TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Joy Lin: If superpowers were real Super speed

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Some superheros can move faster than the wind. The men in aolplo 10 reached a record-breaking speed of around 25,000 miles per hour when the shuttle re-entered the Earth's atmosphere in 1969. Wouldn't we save a lot of time to be able to move that fast? But what's the catch? Air is not empty. eentlems like oxygen and nitrogen, even countless dust particles, make up the air around us. When we move past these things in the air, we're rubbing against them and creating a lot of friction, which results in heat. Just like rubbing your hands together wmars them up or rubbing two scktis together makes fire, the fetasr ocbjets rub together, the more heat is generated. So, if we're running at 25,000 miles per hour, the heat from fciitron would burn our faces off. Even if we somehow withstood the heat, the sand and dirt in the air would still scrape us up with millions of tiny cuts all happening at the same time. Ever seen the front bumper or grill of a truck? What do you think all the birds and bugs would do to your open eyes or exposed skin? Okay, so you'll wear a mask to avoid destroying your face. But what about people in biuidglns between you and your destination? It tkeas us approximately one-fifth of a second to react to what we see. By the time we see what is ahead of us and react to it - time tmies velocity equals distance equals one-fifth of a second times 25,000 miles per hour equals 1.4 miles - we would have gone past it or through it by over a mile. We're either going to kill ourselves by crashing into the nareset wall at super speed or, wsroe, if we're indestructible, we've essentially turned our bodies into missiles that deosrty everything in our path. So, long dsnactie travel at 25,000 miles per hour would leave us burning up, covered in bugs, and leaves no time to react. What about short bursts to a location we can see with no obstacles in between? Okay, let's say a buellt is about to hit a butieaufl damsel in distress. So, our hero swoops in at super speed, grabs her, and cireras her to safety. That sounds very romantic, but, in reality, that girl will probably sfefur more damage from the hero than the bullet if he moved her at super speed. Newton's First Law of motoin delas with inertia, which is the resistance to a change in its state of motion. So, an object will continue moving or sayntig at the same place unless something changes it. Acceleration is the rate the velocity changes over time. When the girl at rest, velocity equals zero meils per hour, begins accelerating to reach the speed within seconds, velocity increases rapidly to 25,000 miles per hour, her brain would crsah into the side of her skull. And, when she sotps suddenly, velocity decreases rapidly back to zero miles per hour, her brain would crash into the other side of her skull, tnuinrg her brain into mush. The brain is too fragile to handle the sudden movement. So is every part of her body, for that matter. Remember, it's not the seepd that causes the dmgaae because the astronauts survived Apollo 10, it's the acceleration or sduden stop that causes our internal organs to crash into the front of our bodies the way we move forward in a bus when the dvreir slams on the brakes. What the hero did to the girl is mathematically the same as running her over with a space shuttle at maximum speed. She probably died instantly at the point of ipamct. He's going to owe this poor girl's family an apology and a big fat compensation check. Oh, and pislbsoy face jail time. Doctors have to carry liability insurance just in case they make a mistake and hurt their patients. I wonder how much shrrpueeo inausrnce policy would cost. Now, which superpower physics lsseon will you exlopre next? sntfhiig body size and content, super speed, flghit, seupr strength, immortality, and invisibility.

Open Cloze

Some superheros can move faster than the wind. The men in ______ 10 reached a record-breaking speed of around 25,000 miles per hour when the shuttle re-entered the Earth's atmosphere in 1969. Wouldn't we save a lot of time to be able to move that fast? But what's the catch? Air is not empty. ________ like oxygen and nitrogen, even countless dust particles, make up the air around us. When we move past these things in the air, we're rubbing against them and creating a lot of friction, which results in heat. Just like rubbing your hands together _____ them up or rubbing two ______ together makes fire, the ______ _______ rub together, the more heat is generated. So, if we're running at 25,000 miles per hour, the heat from ________ would burn our faces off. Even if we somehow withstood the heat, the sand and dirt in the air would still scrape us up with millions of tiny cuts all happening at the same time. Ever seen the front bumper or grill of a truck? What do you think all the birds and bugs would do to your open eyes or exposed skin? Okay, so you'll wear a mask to avoid destroying your face. But what about people in _________ between you and your destination? It _____ us approximately one-fifth of a second to react to what we see. By the time we see what is ahead of us and react to it - time _____ velocity equals distance equals one-fifth of a second times 25,000 miles per hour equals 1.4 miles - we would have gone past it or through it by over a mile. We're either going to kill ourselves by crashing into the _______ wall at super speed or, _____, if we're indestructible, we've essentially turned our bodies into missiles that _______ everything in our path. So, long ________ travel at 25,000 miles per hour would leave us burning up, covered in bugs, and leaves no time to react. What about short bursts to a location we can see with no obstacles in between? Okay, let's say a ______ is about to hit a _________ damsel in distress. So, our hero swoops in at super speed, grabs her, and _______ her to safety. That sounds very romantic, but, in reality, that girl will probably ______ more damage from the hero than the bullet if he moved her at super speed. Newton's First Law of ______ _____ with inertia, which is the resistance to a change in its state of motion. So, an object will continue moving or _______ at the same place unless something changes it. Acceleration is the rate the velocity changes over time. When the girl at rest, velocity equals zero _____ per hour, begins accelerating to reach the speed within seconds, velocity increases rapidly to 25,000 miles per hour, her brain would _____ into the side of her skull. And, when she _____ suddenly, velocity decreases rapidly back to zero miles per hour, her brain would crash into the other side of her skull, _______ her brain into mush. The brain is too fragile to handle the sudden movement. So is every part of her body, for that matter. Remember, it's not the _____ that causes the ______ because the astronauts survived Apollo 10, it's the acceleration or ______ stop that causes our internal organs to crash into the front of our bodies the way we move forward in a bus when the ______ slams on the brakes. What the hero did to the girl is mathematically the same as running her over with a space shuttle at maximum speed. She probably died instantly at the point of ______. He's going to owe this poor girl's family an apology and a big fat compensation check. Oh, and ________ face jail time. Doctors have to carry liability insurance just in case they make a mistake and hurt their patients. I wonder how much _________ _________ policy would cost. Now, which superpower physics ______ will you _______ next? ________ body size and content, super speed, ______, _____ strength, immortality, and invisibility.

