Media mistakes

[antipodean]

What staggers me is the bomb weighs 12 tons, and the B2 stealth 'plane can carry two of them!

I haven't done the figures to convert it to tons, but my understanding is each bomb is 30000 lb, at least that is about the heaviest figure I have seen specified for them, without going through the conversions.

So these are the US equivalent of Barnes-Wallaces Grand Slam with some extra smarts on board, and the B2 is the equivalent of a couple of Lancasters with some extra features (like GPS and in air refueling).

 

[Black Hole]

Aren't the kitchen / doctor's balances also measuring weight, not mass? When in balance there is an equal force (i.e. weight) either side of the balance point?

They're not measuring anything, the operator has to add or adjust weights to achieve a null. At the null point, the leverages are equivalent – and that is independent of gravity, so the result is mass.

 

[Wildebeest]

At the null point, the leverages are equivalent – and that is independent of gravity, so the result is mass.

The leverage is a result of force (weight). Would those devices work in zero gravity?

 

[antipodean]

The leverage is a result of force (weight). Would those devices work in zero gravity?

Only if they had another mass to cause some force to be generated.

But it wouldn't matter if it was on earth or the moon (whose gravity is around 1/10 of earth), it would still balance.

 

[Black Hole]

They can't even do simple multiplication now:

 

[EEPhil]

That old mixing up of 3 and 8. Somebody with poor eyesight maybe.