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We have an explanation for all 3229 xkcd comics, and only 76 (2.4%) are incomplete. Help us finish them!
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| Rotational Gravity |
 Title text: I don't get it. The peak acceleration for passengers was WAY lower than in the giant-waterslide-loop-the-loop incident the other cruise line fired me for. |
Explanation
Low-gravity environments can cause humans and other animals to lose muscle mass. Cueball at first appears to be describing his experience operating a spaceship, creating artificial gravity by rotating the ship so as to preserve the passengers' muscle mass.
However, the caption to the panel indicates that the "ship" Cueball was operating was a cruise ship, not a space ship. Since cruise ships travel upon the seas and oceans of the Earth[citation needed], passengers on board experience the same gravity that they would experience at sea level on land, thus obviating the need for "artificial gravity" aboard a cruise ship.
Furthermore, Cueball's rotation of the ship along its longitudinal axis would involve turning the ship upside down (and then right side up again). This would likely result in many people aboard drowning, as well as anything on the decks being lost that wasn't nailed down.
The title text references Action Park's Cannonball Loop, which subjected riders to up to nine gees of acceleration.
This is the second strip involving a person being fired by a cruise line, following 2935: Ocean Loop, to which the title text appears to refer.
Transcript
- [Cueball stands facing Hairbun and White Hat. Hairbun has a "steaming" symbol above her head indicating anger, while White Hat is facepalming.]
- Cueball: I was able to produce artificial gravity by rotating the ship along its longitudinal axis, helping passengers maintain muscle mass on the long-duration voyage!
- [Caption below the panel:]
- Well, the cruise line fired me.
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