Difference between revisions of "explain xkcd:Sandbox"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
(Rules: correct rules)
 
(457 intermediate revisions by 92 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
__NOINDEX__
+
__NOTOC__{{DISPLAYTITLE:explain xkcd}}
Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.
+
<center>
[http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=explain_xkcd:Sandbox&action=edit&oldid=91667 clear sandbox]
+
<font size=5px>''Welcome to the '''explain [[xkcd]]''' wiki!''</font><br>
------
+
<span style="font size:210%;">We have an explanation for all [[List of all comics (full)|'''{{#expr:{{PAGESINCAT:All comics|R}}}}''' xkcd comics]], and only {{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}} ({{#expr: {{PAGESINCAT:Incomplete explanations|R}} / {{LATESTCOMIC}} * 100 round 1}}%) are incomplete. [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|Help us finish them!]]</span><!-- Note: the -1 in the calculation above has been removed (it was there to discount "comic" 404, but we've categorized it to be a comic and so has Randall.) -->
 +
</center>
 +
<!-- Go to this explanation button --><span style="position: absolute; right:0; padding-top:1.4em; font-size: 100%;"><span class="no-link-underline">[[{{LATESTCOMIC}}|&nbsp;</span>'''Go to this explanation''']]</span>
  
{{comic
+
=Latest comic=
| date      = May 4, 2015
+
<div style="border:1px solid grey; background:#000001; padding:1.5em;">
| title    = Degree-Off
+
{{:{{LATESTCOMIC}}}}
| image    = degree off.png
+
----
| titletext = I'M SORRY, FROM YOUR YEARS OF CONDESCENDING TOWARD THE 'SQUISHY SCIENCES', I ASSUMED YOU'D BE A LITTLE HARDER.
 
}}
 
  
==Explanation==
+
<span style="position: absolute; left:0; padding-top:1.35em; font-size: 105%;"><span class="no-link-underline">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[[File:new topic.png|21x21px|link={{LATESTCOMIC}}#Discussion]][[{{LATESTCOMIC}}#Discussion|&nbsp; </span>'''View comic discussion''']]</span><br><br></div>
{{Incomplete|Unfinished. More detailed introduction and explain title text.}}
 
  
 +
== New here? ==
 +
<div style="float:right; margin: 0 0 1em 1em">{{Special:ContributionScores/10/30/nosort,notools}}<div style="font-size:0.85em; width:28em; font-style:italic">[[Special:ContributionScores|Lots of people]] contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have [{{fullurl:Special:Contributions|contribs=newbie}} just joined]. You can do it too! Create your account [[Special:UserLogin/signup|here]].</div></div>
  
 +
You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at [[explain xkcd]]. Feel free to [[Special:UserLogin/signup|create an account]] and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|comics]], [[:Category:Characters|characters]], [[What If? chapters|''What If?'' articles]], and [[:Category:xkcd|everything in between]]. If it is referenced in an [[xkcd]] comic, it should be here.
  
[[Cueball]], [[Hair Bun Girl]], and [[Megan]] appear to be on a talk show called Degree-Off, hosted by [[Hairy]], where representatives of different fields, in this case, physics, biology, and chemistry, explain why their fields are best and why to get a degree in the field. The title "Degree-Off" is a portmanteau of "{{w|Academic degree|degree}}", as in the recognized completion of studies at a school or university,  and "{{w|face-off}}", a direct confrontation between two people or groups.
+
* If you're new to wiki editing, see the [[explain xkcd:Editor FAQ]] for a specific guidance to this wiki and the more general help on [[mw:Help:Editing pages|how to edit wiki pages]]. There's also a handy {{w|Help:Cheatsheet|wikicode cheatsheet}}.
  
The host asks Cueball to go first. He lightheartedly tells a story about {{w|Richard Feynman}}, finishing with a quote. The quote "all science is either physics or stamp collecting." was said by {{w|Ernest Rutherford}}, not Richard Feynman, implying either [[Cueball]] misattributes the quote, or that his story is quite long. During the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, Richard Feymann got bored because of the isolation and started learning lock picking on the secret documents safes. Using these new skills, he played lots of pranks on his colleagues, like leaving notes and spooking them into believing there was a spy among them (which, of course, {{w|Klaus_Fuchs|there was}}). The reference to stamp collecting is the abstract idea that all other sciences are aggregates of physics and what they study are simply interesting instances of complex behavior derived from basic physics.
+
* Discussion about the wiki itself happens at the [[explain xkcd:Community portal|Community portal]].
  
