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Physics Loonies

Larry Lovage said:
I do, however, think that Dr Adequate is being a teensy-bit over pedantic about that.
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I'm being pedantic, but not over pedantic.

How can I explain this?

Moby Dick is a great novel. If you changed just one letter in Moby Dick, it would still be a great novel, but with a typo in it.

The bit in the Declaration of Independence about "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is (IMHO) a great moral truth. Change one letter, and you've got a great moral truth with a typo.

But if you change just one letter in the Second Law of Motion, for example changing the a to a v, then you've turned it into a thumping great lie.

If you mess with physics even a little bit, you don't get something which is nearly physics, you get complete gibbering nonsense.

To say that something is in "free fall" means that the effect of gravity upon that thing is unimpeded. That's exactly what it means. If someone says something even slightly different, then they are not slightly wrong: they're talking gibble.
 
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Dr Adequate said:
To say that something is in "free fall" means that the effect of gravity upon that thing is unimpeded. That's exactly what it means. If someone says something even slightly different, then they are not slightly wrong: they're talking gibble.
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I think there are special language courses where you can learn gibble in just six months.
 
Chicken Wire WTC

Being new here I don't know if this has been presented before but I think it's an interesting look at the conspiracy theorist view of physics

wtcmodel.blogspot.com

And it's not clear if this guy is satirizing the conspiracy theorist or is one of them.

Most people including many truthers will look at it and realize it can't work but still a surprising number buy into it.
 
Dr Adequate said:
There is a reason why I call myself "Adequate".

The Second Law is indeed F = ma. Now consider what happens when F = 0 and mass is constant.

You see my point?

The First Law is merely a special case of the Second.
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I see the original point, that the First Law would more succinctly answer your observation about marbles not continuing to spiral, once on a flat surface, but you are quite correct that the First Law is a consequence of the Second.

The Second Law, better expressed as F = d p / dt, is quite a remarkable law. It even holds up in special relativity.

Anyway, as a degreed physicist and practicing scientist, I found your explanation to be completely adequate. :D
 
notheist said:
Being new here I don't know if this has been presented before but I think it's an interesting look at the conspiracy theorist view of physics

wtcmodel.blogspot.com

And it's not clear if this guy is satirizing the conspiracy theorist or is one of them.

Most people including many truthers will look at it and realize it can't work but still a surprising number buy into it.
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Here's the link.

And no, terrifyingly, this is not satire.

12.10.06%20pics%20025.jpg


This is just what I'm talking about. He doesn't realise that whereas chicken wire may give this result, the Twin Towers wouldn't. Cos of the weight, dammit, the weight.

The Towers were heavy. And the marble doesn't roll in a spiral.
 
notheist said:
Being new here I don't know if this has been presented before but I think it's an interesting look at the conspiracy theorist view of physics

wtcmodel.blogspot.com

And it's not clear if this guy is satirizing the conspiracy theorist or is one of them.

Most people including many truthers will look at it and realize it can't work but still a surprising number buy into it.
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Welcome, Notheist! Spooked 911 is not kidding with that post; he's quite the believer in the scientific method.
 
Dr Adequate said:
Here's the link.

And no, terrifyingly, this is not satire.
This is just what I'm talking about. He doesn't realise that whereas chicken wire may give this result, the Twin Towers wouldn't. Cos of the weight, dammit, the weight.

The Towers were heavy. And the marble doesn't roll in a spiral.
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If you read his latest blog entries, he at least seems capable of learning new things. He's finally realized that his model is proportionally much stronger than the real towers would. It took a few tries for him to get there, but at least he's making the journey. It would be nice if other twofers could learn from his example.

But it's still true that he has no intuitive grasp of how reality should work.


Back when I was a grad student, I supervised one lab on projectile motion. The students had to figure the muzzle velocity of a little spring cannon, that shot ball bearings across their lab tables. One fellow came up with a velocity so low, it would have taken 9 years to travel one meter. He never questioned the result. No intuitive feel for what sort of range of answers would be likely.
 
Spooked id NOT! Kidding!

So... When I posted to his site urging him to launch flaming aluminum cans of jet fuel at his tower, or to hang an open microwave oven over the tower to test the death ray idea, there is a chance he could actually do it?

This could get fun.
 
Yes welcome, Notheist, to the JREF Forum on Conspiracy Theories. If nothing else, you will recieve alot of great info on 9/11, and observe alot of heated discussion on various aspects of the attacks.

TAM:)
 
notheist said:
Spooked id NOT! Kidding!

So... When I posted to his site urging him to launch flaming aluminum cans of jet fuel at his tower, or to hang an open microwave oven over the tower to test the death ray idea, there is a chance he could actually do it?

This could get fun.
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Don't forget to get strap a miniature rocket to those aluminium cans, and fire it off just before impact!

It'd be funny(er) if it weren't so sad...:eye-poppi
 
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