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Curious questions

Archive: 22 posts


I have several questions that I've wanted to have answered for a while now, but the problem is that they aren't possible to set up. Ill ask them anyway, but you'll have to ignore the fact that they aren't actually possible. So don't answer the question with, "it's not possible, it doesn't matter" or something stupid, because I know its not possible, and I know its doesn't matter, I'm just really curious. You don't have to read the entire post, you can just read one of the questions and answer it.

1. First, lets say you had an indestructible hollow sphere, and that the temperature inside the sphere was always 70 degrees Fahrenheit. And lets say you put that hollow sphere at the center of the Earth. Now, the sphere wouldn't be crushed(remember that it's indestructible, somehow), nor would the interior be heated by the contents of the Earths core. And then you somehow put various objects into the sphere, like a tennis ball, or a hundred pound weight, or a fish bowl, or even a person.
What would happen to these objects? They're completely safe at the center of the Earth, so would some sort of pressure crush them, or would they be weightless, or would they be pulled in every direction at once? They certainly wouldn't be pulled "down" anymore, because on the surface, gravity is pulling everything towards the center of the earth. But once your'e already at the center, then what?

2. Say there was a flashlight, or a torch as some of you call them. And that flashlight was moving through space faster than light, and it wasn't getting burned up by passing close to stars or anything(which is my next question actually). We'll say it's moving through the space between galaxies. So this flashlight is moving faster than light; what happens if it gets turned on, without changing speed? Since it's travelling faster than the light its emitting... Light isn't affected by inertia is it?

3. My last question is this. Well first, if you have a pot of boiling water, and you quick dip your finger in and pull it out as fast as you can, you wont feel much. But if you put your finger in and leave it there, it will hurt, and eventually your finger will burn.
So say you have a lead ball the size of a basketball, and that lead ball is travelling really fast. This question depends on the speed, as well as the star. Lets say it's travelling at light speed, and that lead ball passes through our sun. Would the lead ball still incinerate? I'd imagine so, because the sun is that hot. But the thing is, there are so many variations of the question. What if the ball was moving four times the speed of light, and the star was half the temperature of our sun? Then what? Or what of the lead ball passed 50,000 miles from the sun, would the same thing still happen?
2012-05-09 19:22:00

Author:
ATMLVE
Posts: 1177


Dude, why?2012-05-09 22:00:00

Author:
Unknown User


Because thats how my mind works. You may call me nerd and say, "who cares", but the fact is that I care.2012-05-09 23:52:00

Author:
ATMLVE
Posts: 1177


1.What would happen to these objects? They're completely safe at the center of the Earth, so would some sort of pressure crush them, or would they be weightless, or would they be pulled in every direction at once? They certainly wouldn't be pulled "down" anymore, because on the surface, gravity is pulling everything towards the center of the earth. But once your'e already at the center, then what?

They'll 'explode' from the pressure. Much like a submarine going down too deep in a large body of water without stabilizing the pressure inside, anything in it would be harmed while the submarine, or in this case the sphere, itself will remain intact.


2.So this flashlight is moving faster than light; what happens if it gets turned on, without changing speed? Since it's travelling faster than the light its emitting... Light isn't affected by inertia is it?

From my understanding, light will emit from the flashlight but you'll be able to see it. This is because the light itself is still in motion, so you're 'adding' to the speed of light. Imagine a water hose spraying water at a very intense speed. You'll be able to see the water flowing; the same might apply to light.


3.What if the ball was moving four times the speed of light, and the star was half the temperature of our sun? Then what? Or what of the lead ball passed 50,000 miles from the sun, would the same thing still happen?

It'll probably incinerate just from the speed itself. Meteorites burn up in the Earth's atmosphere from friction. Since our Sun is made of gases that leak out at very long ranges, the ball will most likely burn up before even reaching the star itself.


Dude, why?

Why not? He's curious about these things, hence his decision to make a thread. Sorry if you can't be pained to come up with an answer.
2012-05-10 02:32:00

Author:
CyberSora
Posts: 5551


They'll 'explode' from the pressure. Much like a submarine going down too deep in a large body of water without stabilizing the pressure inside, anything in it would be harmed while the submarine, or in this case the sphere, itself will remain intact.
But dont submarines feel pressure because of the water? And also, isn't water pressure caused by gravity, which in the center of the Earth is(I'm assuming) different?



It'll probably incinerate just from the speed itself. Meteorites burn up in the Earth's atmosphere from friction. Since our Sun is made of gases that leak out at very long ranges, the ball will most likely burn up before even reaching the star itself.
Pretty much what I thought too. But what if the ball was going(excuse my lack of realism) 100 times the speed of light? Maybe not even then, but I guess I could just name higher and higher numbers all day long until I get to some point. Basically my question is, is it possible for something to not be affected by a star, because its moving so fast? Obviously moving that fast isn't possible, but the other part.
2012-05-10 02:59:00

Author:
ATMLVE
Posts: 1177


But dont submarines feel pressure because of the water? And also, isn't water pressure caused by gravity, which in the center of the Earth is(I'm assuming) different?

