I like to believe that the readers of the Mitchener Mind are somewhat intelligent people. It has a fairly large following given the fact I have only been writing for 80 days as of today, but of the people I know who read it, you all seem to have a somewhat high intelligence level. It is for this reason that I am passing this test onto you. It was conducted several years back, so it will be interesting to see if the results have changed in today's generation. So, here we go.
If a spaceman were to take a glove off (assuming he wouldn't inflate like balloon and die) on the Moon, and then let it go, which of the following would happen?
a) The glove would float away into space
b) The glove would sit and float where the spaceman let go of it
c) The glove would fall to the lunar surface
Pick your answer, and remember it.
If a spaceman were to drop a 100 pound weight on the Moon, which of the following would happen?
a) The weight would float away into space
b) The weight would sit and float where the spaceman let go of it
c) The weight would fall to the lunar surface
Pick your answer and remember it.
In comparison to the glove, would the weight
a)travel at the same speed
b)travel faster
c)travel slower
Pick your answer and remember it.
Got all your answers memorized? Don't bother trying to justify them just yet. Chances are you are wrong about all three. Hopefully you're not. Here's the truth, and if you've taken basic physics, this should all be common knowledge to you. If you have and you still got the answers wrong, shame on you! Did you not learn anything?
In response to the first question. The glove would fall to the lunar surface. It would not float off into space, and it would not stay where it was. Even if the spaceman threw the glove off into the air, it would still come back down to the lunar surface. Why? Gravity. Every single object in space has gravity. Everything. The moon may be small in comparison to the earth, but it's still big. Real big. A hell of a lot bigger than you and me. There's no way we, with our pitiful earth muscles, could throw a glove beyond the pull of the Moon's gravity. I mean, the Moon's gravity effects our waves! It is strong enough to pull objects on the Earth around, so that should let you know it's strong enough to effect a glove. Don't feel bad, 80% of the world got that one wrong. I wasn't one of them.
In response to the second question, The weight would fall to the lunar surface. The trick here is that even though most people said the glove would float off into space for question one, they said the weight would fall to the lunar surface. Why? Because it's heavier. I'll touch base on this one after the next question, which covers the same thing. Don't feel bad, 80% of the world got this one wrong. I wasn't one of them.
In response to the third question, The weight and the glove would move (down) at the same speed. A lot of people say the weight would travel faster because it's heavier. Well, you're wrong. Weight has nothing to do with speed of decent. The two factors are mass and wind resistance. The weight and the glove, because there is no wind resistance, would fall to the surface at exactly the same speed. Don't believe me, look it up. Scientists made the astronauts do this. They took a big ol' sledge hammer and a tennis ball to the moon. Both fell at the same rate, and both impacted the lunar surface at the same time. Don't feel bad, 80% of the world got that wrong also. I wasn't one of them.
So what it all comes down to is this: are you smarter than 80% of the world population? Are you smarter than me? If not, don't worry about it. I'll train you. I'm looking for an apprentice anyhow.
UPDATE: I would like to inform everyone that I entered something incorrectly earlier. I accidentally said "The tissue" instead of "the glove". I was originally going to use a tissue instead of a space man's glove, but I apparently changed my mind in the answer selection, and not the question. Mike pointed this out for me. I made a mistake. Who would guess that I, James R. Mitchener, can make mistakes. Allow me to explain. I didn't want you to feel too bad about not being as great as me. I can see with Mike, it worked. Glad I could help mate.
2 comments:
I've got a few complaints about this post. First, I feel I represent a good chunk of your audience when I say "What the fuck, James? We're not stupid..." All of these questions were common sense... with the exception of the first:
If a spaceman were to take a tissue out of his pocket on the Moon, and then let it go, which of the following would happen?
a) The glove would float away into space
b) The glove would sit and float where the spaceman let go of it
c) The glove would fall to the lunar surface
This is a trick question. It tricked you! That's right, your answer "The glove would fall to the lunar surface." is wrong. The glove would not fall to the surface, because it would still be on the astronaut's hand. The tissue he pulled from his pocket, that's another question all together. Shame on you for tricking yourself. And shame on your other readers for not flaming you for this.
You disgust me sometimes...
*Shakes his head in shame*
I got all three right, mind you. Two semesters of astronomy and a C in physics had to collectively be good for something, and this was it.
Once again, Team Better Than You proves that it is indeed better than the collective 'you.'
Post a Comment