this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2023
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted, clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts: 1

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due to the curvature of the Earth a really long building can't have walls that are both parallel and level. (self.showerthoughts)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by linearchaos to c/showerthoughts
27 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Aparently, I've conflated Level with Plumb, the walls cannot be parallel and plumb. Due to the curve, the center of gravity for the walls would require them to angle in slightly together or not be plumb.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You know how they say that gravity curves space-time?

And you remember from geometry class they told you all the rules you were learning were for “Euclidean” geometry, which had to do with flat space, and then they never mentioned it ever again?

Well basically this is a great example of where non-Euclidean geometry exists in the real world. Gravity bends space-time.

[–] Cylarc 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The original post has nothing to do with the curvature of space time, or non-Euclidean geometry.

This only has to do with the fact that on a plane (e.g floor of a building, of literally any size), above a gravity source (here, we can treat the earth as a point source), the gravitational vector will only be perpendicular to the surface at a single point. All other points will experience gravity at an angle.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yeah I realized that before I submitted it but it still sounded cool.

Also I’m not entirely convinced that the fact we can model and real-world gravitational mass as a point is entirely independent of the fact that gravity curves spacetime.

Like, we don’t have infinite sheets of gravitational material out in space. Gravity tends to clump material together into spheres and, for quickly-rotating masses, discs. What are those shapes other than equipotent shells drawn around that curved space?