Well, you have to remember that the magma in the center of the earth is very condensed and compacted by the pressure both gravity and the mantle and other layers that surround it. More than likely the submarine effect will still apply even at the very dead center of the earth's core.


Pretty much what I thought too. But what if the ball was going(excuse my lack of realism) 100 times the speed of light? Maybe not even then, but I guess I could just name higher and higher numbers all day long until I get to some point. Basically my question is, is it possible for something to not be affected by a star, because its moving so fast? Obviously moving that fast isn't possible, but the other part.

In that case it would still disintegrate. The only reason light travels so fast is because it is nothing but particles with (what I assume) no friction in between it and its destination. An object would pick up friction and burn if it was traveling at that speed. If by some undefinable action, the ball would burn up and become particles much like light and travel along with it. However, I highly doubt it would be able to defy physics like that.
2012-05-10 03:05:00

Author:
CyberSora
Posts: 5551


I don't want to interrupt you guys, but I was wondering how you thought this up?2012-05-10 03:08:00

Author:
Unknown User


I don't want to interrupt you guys, but I was wondering how you thought this up?

It's quite simple really, they're nerds in a good way. As for number 1 I would have to agree with Cyber, the ball would eventually explode due to the pressure inside of our earth. NFLOM would certainly play a big role in that.
2012-05-10 03:41:00

Author:
zzmorg82
Posts: 948


As for number 1 I would have to agree with Cyber, the ball would eventually explode due to the pressure inside of our earth. NFLOM would certainly play a big role in that.
Yeah I realize any substance we know of would get pretty messed up in the center of the Earth. Which is why I chose an indestructible ball, and said that you have to ignore the completely impossible situations and pretend that they're actually happening rather than what would really happen if the situation was set up.



I don't want to interrupt you guys, but I was wondering how you thought this up?
Because there are people out there that want to learn things. Its common human behavior to want to learn more about things they don't know about, and in my case, this stuff is something I want to learn more about. Humans have no good reason to learn about the anatomy of a squirrel, or search for planets far outside of the solar system, or find out the history of dinosaurs; none of that really matters, but they try and find it out anyway, because they simply want to know more.
2012-05-10 13:49:00

Author:
ATMLVE
Posts: 1177


Well, I think that for 1) the same thing would happen as Cyber said, although perhaps not because of pressure, assuming there is matter like gas outside and inside the sphere. Wouldn't the object explode outward because it's gravitating towards the masses of earth all around it? Or they might not actually explode, but merely stretch slowly, since the mass around the sphere would have a near-exact balance of mass in all directions, thus the object parts get pulled toward whichever side of the sphere is nearest.

I'm pretty sure that light will go to speed of light plus whatever velocity the object making the light is going. So the light will be visible if you were to go at the torch's speed in 2), Imo.

For 3), I suppose lead ball would melt near immediately, given it flew at the speed of light 50,000 miles from the sun, or any nearer, at a guess. This question's a little open.
2012-05-10 17:56:00

Author:
Denim360
Posts: 482


Since questions 1 and 2 were already very well answered, I think I can come up with an explanation to 3. I don't think it's possible for many objects to dodge the affects of the heat and rays stars put off. Only substances such as light itself or maybe gas may not be affected, but then again for gasses there are solar winds.
If the ball didn't burn up by the time it even got relatively close to the star in question, it'd most likely go through the effects when it came in contact with it. I'm no teacher or super-smart-guy, but I think the reason a person doesn't feel pain immediately when they stick their finger in something hot has to do with their nerves. Perhaps signals aren't so fast that they reach the brain exactly at the time of contact with the hot substance. Then there's that thing you said, that "the sun is that hot". If someone were able to, perhaps, take their finger for a nice hot dip in the sun, I'm pretty sure the pain may be darn close to immediate. In a pot of boiling water, a finger may need a very small amount of time to collect the heat, and then when it's too hot, the signals are sent telling the brain something's hurting. But in something as hot (or hotter) than the sun, I'm pretty sure the finger would be burnt straight off. So, long story short, my guess is just that the ball would be burnt to smithereens.
And "nerds" aren't simply "smart people", they're usually the socially inactive or deprived smarticles that are usually obsessed with something like grades, or at least that's what a nerd was in my school. If I get called a "nerd" elsewhere, I kind of take that as a compliment.
2012-05-10 19:10:00

Author:
Sackpapoi
Posts: 1195


Yeah I realize any substance we know of would get pretty messed up in the center of the Earth. Which is why I chose an indestructible ball, and said that you have to ignore the completely impossible situations and pretend that they're actually happening rather than what would really happen if the situation was set up.