Hair Bun Girl, the representative for biology goes next, showing that through their efforts, biology has helped reduce disease ("slaying" {{w|Four_Horsemen_of_the_Apocalypse#As_infectious_disease|Pestilence}}). She accuses physics of creating a new weapon of destruction from gathering in the desert (likely referring to the {{w| Manhattan Project}}, conducted in the {{w|New Mexico desert}}), insisting that biologists are the true heroes. Physics is taken aback, having believed it would be a fun activity, which Biology refutes, saying he must have been thinking of Stamp Collecting, which was mentioned in the earlier quote. Megan, the representative for chemistry, does not speak during the comic.
+
* You can browse the comics from the [[List of all comics (full)|list of all comics]] or by navigating the category tree at [[:Category:Comics]].
  
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
+
* The incomplete explanations are listed [[:Category:Incomplete explanations|here]]. Feel free to help out by expanding them!
This graph shows the death rate from infectious disease in USA, similar to that shown in the comic presented by Hair Bun Girl, as both have the range of 1900-2000. It probably served as inspiration to Randall.
 
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">[[File:Crude_Infectious_Disease_Mortality_Rate_in_the_United_States_from_1900_Through_1996.gif]]</div>
 
</div>
 
  
Continuing on the Four Horsemen theme, the title text in {{w|all caps}} refers to the mode of speech of {{w|Terry Pratchett}}'s character {{w|Death_(Discworld)|Death}}. He mocks physics and physicists for not being harder. Referring to the fact that physicists sometimes see their science as being the most {{w|hard science}} of sciences and demean other sciences for being soft sciences (as in [[435: Purity]]) or "squishy". By calling the physicist squishy, Death might be referring to the fragility of the human body which led to his death, or the state of that body once death has had time to set in. According to [[435: Purity]], the only subject harder or purer than physics is mathematics.
+
== Rules ==
  
The whole comic might be a subtle hint by Randall on his stance against the [http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Anti-vaccination_movement anti-vaccination movement], the physicist Cueball being the anti-vaxxer, the biologist Hair Bun Girl showing the success of vaccinations, making Cueball speechless.
+
Be a jerk!
  
==Transcript==
+
There are a lot of comics that have set-in-stone explanations; only put one interpretation in the wiki page for each comic.
:[Hairy is acting as the host of a TV talk show, ''Degree-Off''. Cueball, Hair Bun Girl, and Megan are acting as representatives of Phys (Physics), Bio (Biology), and Chem (Chemistry) respectively. They each stand behind their own {{w|Lectern}} with the respective subject label.]
 
  
:Hairy: Welcome to the ''Degree-Off'', where we determine which field is the best! Physics, wanna go first?
+
If you want to talk about a specific comic, don’t.
:Cueball: Sure! I'd like to tell the story of Richard Feynman's Manhattan project lockpicking pranks...
 
  
:Cueball: ...and as he said, "all science is either physics or stamp collecting."
+
Please only submit material directly unrelated to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that cannot legally be posted or freely edited. On-topic or other appropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked. Get good.
:Cueball: Thank you.
 
:Hairy: ''Great!'' Bio, you wanna go next?
 
:Hair Bun Girl: Okay.
 
  
:[A graph labeled "Per 100,000 is shown above Hair Bun Girl]
+
If you need assistance from an [[explain xkcd:Administrators|admin]], post a message to the [[explain xkcd talk:Sandbox|Admin requests]] board.
:Hair Bun Girl: This is a graph of the death rate from infectious disease in this country.
 
  
:[Hair Bun Girl raising her left hand]
+
[[Category:Root category]]
:Hair Bun Girl: The heroes of my field have ''slain'' one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
 
  
:[Hair Bun Girl pointing at Cueball]
+
Recent comments: {{Special:RecentChanges|namespace=1}}
:Hair Bun Girl: While the heroes of ''your'' field gathered in the desert to create a new one.
 
 
 
:Cueball: ...Jeez, what the hell? I thought this was supposed to be fun and lighthearted!
 
:Hair Bun Girl: ''You must have been thinking of stamp collecting.''
 
 
 
==See also==
 
*Different scientific fields, including physics, biology, and chemistry are compared in terms of purity in  [[435: Purity]].
 
*Most fields are criticized in [[1052: Every Major's Terrible]].
 
