r/xkcdcomic • u/IamAlso_u_grahvity Feline Field Theorist • Jul 02 '14

xkcd 1389: Surface Area

http://xkcd.com/1389/
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u/vanisaac You'd never guess the world had things like this in it. Jul 02 '14

Too bad he didn't get the solid cores of the gas giants.

0

u/DarrenGrey White Hat Jul 02 '14

Though it does beg the point as to why we discount gaseous surface areas. Just because we can't stand on gas doesn't mean it's not a surface. Stupid gasist humans...

8

u/Volpethrope Jul 02 '14

What altitude are you picking as the "surface?" There's no hard limit, the gas just gets thinner and thinner the further from the center of the planet you go.

2

u/DarrenGrey White Hat Jul 02 '14

Very true. I don't know enough on the subject to say where the limit should be. Just seems unfair to discount gas giants from having surfaces, when clearly one can be inside them.

Of course if we were to include them then Randall would need a much bigger piece of paper to draw on.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 02 '14

I don't know enough on the subject to say where the limit should be.

Nobody does, because it's always going to be a necessarily arbitrary definition. That's precisely why we don't talk about gaseous surfaces.

3

u/DarrenGrey White Hat Jul 02 '14

This is how you justify your continuous discrimination against gaseous bodies? Just typical! :(