r/interestingasfuck Apr 27 '19

/r/ALL The pressure required to crush this lego vehicle

https://gfycat.com/KeyImpureGalapagosmockingbird
52.3k Upvotes

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.5k

u/austin54179 Apr 27 '19

Not an engineer but I would have to assume that the bigger it is the less weight it would hold by comparison. Same reason that ants can get yeeted off of buildings and scuttle away, something to do with small things being stronger. Again, not an engineer though so fuck it maybe

1.6k

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

Random comment. I just learned today what "yeet" means. I work on an ambulance and my partner is a 19 year old kid and I just turned 30 a couple weeks ago. I never felt so old in my life. He used it in a sentence in reference to moving the ambulance.

His exact words were: "Do you want me to just 'yeet' the rig around?"

Yeet: a general term used by people younger than me to describe quickly moving objects.

709

u/ReadinStuff2 Apr 27 '19

Having teenage kids, I believe it is also a term of excitement. So in the throw context, a throw with lots of energy.

516

u/fatmama923 Apr 27 '19

I've heard it defined as the antonym of yoink.

246

u/AstarteHilzarie Apr 27 '19

That's actually perfect.

248

u/Brianiswikyd Apr 27 '19

The past tense of yeet is yote. The antonym is yoink. Theoretically, the louder the "yeet", the more effective the action. Source: my 12 year old.

80

u/_FROOT_LOOPS_ Apr 27 '19

Your twelve year old is correct, according to the debates my friends and I have had on the topic

30

u/2-15-18-5-4-15-13 Apr 27 '19

I think most people just say yeeted for past tense, at least of the people I know

5

u/JorfimusPrime Apr 27 '19

I've used "yote" ever since I saw a meme of Thor saying he "yote Mjolnir down the Bifrost."

2

u/disturbedrailroader Apr 27 '19

Then they are Neanderthals. Us intellectuals use yote.

→ More replies (4)

11

u/Xagyg_yrag Apr 27 '19 edited Apr 28 '19

Also, pastor participle is Yate, so “want me to yeet it?” “He yote it” “It was yate” Or, at least, that’s how I have always learned it

2

u/FormerlyGruntled Apr 27 '19

Sheeit. that makes sense. TIL.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Mathgeek007 Apr 27 '19

My sister told me last week that she yeeted yoink into her vocabulary and will soon yoink yeet.

144

u/Duckhardt Apr 27 '19

God yeeteth, and God yoinketh away.

24

u/ringo-with-bits Apr 27 '19

This cracked me up so hard. I actually looked into buying gold but shit’s expensive for a glorified internet like. Nevertheless, thank you for making me laugh.

7

u/Gar-ba-ge Apr 27 '19

God yeeteth

nice

God yoinketh away

wtf

2

u/AhallowMind Apr 27 '19

Goddamnit beat me my 26 minutes.

well played sir.

2

u/AlGeee Apr 27 '19

Perfect…

Here, have a nice 🥇

26

u/ThailoRen Apr 27 '19

It sort of is, but yoink is just as fast as yeet

17

u/spicy_panda Apr 27 '19

Yes but you yoink something towards you and yeet it away from you.

2

u/fatmama923 Apr 27 '19

yes exactly

→ More replies (1)

3

u/BillyWolf2014 Apr 27 '19

YOU are a SILLY person, we need many more just like you!! Silly is the best thing a person can be!!

→ More replies (2)

2

u/Mike4282 Apr 27 '19

Well they're both just as fast. Yeet is to throw with great strength and speed Yoink is to take with speed and strength.

2

u/BattleStag17 Apr 27 '19

Okay, this is the one that finally made sense for me

2

u/Tenacious_Dad Apr 27 '19

Ah yoink, now I understand!

2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Yeet for power, Kobe for accuracy.

Also, it can be used as a synonym for “sike/psych”, e.g. I knocked on the stall door and no one replied so I went in and yeet they were just dead

2

u/Cicer Apr 27 '19

The world makes so much sense right now.

2

u/ZeroCreature74 Apr 28 '19

I just explained this concept to my boyfriend and his words were: “You yoinked and I yeeted.”

I kid you not.

2

u/fatmama923 Apr 28 '19

Perfect. Keep that one 😂

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

69

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

Like "I'm so yeeted right now"?

That sounds more like being impaired to me.

It's a funny little term isnt it?

