What if you threw a baseball at nearly light speed?

Рет қаралды 1,162,484

2 ай бұрын

Get a copy of What If? 2 and Randall’s other books at: xkcd.com/books
More serious answers to absurd questions at: what-if.xkcd.com/
What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light?
Randall Munroe is the author of the New York Times bestsellers What If? 2, How To, What If?, and Thing Explainer; the science question-and-answer blog What If?; and the popular web comic xkcd (xkcd.com). A former NASA roboticist, he left the agency in 2006 to draw comics on the internet full time.
Henry Reich is the creator of MinutePhysics and executive producer of MinuteEarth and MinuteFood and founder of Neptune Studios (the parent company for all three youtube channels).
Credits
Narrated by and based on "What If?" by Randall Munroe
Written & Directed by Henry Reich
Illustration and Video Editing by Lizah van der Aart
Illustration and Animation by Ever Salazar
Music & Sound Effects by Know Art Studios
What If? The Video Series is the official adaptation of the What If? books by Randall Munroe and is produced by Neptune Studios LLC.
©2023 xkcd, inc.

Пікірлер: 2 200

@thetaleteller4692 2 ай бұрын

I think the official rulebook needs getting extended that vaporizing the batter by gamma rays gets your team banned from the league.

@mrloop1530 2 ай бұрын

Reasonable

@ShireNomad 2 ай бұрын

If we can identify what's left of the team, I'll make sure to let them know.

@Dogman1227 2 ай бұрын

Can't ban the team if there is no team, officials, neighborhood or any other witnesses to elaborate on that freak of nature event.

@vest816 2 ай бұрын

That's a 2 game suspension by NFL rules.

@redneckgaijin 2 ай бұрын

The pitcher has either much greater concerns or no concerns at all, depending on your preferred metaphysics.

@rfquinn 2 ай бұрын

Quoting the official baseball rules was a beautiful touch

@spastikman 2 ай бұрын

Propelled the video from an 8.0 to a 10.0. Bravo 🧑‍🍳👌

@I-did-September-11th 2 ай бұрын

Just don't look at the next page "If the ball causes a nu-"

@Imperfectrun 2 ай бұрын

First base is first base

@mattb7517 2 ай бұрын

IDK, according to part (B) it seems like the batter made no attempt to avoid being touched by the ball

@88porpoise 2 ай бұрын

@@mattb7517 That is not considered if there is no reasonable opportunity to attempt to avoid it. The bigger issue is that a portion of the ball is in the strike zone, which would preclude a hit by pitch so presumably it is just a called strike.

@nolanfischer4855 2 ай бұрын

Q: What if you threw a baseball at nearly light speed? A: Nuke.

@matthewsaari6577 2 ай бұрын

On reddit this is such a common question. And this what if gets referenced every time. It makes me laugh every time people are curious but the reality is always just everything nearby is dead.

@Zorothegallade-gg7zg 2 ай бұрын

That can be said for anything bigger than a single particle reaching light speed

@DoesThisWork888 2 ай бұрын

@@matthewsaari6577 ''What if we-...'' ''Dead.''

@triketyler 2 ай бұрын

so theoretically, it is possible for every playground to contain a nuclear bomb

@kapperbeastYT Ай бұрын

@@triketylereven better, from my understanding of the idea of Boltzmann brains, it's theoretically possible for a nuclear bomb to spontaneously appear and detonate.

@williamstratton3126 2 ай бұрын

I'm so unbelievably angry I discovered this channel today and not in 6 months when there's a gigantic backlog of videos to binge. Can't wait to see more!

@terdragontra8900 2 ай бұрын

you can binge the many articles on the what if website if you havent already, at least!

@hypsin0 2 ай бұрын

At least there are thousands of xkcd strips to read...

@shikiikomori 2 ай бұрын

this is in his book "what if?" so you can read it there!

@TUUK2006 2 ай бұрын

"Gigantic"? 6 videos? We need to talk about the concept of 'hyperbole'.

@lobsterpokemon1376 2 ай бұрын

yo phantom????

@johncochran8497 2 ай бұрын

It's the "unsuspecting" prefix to so many participants that really makes it.

@MatthijsvanDuin 2 ай бұрын

-unsuspecting- disintegrating

@jeandes5782 2 ай бұрын

Clueless batter

@fipachu 2 ай бұрын

they know nothing (John Snow?)

