to any mention that something is radioactive. So when Cueball tells Megan, White Hat, and Ponytail that the toy contains radioactive material, they're shocked and scared. But the amount of radioactive material in the toy is very tiny, so there's practically no risk from it. The caption says that the ratio between the assumed danger and the actual danger is highest of any known toy.

The title text mentions some other materials that sound dangerous but aren't. At the opposite end of the spectrum is {{w|lawn darts}}, a toy containing large darts that are thrown at a target that's placed on the ground. These can cause severe injury if you accidentally hit a person (and a few children were even killed), so they were banned in the US in the 1980's.

Randall should claim that spinthariscopes have the highest ''product'', not ''ratio'', of "that can't be safe and legal" to actual safety and legality. The quantity he intends is one that increases as freakout and actual safety/legality increase, as a product does. A ratio of the two quantities would decrease as actual safety/legality increases.

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

:[Cueball] It's a spinthariscope, a 1940s toy with a radioactive isotope inside. If you let your eyes adjust to total darkness and look into the lens, you can see the flashes of individual atoms decaying.
:[Megan] What??
:[White Hat] AAAAA!
:[ponytail] Get it away!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Fun fact: spinthariscopes have the highest ratio of "that can't possibly be safe and legal" to actual safety and legality of any known toy.

{{comic discussion}}

2568: Spinthariscope

2022-01-14T20:15:02Z

Jimblandy: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2568
| date = January 14, 2022
| title = Spinthariscope
| image = spinthariscope.png
| titletext = Other high scorers are melt-in-your-hand aluminum-destroying gallium and tritium-powered glowsticks. Lawn darts are toward the other end.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SPINTHARISCOPE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
As stated in the comic, a {{w|spinthariscope}} is a device with a small amount of radioactive material and a screen. When one of the radioactive atoms decays, it emits an {{w|alpha particle}}, which strikes the screen, which emits a small flash of light. You can see these flashes by looking through a lens.

It was invented in 1903 initially as a scientific instrument, but was soon replaced by more accurate and quantitative devices. But the original device was still popular for some time as an educational toy for children, and you can still get them today.

The joke in the comic is that most people have little understanding of radiation, and overreact to any mention that something is radioactive. So when Cueball tells Megan, White Hat, and Ponytail that the toy contains radioactive material, they're shocked and scared. But the amount of radioactive material in the toy is very tiny, so there's practically no risk from it. The caption says that the ratio between the assumed danger and the actual danger is highest of any known toy.

The title text mentions some other materials that sound dangerous but aren't. At the opposite end of the spectrum is {{w|lawn darts}}, a toy containing large darts that are thrown at a target that's placed on the ground. These can cause severe injury if you accidentally hit a person (and a few children were even killed), so they were banned in the US in the 1980's.

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

:[Cueball] It's a spinthariscope, a 1940s toy with a radioactive isotope inside. If you let your eyes adjust to total darkness and look into the lens, you can see the flashes of individual atoms decaying.
:[Megan] What??
:[White Hat] AAAAA!
:[ponytail] Get it away!

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Fun fact: spinthariscopes have the highest ratio of "that can't possibly be safe and legal" to actual safety and legality of any known toy.

{{comic discussion}}

2568: Spinthariscope

2022-01-14T20:12:57Z

Jimblandy: /* Transcript */

{{comic
| number = 2568
| date = January 14, 2022
| title = Spinthariscope
| image = spinthariscope.png
| titletext = Other high scorers are melt-in-your-hand aluminum-destroying gallium and tritium-powered glowsticks. Lawn darts are toward the other end.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SPINTHARISCOPE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
As stated in the comic, a {{w|spinthariscope}} is a device with a small amount of radioactive material and a screen. When one of the radioactive atoms decays, it emits an {{w|alpha particle}}, which strikes the screen, which emits a small flash of light. You can see these flashes by looking through a lens.

It was invented in 1903 initially as a scientific instrument, but was soon replaced by more accurate and quantitative devices. But the original device was still popular for some time as an educational toy for children, and you can still get them today.

The joke in the comic is that most people have little understanding of radiation, and overreact to any mention that something is radioactive. So when Cueball tells Megan, White Hat, and Ponytail that the toy contains radioactive material, they're shocked and scared. But the amount of radioactive material in the toy is very tiny, so there's practically no risk from it. The caption says that the ratio between the assumed danger and the actual danger is highest of any known toy.

The title text mentions some other materials that sound dangerous but aren't. At the opposite end of the spectrum is {{w|lawn darts}}, a toy containing large darts that are thrown at a target that's placed on the ground. These can cause severe injury if you accidentally hit a person (and a few children were even killed), so they were banned in the US in the 1980's.

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

:[Cueball] It's a spinthariscope, a 1940s toy with a radioactive isotope inside. If you let your eyes adjust to total darkness and look into the lens, you can see the flashes of individual atoms decaying.
:[Megan] What??
:[White Hat] AAAAA!
:[ponytail] Get it away!

caption: Fun fact: spinthariscopes have the highest ratio of "that can't possibly be safe and legal" to actual safety and legality of any known toy.

{{comic discussion}}

2568: Spinthariscope

2022-01-14T20:12:07Z

Jimblandy: /* Transcript */

2568: Spinthariscope

2022-01-14T20:11:37Z

Jimblandy: fill in transcript