The "Useless Information" Thread

[scifan57]

The most played song on US radio stations during the 20th century was "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." It was played over 8 million times, or about 45 years played back to back.

 

[The OB]

Rubber bands last longer if you keep them in the fridge.

Now I know why that last bowl of spaghetti I had was so chewy!

 

[The OB]

If you drilled a tunnel straight through the earth at the poles and jumped in, it would take you exactly 42 minutes and 12 seconds to get to the other side.

 

[twerppoet]

The term "the whole 9 yards" came from W.W.II fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "the whole 9 yards."

Probably not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards

I looked it up because I'd heard the cement mixer theory, which also turns out to be unlikely.

 

[Roy Rob]

Probably not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_whole_nine_yards

I looked it up because I'd heard the cement mixer theory, which also turns out to be unlikely.

Yes... I must concede to that after reading the wiki entry twerppoet. Head bowed, slinking away from the thread....... oh what the heck...... try this one.... 111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321

 

[scifan57]

Preparation H is one of the top five items stolen from drugstores.

 

[ardchoille]

If you drilled a tunnel straight through the earth at the poles and jumped in, it would take you exactly 42 minutes and 12 seconds to get to the other side.

Would you even get to the other side? You would initially start falling, when you jump in (Newton's first law?), due to gravity. However, gravity's effect would diminish as you approach the center of the earth (Newton's second law?). As you pass the earth's core gravity would begin so slow you down due to it pulling in the opposite direction. At what point would you stop falling in your current direction, begin falling in the opposite direction and end up simply bouncing back and forth?

I highly enjoy conversations like this because I usually end up learning something.

 

[Roy Rob]

Would you even get to the other side? You would initially start falling, when you jump in (Newton's first law?), due to gravity. However, gravity's effect would diminish as you approach the center of the earth (Newton's second law?). As you pass the earth's core gravity would begin so slow you down due to it pulling in the opposite direction. At what point would you stop falling in your current direction, begin falling in the opposite direction and end up simply bouncing back and forth?

I highly enjoy conversations like this because I usually end up learning something.

I think that the ashes would stop around the centre of the molten core..... Yourself?

 

[ardchoille]

I think that the ashes would stop around the centre of the molten core..... Yourself?

I'm not sure. I would think that wind resistance, and lack of gravity, near the earth's core would result in your fall being slowed to almost nothing. But I could be completely wrong.

 

[Roy Rob]

I'm not sure. I would think that wind resistance, and lack of gravity, near the earth's core would result in your fall being slowed to almost nothing. But I could be completely wrong.

In theory the body would slow as it nears the centre but as the temperature would be over 4,000°C the remaining ash would become stationery. Also there would be air resistance to begin with.

 

[Roy Rob]

It takes 1gallon of diesel to move the Queen Elizabeth II 125 feet at 20 knots.

 

[ardchoille]

In theory the body would slow as it nears the centre but as the temperature would be over 4,000°C the remaining ash would become stationery. Also there would be air resistance to begin with.

Good point.

 

[twerppoet]

In theory the body would slow as it nears the centre but as the temperature would be over 4,000°C the remaining ash would become stationery. Also there would be air resistance to begin with.

Assuming enough of the body remains a solid near the core (highly unlikely):

Wind resistance would be the only thing slowing the body as it approaches the center. An object does not slow down because gravity decreases, it only accelerates more slowly.

At some point the body would reach terminal velocity; the point where wind resistance counters gravity's acceleration. As gravity decreases that point will get slower and slower, however it would not be zero at the center. How fast the body would still be going I don't have the math to make an accurate (or even semi-accurate) guess. It would keep going until the the now rising gravity overcame the remaining velocity. At that point you'd have the same situation in reverse, with less energy. And you'd bounce back and forth a bit like a rubber band, going a bit slower with each cycle until you ended up at the center anyway.

If you eliminated the wind resistance and the heat, you'd could bounce back and forth (end to end) forever, or there abouts. There is always some energy loss in any system.

 

[LannyC]

...as the temperature would be over 4,000°C the remaining ash would become stationery.

I'm not sure you're write about that...

milliHelen: amount of beauty required to launch one ship.

 

[AdmiralAdama]

I think we can dispense with vaporization at the centre of the earth by plotting an FTL jump troposphere to troposphere.
This would of course have to be an equatorial jump to ensure geomagnetics don't scramble navigation and cause us to materialize inside the planet.

AA

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