If I drive my car through a corner slowly I’ll be fine. If I go fast, the car will skid off the road. All the materials are the same, the execution is the same. The only difference is over what amount of time this happens? The example is not important, the same goes for pretty much anything. Filling a bottle, ripping a sheet of paper..
I understand this from a intuitive perspective, but I wonder if someone can explain why time matters in physics in a simple way. What is the fundamental difference between doing something fast vs. slow.
I’m sure this is a silly question if you know some thermal dynamics or special relativity, but remember, I’m only 5!
In: Physics
>If I drive my car through a corner slowly I’ll be fine. If I go fast, the car will skid off the road. All the materials are the same, the execution is the same. The only difference is over what amount of time this happens?
You have 2 things going on here. First is your velocity, and then there is your “turning rate”. Velocity depends of time and, your turning rate depends on your acelerattion, which is a unit dependant of time. In this example you are making your velocity faster while your turning rate is the same, so the combination of both is different.
A good example would be: I move 1 m/s forward and 1 m/s to the left. Why if I move 1 second forward at 2 m/s but at 1 m/s to the left it’s different? Because in 1 second I moved 2 meters forward an 1 to the left. You should move to the left 2 m/s too and it would be the same.
Why is it importants in physics overall? Physics study both the way some things change and how some things stay the same. For studying things that change, you need to compare them in different moments (time). In real life a lot of stuff depends on time, so just the way you can’t expect to move faster forwards and with the same speed to the left being the same thing as moving at the same speed to both directions, you can’t expect things to be the same if you change the speed you have moving or doing something.
If I want to run too fast, there is a point that I would damage myself (Just like falling from the sky). Is not because of my speed but my speed compared to the speed of the particles in my body adjusting, that are limited by the forces between themselves (Force depends on time too).
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