Timeline for Can you find the length of a pencil without a ruler or clock?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
35 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 11, 2020 at 9:33 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
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| Jan 24, 2017 at 15:57 | comment | added | John Alexiou | Read about the Foucault Gear used to measure the speed of light in absolute terms. | |
| Jan 24, 2017 at 15:37 | answer | added | Lio Elbammalf | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 24, 2017 at 15:24 | answer | added | Gremlin | timeline score: 0 | |
| Jan 24, 2017 at 13:56 | answer | added | Helder Velez | timeline score: -2 | |
| Mar 7, 2016 at 5:43 | comment | added | user21820 | @Random832: I do not think it is possible for the whole universe to be shrunk in all aspects without altering some fundamental properties. | |
| Jan 2, 2015 at 23:23 | comment | added | mip |
"The fairy gives you a pencil, and says that once you tell **him** how long the pencil is, in centimeters, you are released." :o I always thought about fairies as female characters. Good that word "pencil" is not in quotation marks XD.
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| Jan 1, 2015 at 0:58 | answer | added | Guill | timeline score: 0 | |
| Dec 27, 2014 at 16:16 | comment | added | ProfRob | @user54609 That is what I have assumed. | |
| Dec 27, 2014 at 16:10 | comment | added | ithisa | @RobJeffries: Instruments etc are shrunken, but not atoms or cells etc. Basically, you are given objects built to be of different size, and drugged to perceive time differently, not put in a place where spacetime is shrunken. The "you are shrinked too" part is just to prevent cheating by using yourself as a ruler. | |
| Dec 27, 2014 at 16:07 | comment | added | ProfRob | @Random832 I believe the only thing that is shrunk is you. If not, the question needs rewriting. | |
| Dec 27, 2014 at 16:04 | comment | added | ProfRob | Why would it be a standard pencil? The whole idea is to be deceptive. | |
| Dec 27, 2014 at 14:52 | comment | added | Kroltan | Wikipedia says: "A standard, #2, hexagonal pencil is 19 cm (7.5 in) long." You can start guessing from that, if the pencil is unsharpened. | |
| Dec 27, 2014 at 3:03 | comment | added | Random832 | Doesn't this all depend on how perfect the transformations are? If the atoms are shrunk, then so are the wavelengths of their transitions, and so are the cone cells of your eyes, so the light wavelength is as meaningless as anything. | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 20:34 | comment | added | ProfRob | I have edited the question title, because it appears to be what this question boils down to. | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 20:28 | history | edited | ProfRob | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 18 characters in body; edited title
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| Dec 26, 2014 at 20:05 | history | edited | ithisa | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 343 characters in body
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| Dec 26, 2014 at 18:25 | comment | added | Cano64 | Is the box on the surface of the Earth? | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 18:23 | answer | added | ProfRob | timeline score: 2 | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 14:47 | history | protected | Qmechanic♦ | ||
| Dec 26, 2014 at 13:18 | comment | added | raptortech97 | Write with the pencil until it's worn completely out, then tell the fairy your pencil is 0 centimeters. | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 12:43 | answer | added | Carl Witthoft | timeline score: 11 | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 8:25 | answer | added | abuzittin | timeline score: 10 | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 8:08 | comment | added | CuriousOne | I don't have a ruler, but I know how long a fringe is. | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 6:58 | comment | added | TheNaturalTanuki | @CuriousOne The number of fringes is function of the wavelength and the path length difference. If you have a ruler to measure the path length difference, you might as well use the ruler to measure 1 meter. | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 6:13 | comment | added | CuriousOne | @TheNaturalTanuki: You don't. Your atomic transitions tables tell you the wavelength and then you just count fringes. | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 6:10 | comment | added | TheNaturalTanuki | @CuriousOne Genuine question: In this case how do you measure the path length difference ? | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 6:07 | comment | added | CuriousOne | @TheNaturalTanuki: I am using an interferometer with a movable mirror. The fairy didn't take my mirrors away, did she? | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 5:56 | comment | added | TheNaturalTanuki | @CuriousOne How do you measure the distance between your 2 interference holes ? The distance between fringes is function of the distance between the holes... :p | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 5:38 | comment | added | CuriousOne | You build a simple gas discharge lamp for a known atomic transition (helium, sodium etc. will do) and then you count interference fringes on a simple interferometer to get a length standard. | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 5:10 | answer | added | TheNaturalTanuki | timeline score: 1 | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 4:51 | answer | added | Dutch Brannigan | timeline score: 4 | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 4:49 | comment | added | NPSF3000 | How high can you jump? | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 4:38 | comment | added | samthebrand | With no point of reference I'm not sure how anything can be measured. Though I suppose there are limits at which certain biological compounds - hair, hemoglobin, etc. - could not form, and so, if you're alive, you can assume you're larger than those. But I'm not sure how you can set an upper limit of size on a magic box. | |
| Dec 26, 2014 at 4:23 | history | asked | ithisa | CC BY-SA 3.0 |