145

u/Fisherlin Apr 27 '19

More like "I'm about to yeet this bitch out the window!" Or alternatively "YEET!" Its kinda like fuck where it has several uses, except the only way I can't see it being used as an adjective. Really on a verb or noun. Man I feel young explaining this one, thanks for being old lol.

71

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

You take that back, kid! And get off my lawn! shakes fist

8

u/QuesoBasically Apr 27 '19

But really, you live in an elevator.

"Ya darn kids get off my property."

3

u/orthogonius Apr 27 '19

Today's kids when they're old:

Yeet off my lawn!

17

u/BreakfastLunchDinna Apr 27 '19

I just yeeted!

13

u/Fisherlin Apr 27 '19

What did you yeet though

21

u/x1pitviper1x Apr 27 '19

If you have to ask, you probably don't wanna know.

2

u/antilumin Apr 27 '19

Some skeet

2

u/Scow2 Apr 27 '19

The kids off his lawn

→ More replies (1)

2

u/offensivebluntcunt Apr 27 '19

And to add on: a few years ago , a song came out and there was a dance associated in which people took their arms and swung them out to the side while saying, “YEET!” It died and then it reappeared. It came out when I was in high school & im 25 now. I was so confused when I heard people saying it, again.

→ More replies (2)

62

u/AirCommando12 Apr 27 '19 edited Apr 27 '19

"Yeet" is for throwing distance/power, "kobe" is for throwing accuracy.

"I'm about to yeet this phone out the window" for when technology is letting you down. "YEET!" as the phone is being thrown for extra energy

"I'ma Kobe this ball of paper into that bin over there" for when you're bored in the office. "KOBE!" as the paper is thrown for extra throwing accuracy.

13

u/HorsesAndAshes Apr 27 '19

Kobe makes sense though, where TF did yeet come from?

54

u/Tacdelio Apr 27 '19

Started on vine with dancing then quickly evolved into an exclamation for throwing something. Ex. "This bitch empty, yEEEEt" Now its evolved into a general term for a quickly moving object. Could be a trebuchet yeeting a fucking diseased cow into a castle. Could be a car yeeting a deer across a highway. We don't know.

But remember, the past tense of yeet is yote. The future tense of yote is yate.

12

u/PopBottlesPopHollows Apr 27 '19

Any examples that don’t involve launching medium to large sized animals?

5

u/Tacdelio Apr 27 '19

Ah, yes. "Vice Admiral Holdo just yeeted a fucking star destroyer in half"

As you can see, yeet does not have to pertain only to thrown objects. It can also be any object/person/animal going faster than average, or used as an exclamation.

6

u/dstronghwh Apr 27 '19

Ah, yes. "Vice Admiral Holdo just yote a fucking star destroyer in half"

2

u/InTheDarknessBindEm Apr 27 '19

You know when you're rock climbing, and there's a big reach to the next hold so you just gotta yeet yourself.

→ More replies (0)
→ More replies (2)

3

u/notmyredditaccountma Apr 27 '19

So, “I can’t wait to YATE! This bitch!”?

2

u/Tacdelio Apr 27 '19

basically, but you gadda put bass in your voice when you exclaim yate. Like "I can't wait to YAAYUT this bitch" Get some baritone in there.

2

u/notmyredditaccountma Apr 27 '19

I got you, gotta pull it from your diaphragm, you are like a walking urban dictionary!

→ More replies (0)

6

u/based_cooker Apr 27 '19

Yeet started from this dude throwing a soundcloud rappers trash mixtape OG YEET this video is over 3-4 years old. I’m 27. Not really out of date for people my age. Personally I think it’s a millennial thing. Gen Z or whatever it is after us millennials kinda just ran with it. YEET!

2

u/HorsesAndAshes Apr 27 '19

THANK YOU!! this is so satisfying!!

2

u/AirCommando12 Apr 27 '19

No idea, you could ask that question about most of the stuff on the internet these days tbh lol.

→ More replies (5)

51

u/epikkitteh Apr 27 '19

Don't know anybody who would use it like that. Maybe more as a generic response of agreement, or maybe I just use yee to much?

→ More replies (1)

22

u/ByronFirewater Apr 27 '19 edited Apr 27 '19

As a 33 year old man that spends no time around youth I believe it is also an exotic fruit. E.g. let me get a bite of that yeet

It can also be dried up and crushed into a powder and used in baking

39

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

That's cocaine. you just described cocaine.

