h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Being used to tie the feather to the base of the vase, I think.


Geggs

"tie the feather to the base of the vase"


Yup + 3

there are just so many possibilities

okay
so put the pencil point down INTO the ground
the eraser is up and will be what the feathery bottom of the vase will hit?

Use the string to make a mesh with the pencil at the centre and use it as a shock absorber ?

is the vase empty?

is there some sort of tricky little physics rule involved here?

(for example the thing where you put drops of water on two plates of glass, put them together, and they will be 'glued' together... whatever that rule is. not for this question but as an example of a physics rule)

all i can think of is that there is some sort of interaction
between the main shaft of the feather, the feathery pieces radiating off of it, the string tied and running to the edges of the vase... and the shaft of the pencil, soft and rollable, lying on the ground beneath that base

the two surfaces coming in contact... springy feather shape and rolly pencil shape

but i cant figure it out...

however...

it is all moot because i have so flooded this page that the vase wont smash for all the water!!

I was sure we would crack this today. And then it all went quiet just after 1pm. Oh well. Try again tomorrow.


Geggs

yeah
well...
to reiterate...


Stand upright, shoulders back, back straight - that's the ticket - now take a glass vase, hold it out arms length at around about shoulder height and drop it.

With any luck it should smash rather spectacularly.

Now what quiet interesting thing could you do with a Hopi Indian, a small division of Napoleon's Army in the Egyptian Campaign, and a chicken, to ensure that the vase never reaches the ground?


is there any relevance to where i stand when i take the glass vase?
because that stance is very reminiscent of standing on a diving board...
only... usually with one's back to the water...
so i guess not

Vase ---> string ---> feather ----> Pencil


And not necessarily in that order.

that stance is very reminiscent of standing on a diving board...

Congratulations for some blue skies thinking there Fluffy - but you suspect me of being far too sneaky (admittedly I do have something of a record on this front so it's not wholly undeserved!) - I only meant to imply that feet are firmly placed on the ground not slightly off of it, or any kind of clever-clever position (half-way up a step-ladder) kind of deal.

All you need to stop the vase from smashing is the string the feather and the pencil - all I want now is how.

okay
so you have agreed clive that the feather is tied to the base of the vase
so we have the vase falling
and all thats left is that pencil to figure out?


either more happens to the feather tied on to the vase
or the rest of the action rests in the pencil

>the rest of the action rests in the pencil<

Quiet literally in fact. DGI +1.

the way I see it the string is tied to the pencil on one end and the neck( not the base) of the vase.
then they glued the feather to the base.

Oh yeah the vase is empty and - there probably is a physics trick involved here but it's really boring and mundane and nothing like obscure and odd.

No glue.

okay
i am going out on a limb here

tying the feather to the base of the vase ensures that the force of any impact on that base will be dissipated along the shaft and tendrils of the feather...

having a pencil on the ground that the base of the vase impacts will ensure that any further force of impact from the immovable ground will be dissipated along the shaft of the soft wooden pencil and also any sideways force will be dissipated by the rolling of the pencil...


yes?

the pencil is lying on the ground
horizontally