@regal_ironknight8136 Ай бұрын

hmm today i will pitch a baseball at 90% the speed of light 🙂 ⬅️ clueless

@usernametaken017 10 күн бұрын

Hmm today I will play a normal match of baseball

@gsurfer04 2 ай бұрын

If you're wondering, a baseball at 0.9 c has 1.6E16 J of kinetic energy. That's about 1/6 of the yield of Castle Bravo, the most powerful nuclear weapon tested by the United States.

@JohnDoe-bq9tq 2 ай бұрын

Indeed. Remember E=mc^2? Well, kinetic energy is 0.5mv^2, so with v=0.9c, that's 0.4*mc^2.

@AndyZach 2 ай бұрын

Thank you. Upthread, I asked about the yield. I guessed 20 KT. I believe I recall our largest atomic weapon was 20-30 MT. What was Castle Bravo's yield?

@RJNoe 2 ай бұрын

16 Petajoules is about 3.8 megatons of TNT

@gsurfer04 2 ай бұрын

@@JohnDoe-bq9tq Gotta account for relativity with the Lorentz factor.

@ericchurchill8564 2 ай бұрын

Thank you, that is in fact exactly what I was wondering.

@gugoosgaming6800 2 ай бұрын

"JIMMY, WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THROWING LIGHT SPEED BASEBALLS?" "Sorry, Coach."

@Bowtiedhillbilly 2 ай бұрын

"Sweep the leg, Johnny?" No. "Vaporize the stadium?" Absolutley

@I-did-September-11th 2 ай бұрын

It Wasn't light speed this time though Coach. It was only 0.9C!

@jhtrq1465 2 ай бұрын

Child Homelander moment, if he had a mom

@billyjoe8185 2 ай бұрын

@@I-did-September-11th what if he threw it at 1.0C

@mrfrog0913 2 ай бұрын

He just goes to the gym a lot

@mahieuwim 28 күн бұрын

I love how the answer to most of these seemingly-innocuous questions is "everybody dies".

@notsojharedtroll23 12 күн бұрын

Haha N I C E

@TheMattastic 2 ай бұрын

Nothing good ever follows the phrase "expanding bubble of incandescent plasma".

@CasabaHowitzer 2 ай бұрын

Only good things ever follow that phrase

@charlesclark3840 2 ай бұрын

Yes, But change bubble to miasma ...

@michaelleue7594 2 ай бұрын

The Sun, being an expanding bubble of incandescent plasma, allows life to exist on Earth.

@raze3297 2 ай бұрын

I'd say it depends on your proximity to said bubble.

@robertjarman3703 2 ай бұрын

Or any time that Randall needs to use scientific notation.

@laalaa99stl 2 ай бұрын

This is arguably the most famous What-If... the What-If equivalent of the "sudo make me a sandwich" comic.

@iveharzing 2 ай бұрын

My Electrodynamics professor has this xkcd in his slides! :D

@Taladar2003 2 ай бұрын

But probably not even in the top ten most cited xkcds.

@red__guy 2 ай бұрын

You don't get any programming related degree unless you saw at least 3 times the Bobby Tables in any professor's slides

@wolfelkan8183 2 ай бұрын

It was also the first one published on the blog.

@rykehuss3435 2 ай бұрын

@@red__guy 1597 is also a good one "Git"

@victor440 2 ай бұрын

Note: if you do some physics you'll find that the ball has about the same energy as a 5 megaton Nuke Equations: E=pc, p=γ m_0 v, γ=(1+v^2/c^2)^(-1/2). You can take E=pc in this case cuz the rest energy is extremely insignificant.

@dibbidydoo4318 Ай бұрын

only 5 megatons?

@Quasar-fv8to Ай бұрын

@@dibbidydoo4318what do you mean "only"? Ignoring the fact nukes are exploded miles above the ground, the explosions would be directional for the most part, so its destructive potential would be extreme in the linear direction the ball is thrown at. More than enough to wipe out a quarter of a large city and cut a giant gash through 10km.

@dibbidydoo4318 Ай бұрын

@@Quasar-fv8to but it's light speed. The fastest thing in the universe is something that's already reachable to us with nukes with the mass of a few dozen baseballs.

