(Click comic for full image: http://xkcd.com/669)The above comic is AWESOME! It also got me thinking today about frictionless vacuums.
You see, in any physics course, the instructor will use many examples to help you learn the concepts and how to solve problems. Unless the problem is specifically about, or involves, the effects of work or air drag, the problem will have two characteristics that you simply won't find in the real world: that every surface will have no friction associated with it, and that air drag is no taken into account. So the problem is frictionless, and takes place in a vacuum. This makes the problem much simpler to do. It also makes it a frictionless vacuum.
So yes, it sounds crazy, but many physics problems are done in frictionless vacuums.
No comments:
Post a Comment