this post was submitted on 24 Feb 2024
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xkcd

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https://xkcd.com/2898

Alt text:

"Some people say light is waves, and some say it's particles, so I bet light is some in-between thing that's both wave and particle depending on how you look at it. Am I right?" "YES, BUT YOU SHOULDN'T BE!"

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[–] [email protected] 131 points 8 months ago (19 children)

And that point is inside the sun.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (5 children)

No the comic is pointing out that the sun and the earth are both orbiting the milky way galactic center.

Edit: While also true, I was wrong, they orbit the center of mass of the two body problem (earth and sun). I still think that's too simple of a way to look at it. It's not a two body problem and the other planets and the whole galaxy are also in play.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I mean technically every body in the entire universe exerts gravity on everything else as long as it's in your light cone

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

A not too heavy cone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_cone

this doesn't give a very good explanation but I'm sure there's some good YouTube video that breaks it down. essentially maps out everywhere in space and time that could possibly interact with you in any way. this maximum is represented by how fast light can move away from you.

for example if you stole my car and ran away from me, I can draw a circle on the map every hour for how far you could have gone (assuming I knew my car's maximum speed). if I put those circles on top of each other it'll make a cone.

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