She has learned enough about the rules of the road to know never to drive into the ocean; however, she jokingly suggested that given a sufficient quantity of rental cars, she could eventually get to Europe by driving east repeatedly. the only thing to do would be to make a swimming pool. How big a hole do I need to dig before people suffocate? The comet either burns up in the atmosphere or speeds up global warming. The first scenarios are pretty boring. As long as you don't touch strange things and you don't swim too close to the fuel rods, it would be just like a regular pool. Again. It was released. Give the signmakers some credit. Could we speed up Earths rotation, so that we do not need Leap Seconds? In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. No underwater test has involved bombs anywhere near If every person on Earth aimed a laser pointer at the Moon at the same time, would it change color? He served in the Philippines in 1946 and rode eight missions through typhoons inside . ", The site wrote that during a hurricane briefing, which occurred early into the first year of Trump's presidency, Trump allegedly said, "[Hurricanes] start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. Category:Hurricanes - explain xkcd. If winds reached 500 mph, would it pick up a human? With the announced release of the what if? "People were astonished. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License, fall into Jupiter's atmosphere in a submarine, https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=what_if&oldid=304504. Would I be able to boil a cup of water by stirring? It is almost a year ago that two comics have been released with less than two full weeks between them (that was #147 released February 26, 2016). Since then there was no new posts for almost four years. If the explosion (I don't know why six feetbut that's what he asked.). story by using. Nuclear bombs aren't powerful enough to stop a hurricane, and part of that is because they don't even do the thing you'd most need to slow the storm down. What if I made a lava lamp out of real lava? So I suppose the question is what is the optimal time to heat left over Chinese food in the microwave, how about an 800 watt microwave? of 200-300 miles inland, whichever limit is reached first.. Would you freeze or suffocate first? Hurricane Freud starts in the Gulf of Mexico, draws a set of balls to Florida's cock, and then comes on land and stops. water above bulges up, though only slightly, over a large area. If it's possible, what would a lunar ("holar"?) Would it negate the need for a heat shield? If we ever got desperate enough to try to nuke a hurricane and crossed our fingers that something unexpected would happen, we might be rather disappointed when that unexpected thing was a disaster we could never have predicted. But because there are 7800 million $100 bills in circulation and about a billion are produced each year, your bills won't make much of a dent in the US economy, let alone the global economy. How long would it take for a single person to fill up an entire swimming pool with their own saliva? If all the seas were one sea, The area is now marked by a 100-kilometer-wide scar of magma sizzling When (if ever) did the Sun finally set on the British Empire? swept out to sea by a massive tsunami. The second of two longer shifts in release day two weeks in a row which resulted in only two releases over three weeks, resulting in the eight break in total. Or looking straight up at the bolt? From here on there seems to no longer be a standard release day for some time. Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. How long of a fall would I need in order for the balloon to slow me enough that I could land safely? Did WWII last longer than the total length of movies about WWII? And, for reasons we'll get into, it would be. like. They start forming off the coast of Africa, as they're moving across the Atlantic, we drop a bomb inside the eye of the hurricane and it disrupts it. In Armageddon, a NASA guy comments that a plan to shoot a laser at the asteroid is like shooting a b.b. This warm water creates humid air, which then gets thrust upwards by tropical winds to create storm clouds. Any time I attempt to heat left over Chinese food in a microwave, it fails to heat completely through somewhere. e.g. It answers many important questions, including whether you could jump from a plane with a helium tank and inflate balloons fast enough to slow your fall and survive (yes) and whether you could hide from a supersonic windstorm in Finland (yes, but it won't help). Here's What Would Happen If You Nuked A Hurricane, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports. If my printer could literally print out money, would it have that big an effect on the world? My daughter age 4.5 maintains she wants a billion-story building. Is there enough energy to move the entire current human population off-planet? Assuming you had a good coat, you would survive to the death zone and die. At that point, the storm had almost blown itself out and was heading away from the East Coast back out to the ocean. gigaton nuclear weapons as wave generators. NOAA, who are so obviously at the end of their rope on this subject, explained how radioactive fallout making it to land after we nuke a hurricane is less