# Your XKCD What-If submissions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838 "2012-11-22T15:04:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/1 "2012-11-22T15:04:08Z")
The offshoot of the main XKCD strip: [http://what-if.xkcd.com/](http://what-if.xkcd.com/) Has anyone here submitted ideas to them? Mine was “What did the inhabitants of Krypton experience as the planet blew up?”. Maybe some ideas would be Dope discussion worthy. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/2 "2012-11-23T04:10:28Z")
What if I could drop telephone pole size tungsten rods from orbit? Could I be sure then? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/3 "2012-11-23T05:17:55Z")
I asked what would happen it someone actually DID feed a T. Rex to a Saarlac. I don’t think he’s going to answer. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/4 "2012-11-23T22:34:45Z")
The Sarlaac would digest the T Rex. Sure, the T Rex would chew up some tentacles, but then would begin the long, tortuous digestion process. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/5 "2012-11-23T23:26:29Z")
Jet plane. Treadmill. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/6 "2012-11-24T14:39:34Z")
“If the entire planet was stuck in a permanent drought, how long would it take for the oceans to dry up?” ---
**Author:** ![AnkhAscendant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AnkhAscendant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnkhAscendant)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/7 "2012-11-24T17:28:21Z")
I asked what if our moon disappeared. I’m not expecting much, but I really want to know. ^^; ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/8 "2012-11-24T20:43:25Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > “If the entire planet was stuck in a permanent drought, how long would it take for the oceans to dry up?” Forever. Entire planet + permanent drought = no rain anywhere, so all the water will eventually flow downhill to the oceans and stay there (minus however much water vapor the atmosphere can hold without precipitation occurring). ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/9 "2012-11-26T21:33:07Z")
Wow, it has been _way_ too long since Geo Science class for me, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-xkcd-what-if-submissions/641838/10 "2012-11-26T21:55:35Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Forever. Entire planet + permanent drought = no rain anywhere, so all the water will eventually flow downhill to the oceans and stay there (minus however much water vapor the atmosphere can hold without precipitation occurring). Given the nature of many of the answers to the “What-Ifs?”, one could assume that the atmosphere had an infinite holding capacity for water vapor, and that no clouds would form to reduce solar radiation at the surface (or to make it easier, cloud cover stays the same as now). As a quick calculation, the current rate of evaporation is about [1.2 meters](http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/512638.html) per year on average and the average depth of the oceans is [4,267 meters](http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceandepth.html), thus it would take about 3,556 years for them to evaporate at the current rate (of course, even this would have to assume that the depth is the same everywhere, since evaporation varies with latitude, so some areas will dry up first, reducing or increasing the average evaporation rate).