3178: Hyperacute Interdynamics - Revision history

MikeTheNewGuy at 17:27, 7 February 2026

2026-02-07T17:27:07Z

BunsenH: /* Transcript */ apostrophectomy

2026-01-23T15:07:49Z

‎Transcript: apostrophectomy

Elektrizikekswerk at 08:00, 23 January 2026

2026-01-23T08:00:42Z

Elektrizikekswerk: Moved the discussion about different squirrel species to trivia. Interesting and arguably related but not really relevant for explanation. Otherwise it seems complete, no reason for tag gven, removed incomplete tag

2026-01-23T08:00:05Z

Moved the discussion about different squirrel species to trivia. Interesting and arguably related but not really relevant for explanation. Otherwise it seems complete, no reason for tag gven, removed incomplete tag

78.144.255.82: /* Explanation / Reverting 'smart quotes' in all places but imperial measurement notation. Following Wikipedia policy to use standard* 's and "s for most quoting/punctuation purposes.

2025-12-11T20:02:26Z

‎Explanation: Reverting 'smart quotes' in all places but imperial measurement notation. Following Wikipedia policy to use *standard* 's and "s for most quoting/punctuation purposes.

134.60.67.135: /* Explanation */

2025-12-11T15:29:17Z

‎Explanation

BunsenH: rv ambiguity

2025-12-11T15:22:55Z

rv ambiguity

82.13.184.33: /* Explanation */

2025-12-11T11:46:50Z

‎Explanation

BunsenH: /* Explanation */ Neptune-mass black hole

2025-12-10T17:25:05Z

‎Explanation: Neptune-mass black hole

174.53.211.85: /* Explanation */

2025-12-09T19:16:22Z

‎Explanation

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 ==Transcript==
-:[Miss Lenhart is teaching a classroom holding a finger up in front of the class. Two students can be seen sitting at desks in front of her, a Cueball like boy is on the first row and Jill, taking notes, is in the second row.]
+:[Miss Lenhart is teaching a classroom holding a finger up in front of the class. Two students can be seen sitting at desks in front of her, Kidball is on the first row and Jill, taking notes, is in the second row.]
 :Miss Lenhart: Modern physics rests on three main pillars:
 :General relativity, which describes very massive objects,
@@ Line 48: / Line 48: @@
 [[Category:Squirrels]]
 [[Category:Food]]

@@ Line 31: / Line 31: @@
 :[The panel zooms back in to a close up of Miss Lenhart.]
 :Student (off-panel): That last one seems kind of limited.
-:Miss Lenhart: Yeah, but over it's domain it's '''''really''''' precise. Absolutely '''''nails''''' squirrels and grapefruit.
+:Miss Lenhart: Yeah, but over its domain it's '''''really''''' precise. Absolutely '''''nails''''' squirrels and grapefruit.
 :Miss Lenhart: Someday we hope to unify it with the other two.

