Not Duck Related.... For you Science Guys

[BeastMaster]

I was watching the discovery channel and they were discussing different space expeditions and they hit upon an interesting topic.. its two part..

A: when i am traveling in a car at 60 mph... you are saying that i am traveling 60 mph "in relation to the ground"..... its always in relation to something and since we are on earth it is 99.99% of the time related to the earth.... However, as those guys are traveling 1895 mph through space, what is that in relation to??? keeping it simple i would say the earth as i'm sure you would too but unlike traveling ON the earth, when you are in space isn't everything around you moving; as well as ole EARTH ?? so how do you measure speed?

B: when i am traveling in space, humor me, which way is up? what is the scientific sense of direction? is there an up or north... i dont think so.. is it a vector.... when you leave earth and go to the moon, what direction are you going


BELIEVE ME BOYS, IT WAS A PITIFUL DUCK SEASON...... I HAD ALOT OF TIME ON MY HANDS

[mason1203]

HUH????!!!! Dont even wanna think about it

[Spoonallard]

They measure speed by the time it takes to cove that distance, and the direction you go on the way to the moon is up, or is it down? Iguess it depends on what side of the earth you leave from.
Dux

[BeastMaster]

you said speed was measured by the time it took to cover a specific distance but isn't that an innaccurate measure since time slows down as speed increases... as it pertains to speeds measured on earth it is totally irrelavant but in space the "speed" and "distance" are much greater....

come on Bill Nye the Science Guy.... caller1 you took physics.... and the doc.. well.. doc what all did you take?

[Spoonallard]

So riddle me this, what happens when an irrisistable force hits an inmovable object?

[hillhunter]

i think you can measure miles in space. it is a definite measure sort of like inches or feet. these should be constants no matter where you are, unlike weight, b/c it is dependant on the earth's gravitational pull. a measure of length will be the same no matter where you are. That's the reason they can measure things like the speed of light or sound waves, etc.

Directions would be a different story. our directions are two dimentional for the most part and are used on a "flat" plain. i would assume that they have some sort of better 3 demensional system they use when in space. also i think they can see everything in space so they can just say "hey go to the moon" . Kind of hard to get lost on that trip.

the speed is harder, but we still go by speed in relation to the earth, because we use earth time. a minute is just a fraction of a day which is a complete rotation of the earth on its axis. we still use this time measure in space because that's what we're familiar with, so we could say we went a distance in time of rotation instead of hours. we could use time on any planet but if we did no one would know what the hell we were talking about. we have no sense of a mars year, much less a mars minute, so if i said "i went 100 mph Mars time" very few people could figure that one out, although it is possible to figure out, I just don't have the info in front of me. It's all math.

[Jordan River]

SO, which came first...the CHICKEN or the EGG?

[hillhunter]

Beastmaster i don't see how time decreases as speed increases. Those are two unconnected things. speed is relevant to position of two points and time is just a way to measure it. without time we would just have two comparisons like "thats fast.....thats faster." Time and distance just gives a means to measure the speed i think.

[Spoonallard]

SO, which came first...the CHICKEN or the EGG?

Neither it was the rooster

[hillhunter]

cmdux.....you get a big bang!!!

[Spoonallard]

Well it has just been to serious today. Time for some fun.

[crow]

Beast, you started with a faulty premise. Speed is not relative to any point on Earth. It is nothing fancy, just a simple ratio of distance over time. That ratio is what we call speed. There would be no change in space...distance is still, more or less, linear. And the time to cover the length is still a constant measure, at least as constant as we can measure it. Doesn't make no nevermind where the distance covered is located.

This is too deep. I'm still trying to figure our where my lap goes when I stand up! Which begs the question, Can you have a lap dance if you are standing up?

[BeastMaster]

hillhunter... so you measure distance from earth??? so what if you went 1000 miles from earth and stopped... as the earth rotated around the sun it would get farther away from you... so if you earth travels another 1000 miles from you , does that mean you have traveled 2000 miles.... everything is moving... its not like taking a piece of graph paper and going from point A to point B ... what do you judge it against.. so therefore if distance is NOT constant because everything is moving how can you judge speed, as i mentioned before since speed is distance/time.... and since time is related to speed its not constant either??

Posted: Wed Feb 02, 2005 4:14 pm Post subject:

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Beastmaster i don't see how time decreases as speed increases. Those are two unconnected things. speed is relevant to position of two points and time is just a way to measure it. without time we would just have two comparisons like "thats fast.....thats faster." Time and distance just gives a means to measure the speed i think.

time is related... take two watches.. put one on the earth and put one on a plane traveling near the speed of light... both watches are synchronized... send that plane flying at a given speed... then check the watches.. they will no longer be synchronized.. time slows down as speed increases... not trying to make myself out to knowing a hill of beans.. just was curious as to direction and speed in space after i caught the end of that program on discovery..


if you are flying through space faster than the speed of light and you pass someone, would they see you coming, see you as you go by, or see you as you leave?

if you and someone are flying through space faster than the speed of light and you have your lights on and you are behind him, would he see your lights ??

Man i love duck hunting

[Seymore]

Einstein's Theory of Relativity and Space/Time Continuam? Damn this season really has sucked.

[Wingman]

send that plane flying at a given speed... then check the watches.. they will no longer be synchronized.. time slows down as speed increases

Using that little theory, if you flew long enough, you would be in a time warp. So you take off at age 43. Your twin brother is on the ground. You fly around at 1000 miles an hour for X amount of time. When you land are you younger than your brother? No.

so what if you went 1000 miles from earth and stopped... as the earth rotated around the sun it would get farther away from you... so if you earth travels another 1000 miles from you , does that mean you have traveled 2000 miles

No, you traveled 1000 miles. If I leave your house and go 100 miles, and you leave and go 100 miles in the other direction, I've still only traveled 100 miles.

when i am traveling in space, humor me, which way is up? what is the scientific sense of direction? is there an up or north... i dont think so.. is it a vector

That one IS in relation to the earth...north is measured in relation to a magnetic field. Pilots know there is true north and magnetic north. The north pole isn't what a compass points to. In fact, you can pass magnetic north, and the compass will show you are heading south as you continue to head "north" on the map to the north pole. Lines of longitude are based on the north pole, not magnetic north. There is a variation between the two for every point on earth. I think we are sitting on 1 degree E here in MS, give or take half a degree for one side of the state to the other.

So when you go to the moon, you are going in the moon's direction

This is deep, man. Are you feeling okay?