explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-20T06:44:51Z

Ponga: Reverted childish vandalism, yet again.

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SPECIAL OPERATIVE TRYING TO HANDLE A DISGUSTED NURSE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] has been impersonating a doctor at a hospital. But his attempt to fool the staff (including [[Megan]] and [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]]) fails when he mistakes a saline bag for a Capri Sun juice.

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (I.V.) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} with blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead.

Almost everyone would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun, especially a medical doctor.{{citation needed}} Cueball begins to realize that his attempt to impersonate a doctor has derailed when the hospital staff notice that he made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous error.

The title text makes it clear that Cueball is being removed from the hospital by security personnel. While they are dragging him out, he tries to point out that drinking saline is better than putting Capri Sun into a patient's I.V. drip, as it would endanger the patient,[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] arguing that this mitigates the severity of his transgression. The guards apprehending him are unlikely to be persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences. In California, the unlicensed practice of medicine can result in a maximum $10,000 fine, up to three years in prison, or both.[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC&sectionNum=2052.]

The comic arguably continues [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled "saline" (on the 2x image; it is rendered unreadable on the standard resolution version, just like the rest of the label's squiggles). Cueball is surrounded by hospital staff. To the left is Megan with a white hat, she is holding a clipboard, with a paper with unreadable text. To his right is Dr. Ponytail holding a rolled up paper under one arm and to the right of her a man with a similar hat as Megan. They are all looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-20T06:41:59Z

Ponga: Reverted childish vandalism, yet again.

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-20T06:34:29Z

Ponga: Reverted childish vandalism, yet again.

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-20T06:33:12Z

Ponga: Reverted childish vandalism, yet again.

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-20T06:31:32Z

Ponga: Reverted childish vandalism, yet again.

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-20T06:29:16Z

Ponga: Reverted childish vandalism, yet again.

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-20T06:19:47Z

Ponga: Reverted vandalism. Again.

2647: Capri Suns

2022-07-20T05:45:40Z

Ponga: Undo revision 289124 by 162.158.106.113 (talk)

{{comic
| number = 2647
| date = July 18, 2022
| title = Capri Suns
| image = capri_suns.png
| titletext = [As security is dragging me away] "Come on, at least I didn't make the mistake in the other direction!"
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a SPECIAL OPERATIVE TRYING TO HANDLE A DISGUSTED NURSE - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
[[Cueball]] has been impersonating a doctor at a hospital. But his attempt to fool the staff (including [[Megan]] and [[:Category:Doctor Ponytail|Doctor Ponytail]]) fails when he mistakes a saline bag for a Capri Sun juice.

{{w|Capri Sun}} is a fruit juice concentrate beverage that comes in soft rectangular mylar bags with a small seal near the top, to be pierced with an included straw so as to sip the drink. {{w|Saline (medicine)|Saline}} bags, used in hospitals and other medical settings, are also soft and rectangular, with an {{w|Intravenous therapy#Medical uses|intravenous}} (I.V.) drip connection about the same size as such straws, and usually contain a 0.9% sodium chloride (table salt) solution in sterile water so they are salty enough to be {{w|Tonicity#Isotonicity|isotonic}} with blood. Capri Sun is mostly sugar water, and only 0.00008% salt,[https://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/food-volume-to-weight/substance/capri-blank-sun-coma-and-blank-fruit-blank-juice-blank-drink] so it tastes sweet instead.

Almost everyone would be very unlikely to accidentally mistake saline bags for Capri Sun, especially a medical doctor.{{citation needed}} Cueball begins to realize that his attempt to impersonate a doctor has derailed when the hospital staff notice that he made such an absurdly unlikely and therefore humorous error.

The title text makes it clear that Cueball is being removed from the hospital by security personnel. While they are dragging him out, he tries to point out that drinking saline is better than putting Capri Sun into a patient's I.V. drip, as it would endanger the patient.[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47623816] He is trying to claim this mitigates the severity of his incompetence. The security personnel apprehending him are unlikely to be persuaded, as impersonating hospital staff is a serious offense with dangerous risks and severe consequences. In California, the unlicensed practice of medicine can result in a maximum $10,000 fine, up to three years in prison, or both.[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC&sectionNum=2052.]

The comic arguably continues [[451: Impostor]] and [[699: Trimester]].

