Which falls faster?

[old.Tohtori]

10 pounds of metal or 10 pounds of feathers?

*bored so..*

 

[Kharok Svark]

Depends on the size and shape, and therefore the amount of drag encountered.

If the same, then they will both reach the maximum rate of exceleration at the same time.

 

[old.Dillinja]

metal imo bc it is more dense

 

[shani]

True, untill you start compressing the feathers to the same size as the chunk fo metal

 

[old.job]

Much better one, if you hover a helicopter above the ground why doesn't it start to fall behind the Earths rotation, which at the equator is around 1000mph.

Obviously it's the drag of the atmosphere, but it does mean that if there wasn't any atmosphere, you could hover a rocket powered device and the ground would whizz past below you.

 

[Jonaldo]

We wouldn't be here if there was no atmosphere.


And btw how far are the feathers & metal falling? and are all the feathers compressed together? if so what shape are they? and what's holding them together? what metal is it? and what shape is the metal?


you may aswell have said:-

"If two things that weigh the same as each other but are made of different stuff are dropped from some place. What lands first?"

very vague but you get my point?

 

[old.Dillinja]

I gave the best and most intelligent answer

 

[old.Gombur Glodson]

Agree with dilli

 

[Cadire]

In a vacumn, they'll both fall at the same speed, as demonstrated by the astronauts on the Apollo moon missions.

If they're not in a vacumn, then all sorts of external forces play a part, mainly friction.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Come on people..think more Seel and less NASA.

No right answers yet.

 

[gengi]

Cadire is right, I remember doing the experiment in my 'o' grade physics class in days of yore I can almost remember the equations enrgy E = mass M x Acceleration and if they are both dropped from the same height in a vacuum with no external forces applied then their energy is equal and the potential is converted to kinetic. I may be entirely wrong though I did my O grades 20 years ago

later

 

[Tasans]

Same.
Cant remember the exact formula, something to do with the mass of the objects.

 

[Sarum TheBlack]

Originally posted by old.job
Much better one, if you hover a helicopter above the ground why doesn't it start to fall behind the Earths rotation, which at the equator is around 1000mph.

Obviously it's the drag of the atmosphere, but it does mean that if there wasn't any atmosphere, you could hover a rocket powered device and the ground would whizz past below you.

Assuming the helicoper started on the ground, it would already be traveling at 1000mph relative to wherever you measured your ground speed relative to (the earth is also orbiting the sun at some crazy speed, which in turn is orbiting the center of the the galaxy, which is travling fast enough to make doplar effects noticable in light.. everything is relative, there is no "stationary" point in the universe, other than perhaps the center, which we aren't entirely sure where it is) so unless you applied force in a direction contrary to the rotation of the earth, it would continue to travel at 1000mph, and remain in a stationary hover, atmosphere or otherwise. A demonstration of this is geostationary satalights.. which maintain a "hover" in the vaccum of space with only small applications of thrust for course correction, rather than powered flight. Of course you could "hover" a device and have the earth wizz past below you.. we generally call it flying.

 

[old.Tohtori]

tRoG would know the answer..he's nutty enough.

 

[old.job]

Feathers, in a week they'd be worth a fiver, metal prices are high ATM

 

[gengi]

er Baghdad ?

 

[Sarum TheBlack]

And on the other question.. technically yes, in a vaccum they land togther. No in a vaccum you have to take into account their relative densities and aerodynamic properties.

But the answer is probably "depends which you dopped first", he never actually said they were dropped together, you're all just assuming they are because that is the common 'trick' question very similar to this. Or perhaps "depends which was closest the to ground".. "depends if you dropped them in a gravitational field" or any other of a million assumptions we're all making about the nature of the drop.

That or something to do with a pun on "pounds" and the relative costs of metal and feathers, or perhaps "wtf are you doing dropping metal and feathers??".

 

[talen_sun]

Originally posted by old.Tohtori
10 pounds of metal or 10 pounds of feathers?

*bored so..*

Isn't it something like, they both weigh the same, so they both fall at the same speed??

Forget trying to get into the actual maths and physics... bloody scientists......

 

[old.Tohtori]

blow.job was near to the correct answer..ewll..near'er. Still long way from the Seelist way of answering. Put some effort into it!

 

[Tasans]

Are the feathers dropped from an african or a european swallow?

 

[Sharma]

I could give that answer but that would spoil the fun

 

[Kharok Svark]

Originally posted by old.job
Much better one, if you hover a helicopter above the ground why doesn't it start to fall behind the Earths rotation, which at the equator is around 1000mph.

Obviously it's the drag of the atmosphere, but it does mean that if there wasn't any atmosphere, you could hover a rocket powered device and the ground would whizz past below you.

If there was no atmosphere, the helicopter would get no lift and crash.

But if you fired a rocket out of the galaxy, it would travel at a constand speed between galaxies, until it hit another 'force'.

 

[osy]

a) Are they MP ?

b) What stats on the metal chunk ? cos if it got +Qui...

c) Is there a troll attached to the feathers ?

d) Last, but not least, are they Alb/Hib/Mid ?

 

[Nightchill]

Originally posted by gengi
I can almost remember the equations enrgy E = mass M x Acceleration

you mean Force = Mass * acceleration

 

[Kharok Svark]

Originally posted by Nightchill
you mean Force = Mass * acceleration

Must be, as Energy = MC(Squared)

 

[Nightchill]

Originally posted by Kharok Svark
Must be, as Energy = MC(Squared)

true true, tho only for objects at rest, the full version being:

E = [(p^2c^2) + m^2c^4]^1/2

 

[old.Jessica]

Neither would fall cos you couldn't be arsed to pick them up.

J

 

[Damon_D]

ehhhh Feathers they are used to flying ????

 

[Jonaldo]

are they even being dropped on earth?

 

[Jonaldo]

2 sea shells and a monkey flavoured wristwatch!

am I right?