"A falling knife has no handle." Does that mean the handle teleports?
Posted Feb 15, 2017, 11:56 PM UTC
63
Kind of. You see because of air resistance the blade part falls first and the handle falls after due to the amount of air particles slowing it down.
1
Therefore, you must attempt to grab the blade of the knife, because it will fall faster than you can thrust your hands towards it, which gives the handle time to reach your hand, but not the blade. You must reach for the blade as fast as you can however, because the time difference is quite small. This is only if you're trying to catch it, of course.
1
No. When a knife starts falling, it goes into a superposition of all possible angles and speeds of rotation. Half of these angles will be towards you so you will be half-cut by the knife, and it will be as bad as being cut fully because the knife is half-spinning. Half plus half equals full.
A falling knife does have a handle, but you will only half-grab it, and you will be cut fully.