 
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
<!-- Include any categories below this line. -->
 
 
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Hair Bun Girl]]
 
[[Category:Science]]
 
[[Category:Charts]]
 
[[Category:Physics]]
 
[[Category:Biology]]
 
[[Category:Chemistry]]
 
[[Category:Portmanteau]]
 

Latest revision as of 09:33, 16 March 2026

Welcome to the explain xkcd wiki!
We have an explanation for all 3231 xkcd comics, and only 71 (2.2%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!

 Go to this explanation

Latest comic[edit]

Star Formation
It's ok, I still have some nice, cool gas clouds that aren't collapsing. As long as nothing ionizes them, I can continue to enjoy their ... HEY! NO!!!
Title text: It's ok, I still have some nice, cool gas clouds that aren't collapsing. As long as nothing ionizes them, I can continue to enjoy their ... HEY! NO!!!

Explanation[edit]

Ambox warning blue construction.png This is incomplete:
This page was created by a DIRECT COLLAPSE BLACK HOLE. Don't remove this notice too soon. If you can fix this issue, edit the page!

This comic depicts a simplified model of how structure forms in the universe, then pushes it to an absurd extreme. In cosmology, small density variations in the early universe grow over time: regions with slightly higher density attract more matter via gravity, eventually forming gas clouds, stars, and galaxies. Pressure, driven by temperature, resists collapse, so the evolution of a cloud depends on the balance between gravitational attraction and internal pressure; this is often described by the Jeans instability criterion.

In the first panel, the on-screen narrator (with a passing resemblance to the time-travelling sphere), and apparent creator of the universe, describes pressure waves moving through gas and causing it to clump. In the second, the clouds begin to collapse under gravity as more gas falls in. The third panel sees the outcome: as collapse proceeds, the gas heats up (via compression and radiation processes), increasing pressure and eventually sparking fusion. The comic depicts the formation of stars, something that we know this universe has done,[citation needed] with the implication that this was a totally unforeseen outcome for the manipulator or creator of this universe.

The final panel humorously frames this as the narrator lamenting the destruction of their "beautiful clouds," as the process has gone out of their control and produced a star instead of the desired (and perhaps, to their mind, more aesthetically pleasing) gently pulsating clouds.

The title text continues this joke by referencing the importance of ionization. "Cool" gas clouds (low temperature, neutral gas) can remain stable or collapse slowly. If they are ionized (for example, by nearby stars emitting ultraviolet radiation), the gas heats up, increasing pressure and preventing or disrupting collapse. The narrator hopes to preserve some of their own calm, neutral clouds but then reacts in horror as something ionizes them, ruining the delicate balance and ending their ability to "enjoy" stable gas clouds. But this is a natural result of star formation within and around a nebula again unforseen by the being who apparently set up the circumstances that led to all the cosmic evolution we see.

Transcript[edit]

[A glowing dot is in a field of clouds, speaking to itself.]
Dot: I think I did a good job with this universe.
Dot: Pressure waves dance through gas clouds.
Dot: They clump together and then pressure pushes them apart.
[The dot observes some more densely gathering of clouds.]
Dot: Oh weird, that big clump of clouds is staying together.
Dot: Their gravity is overcoming the pressure and more gas is falling in.
[More of the increasingly fragmentary clouds start to fall into a nascent star.]
Dot: It's not stopping!
Dot: The heat is rising but the collapse is only accelerating!
Dot: I messed up bad. I messed up bad.
[There is now a shining star in place of the dense field of clouds, with a few small clouds only at a distance.
Dot: NOOOOOOOO!!!
Dot: My beautiful clouds!
Dot: Ruined! It's all ruined!

comment.png  Add comment      new topic.png  Create topic (use sparingly)     refresh discuss.png  Refresh 

Discussion

Make changes, try things out, or just have fun with the wiki here! Just leave everything above the line alone, please.


