Re: HUMOUR: challenge

From: Doug Jones (djones@xcor.com)
Date: Fri Feb 01 2002 - 16:10:43 MST


scerir wrote:
>
> Imagine to be on a perfectly flat, perfectly frictionless surface,
> such as ice, or oil covered marble. You want to get away, but
> nobody is around. So the question is: How can you move away
> on perfect ice, i.e. on a perfectly frictionless surface?
>
> [ Solutions at
> http://www.motionmountain.org/SOL.HTM ]

Rocket engineer's answer: take your shirt off & throw it; reaction will
eventually get you to the edge. There's also an old SF story about two
guys in spacesuits who slip onto a giant frictionless concave mirror.
Tether dynamics and conservation of angular momentum are key to their
escape...

--
Doug Jones, Rocket Plumber
XCOR Aerospace


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