• Question: if i had an infinetly big pole could i move the world or would it be impossible

    Asked by meatsword to Mike, Pip, Tianfu, Tim, Tom on 23 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Tim Stephens

      Tim Stephens answered on 23 Jun 2012:

      Hmmm. I guess that it depends on which end of the pole you were holding.
      If you were on the earth holding the pole, and pushing against something, then no, you wouldn’t be able to move the world perceptibly.
      If you were at the other end of the pole, and had something close to the earth to lever against, then I imagine that it would be possible to move the world in much the same way as a crowbar allows you to lift heavy objects with relative ease.

    • Photo: Tom Lister

      Tom Lister answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      This is from an Archimedes quotation along the lines of ‘If I was given a long enough lever and a place to stand, I could move the world’.

      If it was me, and I could lift the pole to start with, I would stand near a mountain and rest it on the top, pointing toward the sky. I am assuming the pole is perfectly rigid here. Then wriggling the pole around until I felt something hard, like the moon or a planet, I could push the pole down and would move both the other object and the earth a little way.

      Alternatively, I would fish around for a black hole and then hold on tight!

    • Photo: Philippa Bird

      Philippa Bird answered on 25 Jun 2012:

      I would like to think you could, that would be cool!

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