If you were standing on a train travelling at high speed
- Thread starter Greedo
- Start date
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- Location
- The TerrorVortex
I've tried it. You don't whizz down the train at 300 kph, sadly.
If you did, pouring a drink would be fraught with hazard...
If you did, pouring a drink would be fraught with hazard...
slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
My guess is that if you on top of a carriage, you end up a bit furthur back, but if you are inside a carriage, you land on the same spot because all the air around you is travelling at the same speed as you are. I have been wrong before.....
ianrauk said:
Man with a brain. Knew this and was just seeing what others would say. Was trying to explain this to a guy who works for me. He was convinced he would land somewhere else????
Tried explaining to him about pouring a drink etc.... but he wasn't convinced. Told him when his girlfriend picks him up tonight sit in the car and toss a coin and when she's on the motorway and see if the coin smacks him in the face. Stupid idiot will do it as well
Don't worry I'll sack him tomorrow. Shame. He's good at what i pay him to do as well, but I can't be robbing a village somewhere of an idiot! Couldn't sleep at night otherwise
Sh4rkyBloke
Jaffa Cake monster
- Location
- Manchester, UK
Aaah, but when it's nighttime here, it's daytime elsewhere... so if you jump you may land there and should therefore be awake... or something.Greedo said:Man with a brain. Knew this and was just seeing what others would say. Was trying to explain this to a guy who works for me. He was convinced he would land somewhere else????
Tried explaining to him about pouring a drink etc.... but he wasn't convinced. Told him when his girlfriend picks him up tonight sit in the car and toss a coin and when she's on the motorway and see if the coin smacks him in the face. Stupid idiot will do it as well
Don't worry I'll sack him tomorrow. Shame. He's good at what i pay him to do as well, but I can't be robbing a village somewhere of an idiot! Couldn't sleep at night otherwise
Are we on the old 'plane on a treadmill' stuff yet again?
Depends whether the train is accelerating at all. Otherwise, you're in an inertial frame of reference, so it's the same as if the train were stationary: jump straight up and you land on the same spot. If the train's accelerating, however...
Depends whether the train is accelerating at all. Otherwise, you're in an inertial frame of reference, so it's the same as if the train were stationary: jump straight up and you land on the same spot. If the train's accelerating, however...
Surely you will land slightly further back. You are being propelled along courtesy of the train. The moment you jump the propulsion is removed and although you have inertia, drag will start to slow you down. The higher you jump (i.e the longer the drive from the train is removed) the further back you will go (relative to the train) you will still be traveling forwards, but you will be decelerating (due to drag) while the train will be continuing at the same speed.
Or you may get hit by a bridge
Or you may get hit by a bridge
JtB
Prepare a way for the Lord
- Location
- North Hampshire
Easy, if the train is braking you'll end up further forward, but if the train is accelerating you'll end up further back.
Now for the interesting observation that a fly can stop a speeding train.
Lets say a fly and a train are heading towards each other in opposite directions and just before the impact the fly is travelling north while the train is travelling south. Obviously just after the impact the fly and the train are both travelling in the same direction south. During the impact the fly rapidly decelerates and then starts accelerating in the opposite direction which means that for a tiny fraction of a second the fly must be stationary. At the point in time when the fly is stationary the fly is also in contact with the train, which means that the train must also be stationary.
Now for the interesting observation that a fly can stop a speeding train.
Lets say a fly and a train are heading towards each other in opposite directions and just before the impact the fly is travelling north while the train is travelling south. Obviously just after the impact the fly and the train are both travelling in the same direction south. During the impact the fly rapidly decelerates and then starts accelerating in the opposite direction which means that for a tiny fraction of a second the fly must be stationary. At the point in time when the fly is stationary the fly is also in contact with the train, which means that the train must also be stationary.
Tollers
Guru
- Location
- San Francisco, California
Shaun said:At the point in time when the fly is stationary the fly is also in contact with the train, which means that the train must also be stationary.
Erm. Lol. Not quite. I had to think for a few minutes though.
Sure fly maybe be stationary for an instant, but that doesnn't mean the train can't. This is what is technically known as the point of max splattage! Also important to note a fly can splat sideways too, so technically it's energy isnt just dissapated opposing the trrain.
The technical question i'm now thinking about is......how hot does a splatting fly get when it hits a train?
Tollers
Tollers said:
IT'S TRUE. The train is stationary.
It is the same principle as taking a photo of a moving object with a very fast shutter speed. The photograph will show the object is as good as stationary.
In mechanics, it is expressed as delta time. The tinyest, tinyest fraction of time imaginable.
In the train's case, delta distance / delta time will be close to zero, so for that tiny, tiny period of time, the train does not move.
jimboalee said:
Surely it's only stationary (and as good as stationary is not the same thing) in delta time, all the time. At any microscopic time it is as good as stationary which has nothing to do with the fly.
A photo may make a speeding object appear stationary but that is not the same as it being stationary.
