279
Which is it Lemmy?
(thelemmy.club)
Ragebait answers only
A
B.
Momentum/velocity is not an intrinsic property of an object, it is a relative property between two objects in a frame of reference.
Behind the yellow portal is the part of the universe where the blue portal is. The yellow portal, and therefore the space where the blue portal is, has momentum relative to the cube.
Put yourself in the frame of reference of the cube. You see the yellow portal come toward you. Imagine there are objects on the other side of that portal. You see those objects rush toward you through the portal. Why would the objects just stop dead when you came through the portal? (If they did just stop, it would be as though you hit a wall, and you wouldn't actually go through the portal at all.)
Ragebait aside the answer is B.
If you had a table with a cylinder, with a ping pong ball in it, and a circular weight dropped around the top of the cylinder that hits the table, the ping pong ball will bounce due to the forces of the weight hitting the table. Enough energy would be transferred through the impact, that would cause the ball to seemingly jump up in the cylinder.
Physics are weird.
nice ragebait answer, but I'm not falling for it
I'd say a mix of both. There's inertia, but there's also the gravitational force when the cube gets to the other side.
Portals don’t stay on moving platforms.
But if they did, it would be A as the cube itself has no momentum.
WHAT DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND ABOUT RAGEBAIT. ANSWERS. ONLY.
Except that one time when you use portals to cut the neurotoxin pipes.
Yeah, but those are moving from side to side. To my recollection, you never see a portal in a wall that’s moving in a direction that’s perpendicular to the plane it’s in.
I choose A because that would mean I could use the portal to fuck myself in the ass easier.
Trying to conceptualize what that would be like is making my head hurt.
You would need the portal panties to make it work. Portal A would be on a wall, or whatever object you want to thrust towards, and Portal B would be on the panties aimed at your opening. When you thrust forward at portal A, it would exit Portal B, and since Portal B is stationary (panties are magical, yo) to your opening, the pillar would rise from the portal and enter the opening.
I hadn't considered panties, but I was thinking about how you'd just be chasing yer pecker around trying to back up on that thing.
It's like Zeno's arrow, but kinky.
Of all the days to be literate....
...
I'm glad this is one of them
Let's make sure you feel the same about your eyes: https://e621.net/pools/20220
"Plop"
A if it's a cube. B if it's beans.
Edit: Obligatory bean tax
Since nobody seemingly posted link to this absolute ... Idk, gold? It's about actually simulating space(-time?) with portals: https://youtube.com/@optozorax_en I see offspec's comment is mentioning the guy, yeah. Tldr answer is complicated. ...
Ah, ragebait answers only. Ugh, worm! Arrrr! I am so angry roar grrrr.
Fuck that's a cool channel, holy moly. Thanks dawg!
If we're only supposed to do ragebait answers, then anyone who passed 3rd grade science would be able to tell you the answer is obviously B
If you actually played the game, and paid attention in physics class in highschool, then you would know the answer is clearly A, and everyone who says it is B really needed the simplified explanation from GLaDOS to understand how to play the game.
Ragebait successful. College physics here. The only correct answer is B. You can only get A if the box is securely anchored to the pillar then released after the portal stops.
I love the games, but you can't trust a game physics engine to properly track what's going to happen with moving and especially accelerating portals. They (usually) track an entire object from one reference point against one absolute world grid.
Think of a portal as moving a plane of particles from one location to another. An entire object passing through a portal is just a bunch of successive planes being moved. One particle plane entering the portal plane on one side must displace the previous particle plane at the same rate on the exit side. Therefore, an object's speed through a portal must remain consistent relative to the portal on both sides, and with nothing to magically cancel that inertia, that motion will continue even after the object has completely left the portal.
Incorrect. The answer is A, and here is why.
GLaDOS specifically states "Momentum, a function of mass and velocity, is conserved between portals." If scenario B was correct (which it is not) then if the portal was put on an object lighter than the box and then quickly moved over the box, the box would be launched at a speed equal to the speed of the lighter object, while it has more mass, this is not a conservation of momentum.
