Plane on a conveyor revisited Options

[james]

Dragging up the past a bit - TV show Mythbusters ran it's much anticipated episode with a practical experiment version of this question on it a couple of nights ago over in the US.

I don't know when it will come on over here but for the curious Kottke liveblogged it and also links to another good explanation from a guy with a Sc.D. in Nuclear Science and Engineering (whatever that is).

And for the hard of attention and understanding - yes of course it takes off.

[jamie]

Ok, lets revisit the rope scenario

In a relevant analogy If you change one variable you would get the same result in both experiments correct?

scenario #1

Roller skates and rope

Cam is on his roller skates on a tread mill holding himself from going backwards. The treadmill stops, yet Cam is still going no where...

scenario #2

Plane on a runway

Whether you believe the plane would go forward with the treadmill on or not when you turn it off it should definitly go forward. Not stay still.

Totally differant results whichever way you look at it. How can this example be relevant?

By the way, I think we should all go down the pub and sort this out there. Im getting bored of typing!

This post has been edited by jamie: Mar 5 2008, 05:57 PM