Things you always wanted to know the answer to [Vol. 2]

[Ayahuasca]

If it goes north or south the Coriolis effect will make it deviate from the north/south line.

[MissChief]

Ayahuasca said:

If it goes north or south the Coriolis effect will make it deviate from the north/south line.

it's unlikely to visibly affect something so large that 'flies' for such a short period.

Edited by MissChief on Monday 15th December 18:57

[andy ted]

160 said:

andy ted said:

Just renewing my passport...

Why is section 7 of the form 'intentionally blank' there must be a reason?! it seems so silly though to have a section then I am guessing it is due to formatting for the computer entry. I thought it could be for notes for the staff there but that has another section!

At a guess section 7 is probably used on new passport applications so when they copied and pasted for the renewals they just took the questions out but not the heading as they would have to change all the ones after.

Good guess but it is the same form for new passports as well as renewing, extending or replacing a lost one.

[Hugo a Gogo]

walm said:

Cliftonite said:

Northbound.

Absolutely not.

When on a circle, the direction you are travelling (called the tangent) is always perpendicular to the line between you and the centre.

Imagine zooming in on the arc of the circle you are on... if you keep zooming essentially it will become a horizontal line - that is your direction of travel.

So without any forces on you, once the bolts break - you will continue in this direction.
(Hence "going off at a tangent" )
This diagram shows it but at the wrong place and anti-clockwise but you get the idea.

the apparent confusion is from the 'centrifugal' force, which would be felt by the occupants at that exact point as forcing them north (the body at the edge of the roundabout is under continous acceleration towards the axis)

it's a 'fictitious force' only felt in a rotating body

the moment the bolts break, the seat is no longer rotating and simple Newtonian laws 'a body in motion continues to move at a constant velocity unless acted upon by another force (ie, a tree in this case)'

[Ayahuasca]

Let's say Kylie is waiting, naked, with arms outstretched to embrace you a couple of meters due north of the roundabout. When the bolts break at due north, do you go flying into her arms, or do you see her over your shoulder as you fly due east?

I think it is the latter.

[walm]

Ayahuasca said:

Let's say Kylie is waiting, naked, with arms outstretched to embrace you a couple of meters due north of the roundabout. When the bolts break at due north, do you go flying into her arms, or do you see her over your shoulder as you fly due east?

I think it is the latter.

Indeed.
But realistically, you would have ripped out the seat-bolts somewhere around North-West in that scenario.

[SpeckledJim]

Ayahuasca said:

Let's say Kylie is waiting, naked, with arms outstretched to embrace you a couple of meters due north of the roundabout. When the bolts break at due north, do you go flying into her arms, or do you see her over your shoulder as you fly due east?

I think it is the latter.

You KNOW it is the latter, and you're dead right.

I can't believe this conversation is happening when anyone who has ever thrown or hit anything should know the answer.

When a golf ball is hit at the bottom of the swing, does it head off roughly parallel to the ground (in the direction of the swing), or does it bury itself straight down?

[walm]

SpeckledJim said:

When a golf ball is hit at the bottom of the swing, does it head off roughly parallel to the ground (in the direction of the swing), or does it bury itself straight down?

In my case it tends to bury itself.
Or go backwards.
F@cking b@astard golf b@astard game!!

[kowalski655]

Ayahuasca said:

Let's say Kylie is waiting, naked, with arms outstretched to embrace you a couple of meters due north of the roundabout. When the bolts break at due north, do you go flying into her arms, or do you see her over your shoulder as you fly due east?

I think it is the latter.

I would happily break the laws of physics for a naked Kylie

[RenesisEvo]

In music, what is meant by an eight-track version? How does this relate to music production?

[fomb]

RenesisEvo said:

In music, what is meant by an eight-track version? How does this relate to music production?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_tape

[RenesisEvo]

Thanks but not sure that gets me the answer I'm looking for.

[VladD]

RenesisEvo said:

In music, what is meant by an eight-track version? How does this relate to music production?

