Re: A few silly questions


"Wayne Dobson" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:Vi3Bh.359$I46.58@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Androcles" <Engineer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:zfyAh.320367$MO2.126566@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"David L. Burkhead" <dburkhead@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:e9ydnXCDop5mBE_YnZ2dnUVZ_sGqnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'm the person he was arguing with. The context was from his claim that,
in
the case of a falling body brought to a stop by a cord (as in a hanging),
"considering only those two factors [height and weight], the forces
involved
are very predictable." I immediately pointed out that those two factors
don't define the problem, let alone lead to "very predictable" forces.
Given only those two factors, the only thing that can really be said is 0
<
F < infinity. And since F here is magnitude rather than vector force,
that's really no restriction at all.

Pity they didn't rip Saddam Hussein's head off too, you mean?
Seems to me that the amount a rope or a neck stretches before it
breaks decides the outcome, otherwise it's a bungee jump.
I'd say the force involved was predictable or people wouldn't
bungee jump.

You mean bungee jumpers don't die randomly? Let me make a note. Hahaha...

That's the heart attack when the epinephrine gets going, not the bungee
breaking... but they DO break, and then it is the almost instantaneous
acceleration when the ground comes up and taps you on the head,
not the neck stretching. No prediction is totally foolproof.




When we went around on this, the infinite force limit was brought up and
Mr.
Dobson said that of course that would require infinite energy (or words
to
that effect).

He's not Mr. Dobson, he's Dobby the House Elf. Be respectful
of his chosen name.
The force will not be infinite, the rope or the neck will break.

Hahaha... There you go. I keep telling them, but they won't listen.
Hahaha...

Which I disputed since, yes, you would have infinite force,
but, since (by the initial stipulation of the condition), it would take
place over zero distance. infinity * zero, undefined but possibly
meaningful if considered as a limit.

I get the feeling that the person Dobby was arguing with feels at
liberty to call anything Dobby says, wrong, regardless of its merits,
because the argumentative fuckheaded muggle brought infinity into
the argument in the first place.

*plonk*

Ouch! That's gotta hurt. Hahaha...

If I didn't plonk the muggles I'd never find a student, but
I do have to keep some muggles back for my own amusement.

Now, Dobbie, find me a theoretically rigid rod and accelerate
it with a hammer striking one end.
I want to know when the other end begins to move.

.

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