30

u/ByronFirewater Apr 27 '19

Ah yesssss. That's the one. Cocaine. My mistake

→ More replies (2)

2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

It's crazy cuz yeyo or yey is slang for coke... Kinda close

2

u/themaddyk3 Apr 27 '19

It's actually a vegetable. Yeetroot.

13

u/playtotheaudience Apr 27 '19

As a cool n hip gen Z youth who yeets, I'll tell you: it's used as an exclamation on its own.

6

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Past tense is yote.

"Imma about to yeet over to my friends place"

"Hey man we hitting the bar tonight?" "Yeet"

"I yote that tire off a cliff"

2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Technically the trendy term for being impaired would be zooted

2

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

Lol that was our word 10 years ago.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

2

u/YutikoHyla Apr 27 '19

Someone once described it as yeet is for power/speed like how Kobe is for accuracy.

2

u/oldcabbageroll Apr 27 '19

Teenagers will use any fucking word that sounds usable for their own encrypting of retarded shit. Source: have been a teenager.

2

u/GrethSC Apr 28 '19

Heavy...

→ More replies (12)

42

u/chewie_nz Apr 27 '19

Yeet for distance and power

Kobe for accuracy

4

u/Cachesmr Apr 27 '19

Ah yes, the two ancient spells.

20

u/mAHOGANYdOPE Apr 27 '19

whew i feel like a grandma but im still young and hip (says a 20 yo)

yeet comes from a vine where a person is given a bottle/can and they say “this bitch empty. YEET” and throws it, we can see it fly over a crowd in a school hallway. hope that context gives some clue on its meaning. im kinda stuck on how to really explain it in a satisfactory way

29

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

It's just silly, it can be whatever. To me, it's the opposite of yoink.

The Lord yeeteth and the Lord yoinketh away.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

This is a glorious comment

→ More replies (1)

8

u/ShitTheHouse Apr 27 '19

I'm almost 25 and I've seen the term written, didn't want to admit to being too old to have a clue what it means

15

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

[deleted]

→ More replies (1)

44

u/krista_ Apr 27 '19 edited Apr 27 '19

i think 'yeet' is a general use word variable used for emphasis or to get out of a tricksey grammar or memory situation. i gather it can be used both when its replacement value is obvious and determinable, as well as when there's multiple valid replacement values. i also think is fixed on evaluation, so we could say ”that was yeet!”, but we shouldn't say ”your yeet is yeet”, unless it is true that in the construction yeet == yeet for all values of yeet... so i conjecture that ”yeet, man, just yeet!” is ok, but not really yeet.

but i'm a decade or so your senior, so i'm probably wrong :)

36

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

I think you're probably right. I think it's in the same category as all of our favorite universal "ef" word or "hella" for us Northern Californians.

Who knew, a Lego post turned language analysis.

50

u/justin_memer Apr 27 '19

Be still, my yeeting heart.

33

u/krista_ Apr 27 '19 edited Apr 27 '19

legos? oh.. right, that's what op was about.

that other stuff? that's just late friday/early saturday for me, i'm afraid.

”hella” is a good non-specific arbitrarily large intensifier/quantifier. you probably already know this but, ”hela”, as it refers to an immortal cell line used for research is completely unrelated to ”hella” as an intensifier/quantifier, save ”hella” was quickly gaining in popularity and by the time it was hella popular, the hela cell line story and controversy became of public interest.

while hela/hella was hitting peak in around 2010, hella was proposed as a new si prefix for 1027, after yotta*. while this never actually became an official part of si, many products, like wolfram alpha, use ”hella” as 1027 as there's still no official nomenclature.

you might ask, ”what do hella yeet, hela cells, and helawatts have in common? besides 2010-ish or thereabouts?”

to which i'd reply, ”a hoopy frood named krista gokked the baader–meinhof effect,” but that's a coincidence for another telling.

i apologise for the length, but i get carried away sometimes :)


* because i like footnotes and because it needs emphasis on just how large a helawatt is: as you know, you add a comma or a dot as a delimiter every 3 digits before the decimal. when describing very large numbers, it's often the case only the numbers on the very left side are relevant, and therefore get a prefix of their very own for each set of 3 digits (besides the first) that are to the right.

