xkcd's what if? presents: Rocket Golf

[LongbowEOD]

It mentions KSP and everybody's favorite, the Tsiolkovsky Rocket Equation!

http://what-if.xkcd.com/85/

How fast do you think Jeb could hit a golf ball?

[MiniMatt]

xkcd: what if is consistently great. The machine gun jet pack and the mole of moles ones are, I think, my faves.

[LongbowEOD]

Ah yes, the mole of moles always gets me. Something about imagining a small planet of lukewarm meat, wrapped in a literal fur coat. Convecting plumes of meat and gas bubbling up from the interior.

[geb]

As the KSP reddit pointed out, this means that Tiger Woods has a specific impulse of 8.2 seconds.

http://www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram/comments/1ywyps/xkcd_what_if_85_some_discussion_of_the_rocket/cfoqtnb

[Noticeably FAT]

xkcd: what ifmole of moles

I think my favorite part of that one is the alt text. No jokes, just a description of the image. Which for him, is a joke in itself.

[katateochi]

Thanks for sharing that LongbowEOD. I almost died laughing at; "According to research from the US Air Force Academy and BTG Research,[7] a potato cannon.....". So that's how the air-force spends their time, lol!

[Javster]

Like most clever people, the guy who writes it plays KSP.

[dudester28]

Personally, my favorite xkcd comic concerning rockets is the up-goer five. If you have never seen it, fix that!

[James_Eh]

Oohh oohh are we doing "What If" favorites??

BB Gun and Model Rockets for me.

("At a certain point, they stop being model rocket engines, and just become rocket engines.")

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

My favourite ones are ally he ones that just go above and beyond stupid (see man in hat suggesting me try more power/more, and yes my favourite part is the alt text, for especially funny alt text I suggest the dropping a mountain one)

[costermonger]

My favourite ones are ally he ones that just go above and beyond stupid (see man in hat suggesting me try more power/more, and yes my favourite part is the alt text, for especially funny alt text I suggest the dropping a mountain one)

Yep, same. "What if we tried more power?"

Since he started doing this, I religiously go to the What If? page every Tuesday morning when I get to work. Anything that includes the line "You might notice that we’re ignoring the pockets of space between the moles. In a moment, you’ll see why." and makes me laugh knowingly, well.. that's some quality entertainment.

[BagelRabbit]

Wow. I was expecting something completely different when I clicked on this page.

http://www.rocketrygolf.com/

Presenting a sport in which you try to fly a golf ball to a hole with model rocket engines! It's very fun and questionably legal!

...now how many of these rockets would you need to get to the moon?!

[SiliconPyro]

Yeah, after reading that my buddy requested that I make a potato cannon rocket engine. I got to work on the mesh last night. I'll be sure to post it when it's ready.

[KvickFlygarn87]

Ermahgeeeerd!

This equation comes up a lot in What If calculations. I like it both because it says something fundamental about our ability to explore the universe, and because you can use it to get really good at Kerbal Space Program.

HE'S ONE OF US!