Editing 1944: The End of the Rainbow
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==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | [[Megan]] appears to reference the myth that at the end of every {{w|rainbow}} lies a {{w|leprechaun}}'s pot of gold. Instead of claiming that leprechauns and their gold don't exist, [[Cueball]] | + | [[Megan]] appears to reference the myth that at the end of every {{w|rainbow}} lies a {{w|leprechaun}}'s pot of gold. Instead of claiming that leprechauns and their gold don't exist, [[Cueball]] mansplains that, technically, {{w|File:Circular_rainbow.jpg|rainbows are circles}}, so they do not have an end. This is true for an idealised rainbow, and for some actual rainbows: if the viewer has an unobstructed view of the light-reflecting substance creating the effect for the whole of the circle's circumference, they could see a full circle. In practice, the circle is often broken by the horizon or, for example, discontinuity in cloud cover. |
However, Megan counters that if one considers the path that light takes to form a rainbow, then it forms a two-cone structure, where the Sun (the vertex of the outer cone) emits light rays that move towards the Earth (forming the faces of the outer cone), then reflect off water droplets located at just the right angle (the circular base) to reach our eyes (the vertex of the inner cone). Thus, such a rainbow structure ''can'' be said to have "ends", represented by the vertices of the two cones: one at the eye of the viewer, and another at the light source (usually the sun). | However, Megan counters that if one considers the path that light takes to form a rainbow, then it forms a two-cone structure, where the Sun (the vertex of the outer cone) emits light rays that move towards the Earth (forming the faces of the outer cone), then reflect off water droplets located at just the right angle (the circular base) to reach our eyes (the vertex of the inner cone). Thus, such a rainbow structure ''can'' be said to have "ends", represented by the vertices of the two cones: one at the eye of the viewer, and another at the light source (usually the sun). | ||
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− | Megan then says that the Sun is indeed a pot of gold. The Sun is approximately [https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html | + | Megan then says that the Sun is indeed a pot of gold. The Sun is approximately 1.989 × 10<sup>30</sup> (1 nonillion 989 octillion) kilograms[https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/sunfact.html], and its abundance of gold is approximately 0.3 parts per trillion[http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-iarticle_query?1968PASAu...1..133A&data_type=PDF_HIGH&filetype=.pdf&type=PRINTER&whole_paper=YES]. Based on these numbers, the sun contains 5.967 × 10<sup>17</sup> (596 quadrillion 700 trillion) kilograms of gold. This equates to 5.967 × 10<sup>14</sup> (596 trillion 700 billion) metric tons of gold. As such, Megan's statement that the sun contains "quintillions of tons of gold" is off by a factor of roughly 4000, but the amount of gold within the sun is, nonetheless, far more than a pot's worth. |
− | The amount of water in the oceans is about | + | The amount of water in the oceans is about 1.35 × 10<sup>18</sup> (1 quintillion 350 quadrillion) metric tons[https://phys.org/news/2014-12-percent-earth.html]. If we assume that Megan is still talking in terms of mass rather than volume or molecule count, then her next statement (that there is more gold in the sun than water in the oceans) would have been true had she been correct in her previous claim, but in fact there is more sea-water than sun-gold by a factor of roughly 2300. |
− | Cueball then asks about leprechauns (perhaps ironically, since Megan's theory at this point appears to involve astronomy/physics, not mythical creatures/beings). Megan replies that the leprechauns all died when the Sun formed, building on the irony of Cueball's question ( | + | Cueball then asks about leprechauns (perhaps ironically, since Megan's theory at this point appears to involve astronomy/physics, not mythical creatures/beings). Megan replies that the leprechauns all died when the Sun formed, building on the irony of Cueball's question (& opening questions about the role of leprechauns in the early formation of our solar system). |
− | The title text | + | The title text suggest that, since the pot of gold exists as an idea in the brains of people thinking about it, and the retina is the foremost part of the brain for light perception, it can be argued that, in addition to existing in the sun as the comic explains, the gold (and leprechauns) also exist at the other end, in the retina and brain of the person seeing the rainbow -- as long as they are thinking about a pot of gold at the time -- and then it's gone as soon as they stop thinking about it. |
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+ | Many neurologists would agree with the concept that ideas in your mind can be said to be physically located in your brain. However, there are significant implications to this. For example, there is a hippopotamus in the room you are in. It's in your brain, because you read that sentence. Feel free to inform anybody else nearby of this, and any similar true facts. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== |