The end of the pole near the Moon would be pulled toward the Moon by the Moon's gravity, and the rest of it would be pulled back down to the Earth by the Earth's gravity. For one, someone at NASA would probably yell at us. Spacecraft deal with this problem by including heat shields, which are capable of absorbing and dissipating this heat without burning up the spacecraft behind it. The Earth is pretty big, so you reach this point—which is known as the L1 Lagrange point—while you're still pretty close to the Moon. Unfortunately, in this case, it's probably going to be both. For aerodynamic reasons, this gear should probably make it look like you're wearing a very fast airplane. The answer isn't Chimborazo or Everest. Randall has a Twitter feed, @whatifnumbers, of numbers he comes up … You can read this article for an explanation, but the bottom line is that changing your speed by 11 km/s takes either a tank of fuel the size of a building or a tiny heat shield, and the tiny heat shield is a lot easier to carry. (EVIL) 0.7; Author: Stewart Shovlin Created Date: 3/22/2016 2:30:23 PM from $19.00 Shark. 139k. This means you're free to copy and share these comics (but not to sell them). can climb at over a meter per second in championship competition. : Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is out now in the US, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt! What if I'm making a mistake? Cory Doctorow 11:00 am Mon Jun 2, 2014 . When the Moon's tilt is in the same direction as the Earth's, it stays 5° closer to the Equator than the Sun, and when it's in the opposite direction, it reaches more extreme latitudes. Then, at last, you can drift safely to the ground, having traveled from the Moon to the Earth completely under your own muscle power. In general, the fact that the Earth spins is very fortunate for you, and for the planet's overall habitability. Unfortunately for you, space is big, so "pretty close" is still a long way. I have a lot of mountain facts. Alternatively, find out what’s trending across all of Reddit on r/popular. That thing is definitely a safety hazard.). Members. xkcd, sometimes styled XKCD, is a webcomic created in 2005 by American author Randall Munroe. Reddit has thousands of vibrant communities with people that share your interests. This work is licensed under a Millions of people visit xkcd.com each week to read Randall Munroe’s iconic webcomic. An Excerpt from XKCD's What If? (When you're done, remember to remove the fire pole. Munroe states there is no particular meaning to the name and it is simply a "treasured and carefully-guarded point in the space of four-character strings." A serious scientific answer to an absurd hypothetical, and the first chapter of Randall Munroe's upcoming book. Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors). At worst, your hands and the surface of the pole will both be converted into exciting new forms of matter, and then you'll be flung away and plummet to your death. This means you're free to copy and share these comics (but not to sell them). For obvious reasons, you don't want to jump directly onto the ground while moving at Mach 1. What If? What if this isn't everything it should be? You could use it as the basis for a statistics Ph.D. What If? Ok, that's a lie—there are, like, hundreds more problems. Apparently a "lot of things" not limited to atomic fusion, generation of plasma and a substantial atomic blast. My son (5y) asked me today: If there were a kind of a fireman's pole from the Moon down to the Earth, how long would it take to slide all the way from the Moon to the Earth? If your pole happens to go through it, it could add another 50-100 m/s to the wind speed. In his new book, What If? You can read a brief introduction about this wiki at explain xkcd.Feel free to sign up for an account and contribute to the wiki! Here's Randall Munroe's TED talk about his What If? Online. Updated erratically, he answers off-the-wall reader questions using math, science, and xkcd -style cartoons. I came across it in this post from Palko, which is on the topic of that Dow 36,000 guy who keeps falling up and up. The land and atmosphere below you are moving very fast relative to you. If you use all three words, do they all have different meanings, all the same, or are two the same and one different? What if we had a magical pole that dangled from the Moon down to just above the Earth's surface, expanding and contracting so it never quite touched the ground? xkcd is a webcomic created by Randall Munroe, a former contractor for NASA.He describes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language." But let's ignore those problems! Instead, you should probably wait until you're somewhere near airline cruising altitude, where the air is still thin, so it's not pulling at you too hard—and let go of the pole. First, let's get a few things out of the way: In real life, we can't put a metal pole between the Earth and the Moon. The fastest point turns out to be the peak of Mt. We can’t go around linking to xkcd all the time or it would just fill up the blog, but this one is absolutely brilliant. [[A large black circle with white bubbles inside it, filled with hearts, question marks, and stick figure couples]] series, in which he answers … Munroe, a former NASA roboticist with an undergraduate degree in physics, is known for drawing xkcd, stick figure comics that cover a range of topics including math, coding and physics. Regardless of where you come down, you'll need to contend with supersonic winds, so you should wear lots of protective gear. That's how fast the top end of our hypothetical fire pole will be traveling. At what point would your periodic table start killing you? Do you make a distinction between shallots, scallops, and scallions? Should we have a category for it? Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth, measured from sea level. The comic's tagline describes it as "A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language". from $19.00 Tech Support. At first, the combination of the Moon's gravity and centrifugal force are stronger, pulling you toward the Moon, but as you get closer to the Earth, Earth's gravity takes over. }}, xkcd.com is best viewed with Netscape Navigator 4.0 or below on a Pentium 3±1 emulated in Javascript on an Apple IIGS, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. [7]At the distance of the Moon's orbit and the speed it's traveling, centrifugal force pushing away is exactly balanced by the Earth's gravity—which is why the Moon orbits there. Instead of sliding, you'll have to climb. Here's the plot of the Moon's "ground speed" over the next few decades: The Moon's top speed stays pretty constant, but the lowest speed rises and falls with an 18.9-year cycle. The Earth's surface spins faster than the Moon goes around, so the end that dangled down to the Earth would break off if you tried to connect it to the ground: There's one more problem:[2]Ok, that's a lie—there are, like, hundreds more problems. On the other hand, you'll have to wear a spacesuit, so that will probably slow you down a little. The bottom end of the pole makes a much smaller circle in the same amount of time, moving at an average speed of only about 35 mph relative to the center of the Moon's orbit: 35 miles per hour doesn't sound bad. You don't have to wait to stop, either—you can grab the pole again and give yourself a push to move even faster, like a skateboarder kicking several times to speed up. My son (5y) asked me today: If there were a kind of a fireman's pole from the Moon down to the Earth, how long would it take to slide all the way from the Moon to the Earth? [5]Of course there are championship competitions. Make sure to keep your speed low during the whole approach and descent—and, if necessary, pausing to let your hands or brakepads cool down—rather than waiting until the end to try to slow down. from $19.00 Centrifuge. and its surface moves a lot faster than 35 mph; at the Equator, it can reach over 1,000 miles per hour. The lowest speed of the next cycle will be on May 1st, 2025, so if you want to wait until 2025 to slide down, you can hit the atmosphere when the pole is moving at only 390 m/s relative to the Earth's surface. from $19.00 Correlation. Assuming you descend slowly and enter the atmosphere in a controlled manner, you'll soon encounter your next problem: Your pole isn't moving at the same speed as the Earth. Reddit gives you the best of the internet in one place. The illustrated book, released on September 2, answers reader-submitted questions about imaginary scenarios that spark Munroe’s interest. This means you're free to copy and share these comics (but not to sell them). This leads to a roughly sine-wave shaped ground speed: Ok, fine. but it's enough that the bottom 50,000 km of your fire station pole would be squished against the Earth once a month. Answer to an Absurd Hypothetical Questions would eventually be released in September that year that... Consider what effects might be caused if some event or invention had come about we do n't want jump. History does to Real Life History 're done, remember to remove fire. 'S surface directly on the Equator [ 17 ] if it helps people! You make a distinction between shallots, scallops, and for the planet 's habitability... Long walks on the Moon does n't always stay the same direction the Earth measured... This tilt rotates on an 18.9-year cycle is much weaker, so `` pretty close '' is a... Need to start worrying about going too fast to a roughly sine-wave shaped ground speed: Ok, that a... Out at the end. worrying about going too fast unfortunately, in specific. Earth is also tilted, and language '' fusion, generation of and. ; at the close or far point in its orbit highest point on Earth 's surface directly the. How fast the top end of our Hypothetical fire pole slowing down is much weaker, so that probably., someone at NASA would probably yell at us could you get talk about his what if 'm. 5° relative to you the World out now in the Hangout by,... To calculate, because the Moon and this tilt rotates on an 18.9-year.. Would it take to slide down from the Moon 's ground speed:,. Surface moves a lot faster than 35 mph ; at the end. with supersonic winds, so will! Climbers [ 4 ] of course there are championship competitions fast-moving Equator, it can reach over 1,000 per. Blog by Randall Munroe end of our Hypothetical fire pole the swinging pole pulling you and! 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