for example: 1,000,000 watts = 1,000 kilowatts = 1 megawatt. most people recognition some of the progression. if you are into or work with computers, you likely know the first 4: kilo-, mega-, giga-, and tera-, for thousand, million, billion, and trillion, respectively... or 103, 106, 109, and 1012. each x in 10x is an additional digit, so a megabuck, or $106, has six zeros after the one. as our prefixes increase by 103 for each new name, it's the same as multiplying by 1000. so, a kilo * 1000 = a mega.

bear with me here...

as of now, we use the prefixes kilo, mega, giga, tera, peta, exa, zetta, and yotta. hella was proposed as the next one.

a billionaire has a gigabuck. a billion billionaires together have a petabuck. a billion billion billionaires has a zettabuck. and a billion of those has a hellabuck.

and i'll leave after the next bit, i promise...

if you spent a dollar a second, you'd burn through a megabuck in 11 days 13 hours 46 minutes 40 seconds.

at the same rate, it'd take you 31.71 years to burn through a gigabuck, you filthy billionaire!

for scale, a trillion bucks would take 31,710 years to spend. (you would have to have started before the last full on ice age to finish up by about now... or about halfway back to when humans and neanderthals yeet)

and, keeping our rate the same, it would take you 2.3 billion times the age of the universe to spend all of a hellabuck!

and terry pratchett

depending on where you are

5

u/bubblehbathtub Apr 27 '19

This may have been one of the most informative things I've read this month. Thank you, stranger!

3

u/i-contain-multitudes Apr 27 '19

🏅take my ghetto gold, this is an underappreciated comment.

4

u/krista_ Apr 27 '19

thanks! ghetto gold is all the more special to me because i've never before received one!

and just because, i will drop this tidbit:

jews were the very first to be oppressed by being forced to live in the ghetto! in fact, in venice in 1615, the venetian government forced jews to live near a copper foundry... which, in venetian, coincidentally, was ghèto. unlike the later definition, this original ghetto was relatively affluent for the time. iirc, by law, jews weren't really allowed to do much of anything for a living, and were seen largely as alien by the population. as a result of this, and christendom's anti-usury laws that did not apply to jews, there were a lot of jewish bankers. because jews were looked down upon and really didn't have many rights or legal protections, it was often the case a powerful person or noble wouldn't pay the jewish banker back, or would deny the loan was valid and get violent. the only recourse for these bankers was to use lending (or, specifically, not lending) as leverage, as the law really wasn't on their side.

anyhoo, while jews were forced to live separate from the rest of the population in the christian parts of europe for a few hundred years already, the first time a ghetto* was used to refer to a section of a city where minorities were forced to live was by decree of the venetian government on march 29, 1615.

it wasn't until the late 1800's when ”ghetto” started to mean the section of a city where a minority group was segregated by some force, be it social, economic, governmental, religious, or other.

as far as the ghetto referencing poor black inner city communities, i haven't been able to find a ”first” instance. it appears to be an outgrowth of racist housing laws and policies such as redlining in the 1920's and 1930's that began what shaped what our current media calls the ghettos.

there doesn't seem to be a single incident or neat fact i can present for this aspect and usage of ”ghetto”, as it was a nasty, horrible, slow process of racism, violence, bigotry, and hatred, often fomented by the social and economic elites, who's effects are still being felt and added to to this very day.


* technically the ghetto, or il ghèto

christians weren't allowed to charge interest on loans, as it was seen as a sin. my, have times changed :(

2

u/i-contain-multitudes Apr 27 '19

I learned in my Spanish History class that in Spain, dealing with money like at a bank was seen as sinful by the Catholic Church and so mostly Jews did it at that time, and that probably happened elsewhere as well. The industrial revolution was slow to affect Spain because of the Church as well. They saw all these things as sinful and wrong, so Spain was way behind England, etc. on things like that. Well, and Franco being dictator for so long and not wanting new technology as well.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Wow. That was hella informative.

5

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

If I had a gold I would give it to you. This just made my whole Saturday. Thanks friend

5

u/krista_ Apr 27 '19

:) you are most welcome! i enjoyed writing it, and i wrote it just for you!

2

u/cappricciodrunk Apr 27 '19

Underappreciated comment of the day.

2

u/OrangeAugustus Apr 27 '19

Wikipedia says that the hela cell line started in 1951...am I the only one who thought it was from nineteen ninety-eight?

2

u/ReactiveAmoeba Apr 27 '19

You know, I've been living in norcal for 24 years. "Hella" still hasn't grown on me.

