this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024
1353 points (100.0% liked)

xkcd

10192 readers
245 users here now

A community for a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

https://xkcd.com/2898

Alt text:

"Some people say light is waves, and some say it's particles, so I bet light is some in-between thing that's both wave and particle depending on how you look at it. Am I right?" "YES, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T BE!"

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 42 points 1 year ago (7 children)

Technically, the sun is pulled by the earth too so it’s sort of true.

[–] [email protected] 124 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I mean, yeah. That's the joke.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Oh thanks! I wasn’t sure. /s

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

A cunning display of deception!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

May as well lose the /s

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

No it's not. The common center here is the center of our galaxy which both orbit. Even if the sun wobbles a miniscule bit there is no common orbit between them.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

it is possible for objects to orbit multiple objects at the same time. Add the moon to the system. The moon is orbiting the earth that is orbiting the sun that is orbiting the center of our galaxy. And yes each of them have a common center, just that it is very very close to the center of mass of the larger object in each case.

For the moon the earth is the dominant gravitational force, for the earth it is the sun and for the sun it is the center of our galaxy

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

for the sun it is the center of gravity.

You mean the galactic center, which in turn orbits a point somewhere in the middle of our local galactic cluster.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

And our local galactic cluster is heading towards something ominous called the Great Attractor. It’s direction is hidden by the horizon of the Milky Way, but it is most likely another larger cluster of galaxies

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

youre right, i miexd up the words and edited it. thank you.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There's a very famous smart man with zany hair and a big tongue that says your comment is wrong and it's all relative to your frame of reference.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

zany hair and a big tongue

Gene Simmons?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I would have gone with Groucho Marx.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The Goblin Bulge King?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

No the common center is called a barycenter and it’s somewhere just outside the middle of the sun.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Except it's still inside the sun, so depending on how big you view the center of the sun it could still be wrong.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

So if the point is inside the sun, do we not consider the sun as orbiting that point? I would think it is still orbiting a point.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

The sun isn't orbiting itself, though, so to say it's wrong is also wrong. The sun is orbiting a small point in space that is affected by the bodies around it. That the point is covered by the sun doesn't change that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It's usually not inside the sun thanks to Jupiter's fat ass

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My thought exactly but isn't the common center still inside the sun?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, but they still both orbit the black hole in the center of our galaxy

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The urge to orbit a black hole is universal

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Only until we find something heavier

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Looks over shoulder Nobody's going to take this? Sighs Fine. I'll get this one. Clears throat

Now we all orbit KidnappedByKitties mom.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Get in line! It's you, everyone and the rest of the universe!

Orbiting...

Slowly watching...

Slowly descending towards the crushing abyss...

Fast or slow, near or far, there is inevitably only Mother...

And the complete annihilation of her touch

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The common centre is the galaxy they both ~~orbit~~ spiral around together.

Then, the galaxy moves around some other point along with other galaxies.

Then, a bunch of aliens are playing with marbles.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I was thinking Men in Black.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Yeah, any 2 bodies actually orbit a common point in between themselves. In case of the Sun and Earth that point is probably still inside the Sun, not far from the center.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Then Jupiter and Saturn enter the dance and they're all sort of wrong.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I mean, yeah, but the bigger argument here is that due to the sheer mass of Jupiter, the centre of mass of our solar system is actually very so slightly outside of the sun