xkcd

[Thales]

Yeah, but a lot of the universe is in a state where the laws of chemistry don't really matter. The void of space, or even when there's a stray proton floating around doesn't really have anything for chemistry to apply to. Large amounts of the mass of the universe are probably dark matter, which likely doesn't follow chemistry either. And even a large chunk of normal matter is bound up in things like plasmas, which are their own corner of chemistry, or locked behind an event horizon, beyond which chemistry is irrelevant.

[Radar]

Chemistry or astronomy is not really a question as it is all just applied physics anyway.

[theangelJean]

Arguably, much of the universe is made of chemicals, so chemists should have a pretty big slice of that pie chart.

Depends on the ratio of star- to non-star matter. Not a lot of chemistry happening in stars, what with all the electrons and nuclei running around loose at those temperatures.

(And I'm a few years out of date, but last I remember they weren't sure whether dark matter was chemicals either.)

[Rockphed]

Depends on the ratio of star- to non-star matter. Not a lot of chemistry happening in stars, what with all the electrons and nuclei running around loose at those temperatures.

(And I'm a few years out of date, but last I remember they weren't sure whether dark matter was chemicals either.)

Depends on the star as memory serves. Some stars have cold enough atmospheres that some chemicals can form. And I would describe emission and absorption lines as chemistry rather than physics, and those afflict all stars (we call it helium because we first discovered it in absorption lines in the sun).

[DataNinja]

A new What-If? is up, for those who don't tend to check that part of the site. (I idly wondered when it came in, and lo and behold, it's actually only 8h old).

[WanderingMist]

A new What-If? is up, for those who don't tend to check that part of the site. (I idly wondered when it came in, and lo and behold, it's actually only 8h old).

Wait, what? That hasn't been updated in years.

[IthilanorStPete]

Wait, what? That hasn't been updated in years.

There was a new post (Hot Banana) back in May, and then the one DataNinja mentioned (Hailstones) a week ago.

[Keltest]

From my understanding the absence of updates was due to using the materials for his book instead. Which, you know, fair enough.

[WanderingMist]

From my understanding the absence of updates was due to using the materials for his book instead. Which, you know, fair enough.

Yeah, I figured that, too, which was why I haven't checked in a few months apparently.

[DataNinja]

Yeah, I honestly wasn't expecting more, so it was a pleasant surprise out of force of habit more than anything.

[Personification]

If today's comic is to be believed, you can still just BUY lab coats!

[Dame_Mechanus]

The worst part is that between working in LTC pharmacy and having a strong nursing background in my family, this is actually less horrible than many of the worst things I've seen or heard of being done within a medical environment. (Excepting discussions of people being criminally neglectful of people in assisted care or the like; that's not funny, that's just horrifying.)

[Rockphed]

If today's comic is to be believed, you can still just BUY lab coats!

Sure! I found some on Amazon for like $30!

[Xihirli]

Can anyone here tell me which one is the one where people fall in love and they're like "ha! You lost the game! I make you happy!"

[Squire Doodad]

Can anyone here tell me which one is the one where people fall in love and they're like "ha! You lost the game! I make you happy!"

Are you thinking of the SMBC where a guy refuses to respond to blatant clickbait and goes off and enjoys life?
Or the xkcd where they're doing a scavenger hunt for true love

[Maat Mons]

The mention of a literal interpretation of "squaring the circle" in the mouseover text of the most recent comic makes me want to watch an animation of an increasingly accurate Fourier approximation of a square in polar coordinates. Is that weird?

[gomipile]

The mention of a literal interpretation of "squaring the circle" in the mouseover text of the most recent comic makes me want to watch an animation of an increasingly accurate Fourier approximation of a square in polar coordinates. Is that weird?

You might also like Matt Parker's "squircle" video, then.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtTcyWL0NA

[Maat Mons]

It doesn't seem to approach very quickly. Friggin' discontinuities, amirite?

[hajo]

A new interactive comic !

Try steering with the cursor-keys.

[theangelJean]

A new interactive comic !

Try steering with the cursor-keys.

Or if you're on mobile, tap directly left/right/below the focus.

(Now I'm wondering if tapping directly above the focus would do anything.) Edit: same as tapping below.

Edit: if you get lost (which I did almost immediately) - the little persistent circles do mean something. Go find them.

[georgie_leech]

Or if you're on mobile, tap directly left/right/below the focus.

(Now I'm wondering if tapping directly above the focus would do anything.) Edit: same as tapping below.

Edit: if you get lost (which I did almost immediately) - the little persistent circles do mean something. Go find them.

Followed a circle, got trapped in the sun. 10/10, would get lost again

[Maat Mons]

[georgie_leech]

Having found a number of different worlds and planets, including a cluster of black holes, the planet from Le Petit Prince, and a global dog park... I think my favourite so far has to be the What If? Planet. It's so meta.

[hajo]

A new interactive comic !

Click on the comic, then steer with the cursor-keys.

Try to get the cannonball orbiting the starting planet ;)

The dots around the ship indicate nearby objects.
Up and down are relative to the gravity of the nearest object.
Watch the background stars as a speed-indicator.



See explainxkcd for more info,
as well as forum (and old forum) and reddit.

Spoiler: For the impatient:

Show

List of Locations with Coordinates and some javascript for cheating

[Maat Mons]

Am I the only one whos says "avec serifs" for fonts that aren't sans serifs?

[halfeye]

Am I the only one whos says "avec serifs" for fonts that aren't sans serifs?

Garlic fonts?

[ahyangyi]

Ironically, "only serif" font's most useful usage is probably that you can typeset it over a "sans serif" font with the same metrics, and then you can manipulate its color or style. To produce this effect:



But obviously Randall also realized this part, hence his joke about typesetting Times only serif over Comic Sans.