Yo Guys...

[---XR---]

hmmm, not quite true spizz. While energy wouldn't be dissipated because of air resistance, their is still resistance at the contact points on the flag itself. Friction is an intrinsic property of the material an object is made of, and the force it exibits is independent of gravity. There would be energy dissipated via heat, albeit miniscule, from the torsion in the flag's movement. It would eventually come to a stop on it's own after a very long time.

To think of it in another way, consider newton's famous first law. The a swinging flag is acted on by the force of moon's gravity (downward), and a pull opposite in the direction it's swinging due to the flag being firmly planted in the ground and only able to turn a certain distance before having to turn back. If the flag were freely flating in space, however, any movement would keep on going in the direction of that movement until acted on by an outside force.

i like my theory.

 

[Onion01]

where is there wind in space? the moon defo has gravity tho so the flag shud just flop down...

the flag had a rigid rod at the top that kept it from flopping down.

 

[bigspizz]

hmmm, not quite true spizz. While energy wouldn't be dissipated because of air resistance, their is still resistance at the contact points on the flag itself. Friction is an intrinsic property of the material an object is made of, and the force it exibits is independent of gravity. There would be energy dissipated via heat, albeit miniscule, from the torsion in the flag's movement. It would eventually come to a stop on it's own after a very long time.

To think of it in another way, consider newton's famous first law. The a swinging flag is acted on by the force of moon's gravity (downward), and a pull opposite in the direction it's swinging due to the flag being firmly planted in the ground and only able to turn a certain distance before having to turn back. If the flag were freely flating in space, however, any movement would keep on going in the direction of that movement until acted on by an outside force.

I should not have said "always" I meant, "for the duration of the mission". Sure the motion stopped, but it took a while. A golf ball was hit 2 miles on the moon. (this is to erm) There is NOT "mass" gravity on the moon.

the flag had a rigid rod at the top that kept it from flopping down.

Rigid rod? A wire was strung along the top.

 

[Onion01]

I should not have said "always" I meant, "for the duration of the mission". Sure the motion stopped, but it took a while. A golf ball was hit 2 miles on the moon. (this is to erm) There is NOT "mass" gravity on the moon.






Rigid rod? A wire was strung along the top.

really? i thought it had was a rod. Regardless, the top of the flag was kept rigid by some support. That's why it didn't droop down.

As for the golf ball, that makes perfect sense. it would only land because of it's downward gravity-induced acceleration. In fact, they made the calculations and, mind you my numbers may be off, but if you shoot off a bullet from a height of four feet on the moon, it will never stop circling. That's because the rate at which it falls is compensated by the curvature of the moon. So theoretically, you can fire off a bullet and hit yourself on the back of the head...lol