this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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xkcd #3106: Farads (imgs.xkcd.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

xkcd #3106: Farads

Title text:

'This HAZMAT container contains radioactive material with activity of one becquerel.' 'So, like, a single banana slice?'

Transcript:

[Cueball holds a stick while talking with Megan and White Hat.]
Cueball: This stick is one meter long.
Megan: Cool.
White Hat: That's a nice stick.

[Cueball holds a smallish rock.]
Cueball: This rock weighs one pound.
Megan: I'd believe it.
White Hat: Looks like a normal rock.

[Cueball holds a small battery.]
Cueball: This battery is one volt.
Megan: Seems fine.
White Hat: Might need a recharge.

[Cueball holds a capacitor while Megan and White Hat panic.]
Cueball: This capacitor is one farad.
Megan: Aaaaa! Be careful!!
White Hat: Put it down!!

Source: https://xkcd.com/3106/

explainxkcd for #3106

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[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

this guy gets it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Guys you're not gonna believe this:

50F Super capacitor

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Yes, I do not believe it. It must be a misprint, right?

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

No it's real! I can't verify the exact rating since it OL's my meter, but with some circuitry it can power my Pi for a few minutes. I got them from element14, so it's unlikely to be a fake product.

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

pfff at 2.7V that aint much of a danger, now show me 50F @ 2kV

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Thats literally exactly what it is. They aren't derived from the metric system like all units in the system, theyre a specialized edge case where a conversion was specifically written in because america sucks. There are no other conversions in the metric system, units are derived from constants based on a set of specific rules that the pound and yard do not adhere to.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

And I have to say, the chemistry math that resulted from the metric system is elegant. I've forgotten most of it by now, but at some point, I was able to envision the machinery behind it all, and it was beautiful.

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So, you don't understand the joke, but you detected an excuse to say America Bad. Your employer must be pleased.

The joke of this comic is based around most units in both the metric and imperial system being fairly mundane quantities. A one meter long stick is about half the height of a man, a one pound rock is about the size of his fist, a one volt battery has the potential of a dead AA.

The Ferad is the SI unit of capacitance, equal to 1 coulomb per volt. A one ferad capacitor can hold enough energy to do a number of exotically dangerous things.

[โ€“] [email protected] -5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Lmao what makes you think i didnt understand the joke? We're talking about units of measurement. And yeah i dont need an excuse to say America Bad. It is bro, have you been paying attention?

Edit* my comment was meant to be a reply to another comment about the metric system, not top level. Not sure how that happened aince i clicked reply right from my inbox. Stick by what i said about america

[โ€“] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Their names are Cueball, Megan, and White Hat?

[โ€“] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It is my understanding that XKCD's "characters" are somewhere between an actual character and an archetype. It isn't clear...and kind of doesn't matter, if Black Hat is the same guy in every comic or if he's a different devious schemer in each. Randall hasn't bothered to name any of them so the community has given them unofficial nicknames.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

Randall hasnโ€™t bothered to name any of them so the community has given them unofficial nicknames.

Megan is actually named in multiple comics though, ~~so is Danish (Black Hat's girlfrenemy)~~ (actually that was picked semi-arbitrarily by the community). Cueballs also have different names occasionally but they're all drawn the same.

And actually I do believe that certain non-named characters are the same comic-to-comic. Black hat and Beret guy almost certainly are.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago

Yeah Black Hat called her "My dearest darling danish" after she called him "my cutie pie." Closest thing she's had to a name.

[โ€“] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago

I remember reading about their names in explainxkcd. I think the only one never named in the comics is Cueball.

For a while, there was a blog, but I don't think it named any character.

[โ€“] [email protected] 39 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This capacitor will cost around one Bitcoin

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

We use it to ignite the tokamak.

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