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 The title text extends the riff on unification, noting that, under the current system, measurements which require elements from all three pillars are impossible. The example given — when a nanometer-sized squirrel (suggesting an understanding of equivalence across both quantum mechanics and hyperacute interdynamics) eats a grapefruit with the mass of the Sun (similarly, general relativity meshing with hyperacute interdynamics) — would cover all three domains. Such objects are not known to occur in real life, so it is unknown how or why scientists would be trying to measure them. A black hole with the mass of the Sun would have a Schwarzschild radius of 2.95&#8239;km, so it would take some significant revisions to theory to accommodate a grapefruit-sized object with that mass, before even considering how a squirrel of such small size (but more normal mass) could exist ''and'' eat the former object. (By way of comparison, a black hole with the mass of Neptune — 1.024&#8239;×&#8239;10<sup>26</sup>&#8239;kg — would have a Schwarzschild radius of 15.2&#8239;cm&nbsp;/ 6.0″, about the size of a large grapefruit.)
 ==Transcript==
@@ Line 44: / Line 38: @@
 Individually, the head-and-body size and the tail size of the eastern gray squirrel are each within the hyperacute effective size (though potentially not mass). If they were modelled individually, or if the squirrel curled up, then they may become able to be effectively modelled by hyperacute interdynamics, even if the entire, stretched out squirrel cannot. This shows the absurdity of hyperacute physics, with such a strict cut-off making it easy for objects to enter and exit the hyperacute effective size. By contrast, relativity and quantum mechanics slowly become worse at describing reality as size increases/decreases.
 {{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Explanation==
 [[Miss Lenhart]] is teaching a class, a recurring theme on [[xkcd]]. She correctly describes two of the three pillars of physics: {{w|general relativity}}, concerning very large objects, and {{w|quantum mechanics}}, concerning very small objects. The third pillar is {{w|thermodynamics}}, but she replaces this with the fictional ''hyperacute interdynamics'', which supposedly specifically covers objects 10 – 30&#8239;cm (~4″ – ~12″) in size and 200 – 700&#8239;g (0.44&#8239;lb – 1.54&#8239;lb) in mass.
-When a student points out that the application of hyperacute interdynamics is quite limited, Miss Lenhart responds by stating that this is made up for by the fact that it is apparently very accurate and precise, giving {{w|squirrel}}s and {{w|grapefruit}} as examples of objects that it is able to perfectly describe, since they fit the necessary size and weight specifications (though see below). Her comment that there are hopes to unify this system with the other two reflects the efforts of physicists to {{w|Quantum gravity|unify}} general relativity with quantum mechanics, so far without success.
+When a student points out that the application of hyperacute interdynamics is quite limited, Miss Lenhart responds by stating that this is made up for by the fact that it is apparently very accurate and precise, giving {{w|squirrel}}s and {{w|grapefruit}} as examples of objects that it is able to perfectly describe, since they fit the necessary size and weight specifications (see trivia section below). Her comment that there are hopes to unify this system with the other two reflects the efforts of physicists to {{w|Quantum gravity|unify}} general relativity with quantum mechanics, so far without success.
 While there is no actual field called hyperacute interdynamics, there is one of {{w|mesoscopic physics}}, described as the study of materials of an "intermediate size". The upper end of mesoscopic physics studies objects whose length is measured in micrometers — much smaller and lighter than those that hyperacute interdynamics would study, so the analogy is not perfect. On the other hand, it happens fairly frequently in science that two separate length scales may be studied by different fields with no overlap. In this situation, innovations are, in principle, possible by trying to fill in this gap. An example is that structural biology is concerned with proteins and protein-sized objects, while cell biology is concerned with organelles; experimental techniques for studying phenomena between these two scales were less well-established until the development, in the 2010s, of cryo-electron microscopy.
@@ Line 40: / Line 39: @@
 :Miss Lenhart: Yeah, but over it's domain it's '''''really''''' precise. Absolutely '''''nails''''' squirrels and grapefruit.
 :Miss Lenhart: Someday we hope to unify it with the other two.
 {{comic discussion}}<noinclude>

