Title text:
Carefully maneuvering the balloon down a mineshaft in an effort to break the OTHER altitude record
Transcript:
Transcript will show once it’s been added to explainxkcd.com
Source: https://xkcd.com/3161/
this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2025
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Sure you can. Just need a pitot tube!
The Pitot tube doesn't work as the ballon is moving (more or less) with the wind, i.e. both pressure tubes, the one for static pressure and the one for total pressure, in the Pitot tube experience (almost) the same pressure, resulting in measuring (almost) zero dynamic pressure and thus velocity.
It records an air speed of 0. Isn’t that working exactly as intended?
Isn't one usually interested in the speed relative to the ground?
No. The comic is talking about airspeed: speed relative to the wind.
Ah, ok. I somehow got that wrong.