I think in simple terms it means that eight separate recordings are made (in the old days on the same physical tape) and then combined into a single music track. This means you can record each instrument and voice separately and then combine them at a later date. By doing this you can alter each track separately, with regards to volume and tone etc, to get the desired result.

Wiki

Edited by VladD on Wednesday 17th December 11:15

[Fastchas]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

SpeckledJim said:

Possibly. But completely impossible to test.

With reference to the oft-cited idea of the '12th man', then you could claim to be a small contributory part of the success.

Quite often the ball will go into the crowd and be thrown back by a fan. Depending on how they throw it depends where the player or the ball boy catches it and the position from where play restarts. That difference is then multiplied with every kick of the ball. The whole game will pan out completely differently than it would have done had you thrown the ball back harder or softer.

And the result will effect future games, whether teams qualify for a tournament or not, effect thousands of fans who travel, and indeed can change the whole history of the planet.

In the 1970 WC quarter final England were 2-0 up with a great chance for 3-0. The ball was going in and a player could have tepped it in, but left it to avoid taking the glory of the other player. But the ball took a bobble and went past the post. We went on to lose 3-2. It is said that Labour would not have lost the election of few days later had we won the game. People were depressed about the result and wanted a change, so Wilson lsot to Heath. He buggered up the miners strike, 3 day week, Thatcher became leader, won in 79, the Falklands etc. It all could have been so different if the ball hadn't bobbled.

Good answer. Thanks for that.

[singlecoil]

Why are the blades of a wind turbine a so much smaller proportion of the circle described by the tips than the sails of an old-fashioned windmill?

And does the air that drives the wind turbine slow down as it goes past?

[SpeckledJim]

singlecoil said:

Why are the blades of a wind turbine a so much smaller proportion of the circle described by the tips than the sails of an old-fashioned windmill?

I'm sure the answer to this lies in the modern blades being capable of operation in a wider range of wind speeds, at a much greater speed, and a better understanding of how wings actually work.

Also, I imagine the old shaped blades in a hurricane would catch so much wind they could topple the towers.

Old windmills were shaped more like water propellers, but air is clearly a much more fluid medium.

singlecoil said:

And does the air that drives the wind turbine slow down as it goes past?

Of course it does - otherwise where is the energy that the turbine is harvesting coming from?

Edited by SpeckledJim on Wednesday 17th December 14:00

[P-Jay]

Why are modern TVs so slow to work?

I remember being a lad and the massive (at the time) faux wood TV we had needed a few seconds to 'warm up' then, some years later we had a 'wide screen' TV which didn't, you turned it on and hey presto, but fast forward another 20 years or so and we're back waiting for it to warm up - what gives? what needs to happen with modern TV for 10 seconds before it can work.

[MissChief]

P-Jay said:

Why are modern TVs so slow to work?

I remember being a lad and the massive (at the time) faux wood TV we had needed a few seconds to 'warm up' then, some years later we had a 'wide screen' TV which didn't, you turned it on and hey presto, but fast forward another 20 years or so and we're back waiting for it to warm up - what gives? what needs to happen with modern TV for 10 seconds before it can work.

Because they're digital and often have so many 'image processing' gubbins that this all takes time. When you change channel a 'new' digital stream needs to be decoded by the TV.

I still have a 'tube' TV in my bedroom that takes longer to warm up and display a picture than my Plasma downstairs as well.

[fomb]

P-Jay said:

Why are modern TVs so slow to work?

I remember being a lad and the massive (at the time) faux wood TV we had needed a few seconds to 'warm up' then, some years later we had a 'wide screen' TV which didn't, you turned it on and hey presto, but fast forward another 20 years or so and we're back waiting for it to warm up - what gives? what needs to happen with modern TV for 10 seconds before it can work.

You're not waiting for it to warm up these days, you're waiting for it to boot. Your TV Is now basically a computer.

[Ayahuasca]

How long does it take your blood to do a complete circuit of your circulatory system?