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 When a student points out that the application of hyperacute interdynamics is quite limited, Miss Lenhart responds by stating that this is made up for by the fact that it is apparently very accurate and precise, giving {{w|squirrel}}s and {{w|grapefruit}} as examples of objects that it is able to perfectly describe, since they fit the necessary size and weight specifications (though see below). Her comment that there are hopes to unify this system with the other two reflects the efforts of physicists to {{w|Quantum gravity|unify}} general relativity with quantum mechanics, so far without success.
-While there is no actual field called hyperacute interdynamics, there is one of {{w|mesoscopic physics}}, described as the study of materials of an “intermediate size”. The upper end of mesoscopic physics studies objects whose length is measured in micrometers — much smaller and lighter than those that hyperacute interdynamics would study, so the analogy is not perfect. On the other hand, it happens fairly frequently in science that two separate length scales may be studied by different fields with no overlap. In this situation, innovations are, in principle, possible by trying to fill in this gap. An example is that structural biology is concerned with proteins and protein-sized objects, while cell biology is concerned with organelles; experimental techniques for studying phenomena between these two scales were less well-established until the development, in the 2010s, of cryo-electron microscopy.
+While there is no actual field called hyperacute interdynamics, there is one of {{w|mesoscopic physics}}, described as the study of materials of an "intermediate size". The upper end of mesoscopic physics studies objects whose length is measured in micrometers — much smaller and lighter than those that hyperacute interdynamics would study, so the analogy is not perfect. On the other hand, it happens fairly frequently in science that two separate length scales may be studied by different fields with no overlap. In this situation, innovations are, in principle, possible by trying to fill in this gap. An example is that structural biology is concerned with proteins and protein-sized objects, while cell biology is concerned with organelles; experimental techniques for studying phenomena between these two scales were less well-established until the development, in the 2010s, of cryo-electron microscopy.
 The title text extends the riff on unification, noting that, under the current system, measurements which require elements from all three pillars are impossible. The example given — when a nanometer-sized squirrel (suggesting an understanding of equivalence across both quantum mechanics and hyperacute interdynamics) eats a grapefruit with the mass of the Sun (similarly, general relativity meshing with hyperacute interdynamics) — would cover all three domains. Such objects are not known to occur in real life, so it is unknown how or why scientists would be trying to measure them. A black hole with the mass of the Sun would have a Schwarzschild radius of 2.95&#8239;km, so it would take some significant revisions to theory to accommodate a grapefruit-sized object with that mass, before even considering how a squirrel of such small size (but more normal mass) could exist ''and'' eat the former object. (By way of comparison, a black hole with the mass of Neptune — 1.024&#8239;×&#8239;10<sup>26</sup>&#8239;kg — would have a Schwarzschild radius of 15.2&#8239;cm&nbsp;/ 6.0″, about the size of a large grapefruit.)
-The {{w|eastern gray squirrel}}, which is the most prevalent squirrel in Massachusetts (where [[Randall]] lives), measures 16–20 inches (approx. 40–50 centimeters) on average when fully grown — outside the range of sizes given for hyperacute interdynamics to apply. It does, however, weigh between 400 and 600 grams — within the weight range. Whether hyperacute interdynamics would apply, then, would appear to depend on whether the ‘and’ in Miss Lenhart’s statement is inclusive (a {{w|Union (set theory)|union}} of candidates from the two separately applicable ranges) or exclusive (only items within the {{w|Intersection (set theory)|intersection}} of both stipulations), though the title text suggests that the former is the more logical.
+The {{w|eastern gray squirrel}}, which is the most prevalent squirrel in Massachusetts (where [[Randall]] lives), measures 16–20 inches (approx. 40–50 centimeters) on average when fully grown — outside the range of sizes given for hyperacute interdynamics to apply. It does, however, weigh between 400 and 600 grams — within the weight range. Whether hyperacute interdynamics would apply, then, would appear to depend on whether the 'and' in Miss Lenhart's statement is inclusive (a {{w|Union (set theory)|union}} of candidates from the two separately applicable ranges) or exclusive (only items within the {{w|Intersection (set theory)|intersection}} of both stipulations), though the title text suggests that the former is the more logical.
 Individually, the head-and-body size and the tail size of the eastern gray squirrel are each within the hyperacute effective size (though potentially not mass). If they were modelled individually, or if the squirrel curled up, then they may become able to be effectively modelled by hyperacute interdynamics, even if the entire, stretched out squirrel cannot. This shows the absurdity of hyperacute physics, with such a strict cut-off making it easy for objects to enter and exit the hyperacute effective size. By contrast, relativity and quantum mechanics slowly become worse at describing reality as size increases/decreases.

