Difference between revisions of "298: Tesla Coil"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
 
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[[Category:Star Wars]]

Revision as of 22:05, 20 March 2014

Tesla Coil
For scientists, this can be the hardest thing about dreams.
Title text: For scientists, this can be the hardest thing about dreams.

Explanation

Cueball diligently creates a Tesla coil, a high voltage device producing artificial electrical lightings and more.

After that show by Cueball, Black Hat magically shoots electricity from his fingertips. When Cueball asks how he did that, he says that science doesn't really work, then hovers in mid-air, further proving his point. There is simply no apparent explanation for Black Hat's abilities, which means science is still woefully incomplete or, as Black Hat said, simply doesn't work.

The title text indicates that this was all actually a dream, explaining Black Hat's abilities and pointing out how dreams can be difficult for scientists as they will attempt to analyse and understand everything in the dream according to the laws of science, which wouldn't apply in dreams.

The image where black hat shoots electricity is very similar to what the Emperor does in Star Wars VI: Return og the Jedi. When he hovers it is similar to what Superman is capable of.

Transcript

[Cueball and Black Hat stand near a tesla coil mounted on a table.]
Cueball: I finally finished my Tesla Coil!
[The room is dark; the characters appear as faint blue outlines on black background. Cueball turns on the Tesla Coil and it sparks white static electricity.]
click
Black Hat: Cool, but—
[Lightning shoots out of Black Hat's hands, Cueball appears to be in shock and awe.]
Black Hat: Check this out!
[The lights are back on, Cueball's arms are raised in amazement.]
Cueball: How did you do that?
Black Hat: The world doesn't actually make any sense. Science doesn't work. No one told you because you're so cute when you get into something.
[Black Hat floats up the frame, and Cueball is pointing towards Black Hat.]
Black Hat: Still, neat toy.
Cueball: Now you're hovering!
Black Hat: I guess you're still not getting this.


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Discussion

I really think that someone should revise the explanation for the tesla coil. 108.162.210.102 17:25, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Removed the redundant comment in the description about Emperor Palpatine and Superman. I'm fairly sure anyone reading this know or can at least extrapolate levitation and lightning generation. -Pennpenn 108.162.250.162 06:25, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

I wonder if the levitation is a jab at the anti-gravity people who associate Tesla with "electro-gravity". -- Flewk (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Ehh, I wouldn't say that the title text is an indication of the comic being a dream. I think they just meant dreams in general. 8:29 January 11 2023 (PST)