If all Chinese jumped at once, would cataclysm result?:
"The possibility of an actual test thus being remote, I have been forced to rely on my considerable powers of inductive logic, to wit: given the principle that every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction, when the Chinese get up on their chairs, they would essentially be pushing the earth down in the process of elevating themselves. Then, when they jumped off, the earth would simultaneously spring back, attracted by the gravitational mass of one billion airborne Chinese persons, with the result that the Chinese and the earth would meet somewhere in the middle, if you follow me. The upshot of this is that action and reaction would cancel each other out and the earth would remain securely in orbit.
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The last bit there… i’ve just started learning about newton’s laws… but doesnt the third law (the one of action and reaction) state that the opposing forces do NOT “cancel each other out” ?
@_@
I have edited in a link to the column under discussion. – CKDH