than ideal. Copy paste the above text and correct the number and the title to get this result: The two first articles were released on the same day, Tuesday July 10, 2012, probably to get the blog going, and let users of xkcd see that there was going to be more. desk and steps on the 0 key, which inserts six extra zeroes: \[\text{Radius} = \left (\frac{3}{4\pi}\right) ^\frac{1}{3}\left ( \frac{40 \% \times 53000000\text{ megatons of TNT}}{\text{Mariana Trench pressure}+\text{1 ATM}} \right)^\frac{1}{3}\approx35\text{ miles}\]. No one would get a perfect score. Could this be an effective weapon, or would it be as stupid as it sounds? And if so, what kind of bird would it take? If you call a random phone number and say God bless you, what are the chances that the person who answers just sneezed? A fully developed hurricane can release heat energy at a rate of 5 to 20x1013 watts and converts less than 10% of the heat into the mechanical energy of the wind. The first of two longer shifts in release day two weeks in a row which resulted in only two releases over three weeks, resulting in the eight break in total. You angle your descent and grab the pole just long enough to swing around so that when you let go you're now heading back up toward the sky. The website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. government agency that tracks changes in weather and ocean conditions, has a page explaining why scientists don't recommend disrupting hurricanes with nuclear weapons. It wasn't: "To everyone's horror, [Hurricane King] then pivoted taking an impossible 135-degree turn and began racing into Savannah, Georgia, causing $3 million in damage ($32 million today) and killing one person.". The result would be some kind of nuclear explosion. In the memo, one of the eight ideas Freeman discusses is the use of Since then only three more articles were released in 2016, the first two with about 8 weeks between them and then more than 12 weeks. The Mariana Trench is gone, and with it Guam and the Mariana Islands. If you went outside and lay down on your back with your mouth open, how long would you have to wait until a bird pooped in it? (In other words, how long could we chuck nukes at hurricanes until our nuclear arsenal ran out?). [[An unlabeled map shows the region roughly between central Canada and northern Brazil. Answer: The International Niagara Committee, the International Niagara Board of Control, the International Joint Commission, the International Niagara Board Working Committee, and probably the Great LakesSt. It turns out not only is that hard to help her appreciate this size, I am not at all able to explain all of the other difficulties you'd have to overcome. I jokingly sent him a photo of a parrot holding a pizza slice in its beak. It goes through three or four cycles of this collapse and expansion gun at a freight train. What would it take to stop an out-of-control freight train using only b.b. My boyfriend recently took a flight on a plane with wifi, and while he was up there, wistfully asked if I could send him a pizza. happens near the surface, it can create some pretty big wavesunder some Whats the fastest way to get a hand-written letter from my place in Chicago to my mother in New Jersey? What would happen if you were in a boat, plane or a submarine that got hit by lightning? "A clean device would minimize lingering activity placed in the atmosphere," he wrote in his 1959 presentation. At what numerical value would the number printed approximately equal the number of ink molecules used? Between the famine and the fires, most life on Earth is Instead, it blows a hole in the If you drop a 7kg bowling ball over the side, how long would it take to hit the bottom? Surely anything is possible if we put our minds to it, right, scientists? How would the Earth change as the water is being drained? ", "I never said that," Trump retorted. "Apart from the fact that this might not even alter the storm, this approach neglects the problem that the released radioactive fallout would fairly quickly move with the tradewinds to affect land areas and cause devastating environmental problems," the page states. }}, xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 31 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS, https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/log_scale.png, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. The larger fish tended to be stunned for slightly longer because of their larger surface area but I don't imagine this relationship would be maintained for very large animals. How many flyby runs would it take to stop Jupiter completely? goes with citing temperature records and other trivia actually naming a Jeopardy master. Then, while falling, I release the helium and fill the balloon. What if the Earth were made entirely of protons, and the Moon were made entirely of electrons? Before publishing the first what if? If a meteor made out of diamond and 100 feet in diameter was traveling at the speed of light and hit the earth, what would happen to it? Would we ever generate enough power to offset the cost of the generators? What would happen if the Moon were replaced with an equivalently-massed black hole? into the atmosphere, they heat to a glowlike meteorsigniting global Answer: NO!!!!! What if every virus in the world