November 6th, 2003, 08:33 PM
|
 |
Major General
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 2,174
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
|
|
Re: 320.2! 301.5, 311.3, 65.4
Quote:
Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
Just make sure it's positioned an infinite distance above your head... sure, it will have infinite velocity when it hits you, but when will it hit you? 
|
Actually, if it somehow managed to eventually hit you, it would have a finite velocity. As the acceleration falls off proportional to the square of the distance, integrating from infinity to a non-zero distance does not give an infinite result. Using the Earth as the gravitational source (ignoring the rest of the universe and Earth's atmosphere) if an anvil did fall from an infinite distance to hit you, it would hit at Earth's escape velocity - approximately 11.2 km/s.
__________________
Of course, by the time I finish this post, it will already be obsolete. C'est la vie.
|