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 [[Miss Lenhart]] is teaching a class, a recurring theme on [[xkcd]]. She correctly describes two of the three pillars of physics: {{w|general relativity}}, concerning very large objects, and {{w|quantum mechanics}}, concerning very small objects. The third pillar is {{w|thermodynamics}}, but she replaces this with the fictional ''hyperacute interdynamics'', which supposedly specifically covers objects 10 – 30&#8239;cm (~4" – ~12") in size and 200 – 700&#8239;g (0.44&#8239;lb – 1.54&#8239;lb) in mass.
-When a student points out that the application of hyperacute interdynamics is quite limited, Miss Lenhart responds by stating that this is made up for by the fact that it is apparently very accurate and precise, and states that it is able to perfectly describe {{w|squirrel}}s and {{w|grapefruit}}, two objects which fit the necessary size and weight specifications (though see below). Her comment that there are hopes to unify this system with the other two reflects the efforts of physicists to {{w|Quantum gravity|unify}} general relativity with quantum mechanics, so far without success.
+When a student points out that the application of hyperacute interdynamics is quite limited, Miss Lenhart responds by stating that this is made up for by the fact that it is apparently very accurate and precise, giving {{w|squirrel}}s and {{w|grapefruit}} as examples of objects that it is able to perfectly describe, since they fit the necessary size and weight specifications (though see below). Her comment that there are hopes to unify this system with the other two reflects the efforts of physicists to {{w|Quantum gravity|unify}} general relativity with quantum mechanics, so far without success.
-While there is no actual field called hyperacute interdynamics, there is one of {{w|mesoscopic physics}}, described as the study of materials of an "intermediate size". The upper end of mesoscopic physics studies objects whose length is measured in micrometers — much smaller and lighter than what hyperacute interdynamics would study, so the analogy is not perfect. On the other hand, it happens fairly frequently in science that two separate length scales may be studied by different fields with no overlap. In this situation, innovations are, in principle, possible by trying to fill in this gap. An example is that structural biology is concerned with proteins and protein-sized objects, while cell biology is concerned with organelles; experimental techniques for studying phenomena between these two scales were less well-established until the development, in the 2010s, of cryo-electron microscopy.
+While there is no actual field called hyperacute interdynamics, there is one of {{w|mesoscopic physics}}, described as the study of materials of an "intermediate size". The upper end of mesoscopic physics studies objects whose length is measured in micrometers — much smaller and lighter than those hyperacute interdynamics would study, so the analogy is not perfect. On the other hand, it happens fairly frequently in science that two separate length scales may be studied by different fields with no overlap. In this situation, innovations are, in principle, possible by trying to fill in this gap. An example is that structural biology is concerned with proteins and protein-sized objects, while cell biology is concerned with organelles; experimental techniques for studying phenomena between these two scales were less well-established until the development, in the 2010s, of cryo-electron microscopy.
-The title text extends the riff on unification, noting that, under the current system, measurements which require elements from all three pillars are impossible. The example given — when a nanometer-sized squirrel (suggesting an understanding of equivalence across both quantum mechanics and hyperacute interdynamics) eats a grapefruit with the mass of the Sun (similarly, general relativity meshing with hyperacute interdynamics) — would cover all three domains. Such objects are not known to occur in real life, so it is unknown how or why scientists would be trying to measure them. A black hole with the mass of the Sun would have a Schwarzschild radius of 2.95&#8239;km, so it would take some significant revisions to theory to accommodate a grapefruit-sized object with that mass, before even considering how a squirrel of that small size (but of more normal mass) could exist ''and'' eat the former object. (By way of comparison, a black hole with the mass of Neptune — 1.024&#8239;×&#8239;10^26&#8239;kg — would have a Schwarzschild radius of 15.2&#8239;cm&nbsp;/ 6.0", about the size of a large grapefruit.)
+The title text extends the riff on unification, noting that, under the current system, measurements which require elements from all three pillars are impossible. The example given — when a nanometer-sized squirrel (suggesting an understanding of equivalence across both quantum mechanics and hyperacute interdynamics) eats a grapefruit with the mass of the Sun (similarly, general relativity meshing with hyperacute interdynamics) — would cover all three domains. Such objects are not known to occur in real life, so it is unknown how or why scientists would be trying to measure them. A black hole with the mass of the Sun would have a Schwarzschild radius of 2.95&#8239;km, so it would take some significant revisions to theory to accommodate a grapefruit-sized object with that mass, before even considering how a squirrel of such small size (but more normal mass) could exist ''and'' eat the former object. (By way of comparison, a black hole with the mass of Neptune — 1.024&#8239;×&#8239;10^26&#8239;kg — would have a Schwarzschild radius of 15.2&#8239;cm&nbsp;/ 6.0", about the size of a large grapefruit.)
 The {{w|eastern gray squirrel}}, which is the most prevalent squirrel in Massachusetts (where [[Randall]] lives), measures 16-20 inches (approx. 40-50 centimeters) on average when fully grown — outside the range of sizes given for hyperacute interdynamics to apply. It does, however, weigh between 400 and 600 grams — within the weight range. Whether hyperacute interdynamics would apply, then, would appear to depend on whether the 'and' in Miss Lenhart's statement is inclusive (a {{w|Union (set theory)|union}} of candidates from the two separately applicable ranges) or exclusive (only items within the {{w|Intersection (set theory)|intersection}} of both stipulations), though the title text suggests that the former is the more logical.

3178: Hyperacute Interdynamics - Revision history

MikeTheNewGuy at 17:27, 7 February 2026

BunsenH: /* Transcript */ apostrophectomy

Elektrizikekswerk at 08:00, 23 January 2026

Elektrizikekswerk: Moved the discussion about different squirrel species to trivia. Interesting and arguably related but not really relevant for explanation. Otherwise it seems complete, no reason for tag gven, removed incomplete tag

78.144.255.82: /* Explanation */ Reverting 'smart quotes' in all places but imperial measurement notation. Following Wikipedia policy to use *standard* 's and "s for most quoting/punctuation purposes.

134.60.67.135: /* Explanation */

BunsenH: rv ambiguity

82.13.184.33: /* Explanation */

BunsenH: /* Explanation */ Neptune-mass black hole

174.53.211.85: /* Explanation */

78.144.255.82: /* Explanation / Reverting 'smart quotes' in all places but imperial measurement notation. Following Wikipedia policy to use standard* 's and "s for most quoting/punctuation purposes.