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Pupil
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http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~det/phy2060/heavyboots.html
Do you think this is actually true? If so I'm speechless.
Do you think this is actually true? If so I'm speechless.
That a philosophy TA made a basic physics error on an issue an average 8th grader should know intuitively? Yeah, I believe that.Pupil said:http://www.phys.ufl.edu/~det/phy2060/heavyboots.html
Do you think this is actually true? If so I'm speechless.
russ_watters said:That a philosophy TA made a basic physics error on an issue an average 8th grader should know intuitively? Yeah, I believe that.
above link said:I put two multiple choice questions on my Physics 111 test, after the study of elementary mechanics and gravity.
13. If you are standing on the Moon, and holding a rock, and you let it go, it will:
(a) float away
(b) float where it is
(c) move sideways
(d) fall to the ground
(e) none of the above
The first question was generally of average difficulty, compared with the rest of the test: 57% got it right.
russ_watters said:That a philosophy TA made a basic physics error on an issue an average 8th grader should know intuitively? Yeah, I believe that.
Pupil said:No, I was wondering if the TA was right about the heavy boots.
cristo said:8th grader? Try college student!
Not necessarily. If the gun was powerful enough, the bullet would travel far enough for the ground to curve away from it, so that the ball would actually hit the ground first.An objects horizontal velocity has no effect on its vertical velocity. For example, a ball dropped and a bullet fired horizontally from a gun will hit the ground at the same time (if both objects are at the same height)
I was in a philosophy class
Tibarn said:Not necessarily. If the gun was powerful enough, the bullet would travel far enough for the ground to curve away from it, so that the ball would actually hit the ground first.
Are you referring to the Flatland from the eponymous book, which as I recall is two-dimensional? Or perhaps Either way, if you're on a flat torus, the bullet might never hit the ground. There's also the question of whether the gravitational field is uniform. If you won't do things on Earth, at least be more specific.Who said anything about a curved ground? I'm firing my gun in Flatland, where the ground is flat. If I said anything about the specifics of the planet Earth, I would have used the word tangential, not horizontal.
Does it matter what a philosophy student thinks?rootX said:Does it matter whether objects falls or floats away on the moon surface?
mgb_phys said:Does it matter what a philosophy student thinks?
I think you misunderstood what I was getting at: I realize the issue was posed to college students. I pulled the "8th grader" thing out of the air, but it is based on 8th grade being where one gets their first exposure to the concept of how gravity works. Once you know a couple of facts (gravity comes from mass, the moon has less mass than the earth), the issue becomes ridiculously simple.cristo said:8th grader? Try college student!
rootX said:Does it matter whether objects falls or floats away on the moon surface?
Proton Soup said:it matters to the moon. and to the earth, too. were it to drift away a grain at a time, we would soon have no tides, no nightlight, and no signal that many species depend on for breeding.
Pupil said:An objects horizontal velocity has no effect on its vertical velocity. For example, a ball dropped and a bullet fired horizontally from a gun will hit the ground at the same time (if both objects are at the same height)
rootX said:Restating the question for further clarification:
Does it matter "everyone knowing" whether objects falls or floats away on the moon surface?
rootX said:Does it matter "everyone knowing" whether objects falls or floats away on the moon surface?
Proton Soup said:it matters to me. these are the same people that follow the current global warming hypothesis like sheep.
But they shouldn't use things as facts for which they are ignorant IMO.
junglebeast said:How about this these,
1) Does it really matter if your boss thinks the world is flat?
2) Is that really ANY LESS stupid than thinking the moon has no gravity?
DaveC426913 said::grumpy: Who joins a Physics Forum whose blood doesn't run cold when they hear about rampancy of basic scientific ignorance?
DaveC426913 said::grumpy: Who joins a Physics Forum whose blood doesn't run cold when they hear about rampancy of basic scientific ignorance?
rootX said:I wouldn't spend all my day arguing with those people or trying to find ignorance in other people. There are lot better things to do.
But you might spend all day living in the country that they are president of. Doesn't that give you the wigglies?rootX said:I wouldn't spend all my day arguing with those people or trying to find ignorance in other people. There are lot better things to do.
mgb_phys said:http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind04/c7/fig07-06.htm
Phrak said:I understand the rules of linking to unvetted websites, but in this case does the National Science Foundation know best or https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=245334"?