this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2025
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The semester is starting back up and i'm terrible at speaking words.

This doesn't have to be aimed at college students, just conversation starters anywhere would be very much appreciated.

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[–] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Ask them if they knew that g is roughly pi^2, and ask them if they knew it's not a coincidence

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

How would it not be a coincidence?

[–] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

okay, so.

the meter used to be how long a line had to be on a pendulum for it to have a periodicity of one second. This got re-evaluated and standardized to what it is now, which is 1/10,000,000 the length between the equator and the north pole. but that number itself was chosen because it's pretty close to what the meter was before it was set to that value. So the length of the line to get that period on a pendulum is about a meter, and gravity also has an effect on the speed a pendulum swings.

https://medium.com/@roitman.io/a-wonderful-coincidence-or-an-expected-connection-why-%CF%80%C2%B2-g-6e2f9a04e30e

I read something about it on stack exchange, but couldn't find that link anymore, but the one above has the same info

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

That has nothing to do with either g or pi. Also this definition is long outdated.

[–] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

t = 2pi*sqrt(m/(mg/l)) is the pendulum formula, it directly calls pi and g. it's outdated, yes, but it's really close to what we currently use as a meter. and the fact that it's really close made it easier to switch to the new meter basis.

[–] sem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 3 days ago

The meter is now defined based on the speed of light and a very short time interval.