@RB-kb3tc Ай бұрын

@@dibbidydoo4318 Because of relativity, light speed doesn't quite work that way. Basically, the closer you get to the universal speed limit, the more difficult it becomes to close the gap. Accelerating something at 99% c takes a lot more energy than doing so to 90% c, reaching 99.9% is a lot harder than reaching 99%, and so on. This continues boundlessly, so there's no limit to how much energy you can store into an object by accelerating it.

@garywebster3044 28 күн бұрын

@@dibbidydoo4318 No it isn't the closer it gets to light speed the more energy it has this has no limit.

@milo_is_the_best 2 ай бұрын

we do a little trolling *proceeds to throw baseball at 90% the speed of light*

@averageracistperson525 2 ай бұрын

what if an urban explorer tried to explore an abandoned apartment but its so large he gets lost and can't go back to where he came from. but then after hours, days, weeks, he realizes the apartment is larger than what he thought. Hunger, thirst, loneliness gets to him and he becomes a crippled man, barely a human. after years, he becomes more and more in peace eith the labyrinth. he begins to adapt, he begins to controll the rooms. and he Rules the labyrinth and becomes god.

@some-random-protogen-idk Ай бұрын

@@averageracistperson525 huh???

@averageracistperson525 Ай бұрын

@@some-random-protogen-idk bro i dont remember writing that comment, so i was likely deprived of sleep idk what that comments means even for me ngl.

@some-random-protogen-idk Ай бұрын

@@averageracistperson525 ok

@iisgray 2 ай бұрын

This has always been my favorite What If, and not because it was one of the first, and not because of how wildly dramatic the scenario ends up in comparison to the innocence of the question, but what always sends me rolling is that technically the batter can move to first base, which for my money is an equally important part of the answer

@iisgray 2 ай бұрын

Also those sound effects

@obsidianquill7949 2 ай бұрын

Honestly, the relativistic baseball question was one of the first I thoroughly read when getting the book. I thought it was going to be boring and that was one of the most incorrect assumptions I’ve ever made.

@gordontaylor2815 2 ай бұрын

The relativistic baseball was the very first What If? on the website, I believe.

@iisgray 2 ай бұрын

@@gordontaylor2815 That's my recollection too, so I've decided to just go and confirm, and it is. But also that SAT Guessing was released the same day. I could hide behind pedantry and claim this is why I said one of and not the, but the truth was that I just wasn't sure and didn't want to be wrong lmao

@raineob4996 2 ай бұрын

Sure; the pitcher effectively set off a tactical H-bomb, but the batter still gets to take his base!

@AndrewGordonBellPerc 2 ай бұрын

I'd argue about your careful reading of the hit by pitch rule. It states in condition B that the batter has to make an attempt to get out of the way of the ball, as the batter literally could not react he was unable to make any attempt to avoid the pitched ball and therefore would only be awarded a ball.

@johnshark5219 2 ай бұрын

and what makes you assume that it was outside the strike zone? hbp can occur over the plate as well, if the batter is crowding it but also attempting to move away from it

@AndyZach 2 ай бұрын

True, yet for fastballs, this is rarely enforced. If the ump judges the batter had no opportunity to avoid the ball, they get first base. Also, it was physically impossible to avoid the ball, since it was a baseball diamond-sized ball of plasma.

@JamesDooley82 2 ай бұрын

To be fair, they do technically avoid the 'baseball', just not the 'plasma ball', which I am fairly certain is not mentioned in the rulebook.

@VividBoricua 2 ай бұрын

You guys are forgetting that the pitch could've also been a strike, in which case the batter is definitely not awarded first base but instead has to face at least one more pitch.

@meee_5155 2 ай бұрын

It says or though. As long as the ball wasn’t in the strike zone, which it was. So it is not a walk, but not for the reason you said

@timeworntraveler3644 2 ай бұрын

I was today years old when I first heard Randall's voice. It was... as expected!

@andrewthomas7109 2 ай бұрын

Congratulations! You're one of today's lucky 10,000 ☺

@seanthornton4382 2 ай бұрын

I remember reading this one years ago. Still chuckle at the "hit by pitch and can advance to first base" Please keep doing these. :-)

@Idefilms 2 ай бұрын

A classic. I still remember how my friend (who has since moved away) introduced What If? to me more than a decade ago: he read this out loud, in full, from the blog, and ended up needing to pause several times because he was laughing so hard. It was one of the greatest things I'd ever heard. Good times. I'm going to send this to him.

