It's just a big stone, really
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But I don't think energy has anything to do with how a penny imbeds itself in cement. I believe that is an issue of velocity. Which would lead to the penny being imbedded in the cement. David Stone It seemed similar to someone saying, "Would you like to meet my knife collection?" Ryan Johnston on Elaine's sig
Actually velocity is connected to the issue but not directly. What causes the penny to 'implant' itself in teh cement is the energy it gets from velocity, or as the formal name goes, the Kinetic Energy. When the penny is at the top of the Empire State Bldg (or wherever that is) it gains energy (forgot the english name, it has something to do with position if I'm not mistaken) which is the energy calculated in the formula E=mgh. According to the law of preservation of energy this energy remains constant when you let the penny go down, and since it is no longer static, the energy stored transforms into Kinetic energy E= (m*v^2)/2. This energy is what causes a head to blow up when hit by a bullet.... As to the sattelite-asteroid stuff, the sattelite cannot destroy the asteroid of course. Because the asteroid is in vaccum, there are no forces acting upon it. A brand-name sattelite at the right spot in the right time will alter the course of even the biggest asteroid AS MUCH AS IT WOULD ALTER THE COURSE OF A FLYING SQUIRREL (at least almost)... It's only a matter of velocity and vectors. Oh, and for throwing rocks at mountains to move earth, try to pull yourself up by pulling your hair... if that works, you can move earth in that way... One final note... size (mass) DOES matter, but the matter itself matters too. Actually a trait of the 'metals' used (it is called Hardiness, I believe) determines which hurts which more, the same way a bullet will do much more damage than a melon thrown at the same speed, although the melon has many times more mass than the bullet. Damn... I'm a geek and I'm boring... what's the name of that shrink again? :~ -- Young Basic programmers never die... they just GOSUB and never RETURN.