blog: kindergarten physics

Post by **nikos** » 2012 Sep 02, 05:56

here's the comment area for today's blog post found at
http://zabkat.com/blog/kindergarten-physics.htm

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Sep 02, 10:04

If you put 2 kids swinging side by side, will they synchronize?

...you can't move a kid faster by swinging harder

Sure you can, whatever happened to "higher, Daddy, higher!"? Does gravity work differently in Greece? Force + Momentum + Swinging-Legs = More Height and a faster nadir/apex-speed. I used to scare myself silly doing that. Then jumping. And it hurt. Still does, just thinking about it. Bloody shin-splints. As Warren Zevon once opined, "Bad luck streak in dancing school, I'm down on my knees in pain."

Or were you just thinking of a laboratory environment where the kid is drugged or something, and you only apply the same pressure each time to sustain the same pendulum arc and counteract the decay-rate?

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Sep 02, 10:39

And is it just me, or is there some metaphysical factor in the universe that states that when other people's children get bigger, we ourselves feel disproportionally older? She's +2? Frak's sake!

Why do I feel this weird urge to start eating more salads?

Real geeks don't eat salads. Damn you, Nikos, stop procreating already! It's bad for my own well-balanced "ch'i", never mind your own.

Post by **nikos** » 2012 Sep 02, 10:44

Sure you can, whatever happened to "higher, Daddy, higher

you can swing higher but the period of oscillation is constant, that's how we can make clocks out of it

vanessa is 2 & 2 months old, and a new brother is under construction :shock:
productivity is soon to plummet to absolute zero!

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Sep 02, 10:54

Yes, but the specific period of oscillation is based on the acceleration thusly determining the length of the arc [amplitude] relative to equilibrium. That's effectively "speed" derived from applied (Daddy) force, ain't it?

I think you're only considering oscillation a constant if you look at it after Daddy steps away from the equation and stops pushing. Consider yourself a (variably) active-force factor within the equation instead, and you'll see what I mean by speed because the oscillation would no longer be a constant if you are physically adding an accelerating-force each time.

Tuxman · Post by **Tuxman** » 2012 Sep 02, 11:42

Kilmatead wrote:Sure you can, whatever happened to "higher, Daddy, higher!"?

I am pretty sure Greek kids don't speak English.

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Sep 02, 11:47

Probably not, but would "υψηλότερη, μπαμπά, υψηλότερη" have the same implied playground drug-dissemination connotation? I'm just picturing Nikos handing out little packets of differently-coloured pills to the children to test the speed-differencial hypothesis.

Tuxman · Post by **Tuxman** » 2012 Sep 02, 11:48

Kilmatead wrote:Probably not, but would "υψηλότερη, μπαμπά, υψηλότερη" have the same implied playground drug-dissemination connotation?

I seriously doubt that, so your actual implication is ridiculous.

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Sep 02, 12:00

Why so grumpy today? Somebody's lederhosen a little tight this morning?

Considering we're already dealing with a blog which has suspiciously paedophillic wording (Why is a grown man trying to "stimulate" his mind while watching children on a playground in the first place?) Thus, I consider the whole thing absurd, and thus open to as much off-topic fun as possible, which includes ridiculous implications!

What would a Sunday be without a healthy dose of ridiculous implication?

Tuxman · Post by **Tuxman** » 2012 Sep 02, 12:39

I was in Berlin yesterday and am horrified by its lack of decent HiFi stores. That's all.

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Sep 02, 12:49

Are they still called HiFi stores? Isn't that a little 1970's?

Tuxman · Post by **Tuxman** » 2012 Sep 02, 12:57

Not sure how they are called. Basically, I am looking for Hi-Fi headphones. Music stores don't have the ones I am searching.

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Sep 02, 13:21

Doesn't everyone just use Amazon for these things? Or being an audiophile you actually want to try them first and buy them cheaper online after? (Everyone's complaining about that here these days, and how it hurts the "high street" stores, because you get their hopes up but walk out anyway.)

Not that people in Depression-era countries buy much HiFi stuff these days - I consider myself lucky if my batteries keep working - if the headphones die, then I'd actually have to listen-to/interact-with real humans all day long. That would be a fate worse than death in the impersonal and electronically audio-insulated universe the last century so bequeathed unto us.

Kilmatead · Post by **Kilmatead** » 2012 Sep 02, 13:44

Actually, all your HiFi stores must be at the snappily-titled "IFA 2012 consumer electronics show" which is currently on now in Berlin, where everyone seems to be excited about 84-inch telly's. No doubt just another sign of the decline and fall of Western Civilisation, like drugs on the playground.

Tuxman · Post by **Tuxman** » 2012 Sep 02, 13:53

Kilmatead wrote:Doesn't everyone just use Amazon for these things? Or being an audiophile you actually want to try them first and buy them cheaper online after?

Oh, I would indeed buy them from Amazon as they are cheap right now. That said, I still have to decide between two headphone models and can't do that just from reading the Amazon reviews. I would need to listen to both of them first - which I'd need a decent store for. Our large electronic consumer shops don't have them.

(Amazon reviews are crap when it comes to Hi-Fi anyway.)

Kilmatead wrote:Actually, all your HiFi stores must be at the snappily-titled "IFA 2012 consumer electronics show" which is currently on now in Berlin

I actually thought about going there and listen to the new Beyerdynamic ones. However, they won't have the (older) models I am planning to buy.