@PK19899 2 ай бұрын

Tell him Randall himself is the narrator

@Radonatos 2 ай бұрын

I remember it with "If Superman threw a ball at the speed of light..." - or was that something else?

@expansivegymnast1020 2 ай бұрын

Sounds like a good friend

@andrewfleenor7459 2 ай бұрын

I had a similar experience with a dramatic reading of this article with friends. We were all losing our minds laughing.

@Idefilms 2 ай бұрын

@@expansivegymnast1020 He absolutely is!

@fsodn 2 ай бұрын

I love every single solitary second of this, but the apparently mouth-made foley swishing wind noises is the hidden gem here, and it's awesome and hilarious in its own right.

@crusatyr1452 2 ай бұрын

@@BrowncoatFairy That's a shame, because the content is great regardless. I for one, find it charming, but I feel your pain. Sometimes the wrong sound will ruin a video like that for me too.

@Loebane 2 ай бұрын

@@BrowncoatFairy So sorry to hear that, I've got misophonia but lucky for me those particular noises weren't bad. Have you tried calmer ear plugs? They kind of reshape sounds and help take the edge off.

@Blindman875 2 ай бұрын

@@BrowncoatFairy I find it endearing and hilarious. To each their own I guess.

@gnyrinn 2 ай бұрын

I'd say it's a tad too much. A bit of it is good and proper, but as it is it just distracts.

@leifhietala8074 2 ай бұрын

I did admire the sincere effort put into the verisimilitude.

@TimvanderVelden-dp3fs 15 күн бұрын

I love how everything in the ball's way changes from 'unsuspecting' to 'disintegrated'.. :-)

@oopsgaming7111 2 ай бұрын

If there ever was a "Well, that escalated quickly", this is the one!

@frantisekvrana3902 2 ай бұрын

I suspect Rule 5.05 would not apply, as the wizard accelerating the ball would be Spectator Interference according to 6.01e and the ball would be considered dead from the moment it was accelerated.

@rose_allen 2 ай бұрын

What if the wizard was first-baseman?

@seekingthelovethatgodmeans7648 2 ай бұрын

But if the pitcher were Superman?

@bend.4130 2 ай бұрын

@@rose_allenI cast Magic Missle

@88porpoise 2 ай бұрын

Even if Rule 5.05 applies, I do not believe the batter would be entitled to first base. If the batter his hit while the ball is in the strike zone, it is a strike and a ball is considered to be within the strike zone if any part of the ball is in the strike zone. In this case a portion of the ball would be in the strike zone. The counterargument would be that the ball bounces off the ground and into the strike zone (which some of it presumably did) which would mean it is not a strike and is a HBP, but I think the strike argument is far stronger in the spirit of the rules where there is ambiguity. I am ignoring the comment that the ball first hit the bat since that makes no sense as the bat would almost certainly be on the far side of the batter as the pitcher releases and the batter wouldn't even register the release before disintegrating.

@afrophoenix3111 2 ай бұрын

Conveniently but boringly, the ball is declared dead in the microsecond before the entire city center surrounding it is also declared dead.

@Klipik12 2 ай бұрын

This is the classic kurzgesagt answer of "short answer, you die. Long answer, it depends."

@bladdnun3016 2 ай бұрын

xkcd >> kurzgesagt

@VeteranVandal 2 ай бұрын

Here it only depends on your distance from the pitch.

@StarryNightGazing 2 ай бұрын

pretty sure the long answer is still you die

@an1hony28 2 ай бұрын

Yes, but you die with cool stuff happening

@deltalima6703 2 ай бұрын

Kurzgesagt

@sandduneoasis 2 ай бұрын

This is the most epic and hilarious What If ever. I love how you explained the physics and the consequences of such a crazy scenario. The animations and the narration were superb. But the best part was the disclaimer at the end: “Do not try this at home.” 😂

@sillicon8227 Ай бұрын

This topic fills me with a strange sense of nostalgia. I found this video and memories just came flooding back. I remember when i was a 4th grader, during our morning assembly at school, a select group of kids (chosen the day before) from a random class would get to present researched facts to the entire school block. One of the 11th graders at our school presented this exact topic to us all and talked about it with so much detail and enthusiasm in his voice that i was unable to think of anything else for the next few days. As a child, this question alone was the reason for my fascination with physics to begin.

