24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron

Re:24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron by jxf on Saturday April 23, 2022 @09:25PM (#31140411)

To put this in perspective, a car going highway speeds of 60 mi/h that travels for 24 hours will travel 1,440 miles, or approximately 500,000 times the car's length.

By contrast, this molecule is 3 nm long and traveled 1 micron in 24 hours, or approximately 300 times the molecule's length -- that is, about four orders of magnitude slower than the car given its length.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron by nine_k on Sunday April 24, 2022 @12:24AM (#31141286)

By this metric, something like a bee is faster than a jet fighter.

A bee: 0.02m, 5 m/s -> 250 self lengths. A fighter: 20m, 500 m/s -> 25 self lengths.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron by pdpi on Sunday April 24, 2022 @12:57AM (#31141406)

Yes, the bee is faster in a meaningful way — the exact same way we say an ant is incredibly strong, relative to its size.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron by labster on Sunday April 24, 2022 @12:43AM (#31141359)

By this metric, X-rays move faster than light.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron by md5wasp on Sunday April 24, 2022 @06:36AM (#31142783)

Compared to a visible light wave, the smaller “”faster”” X-rays have more bandwidth/can carry more information for the same band width—so the distinction seems to make a kind of intuitive sense.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron by daniel-cussen on Sunday April 24, 2022 @02:27PM (#31146761)

They do, but not as fast as gamma rays. And according to which observer?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron by labster on Sunday April 24, 2022 @05:07PM (#31148356)

I wouldn’t observe gamma rays. They’re bad for your health.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron by hennell on Sunday April 24, 2022 @03:34AM (#31142008)

You might have just revolutionised the world of physics

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:24-hour race won by molecule that traveled 1 micron by thaumasiotes on Sunday April 24, 2022 @01:40AM (#31141569)

> By this metric, something like a bee is faster than a jet fighter.

The metric is even worse than that. Think about a bee riding inside a fighter.

[ Parent | on HN ]