Oh, I’m sorry, in your hypothetical “super-slick” universe it is almost ideal but there is still nano-friction?

Well, then, that’s COMPLETELY different.

So, instead of modeling the real world as a point mass and a velocity vector, let’s think about a ball with a “super-super-small” “super-super-dense” core surrounded by a “super-super-undense” thick shell. Assume the radius of the thick shell is a few orders of magnitude larger than the radius of the core. Assume all this is “super-super-rigid.” And the core and outer shell is “super-super-unslick.”

Ignore relativistic effects. Just the super-supers dominate your mere super.

Drop this jawbreaker from a one meter height, in one case with zero velocity and in another case at 200 mph horizontal velocity, 1g vertical acceleration down.

What happens next?

Is my “ideal world” more or less absurd than your “ideal world?”

p.s. Physicists explained semiconductors. Mathematicians created computing. But engineers developed computers, and internet protocols, and 200 mph motorcycles, and motorcycle helmets, and motorcycle “leathers,” and motorcycle airbags....

Ever wonder why MotoGP riders wear so much more personal safety devices than Tour de France riders?

-mr. bill