@charliehansen6584 2 ай бұрын

The personal touch on the sound effects is easily my favorite part. Just hearing him make the noises with his mouth in the background lmao

@felixb.8841 2 ай бұрын

omg same! I was going through the comments to see if anyone else appreciated them just as much!! so funny

@LendriMujina 2 ай бұрын

2:11 Can we just talk about how, since it hit the bat first, that means the batter _still managed to hit the ball?_ Rest well, stick figure batter; you were probably the most skilled batter of all time.

@Vesperitis Ай бұрын

It’d also mean the batter would need to swing at close to the speed of light, so that’s two nuclear explosions colliding at each other.

@hugme9592 Ай бұрын

If the batter knew that the baseball would be thrown at that speed, they would need to swing so that the bat is in front of them at the release of the ball. It would be a matter of timing the swing by the movement of the pitcher rater than the ball.

@averyb.476 Ай бұрын

The batter was in the bunt position 😂

@gmlegende3282 2 ай бұрын

i think the part that i like the most is the mouth-made background noises, great channel.

@cavemann_ 2 ай бұрын

This is way more exhaustive than I anticipated and I loved every second of it!

@JoshWebb 2 ай бұрын

The voiced sound effects are absolutely cracking me up! 😂

@john3260 2 ай бұрын

I was looking for this comment! 😂

@kuronyaa-san 2 ай бұрын

The sound effects! Bzzzzzzt. Psssssssssshhhhhuuuuu!

@theijemanmanman 2 ай бұрын

I love that the book is getting remastered in video form, it's pretty satisfying to watch

@Jaymic 2 ай бұрын

It's great for me because I've never had the opportunity to get my hands on a copy!

@gamerknight1014 2 ай бұрын

I love how he makes the explosion sound effects on his own

@DutchPatterson 16 күн бұрын

Reading this question in What If? is what got me into the XKCD world. Love you, Randall.

@ClintonAllenAnderson 2 ай бұрын

I do miss Wil Wheaton asking "But what if we add more power?" That was awesome!

@theemmjay5130 2 ай бұрын

To which James Doohan replies, "The engines canna take much more o' this!"

@GlitchedBlox 2 ай бұрын

Shut up, Wesley?

@FailSpace2 2 ай бұрын

boy oh boy do i love xkcd

@eggalicious8853 2 ай бұрын

“xkcd” rearranged is “dxck”. Make of that what you will…

@Li-Nuss 2 ай бұрын

@@eggalicious8853 The sum of the letters is 42. I think that makes up for it.

@avhuf 2 ай бұрын

I wonder what psychologists would say about people making anagrams of questionable nature using words not even containing all letters required...

@kelsierii4747 2 ай бұрын

I have this book. Read it in like 3 days cause it's so good

@ArtemisAYO 2 ай бұрын

@@eggalicious8853duck 🙂

@matthewhafner962 2 ай бұрын

I remember reading this the day you put it out in written form. I love that your final observation is the same as the written one.

@invisiblemilkbag Ай бұрын

I love how this is damn near taken word for word from the book. Makes it so much more interactive.

@Fralexion 2 ай бұрын

Ah, the question that started it all.

@alexrook3792 2 ай бұрын

I like the statement that "it hits the bat first" assuming that the batter managed to actually hit the ball that he, as previously mentioned, would physically impossible to see. Edit: at everyone trying to tell me "it's not physically impossible, it's biologically impossible", I was literally quoting the video that said the shockwave would reach the batter before the batter could even see the pitch because the light would be traveling at about the same speed as the shockwave.. I am literally pointing out the fact that he just said the batter wouldnt' have been able to see the pitch and then, in the very next sentence, stated that the bat would be struck first.

@Fuqes 2 ай бұрын

It hitting the bat first also means it can't be a hit-by-pitch! It would be a bunt turned foul ball

@stargazingbeginner 2 ай бұрын

It isn't physically impossible, since matter can't move at the speed of light the light would still be in front of the ball, hence the light will arrive at the person's eyeball but probably won't get processed, so it isn't possible to see it, but if we ignore our biological limits then we will be able to see it, making it "biologically impossible" instead of "physically impossible".