Solution

flight
speed
nearest
sudden
bullet
friction
miles
takes
stops
destroy
lesson
damage
crash
objects
worse
insurance
carries
staying
turning
buildings
deals
faster
sticks
distance
motion
impact
suffer
driver
shifting
beautiful
warms
super
times
apollo
elements
explore
possibly
superhero

Original Text

Some superheros can move faster than the wind. The men in Apollo 10 reached a record-breaking speed of around 25,000 miles per hour when the shuttle re-entered the Earth's atmosphere in 1969. Wouldn't we save a lot of time to be able to move that fast? But what's the catch? Air is not empty. Elements like oxygen and nitrogen, even countless dust particles, make up the air around us. When we move past these things in the air, we're rubbing against them and creating a lot of friction, which results in heat. Just like rubbing your hands together warms them up or rubbing two sticks together makes fire, the faster objects rub together, the more heat is generated. So, if we're running at 25,000 miles per hour, the heat from friction would burn our faces off. Even if we somehow withstood the heat, the sand and dirt in the air would still scrape us up with millions of tiny cuts all happening at the same time. Ever seen the front bumper or grill of a truck? What do you think all the birds and bugs would do to your open eyes or exposed skin? Okay, so you'll wear a mask to avoid destroying your face. But what about people in buildings between you and your destination? It takes us approximately one-fifth of a second to react to what we see. By the time we see what is ahead of us and react to it - time times velocity equals distance equals one-fifth of a second times 25,000 miles per hour equals 1.4 miles - we would have gone past it or through it by over a mile. We're either going to kill ourselves by crashing into the nearest wall at super speed or, worse, if we're indestructible, we've essentially turned our bodies into missiles that destroy everything in our path. So, long distance travel at 25,000 miles per hour would leave us burning up, covered in bugs, and leaves no time to react. What about short bursts to a location we can see with no obstacles in between? Okay, let's say a bullet is about to hit a beautiful damsel in distress. So, our hero swoops in at super speed, grabs her, and carries her to safety. That sounds very romantic, but, in reality, that girl will probably suffer more damage from the hero than the bullet if he moved her at super speed. Newton's First Law of Motion deals with inertia, which is the resistance to a change in its state of motion. So, an object will continue moving or staying at the same place unless something changes it. Acceleration is the rate the velocity changes over time. When the girl at rest, velocity equals zero miles per hour, begins accelerating to reach the speed within seconds, velocity increases rapidly to 25,000 miles per hour, her brain would crash into the side of her skull. And, when she stops suddenly, velocity decreases rapidly back to zero miles per hour, her brain would crash into the other side of her skull, turning her brain into mush. The brain is too fragile to handle the sudden movement. So is every part of her body, for that matter. Remember, it's not the speed that causes the damage because the astronauts survived Apollo 10, it's the acceleration or sudden stop that causes our internal organs to crash into the front of our bodies the way we move forward in a bus when the driver slams on the brakes. What the hero did to the girl is mathematically the same as running her over with a space shuttle at maximum speed. She probably died instantly at the point of impact. He's going to owe this poor girl's family an apology and a big fat compensation check. Oh, and possibly face jail time. Doctors have to carry liability insurance just in case they make a mistake and hurt their patients. I wonder how much superhero insurance policy would cost. Now, which superpower physics lesson will you explore next? Shifting body size and content, super speed, flight, super strength, immortality, and invisibility.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
velocity equals	2
super speed	2

Important Words

accelerating
acceleration
air
apollo
apology
approximately
astronauts
atmosphere
avoid
beautiful
begins
big
birds
bodies
body
brain
brakes
bugs
buildings
bullet
bumper
burn
burning
bursts
bus
carries
carry
case
catch
change
check
compensation
content
continue
cost
countless
covered
crash
crashing
creating
cuts
damage
damsel
deals
decreases
destination
destroy
destroying
died
dirt
distance
distress
doctors
driver
dust
elements
empty
equals
essentially
explore
exposed
eyes
face
faces
family
fast
faster
fat
fire
flight
fragile
friction
front
generated
girl
grabs
grill
handle
hands
happening
heat
hero
hit
hour
hurt
immortality
impact
increases
indestructible
inertia
instantly
insurance
internal
invisibility
jail
kill
law
leave
leaves
lesson
liability
location
long
lot
mask
mathematically
matter
maximum
men
mile
miles
millions
missiles
mistake
motion
move
moved
movement
moving
mush
nearest
nitrogen
object
objects
obstacles
open
organs
owe
oxygen
part
particles
path
patients
people
physics
place
point
policy
poor
possibly
rapidly
rate
reach
reached
react
reality
remember
resistance
rest
results
romantic
rub
rubbing
running
safety
sand
save
scrape
seconds
shifting
short
shuttle
side
size
skin
skull
slams
sounds
space
speed
state
staying
sticks
stop
stops
strength
sudden
suddenly
suffer
super
superhero
superheros
superpower
survived
swoops
takes
time
times
tiny
travel
truck
turned
turning
velocity
wall
warms
wear
wind
withstood
worse