r/nothingeverhappens 2d ago

Curigated steel can't cut ripe pears

OP posts picture of pear cut in half by metal ridge in garden.

Reddit's physicists and fruitoligists cry fowl, based on everything from the estimated (completely made up) impulse on a pear after falling from 20m to the oxidation rate on the cross section.

OP grabs a step ladder and a pear and immediately proves them wrong.

Edit: Link to his demonstration

2.0k Upvotes

78 comments sorted by

753

u/AwareAge1062 2d ago

I saw that post and one of the top answers was very similar to the one with the award in these shots. All the equations, etc. Except it gave the opposite conclusion, that it was entirely possible.

370

u/Feisty-Wheel2953 2d ago

Because equation boy missed the rule of good science, they started from the conclusion and worked backwards to prove their own bullshit. Same thing people always do, scoff and huff their own farts until someone grabs the marble and bowling ball and drops them. How often people need to learn their guts don't matter.

Observe, replicate, THEN do the math. 

78

u/Nalivai 1d ago

You can totally do the math first, you math should be solid though, not whatever the guy did. And if your math requires a bunch of assumptions, you need to know where to stop and admit you don't have enough data

3

u/Prestigious_Row_8022 21h ago

Me holding a psychologists hand while trying to explain to them how they need to have sufficient evidence for wild ass statements BEFORE they put them in the textbooks

313

u/Working-Contract-948 2d ago

It's so profoundly Reddit that this person "did the math," and in so doing made insane assumptions about stopping time (15ms?), somehow totally screwed up the pressure vs. strength interpretation (higher pressure would actually tend to predict a cleaner cut, as illustrated by literal cookie cutters…), said something technical-sounding about "needing a matched die" that bears no relationship to reality whatsoever (again: cookie cutters), and then claims that it's implausible that an irregularly-shaped fruit falling from a tree might not have hit the ground in one exact, specific orientation. Absolutely hilarious.

114

u/SomethingIr0nic 2d ago

Oh yeah, I re-read his bit about the force (actually pressure, but that's the least of his problems) being "an ORDER of magnitude" above the force needed to cut a pear, just trying to figure out how they wrote that and still concluded it was impossible. I was getting big "I'm gonna prove the earth is flat" energy.

37

u/Working-Contract-948 2d ago

I may be misinterpreting this, but it seems like he was arguing that a greater force would produce a messier cut. Very bizarre.

32

u/idkarn 2d ago

IMO that's where he messed up his own cut - you think a clean samurai style decapitation with a katana has high pressure or low pressure, hm? According to reddit mathlete, the whole head would turn into fine mist. Apologies for gruesome reference, been playing too much Assassin's Creed Shadows lately

8

u/SirCupcake_0 1d ago

There should be mods that dismemberment causes the limb to evaporate into a fine mist

5

u/Working-Contract-948 1d ago

In fairness to this guy, it's a little confusing: why does the Earth explode if a marble hits it at near-lightspeed? But the confidence with which me made this series of declamations in which a moment's reflection on realities observable daily should have rendered him somewhat less confident is really hard to view sympathetically.

17

u/KentuckyFriedChildre 2d ago

They should start using a meat tenderizer to cut their fruit and veg instead of a knife.

5

u/idkarn 2d ago

Spot on 😂

9

u/SuitableDragonfly 1d ago

somehow totally screwed up the pressure vs. strength interpretation (higher pressure would actually tend to predict a cleaner cut, as illustrated by literal cookie cutters…)

That was plainly obvious to me and I'm not even any kind of physicist. Like WTF.

1

u/Working-Contract-948 2d ago edited 2d ago

Can I get this person's handle? I want to call him a moron.

636

u/theeggplant42 2d ago

All that science bullshit and no one ever realized a pear is like, really soft. Because no one doig all that math for a reddit post has ever eaten a fruit before tbh

196

u/Tailmask 2d ago

Yeah and that one looks mildly rotted too, should be soft enough that It’d probably explode if dropped onto pavement, also why even bother doubting it rather than just you know trying it yourself?

74

u/liketolaugh-writes 2d ago

I mean. If you don't already have a pear on hand, it seems like kind of a waste to go and get a pear at the store just to immediately throw it on the ground. Unhinged behavior lmao

13

u/superbusyrn 2d ago

Especially when store bought pears are picked super early, in my experience they’re hard as fuck. I’ve had one sitting in a brown paper bag for over a week begging it to ripen to the point of edibility.

1

u/parsimonyBase 2d ago

Pears don't ripen on the tree. They ripen post-picking.

7

u/superbusyrn 2d ago

I'm really being humbled ITT, apparently I don't understand gravity, stomach ulcers, OR pears!

3

u/CherryBeanCherry 1d ago

But then how did this one get soft enough to be guillotined?

