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Post by Alex on Dec 16, 2010 18:38:53 GMT -5
Okay, lately I've been thinking about something. Say you have a marble. You were able to put it in a machine that could launch it at or near the speed of light into an object. Which of the following things would happen and why?
A. Blackhole B. The object it hits would explode C. It will leave a perfect hole in the object D. It will instantly vaporize E. Other
Now, if you say vaporize, also give an answer if it were possible for it not to vaporize.
So what do you think?
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vichilux
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Hatsune Miku LALALALALA :D
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Post by vichilux on Dec 16, 2010 19:38:59 GMT -5
I think that it would melt... or it would leave a perfect hole in the object it hits... but idk. =P
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Post by newschooled on Dec 16, 2010 21:09:45 GMT -5
It's kinetic energy would be dispersed at impact in multiple ways - Like heat, kinetic transference, etc. So chances are the marble, and what it hits would both blow apart, and the resulting debris would be heated up to some degree. Sorry, no black holes!
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Flappy
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Grrr! But not really....
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Post by Flappy on Dec 16, 2010 22:44:58 GMT -5
I'm guessing a perfect hole, or a hot mess. I don't think if it was traveling at the speed of light that the object it touches would have enough time to even feel the heat from it. I could, of course, be totally wrong.
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Post by Ryan on Dec 16, 2010 23:10:41 GMT -5
First off, if you launch a marble at (or near) the speed of light, the marble will vaporize into photons(or sub atomic partilces if not at the speed of light) due to the fact that in order to reach such speeds it's mass would have to be appropriately small. How ever, if you launch a marble really fast at an object it will leave a hole. This can be achieved at speeds Much much less than 10% of the speed of light.
For instance a glass marble moving at only 10% of the speed of light would be able to puncture a hole through 0.02mm of diamond (hardest substance known), 0.1 mm of steel, .4 mm of glass, 20m of rubber.
that is to puncture a perfect hole, which is why materials such as wood, and other non-shear submitting materials are not listed. The marble would easily provide enough force to break any plate of dimension 1mx1mx10mm of substance known to man, maybe more depending on the material.
But shooting an object at or near the speed of light would not affect the surrounding materials.
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Post by Alex on Dec 18, 2010 7:58:24 GMT -5
I thought it would hit it at such a force that it would blow apart the entire object.
Like if you shot it at a rat. >.> <.<
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Xanast
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Just keep staring...
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Post by Xanast on Dec 18, 2010 9:49:22 GMT -5
You get a dead rat.
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Post by Alex on Dec 18, 2010 10:11:25 GMT -5
Also an exploded rat.
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Xanast
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Just keep staring...
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Post by Xanast on Dec 18, 2010 10:28:19 GMT -5
But it's still dead.
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Post by Flags_Forever on Dec 18, 2010 16:58:41 GMT -5
Very dead.
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Post by Ryan on Dec 18, 2010 20:22:13 GMT -5
if you shot a rat with a marble at 10% c it would go through the rat, not explode the rat (C is the speed of light constant).
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Post by qooqǝɯɐƃ on Dec 18, 2010 20:53:42 GMT -5
If you could shoot a marble parallel to the ground in front of you at near light speed would it leave Earth's atmosphere? Assuming it wouldn't melt or disintegrate while traveling at that speed...
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Post by Alex on Dec 18, 2010 21:31:32 GMT -5
Definitely. It takes something like 17,000 mph to be able to leave the atmosphere if shot parallel.
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Post by Ryan on Dec 18, 2010 22:49:32 GMT -5
To leave the atmosphere the gravitational force on the marble must be greater than centripetal force required to have the marble 'orbit' the earth (near the ground). Gravitational force on an average glass marble is .1815 Newtons. The centripetal force on the marble required to keep it in the atmosphere is .0185*(v^2)/(6.38*10^6). So in order to leave the atmosphere, a marble would have to be shot at 7911 m/s or 17.6 thousand mph (good memory Alex
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Post by Alex on Dec 19, 2010 7:27:07 GMT -5
I learned that from a good ol' show called QI. They were talking about shooting a cannon ball, though.
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Nakor
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Post by Nakor on Dec 19, 2010 12:33:11 GMT -5
Honestly wouldn't the OP question depend heavily on what you shot it into? I imagine we're assuming the other object is still (or that -c represents their relative velocity -- it's actually possible to have a relative velocity approach -2c if objects are moving toward each other), and that our object somehow holds together for all this, but what are the dimensions of the other object? Its mass? State? Structural stability?
If you hit our moon with something big enough going that fast, it'd probably bust it up. If you hit the sun, you'd probably take out some of the matter in the middle with you, some would escape around you since it's liquid, and then you'd probably cause an enormous chain reaction of chemical reactions.
All depends on what the other object is.
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Post by Alex on Dec 19, 2010 13:38:07 GMT -5
Let's say it is a concrete block, 10m by 10m by 10m. You are shooting it directly in its center with a marble.
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Post by Ryan on Dec 19, 2010 14:20:32 GMT -5
If you shot the marble anywhere close to the speed of light the marble would disintegrate. Regardless of what you shoot it into objects can't travel that fast.
Also, Nakor, objects can not approach each other at close to 2c. This is because when objects travel near the speed of light the physics used to describe their activity is different than standard differential physics. At these high speeds relativistic velocity is used to determine the activity, in which the speed is determined based on one of the particles.
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Post by Alex on Dec 19, 2010 14:55:03 GMT -5
But let's say this marble was somehow completely indestructible. What would happen?
This is purely theoretical.
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Xanast
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Just keep staring...
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Post by Xanast on Dec 19, 2010 15:39:43 GMT -5
It MIGHT vaporize the concrete, but it would probably just go right through it.
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