# "The rock thrown against the tree"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rock-thrown-against-the-tree/266727>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 29, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rock-thrown-against-the-tree/266727 "2004-09-29T21:13:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rock-thrown-against-the-tree/266727/41 "2004-09-30T11:42:12Z")

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Yes; the Planck length, although I’m not sure whether this represents an actual granularity of the universe or merely the minimum size of movement that would ever be detectable by any method.

Honestly, this thread seems to have gone a bit pythonic - the core of the problem is this: can a distance be infinitely divided and if so, how can the inifinity of divisions be traversed in a finite period of time.  
We could sit and dream up irrelevant nitpicks all day - “What if the tree moves in the wind?”, “What if it’s not a rock, but a sponge, or a banana, or a rock _cake_?” - none of it changes the crux of the paradox, which is to do with traversing an infinitely divisible distance.

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**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\
**Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rock-thrown-against-the-tree/266727/42 "2004-09-30T11:45:40Z")

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Tell Zeno I’m willing to meet him halfway.

(My very first SDMB sig, lo, these many years ago!)

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