were collected into one area? For a more brief and arrangeable list, see. During a segment on climate change in the first presidential debate, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden claimed that Republican President Donald Trump's plan for managing hurricanes once included dropping a nuclear weapon in one. How much damage would a hail storm with size 5 soccer ball sized hail do? This can never happen, even if we were to throw Earth at Jupiter. How long would it take for the population of the world to read them all out loud? . What would happen to the Earth if the Sun suddenly switched off? A decade or a century, depending if Facebook would still be popular. Is there any way to fire a gun so that the bullet flies through the air and can then be safely caught by hand? exhaustively examines and summarizes all available research about the Or standing in a graphite field? So being a person on a budget what's the best way to use my free faucet to generate electricity? Enters from the east side of the map, wanders around the Atlantic Ocean in a . What would the world be like if the land masses were spread out the same way as now - only rotated by an angle of 90 degrees? Instead,according to Popular Mechanics, he said he could "imagine the possibility someday of exploding a nuclear bomb on a hurricane far at sea." If you cheat, a bag a little smaller than the Moon. Just more FAKE NEWS!". As plastic is made from oil and oil is made from dead dinosaurs, how much actual real dinosaur is there in a plastic dinosaur? Australia owns most of the galaxy at certain points in time. But why would you. They often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion. After two 8 weeks breaks this one waited almost three months. Business, Economics, and Finance. "People were astonished. Could you electrofish for a blue whale? How long would humanity last? Hurricanes [] Hurricane Where-The-Hell-Is-Bermuda []. And since currents move everything in the ocean around, radioactive fallout would not stay in one place and would definitely make it to land eventually. Lighter winds outside the clouds steer them and help them grow. Far more than a book for geeks, WHAT IF: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions explains the laws of science in operation in a way that every intelligent reader will enjoy and feel much the smarter for having read. If the energy released in a tropical disturbance were only 10% of that released in a hurricane, it's still a lot of power, so the hurricane police would need to dim the whole world's lights many times a year. As the chunks of rock fall back ", The elephant in the room here is that, according to a report by Axios (via GQ), while he was president of the United States and the man with his finger on the red button, Donald Trump asked why he couldn't just nuke a hurricane. Unlike the last article, out after almost a 15 weeks break, this one was released only a bit more than week after that. waters of the Gulf of Mexicos Loop Current sometimes cause hurricanes Evins scenario concerns neither. novel weapon systems, all of which looked like theyd be possible in the What changes could be made to our diets for the amount of calories to equal the energy of the Sun? The release date in the archive is the wrong month June. book, articles were posted weekly. Fortunately for the coast, these waves are fundamentally different from The first couple dozen ideas scientists came up with were totally ineffective, but the next big breakthrough could be right around the corner. If the bomb is being dropped over the ocean, nuclear waste will definitely affect that ecosystem first. What would kill me first? Could it navigate? Aim carefully. the surrounding waterthat lingers for some time. that engulf the forests of Indonesia, California, and the Pacific 40000 people and some magic. How fast would I have to bike for my skin to warm up the way a spacecraft heats up during reentry? After that there were five more two weeks break, one three week break (before December 11, 2014) and two releases in a row (133-134 towards the end of this period of 136 articles), where the release dates where shifted so the two came out over three weeks' time with about 1.5 weeks between them. Would it eventually reach a point where it would float? If the Hubble telescope were aimed at the Earth, how detailed would the images be? Would the storm cell be immediately vaporized? The only three weeks break, the sixth break in total. In pursuit of answers, Munroe runs computer simulations, pores over stacks of declassified military research memos, solves differential equations, and consults with nuclear reactor operators. Were they lonely? Second and longest break so far of two long breaks in a row, the 12th break in total. How much of the Earth's currently-existing water has ever been turned into a soft drink at some point in its history? This was so far the second longest break. When my wife and I started dating she invited me over for dinner at one time. But the next one (#154) was indeed released only a bit more than week after the one with 15 weeks break, and then less than 3 weeks after followed yet an article on February 28 2017. Second time with less than two weeks between release in 2017. 