@cjt354 2 ай бұрын

I guess the bat just happened to be in position when the pitch was made?

@MattFyrm 2 ай бұрын

@stargazingbeginner when talking about what is physically possible for a human tot do, biology tends to play a role ;) Like you implied, vision is a thing that only makes sense to talk about in the context of human (or other) biology

@stargazingbeginner 2 ай бұрын

@@MattFyrm that is true, however the person who made the original reply just stated "physically" and not "physically possible for a human", hence i assumed that they were talking about it being physically impossible, which it isn't, it just conflicts biological limits, but if he were to say that it is physically impossible for a human to observe it, then that is partially true, since there probably are some EXTREME scenarios regarding some sort of disorders that allow it, but from a standpoint of a normal human, it is probably impossible, but i am not educated in the biological field. either way, you make an excellent point that sometimes we simply take a random "creature" that observes something and think it's a human.

@MundaneMuser 2 ай бұрын

Haha, just finished watching this with the fam and it was 🔥! We've been waiting forever for this and it totally lived up to the hype. First, we were all gathered around the computer, about to click on the video, when BAM! Power outage! Uncle Bob strikes again, accidentally unplugging everything while vacuuming. Classic Uncle Bob move 😂. But hey, we got the power back and it was smooth sailing, right? Nope! Little Timmy decided it was the perfect time to test his karate skills and ended up kicking a hole in the wall! Mom wasn't too thrilled, but we patched it up quick. When we reached the part about the baseball rules, Grandma couldn't stop laughing! She was cracking up so hard she dropped her false teeth in her whisky 😂. And to top it off, when we all cheered at the end, our dog Max joined in with some epic howling. What a video! Can't wait for the next one! 🙌🎉

@pringle239 2 ай бұрын

I saw this exact comic in highschool over a decade ago. Interesting to see xkcd popping on youtube

@ironman4do 2 ай бұрын

The "Hit by Pitch" rules you quoted in the end was a hilarious addition, but I don't think they'd apply here. 2:11 "It hits the bat first" This would be a foul ball, by your timeline. 😉

@simongeard4824 2 ай бұрын

I'm not sure the rules cover what happens if it goes _through_ the bat, and then strikes the batter...

@torreywhiting5402 2 ай бұрын

@@simongeard4824it didn't go through the bat tho, mr xkcd said that the ball touched the bat

@ZlothZloth 2 ай бұрын

It may not matter either way. Even if the batter is considered hit, the batter or a pinch runner needs to trot over to first base. There will be no pinch runner because the coach and all the umpires have disintegrated. Perhaps new rules can be drafted to allow the next of kin to take over that duty?

@torreywhiting5402 2 ай бұрын

@@ZlothZloth good point! You could use next of kin, or maybe a player on their team that didn't come to play the game or was drafted but hasn't played yet (if that makes sense)

@voncornhole 2 ай бұрын

@@simongeard4824 going through the bat is the same as hitting the bat, counts as a foul ball

@TurquoizeGoldscraper 2 ай бұрын

The very first "What if?" and one of the best. It would be more accurate to say the fused atoms that were once the batter would be gathered up and placed on the fused atoms of what was once first base.

@chimpu-ls5fg 2 ай бұрын

xkcd your book is literally one of the best books I've read - loved the video!

@dougjb7848 28 күн бұрын

“Unsuspecting Backstop” would be a great name for a band.

@thatotherted3555 2 ай бұрын

The little "gulp" sound at the blinding flash 🤣

@theorangeoof926 2 ай бұрын

3:03 Ah, damn. If only the batter and first base continued to exist at this point.

@vedantsethi7124 2 ай бұрын

Pitcher: Ah shit, here we go again

@fluffly3606 2 ай бұрын

Clone all the players and continue the game with a runner on first

@infinitecrafterYT 2 ай бұрын

I'm really glad "what if" is getting some kind of animated series. I hope this series continues for a long time.

@BahamutEx Ай бұрын

So basically you'd turn the ball into a nuke, gotcha.

@DrZaius3141 2 ай бұрын

I hate when this happens. You never even see it coming.

@akshhat 2 ай бұрын

the sound effects are my favourite part HAHAHAH

@nebulan 2 ай бұрын

Is certainly something we normally don't get with XKCD comics 😁

@Jesin00 2 ай бұрын

I find them annoying and distracting. It's harder to hear the words with those other mouth-noises going on in the background.

