Google Zeitgeist 2011. 11 cheap gifts guaranteed to impress science geeks. The Scale of the Universe 2. Relativistic Baseball. What would happen if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90% the speed of light? - Ellen McManis Let’s set aside the question of how we got the baseball moving that fast. We'll suppose it's a normal pitch, except in the instant the pitcher releases the ball, it magically accelerates to 0.9c.
From that point onward, everything proceeds according to normal physics The answer turns out to be “a lot of things”, and they all happen very quickly, and it doesn’t end well for the batter (or the pitcher). The ball is going so fast that everything else is practically stationary. The ideas of aerodynamics don’t apply here.
These gamma rays and debris expand outward in a bubble centered on the pitcher’s mound. The constant fusion at the front of the ball pushes back on it, slowing it down, as if the ball were a rocket flying tail-first while firing its engines. After about 70 nanoseconds the ball arrives at home plate. Suppose you’re watching from a hilltop outside the city. 101 Short Stories that Will Leave You Smiling, Crying and Thinking. Post written by: Marc Chernoff Email Since its inception eighteen months ago, our sister site Makes Me Think (MMT) has truly evolved into a remarkable online community.
Every day, users share their thought-provoking life stories and vote on stories that other users have shared. Some are happy, some are sad, and others twist your emotions, pulling them in several directions at once. As stated on the MMT About page, sometimes the most random everyday encounters force us to stop and rethink the truths and perceptions we have ingrained in our minds. These encounters are educationally priceless. I believe the 101 stories listed below perfectly fulfill that description. What do you think? Free eBooks - All Our Classic Books and Novels.