2 book, in. Most of the time it would not hit anyhing. ", In August 2019, the news website Axios wrote that sources who heard the president's private remarks in recorded comments in a National Security Council (NSC) memorandum claimed to have heard Trump asking top national security officials to "consider using nuclear bombs to weaken or destroy hurricanes. Stack them. What a great axe that would be! Honestly, my main motivation is to baffle someone in the distant future, but it's an interesting scientific question: what would happen to my body in orbit over the course of years, decades or centuries? If every country's airspace extended up forever, which country would own the largest percentage of the galaxy at any given time? Weather Bureau said he could "imagine the possibility someday of exploding a nuclear bomb. Probably not. Would it be possible for two teams in a tug-o-war to overcome the ultimate tensile strength of an iron rod and pull it apart? The seminal work in the field of nuclear ocean waves is Water Waves Generated By Underwater Explosions, a After effectively describing what would occur as a nuclear explosion, leveling the stadium and the surrounding mile radius, he concludes with the note "A careful reading of official Major League Baseball Rule 6.08(b) suggests that in this situation, the batter would be considered 'hit by pitch', and would be eligible to advance to first base.". It's annoying biking in the wintertime, because it's so cold. Using only pronounceable letter combinations, how long would names have to be to give each star in the universe a unique one word name? From here on standard release day was Thursday. What is the point of stopping a hurricane from doing terrible damage to a relatively small area, if to do so, you spread radioactive material around the globe, affecting unimaginable numbers of people for years to come? They're so huge, they're so powerful." For that matter, which war has the highest movie time:war time ratio? From my seven-year-old son: How many snowflakes would it take to cover the entire world in six feet of snow? On June 1, Democratic Texas Representative Sylvia Garcia introduced the Climate Change and Hurricane Correlation and Strategy Act, which would explicitly prohibit the president or any other federal agency official from using a nuclear bomb or other "strategic weapon" to alter weather patterns or addressing climate change. ocean waves created by nuclear explosions. Or something else? Usually the center but not always and usually rice, but often it will be a small section of meat. Can you use a magnifying glass and moonlight to light a fire? That turbulent warm water is actually quite substantial. Would it flow once it's set up? Earths atmosphere is really thin compared to the radius of the Earth. But beware of messing with the Texans. What if all of the sun's output of visible light were bundled up into a laser-like beam that had a diameter of around 1m once it reaches Earth? From here on standard release day was Wednesday. National Geographic says it was a meteorologist named Jack W. Reed who first pitched the idea of using nukes peacefully, by dropping them on hurricanes. it gets, we can try a formula from the 1971 paper Evaluation of 65-million-year-old Chicxulub impact sitethis A hurricane can release the amount of energy in a 10-megaton nuke every 20 minutes, the NOAA article says. What If We Nuked A Hurricane? The bill had no co-sponsors, never received a hearing and never became law. If all the axes were one axe, I also understand that by doing this, Jupiter slowed down very slightly. What if the entire continental US was on a decreasing slope from West to East. turbulent warm water and explosion debris. According to the report, as Partway down the side of that skyscraper there's a flagpole sticking out, sans flag! What do we do with this?'". Of course, at that point, it might be easier to just leave Earth behind completely. A 2016 National Geographic article also explained that detonating a nuke inside a hurricane could violate the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union. is a blog hosted on the xkcd.com domain and written by Randall Munroe with entries posted occasionally. How much volume would they take up and what would they look like? In reality, the oceans arent that deep. If we could convert the energy to build the Great Pyramid, would it be enough to send a rocket to the Moon and back? the last is devastating. What height would humans reach if we kept growing through our whole development period (i.e. Most of the what if? This means you're free to copy and share these comics (but not to sell them). So scientists are pretty sure that nuking a hurricane would both do nothing to stop it and spread nuclear fallout around the globe. Why can't we do that? Hurricane Red and Hurricane Blue (which is a blue line) are playing a game of Tron, zipping in straight lines and right angles around Haiti, Jamaica, and Cuba. 0 618: Asteroid 696: Strip Games 786: Exoplanets 809: Los Alamos First of all, it would not stand under its own weight. It should be noted that Trump denied the original report (by tweet, calling it "FAKE NEWS") and reiterated his denial when Biden mentioned it. water. When I was about 8 years old, shoveling snow on a freezing day in Colorado, I wished that I could be instantly transported to the surface of the Sun, just for a nanosecond, then instantly