Doomsday
The Planets Zylon, Tylon and Fylon moved in a circular orbit around the dwarf star Celion, with orbital period of three, four and two earth years respectively. In the year 2001, the four celestial bodies all lies along the straight line.
The next such event would cause a doomsday for these planets. When do you think this will happen.
The next such event would cause a doomsday for these planets. When do you think this will happen.
Labels: friday special, thinktank
posted by Rajesh Lal at
3:45 PM
11 Comments:
12 years
if order isn't important then it's only six years...
in 2001 it would be
Z T F C
in 2007 it would be
Z F C T
in 2013 it would be back to
Z T F C
December 21, 2012
The world will end!
In 2013
Each year the planets move, respectivily,
120 degrees
90 degrees
180 degrees
Each year, add their degrees,
subtracting 360 if equal or more
than 360.
Starting in 2001
0
0
0
2002
120
90
180
2003
240
180
0
2004
0
270
180
2005
120
0
0
2006
240
90
180
2007
0
180
0
2008
120
270
180
2009
240
0
0
2010
0
90
180
2011
120
180
0
2012
240
270
180
2013
0
0
0
Oops, they aligned in 12 years, just like the first one to reply said.
hjg
whoevers writte this shoud larns to rite the englishs
Actually, if you look at hjg's computation for 2007 you will note that two of the planets are back where they started (0 degrees) but one is actually on the opposite side of the star. Thus, at that point, as Tom in AK pointed out all FOUR bodies are actually aligned in a straight line.
Thus, since 2007 has already come and gone none of these planets or their poor inhabitants are around anymore and they will therefore NOT line up again in 2013.
Now, given that the problem does not require that ALL the planets actually return to their original positions you will also note that there is no requirement that ANY of them (except the star) be in their original positions for the Doomsday Event to be triggered.
So, could there be a better solution where they line up on a line, say 45-degrees offset from the original line?
-h
it will never happen again because doomsday has already happened in 2001 when all planets were aligned.
Ahh... but the problem indicated the "next" alignment would cause the "problem". Now, assume that the catastrophe will occur when all planets are aligned on one side of the star - because the gravitational influence of all those planets on the star would just HAVE to cause great distress to the star (otherwise all those alignment theories go right out the window). Then one might suspect that in 2001 the planets were NOT actually all on one side of the start but Zylon was actually directly opposite the other two planets. If this were the case then 6 years later, in 2007, all the planets would be aligned on the same side of the star and ... pffft! EOWAWKI - End of the world as we know it...
-h
As pointed out already, Tom in AK has the correct answer. As we are not told that they have to be in their original positions then we can assume it is correct.
hagar - we would need to know which direction they orbit in before we can answer if there will be another alignment at a different angle.
Changing the direction of the orbit, does not change things in this particular case. You can change one or two of them to be negative orbits, and the result does not change.
hjg
ok i know im totally wrong but i guessed that it would be in 27 years (3x3+4x3+3x2) so in the year 2028
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