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Thread ID: 101245 2009-07-06 10:19:00 Physics Question Adamnz (12260) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
789551 2009-07-06 12:40:00 Due to the mass of the pole, and the fact that space is a vacuum, if you push the pole, you will move yourself backwards, and the pole will remain stationary (not completely, but it will move so little that it doesn't count).

Called inertia I think.

And the mass of the pole counts here too in so far as a pole that long depending on diameter will possibly weigh as much as our Moon and we already assume that our Moon actually affects tides.

Hmmm.....

Lunatics. Is that like Pole(itics) :eek:
Sweep (90)
789552 2009-07-06 13:35:00 Chuck Noris could push the pole and turn the torch on at the same time, he would then be able to go to the other end to feel the pole move before the light got there.

FACT.
Rob99 (151)
789553 2009-07-06 21:24:00 Chuck Noris could push the pole and turn the torch on at the same time, he would then be able to go to the other end to feel the pole move before the light got there.

FACT.
Of courser, the light could not approach until he commanded it.
Alas, while he was swapping ends, Chuck would find that Metla had cut the pole into firewood lengths and had it stacked for sale
R2x1 (4628)
789554 2009-07-06 23:01:00 The pole isn't supported by a treadmill by any chance is it? Richard (739)
789555 2009-07-06 23:06:00 Of courser, the light could not approach until he commanded it.
Alas, while he was swapping ends, Chuck would find that Metla had cut the pole into firewood lengths and had it stacked for sale

And then the Weathewhakawi iwi would appear and claim Customary Title over the pole, sell it for millions, buy many, many BMW's for the extended family, mis-manage the left-over money, and them blame Chuck & Metla for oppressing them.

:o
nofam (9009)
789556 2009-07-06 23:39:00 And then the Weathewhakawi iwi would appear and claim Customary Title over the pole, sell it for millions, buy many, many BMW's for the extended family, mis-manage the left-over money, and them blame Chuck & Metla for oppressing them.

:o

... and then the children of the Weathewhakawi iwi, years down the track, would repeat the whole process and get yet more 'reparations' based on the same arguments.
johcar (6283)
789557 2009-07-07 00:21:00 No.

The atomic structure of the pole would permit some deformation and stretching, however slight, giving rise to a pressure wave. This wave cannot travel faster than the speed of light.

As an aside, it is said that the expansion of the universe at the Big Bang was "faster" than the speed of light.

Good thought experiment Adam. I'm with Vin. The wave cannot move faster than light - in fact it will be slower.

What about if you switched your torch on and started walking down the pole - would the light from your torch be moving faster than the speed of light? ;)
Winston001 (3612)
789558 2009-07-07 00:59:00 Good thought experiment Adam. I'm with Vin. The wave cannot move faster than light - in fact it will be slower.

What about if you switched your torch on and started walking down the pole - would the light from your torch be moving faster than the speed of light? ;)

So he would feel it but it would not happen instantly, and it would take longer than a year.... Wheres Stephen Hawking when you need him.
Gobe1 (6290)
789559 2009-07-07 01:01:00 Why use a Polish person? the_bogan (9949)
789560 2009-07-07 02:19:00 You need relativity to explain this, since information cannot travel faster than the speed of light then the force at the other end of the pole would not occur until this information is transfered to it, thus in the reference frame of the universe the pole would seem to bend into a horse shoe shape, but in the rest frame of the pole space would seem to bend around you.
This kind of science is called action-at-a-distance (en.wikipedia.org).
spaceman8815 (4112)
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