Editing 2058: Rock Wall
Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone.
Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision | Your text | ||
Line 8: | Line 8: | ||
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
− | {{ | + | {{incomplete|Created by a frustrated mantle geologists. Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}} |
− | + | {{w|Mantle_(geology)|Mantle}} {{w|geologists}} study that {{w|Structure_of_the_Earth|part of the planet}} that's below the top "{{w|Crust_(geology)|crust}}" of the planet. The top layer of the planet, which is several dozen miles thick, is the only layer we've been able to explore, by {{w|mining|digging tunnels}}, {{w|spelunking}}, etc. The only way to study the mantle and other inner layers of the earth are through non-visual, non-tactile, indirect methods, and by analyzing old samples of the mantle that have made their way to the surface. | |
− | In | + | In this comic, [[Ponytail]], talking to [[Megan]], is describing her job as a mantle geologist as that of living on one side of a thick wall that is, and likely always will be, impossible to get through or around, but she has to study what is on the other side of the wall. In this case the wall is horizontal rather than vertical, the wall being the earth's crust. |
− | + | In the title text [[Randall]] states that he doesn't trust mantle/core geologists. Because if they got the chance he believes they would not hesitate (even a heart beat) in stripping away Earths crust to study the mantle or even worse the {{w|Inner core|core}} directly. Of course if they only did this locally to look at the mantle it would not shatter the Earth although that local area may become a volcano. But if the actually peeled the entire outer layer away, we humans would have no place to live, as the mantle is mainly magma, which becomes lava when exposed to the air (see title text of [[1405: Meteor]] to be more confused). | |
− | + | If they somehow exposed the core even locally something weird would be bound to happen. | |
− | + | But Randall is afraid that their craving to get around that 20 mile wall would prevent the researchers from even hesitating if they did get that chance. Fortunately, we can study planetary cores in the solar system without stripping Earth's surface by visiting an asteroid which is thought to be the exposed iron core of a protoplanet. The [https://www.llnl.gov/news/lab-instrument-will-explore-asteroid-psyche Pysche mission] is scheduled to launch in 2023 and arrive at {{w|16 Psyche}} in 2030. | |
+ | |||
+ | This comics seems to be a spin off from the previous comic [[2057: Internal Monologues]], where Randall tried to find some interesting monologues from scientist from different research fields. Maybe he did not find an internal monologue he liked for geologists, but ended up with this idea instead. Thinking about the core or mantle, lava and Magma seems to be something Randall does a lot, and thus he must have some ideas about how a geologist would think, which was why this comic [[913: Core]], was also referenced in the previous comic as something geologist might have internal monologues about. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
Line 32: | Line 34: | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Megan]] | ||
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]] | ||
− | [[Category: | + | [[Category:Science]] |