People in serious need of math and science lessons

[snopes]

Comment: This is in regard to the contestants who have missed the first question on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" In particular the Frenchman who missed the question regarding which object cirlces the earth.

There a actually 2 correct answers. The obvious answer is the moon. But mars also circles the earth by virtue of the fact that it's orbit around the sun lies outside of earth's orbit around the sun.

Of the nine plants generally recognized as comprising the solar system, Pluto has the distinction of circling the sun, the other planets and all their moons.

[inkrose115]

But... I thought poor Pluto wasn't a planet anymore?

Edit: Now I'm curious. Out of all the mail y'all get, I wonder what percentage of it is this... amusing.

[Troodon]

I think I see what the letter is trying to say - the orbits of the outer planets are so large relative to the orbit of the earth that they appear to circle the earth. Of course, what is happening is that they are circling the sun but the earth is just always very close to the sun compared to them.

[hambubba]

I think it's the big circles that give it away.

Really, those planets are like balls on a hula hoop, it's obvious to anyone who has ever opened a science book.

[One-Fang]

Nah, I get what they mean. It's not the answer WWTBAM was looking for, but I can sort of buy it. If an object travels in a great big circle, can we say that it "circles" anything inside that circle? This is what they're getting at. But since the Earth is not the centre of its circling plane, maybe you can't say that?

[snopes]

Originally Posted by One-Fang

If an object travels in a great big circle, can we say that it "circles" anything inside that circle?

You could, but the question asked which body orbits (or "revolves around") the Earth. Mars does not "orbit" the Earth -- it orbits the sun, traversing a path concentric with Earth's.

- snopes

[KingDavid8]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: This is in regard to the contestants who have missed the first question on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" In particular the Frenchman who missed the question regarding which object cirlces the earth.

There a actually 2 correct answers. The obvious answer is the moon. But mars also circles the earth by virtue of the fact that it's orbit around the sun lies outside of earth's orbit around the sun.

Of the nine plants generally recognized as comprising the solar system, Pluto has the distinction of circling the sun, the other planets and all their moons.

Actually, by that logic, there are six correct answers (if we're counting Pluto), since all planets but Mercury and Venus and Earth itself have an orbit that lies outside the earth's orbit.

But I think he's wrong on the last point. Pluto's orbit isn't always outside of Neptune's orbit. It's occasionally closer to the sun than Neptune. Or am I also in need of a science lesson?

David

Strictly speaking, don't the Earth and the Moon both revolve around their barycenter?

There's a logic problem that asks: if a squirrel is going around a tree, and an observer is circling the tree at a rate such that the tree is always interposed between the observer and the squirrel, does the observer go around the squirrel or not?

There's also a classic SF story that extends this principle to a stranded astronaut on an asteroid and the hostile ship that's searching for him, but I can't seem to recall the title or the author.

Originally Posted by Traveler in Black

There's also a classic SF story that extends this principle to a stranded astronaut on an asteroid and the hostile ship that's searching for him, but I can't seem to recall the title or the author.

I can't recall the name of the story, but the author is Arthur C. Clarke. I think it's in the collection "A Fall of Moondust, and other stories".

Dog ("My mind is going. I can feel it. I can feel it") Friendly

[Eddylizard]

Doesn't Earth have two moons though, plus a possible third one under dispute?

Cruithne

[snopes]

Comment: I heard that we could easily (more or less) stop global warming
the same way the ice age(s) came about centuries ago when volcanos
erupted. I'm no scientist but wouldn't spewing dust or something like
volcanno smoke "cool" the earth down like it did before?

[snopes]

Comment: I heard years ago that a baby fell through a second or third
story window without breaking the glass and the "reason" for this is that
glass like all solids is made of molecules moving very quickly, and that
sometimes all those molecules will line up to make it so that other solids
can pass through them, but only temoprarily. How true is this? i don't
even remmber where I heard it, but it seems like maybe 20 years ago.

[Tisiphone]

I remember Aule's brother talking about this, saying that since particles are always moving then technically if you kept hitting the table with your hand eventually your hand would pass through it. Of course in reality this would never happen, but if you're bored and near a table or a window...

[Eddylizard]

The one I was told was that if you sat next to the Great Wall of China and kept bouncing a tennis ball off of it repeatedly (in the style of Steve McQueen in The Great Escape) eventually all the molecules in the wall would move apart at the same time, allowing the ball to pass through.

Tisiphone, by all means try it with a table, but I would not recommend repeatedly hitting a window with your hand.

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

The one I was told was that if you sat next to the Great Wall of China and kept bouncing a tennis ball off of it repeatedly (in the style of Steve McQueen in The Great Escape) eventually all the molecules in the wall would move apart at the same time, allowing the ball to pass through.

Using quantum theory, that is possible, just not very probable.

[lynnejanet]

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

Using quantum theory, that is possible, just not very probable.

Is it possible, though? I know that atoms and molecules are always moving, but that movement is miniscule. They are vibrating, but they're not actually moving any great distance, otherwise the wall/window/other solid wouldn't be solid in the first place. I think if you tried to calculate the probability of individual particles in two different solid objects, of different densities, vibrating at just the right frequency to pass next to each other, the probability would be 0.

[FullMetal]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

The one I was told was that if you sat next to the Great Wall of China and kept bouncing a tennis ball off of it repeatedly (in the style of Steve McQueen in The Great Escape) eventually all the molecules in the wall would move apart at the same time, allowing the ball to pass through.

I think you'd cause a hole to be made in the wall through basic erosion before all the molecules would move apart at the same time. If the wall is still standing in the thousands of years it would take to drill a hole in stone with a tennis ball.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by FullMetal

I think you'd cause a hole to be made in the wall through basic erosion before all the molecules would move apart at the same time. If the wall is still standing in the thousands of years it would take to drill a hole in stone with a tennis ball.

Might need a spare tennis ball or two as well.

Eddy "New balls please" Lizard

[PallasAthena]

Originally Posted by snopes

Comment: I heard years ago that a baby fell through a second or third
story window without breaking the glass and the "reason" for this is that
glass like all solids is made of molecules moving very quickly, and that
sometimes all those molecules will line up to make it so that other solids
can pass through them, but only temoprarily. How true is this? i don't
even remmber where I heard it, but it seems like maybe 20 years ago.

More than you ever wanted to know about the thermodynamic properties of glass

There is no clear answer to the question "Is glass solid or liquid?". In terms of molecular dynamics and thermodynamics it is possible to justify various different views that it is a highly viscous liquid, an amorphous solid, or simply that glass is another state of matter which is neither liquid nor solid.

[snopes]

Referred by: http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/baseballbats.asp

Comment: This counters your artical on hammers vs. firearms.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr...-data-table-11