Physics Question

Post #97,187 by deSitter 4/17/03 11:01:54 PM Reply	Physics Question If you drop a superball from a radio tower onto the hardest concrete known to Man, how high will it bounce? Oh well. -drl (Dm - 2Am)(Rmn + 1/2gmn R + 1/2Fmn) = 0
Post #97,199 by rcareaga 4/17/03 11:35:40 PM 4/18/03 11:33:01 AM Reply	superballs ...a new technology (from the Wham-o Corp., better known as the makers of Frisbee) in 1964. I purchased one at age twelve from the local dimestore ("Grant's," a long-vanished chain) and, walking home bouncing the thing along a heavily-travelled boulevard, contrived accidentally to direct it into the street, where it was struck by a bumper and vanished from sight. nostalgically, [edit: amend infelicities] "Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist." Edited by rcareaga April 18, 2003, 11:33:01 AM EDT Expand All History
Post #97,203 by boxley 4/17/03 11:46:01 PM Reply	doing the math :-) and looking at your picture I suspect you are elder by 3 years. Will have to get a scanner one of these days and put some of my old stuff up. thanx, bill will work for cash and other incentives [link\|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html\|skill set] questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org] Carpe Dieu
Post #97,210 by rcareaga 4/17/03 11:54:01 PM 4/17/03 11:57:59 PM Reply	Re: doing the math :-) looking at your picture I suspect you are elder by 3 years Older--not, of course, necessarily wiser. I did grow up thinking that, notwithstanding the evidence of my own parents, grownups as a class somehow had it figured out, and that in the fullness of time I, too, would come into my inheritance, this knowledge, this self-assurance, this certainty that I knew how the world was wired. Probably before I was thirty it had dawned on me intellectually that the grownups were in fact making it up as they went along, and that each generation invented the wheel, but I believe I made it all the way to my early thirties before this awful conclusion finally resonated in my gut. ruefully, [edit: semi-current pic returned after much-appreciated time off; 1971 pic returned to hibernation] "Die Welt ist alles, was der Fall ist." Edited by rcareaga April 17, 2003, 11:57:59 PM EDT Expand All History
Post #97,332 by dmarker 4/18/03 5:57:24 PM Reply	Such wisdom in one so young :-) Some sayings (LRPDs?) The more I learn, the less I know. Someone who 'knows it all', does so because of so little learned. In a world of knowledge, each answer given will pose many more questions. Cheers Doug Marker Spectres from our past: Beware the future when your children & theirs come after you for what you may have been willing to condone today - dsm 2003 Motivational: When performing activities, ask yourself if the person you most want to be would do, or say, it - dsm 2003
Post #97,311 by tseliot 4/18/03 3:34:31 PM Reply	Heh. F = ma. The superball will have reached terminal velocity by the time it hits the ground, so it will have acceleration = 0. Therefore, it'll stick like well-lubed Juicyfruit. :D Many fears are born of stupidity and ignorance - Which you should be feeding with rumour and generalisation. BOfH, 2002 "Episode" 10
Post #97,318 by Another Scott 4/18/03 3:57:33 PM Reply	To the Moon! (Image enclosed) I think the rubber will eventually shatter if it hits something with high enough velocity, but I don't know if its terminal velocity in the atmosphere is high enough. If you're tricky, you can send a Superball to the Moon (if reality follows the ideal physics)! [link\|http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/~kskeldon/PubSci/exhibits/D12/\|Here]: There are a number of physical concepts, such as transfer between kinetic and potential energy and momentum conservation, that can be demonstrated using bouncy rubber balls. One of the most popular is the superball bounce, where two or more superballs are dropped from a height one on top of the other. The result after the collision with the floor is quite surprising. If two balls are dropped simultaneously, one on top of the other, so that the top ball is much lighter that the bottom, then on collision with the floor the top ball will shoot up to a height much greater than the original dropping distance. This will work well when the ratio of the balls' masses is about five or more. Theoretically, if the ratio of the masses is infinite, then the lighter ball should reach exactly nine times the height of release. [image\|http://www.physics.gla.ac.uk/~kskeldon/PubSci/exhibits/D12/super.gif\|0\|Superball Bounce\|383\|685] If seven balls are dropped from a height of 1km above the earth's surface, then the top ball attains a velocity greater than the escape velocity of the earth and will hit the moon! Emphasis added. Cheers, Scott.
Post #97,319 by drewk 4/18/03 4:17:56 PM Reply	College trick Take a large superball, one of the ones about three inches across. Get a new pencil, cut of the eraser just below the ferrule, and sharpen both ends. Insert one end into the superball just enough that when you hold the pencil the ball doesn't fall off. Drop this in a room with an acoustic-tile cieling. === Implicitly condoning stupidity since 2001.

Welcome to IWETHEY!