@guillaumepinon 2 ай бұрын

@@Jesin00 Same for me, I dislike them

@escapist-cartplayz1934 2 ай бұрын

So basically throw the ball at 89% the speed of light instead

@gooseplane2470 Ай бұрын

how is this top comment

@_aidid 27 күн бұрын

Your diagrammatic animation looks as if I am having school science class again. This form of explaination is simple enough to grasp the main ideas easily

@ProdigyKnight80 2 ай бұрын

going over what baseball rules this uses at the end was the best part.

@themikep82 2 ай бұрын

Imagine this pitch followed up by a 80 mph changeup

@josukedrinkingcoffee7346 2 ай бұрын

oh my goodness how did i not find this sooner??? im a massive fan of the what if and how to books, its great to see them in video format!

@233j 2 ай бұрын

Highashkata shlopske.

@joe.wo0d 20 күн бұрын

"The batter hasn't even seen the pitcher let go of the ball, since the light carrying that information arrives at about the same time as the shockwave" is an incredible sentence

@makingnoises2327 2 ай бұрын

i remember this from when it was posted on the what if blog, and when it was a ted talk

@HansMaximum 2 ай бұрын

Like 12 years ago.

@hens1866 2 ай бұрын

This is my all-time favourite What If!! It’s the concluding “hit by pitch” bit that truly makes it art.

@truckerpunk69 2 ай бұрын

I haven't laughed this much in ages. I'm sitting here... alone... in tears from laughter! Subscribed!!

@gemstonegynoid7475 2 ай бұрын

Oh this is one of the best what ifs. Glad to see this as a video

@christopherobrien8105 2 ай бұрын

Look, at a long-suffering Pirates fan, I have to ask... can that pitcher throw a curveball?

@kylaxial 2 ай бұрын

probably not, since that relies on aerodynamics, which doesn't apply to the ball

@pharmesq 2 ай бұрын

Not anymore. He can only throw that pitch once.

@murrfeeling 2 ай бұрын

If you throw the ball even faster space will curve around the ball. 😋

@jrn0499 2 ай бұрын

The custom SFX are incredible 😂

@19MAD95 2 ай бұрын

I love the ending joke. This was my first xkcd article I read and I’m glad it has become a video.

@user-on4hk9mv4k 20 күн бұрын

Hey,can't we atleast respect that the pitcher was willing to sign up for this test,mad respect to him,especially since the pitcher knew he would be vaporised (RIP to the batter,not knowing he would be vaporised)

@lenathefirst_4574 2 ай бұрын

I still remember receiving the first what-if book for Christmas and laughing my head off at this one, especially that ending. It’s nice to hear it said out loud officially, instead of by me or one of my family members while laughing way too hard 😂

@maxleveladventures 2 ай бұрын

I am so happy my favorite comic is now in video form. These bring such simple, pure joy to my life.

@williamdaines3755 2 ай бұрын

I have bought and read all of your books, I am glad to see you have started this channel.

@madaskueuchiha 3 күн бұрын

2:10 I like that you give the batter enough props to assume he is able to hit a ball moving near the speed of light

@MoritzGehrckens 2 ай бұрын

I love how you just vocally add sound effects Love your content, loved your books

@MarekWoi 2 ай бұрын

I LOVE the sound effects! Especially the "chkchkchkch..." :D

@user-cm5bh5yl8n Ай бұрын

That was the funniest part for me, the constant "waaaaoooaaoaoaaawaaaaoooa" throughout the whole thing 😅

@49diewj 2 ай бұрын

The little gulp after the flash of light was the best. LOL

@mukrifachri 2 ай бұрын

The very first What-If ! Never got bored reading it.

@HansMaximum 2 ай бұрын

MVP sound effects.

@aaronfidelis3188 2 ай бұрын

This is reminiscent of his TED talk. I love that! In the end, all that effort to hit a baseball would give the batter the most well known meme: SINGLE!

@Slaphappy1975 2 ай бұрын

Happy to have discovered this channel when it's still relatively new, cuz it's gonna be huge in the future 🔥👍🦅

@whale3300 2 ай бұрын

Seen it in your book years ago, love to see it has video version now

@kirahen0437 2 ай бұрын

Alternative title: how to make a nuclear bomb using baseballs and magic

@AntiVectorTV 2 ай бұрын

I love the little explodey noises you do. Adds to the charm!

