Which falls faster?

O

old.job

Guest
Righty-ho, ponder this one............. if you spun a weight round on a piece of string that was 30,000 miles long, you would only need to spin it roughly once a second for the weight to reach the speed of light.

What would stop this happening?

No material exists with enogh tensile strength to survive the centrifugal force?
No force strong enough could be obtained to spin the weight?
It would take longer than the universe is likely to exist to get it going?

You would probably have to use a rocket to get the weight going enough to have some centrifugal force to taughten the string.
 
N

Nightchill

Guest
Originally posted by Omniscieous
are they even being dropped on earth? :p

if they're the same shape and volume, it doesn't actually matter
 
J

Jonaldo

Guest
Originally posted by Nightchill
if they're the same shape and volume, it doesn't actually matter

well yes it does... maybe they won't fall
 
N

Nightchill

Guest
Originally posted by Omniscieous
well yes it does... maybe they won't fall

if you want to get niggly, everything falls.
 
J

Jonaldo

Guest
Originally posted by Nightchill
if you want to get niggly, everything falls.


ok so dropped out in the middle of space, zer0 gravity, where do they fall?

they may be pulled at the same velocity towards the nearest star but who is to say with this is falling or rising? who can say what is up or down in the universe when it is not in Earth?

Consider yourself pwned!
 
R

Roo Stercogburn

Guest
Depends if the feathers were still attached to the birds that were flying past. However, since the metal is probably bullets from the gun shooting at the birds then the feathers will probably hit the ground first since the bullets have to finish their upward flight :)

BTW I will never own a bird table ;)
 
N

Nightchill

Guest
Originally posted by Omniscieous
ok so dropped out in the middle of space, zer0 gravity, where do they fall?

they may be pulled at the same velocity towards the nearest star but who is to say with this is falling or rising? who can say what is up or down in the universe when it is not in Earth?

Consider yourself pwned!

you just pwned yourself I believe.

falling/rising is just different frames of reference and, as you say, who is to say what is up or down?

but there is never zero gravity (well, there is, but again, it depends on your frame of reference) and hence, if they're moving with the same velocity towards some celestial body....
 
S

Sarum TheBlack

Guest
Originally posted by Omniscieous
ok so dropped out in the middle of space, zer0 gravity, where do they fall?

they may be pulled at the same velocity towards the nearest star but who is to say with this is falling or rising? who can say what is up or down in the universe when it is not in Earth?

Consider yourself pwned!

Acceleration due to a gravitational field is ALWAYS falling. We don't raise towards the earth (even people in Australia who are falling in the opposite direction to us in Europe are still falling), similarly objects in space don't raise towards stars, black holes or whatever. It's not really to do with up and down, (up and down in this sense is just caused by the effect gravity has on our ears anyway.. if they were sensitive enough to detect the minor gravity our object in space is experiencing we'd consider the direction it was accelerating in to be down) falling is just what we call what happens when a gravitational pull causes an object to accelerate.
 
G

gengi

Guest
Originally posted by Nightchill
[B

but there is never zero gravity (well, there is, but again, it depends on your frame of reference) and hence, if they're moving with the same velocity towards some celestial body.... [/B]

Is there not some theory that the event horizon of a black hole has zero gravity field due the the centripetal and entrifugal forces cancelling each other out ?

Or was that just some schmaltz from a crap sci fi movie ?

Later
 
N

Nightchill

Guest
centrifugal force (as called) doesn't act on the body in motion, only the centripetal force does. the centrifugal force attempts to radially displace the source of the centripetal force from the centre of its path. so unsure where the theory you mention comes from ;)
 
G

gengi

Guest
well I am probably pwned then:D

Its been 15 years since I looked at this physics stuff.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
centrifugal force (as called) doesn't act on the body in motion, only the centripetal force does. the centrifugal force attempts to radially displace the source of the centripetal force from the centre of its path. so unsure where the theory you mention comes from
-----------------------Nightchill---------------------------------

can't do fancy quotes :rolleyes:

Definitely a crap Sci-fi movie then ?

I give up, science for the scientists
:clap:

Later
 
J

Jonaldo

Guest
Originally posted by gengi
can't do fancy quotes :rolleyes:

There's a quote button just above the text window, or just type {quote} (but using square brackets obviously) {/quote}

or when you reply just hit the quote button on the orgininal posters message.
 
G

gengi

Guest
Originally posted by Omniscieous
There's a quote button just above the text window, or just type {quote} (but using square brackets obviously) {/quote}

or when you reply just hit the quote button on the orgininal posters message.

I can do the quote quote, its just I wasn't aware of the
this is a quote quote



thanks for the tip omniscieous, my powers of nonomniscience are now reduced :D

later
centrifugal force (as called) doesn't act on the body in motion, only the centripetal force does. the centrifugal force attempts to radially displace the source of the centripetal force from the centre of its path. so unsure where the theory you mention comes from
is the quote I was quoting and as I said science for the scientists :D
 
O

old.tRoG

Guest
It's quite simple, really.

The one which is not attached to a length of rope smaller than the drop would fall first.

I shall collect my prize, in person, tomorrow, at the town hall.

Be there, or be square.™
 
J

Jonaldo

Guest
Originally posted by old.tRoG
It's quite simple, really.

The one which is not attached to a length of rope smaller than the drop would fall first.

I shall collect my prize, in person, tomorrow, at the town hall.

Be there, or be square.™

Question wasn't which falls first it was which falls fastest. If you win anything with this answer I'll be the first in line yelling "fix!"
 
G

gengi

Guest
The one which is not attached to a length of rope smaller than the drop would fall first

Surely that is land first ?

The one you push off the table falls faster than the one you leave on the table is the correct answer

I win teh prize

maybe

Later
 
O

old.tRoG

Guest
Ok, the answer is...

Edwina Currie's knickers.
 
O

old.Tohtori

Guest
Finally, after a looong looong wait. Here is your answer for the question men have asked for ages in 1 on 1 physics:

Which falls faster, 10 pounds of feathers or 10 pounds of metal?

YES.
 
V

Validus

Guest
you will fall faster if i pound u 10 times with metal than u will if i pound u 10 times with feathers.
 

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