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#1 2009-07-18 6:07 pm
Got a physics question for y'all.
OK, let's say you needed to construct a barrier to provide a buffer zone of sorts for cars that might crash into a center divide on the freeway, and all you had to work with was plastic bottles of water. Would it be better to empty the water bottles and then put the caps back onto them, using bottled air as the buffer zone, or would the unopened bottles of water provide the best chance for the car's occupants to survive?
Just wondering.
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#2 2009-07-18 6:35 pm
- elpato84
- is Heavy Weapons Guy
- From: red team
- Registered: 2002-05-25
- Posts: 3307
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
Don't let Speed fool you. It's probably just sand.
But if I did, I would want it to be not airtight. If the caps were 100% sealed, there would be nowhere for the water/air/sand to escape, and you basically made a concrete barricade. Even airbags are made to quickly deflate, so they absorb the impact.
The use of air as a shock absorber is common, but I've only ever heard of it used for air mattresses and those giant ones used for movie stunts. But still, those things are the size of a few large vans, and take only the force of one human being who has been trained to fall a very precise way.
"I personally think that with the budget they've planned, Halo [the movie] will be a failure. I think Halo will not make the money back in the end."
-Uwe Boll (made the films: Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead, Bloodrayne, Far Cry, Postal)
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#3 2009-07-18 7:08 pm
- jkahless
- Member
- From: Right in front of you.
- Registered: 2002-01-05
- Posts: 10017
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
I'd be willing to wager that the force of the impact would force the lids off the bottles. I'd go with water.
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#4 2009-07-18 7:15 pm
- user
- Your plastic pal who's fun to be with
- From: I'm not getting you down, am I
- Registered: 2001-10-15
- Posts: 16030
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
Maybe even 7-Up.
Aw, he's no fun, he fell right over.
Unless you become as little children, there's no way you will believe this crap.
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#5 2009-07-18 7:20 pm
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
Definitely go with water. The problem is air is too compressible, which will mean that the water bottles will collapse without too much resistance, hardly slowing you down before you hit the wall. Water isn't compressible, but the fact that the water bottles are flexible makes up for it. That way it will put up more resistance to stop you, but won't be too rigid to the point of making your car absorb all the impact. Also, it will be more massive, and will therefore be harder to simply knock away without providing any resistance.
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#6 2009-07-19 1:11 am
- Bat
- Flawless Cowboy
- Royal Wombat
- From: Björk, Björk
- Registered: 2001-05-14
- Posts: 28541
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
::gets slide rule out of pocket protector:: 
If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion - George Bernard Shaw
"Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."
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#9 2009-07-19 10:30 am
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
But of course! How else would one spell it?
Personally, I think it would be very useful if "y'all" and/or "you all" were to be recognized as grammatically correct English. Yes, the word "you" by itself can refer to one person or to a group of persons, but that's just the problem. "You," by itself, makes no distinction, so the reader or listener is forced to infer from the context whether he or she is being addressed individually, or as part of a group.
"Y'all" and "you all" remove that ambiguity, and are therefore too useful to be denigrated as non-standard English.
Last edited by Bren (2009-07-19 2:35 pm)
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#10 2009-07-19 2:26 pm
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
I think the best solution would be to open the bottles, make Jell-O inside of them, then use the Jell-O filled bottles as the barricade.
Perhaps cherry Jell-O with some little slices of pineapples and pears in them.
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#11 2009-07-19 2:36 pm
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
Sounds delicious!
Which, of course, would present a problem:
By the time somebody crashed into the barrier, I would have already opened up all the bottles and helped myself to their yummy contents.
"It's better to be a pirate than to join the Navy."
--Steve Jobs
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#12 2009-07-19 4:12 pm
- elpato84
- is Heavy Weapons Guy
- From: red team
- Registered: 2002-05-25
- Posts: 3307
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
I didn't read all of these, but I saw "slide" and then "jello"...
I may have to get back to you guys. EXPERIMENT!
"I personally think that with the budget they've planned, Halo [the movie] will be a failure. I think Halo will not make the money back in the end."
-Uwe Boll (made the films: Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead, Bloodrayne, Far Cry, Postal)
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#13 2009-07-19 6:35 pm
- Bat
- Flawless Cowboy
- Royal Wombat
- From: Björk, Björk
- Registered: 2001-05-14
- Posts: 28541
Re: Got a physics question for y'all.
Jello slide experiments ftw.
If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion - George Bernard Shaw
"Fire up a colortini, sit back, relax, and watch the pictures, now, as they fly through the air."
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