@wwbim 2 ай бұрын

This question has remained my favorite ever since it was posted on the website...never expected it transformed into an animation video today 👍

@planswalker 8 күн бұрын

I am so grateful that this channel popped up on my feed

@Kombivar 2 ай бұрын

That's one of my favourite question from the "What If" - I've read this countless times and every time my mind is blown :D

@noatrope 2 ай бұрын

My favourites are "boating on non-water liquids", "flying a plane on other planets", and the two-part "draining the ocean through the Mariana Trench"

@EnderGrad 2 ай бұрын

In summary, everyone dies

@TheSequelWasBetter 2 ай бұрын

BUT the batter gets first base.

@ShadowHazy 2 ай бұрын

@@TheSequelWasBetterCorrection: His molecules get to the first base.

@NJ-wb1cz 2 ай бұрын

Everyone dies in general

@scubaad64 26 күн бұрын

I love this channel!! My son bough the "What If" book from a few years ago, but it's fun to watch and listen too.

@Solstace_ 2 ай бұрын

Bro really used his ultimate attack 😂

@rogue6 2 ай бұрын

YEEEESSSSS. 'Relativistic Baseball' has always been my absolute favorite xkcd post. Love that it's a video now.

@joshuapatrick682 10 күн бұрын

The best part of all of this is that none of this would happen if they were playing in a vacuum. Its merely the act of ripping apart air molecules that cannot move out of the way in time that causes this destruction.

@ManWhoLaughs2311 27 күн бұрын

It takes the expression "throwing heaters" to a whole other level.

@flydrop8822 2 ай бұрын

This raises the question, what is the minimum speed of an object relative to the air required to ignite it with nothing but friction?

@tomsing98 2 ай бұрын

That very much depends on the object - the size/shape, conductivity, thermal mass, and composition. Larger, draggier objects are going to shed more energy through drag, and thus generate more heat. If the object is not conducting heat away from the surface, and has a low thermal mass, the surface temperature will rise more quickly. (Of course, you also have to consider that some of the heat will be carried away by the air.) And, finally, there are certain materials that have extremely low ignition temperatures. White phosphorous, for example, will ignite at just over 90°F at sea level. Triethylborane will ignite at -4°F. So, on a summer day in Florida, or on a winter day in Chicago, the answer is, conceivably, zero.

@ketsuekikumori9145 2 ай бұрын

A+ mouth foley work.

@undeniable491 2 ай бұрын

I liked the added sound effects, well done :)

@kwarrtzorau7203 2 ай бұрын

I'm rewatching this for the second time and I only just noticed the, shall we say, homemade SFX in the background. Incredible.

@andreigrigorev3499 2 ай бұрын

2:30 : wouldn't after seeing a *blinding* flash you wouldn't see anything else?

@chadwickthezulu 29 күн бұрын

Follow-up question: what's the fastest a pitcher could theoretically magically throw a baseball without killing himself or the batter?

@user-qv8zs4vb6n 2 ай бұрын

Older brothers the moment their younger brother is able to catch a ball

@thebritianman9865 2 ай бұрын

I think this scenario would be a really funny bit in a baseball anime

@Random_guy82 2 ай бұрын

I have this book lol

@jiquandaviussongaming8640 2 ай бұрын

what if light moved at the speed of a baseball

@TomCooper 2 ай бұрын

We'd all be very good at echolocation.

@yondaime500 2 ай бұрын

This idea is explored in the book The Wizard of Quarks, but it's been so long since I read it that I don't quite remember what happens. I remember that the goal was to prevent drivers from speeding, but it backfired in some interesting ways.

@murrfeeling 2 ай бұрын

Just a heads up: If it seems like you're walking faster than light, you're probably in a universe where light doesn't haul nearly as much ass as it does on Earth One. The lab boys say if you insist on walking faster than light, you are one hundred percent going to go back in time. How far? Far enough to meet your great great grandfather and tell him you're fired. Because guess what? I'll let you finish that thought. -Cave Johnson

@jiquandaviussongaming8640 2 ай бұрын

@@murrfeeling i love that game thank you, come to think of it there must be some crossover between portal players and xkcd readers