• Zachariah@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    So if I were jiggling, I think I could come up with a speed. I’d figure out how far I’m moving, and how long it takes me to move. So I could measure from far left to far right of the jiggle (let’s say 18in.) and then how far to go from far left to far right and return to the original position. If that’s 2 seconds, then that’s 1½ feet per 2 seconds which can be converted to any other speed such as km/hr.

    • ninja@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      The jiggly argument is about not all parts moving at once or in one direction. If you jiggled to the right by taking one 18 inch step to the right, sticking your left arm straight left, waiving your right arm in a complete circle, holding your left foot 3 inches off the ground, and squatting down 10 inches how far have “you” moved?

        • FooBarrington@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          The answer by the thermometer is the temperature, which is based on more degrees of freedom. You’ll have to define some mapping between the other degrees and velocity.

    • MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml
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      7 months ago

      Here’s an experiment that you could try at home:

      Takes 2 cups of water of equal volume, one hot and one cold. Put a single drop of food coloring into each cup and time how long it takes for the color to fully disperse throughout the water.

      Record your units in SI units like cm or mm, because inches are stupid and scientists have agreed to not like them. You are a scientist now, so you must join the club.

      Submit your findings to the journal of Lemmy for peer review. Extrapolate into other forms of measurement if you want.

      If you want it to be even better, measure 3 temperatures (in °C, mind you): room temp, hot, and cold. Then you can plot them on a curve of distance vs time.