Cannonball Competition
by Kevin J. Lin
It is the year 2525, and man is still alive. Advancements in science
have enabled humans to engage in dumber and dumber activities and survive.
One example is the popular cannonball dive. Participants don a suit of
steel electro-shielding armor, jump off a diving board, curl into a ball,
and plunge to the bottom of a pool.
Anyway, as part of the end of year celebrations seven participants will
be cannonballing in various situations.
A prize of $1,000,000 will be awarded to anyone who can successfully
guess the order in which the cannonballers will reach the bottom of the
pool. You'd like that $1,000,000.
First, the ground rules: Unless otherwise noted, all participants may
be assumed to be 100kg perfect spheres with a diameter of half a meter
(mankind is kind of out of shape). All dives start from one kilometer
above the surface of the pool. All pools are 10 meters deep. If a diver
is wearing a parachute, the chute detaches automatically on contact with
the water.
- Cannonballer #1 is doing a "Classic Earth" jump. No special
conditions, and the air and water temperature is 50° F.
- Cannonballer #2 will be doing the same, but he's wearing a parachute
that deploys immediately.
- Cannonballer #3 is doing a "Classic Moon" jump, starting
1km above the moon into a pool of 50° F water (moon pools have
a thin force-field over them that doesn't affect the cannonballer, keeping
water pressure equal to Earth sea level).
- Cannonballer #4 is doing a "Classic Earth" in a more southern
climate, with an air and water temperature of 75° F.
- Cannonballer #5 is doing a moon jump with a parachute into a pool
of 75° F water.
- Cannonballer #6 is doing an Earth jump with a parachute with a 25°
F air and water temperature.
- Cannonballer #7 is doing a "Classic Earth" jump, but he
has put on a little padding over the holidays, and has a diameter of
one meter, and a mass of 500kg. Air and water temperature is 50°
F.
Can you correctly guess the order in which divers will arrive at the bottom
of their respective pools? If you can, that $1,000,000 is yours, because
the rest of humanity is out of shape and bad at science.
