Everyone Aims Lasers at the Moon
A hand-drawn science explainer turns a simple Moon question into a ladder of increasingly extreme power tests.
By @xkcd_whatif for xkcd's What If?Runs 05:37
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Why it works
The opening poses a concrete question by 0:04 and answers the ordinary case by 0:11, then repeatedly raises the test's power at 1:04, 1:53, 2:23, 2:50 and 3:36. A consistent Moon comparison and restricted red accent make each result readable; the 3:22 map-to-array reveal coincides with the strongest replay peak. The format develops a causal consequence at 4:20–5:18 instead of ending at a bigger number.
Films like this
Tagged illustrated explainerscience animationwhiteboardthought experimentescalationnarrationquantitative comparisonlong form
