JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
Here’s an interesting collection of bits that I just came across in the October 18, 1883 issue of Nature, showing the speed of things. Some of the examples are quite charming, showing the velocities for an “ordinary wind”, a “fresh breeze”, “a race horse trotting an English mile”, “flight of a falcon”, “flight of one of the swiftest birds”, and “a tempest”; others show the speeds of things that are quite antique, like the velocity of “a cannon ball”, and “an express train travelling at 60 kph”. Then of course we get into the high velocity astronomical examples, all brought to a close by the speed of light. I like the list, and so I share it here:
