World Jump Day

It's impossible. You can't change the momentum of a closed system.

For instance, you can't move your out-of-gas car to the station by sitting inside and pushing on the dashboard.
 
funkykingston said:
It's impossible. You can't change the momentum of a closed system.

For instance, you can't move your out-of-gas car to the station by sitting inside and pushing on the dashboard.
Click to expand...

But, perhaps you could if you had 600,000,000 people simultaneously pushing on your dashboard.

I did have a problem with the "jump time," however. They should be more specific -- is this the time you're supposed to actually jump, or is this the time you're supposed to land?
 
But, perhaps you could if you had 600,000,000 people simultaneously pushing on your dashboard.
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That would certainly top any clown act I've ever seen. In fact, here's what I found from the Guinness people regarding bodies crammed in a car.

Jaguar XJ6: 42, The Moss Bay Mojorettes in Jacksonville (USA), 26 August 1984

That being said, it wouldn't matter how many people you have in your car. Newton's 3rd Law and Conservation of Momentum means that you couldn't move it from inside or shift the planet's orbit by jumping.

Another nugget I found in my search. Alistair Ross set a new record when he pushed an orange with his nose along Brighton seafront for a mile two years ago. His mother must be so proud.
 
However, I am pretty sure that if you could get 600,000,000 people pressing simultaneously on the dashboard that should be enough pressure to split the car in half and perhaps thrust the front half away with enough explosive force to send it hurtling quite a distance while also sending you backward an equal distance. Thus breaking the closed system and moving the car. Kind of. :)
 
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If I can share my favorite science malapropism...

If you're in an elevator plunging to earth and certain death, by jumping up at exactly the right time you'll avoid death as you'll simply land back on the floor as if the elevator had been standing still.

;)
 
VF21 said:
If I can share my favorite science malapropism...

If you're in an elevator plunging to earth and certain death, by jumping up at exactly the right time you'll avoid death as you'll simply land back on the floor as if the elevator had been standing still.

;)
Click to expand...

Better have a good, long jump for that one...

It is most fun, coincidentally, to jump up in the air anyway when the elevator goes down. :D
 
VF21 said:
If I can share my favorite science malapropism...

If you're in an elevator plunging to earth and certain death, by jumping up at exactly the right time you'll avoid death as you'll simply land back on the floor as if the elevator had been standing still.

;)
Click to expand...

Only if the elevator was falling at the speed of your jump. Or if in fact the elevator was a pressurized vaccuum it would work. Otherwise, you'd be squished at the top of the elevator.
 
a pressurized vaccuum
Click to expand...

???????????

Part of the reason it's a myth is that you couldn't jump in the first place. You'd be experiencing apparent weightlessness. There'd be nothing to push against even if you could get your feet to touch the floor.

There's another science myth I had forgotten. That astronauts orbiting the Earth are "weightless".

They still weigh about 90% of what they would weigh on Earth.
 
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Still working on flaws in the already flawed logic of "jump day" -- be warned...

The earth is a sphere. Therefore, if one were to assume that convincing 600,000,000 people to simultaneously jump would actually cause the earth to shift, you still wouldn't be able to predict which way the earth would move. If, for example, the weight were equally distributed around the globe, any possible forces created by jumping would be met with an equal force, there'd be no momentum, the earth would stay put.

In order to knock the earth onto the predetermined new orbit, you'd have to not only coordinate a time for eveyone to jump, you'd also have to give everyone a particular location otherwise you could accidentally put the earth onto some horrible death spiral -- change the orbit so much that the environment completely freaks out and kills itself.
 
Jumping just ain't gonna cut it.


But it occurs to me that if you could just find a way to launch those same 600,000,000 idiots into low orbit, and coordinate their reentry into the atmosphere simultaneously on one side of the planet, and figure out some way to keep them all from harmlessly incinerating as they came skidding through the atmosphere, that you would have roughly 600,000,000 x 150lbs (180lbs if you used mostly Americans) = 90,000,000,000 lbs, or some 45,000,000 tons worth of mass to slam into the planet at speeds of roughly 150mph. Aside from making a real big splattery mess and dramatically cleaning up the human gene pool while raising our species' average IQ by 10pts at least, that should be enough force to at least cause a wobble of some sort, I would think.
 
Bricklayer said:
Jumping just ain't gonna cut it.


