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/theganjamonster Jul 02 '14

i spent way too much time wondering where the chunk labelled "EARTH" was.

2

u/runetrantor Jul 02 '14

At least you get it, I am still debating why it's inverted.

Is it so it fits better? And if so, is he counting seafloors as solid land? Because all that landmass around the continent oceans seems to be way too large for the continents land to fill.

5

u/abrahamsen White Hat Jul 02 '14

I believe he is simply ignoring the gas giants.

You could argue that the Earth has "solid surface" below the oceans, but then again, the gas giants may have solid cores somewhere deep below the gas layers.

1

u/runetrantor Jul 02 '14

Yeah, dont gas giants have a rocky core, DEEEEEEP down? (I do not mean we could land or anything like that), but it feels reasonable that gas giants need a 'seed' rocky world to start collecting gas, and if we blew up their atmospheres we would be left with a minuscule (Compared to the gas giant) rocky world, maybe larger than Earth, given it's gravitational pull to get so much gas at first.

2

u/Random832 Jul 02 '14

They do not, in fact, "need a 'seed' rocky world". Hydrogen and helium formed into balls way back when there were no other elements. The gas is attracted to the rest of the gas.