“Are you sure there isn’t something else we could calculate?”

XKCD What if: Earth-Moon Fire Pole. “My son (5y) asked me today: If there were a kind of a fireman’s pole from the Moon down to the Earth, how long would it take to slide all the way from the Moon to the Earth? – Ramon Schönborn, Germany”

I loved this and am tempted to use it in one of my next physics lessons…

Link via MetaFilter.

One thought on ““Are you sure there isn’t something else we could calculate?”

  1. Roland

    That will depend mostly of the time, he needs to climb the first part of the pole, away from moon’s gravitational power.

Comments are closed.