The best way to explain movement through portals is that momentum is only conserved from a perspective that encompasses all of the objects involved, this is true for regular physics as well actually. Consider this, what if the portal was shoved very quickly over the box down to it's halfway point? The obvious answer is that the box would only appear halfway out of the other portal, but if you subscribe to the "logic" that leads to answer B, then the box is actually sucked up by the portal, while the actual logical and intuitive answer is that only half the box sticks out of the portal, and it stays where it was placed.
Portals aren't objects, they don't have mass, or even a velocity, they are a shortcut in space, and that was what GLaDOS was explaining when she said that momentum was conserved. Although B seems to initially make sense, it is not correct from a game lore perspective, nor from an actual physical perspective.
It's not about whether portals have mass or not. It's about the box's velocity relative to the space on the other side of the portal. In the game, as you move toward a portal, you also move toward the objects on the other side of the portal. Therefore you have velocity relative to those objects, and that's the momentum that is conserved as you pass through.
Well, the box's velocity relative to the space on the other side of the portal is 0, so that is why it does move.
The best way to explain movement through portals is that momentum is only conserved from a perspective that encompasses all of the objects involved...
That's what this statement means.
If momentum is conserved then neither A or B is correct, the box should be an infinity thin sheet. If the portal is half way through the box if it maintains it's thickness the box has to be moving at the speed of the portal out of it.
Except it's not moving out of the portal, the portal is moving over the box. I get it when people say that it doesn't matter if the portal is moving, or of the box is moving, and they are right, up to a point. As soon as you need to account for the movement on the other side of the portal, you have to include that space in your frame of reference, and relative to that space, the velocity of the box is 0.
As I explained here...
The best way to explain movement through portals is that momentum is only conserved from a perspective that encompasses all of the objects involved, this is true for regular physics as well actually.
load more comments
(1 replies)
I don't know enough about space-time. Does distorting space transfer energy to the matter in that space? How about time? I think it must be A, out of the options.
Otherwise the future of man is less 'sustained ftl travel', and more 'giant space slingshot'.
"speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out."
So stationary thing goes in, stationary thing comes out.
Speedy or stationary relative to what?
To the portal if course. That's why it comes out speedy at the other end.
load more comments
(2 replies)
This is clearly an unbirth scenario and the A and B things are unrelated. Either way, your baby is companion cube and GladOs is the father.
Thanks for coming to my Ted X talk.
This was answered decades ago
load more comments
(5 replies)
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 26 Jul 2026
279 points (97.0% liked)
Lemmy Shitpost
41034 readers
3934 users here now
Welcome to Lemmy Shitpost. Here you can shitpost to your hearts content.
Anything and everything goes. Memes, Jokes, Vents and Banter. Though we still have to comply with lemmy.world instance rules. So behave!
Rules:
1. Be Respectful
Refrain from using harmful language pertaining to a protected characteristic: e.g. race, gender, sexuality, disability or religion.
Refrain from being argumentative when responding or commenting to posts/replies. Personal attacks are not welcome here.
...
2. No Illegal Content
Content that violates the law. Any post/comment found to be in breach of common law will be removed and given to the authorities if required.
That means:
-No promoting violence/threats against any individuals
-No CSA content or Revenge Porn
-No sharing private/personal information (Doxxing)
...
3. No Spam
Posting the same post, no matter the intent is against the rules.
-If you have posted content, please refrain from re-posting said content within this community.
-Do not spam posts with intent to harass, annoy, bully, advertise, scam or harm this community.
-No posting Scams/Advertisements/Phishing Links/IP Grabbers
-No Bots, Bots will be banned from the community.
...
4. No Porn/Explicit
Content
-Do not post explicit content. Lemmy.World is not the instance for NSFW content.
-Do not post Gore or Shock Content.
...
5. No Enciting Harassment,
Brigading, Doxxing or Witch Hunts
-Do not Brigade other Communities
-No calls to action against other communities/users within Lemmy or outside of Lemmy.
-No Witch Hunts against users/communities.
-No content that harasses members within or outside of the community.
...
6. NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.
-Content that is NSFW should be behind NSFW tags.
-Content that might be distressing should be kept behind NSFW tags.
...
If you see content that is a breach of the rules, please flag and report the comment and a moderator will take action where they can.
Also check out:
Partnered Communities:
1.Memes
10.LinuxMemes (Linux themed memes)
Reach out to
All communities included on the sidebar are to be made in compliance with the instance rules. Striker
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS