This isn't rocket science....

J

jrbhunter

New member
but it's close.

I have had this argument a dozen times in the last two months. I'm not sure how it comes up over and over again but I figured I'd start the fire here and see how long it took to get the awnser.

If in one hand I hold a 12" diameter ball of steel and in the other hand I hold a 12" diameter ball of cotton and release these objects at the same time.... allowing them to fall 100'... which will hit the ground first.

Now theoretically we may as well jump in and cut out drag.. or wind resistance... we're looking for this whole Terminal Velocity debate. And don't get sidetracked on a "Pound of feathers/ Pound of steel" thing either... these balls are very different in weight. The steel ball weighs much much more than the ball of cotton.

So which is it? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Proceed... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

termv.gif
 
Without drag, terminal velocity will not be acheived by either object regardless of how far above the ground an object of any size/weight is dropped. The acceleration do to gravity is 9.82meters/squared second. The objects would hit the ground at exactly the same time provided that you let them go at exactly the same time and air resistance was eliminated. Isn't that Jr High Science?
 
If it ain't rocket science, then whyja have to go to NASA to get it? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I don't understand why this topic has any legs at all. This is basic high school science. Its been proven in vacuum bottles and Commander David Scott dropped a hammer and a feather on the moon. Guess what THE HAMMER AND FEATHER HIT THE MOON AT THE SAME TIME. NOw thats good enough for me.

Heres the text:

At the end of the last Apollo 15 moon walk, Commander David Scott performed a live demonstration for the television cameras. He held out a geologic hammer and a feather and dropped them at the same time. Because they were essentially in a vacuum, there was no air resistance and the feather fell at the same rate as the hammer, as Galileo had concluded hundreds of years before - all objects released together fall at the same rate regardless of mass. Mission Controller Joe Allen described the demonstration in the "Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report":

During the final minutes of the third extravehicular activity, a short demonstration experiment was conducted. A heavy object (a 1.32-kg aluminum geological hammer) and a light object (a 0.03-kg falcon feather) were released simultaneously from approximately the same height (approximately 1.6 m) and were allowed to fall to the surface. Within the accuracy of the simultaneous release, the objects were observed to undergo the same acceleration and strike the lunar surface simultaneously, which was a result predicted by well-established theory, but a result nonetheless reassuring considering both the number of viewers that witnessed the experiment and the fact that the homeward journey was based critically on the validity of the particular theory being tested.

 
I believe that we have also debated:

If you shoot a 50 BMG and .22 short on perfectly horizontal ground (not taking into account the curvature of the earth) from the same height, which bullet will hit the ground first?

If fired at exactly the same time and all else equal, they will BOTH hit the ground at the same time. One will just be much farther away when it hits the ground. Gravity is what pulls the bullets down and gravity acts on both the same.
 
If your are traviling along in a vehicle going 70MPH and a fly is flying between you and the passenger and you all of the sudden come to a complete stop would the fly hit the windshield? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Tommy, I need a little more info please. Are you and the passenger both inside the car, or outside the car.

You know if you were travelling with a frog, we wouldn't be discussing this , cause the fly would have been lunch. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
The vehicle is traveling at 70...not the fly or the frog?!!?!? Or am I lost in space as usual? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
The fly would hit the windshield, and so would the passanger if he/she wasn't using thier seatbelt. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
I'm not sure about the fly, (that's Redfrogs department of expertise) but I can tell you that if a buddy is eating a bananna in a car, and you hit a phone pole, he can, and did swallow the bananna whole... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Michael, calm yourself. It's going to be alright!

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Stu, I didn't notice that NASA emblem up there... good eye! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

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Tommy wouldn't know anything about a fly IN a car as he is always riding around on top of a high chair picking flies out of his teeth while he shoots those trophy whitetails in Texas fashion.

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Ridge: "Eating a Banana" huh?

That's what they're calling it these days?

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
jrbhunter: You need to get your eyes checked, young man. You did not SEE the NASA emblem????
Do not EVER refer to ME as old again thank you very much!
 


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