Recent content by MrB8rPhysics

Infinite transits of the bird, as it is always moving faster from train to train than the trains move together, regardless of the idstance between the 2 trains.

Not finding it would also be very important as it would require a reworking of currently accepted theories. Although CERN does seem to be there or thereabouts with finding it. :)

In reality, the bird won't have an instantaneous change in direction - it will eed to decelerate and accelerate gain, meaning a finine number of transits. This model doesn't account for that.

The total momentum of the situation before the firing is zero. This means that after the firing, the total must remain at zero. Find the momentum of the cannonball once it has been fired. The cannon must have equal momentum in the opposite direction for momentum to be conserved at zero kgm/s...

Yea, which is the problem I have run into, especially if we assume the bird takes zero time to change direction - it is always moving faster than the trains and has an ever decreasing distance to cover. I tried plotting the displacement of all objects from the colission point and ended up with a...

Yes I have taken the motion of the trains into account. I am trying to get my head around how to come up with a raw number in a more elegant way than simply chunking it down into smaller and smaller time iterations, waiting for the bird to not have enough time to get between the 2 trains as they...

I have done a crude from first principples method that suggests that there could be an infinite number of stops made by the bird (transit time for the bird between the trains drops exponentially). This however feels silly, and I gave up pursuing the method after I established that the bird would...

Some kind of birdplane? Or bird of prey in a steep dive.

An unladen african swallow.

Is this 60 m/s the velocity of both trains relative to the earth, or relative to each other?

Using pressure to estimate the force will give you a lower boundary on what he force could be... recommend working in N/m^2 btw rather than imperial units. Saves fiddly conversions.

Bsci (Hons) Physics and Planetary/Space Physics, and several other postgrad/profesisonal qualifications relating to Education. I teach Physics. Mainly to 17 to 20 year olds looking to get into university to do Maths or Physics. On the side I carry out research, development and implementation...

Possibly you have found the wrong the angle in the triangle there...

You can do - I know several who have done so. I beleinve mathematicians and Physicist are valued by the finacial sector for their ability to formulate problems and then derive methods to solve them.

What are the options you are given?