But it occurs to me that if you could just find a way to launch those same 600,000,000 idiots into low orbit, and coordinate their reentry into the atmosphere simultaneously on one side of the planet, and figure out some way to keep them all from harmlessly incinerating as they came skidding through the atmosphere, that you would have roughly 600,000,000 x 150lbs (180lbs if you used mostly Americans) = 90,000,000,000 lbs, or some 45,000,000 tons worth of mass to slam into the planet at speeds of roughly 150mph. Aside from making a real big splattery mess and dramatically cleaning up the human gene pool while raising our species' average IQ by 10pts at least, that should be enough force to at least cause a wobble of some sort, I would think.
Click to expand...

I'm all for it. Beam me up Brickie, only thing is I weigh just around 150lbs, so not sure what impactI would create.;)
 
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^^While we're talking about large masses impacting the earth..i read recently that the moon is slowly but surely moving further away from us as the bias in the relationship between centrafugal force and gravity edges away from the latter.

I'm told it may take awhile yet..but the climatic changes incurred could mean that your 'brolly' comes in very handy G3 ;)
 
I haven't read that the Moon is moving appreciably further from the Earth, but if it is, it will mean a few changes.

The tides will be less severe, both low and high and the Earth's wobble in its orbit will be more pronounced. I think most people believe the Moon revolves around the Earth but that's not the case. They both rotate around their collective center of mass, which is inside the earth. If the moon's average distance from the sun increases, the center of mass would get further from the Earth's center, causing a more pronounced wobble.

Do you remember where you read this LK? I'd like to read it. As an aside, I'm guessing the article was talking about centripetal force. Centrifugal force doesn't exist, it's a ficticious force that humans perceive when they are spun.

LK I'm glad that you are safe, and I hope things can return to normal in London as soon as possible.
 
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/moon/

Funky..this isnt where i read it , but there is a paragraph about 6 paras into the piece which mentions the expanding orbit issue.....i will see if i can find the original article.

You are of course correct re the centripetal force. My old physics teacher would be frowning at me now...then again, when i think back to my physics lessons there wasnt any great thrills to be had dropping a spring off the end of the lab desk or sseing those little cars pull ticker tape at a certain velocity..regrettably i spent too many sessions playing with the bunsen burners....lol
 
^^ bunsen burners?? ah that explains so much lol;) I liked physics but it was chemistry that I couldn't stand. All those molecules and particles and that periodic table. That killed my dream of being a doctor.:(
 
GoGoGadget said:
Still working on flaws in the already flawed logic of "jump day" -- be warned...

The earth is a sphere. Therefore, if one were to assume that convincing 600,000,000 people to simultaneously jump would actually cause the earth to shift, you still wouldn't be able to predict which way the earth would move. If, for example, the weight were equally distributed around the globe, any possible forces created by jumping would be met with an equal force, there'd be no momentum, the earth would stay put.

.
Click to expand...

Well, knowing that the average american is much fatter and overweight than those in other parts of the country, the earth would definitely move away from us here in the U.S.A.
 
While we're on the topic of space and idiocy, I thought I'd share this little gem.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/04/deep.impact.sues.reut/index.html

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media has reported.

NASA deliberately crashed its probe, named Deep Impact, into the Tempel 1 comet to unleash a spray of material formed billions of years ago which scientists hope will shed new light on the composition of the solar system.

"It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before Monday's collision.

A spokeswoman for a Moscow district court said initial preparations for the case were underway but could not say when the hearing would begin. NASA representatives in Moscow were unavailable for comment.
 
doone said:
While we're on the topic of space and idiocy, I thought I'd share this little gem.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/04/deep.impact.sues.reut/index.html

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) -- A Russian astrologist who says NASA has altered her horoscope by crashing a spacecraft into a comet is suing the U.S. space agency for damages of $300 million, local media has reported.

NASA deliberately crashed its probe, named Deep Impact, into the Tempel 1 comet to unleash a spray of material formed billions of years ago which scientists hope will shed new light on the composition of the solar system.

"It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," Izvestia daily quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before Monday's collision.

A spokeswoman for a Moscow district court said initial preparations for the case were underway but could not say when the hearing would begin. NASA representatives in Moscow were unavailable for comment.
Click to expand...

Oh boy. :rolleyes:
 
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