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Friday Quiz Time

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by cupcake

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If you recall, I posted last week the quiz my boss gives us on Fridays,
the winner gets to go home two hours early.

I need help... I have always had problems with those 'two trains"
mathematical problems... and I don't know much about aeronautics.

Here's two of the five random questions from today's quiz:

#1. What is the first man-made object to break the sound barrier?

#2. A train leaves Boston at 5 PM travelling at 60mph headed for New
York. At 6 PM, a train leaves New York headed for Boston at 40mph.
So that we don?t get tempted to get into differential equations (which I
always have trouble with), assume that the trains are of zero length
and can accelerate to cruising speed instantaneously. So, when the
two trains meet, which is closer to Boston?

14 replies

by netman1958

Could it be a bull-whip? The question said object, not aircraft which would have been the Bell X-1.

by netman1958

Since the trains are of 0 length, when they meet thay will both be the same distance from both Boston and NewYork.

by cupcake

from Boston.

Duh... I got the other three answers and if I wasn't so busy
with the new project, I probably would eventually have
gotten the first two as well.

Thanks!

by older mycroft

That a bullwhip can generate a sonic boom?

Don't make me laugh!

How can you measure the speed at the tip of a bullwhip to ensure it travels in excess of 1,116 feet per second???

Eh? :^0

by netman1958

Put it out there. Since you posted this, I decided to do some research. I thought it would be hard to find anything, but low and behold the first hit on Google yielded this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullwhip

An excerpt:
" bullwhip's length, flexibility, and tapered design allows it to be thrown in such a way that, towards the end of the throw, part of the whip exceeds the speed of sound - thereby creating a small sonic boom"

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