Conservation of momentum applies to closed systems. Adding mass to a system by definition makes it not closed.Crazedwraith wrote:Assuming conservation of momentum, the baseball would have to slow. A lot of added mass and the same momentum leads to decreased velocity in accordance to p=mv.
Of course there's not particular reason that the magic allowing you to add a shit load of extra mass is not going to allow you to ignore conservation of momentum as well.
What happens if a baseball has the weight...
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Terralthra
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Re: What happens if a baseball has the weight...
Re: What happens if a baseball has the weight...
Lets have fun, and assume the mass is instantly transfered as soon as he releases the baseball.
Mass of the Everest, http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_m ... nt_Everest
So roughly 6,4 trillion tons. in a sphere a few inches across, we're approaching neutron star degenerate matter density.
If by some act of Q it retains it's shape and size, then anything in it's path will be absolutely destroyed by it.
You could pack a cube 500 feet to a side of carbon nano-tube in front of it, and it would blow through as if it were tissue paper.
Same thing if you replace the cube by any other known material we use on earth.
It's simple, an object so massive and small would apply tremendous pressure at the point of impact, and the cross section of it would be too small to directly stop it.
You can even approximate it's energy, at say 108 mph, with 6,4 trillion tons, lets use simple Newtonien physics, and it's (6,4E15kgX 48m/s) divided by 2. Roughly 4,608,000,000,000,000,000 joules using this nice app
http://www.csgnetwork.com/kineticenergycalc.html
And you end up with roughly 1097 Megaton of energy.
Mass of the Everest, http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_m ... nt_Everest
So roughly 6,4 trillion tons. in a sphere a few inches across, we're approaching neutron star degenerate matter density.
If by some act of Q it retains it's shape and size, then anything in it's path will be absolutely destroyed by it.
You could pack a cube 500 feet to a side of carbon nano-tube in front of it, and it would blow through as if it were tissue paper.
Same thing if you replace the cube by any other known material we use on earth.
It's simple, an object so massive and small would apply tremendous pressure at the point of impact, and the cross section of it would be too small to directly stop it.
You can even approximate it's energy, at say 108 mph, with 6,4 trillion tons, lets use simple Newtonien physics, and it's (6,4E15kgX 48m/s) divided by 2. Roughly 4,608,000,000,000,000,000 joules using this nice app
http://www.csgnetwork.com/kineticenergycalc.html
And you end up with roughly 1097 Megaton of energy.
Re: What happens if a baseball has the weight...
Would such an object be sufficiently dense and massive for tidal forces to be noticeable? Say its path comes close to (but does not intersect with) a human being.
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Nova Mundi, my laughable attempt at an original worldbuilding/gameplay project
Capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society - Karl Marx
Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. We allow them to disperse because we've been ignorant of their value - R. Buckminster Fuller
The important thing is not to be human but to be humane - Eliezer S. Yudkowsky
Nova Mundi, my laughable attempt at an original worldbuilding/gameplay project
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chornedsnorkack
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Re: What happens if a baseball has the weight...
What do you think would happen to the catcher and his bat if he put the bat and hand in the way of an express train passing a station platform without stopping, at full speed?
If he is lucky, his hand just might get shoved forcibly sideways out of the train´s path on collision with train´s nose.
Now imagine a baseball travelling at a modest speed - a few tens of m/s, roughly the speed of a train or a car - undergoing a collision, but having the property that nothing whatever can stop, slow nor deform it.
How will brittle rocks under low confining pressures respond?
The speed of the baseball is far below the speed of sound in rocks. No possibility for shockwave. Also, the kinetic energy of rocks in the frame of the baseball is insufficient to vaporize the rocks.
Also, the baseball is NOT an infinite steel rod. The important difference being that there is nothing behind the ball. The rocks which have been compressed ahead of the ball and have flowed past the ball can expand back into the hole pierced by the ball, as soon as the ball has passed.
You would expect permanent expansion of rock due to creation of brittle fractures. And the rock can expand in sidewards and upwards directions.
What would the trace of such a penetrator look like?
If he is lucky, his hand just might get shoved forcibly sideways out of the train´s path on collision with train´s nose.
Now imagine a baseball travelling at a modest speed - a few tens of m/s, roughly the speed of a train or a car - undergoing a collision, but having the property that nothing whatever can stop, slow nor deform it.
How will brittle rocks under low confining pressures respond?
The speed of the baseball is far below the speed of sound in rocks. No possibility for shockwave. Also, the kinetic energy of rocks in the frame of the baseball is insufficient to vaporize the rocks.
Also, the baseball is NOT an infinite steel rod. The important difference being that there is nothing behind the ball. The rocks which have been compressed ahead of the ball and have flowed past the ball can expand back into the hole pierced by the ball, as soon as the ball has passed.
You would expect permanent expansion of rock due to creation of brittle fractures. And the rock can expand in sidewards and upwards directions.
What would the trace of such a penetrator look like?