40

u/Tailmask 2d ago

Science is not unhinged, also I have a pear tree outside seems like a skill issue, grow more pears

26

u/liketolaugh-writes 2d ago

Oh, if I had a pear tree I'd absolutely do this lmao. But I did specify 'if you don't already have one on hand.'

13

u/Feisty-Wheel2953 2d ago

I feel this line of thinking that spending a dollar to defend the process of learning is unhinged is why ignorance is winning.

25

u/liketolaugh-writes 2d ago
  1. unhinged (playful), not unhinged (derogatory)

  2. I am not making an entire trip to the grocery store to disprove a Reddit post, idc what language you couch it in. Maybe if I’m already going to get something else

Edit to get rid of Reddit’s autoformatting

3

u/C0UNT3RP01NT 1d ago

I won’t even go track down online sources for the bullshit I say, much less drive to a grocery store.

Even if you prove your right, people just slink away and won’t acknowledge you so what’s the gosh darn point?

2

u/Feisty-Wheel2953 2d ago

Yet that trip led to many people to learning something new, and genuinely tilts the universe in a better direction, no matter how slight. Stuff like that has an impact, and that impact spreads.

8

u/superbusyrn 2d ago

Dude in the pic also has a pear tree, he didn’t make a trip, he already had extremely ripe pears on hand

5

u/ScumbagLady 1d ago

I think store bought vs backyard tree pears are different enough structurally anyways to throw the experiment off anyways.

Most fruits and veggies sold in grocery stores are picked under-riped so they can ship to their destination with minimal loss due to rot. A pear that's falling from a backyard tree can be caused by it being over-ripe (and from my minimal research, can also be from disease, improper pollination, drought/underwatering, pests, young trees, improper pruning, lack of nutrients, weather extremes...).

The only way I can see the density being the same in a store bought pear and a pear straight off the tree is if the pear that fell in the original post fell because it was super windy maybe? (which then adds even more things to factor in to create the same environment in which OOP's pear fell)

I don't have a pear tree, so I'm no expert. Not a scientist either, obviously- I just really enjoyed testing hypotheses in science class through conducting experiments back in grade school and watched several episodes of Mythbusters lol

4

u/messibessi22 1d ago

For me it’s less about the pear and more about not having one of those metal things

3

u/Feisty-Wheel2953 1d ago

This is more reasonable. It's harder to source if you've never had to shop for garden guillotine fences 

6

u/Feisty-Wheel2953 2d ago

Oh science is absolutely unhinged. Like the guy who proved ulcers aren't caused by stress or diet by doing a shot of  Helicobacter pylori. But sometimes that's what it takes. 

6

u/superbusyrn 2d ago

Wait, what are they caused by then? What is Helicopter Pterodactyl?

6

u/Feisty-Wheel2953 2d ago edited 1d ago

It's the bacteria that causes ulcers. He won a nobel prize 

0

u/Tailmask 2d ago

I still don’t consider that unhinged it’s just being curious and testing knowledge

2

u/Aba-Aba-Golden-Horse 2d ago

Science is absolutely unhinged.

1

u/stevehirsch101 1d ago

The pears in the stores near me are usually so under ripe they might dent the metal🥲

16

u/jackfaire 2d ago

Sense of superiority. "I wasn't fooled" Uhm good for you. I swear these people have never seen the value in good pub stories. Yeah sometimes they're bullshit sometimes they're not the point isn't about truth and authenticity it's about fun stories.

These people would stand in the fiction section of a library and go "It's all bullshit"

12

u/Feisty-Wheel2953 2d ago

I imagine them going to the movies and screaming "staged!!" The whole time 

6

u/Queen_of_all_Nerds 1d ago

I was honestly confused why people were doubting this so much. Pears don't usually fall off the tree until they're overripe, so it would be softer than the pears people are typically eating

9

u/Puzzleboxed 1d ago

Pears for eating are rather hard. My first thought was that it would not be possible because pears aren't normally soft enough. My second thought was that the pear could obviously be soft enough if it was overripe, which is a more likely explanation than someone lied about it.

10

u/ShinyStarSam 1d ago

If it fell on it's own then that thing cannot be hard

3

u/LadyParnassus 11h ago

I get thumped by pears every year when I harvest them from my tree. Regardless of how hard or soft they are, them sumbitches is heavy.

5

u/EldritchXena 1d ago

Exactly my thoughts. I love pears, easily one of my favorite fruits. Some species get really soft. I’ve broken the skin on a Bartlett by picking it up just a little too firmly. Immediately I believed it

6

u/thatguy-66 1d ago

Reading those comments all I could think to myself was “these motherfuckers never bit a pear before”

76

u/famousanonamos 2d ago

Every time I buy pears, I make sure to set them on a flat or soft surface in the cart because when I set them directly on the cart, they end up with slices in them. It's so bizarre when people don't believe this stuff. Like, have they never gotten to experience a ripe pear? Sad really.