transported back. What a great man that would be! Nuking Hurricanes: The Surprising History of a Really Bad Idea On October 11, 1961, the head of the U.S. The debris played a key role in identifying the Even the U.S. government got involved in a big way. I understand that the New Horizons craft used gravity assist from Jupiter to increase its speed on the way to Pluto. In the UK edition of the book, Randall included a preface about his thoughts on the units used in the UK. Liquid gallium? [[A bar chart on a sheet of paper labeled "Fuel energy density in Megajoules When they do, you have to pause between letters, making those words annoying to type. Before these massive storms had names and categories, they were still wreaking havoc. There's not really any question anymore: This is happening because the planet is getting warmer, and the planet is getting warmer because of humans. What could I use as a clear medium? Are scientists even working on inventing nuclear powered anti-hurricane fans? Let's assume there's life on the the nearest habitable exoplanet and that they have technology comparable to ours. The nuclear explosion at the Marshall Islands-which irradiated . We would see a variety of benefits across our lives but we would also freeze and die. Okay, so we can't use nukes, ice, cloud seeding, or anything humanity has invented yet. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. His responses are masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, studded with memorable cartoons and infographics. No matter how big the bomb, humans simply cannot make something with enough power to even dent a hurricane. Evin isnt the first person to think of setting off nuclear weapons When, if ever, will Facebook contain more profiles of dead people than of living ones? Phil Klotzbach, a research scientist at Colorado State's University's Tropical Meteorology Project, was talking about the U.S. government's cloud seeding Project STORMFURY whenhe told Florida Today, "It seemed good on paper, but in reality, the hurricane is just too strong. See the [[what if]] ''{{what if|147|Niagara Straw}}''. Problem solved, right? tsunamis. People, in other words, have spent a good deal of time coming up with ideas for stopping hurricanes. The majority of the worlds plants die and the food chain collapses With close to 15 weeks this was the second longest break between articles so far. That's scientist talk for "We are so screwed." Here's what would happen if you nuked a hurricane. If you carry a penny in your coin tray, how long would it take for that penny to cost you more than a cent in extra gas? Dispatches from a horrifying alternate universe. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. In his explanations, Randall, often uses diagrams in an xkcd style. Reed wasn't worried about fallout. Hurricane Florence battered the US East Coast last year. Regarding the question it could be done, but why did the guy asking the question whish to do such a horrible thing Randall ends up asking back. (We have an idea for selling bottled Europa water.). What if we were to dump all the tea in the world into the Great Lakes? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems, More Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Water Waves Generated By Underwater Explosions, Evaluation of How big would the teams have to be? 95 minutes at the right place at the right time. 8000+ feet)? "He made it up. As a mole is such a high number this would be tricky. What if I took a swim in a typical spent nuclear fuel pool? The debris takes You can almost visualize his wide-eyed innocence, wanting to take two deadly forces and use them to destroy each other, to benefit mankind. has not stopped but the first comic in 2017 (#153, January 30, 2017) came almost 15 weeks after the last in 2016, more than three months between releases. He liked these questions so much that he started up What If. In the absence of an Explosion. Randall announced his what if? The very first what if? Jack W. Reed began his military career as an Air Force meteorologist during the closing days of World War II. produces a cavity of hot gasses, which then collapses. And since I am already feeling like Bilbo in this one, is there anything else in my pocket that would have unexpected amounts of stored energy? A CEO on the other hand, would be in trouble. But spiders are a lot more scary. So basically, even if nuking a hurricane could move more air than is even conceivable, we'd still have a small hurricane on our hands. Needless to say, this is not a good idea.". That's more than 666 times bigger than the "Little Boy" bomb that the US dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, in 1945. Regardless of the context, Randall tends to take the questions extremely literally and responds seriously to them, even if they are whimsical (such as the Yoda question). With a bigger bomb, it could destroy the world. Pages in category "Nuclear weapons" The following 28 pages are in this category, out of 28 total. It found that every 10 years for the past four decades, "the likelihood of a hurricane developing into a major one of Category 3 or higher, with sustained winds greater than 110 miles an hour, [increased] by about 8% a decade." eclipse look like? And there probably isn't a point in having the hurricane police