| Tue -- Bad Predictions |
EasyNews, UseNet made Ea .. |
| ::darkshadows:: (bat@cave.org) |
2009/05/19 01:07 |
Bad Predictions
"The popular mind often pictures gigantic flying machines speeding
across the Atlantic and carrying innumerable passengers in a way
ideas must be wholly visionary, and even if a machine could get across
with one or two passengers the expense would be prohibitive to any but
the capitalist who could own his own yacht. Another popular fallacy is
to expect enormous speed to be obtained. It must be remembered that
the resistance of the air increases as the square of the speed and the
work as the cube...If with 30 horsepower we can now attain a speed of
40 miles per hour, then in order to reach a speed of 100 miles per
hour we must use a motor capable of 470 horsepower...It is clear what
with our present devices there is no hope of competing for racing
speed with either our locomotives or our automobiles."- astronomer
William H. Pickering, 1910.
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