10 ms·

http://what-if.xkcd.com/18/ http://what-if.xkcd.com/18/ So can AK-47s.

• ateev 14y ago
  hahaa good one
• pyre 14y ago
  | air rifle fires [...] at a muzzle velocity of | 100 meters per second | The GE Genesis Series I locomotive [...] travels at | around 45 meters per second | If you bounce a single BB off the front of the | locomotive [...] you slow it down by about a foot | per day Why is everything in meters per second, then we jump to using feet all of the sudden? Isn't this just asking for conversion errors? :P
  • Deestan 14y ago
    > Why is everything in meters per second, then we jump to using feet all of the sudden? Metric is easier to do calculations in, while imperial is used for the "layman terms". The intended audience is mainly american, and feet are more familiar to them than meters.
    • lucian1900 14y ago
      But that's precisely the sort of practice that causes conversion errors. Non-metric units should only ever be used in addition to the metric ones, in parentheses, if at all.
      • Avshalom 14y ago
        If you're trying to stop a train with a BB gun conversion errors are not going to be your primary worry.
  • dbaupp 14y ago
    It's more poetic than "30 cm per day" or "a third of a metre per day".