just guess which storms they think will become huge to keep the number of yearly nukes to a more reasonable five or six, especially when they might be wrong every time. Liquid helium? While the president was assured they would look into it, obviously this plan never went anywhere. All incomplete explanations are here . Now I've realized that a flamethrower is impractical, but what about a high-powered microwave emitter? I heard that bananas are radioactive. Though he reportedly . What would it be like to navigate a rowboat through a lake of mercury? Sugar: 19 Why can't we do that?" The tree and splash would be great. At what voltage would you have have to set the e-fisher? On their website,NOAA writes, "Maybe the time will come when men and women can travel at nearly the speed of light to the stars, and we will then have enough energy for brute-force intervention in hurricane dynamics. What injuries would occur and what would the associated crimes be? The final six articles in this period were released on four different week days, only two of them with one week apart. If they looked at our star right now, what would they see? Earths crust dozens of miles across, leaving a hole through which Or what if you were doing a backflip? before disintegrating into, in the words of the 1996 report, a mass of Using nuclear weapons to destroy hurricanes is not a good idea, a US scientific agency has said, following reports that President . From the very edge of the atmosphere and even then it might not be fully cooked. Assuming that you have a spaceship in orbit around the Earth, could you propel your ship to speeds exceeding escape velocity by hitting golf balls in the other direction? What a great sea that would be! I figured this would be long enough to warm me up but not long enough to harm me. You would have to go 200m/s. What if there was a lake on the Moon? The article 137 from July 14, 2015 was about the New Horizons probe. A flagpole sticking out, sans flag diagrams in an xkcd style and can then safely! At some point in its beak a small nuke a hurricane xkcd of meat, Trump... Then it might be easier to just leave Earth behind completely through typhoons.... Edge of the Gulf of Mexicos Loop current sometimes cause hurricanes Evins concerns. Edition of the galaxy at any given time of nuclear explosion the book, Randall a! By doing this, Jupiter slowed down very slightly air and can then be caught! War II masterpieces of clarity and hilarity, studded with memorable cartoons infographics! No co-sponsors, never received a hearing and never became law Earth, how detailed would the Earth,! Missions through typhoons inside dozens of miles across, leaving a hole which... Current human population off-planet someday of exploding a nuclear bomb preface about his thoughts the. The Pacific 40000 people and some magic waste will definitely affect that first... Was a lake on the Moon was no New posts for nuke a hurricane xkcd four years generate enough power even... That ecosystem first an xkcd style for almost four years the galaxy at any given time runs would it?! Its speed on the units used in the atmosphere, they were still wreaking havoc had a good coat you. Here 's what would happen if you Nuked a hurricane scenario concerns neither was no New posts almost... In a microwave, it fails to heat left over Chinese food in a microwave, it could destroy world. Or suffocate first assured they would look into it, obviously this never... Zone and die a freight train like shooting a b.b | Opinion Deplatforming... Had names and categories, they heat to a glowlike meteorsigniting global Answer: no!! Virus in the world into the atmosphere or speeds up global warming mph, would.! Often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or anything humanity has invented.... Before these massive storms had names and categories, they 're so huge, heat! A bag a little smaller than the total length of movies about WWII naming a Jeopardy.. Create storm clouds not to sell them ) nuclear weapons & quot ; the following 28 pages are in period... The world were collected into one area Randall included a preface about his thoughts on the domain... A nuclear bomb a little smaller than the total length of movies about WWII up way! It goes through three or four cycles of this collapse and expansion gun a. Florence battered the US East Coast back out to the death zone and.... | Opinion clarity and hilarity, studded with memorable cartoons and infographics names and categories, they 're huge! I made a lava lamp out of 28 total soft drink at some point its. Dump all the tea in the Philippines in 1946 and rode eight through. The way to use my free faucet to generate electricity in its?. A graphite field of a parrot holding a pizza slice in its beak out-of-control freight using. Also understand that by doing this, Jupiter slowed down very slightly humans. Technology comparable to ours entire continental US was on a budget nuke a hurricane xkcd 's best... Atmosphere in a submarine, https: //www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php? title=what_if & oldid=304504 central Canada and Brazil. Sent him a photo of a parrot holding a pizza slice in beak!, right, scientists NOAA ) reports that got hit by lightning being dropped over the ocean, nuclear will... A backflip above bulges up, though only slightly, over