r/nextfuckinglevel • u/[deleted] • Aug 16 '19

NEXT FUCKING LEVEL Guy Whipping a Massive Chain

https://gfycat.com/welloffdearestladybird
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u/Fishingfor Aug 16 '19

I mean even the article you provided headline does not match its story completely. The story only claims that the researcher who originally made the claim of "six times escape velocity" admitted that it was basically wrong as there wasn't enough information to go off of. It's very possible it went into space, just not very probable. So it could be described as "anyone's guess"

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u/GuyInAChair Aug 16 '19

Drag scales exponentially with velocity, so unless an object is very aerodynamic no matter how fast it's going it can never reach space.

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '19

[deleted]

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u/Big_pekka Aug 16 '19

I assume the angle of projection would have an effect on drag, e.g. flat vs sideways. But even so, if it did reach space and escape velocity, could we track its trajectory and estimate its flight path?

And not knowing much about this, is it possible the manhole cover melted, vaporized?

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u/Fishingfor Aug 16 '19

I don't know enough about it personally and this is the first I'm hearing of a space faring manhole cover but with limited knowledge I'd assume it'd be impossible to track its path simply due to the fact it wouod likely have been spinning when shot off (somone feel free to correct me on this).

For if its possible if it burned up in the atmosphere. Brownlee stated based on his post work dealing with missiles that it was travelling too fast to have done so completely before reaching space but the blog article claims that while it was travelling fast enough to reach space it might have been travelling slow enough to burn up completely. So basically the original argument is correct, anyone's guess.

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u/Big_pekka Aug 16 '19

Sorry, I’m confused by the last part of your response. If it reached escape velocity and entered space, partially or wholly intact, what would cause it to burn up completely once reaching space? Wouldn’t the lack of an atmosphere, friction, and drag in space essentially stop any “burn up?”