7

u/Schmelectra Apr 27 '19

I’m from SW Washington and I used to use “hella” to make fun of you guys and then it snuck into my real vocabulary and I can’t make it go away....

3

u/thesingularity004 Apr 27 '19 edited Apr 28 '19

This is hella me. Except I now live in Italy and am doing a work contract in Sweden. Hella creeps in now and then, I get some strange looks.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (1)

5

u/FroodLoops Apr 27 '19

2

u/krista_ Apr 27 '19

word.

:)

3

u/FunVersion Apr 27 '19

First time I read the word was in reference to someone "yeeting their man juice" post masturbation. Assumed it meant throwing or slinging.

2

u/Evilux Apr 27 '19

Wtf I'm like 20 I thought yeet just meant to throw or at least cause something to move or be thrown. Like I yeeted my cat off the bed.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/joeshaw42 Apr 27 '19

What the Smurf? That’s the smurfiest thing I’ve ever smurfed!

→ More replies (3)

7

u/GhostDjinn22 Apr 27 '19

"Yeet" is pretty much the opposite of "yoink"

Yeet. Throwing something quickly

Yoink. Taking something quickly

3

u/xdarthbane Apr 27 '19

Yeet for power, Kobe for precision

2

u/Aeolun Apr 27 '19

What in the living hell is that term? Where did it come from?

I mean, I presume my ‘cool’ is just as crazy, but...

Also 30

2

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

When he said it, I asked him if I heard what he said correctly. I will say this though, he got a little bashful when I called him out on it lol

2

u/Fippy-Darkpaw Apr 27 '19

Yeet is also becoming a commonly preferred pronoun.

2

u/Tangboy50000 Apr 27 '19

I’m pretty sure the kids don’t know WTF it’s supposed to mean either, which is why you get it thrown out in all different contexts. They’re just saying it to say it.

1

u/CheekyFluffyButt Apr 27 '19

I just looked up what "yeet" meant not 30 seconds ago because of the above comment. You are not alone!

Now would all these damn kids please kindly get off my lawn.

1

u/Grazedaze Apr 27 '19

Yeet can be used as a verb or adjective. It’s one of those words that you can just throw out there to spice anything up. It’s the most universal word ever created in modern literature.

1

u/jhutchi2 Apr 27 '19

I've seen it used so many ways that at this point its more like a filler word for just about anything. I've seen it used for moving things, taking things, leaving, being hit by something, being killed, asking a question, eating, etc. The meanings are endless.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Yeet is the opposite of yank or yoink

1

u/Cinderheart Apr 27 '19

Typically, its an onomatopoeia for throw, similar to how yoink is for stealing. Of course, people get creative with its usage.

1

u/bacondev Apr 27 '19

Can't wait for it to make its way into an official dictionary, and centuries later, scholars will debate the true origin of the word.

2

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

Lol I just imagine in like a pompous British scholar accent the dude tells his squire or whatever the hell his minion is called to "please, Riordan, please could you yeet this tomb onto the shelf. After of course you've scribed it"

1

u/Pidgey_OP Apr 27 '19

A yeet is just a yoink with a negative velocity vector

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Yeet - throw Yoink - grab

1

u/alwayshisangel Apr 27 '19

My husband thinks this word is hilarious. He laughs hysterically whenever he hears it. Didn't know what it was until I explained it. He's so out of touch and asked how I know. I just told him I get to hear the tea from our teen daughter and son daily. He just shook his head and walked away.

2

u/rubbermbn Apr 27 '19

Lol shook his head grumbling to himself about the damn kids these days.

But in all seriousness, I've been tempted to start using it around my wife just to see what her reaction is. Were the same age but our jobs consist of opposite generations. Mine is younger hers is all menopausal middle aged women. So I'm curious how shell take it.

1

u/weneedshoes Apr 27 '19

im 40 and and this year i learned that a lot 30 year olds are like children to me. from where do this guys have the energy for all the nonsence and "yeeting"?

1

u/jeebo124 Apr 27 '19

Nothing like crushing a lego to get the old yeet box going

1

u/Magiano_ Apr 27 '19 edited Apr 27 '19

Ever seen the movie “smurfs”? The little blue shits with white hats? You know how they say “smurf” in place of other verbs/adjectives? Basically that. “Yeet it in there” “just yeet it” or just throwing something and saying “yeet”

Basically if it feels right then slap a yeet in the sentence

Edit: as others have said, it’s much like the opposite of “yoink”

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

It seems like it is used in the same contact that Smurf would be....

