Benjamin

Slow it down, possibly put it into orbit, yes. Much more detailed experiments could be done on this asteroid than any that have been done before. This is an object that could turn out to be the greatest resource to date about understanding our solarsystem and universe, and the formation of it. What decent experiments could be conducted in 3 hundred some days on a rapidly moving asteroid? Honestly, we would get a few satellites on it at most. Better to have an orbital, tangible asteroid than a few recordings and experiments by a satellite.

Then Bignose is right. Although, when i think about it, the Momentum is a trickier subject than speed. Does the increased mass compensate for the lost speed when maintaining inertia? What exactly do you mean by momentum?

Yes, but would it be possible to catch the asteroid? would it be safe to have such an object near earth, or would its gravity throw things out of wack? By letting it pass by, are we letting an astounding scientific opportunity fade away? And thank you for the extra links.

Ask the prof if the rain is falling straight down at the same horizontal speed as the car, or if it is falling straight down realative to the earth. You can never think to much.

Can you explain that mathematically? You are probably right though. Ah! I see my problem. I classified "hitting" drops as wind resistance. Yes, If the rain is falling straight down, the train would slow down. If the rain is falling straight down relative to the train car, (not diaganally) Then the car would not slow down. It depends on who's perspective you are looking from.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/space/article/0,14493,1660485,00.html Above is a link to some of the intel on the "Apophis" rock. More info can be gleaned from the previous thread, if one wants it, or by checking out the article. Now, everyone seems very excited about the idea of this asteroid passing close enough to see it (One my highschool science videos claimed it would pass closer than the moon). The problem is, it just might hit us. The effect might not be cataclysmic, but it would be kindasorta be like a kick in mother earth's testicles. This is a somewhat theoretical discussion. What would you do against this possible Armageddon? And whoever it was that said ideas and beliefs have no place in a science forum is full of crap. The greatest ability of a scientist is his/her capability of thought. Another thought: This asteroid is going to come closer than any rock of its size in most likely thousands of years. THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY!!! We have thirty years. My question is not whether we can divert it, but Can we CATCH it?

Bignose is on to something when he mentions vectors. Technically, the two vectors (Train car and rain drop(s)) are not in the same direction. Rain pushes south, so to speak, while the train pushes east. This gives you a final vector pointing south east. Now, the train is on a frictionless track, so it cannot go downward. The added down vector by the rain is canceled by the upward force of the car upon it, which has a now greater upward force from the track. This leads me to reason out (although i can hardly believe it) that the train never changes x velocity, because there are no forces present to change x velocity. This would be very cool to test. : ) The problem is somewhat similar to a bowling ball rolling out of a plane, with no wind resistance. No matter how fast the ball drops, it still travels with a constant speed horizontally. Also, i am assuming that the train car is not running into rain drops, because that would qualify in my book as a form of air resistance. The car only increases mass.