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Author Topic:   Physics contradicts maths - how is this possible?
Agobot
Member (Idle past 5558 days)
Posts: 786
Joined: 12-16-2007


Message 1 of 69 (442277)
12-20-2007 5:24 PM


Contention - maths proves that in theory moving objects should never touch each other, physics shows the opposite. Simple example - 1 stationary object(eg. - a wall) and a fly flying toward it. Say the fly is 1 metre away from the wall. In 0.5 sec she is 0.5 metres from the wall. In 0.9 sec she is 0.1 meters from the wall, in 0.999 sec she is 1 mm from the wall, in 0.9999999999sec she is 0.000000009mm from the wall. In 0.9999999999999999999999999999 sec she'd be 0.0000000000000000000000000009mm from the wall and so on. Obviously, the distance between the fly and wall cannot and will never ever become zero. Yet practice shows that the fly lands on the wall and makes that distance zero. How is this possible?
Edited by Agobot, : No reason given.
Edited by Agobot, : No reason given.

Replies to this message:
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Agobot
Member (Idle past 5558 days)
Posts: 786
Joined: 12-16-2007


Message 13 of 69 (442419)
12-21-2007 7:05 AM


Will somebody care to explain how "0.99999999..." is "1" in the real world and under what circumstances? The explanation about there being a limit is mute as there is no observable limit between "0.99999999999999..." and "1". Also, in the real world there is never a speed of 1m/sec. If you have to be precise, and in this case we must be, there can be 0.999999...m/sec or 1.0000... m/sec but not 1m/sec. We use 1m/sec as a rounded value for simplicity, but that does not mean that such an exact value exists. When you apply the real speed, which will always be different than the rounded value 1m/sec., you'll see that the fly will never touch the wall. Example:
Distance between the wall and the fly is:
S=0.99999999999999999999999999999...metres
v=0.99999999999999999999999999999... m/sec
t=S/v
How much is infinity/infinity? Again infinity
Edited by Agobot, : No reason given.
Edited by Agobot, : No reason given.

Replies to this message:
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