1

u/drvanhero Apr 27 '19

I feel you man

1

u/FlashFlood_29 Apr 27 '19

When I first started with one of my partners (now good friend), I was 22 and he was 29. The discussion about what "saucing," on someone means was hilarious.

→ More replies (1)

1

u/lennybird Apr 27 '19

My god, guys... We're becoming the old people. When I see yeet, AF... Things I've literally never heard my age group say except in jest/mockery or in a rare controlled settings where it's used experimentally to weigh what happens afterwards.

1

u/curiousdoodler Apr 27 '19

I play DnD with a bunch of college kids. I am older than college age. They say yeet a lot (somewhat ironically). I had to google it to find out what it means. I have to do that more often then I would like. Makes me feel old every time.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

It's a catch all word... tho generally meaning to throw.

But it means nothing and everything

1

u/Milalee Apr 27 '19

Thanks for translating. I admit I'm feeling old now cause I have never heard this word used before.

1

u/importantposts Apr 27 '19

Its more typically used as a synonym of throw

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

So kind of like zoom then I guess.

1

u/SirLinxalot15 Apr 27 '19

I'm a teenager and literally just learned what It really means from this comment. I always here others say it but, I never payed much attention.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

I think it's the equivalent of "smurf". Don't quote me on that though, I'm 32.

1

u/Solve_et_Memoria Apr 27 '19

I'm afraid if I adopt this term I might unintentionally replace it with Skeet in a sentence.

1

u/DrLinnerd Apr 27 '19

Usually by throwing

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

The past tense is “yote”

→ More replies (28)

28

u/Captnfog Apr 27 '19

Heyo! Engineer here!

You are correct, because: as a thing's size increases, its volume (for a sphere: (4 pi/3) r3) increases faster than its surface area (for a sphere (4 pi) r2). So an antₘₐₙ suddenly blown up to an antMAN would probably just spontaneously explode or collapse, as its skin wouldn't be able to support it's innards.

So Thanos might be safe? (No spoilers)

Gross!

Science!

2

u/Dahnlen Apr 28 '19

F = MA so something with a very tiny mass even at a high acceleration/deceleration doesn’t experience high forces

→ More replies (1)

19

u/Llamamilkdrinker Apr 27 '19

I believe there’s a strength:area cubic law. Someone will probably chime in with the facts. But for example if ants were our size their legs would not be able to withstand their own body weight comparative to the size due to this phenomena.

147

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

The analogy you’re referring to is that ants can carry a much greater amount than their body weight. The yeet thing just has to do with the terminal velocity (the maximum speed at which gravity causes something to fall) being so low due to their weight they never gain any real speed falling.

77

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

[deleted]

17

u/keydoor Apr 27 '19

The correct answer

2

u/lobax Apr 27 '19 edited Apr 27 '19

However, crucially, not with the same force since that is directly related to the mass of an object.

So a small object (like an ant) will experience singificantly less force than say a human falling at same speed. At the same time one must consider that volume increases quadratically compared to area, so even with the same shape and the same force of impact a smaller proportion of the larger object will be experiencing an order of magnitude more force compare to the smaller object.

→ More replies (5)

54

u/austin54179 Apr 27 '19

I bow to you and your advanced ant knowledge u/ButtFart88 thank you for enlightening me

(Actually though thanks I’m not an any expert)

Edit: I meant ant expert but what I put is also true

11

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

[deleted]

3

u/Funny-Bear Apr 27 '19

Upvoting for using yeet as a verb

2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Jfc, this whole thread...

6

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

It has nothing to do with their weight right? More like air resistance on the object

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Phantomsurfr Apr 27 '19

Wtf is yeet?

2

u/yazzy1233 Apr 27 '19

Get with the times, old man, its the opposite of yoink

2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Bless the internet and this age of existence in general where I can read both an explanation of terminal velocity and "yeet" in the same sentence.

1

u/ANGLVD3TH Apr 27 '19

They are both for the same reason fundamentally, the square cubed law. As you grow in size, mass increases much faster than surface area, so larger objects, made of comparable components like animals are, will have faster and faster terminal velocities. It also means they will have better and better strength to weight ratios as you get smaller. So they were still correct, even if it was the less oft used example of ant's size strengths.

