• vettnerk
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    1 year ago

    This is kind off topic, but I just had a showerthought regarding the literal meaning of bouncing: When did the first object bounce off another object? It has to be fairly recent, right? Not only would you need to have objects made feom solid matter that can bounce off each other, but rocks don’t really bounce, do they? Does this mean one would need some sort of bouncy material? Maybe a high atmospheric pressure but low gravity planet would allow for a blob of water to bounce off something hydrophobic, but I’m not sure if that combination of gravity and ambient pressure is realistic. Alternatively, most materials I can think of as bouncy involve life, which would mean that it is a REALLY recent event on an astronomical scale, and now I’m rambling, I will shut up now kthxbai

    • stembolts@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      The first step to answering this question is to define the parameters that qualify a bounce. Otherwise infinite rambling is inevitable, tho not to say completely uninteresting, completely unprogressable.

      That said, my answer is as soon as solids coalesced, a bounce occurred. I define bouncing as an exchange of momentum from one solid to another.

      Of course, there is no reason not to define bouncing in gas, fluid, or plasma. In that case, there was infinite omnidirectional bouncing during the expansion of the universe. What is the big bang, other than a bounce of high density to low. Everything that exists was formed by those collisions.

      tldr; nothing of value was stated

      • vettnerk
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        1 year ago

        I value your input anyway, however I think your definition of bounce is too broad. For example I don’t concider a pool ball to knock into a separate pool ball to reault in a bounce. A bounce, to me, involves initial compression or deformation of the bouncer, resulting in potential energy, which is later released through expansion which in turn transfers its energy to the bouncee.

        • stembolts@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          That makes sense, the only thing I wanted to impart was that I like when people share their initial conditions, including requirements, so I’m glad you responded adding more context. I love talking theoreticals no matter how meaningless, it can spawn all sorts of ideas :-)