Ask-a-Physicist

Why don't marbles break? My 4 year old would like to know: "If marbles are made of glass then why don't they break when you throw them?
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Figure Skater Physics

In figure skating, if you are doing a spin on ice and you leave your arms spread out it creates resistance. If you pull the arms in toward the body, you create less resistance so you spin more easily. How do I express this with mathematical equations in physics?


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Simultaneity in modern physics

Does Einstein's relativity of simultaneity mean that two events cannot be simultaneous or that we cannot prove that two events occurred simultaneously?


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Falling Through the Earth

If somehow there was a tunnel straight through the center of the earth and we dropped a capsule through it, what will happen to the capsule? Would the tunnel shoot the capsule into space?


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Reference Frames and the Speed of Light

Assume two photons are moving in opposite directions from each other from a common light source. How fast would they be traveling relative to each other? Twice the speed of light? If the speed of light is the ultimate speed limit in the universe, how can something travel twice that speed?


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