Legal Beagle: Things that aren't true
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Dropping things.
Air resistance IS a factor.Try dropping a feather inside a glass (tall to reduce eddy currents.)
IF the feather falls slower than the glass it will come off the bottom of the glass. Does it? Try it.You don't need to go to the moon!!!
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merc,
That USA has never been invaded by a country that has McDonalds...
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1. Heavy objects and light objects fall at the same rate in a vacuum.
It helps to complete sentences sometimes ;-)2. Labour won the last election because of a fantastic get-out-the-vote drive in South Auckland and the fact that people suddenly remembered what National was like.
3. No two democracies have ever warred with each other according to people who want you to believe that.
And hey, you forgot Britain and the U.S of A, they have warred with each other many times, admittedly on the same side but....
I have always been astounded by the pride some people have in their own ignorance.
if someone can up up a blue one, I'll be a happy man
Is this blue enough?
"Cunts are still running the world" Jarvis Cocker. -
Oh, right, things that AREN'T true.
How about;
"The free market will regulate itself"
Yeah, right. The invisible hand slips on a latex glove and .............."Socialism has never worked"
because it doesn't fit in with
"greed is good"
and we have the power to ensure it doesn't work.And the corker,
"Winston broke the law"
Plus
"John Key didn't break the law" -
Oh, right, things that AREN'T true.
You must have thought I was a total idiot :-)
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Here is a cleaner video of the Falcon / feather experiment performed by the Apollo 15 crew, if anyone is interested.
Still looking for pedantry points, the War of 1812 between Britain and the US would seem to be a fairly clear-cut example of two democracies at war with one another.
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3410,
1. Heavy objects and light objects fall at the same rate
I don't know about this one. I mean, it's clearly untrue as it stands. but is there seriously anyone who thinks that, say, a duvet and a block of cheese weighing the same amount would, on a windy day, hit the ground at the same time? Surely not.
It's a remarkably curious example of "things that aren't true", since the proposition intended to demonstrate that what is "common sense" is sometimes not true in fact, is itself perhaps the most famous example ever of a demonstrator of the same thesis (specifically that heavier things fall faster than lighter things).
Is it supposed to be this complicated?
3. No two democracies have ever warred with each other
Even if it was true, it's the always implied corollary that "if every state was a democracy, there'd never be any war" which seems a very dangerous non sequitur, since the next step is "if we make everyone become democracies, there'd never be any war". Didn't they do this one on the Daily Show or something last week? [update: yeah, John Stewart discussed this with Tony Blair].
if someone can up up a blue one, I'll be a happy man
I'll nominate:
"Some women are unable to orgasm" -
Didn't they do this one on the Daily Show or something last week? [update: yeah, John Stewart discussed this with Tony Blair].
Which would be how the conversation arose :-)
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if someone can up up a blue one, I'll be a happy man
Does poor weather on election day favor the National Party?
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Danyl
It certainly didn't in 1984. Pissed down most of the country, most of the day.
It may have done, once upon a time, when cars were less common. Even then I have my doubts.
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1. Heavy objects and light objects fall at the same rate in a vacuum.
It helps to complete sentences sometimes ;-)Quite. The acceleration due to gravity is the same for heavier and lighter objects. And considering the point of using this example of the limits of ‘common sense’ is to do with people’s notion of weight, the wind resistance stuff really isn’t too relevant. Many people have a common sense notion that heavy objects tend to fall faster than lighter ones because gravity affects the heavier object more.
Heavy objects do fall faster.
Sometimes. Sometimes not. The same common sense that tells people that a hammer will fall faster than a feather leads many to presume a hammer will in turn fall slower than a much heavier object, like (say) an army tank. Whereas, the tank’s greater weight makes no difference, but its greater wind resistance will so it down.
And yes, as it happens, I did just check this out myself yesterday, while tinkering around in the backyard. -
Many people have a common sense notion that heavy objects tend to fall faster than lighter ones because gravity affects the heavier object more.
Gravity does affect the heavier object more, but so does inertia, both in proportion to the mass of the object, so that acceleration due to gravity stays the same.
And wasn't Hitler democratically elected at first? Even if democracies don't war with each other while they're democracies, that doesn't seem to prevent them from quickly becoming dictatorships before starting wars.
<><
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The war *in * Lebanon in 2006 was not between the democracies of Israel and Lebanon, it was between Israel and Hizbullah, which is not a democracy. The state of Lebanon was not involved, even though it's nominal territory was invaded. The Lebanese National Army, the armed forces of the democratic state of Lebanon sat it out.
So as others have said the war of 1812 between Britain and the US would seem to count as would Britain's involvement in the wars with Revolutionary France prior to Bonaparte crowning himself Emperor.
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Hunh?
Ships don't sink gracefully in a vacuum. -
But doesn't the objects weight need to be heavier than air?
Denser. Not heavier. But yes.
And yes, as it happens, I did just check this out myself yesterday, while tinkering around in the backyard.
You own a tank? Cool!
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Does poor weather on election day favor the National Party?
I think the myth is that it is bad for the incumbent
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Gravity does affect the heavier object more, but so does inertia, both in proportion to the mass of the object, so that acceleration due to gravity stays the same.
Fair enough. I could’ve worded my sentence better, but the net effect is what matters, for the purposes of the point I was making.
You own a tank? Cool!
That’s just silly, of course I don‘t own a tank.
I borrowed Bruce Dickinson’s
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Can anyone try dropping our politicians down a stairwell? (Hmm, I just noticed something - there are a lot of 'i's in politician)
Anyway... back to the dropping thing.
During the election all candidates have to be dropped down a stairwell to determine density.
After all we don't want overly dense people in the beehive. Like what we have now.
Yes/No? -
During the election all candidates have to be dropped down a stairwell to determine density.
If we're showing they're less dense than the Media they're floating in, that won't tell you much.
BTW I had it explained to me that what Galileo should have done was taken a cannonball and a hollow cannonball the same size and dropped them off the leaning tower to see. Same wind resistance, different weights.
Which leads the Labour media office to conclude that if John Key falls at the same rate as Helen Clark, then he's hollow.
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So, one that is blue (but not in a cussin' way):
The sky is blue because it is reflecting the sea...
wiki o doom says
"The sunlit sky appears blue because air scatters short-wavelength light more than longer wavelengths." -
You must have thought I was a total idiot :-)
Not at all Graeme, Twas my brain that were fuddled by this new fangled daylight saving thingy, I still don't know whether i'm early or late.
Anyroad, It seems that financiers fall at the same rate as their portfolios, most New Zealanders wish to resume the right to smack polititions and the money changers are still hanging around in the temple. Enough I say, enough! When will they be smacked by the invisible hand that feeds them?
November 8th? ;-) -
Ok, derive the equation for an object of mass M and cross-section S falling in air at nominal density. Using only common sense.
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M/S squared=tV where Tv is terminal velocity in metres per second ;-)
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In any event, this little factoid (hey – I used it right!)
THIS!! Far too many people seem to be under the impression that a factoid is a small fact...
-oid ≠ small! I kind of wish it was, though. Just think of the possibilities, dwarves would be androids! :D
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It's actually SQRT(k.m/S) where k is a factor of g, air density, Cd, etc.
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