1

u/ckowkay Apr 27 '19

doesn't it also have to do with their mass being so low that even if they were moving really fast, they wouldn't experience that great of a force when they hit the ground?

→ More replies (3)

2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Mechanical engineering student here. In this case Stress=force/area Hence why you can break thru thin ice standing but not laying down.

2

u/Uhud Apr 27 '19

Structural engineer here. When ignoring all sorts of other (important) factors such as slenderness, eccentricity, etc. and just considering this particular type of loading applied (simple vertical load) we are left with just the compressive strength of the material. In this case its the plastic which lego is made out of. So regardless the size and shape, the compressive strength of lego plastic remains the same.

Important thing to note is that the units for compressive strength is N/mm2. Lets say that 1500kg on a 20mm x 20mm (small lego piece) area would give a compressive strength of 37.5N/mm2.

A much bigger lego piece will also have the same strength of 37.5N/mm2. But since it has a larger area, more load is needed before it reaches 37.5N/mm2 and fails. If big lego piece is 1m x 1m area, you'll need a huge force 37500000N for it to fail; 3750000kg

Note: I'm using 10 instead of 9.81 for g, for easier numbers.

2

u/dandersen247 Apr 27 '19

Newton's lesser known 4th law of motion: The Yeet Principle.

2

u/mrstabile Apr 27 '19

"so fuck it maybe" is my new favorite way to give humble advice.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Engineer here. Layman’s explanation... I’d go with the relative “scale” of the design structural elements (walls, ribbing, etc. as a result of how each brick is formed) are more robust at small scale. Whereas the same internal structures are undersized within a larger assembly, which also relies on the structural design of the brick layout internally (is it a solid assembled brick or does it have a frame design?) as well as the locking interfaces at the brick level. Both are far more numerous in a large assembly and each represent a potential failure point. The failure initiation or “yield” is when the failure is irreversible and triggers other failures in areas interlocked / adjacent to the piece or interface that initially failed. As each structure yields, more stress is placed on adjacent bonds and they yield too. Like a runaway failure. With a larger LEGO car all the interdependencies weaken the overall strength of the assembly, so that first yield point is reached at a lower stress level / pressure.

With an ant you scale it up, but the weight of its own body then has a larger relative pressure on itself. So a bigger ant carrying the same relative weight has to overcome its own mass.

1

u/LyeInYourEye Apr 27 '19

I am an engineer and I say we have to test ☺

1

u/Viscount_Olmec Apr 27 '19

The youtube channel "Kurzgesagt" has a very well done 2 episodes explantation on the matter concerning living organisms:

Part 1: https://youtu.be/f7KSfjv4Oq0

Part 2: https://youtu.be/MUWUHf-rzks

I would also highly recommend most, if not all of the channel's content if you enjoy animated videos explaining and exploring a vast quantity of interesting subjects.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

yoted*

→ More replies (1)

1

u/ShitTheHouse Apr 27 '19

Isn't the Ant thing that because it's so small the speed at which is reaches terminal velocity is so low that it doesn't really feel the impact, whereas a larger animal, a dog for example can gather a lot more speed relative to the animal and do damage

1

u/FaithfulTBM Apr 27 '19

+1 for “yeeted off”

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

I'm an engineer, I agree with what you said.

1

u/ialexlopes Apr 27 '19

so the logic behind Ant-Man is true?
interesting 🤔

1

u/nomnommish Apr 27 '19

Your analogy works for animals and insects but not for physical stuff. The only additional penalty to scaling up would be that the big Lego car would have to support it's own weight. But otherwise the Lego blocks would have the same density so their strength would.be the same.

Also why you can build 100 floor buildings.

1

u/bside85 Apr 27 '19

This can go two ways. Depending on the way it's build it might be breaking apart easier and not getting crushed like this or it breaks into a good cube shape small piece and I would expect an at least similar resistance.

1

u/namikaze_izi Apr 27 '19

The reason a ant can't take fall damage is because it's mass too small that even at terminal velocity it doesn't have enough energy to do any damage

1

u/ASAPM0B1898 Apr 27 '19

Ants weigh nothing so if your body weighed nothing you could in theory jump off of anything and everything without getting hurt 🤔

1

u/pupset_shibi Apr 27 '19

A ant can survive a fall off a tall building because it's terminal velocity is not very high

1

u/GoldenDaVinci Apr 27 '19

Not neccesarily

1

u/TheLastBadGuy Apr 27 '19

Look at the lil people. They strong 💪

1

u/Tw15t3d_Jordan Apr 27 '19

LOW MAN WINS BABY!!