This is a test. PoolloverNathan[stalk the blue seas] 20:48, 16 March 2021 (UTC)

This is not. —While False (museum | talk | contributions | logs | rights | printable version | page information | what links there | related changes | Google search | current time: 16:07) 18:38, 17 November 2022 (UTC)
A foreign student asked me to help fight against his math teacher. That was unusual. He was in that class for just a couple of weeks. The teacher's phone number was sent to me. The student asked me to spam-call the teacher. 172.71.155.55 22:58, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

here i'm just messing around in html, ignore this

furhhfghure guyrburgryhuyvfr "rvhru"

interesting way of writing quotations xd

hmmm this one of putting "<p>" in a line break will come in handy for when i want it to start at the same place than the first line

Please beware that <p> on mediawiki also disables automatic paragraph breaks, so you need a closing </p> or you'll break automatic paragraph formatting for the rest of the page. Zmatt (talk) 22:06, 31 July 2024 (UTC)

edit: da hek did that "</div>" come from An user who has no account yet (talk) 14:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

hi uh its hard to get here. is this a reference to undocumented feature??? hmm... this is interesting.
108.162.241.216 02:05, 23 November 2023 (UTC)

45px Soup


45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup
45px Soup


yum yum [citation needed]

Hiuiedeixgeyceiyedhcdiedcve {{trout}}

This is the leaderboard:

Last 7 days (Top 50)

<a href=" [AT THE JULY 28TH MEETING][tab] "Cancel the meeting! Our cover is blown."> More testing: hello ​ does​this​work (yes​it​does) This isn't a good name (talk) 22:44, 28 January 2026 (UTC)

‮hi 164.58.172.158 14:21, 23 February 2026 (UTC)

What is this?????????????????????? King Pando (talk) 04:25, 10 March 2026 (UTC)‭
      comment.png  Add comment

      new topic.png  View comic discussion

New here?[edit]

Last 30 days (Top 10)

Lots of people contribute to make this wiki a success. Many of the recent contributors above have just joined. You can do it too! Create your account here.

You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at explain xkcd. Feel free to create an account and contribute to the wiki! We need explanations for xkcd comics, characters, What If? articles, and everything in between. If it is referenced in an xkcd comic, it should be here.

  • The incomplete explanations are listed here. Feel free to help out by expanding them!

Rules[edit]

Be a jerk!

There are a lot of comics that have set-in-stone explanations; only put one interpretation in the wiki page for each comic.

If you want to talk about a specific comic, don’t.

Please only submit material directly unrelated to xkcd and, of course, only submit material that cannot legally be posted or freely edited. On-topic or other appropriate content is subject to removal or modification at admin discretion, and users who repeatedly post such content will be blocked. Get good.

If you need assistance from an admin, post a message to the Admin requests board.

Recent comments:

21 March 2026

     15:51 

Talk:3222: Star Formation‎‎ (7 changes | history) . . (+1,916). . [Logalex8369‎; AskShea‎; PDesbeginner‎; 65.25.122.84‎; 2001:1c01:2dcc:c200:fdde:3cec:29f7:c097‎; DollarStoreBa'al‎ (2×)]

     

15:51

(cur | prev) . . (+62). . 65.25.122.84 (talk)

     

14:49

(cur | prev) . . (+287). . PDesbeginner (talk | contribs)

     

02:57

(cur | prev) . . (+1). . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (:()

     

02:57

(cur | prev) . . (+228). . DollarStoreBa'al (talk | contribs) (:()

     

01:07

(cur | prev) . . (+651). . 2001:1c01:2dcc:c200:fdde:3cec:29f7:c097 (talk) (Unintentional Bob Ross)

     

01:02

(cur | prev) . . (+413). . Logalex8369 (talk | contribs) (Added previous comment’s timestamp and added another comment)

 m   

00:34

(cur | prev) . . (+274). . AskShea (talk | contribs)

     12:55  Talk:2335: Photo Deposit‎ (diff | hist) . . (+230). . ShadowPenguin (talk | contribs)
     04:46  Talk:3221: Landscape Features‎ (diff | hist) . . (+138). . 71.212.36.151 (talk)

20 March 2026

N    22:42 

Talk:3222: Star Formation‎‎ (5 changes | history) . . (+1,473). . [TheusafBOT‎; Barmar‎; 81.179.199.253‎; 74.76.189.192‎; 66.154.219.128‎]

     

22:42

(cur | prev) . . (+119). . Barmar (talk | contribs)

     

21:49

(cur | prev) . . (+897). . 81.179.199.253 (talk)

     

21:12

(cur | prev) . . (+184). . 74.76.189.192 (talk) (star ionized clouds)

     

20:26

(cur | prev) . . (+160). . 66.154.219.128 (talk) (Comment)

N    

20:06

(cur | prev) . . (+113). . TheusafBOT (talk | contribs) (Created by theusafBOT: talk page for 3222)

     22:36 

Talk:3207: Bad Map Projection: Zero Declination‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+101). . [81.179.199.253‎; 50.201.30.158‎]