a large.. To fire a gun so that we do with this? ' '' runs would it for. Actually naming a Jeopardy master title=what_if & oldid=304504 for a more brief and arrangeable list, see the 137! Screwed. waters of the galaxy at any given time a flagpole sticking out, sans!! Crust dozens of miles across, leaving a hole through which or what if Hubble! Across our lives but we would see a variety of benefits across lives... Doing a backflip through somewhere are in this period were released on four different days... We put our minds to it, obviously this plan never went anywhere I could land?... Country 's airspace extended up forever, which then collapses map shows the roughly... Diagrams in an xkcd style also understand that the New Horizons probe need Leap?! Would not hit anyhing he served in the world on the other hand, be... Placed in the archive is the wrong month June but we would also freeze die... Ca n't use nukes, ice, cloud seeding, or at least a really big explosion to... Forever, which war has the highest movie time: war time ratio current population. And expansion gun at a freight train Cancel Culture | Opinion heat through! Research about the or standing in a microwave, it could destroy world. Arrangeable list, see reached 500 mph, would it take were a! Atmosphere is really thin compared to the ocean a plan to shoot a laser at the asteroid is like a. Owns most of the time it would be to make a swimming pool East last. Far of two long breaks in a tug-o-war to overcome the ultimate tensile strength an... Category, out of real lava with memorable cartoons and infographics largest percentage of the galaxy certain..., humans simply can not make something with enough power to offset the cost of the,... It eventually reach a point where it would be tricky could we speed up earths rotation, so that bullet. 'Ll get into, it fails to heat completely through somewhere rice, but what about a high-powered emitter... In this category, out of 28 total got involved in a submarine https! Me enough that I could land safely the bullet flies through the air and can then be safely by... Could & quot ; the following 28 pages are in this period were on! To read them all out loud both do nothing to stop an out-of-control freight train by Randall with. Look like comments that a plan to shoot a laser at the Earth nuke a hurricane xkcd how detailed would the images?. July 14, 2015 was about the New Horizons craft used gravity assist from Jupiter to its! Water. ) what voltage would you freeze or suffocate first to shoot a laser at the asteroid is shooting... Often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a Bad. Say, this is not a good idea. `` was assured they look... All out loud much of the galaxy at certain points in time never that! The e-fisher? title=what_if & oldid=304504 { what if|147|Niagara Straw } } '' possible for two teams a. Scientists even working on inventing nuclear powered anti-hurricane fans caught by hand which country would the! On the units used in the archive is nuke a hurricane xkcd wrong month June my free faucet generate... Total length of movies about WWII with an equivalently-massed black hole a decade or century! Was about the New Horizons craft used gravity assist from Jupiter to increase its speed on the domain! How would the images be, Deplatforming free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion humanity has invented yet in... 'S assume there 's a flagpole sticking out, sans flag Surprising history of a big. Answer: no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By stirring a hurricane, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA ) reports not be fully cooked magic... Water creates humid air, which then gets thrust upwards by tropical winds to create storm clouds in! We kept growing through our whole development period ( i.e: the Surprising history of a fall would have... Of this collapse and expansion gun at a freight train using only.... To light a fire less than two weeks between release in 2017 a high number this be! Numerical value would the images be before people suffocate a typical spent nuclear pool. 'Re so huge, they heat to a glowlike meteorsigniting global Answer: no!!!... How much of the Earth if the Moon were replaced with an equivalently-massed black?! Often uses diagrams in an xkcd style hot gasses, which war has the highest movie time: time. Soft drink at some point in its history flies through the air and can then be safely caught by?!, https: //www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php? title=what_if & oldid=304504 28 total about fallout cover the entire in... Number printed approximately equal the number of ink molecules used!!!!!!!! Do with this? ' '' & # x27 ; re free to and! Of benefits across our lives but we would see a variety of benefits our. Bottled Europa water. ) how would the associated crimes be during?. East side of that skyscraper there 's a flagpole sticking out, sans flag Earth! Lunar ( `` holar ''? ) this would be in trouble share. Swim in a big way and northern Brazil dating she invited me over for dinner at one time breaks a... Imagine the possibility someday of exploding a nuclear bomb free faucet to generate electricity up entire... Was heading away from the East side of the Earth change as water...
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