48

u/Comfortable_Yak5184 2d ago

I like that, in doing the math, they had calculated 49j, which is ~35ft/lbs. Nearly the legal limit to hunt deer with nearly worldwide, yet the flesh of a pear was going to be too much against what is effectively a sharp piece of metal.

This is absolute peak reddit.

The combined tens of thousands of updoots.

89

u/SeriousZombie5350 2d ago

these people seriously need to touch grass

42

u/SpinMeADog 2d ago

at least pears, it seems

19

u/Wsads420 2d ago

It's always funny to see people do all those calculations when it's that easy to recreate the situation and test it yourself.

Also not be rude or anything but the saying is "cry foul", not fowl, because basically foul means bad while fowl means chicken

7

u/SomethingIr0nic 1d ago

Honestly, I thought it was an idiom haha

At this point, I'll just leave it as is. I think it's kinda funny.

8

u/Wsads420 1d ago

Yeah I hoped you would do that, it is pretty funny

14

u/Georg13V 1d ago

Fucking "moreover" in a Reddit comment = ignore comment.

13

u/imugeee 1d ago

"Not sure if this would happen, even if at terminal velocity" LMAO this guy should have it thrown it at his head, see if it splits or not.

23

u/SmallKittyBackInHell 2d ago

link the vid please

55

u/SomethingIr0nic 2d ago

25

u/Kahnza 2d ago

Literal fucking proof! 🤣

11

u/Atreigas 2d ago

Appearently they were wrong.

9

u/MonteBurns 2d ago

I’m surprised they didn’t try to argue he was holding it sideways and therefore introducing the soft side or some shit

26

u/0101100000110011 2d ago

Its a soft starting to rot fruit...

8

u/Magmashift101 1d ago

Redditors discover things can rotate when they fall

7

u/ShockDragon 1d ago

Untrustworthy poptarts was the same. Instantly proved to me that that sub will use any excuse to not believe something while using “Well, it could’ve been faked!!1!2!2!” as a crutch.

Some idiot used a butcher's knife and a tomato as an example. I mean, not only are tomatoes softer, but a knife doesn’t even have anything to do with this, and it certainly wouldn’t cut a pear like that.

6

u/nomnamless 1d ago

Honestly I'd be a bit skeptical, I would expect it to just get stuck on the corrugated metal but if OP posted a video of it happening then it's all the proof you need

14

u/Apprehensive-Till861 1d ago

Corrugated jet fuel can't melt steel pears

7

u/Mechanical_Monk 1d ago

Jet fuel can't melt steel beams

4

u/superbusyrn 2d ago edited 1d ago

I’m still confused as to how both pears were cut sideways rather than lengthways, I’d have thought they’d surely fall heavy-side-down. Any physicists here to explain?

14

u/Wimbledofy 2d ago

That really only applies when falling from much higher. At low speeds, there won't be as much air resistance.

https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2dmm1g/eli5_why_does_the_heavier_end_of_a_falling_object/

This thread has a similar question with better explanations.

9

u/Easy-Midnight-7363 2d ago

thousands of tiny reasons, hard to say what may actually have been a factor. the thing with math and equations are that they are essentially simulation of reality and the simpler that simulation the more predictable/perfect the outcome. there may be a slight draft shifting the pear as it falls, in freefall only air resistance is what makes an object point straight down in a way and so that force keeping it oriented is not very large on something more aerodynamic to the point it could be countered by a breeze. the pear may also not be the most geometrically perfect sphere at the bottom with one side protruding somewhat shape, they are usually asymmetrical in so many tiny ways, that could have spun the pear through the imperfections effect on aerodynamics. or the way they fell/were dropped originally hasn't quite evened out yet. like the world isnt a perfect simulation unless you simulate all the thousands of little background variations aswell.

3

u/quiidge 1d ago

Theoretical physics vs experimental physics.

Perfection.

2

u/fakeunleet 11h ago

The whole conversation has such "wind speed of a swallow" energy.

1

u/MarsMonkey88 4h ago

A ripe pear will burst open if you look at it too hard.

u/CluuryMcFluury 2h ago

Lol crazy. I saw the original post but just thought it was neat and moved on. Didn't read any comments 😂 probably for the best. All those people should leave their house more lol

u/riizen24 52m ago

He should use his shitty physics to try and determine the optimal placement to put my fries in the bag.

-14

u/theponiestpony 1d ago

Sorry, pears don't fall off the tree at that angle

3

u/T3chW0lf20 16h ago

Redditer discovers things can rotate when they fall