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Topic: Moving Bus Direction (Read 15150 times) |
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rmsgrey
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Re: Moving Bus Direction
« Reply #25 on: Apr 23rd, 2003, 10:41pm » |
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I'm another one for the "ask which way the bus is moving" school...
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mcrumiller
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Re: Moving Bus Direction
« Reply #26 on: Jul 31st, 2003, 7:35am » |
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For people that looove to be picky, even the "which direction are the wheels spinning?" question could be misleading. Nothing says we aren't in on some alien planet wherein the wheels of the buses are located directly underneath the road (which would be some thin yet strong material) and connect to the bottom side of the ride via a strong adhesive. The wheels would be attached by their tops, and thus a clockwise rotation would move the bus left as opposed to right.
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Icarus
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Re: Moving Bus Direction
« Reply #27 on: Jul 31st, 2003, 3:55pm » |
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Redmond may be strange, but I don't think it really qualifies as "alien". But then, if Microsoft were put in charge of designing a bus, that might be how they would go about it! 
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Badr
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Re: Moving Bus Direction
« Reply #28 on: Oct 30th, 2003, 1:00pm » |
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If the bus is moving fast enough, the direction the wheels appear to be spinning could be misleading, even with a non-alien wheel/road interface. Think of how helicopter blades appear to change directions as they spin faster and faster. It has to do with the frequency our eyes send an image to the brain. I guess I would look at the faces in the windows...
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| « Last Edit: Oct 30th, 2003, 2:06pm by Badr » |
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TimMann
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Re: Moving Bus Direction
« Reply #29 on: Nov 3rd, 2003, 12:48am » |
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on Oct 30th, 2003, 1:00pm, Badr wrote:| Think of how helicopter blades appear to change directions as they spin faster and faster. It has to do with the frequency our eyes send an image to the brain. |
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No. That's something you see only when you watch a helicopter on TV or in the movies, not in real life. It's a stroboscopic effect that has to do with the frequency with which images are presented to you on the screen (24 per second in the movies, 30 or 25 per second on TV depending on what country you live in). Your eyes themselves don't send images to your brain at any particular frequency.
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| « Last Edit: Nov 3rd, 2003, 12:51am by TimMann » |
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Icarus
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Re: Moving Bus Direction
« Reply #30 on: Nov 3rd, 2003, 10:04am » |
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Ummm... TimMann, have you ever looked at the wheels of other vehicles on the road while you are riding along at the same speed? Do it the next time you are riding as a passenger, and you will notice that most mag wheels give the illusion of turning backwards - without a TV, or movie, or strobelight.
I have always assumed the explanation Badr gave was responsible for this.
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And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
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TimMann
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Re: Moving Bus Direction
« Reply #31 on: Nov 4th, 2003, 10:57pm » |
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Last time I looked, wheels of fast-moving vehicles looked like an even blur to me under natural light. I'll look again, though. Are you sure you weren't looking at night on a highway lighted by mercury or sodium vapor lamps that pulse at 60 Hz?
The human brain and visual system is not entirely analog, but largely it is. I'm quite sure it doesn't run off a global clock that could produce a stroboscopic effect within the visual system itself. You only get one if you have pulsed illumination.
(The usual caveats about talking outside one's field apply here, of course.)
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towr
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Re: Moving Bus Direction
« Reply #32 on: Nov 5th, 2003, 1:51am » |
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Well, in a a sense there is a 'clock'. The problem with our eyes is that if we keep them perfectly still, looking at a fized scene, we stop seeing anything in no time. (You can literally stare yourself blind if you try hard enough, though you'll see again as soon as you move your eyes.) To remedy this our eyes constantly 'vibrate' slightly, which might work as a sort of sampling frequency, but I'm not sure of it..
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Icarus
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Re: Moving Bus Direction
« Reply #33 on: Nov 5th, 2003, 4:08pm » |
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I see it all the time in broad daylight. However the strobing effect is generated, it is entirely natural, and not a result of varying illumination.
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"Pi goes on and on and on ...
And e is just as cursed.
I wonder: Which is larger
When their digits are reversed? " - Anonymous
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