The dumb questions thread

[bilby]

It's OK - if the ball doesn't fall straight down even in a vacuum, I shall just ride over to where it landed on my spherical horse.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

You are on a spinning mass the size of the Erath with no atmosphere. A ball at rest to the surface is dropped from some altitude. Does it fall straight down?

Can't remember the name, there was an ancient female mathematician who allegedly tried the experiment on a boat. Drop the object from the mast of a moving boat and see where it lands.

It does not, although at the scale you're working it's going to be awfully hard to see the difference. When you drop it far enough the deviation from straight down becomes considerable.

(Simple test: Drop the ball at geosync. The ball stays put.)

 

[Loren Pechtel]

You are on a spinning mass the size of the Erath with no atmosphere. A ball at rest to the surface is dropped from some altitude. Does it fall straight down?

What force would act on it laterally to make it not fall "straight down"? It won't land at the point directly underneath at release due to its rotation, but it will fall "straight down".

No. There's a catch to that "at rest to the surface" bit. In practice that has no meaning. At typical human distances you'll never notice the difference but in reality it means that it possesses the same angular velocity as that point on the Earth. This is the only way you can have it appear to stay put as you lift it up.

But lets lift it far up. For easy math the Earth's equator moves 1000 mi/hr and it's 8000 miles across. We lift it up 1000 miles and what happens? The radius of the circle it's tracing out is 25% bigger, thus the circumference is 25% bigger. That matching angular velocity translates to it moving 1250 mi/hr, 250 mi/hr relative to the point that it's hovering above. The body is airless, when you release it it retains that speed and by the time it's fallen to Earth that velocity has fully appeared, it's going to hit far from the point it was dropped. (Gravity is also 25% weaker where it is released but in this scenario that simply means it takes longer to fall than you would expect.)

The higher you go before releasing it the farther away it hits, eventually it goes into orbit. The math to figure out that point is much more than I want to bother with for a simple post like this.

 

[Wiploc]

Rationalized that way, every ball falls straight down.

Glad you agree. [emoji16]

Also, my understanding was the ball was at rest, to me that means horizontally as well, so no radial velocity.

That's not how I read, "at rest to the surface."

And you seem to think that "at rest" means something like, "at rest, relative to the center of the planet."

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Rationalized that way, every ball falls straight down.

Glad you agree. [emoji16]

Also, my understanding was the ball was at rest, to me that means horizontally as well, so no radial velocity.

That's not how I read, "at rest to the surface."

Well, if I paid closer attention to the words actually written (like I keep reminding my daughter to do), I would have read that too, but this isn't about my inability to read...

... oh wait... yes it is.

Nevermind.

 

[fast]

Here is an example of something I occasionally hear:

If your rights can be molded, you have no rights at all.

It’s not that saying per se but rather the sense that if certain things can be done to something, then there is no something at all.

What is the thrust behind the logic to that?

The charitable side of me wants to think that if the wording was changed, there may be a valuable lesson in there, but the the side of me that wants to be critical of the wording says someone’s smoking crack.

 

[DBT]

Here is an example of something I occasionally hear:

If your rights can be molded, you have no rights at all.

It’s not that saying per se but rather the sense that if certain things can be done to something, then there is no something at all.

What is the thrust behind the logic to that?

The charitable side of me wants to think that if the wording was changed, there may be a valuable lesson in there, but the the side of me that wants to be critical of the wording says someone’s smoking crack.

Perhaps it refers to relativity? If rights are relative to time, place or culture, they can be altered or dropped at any time that it suits whoever is in a position to set policy.

 

[fast]

Here is an example of something I occasionally hear:

If your rights can be molded, you have no rights at all.

It’s not that saying per se but rather the sense that if certain things can be done to something, then there is no something at all.

What is the thrust behind the logic to that?

The charitable side of me wants to think that if the wording was changed, there may be a valuable lesson in there, but the the side of me that wants to be critical of the wording says someone’s smoking crack.

Perhaps it refers to relativity? If rights are relative to time, place or culture, they can be altered or dropped at any time that it suits whoever is in a position to set policy.

Maybe. It’s just weird to say that I don’t have them at all.

 

[DBT]

Here is an example of something I occasionally hear:

If your rights can be molded, you have no rights at all.

It’s not that saying per se but rather the sense that if certain things can be done to something, then there is no something at all.

What is the thrust behind the logic to that?

The charitable side of me wants to think that if the wording was changed, there may be a valuable lesson in there, but the the side of me that wants to be critical of the wording says someone’s smoking crack.

Perhaps it refers to relativity? If rights are relative to time, place or culture, they can be altered or dropped at any time that it suits whoever is in a position to set policy.

Maybe. It’s just weird to say that I don’t have them at all.

Rhetoric perhaps?

 

[steve_bank]

Here is an example of something I occasionally hear:

If your rights can be molded, you have no rights at all.

It’s not that saying per se but rather the sense that if certain things can be done to something, then there is no something at all.

What is the thrust behind the logic to that?

The charitable side of me wants to think that if the wording was changed, there may be a valuable lesson in there, but the the side of me that wants to be critical of the wording says someone’s smoking crack.

I believe the answer is sophistry. One can 'prove' the ridiculous. 'I think therefore I am' was a response to the absurd philosophical debate on mind, existence and reality.

Beware the Jabberwocky. How do you discriminate nonsense from the meaningful? Logic and reason. There is a pseudo philosophy analog to pseudoscience. People can see meaning where there is none. , like theists.

Science is causal even when probabilistic. That is as far as science goes. Interpretation and meaning is philosophy.

 

[Angry Floof]

What are the dangers, if any, of 5G technology? I've been trying to ignore the usual conspiracy suspects on Facebook on this issue.

 

[bilby]

What are the dangers, if any, of 5G technology? I've been trying to ignore the usual conspiracy suspects on Facebook on this issue.

The only danger I can see is that some idiot who is busy using their phone will cause a death by misadventure to themselves or others. So basically the exact same risk posed by 3G and 4G.

 

[fast]

I hate it when I’m trying to recall a word and can’t place it. Grrr.

I keep coming back to “construct” but that’s not it. It isn’t “paradigm.” It’s not “system.”

Its definitely not “axiom.”

When something is true but not inherently true, it’s nevertheless true. There are overarching constructs we adhere to and intermingle with. Language, logic, ...

 

[George S]

a priori
intrinsic
truism

 

[Gun Nut]

Rubric?

 

[fast]

It’s like an evolved construct that we accept. It may be fundamental or serve as a foundation.

 

[fast]

Kind of like framework but on a much grander scale

 

[skepticalbip]

^^^
Like a mythos?

 

[steve_bank]

What are the dangers, if any, of 5G technology? I've been trying to ignore the usual conspiracy suspects on Facebook on this issue.

From what I heard on mews segments the 5G speed and bandwidth will allow new massive interconnectivity on the same net.

Traffic lights now have dedicated nets. A lot more services will be open to hacking is the down side I see. The net becomes a single thread service with essential services..

 

[steve_bank]

zog equals wog and wog equals boz, therefore zog equals boz.

Logically true but inherently nonsense.