If you're standing on the Moon holding a pen, and you let go, will it .....

If you're standing on the Moon holding a pen, and you let go, will it ....

  • float away

    Votes: 12 7.4%

  • fall to the ground?

    Votes: 133 81.6%

  • Float where it is

    Votes: 14 8.6%

  • I dont know

    Votes: 4 2.5%
  • Total voters
    163
  • Poll closed .
I think that the reason people get the question wrong is that they aren't really thinking it through; they're thinking of space in general or films of space shuttles where there is no gravity. And I think there's a general conception that space is a scary place where things don't behave as they should; pens fly away for no reason and **** what am I supposed to write with now I on brought one pen to the moon

The "heavy boots" response is a bit odd, though I think that probably isn't pure stupidity but just further misconception. The person in question probably realizes the moon has some gravity, but thinks it's much weaker than what it actually is. So the only way an object the weight of a human could possibly stay rooted to the ground is if they wear boots that dramatically increase their weight.
 
I asked my better half this question, followed by the walking on the moon one, and was shocked with the answers. She's a clever girl - 1st at uni, well paid job etc - but thought the pen would float where it was and - this is the good part - that astronauts have some kind of sucky boots.

SUCKY BOOTS!
 
Avoidist said:
Another question that people often get wrong is "what causes the seasons" - the correct answer is that the tilt of the Earth's axis causes a change in "solar flux" over a yearly cycle.
Click to expand...
To be fair, this is somewhat more obscure than "there is gravity on the moon". :p
 
wait I dont get this,off course the pen will fall to the ground cuz if the astronauts even if they wear "heavy boots" they still have weight and that shit and the moon has gravity and shit like that otherwise astronauts wouldnt have invented the coolest name for a dance move ever
 
What I find more interesting is that that's 5 minutes of my life I'll never get back.
 
AJ Rimmer said:
And understanding how gravity works isn't something you need a degree in physics to do. "It pulls shit downwards." That's it. "They wore heavy boots" is a phenomenally stupid answer, and not one I would accept from anyone associated with a university.
Click to expand...

I would find it shocking that anyone with more than a grade 6 education would get this wrong.
If i remember correctly, when i was about ... 7 or 8 maybe, watching magic school bus!!!! they did an episode on the moon, there was lots of mention of how the moon has gravity and that its force is weaker because its less massive...

I know for a fact that Space is a unit in the grade 6 curriculum in Ontario, and that Forces and motion is a unit in the curriculum in grade 3!


...Sucky boots FTW LOL
 
Don't you learn this in 6th grade or something?
 
it's weird that I'm watching Apollo 13 right now, and i also own pens....who divided by zero again?
 
Dont you learn this at the age of 4 through TV and general knowledge?
 
I asked a friend of mine and he said, "it would float" and when I asked why he said, "because there's very little gravity on the moon."

So it's weird, he acknowledges the moon has gravity, but for some reason doesn't think it will affect the pen.
 
Xcellerate's post makes me wonder if people are just generalizing what it means to "float." Its conceivable that people might actually believe the pen is falling, but slowly enough to consider it floating. I mean, I've heard people describe a feather or a leaf as "floating to the ground."

Still doesnt make it any less wrong of an answer, but makes it a less absurd one at least. I'm going to administer this test at work tomorrow and see what responses I get.
 
Krynn72 said:
Xcellerate's post makes me wonder if people are just generalizing what it means to "float." Its conceivable that people might actually believe the pen is falling, but slowly enough to consider it floating. I mean, I've heard people describe a feather or a leaf as "floating to the ground."

Still doesnt make it any less wrong of an answer, but makes it a less absurd one at least. I'm going to administer this test at work tomorrow and see what responses I get.
Click to expand...
It would be pretty funny if half or so of the people who got the question "wrong" were simply getting the semantics wrong.
 
I don't think so, personally.

I think they believe it will float there, like weightlessness.
 
do you think the 1/6th earths gravity is enough for a normal pen to work on the moon, or would they still require one of those fancy pressurised spacepens?

or should they just use a pencil?
 
According to all the movies I've seen with pens floating in space (which is a surprising number) standard pens work fine.
 
Biros should work in space, but fountain pens won't.
 
VirusType2 said:
According to all the movies I've seen with pens floating in space (which is a surprising number) standard pens work fine.
Click to expand...

They don't, but pencils can't be used either because of the danger of breaking off the tip, and of course anything wooden is avoided if possible on a space craft. Before someone came up with the space pen (which was not developed by NASA but by an independent inventor and did not cost $11 million or whatever) astronauts used grease pencils. The space pen was then used by both the American and Soviet space agencies.

Sorry, side-rant there but that urban legend bugs the hell out of me.
 
There was some movie with a part about a space pen - oh, I remember. I think it was an episode of Seinfeld.

found it:
Jerry and Elaine travel to Florida to visit Jerry's parents. Elaine soon regrets going with Jerry when she can't sleep due to the uncomfortable sofa bed and climate control. Klompus, one of Jerry's parents friends, offers Jerry an astronaut pen that writes upside down and keeps offering until Jerry reluctantly accepts.
Click to expand...
season 3 episode 3: The Pen
 
Crayons are better than pencils, coulda used them.
 
Because that's a common theme in the vast majority of your threads.
 
I'm an American and I picked the right answer
colon-D.gif
 
We ran all the dumb asses out of here. Everyone here is pretty smart or on their way out.

And ignorance is not the same thing as stupidity, a lot of people don't get that.
 
VirusType2 said:
We ran all the dumb asses out of here. Everyone here is pretty smart or on their way out.

And ignorance is not the same thing as stupidity, a lot of people don't get that.
Click to expand...

<slits his wrist>
 
Virustype originally wrote: "Everyone is ignorant about different things. That's the thing".

In response, I was planning to post "No, you're The Thing!" As well as amusing a reader I had high hopes that this would prompt a round of fond reminiscences for that fantastic John Carpenter film of '82.

Unfortunately, Virustype edited his post. And now all of this is forever consigned to the realm of what if; a possibility that will never be, a flame snuffed out.

Cheers for that Virustype.
 
When they print the picture dictionary, they're going to put a picture of a dancing cow next to the word ignorant.
People will simply take this as a demonstration of their own ignorance, because they will have no idea why a dancing cow would be considered ignorant. They will instead believe that, quite to the contrary, a dancing cow must be knowledgeable and intelligent.

Anyway, the point is, yr still a dummy lololol
 
Little did Farrowlesparrow know that a picture dictionary had already been published! Next to the word ignorant, there was a picture of George Bush.

laurencedoddsq.jpg
 
I thought it was a trick question with some stupid twist! <runs out of the thread once more>
 
Clearly, this seemingly simple question about the moon was of utmost importance.

Therefore, I deem necessary those who hath chosen the correct answer to this complex multiple choice question, shall be awarded a glittery gold star.

Anyone who has not chosen the correct answer has been found guilty of willful, negligible, and reckless ignorance, and shall be publicly flogged until the floggers become weary.



My older brother is an aerospace engineer, with dreams and plans to actually find out the answer to this question first hand. Yes that's right, he intended to be an astronaut. Because that was completely awesome back then.

He studied diligently and received many honors throughout his education.

However, that dream was shut down like the borders of Madagascar as he discovered he was disqualified for being color blind.

Now he lives a quiet and uneventful life, helping to design F-22 Raptors, Predators, and other awesome craft that he will never get to man. The Predator is actually un manable, but I digress.



People are most often knowledgeable about that which interests them! Indeed it is so. And this is why men never know what women are thinking!

So take heart my ignorant friends, your day will come! Your topic of expertise awaits you.
 
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