     

22:36

(cur | prev) . . (+51). . 81.179.199.253 (talk)

     

21:56

(cur | prev) . . (+50). . 50.201.30.158 (talk)

     18:17  Talk:144: Parody Week: A Softer World‎ (diff | hist) . . (+6). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)
     17:49  Talk:140: Delicious‎ (diff | hist) . . (+29). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)
     17:48  Talk:138: Pointers‎ (diff | hist) . . (+58). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)
     17:44  Talk:137: Dreams‎ (diff | hist) . . (+53). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)
     17:43  Talk:136: Science Fair‎ (diff | hist) . . (+85). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)
     17:41  Talk:133: The Raven‎ (diff | hist) . . (+5). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)
     17:36  Talk:132: Music Knowledge‎ (diff | hist) . . (+122). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)

     17:36 

Talk:3221: Landscape Features‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+872). . [Fephisto‎; Erika lovelace‎]

     

17:36

(cur | prev) . . (+650). . Erika lovelace (talk | contribs)

     

14:49

(cur | prev) . . (+222). . Fephisto (talk | contribs)

     17:33  Talk:131: Fans‎ (diff | hist) . . (+20). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)
     01:05  Talk:what if? articles‎ (diff | hist) . . (+1,025). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs) (10th Anniversary Annotations: new section)
     01:05  Talk:1242: Scary Names‎ (diff | hist) . . (-351). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)
     01:02  Talk:3186: Truly Universal Outlet‎ (diff | hist) . . (+18). . 42.book.addict (talk | contribs)

19 March 2026

 m   22:18  Talk:1242: Scary Names‎ (diff | hist) . . (+343). . Majordesmosnerd (talk | contribs) (comment on 10th anniversary version of What If?)

     21:02 

Talk:3221: Landscape Features‎‎ (12 changes | history) . . (+3,058). . [R128‎; Dbguy‎; 97.115.101.239‎; 2603:800c:1200:596a:7154:d390:7a60:3197‎; 147.161.153.84‎; 136.56.99.85‎; 82.132.237.49‎ (2×); 82.13.184.33‎ (4×)]

     

21:02

(cur | prev) . . (+365). . 136.56.99.85 (talk)

 m   

19:55

(cur | prev) . . (+351). . Dbguy (talk | contribs)

     

16:22

(cur | prev) . . (+98). . 97.115.101.239 (talk) (Glacier Bay in Alaska, not Glacier National Park in the lower 48)

     

15:00

(cur | prev) . . (0). . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

     

14:58

(cur | prev) . . (-94). . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

     

14:57

(cur | prev) . . (+411). . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

     

14:09

(cur | prev) . . (+187). . 147.161.153.84 (talk)

     

13:11

(cur | prev) . . (+218). . R128 (talk | contribs)

     

12:47

(cur | prev) . . (+2). . 82.132.237.49 (talk)

     

12:45

(cur | prev) . . (+1,191). . 82.132.237.49 (talk)

     

09:14

(cur | prev) . . (+89). . 82.13.184.33 (talk)

     

08:29

(cur | prev) . . (+240). . 2603:800c:1200:596a:7154:d390:7a60:3197 (talk) (I like these kinds of maps)

     19:53 

Talk:3186: Truly Universal Outlet‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+1,824). . [81.179.199.253‎ (2×)]

     

19:53

(cur | prev) . . (+453). . 81.179.199.253 (talk)

     

19:42

(cur | prev) . . (+1,371). . 81.179.199.253 (talk)

     17:19  Talk:32: Pillar‎ (diff | hist) . . (+200). . Broseph (talk | contribs)

     16:11 

Talk:2769: Overlapping Circles‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+282). . [216.228.127.130‎ (2×)]

     

16:11

(cur | prev) . . (+85). . 216.228.127.130 (talk)

     

16:10

(cur | prev) . . (+197). . 216.228.127.130 (talk)

     14:58 

Talk:3140: Biology Department‎‎ (2 changes | history) . . (+182). . [195.21.95.178‎ (2×)]

     

14:58

(cur | prev) . . (+81). . 195.21.95.178 (talk)

     

14:58

(cur | prev) . . (+101). . 195.21.95.178 (talk)

     03:38  Talk:3208: SNEWS‎ (diff | hist) . . (+926). . Sameldacamel34 (talk | contribs) (Comment on the use of quotation marks)