What if? and How to: from xkcd's Randall Munroe

the archive

Relativistic Baseball

July 10, 2012

SAT Guessing

July 10, 2012

Yoda

July 17, 2012

A Mole of Moles

July 24, 2012

Robot Apocalypse

July 31, 2012

Glass Half Empty

August 7, 2012

Everybody Out

August 14, 2012

Everybody Jump

August 21, 2012

Soul Mates

August 28, 2012

Cassini

September 4, 2012

Droppings

September 11, 2012

Raindrop

September 18, 2012

Laser Pointer

September 25, 2012

Short Answer Section

October 2, 2012

Mariana Trench Explosion

October 9, 2012

Today's topic: Lightning

October 16, 2012

Green Cows

October 23, 2012

BB Gun

October 30, 2012

Tie Vote

November 6, 2013

Diamond

November 13, 2012

Machine Gun Jetpack

November 20, 2012

Cost of Pennies

November 27, 2012

Short Answer Section II

December 4, 2012

Model Rockets

December 11, 2012

Three Wise Men

December 18, 2012

Leap Seconds

December 31, 2012

Death Rates

January 8, 2013

Steak Drop

January 15, 2013

Spent Fuel Pool

January 22, 2013

Interplanetary Cessna

January 29, 2013

FedEx Bandwidth

February 5, 2013

Hubble

February 12, 2013

Ships

February 19, 2013

Twitter

February 26, 2013

Hair Dryer

March 5, 2013

Cornstarch

March 12, 2013

Supersonic Stereo

March 19, 2013

Voyager

March 26, 2013

Hockey Puck

April 2, 2013

Pressure Cooker

April 9, 2013

Go West

April 16, 2013

Longest Sunset

April 23, 2013

Train Loop

April 30, 2013

High Throw

May 7, 2013

ISS Music Video

May 14, 2013

Bowling Ball

May 21, 2013

Alien Astronomers

May 28, 2013

Sunset on the British Empire

June 4, 2013

Sunless Earth

June 11, 2013

Extreme Boating

June 18, 2013

Free Fall

June 25, 2013

Bouncy Balls

June 2, 2013

Drain the Oceans

July 9, 2013

Drain the Oceans: Part II

July 16, 2013

Random Sneeze Call

July 23, 2013

Restraining an Airplane

July 30, 2013

Dropping a Mountain

August 6, 2013

Orbital Speed

August 12, 2013

Updating a Printed Wikipedia

August 20, 2013

Signs of Life

August 27, 2013

Speed Bump

September 3, 2013

Falling With Helium

September 10, 2013

Google's Datacenters on Punch Cards

September 17, 2013

Rising Steadily

September 24, 2013

Twitter Timeline Height

October 1, 2013

500 MPH

October 8, 2013

Expanding Earth

October 15, 2013

Little Planet

October 22, 2013

Facebook of the Dead

October 29, 2013

The Constant Groundskeeper

November 5, 2013

Stirring Tea

November 12, 2013

Loneliest Human

November 19, 2013

Lethal Neutrinos

November 26, 2013

Soda Planet

December 3, 2013

Phone Keypad

December 10, 2013

Reading Every Book

December 17, 2013

Growth Rate

December 31, 2013

T-rex Calories

January 7, 2014

Lake Tea

January 14, 2014

Pile of Viruses

January 21, 2014

Catch!

January 28, 2014

Hitting a comet

February 5, 2014

Star Sand

February 11, 2014

Paint the Earth

February 18, 2014

Rocket Golf

February 25, 2014

Far-Traveling Objects

March 4, 2014

Enforced by Radar

March 11, 2014

Soda Sequestration

March 18, 2014

Tungsten Countertop

March 25, 2014

Great Tree, Great Axe

April 3, 2014

Faucet Power

April 8, 2014

One-Second Day

April 15, 2014

Windshield Raindrops

April 22, 2014

Billion-Story Building

April 29, 2014

Pyramid Energy

May 6, 2014

$2 Undecillion Lawsuit

May 14, 2014

Burning Pollen

May 20, 2014

Blood Alcohol

May 27, 2014

Starlings

June 3, 2014

WWII Films

June 11, 2014

Plastic Dinosaurs

June 18, 2014

Keyboard Power

June 25, 2014

Vanishing Water

July 2, 2014

Global Snow

July 9, 2014

Cannibalism

July 16, 2014

Ink Molecules

July 23, 2014

Letter to Mom

July 30, 2014

Expensive Shoebox

August 13, 2014

Into the Blue

August 20, 2014

Walking New York

August 27, 2014

All the Money

September 2, 2014

Balloon Car

September 17, 2014

Visit Every State

September 24, 2014

Antimatter

October 1, 2014

Into the Sun

October 8, 2014

No-Rules NASCAR

October 15, 2014

Distant Death

October 23, 2014

Physical Salary

October 30, 2014

Laser Umbrella

November 13, 2014

Alternate Universe What Ifs

November 20, 2014

Frozen Rivers

December 11, 2014

Lava Lamp

December 18, 2014

Fairy Demographics

January 1, 2015

Lunar Swimming

January 8, 2015

Bowling Ball

January 15, 2015

Stairs

January 22, 2015

Tug of War

January 28, 2015

Zippo Phone

February 5, 2015

Black Hole Moon

February 12, 2015

Snow Removal

February 19, 2015

Microwaves

February 27, 2014

Hotter than Average

March 7, 2015

Flagpole

March 17, 2015

Space Burial

March 28, 2015

Digging Downward

April 5, 2015

Spiders vs. the Sun

April 12, 2015

New Horizons

July 14, 2015

Jupiter Submarine

July 28, 2015

Jupiter Descending

August 4, 2015

Proton Earth, Electron Moon

September 18, 2015

Sunbeam

January 12, 2016

Space Jetta

January 20, 2016

Europa Water Siphon

January 26, 2016

Saliva Pool

February 2, 2016

Fire From Moonlight

February 9, 2016

Stop Jupiter

February 16, 2016

Niagara Straw

February 26, 2016

Eat the Sun

March 12, 2016

Pizza Bird

March 26, 2016

Tatooine Rainbow

May 23, 2016

Sun Bug

June 21, 2016

Flood Death Valley

October 18, 2016

Hide the Atmosphere

January 30, 2016

Coast-to-Coast Coasting

February 8, 2017

Toaster vs. Freezer

February 28, 2017

Electrofishing for Whales

March 9, 2017

Earth-Moon Fire Pole

May 21, 2018

Hot Banana

May 4, 2022

Hailstones

July 6, 2022

Transatlantic Car Rental

September 6, 2022

Star Ownership

November 1, 2022

Comet Ice

December 6, 2022

the books

What If?

Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

Thing Explainer

Complicated Stuff in Simple Words

How To

Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems

What If? 2

More Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

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