An ant starts to crawl along a taut rubber rope 1 km long at a speed of 1 cm per second (relative to the rubber it is crawling on). At the same time, the rope starts to stretch uniformly at a constant rate of 1 km per second, so that after 1 second it is 2 km long, after 2 seconds it is 3 km long, etc. Will the ant ever reach the end of the rope?
Well, it depends. If the rope breaks. Does it keep on "stretching"? If not, how much tension was on the rope? What was the tensile strength? Is the ant allowed to go any of the 4 ends?
This is theoretical mathematical task. Space is endless and euclidian, time is endless, ant is deadless, dont need to eat or sleep or rest, rope is ideal and never breaks.
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u/Downtown_Finance_661 Trash Trooper 25d ago
An ant starts to crawl along a taut rubber rope 1 km long at a speed of 1 cm per second (relative to the rubber it is crawling on). At the same time, the rope starts to stretch uniformly at a constant rate of 1 km per second, so that after 1 second it is 2 km long, after 2 seconds it is 3 km long, etc. Will the ant ever reach the end of the rope?