Posted on 02/15/2014 8:53:20 AM PST by Morgana
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Two math majors at Reed College lost control of a massive snowball that rolled into a dorm, knocking in part of a bedroom wall.
No one was injured.
The students began making the snowball last week during a rare snowstorm in Portland, Ore.
Nobody weighed the object, but college spokesman Kevin Myers says it was estimated to weigh 800 pounds or more.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattle.cbslocal.com ...
F=MxA.
That dude rocks!
Not just a good idea...
Exactly. Same as a shopping cart rolling down a parking lot slope and hitting a car. Solve for F.
But it’s not just M x A, because this is an example of a “runaway process” - as the snowball travels, its mass increases, making it larger (more area) and picking up even more snow. As the action continues, it reinforces itself to destructive levels.
If only the state had required snowball permits this tragedy would never have happened ;-)
I read this when it first popped up and thought it 'almost funny', but very, very pathetic. 'Andy Farmer-ish', but worse. More like Ehren McGhehey (Jacka$$).
Our future: Math majors unable to do mental math on density & can't grasp simple concepts like 'gravity'...I bet they don't have to pay damages either.
At least the Newton fable doesn't have him rolling a stone down a hill into a cottage...(but that may change with Common Core).
“Ruh roh, Raggy!”
When I was a freshman in the dorm, our 3rd floor room overlooked the tennis court. We thought that was the perfect testing ground for a molotov cocktail.
Ingredients:
Two drunken students.
One quart beer bottle, half full of lighter fluid.
One paper towell for fuse.
One drunken assistant to light fuse while I held the bomb cocked like a football, ready to throw.
Fuse lit, as I threw bomb the lighter fluid caught and shot out of bottle lighting my shirt on fire. I ran around the room like a lunatic until it went out.
Bottle smashed on tennis court, shirt ruined, no damage to me.
Major success on all counts.
Sometimes a paper towel may absorb the lighter fluid. Use a cheap brand next time. Stay away from Bounty, it is “the quicker picker upper”! :^)
Yes. F = m x a is the simple approach, but there would also be a function of additional mass acquired based on the layers of snow (water) per rotation of the snowball and the increasing diameter (R x 2) of the snowball.
Back in the day, my gang of friends and I used to make these huge snowballs at night and leave them in the worst places - behind cars in driveways, at the foot of people’s porch steps, at the fenced walkway into the schoolyard, etc...
I still can’t help but to chuckle.
800 pound snowballs, hate when that happens. lol
Huge Asteroid to Fly Safely By Earth Monday: Watch It Live
Watch It Live! http://www.space.com/24704-asteroid-2000-em26-earth-flyby-webcast.html
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