- #1
AlaskanMatt
- 3
- 0
Hello,
I feel a little out of place here, as I have no physics background whatsoever, but I was hoping you folks here might be able to help settle a debate. My brother and I like to have "what if" discussions, and one we had quite awhile ago was whether a person could walk across a swimming pool filled with ping pong balls (EDIT: No water in the pool, only ping pong balls).
I said that it would not work, because the balls, being so light and having a smooth sphere shape, would cause a standard person to sink into the balls, and one would have to "wade through" them to get out of the pool.
My brother, however, insists that since the balls would be supported by the sides and bottom of the pool, they would support a person who could easily walk across.
If this is too unscientific of a question feel free to ignore or delete it, but this debate has been going on for quite awhile and I was hoping that someone more experienced in weight/friction/physics issues could explain what would happen better than myself. Thanks for your time,
Matt.
I feel a little out of place here, as I have no physics background whatsoever, but I was hoping you folks here might be able to help settle a debate. My brother and I like to have "what if" discussions, and one we had quite awhile ago was whether a person could walk across a swimming pool filled with ping pong balls (EDIT: No water in the pool, only ping pong balls).
I said that it would not work, because the balls, being so light and having a smooth sphere shape, would cause a standard person to sink into the balls, and one would have to "wade through" them to get out of the pool.
My brother, however, insists that since the balls would be supported by the sides and bottom of the pool, they would support a person who could easily walk across.
If this is too unscientific of a question feel free to ignore or delete it, but this debate has been going on for quite awhile and I was hoping that someone more experienced in weight/friction/physics issues could explain what would happen better than myself. Thanks for your time,
Matt.
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