« Intelligence to Crow Over |
Main
| A site in motion (new) »
May 04, 2004
Oh, It Was On the SIXTH Day....
Want your kids to have the fun of learning about dinosaurs without all that misleading, distracting evolutionary theory? Want to throw science out the window in favor of good old fundamentalist belief? Have I got the theme park for you! (It's NY Times - it didn't make me sign in, but sometimes NY Times does. Worth reading if you can).
Posted by Deana at May 4, 2004 04:57 AM
Oh no! I hope no one tries this experiment based solely on this description:
Somewhat more creationist in approach is the Nerve-Wracking Ball: a bowling ball on a rope, dangling from a tall tree branch. A child stands before the ball, and then a park guide gives it a shove from a specific angle, so that it comes careering back at the child's face only to stop just in front of it. The child wins if he does not flinch, proving he has "faith in God's laws" — in this case, that a swinging object will never come back higher than the point from which it took off.
I know the actual experiment, and it requires that you don't shove the ball but rather drop it from a point along its arc. Conservation of energy implies that it will never swing back higher than the original spot.
Of course, now that I mention it, which of "God's laws" is conservation of energy? Or is there a "Thou shalt not produce energy without reducing it elswhere" commandment?
Posted by: Chris at May 4, 2004 10:30 AM
Site contents ©2000-2006 Chris Radcliff unless noted. All rights reserved.
Oh no! I hope no one tries this experiment based solely on this description:
Somewhat more creationist in approach is the Nerve-Wracking Ball: a bowling ball on a rope, dangling from a tall tree branch. A child stands before the ball, and then a park guide gives it a shove from a specific angle, so that it comes careering back at the child's face only to stop just in front of it. The child wins if he does not flinch, proving he has "faith in God's laws" — in this case, that a swinging object will never come back higher than the point from which it took off.
I know the actual experiment, and it requires that you don't shove the ball but rather drop it from a point along its arc. Conservation of energy implies that it will never swing back higher than the original spot.
Of course, now that I mention it, which of "God's laws" is conservation of energy? Or is there a "Thou shalt not produce energy without reducing it elswhere" commandment?
Posted by: Chris at May 4, 2004 10:30 AM