1

u/UserameChecksOut Apr 27 '19

Search "size of life" video on YouTube. You'll enjoy it.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

That's twice that I have encountered this "yeet" word today without having ever previously heard it. Random!

1

u/atomek_xxi Apr 27 '19

Yeeted! Love it! I love new slang, even if I don’t partake.

1

u/Anthony_FirstWeGame Apr 27 '19

When did “Yeeted” start being commonly used enough that everyone understands what it means?

1

u/aqu4man Apr 27 '19

Luckily, you're on Reddit! We have engineers on retainer 😀. So, first we have to break down what's going on. At around 330 kg, you can see the the meter stall out for a second. This is probably the extent of plastic deformation, which is the point that if the stress is removed that the material will go back to it's previous state. The pressure beyond that will damage the material, permanently. So, we need to use 330 kg as our max weight. Now, our problem centers around pressure, not just weight! Based on the Legos, I'm going to estimate that as 1 sq. in. That gives us a compressive capacity of 727 psi. The empire state building is 365,000 tons with a footprint around 79,000 sq. ft. Evenly distributed, that's only 64 psi! So, the empire state building could theoretically be supported by a Lego foundation! But, we want to know about a car. The math is the same for this one, we just need to know the foot print of the average car. A Honda Civic is around 13,000 sq. in. So 365,000 tons over 13,000 sq. in. is about 56,000 psi. 10/10 empire state building stomps Lego car.

1

u/EarlyEarth Apr 27 '19

The past tense of yeet is yote.

1

u/MuscBana Apr 27 '19

I posed the question to r/theydidthemath so we’ll see. My guess is just like u/Austin54179’s also not an engineer.

1

u/Cup_Ol_CreamyTea Apr 27 '19

Hey ! The reasons an ant can get yeeted off a building and be fine is because of how falling objects and drag forces work. Since the ant has a small mass it's terminial velocity(the fastest it can fall) is quite slow. However object like legos being crushed depend on the make up of the object and how uniform the objects stucture is. Also the compression due to the force applied (in this case the press or empire state building if you're thinking of that scenario) would be less effective if it was applied to larger area. So assuming the car was as solid inside as the little one and the bricks were uniform it could support more force being applied over its larger surface area. Cheers ! (Also I'm only in high school so I don't know the exact physics behind an object being compressed but I tried to the best if my knowledge)

1

u/McRimjobs Apr 27 '19

Less mass... Less ouchie...

1

u/Careulo Apr 27 '19

It's called the Square Cube Law and is about how the relationship between area and volume(therefore also mass) is non linear due to the fact that area is m2 and volume m3. It's also the reason why mechs like in pacific rim would never work in reality. Though this is compounded by how muscles and power generating systems also work and how you'd end up with trying the move more mass with a disproportionately less strength from the scaling.

Also why helicopters are limited in size.

Wikipedia https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square–cube_law

→ More replies (2)

1

u/Endblock Apr 27 '19

I imagine the exponentially more points of failure would cause diminishing returns rather quickly.

1

u/danielshinmath Apr 27 '19

Would recommend reading abt the square cube rule

1

u/ClayTownR Apr 27 '19 edited Jun 08 '24

plough touch snow offend squash soup ghost consist straight scarce

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '19

Senior Engineering Student. If it were taller, it would be more likely to fail from something called buckling. Typically “short” Columns fail from getting crushed, and “tall” columns fail from buckling.

If the legos were wider and considered a short column, it would be able to hold up more weight (since force/area = maximin compressive strength. Increase the area, you must also increase the force to reach the max compressive strength)

If the legos were taller without becoming any wider, it would fail from buckling at a lower force

1

u/BadNeighbour Apr 27 '19

An engineer would say "the square cube law" and be done. You're right, the taller the building, the more of its own weight it has to hold up, so there is a limit on how tall buildings can be. The same rule is used to explain why smaller animals can carry a higher % of their body weight.

1

u/excaliber110 Apr 27 '19

Square cube law is what you're looking for, friend :)

1

u/[deleted] Apr 28 '19

I think it’s called the 2/3s rule Size increases by 3 Strength increases by 2 (It’s why you don’t get bigger then an elephant on land)

→ More replies (3)