==Transcript==
:[Cueball, wearing a lab coat, is drinking out of a straw inserted into an IV drip bag that is labelled "saline" (on the 2x image; it is rendered unreadable on the standard resolution version, just like the rest of the label's squiggles). Cueball is surrounded by hospital staff. To the left is Megan with a white hat, she is holding a clipboard, with a paper with unreadable text. To his right is Dr. Ponytail holding a rolled up paper under one arm and to the right of her a man with a similar hat as Megan. They are all looking at Cueball.]
:Cueball: You know, these Capri Suns are good, but they're ''really'' salty.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:I think the hospital may be starting to realize that I'm not actually a doctor.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Doctor Ponytail]]
[[Category:Characters with hats]]
[[Category:Medicine]]
[[Category:Food]]

2639: Periodic Table Changes

2022-06-30T12:00:59Z

Ponga: Element of spite: reference to fixed expression added.

{{comic
| number = 2639
| date = June 29, 2022
| title = Periodic Table Changes
| image = periodic_table_changes.png
| titletext = It's nice how the end of the periodic table is flush with the edge these days, so I think we should agree no one should find any new elements after #118 unless they discover a whole row at once.
}}

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

The {{w|periodic table}} is a table used to arrange {{w|chemical elements}} according to their chemical and physical properties. This comic proposes "changes" to the periodic table that would be more pleasant aesthetically or make the periodic table look more regular. Some of these are (somewhat) practical changes to element abbreviations that could improve clarity in English, though changing documents to use different abbreviations would probably be more trouble than it's worth. However, other changes move elements around without taking into account that elements would stop being arranged by their properties. The periodic table would stop being useful after such changes unless said changes were meant to physically change the material properties of the elements, which would be impossible{{citation needed}}, although the comic plans to solve the problem with "free training" to their atomic behavior. The attitude is similar to impossible economic plans attempted with unpleasant results, possibly a current event.

Other modifications make up new elements or remove existing ones from the table, which would not be a reasonable decision given that the periodic table is supposed to include all existing elements, whether they make the table neater or they don't.

;Move helium over here. It fits nicely!
Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen. However, the reason it is placed at the far-right Group 18 and not Group 2 is because it is a {{w|noble gas}}, rather than a reactive {{w|alkaline earth metal}}. You could say helium is in group 2 because it has two electrons in its outer shell, but normal periodic tables place it in group 18, the noble gases, with which it has far more in common. Hydrogen has similar problems being in group 1, as it's a non-metal and the elements below it are metals which don't have much in common with it chemically. There are periodic tables that show hydrogen floating above the periodic table for that reason.

Group 18 was not known at the time of the original table, which used I-VII (1-7) for the otherwise full-height columns, which turns out to reflect the number of free ('valance') electrons in their outer 'orbit', in one useful understanding of the atomic model. When added, the new final column was called either VIII (having a full outer shell) or Group 0 (having none free) and placed to the right of VII. It was thought that these Noble gases were thought to be unable to react with other elements, but xenon compounds were discovered in 1962, and many others have been discovered since then, that are formed by a process not as trivial as being spare-valances of one element 'keying' into valance-gaps of another.

From the fourth row downwards the inserted block of Transition Metals represent a larger electron shell with more positions for free electrons and those elements to the right would have more electrons than those above them, by this measure, but their physical properties are still best dictated and aligned by the complement to the valance (i.e. the gap-size). The current numbering system shows the outer-shell electrons accurately in the rows where the ten new columns are, but the upper rows of columns 13-18 have ten more (or sixteen more, for Helium) than is the case. Similarly, once lanthinides and actinides are considered, the group number and outer-shell count becomes disconnected again in the opposite way. But it still seems useful enough to curtently label in this manner under current {{w|IUPAC}} guidance.

;Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!
TBD (to be determined). Elements in that corner, such as carbon, oxygen, phosphorous, and nitrogen, participate in covalent bonding and are the primary elements involved in biochemical reactions, which may be why they are considered cooler than other elements.

;Sp (Spite element)
Wedged between fluorine and neon. This could be a reference to spite houses, houses jammed into a narrow space to block other construction, or spite fences, which are fences built to annoy neighbors; and to the phrase 'element of spite'.

;Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*
Tixanium (Tx) replaces five metals, including titanium (Ti). This may be a reference to the term "UX" (user experience) being used instead of "UI" (user interface) as more of an umbrella term.

While titanium certainly has an impressive name, and is used in the aerospace industry and other high-performance applications, the others are hardly boring; manganese, for example, was part of the cover story for the top-secret {{w|Project Azorian}}.

;Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
* Sodium: Na (Natrium) => So
* Potassium: K (Kalium) => Pm
* Iron: Fe (Ferrum) => I
* Silver: Ag (Argentum) => Sv
* Gold: Au (Aurum) => Gd
* Tin: Sn (Stannum) => Tn
* Lead: Pb (Plumbum) => Ld
Since I is already used for Iodine, it gets a new abbreviation Io, and Gadolinium is re-abbreviated to Gm to free up Gd.

Note that most of these changes will actually make the table less readable if one considers languages other than English. For example, in european languages, 'I' for iron will work for Irish and Dutch, while 'Fe' currently matches in French, Italian, Portuguese, and most of the languages in Spain.

Oddly, this group of changes doesn't include mercury (Hg -- hydrargyrum). It also doesn’t include antimony (Sb -- stibium), but that’s because it gets replaced by “carbon III” (see below).

;Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon
* Indium (In) -> C II.
* Antimony (Sb) -> C III.
* Tellurium (Te) -> C IV.
* Thallium (Tl) -> C V.
* Bismuth (Bi) -> C VI.

Carbon can make four covalent bonds, which means it can form a huge range of chemicals, above all ones vital to life. The post-transition metals don't have this level of interest. If there were more chemicals like carbon, it could allow more exciting chemistry and perhaps new kinds of life.

;That W annoys me
* Tungsten: W (Wolfram) -> Tg.

Another element whose symbol doesn't match its English name. "Wolfram" is the name for tungsten in some languages and is derived from the mineral wolframite, which comes from the name "wolf rahm" in German (wolf soot).

;3.4% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep Yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (Tokyium, Delhium, and Jakartium?) to be more fair.
Four elements -- yttrium (Y), ytterbium (Yb), terbium (Tb) and erbium (Er) -- are named after {{w|Ytterby}}, a Swedish village where they were discovered. Scandium (Sc), thulium (Tm), holmium (Ho) and gadolinium (Gd) were isolated from minerals found in the same quarry. Randall suggests naming 3 of them after some other major world cities, despite those cities having no connection to those elements.
* Terbium (Tb) -> Tokyium (Ty) - Tokyo
* Erbium (Er) -> Delhium (Dh) - Delhi
* Ytterbium (Yb) -> Jakartium (Jk) - Jakarta

;Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offered free training to help adjust to its new column.
Though the lanthanides and actinides typically are placed under the bottom of the table, they actually belong in the 6th and 7th rows of the table between the 2nd and 3rd columns, as they are numbered elements 57-70 and 89-102. This section of the table is typically excised to give the overall shape more appealing dimensions: as Randall says, properly placing these elements makes the table "too wide". He recommends that a subset of these elements be placed at the bottom of the table (making them elements 93-110) and they will receive "training" to adjust to their new columns.

The title text suggests discovering elements only in entire rows at once. Elements with more protons than 118 could be discovered in future by collisions in particle accelerators, but aren't likely to be discovered in an entire row at a time.

Changing the periodic table was also the topic of [[2214: Chemistry Nobel]].

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

:Changes I would make to the periodic table
:[A modified periodic table is shown, with changes in red.]

:[Helium is moved from the upper right corner to the second column next to hydrogen.]
:Move helium over here. It fits nicely!
:[Two elements labeled TBD are added to the left of boron and aluminium.]
:Elements in this corner are cool. Add more!
:[A narrow triangular shape is wedged between fluorine and neon.]
:Sp (Spite element)
:[Tx replaces five elements: scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium and manganese.]
:Merge these boring metals with titanium to make *tixanium*
:[The symbols of sodium, potassium, iron, silver, gold, tin and lead are changed to use letters from their English names.]
:Update Latin/Neo-Latin symbols to match names. This isn't ancient Rome.
:[The symbols of indium, antimony, tellurium, thallium and bismuth are changed to symbols containing the letter C followed by Roman numerals II to VI, respectively.]
:Replace the blander post-transition metals with new kinds of carbon
:[The symbol of tungsten is changed from W to Tg.]
:That W annoys me
:[Neodymium is highlighted.]
:Neodymium can stay--magnets are cool
:[A subset of lathanides and actinides are to be placed at the bottom of the main table.]
:Move
:Inserting the lanthanides and actinides properly makes the table too wide. Triage is needed. Each element will be offered free training to help adjust to its new column.
:[The symbols of terbium, erbium and ytterbium are changed to Ty, Dh and Jk, respectively.]
:3.4% of all elements are named after Ytterby, Sweden (pop. 3,000). Let's keep yttrium, but rename the other 3 after bigger cities (tokyium, delhium, and jakartium?) to be more fair.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Chemistry]]
[[Category:Comics with color]]