Pitt Stop

[William Pitt]

Fun fact: If I were to throw a tennis ball west at the equator at 17895.5 mp/h, assuming there were no obstacles in the way it would hit me in the back about an hour and a half later.

[Haron]

Fun fact: If I were to throw a tennis ball west at the equator at 17895.5 mp/h, assuming there were no obstacles in the way it would hit me in the back about an hour and a half later.

Define "obstacles". Is air an "obstacle"?

[Leo]

No, air isn't an obstacle. I mean like skyscrapers, mountains, DezNuts, houses etc

[Haron]

Then I doubt the tennisball would really go around the earth and hit you in the head. It would probably burn up due to friction.

[Leo]

Fine. Not a tennis ball. A chunk of rock with the density of a neutron star. It doesn't matter. Any object really.

[Haron]

Any object? And the air is still here? Certainly that must be wrong, as the friction from air is a very important factor here, and different objects have different friction coefficients, meaning they "brake" in different ways when moving through the air.

[Leo]

Yes, the speed I gave takes air resistance into account.

[Haron]

No, it doesn't.

First, it can't do that, as air resistance varies from object to object. Secondly, the speed you quoted is the required speed for an object to "fly" at constant height - if you IGNORE any friction to air or anything else.

It's rather easy to calculate. Taking air into account, however, the task becomes Much harder. And it becomes impossible to stay at a constant height, since the speed will reduce over time. Calculating that trajectory is VERY difficult, even if you know the properties of your projectile exactly, and ignore winds. I'm not able to do it. I work with some really skilled people who probably can, though.

[Axy]

How nice of you



So it was YOU who created the crx!

[Leo]

Oh well I guess I win again!