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Why is it as Humans that we have not yet come up with a way to measure speed?

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 229 ✭✭Nuno


    I think fundamentally there is no absolute measure of speed due to relativistic considerations. Great video by Veritasium on the topic





  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,918 ✭✭✭Montage of Feck


    🙈🙉🙊



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 47,835 CMod ✭✭✭✭Black Swan




  • Posts: 7,272 ✭✭✭ Zackary Cold Poltergeist


    well actually judge seeing as there’s no way in which to measure speed yet I can’t actually be convicted of speeding can I?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 608 ✭✭✭mockler007


    I got to work early travelling at 135 speeds.

    I never laughed so hard.



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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 51,921 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i think we can come up with a more creative dimensionless unit for speed.

    i got to work early travelling at 135 roadrunners.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,531 ✭✭✭Cordell


    knots - arguably invented when measuring speed was crucial. One knot (and not knot per hour) is equal to one nautical mile per hour.

    Judge, I'm a sailor, I though the speed limit is in knots, AS IT SHOULD BE!!!!!



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 51,921 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    but therefore a knot is a dimensioned unit.

    it's like saying 'we're calling km/h spondulicks from now on' and claiming a spondulick is dimensionless.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 911 ✭✭✭Flying Abruptly


    Historically knots was the number of knots on a rope that passed through the sailors hand over a fixed time period, so still had a time reference but was reported without it.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,717 ✭✭✭✭Grayson


    Think thread reminds me of another forum I was on years ago where a girl asked "Why is lava wet? Surely at that heat all the water would evaporate and it would turn solid"



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,306 ✭✭✭daithi7


    Fair question imho, I just hope she didn't try to wash her face in it though!?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,306 ✭✭✭daithi7


    OP, recalling my leaving cert & engineering physics, your initial query may not be as daft as it initially appears imho.

    As there are actually many uncertainties in our 'known & observed' universe. (Whatever that actually is, since we are by definition observing that through the prisms of our own perceptions, constructs & the limits of these & our devices to measure such, etc, etc)

    For instance, iirc, the dimensions of space & time & the effects of gravity & the like warp & change their fundamental characteristics as items that have mass such as matter, approach the speed of light. So hence phenomena like black holes, where even light appears to act like matter, & is governed by gravity etc, etc.

    A rather bright German chap had a theory of relativity about all this kinda stuff that created quite a fuss back in the day.

    Also is light made up of protons or waves!?! Answers via fibre optic comms only please ;)

    And are electrons here or there? Iirc, if you actually locate one, you can't measure it's speed, wavelength or charge or something else about it. Pesky little sub atomic things those blooming elusive electrons!!!

    So it turns out that our perception & measurement of things in our physical universe are not nearly as absolute, or universal, as many people seem to think.

    Nonetheless the relative measurement of speed is fairly set in stone, excuse the pun, and particularly so if you unfortunately happen to run into such a stone at 80 m/s, knots, mph, or even little old leisurely kph. That would be pretty definitive imho....





  • Speed is literally just the time it takes to cover a certain distance. Any unit of length divided by any unit of time. However, you measure it pretty much instantaneously using modern instruments.

    You car isn’t calculating your speed by measuring distance travelled each hour, as that wouldn’t be much use to you! It’s a near instantaneous measurement using mechanical and digital instruments - the speedometer. Effectively it’s calculating it continuously over a very small distance using the rotation of the wheels as a measurement input.

    You can calculate it electronically using radar or lasers bouncing off objects, you can use GPS, Galileo or other sat nav positions, Pitot tubes on aircraft (also in F1 cars, weather monitoring stations, wind tunnels etc etc) do it using differences in pressure, you used ultrasound too to measure for example velocity of flow though a pipe.



  • Administrators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 78,458 Admin ✭✭✭✭✭Beasty


    Are we talking powder or pills?

    😀



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,650 ✭✭✭AllForIt


    I measure my speed on the kitchen scales as I would flour when making a cake.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,817 ✭✭✭take everything


    Something mildly interesting brought to you by the mean value theorem:

    If you travel a distance of 100 miles in one hour (going at any speeds you want on the way to make that journey in that time), you must have travelled at 100 mph at least once on the journey.

    Not immediately obvious but interesting if you think about. The mean value theorem is one of the most important things in Calculus.



  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 94,516 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight


    Was it because Zeno couldn't catch up with a tortoise because he had a pair of Docs ?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,820 ✭✭✭✭Water John


    And the speedometer in your car is lying to you. You are not travelling as fast as it's telling you, that really annoys me.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,237 ✭✭✭mcmoustache


    It took two pages to see an explanation for the speedometer. To expand on it, the wheels rotate at a measurable rate - x number of times per second. The wheels have a known* circumference. The outer circumference makes contact** with the ground. If the circumference of a wheel is 2m and the wheel rotates 5 times per second, its center will have moved 10 meters in that second.

    *wheel may be bald/flat leading to actual speed being lower than speed measured by rotation

    **contact with ground can be affected by water, grit etc so the slippage would lead to actual speed being lower than the measured speed.

    Post edited by Boards.ie: Mike on


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 94,516 Mod ✭✭✭✭Capt'n Midnight




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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,920 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui


    It doesn't apply on the scale of trains, planes, cars or cats.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,920 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,257 ✭✭✭amacca


    🤣....Bit of calculus should be far enough for the OP!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 20,920 ✭✭✭✭cnocbui


    It measures air-speed. You need a GPS or ground bounce radar to measure velocity.

    Gliders can have a relatively low cruising air-speed. It has been known for gliders in a strong wind to actually fly backwards in relation to the ground while maintaining their normal air-speed.



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