I would like to point out that on April 8th, xkcd “What If?” posted a comic discussing the question, “Am I right to be afraid of pressure cookers? What’s the worst thing that can happen if you misuse a pressure cooker in an ordinary kitchen?”
The Boston Marathon bombing took place on April 15th.
(Note: I’m not suggesting any link here; it’s just an usual and unfortunate coincidence.)
XKCD What if 23
what-if.xkcd.comFor whomever I was having that discussion about boomerangs, trees and shoes, look at the last answer.
What If XKCD: Machine Gun Jetpack
I’m a physics dork, in a weird kind of way. I hate math, I hate calculus, I hate formulas, but if it has to do with things exploding or the world being annihilated in a fiery ball of doom, I’m all in.
And, apparently, XKCD is my kind of guy. He answers random questions, using physics, and theoretically blows up the world.
One of his funniest questions: “Is it possible to build a jetpack using downward firing machine guns?”
Check it out. If you don’t laugh at the words, the cartoons are always hilarious.
And…. Asian Dorkiness Time is over,
Kaye
If wishes were horses...
I was talking to a long distance friend, and was saying how much I wished I could hang out with them, but thought of the saying “if wishes were horses then beggars would ride”.
So I decided to find out what would happen if wishes were horses.
Enjoy.
Well, if wishes were horses, then everyone would be trampled. Think about it. 6 billion people, probably a wish of some kind every 5 seconds, so 63,110,000 per person per year, so 3.7866 * 10^17 horses a year. That’s a heck of a lot. I don’t know if there is enough space for that.
The space required humanely per animal for transport according to this study (http://pubs.aic.ca/doi/pdf/10.4141/A98-078) is A = (0.0182)W^0.675, with W being the average weight of the horses, around 1000 pounds according to my research(http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_weight_of_a_horse), and A being area per horse. Therefore, A = around 2 m^2.
That would mean our wishes turned horses would require 7.5732 * 10^17 square meters, or 757,320 million square kilometers. That’s more than 1000 times the surface of the earth. Exactly 1,485 earths would be required to hold them all. So, if wishes were horses, we would be dead.
If it weren’t for the slightly shoddy numbers, this would make a good xkcd what if.
If wishes were horses…(updated math)
I was talking to a long distance friend, and was saying how much I wished I could hang out with them, but thought of the saying “if wishes were horses then beggars would ride”.
So I decided to find out what would happen if wishes were horses.
Enjoy.
Well, if wishes were horses, then everyone would be trampled. Think about it. 7,057,607,873 people(1), probably a wish of some kind every 5 seconds, so 63,110,000 per person per year, so 4.4540563 * 10^17 horses a year. That’s a heck of a lot. I don’t know if there is enough space for that.
The formula for space required humanely per animal for transport according to this study(2) is A = (0.0182)W^0.675, with A being area per horse, and W being the average weight of the horses, around 1000 pounds according to my research(3). Therefore, A = 1.92784177982 m^2.
That would mean our wishes turned horses would require 8.5867158*10^17 square meters, or 858.67158 billion square kilometers. That’s more than 1000 times the surface of the earth. 1684 earths would be required to hold them all. 199 more than last time! So, if wishes were horses, we would be dead. I wonder where these 1684 earths would be going every year?
They would also cover fourteen jupiters, or after 7 years, one sun.
If it weren’t for the slightly shoddy numbers, this would make a good xkcd what if.
1. http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html
2. http://pubs.aic.ca/doi/pdf/10.4141/A98–078
3. http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_average_weight_of_a_horse
