this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
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Science Memes

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Science memes (mander.xyz)
submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

I have so many questions about that freaking creature. Can it partially unfold to reach anything arbitrarily far away? And how would it go about washing it's infinite surface area?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago (3 children)

That depends on the decay factor of one centaur to the next. If the centaurs shrink by anything more than a factor of two, then no. The creature will converge onto a single length.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

What? If it's geometric it needs to be less than 1, that's all. 9/10 + 81/100 + 729/1000 + ... = 10

C•(1-r)^-1^ = C•x

Where r is the ratio between successive terms.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Should be anything less than a harmonic decrease (that is, the nth centaur is 1/n the size of the original).

The harmonic series is the slowest-diverging series.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The assumption is that the size decreases geometrically, which is reasonable for this kind of self similarity. You can't just say "less than harmonic" though, I mean 1/(2n) is "slower".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Eh, that's just 1/2 of the harmonic sum, which diverges.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yes, but it proves that termwise comparison with the harmonic series isn't sufficient to tell if a series diverges.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Very well, today I accede to your superior pedantry.

But one day I shall return!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Judging by the image the centaura shrink with about a factor of two so the entire creature should be either infinitely long or just very very long.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

1- Yes, but the more it unfolds, the thinner and weaker the part of it that reaches the object will be. At one point it may be thinner than an atom, at which points further questions become too complicated for me to bother trying to answer. If Plank's distance is mentioned I will run away.

2- If it goes into the bath water and you consider the water to be a continuous medium, then the surface of water touching it will also be infinite. If you consider a scale too small for the water to be considered a continuous medium, however, I will leap out the window.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The problem with washing it is more with trying to scrub it then just submerging it in water. But as you pointed out it probably gets very brittle further out so you might hurt it if you try to scrub it

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A gentle sonic agitator.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Thanks, you solved the problem