Well in that case, I think the sphere of the earth would crack into tiny parts, spreading upward in the ground. This will cause massive earthquakes all over the earth. Soon in the matter of minutes, life on earth would cease to exsits. imo
2012-05-10 21:22:00

Author:
zzmorg82
Posts: 948


I don't believe you guys understand me. When I say the objects will explode in the center of the earth, I wasn't referring to the sphere being crushed. I was talking about the objects expanding to a point where they separate violently to fill in the space due to the lack of pressure, or 'explode' if you want to look at it that way.

Maybe this will help show you what I'm talking about. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEY3fN4N3D8)
2012-05-10 22:14:00

Author:
CyberSora
Posts: 5551


I don't believe you guys understand me. When I say the objects will explode in the center of the earth, I wasn't referring to the sphere being crushed. I was talking about the objects expanding to a point where they separate violently to fill in the space due to the lack of pressure, or 'explode' if you want to look at it that way.

Maybe this will help show you what I'm talking about. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEY3fN4N3D8)

Thats what I thought you meant too, but he said that the sphere would be crushed, which is what would happen if this were reality.
2012-05-11 03:01:00

Author:
ATMLVE
Posts: 1177


The objects would be weightless inside the hollow sphere. Gravity is strongest at the Earth's surface (and even then it's really weak). As you go towards the centre of the Earth there's less stuff underneath your feet to pull you down. That said, the mechanical pressure on the sphere would be huge.


The speed of light is constant relative to your speed, so the torch would work normally to you. I'm not sure what a static observer would see when you turned the torch on, though. I'm guessing light has no inertia like you wrote because photons have no mass.


I think the metal ball could pass by the sun and remain solid. Space is a poor conductor of heat, the solar wind isn't dense enough to effectively transfer the heat generated by the sun directly to an object. I'm guessing you'd have to worry more about the effects of electromagnetic radiation unless you were close.
2012-05-11 12:05:00

Author:
Ayneh
Posts: 2454


1. The objects would be weightless inside the hollow sphere. Gravity is strongest at the Earth's surface (and even then it's really weak). As you go towards the centre of the Earth there's less stuff underneath your feet to pull you down. That said, the mechanical pressure on the sphere would be huge.

Well, youre the third person to answer that question, and the third person to give a different answer. Its too bad we dont have any indestructible hollow spheres and teleporters lying around...
2012-05-11 13:45:00

Author:
ATMLVE
Posts: 1177


I don't believe you guys understand me. When I say the objects will explode in the center of the earth, I wasn't referring to the sphere being crushed. I was talking about the objects expanding to a point where they separate violently to fill in the space due to the lack of pressure, or 'explode' if you want to look at it that way.

Oh yeah, I understood that, what with the low pressure. I should have said 'lack of pressure', sorry!
2012-05-11 15:51:00

Author:
Denim360
Posts: 482


I2. Say there was a flashlight, or a torch as some of you call them. And that flashlight was moving through space faster than light, and it wasn't getting burned up by passing close to stars or anything(which is my next question actually). We'll say it's moving through the space between galaxies. So this flashlight is moving faster than light; what happens if it gets turned on, without changing speed? Since it's travelling faster than the light its emitting... Light isn't affected by inertia is it?



I can't figure this out, as if it's moving faster than light, it wouldn;'t be seeable. Also, wouldn't the light appear (if it is seeable) behind the torch?
2012-05-11 21:53:00

Author:
Valeview
Posts: 1581


I can't figure this out, as if it's moving faster than light, it wouldn;'t be seeable. Also, wouldn't the light appear (if it is seeable) behind the torch?
Well I guess we're pretending youre moving at the same speed and trajectory as the flashlight, just a few feet away. And I thought the same thing, because I thought light isnt affected by inertia and therefore wouldnt keep travelling at the same speed as the flashlight.
2012-05-12 01:32:00

Author:
ATMLVE
Posts: 1177


My guess is everything will explode2012-05-12 02:41:00

Author:
Halfire
Posts: 132


Sorry for the bump, but since this a thread about asking random questions, and I have a random question to ask, I think it'd be fine posting this here.

I know that if you have a large hobo trash can, (or whatever it's called) you put a packet of bullets in there, and light it on fire, the bullets will go off. Now, what if you were to have a fire start in a house, and it got everywhere. There's a gun attatched to the wall, with bullets in it. So the difference here would be that the bullets are shielded. I suppose the bullets will eventually go off in their metal casing as the heat of the flames increase, but does anyone know how long it might take for the bullet to go off in that scenario, shielded inside the gun?
2012-05-23 16:55:00

Author:
Dragonvarsity
Posts: 5208


Ayneh got here before me 2012-05-23 17:03:00

Author:
Kern
Posts: 5078


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