Live pigs in transit

[ianathompson]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

You sure it wasn’t the rate of acceleration due to gravity?

 

I stand corrected.

I was not exactly the star pupil!

 

Ian T

[Michael Hodgson]

 

 

6 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

You sure it wasn’t the rate of acceleration due to gravity? You’d need one heck of a tall tower to get terminal velocity with a brick, I think.

Pigs might fly?

[Compound2632]

23 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Pigs might fly?

 

Maybe but this topic is specifically about transport of pigs by rail...

[Caley Jim]

Surely true terminal velocity will be zero, when the brick reaches the centre of the earth, provided it hasn't melted by then! 

 

Jim 

[Compound2632]

1 minute ago, Caley Jim said:

Surely true terminal velocity will be zero, when the brick reaches the centre of the earth, provided it hasn't melted by then! 

 

An ideal brick falling through a totally brick-transparent Earth would perform simple harmonic motion about the centre of the Earth and hence would have its maximum velocity at the centre of the Earth.

[Caley Jim]

5 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

An ideal brick falling through a totally brick-transparent Earth would perform simple harmonic motion about the centre of the Earth and hence would have its maximum velocity at the centre of the Earth.

But surely each harmonic would be slightly less than the previous one, due to the drag of the atmosphere, until, finally, it came to rest at the centre? Unless, of course, the hole its falling through is a vacuum. 

 

Jim

[Compound2632]

Just now, Caley Jim said:

But surely each harmonic would be slightly less than the previous one, due to the drag of the atmosphere, until, finally, it came to rest at the centre? Unless, of course, the hole its falling through is a vacuum. 

 

Yes, I took the the condition of brick-transparent Earth as implying no damping force, including drag (air resistance). If one assumes any drag force the harmonic motion will be damped but at each oscillation, the maximum velocity will still be at the centre of the Earth.

 

I had to go back to correct a mis-typing there, which made me suppose that under similar circumstances a pig would undergo simple hamonic motion.

[figworthy]

22 hours ago, ianathompson said:

 

Sorry. Thread drift but...

 

When I asked the "Science" Department about the ineptitude of the "little darlings" they were amazed at our stupiidity in attempting such a demanding feat.

I was informed that the Physics O level that I obtained in 1973 was almost the equivalent of an A level in the late nineties.

Talk about dumbing down!

 

 

Interesting.

 

When I did A level chemistry (late 70s), we were told that some it had been degree level a decade earlier.  Cynics might think that we were being spun a line.

 

Adrian

[Martin S-C]

On 29/09/2021 at 06:49, Nearholmer said:

You sure it wasn’t the rate of acceleration due to gravity? You’d need one heck of a tall tower to get terminal velocity with a brick, I think.

 

Our physics classroom was in a new block five storeys tall, so we too had a lot of fun at this stage with bricks, feathers etc.

 

 

Did you try pigs though? This is what we are trying to deduce.

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Martin S-C said:

Did you try pigs though?

 

When on holiday in the north country, we often see posters for sheep dog trials - but porcine assizes are a new one on me. It'll be kangaroo courts next, I suppose.

[Regularity]

...followed by the court of public opinion.

[bill-lobb]

On 29/09/2021 at 15:05, Compound2632 said:

 

 

 

I had to go back to correct a mis-typing there, which made me suppose that under similar circumstances a pig would undergo simple hamonic motion.

Or in real life a dead pig bounce.