Board index › Topical Discussion › Politics, Philosophy, and Religion

China

Page 1 of 1 [ 7 posts ] 

Previous topic | Next topic

philosopher
Raven
Raven

User avatar

Joined: 26 Jul 2007
Age: 58
Gender: Male
Posts: 103

10 Jun 2009, 2:56 pm

If all the chinese jumped at the same time would the earth tilt of its axis?



z0rp
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Jan 2008
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Posts: 747
Location: New York, USA

10 Jun 2009, 3:12 pm

No.


_________________
Ignorance is surely not bliss, because if you are ignorant, you will ignore the bliss around you.


Dionysus
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 4 Jan 2009
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 60
Location: Low Kharak Orbit

10 Jun 2009, 3:16 pm

I doubt it but it's worth a shot or at least a public holiday and drinking festival I think :)



gina-ghettoprincess
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Nov 2008
Age: 30
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,669
Location: The Town That Time Forgot (UK)

10 Jun 2009, 3:22 pm

No. Really, really, not.


_________________
'El reloj, no avanza
y yo quiero ir a verte,
La clase, no acaba
y es como un semestre"


Henriksson
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Nov 2008
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,534
Location: Sweden

10 Jun 2009, 3:33 pm

In Ancient days, it was a valid military strategy. Scholarly elders would do some advanced mathematical calculation, and all the Chinese in one clan would jump at the same time to cause widespread destruction to their enemies.


_________________
"Purity is for drinking water, not people" - Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.


MattShizzle
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 6 May 2009
Age: 51
Gender: Male
Posts: 777

10 Jun 2009, 3:37 pm

Assuming an average weight of 150 lbs, that's around 180 billion lbs or 90 million tons. The biggest nuclear tests were over 50 megatons worth of tnt equivalent - since 2 lbs of weight falling doesn't have near the impact of 1 lb of tnt and those tests didn't do so - definitely not.



Apple_in_my_Eye
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 May 2008
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,420
Location: in my brain

10 Jun 2009, 5:05 pm

lol, interesting question...

Well, the mass of the Earth is

5.9742x10^24 kg

and approximate of the mass of all the people in China would be (high estimate)

population * average_mass = 1.3 billion * 70kg

So the weight of the people in China is about 0.00000000001 % the mass of the Earth. So if they jump 1 foot in the air, the Earth will move 0.0000000000001 ft, which isn't very much. :)

- -

I guess a more proper analysis would consider the effects of slightly perturbing a gyroscope, and figuring out if the rotation vector changes significantly. Off the top of my head... I think it would cause it to precess a tiny amount when the people jumped, but that that would be neutralized when they landed. (?)