Physics question (slightly off-topic)

CronoDAS

There's probably a better place to ask this question, but I don't know what it is. That being said...

Which will go further if a batter manages to hit it with a baseball bat: a baseball thrown to the batter at 90 miles per hour or one thrown at 60 miles per hour?

There's probably a better place to ask this question, but I don't know what it is. That being said...

Which will go further if a batter manages to hit it with a baseball bat: a baseball thrown to the batter at 90 miles per hour or one thrown at 60 miles per hour?

Meta-comment: I know that the question is trivial and this isn't a physics discussion board, but still am surprised by the number of downvotes. I am interested in the voters' reasons. Is it OK to ask for an advice concerning diet, headaches or car purchase, but not physics? Why is that?

Notice: The post has been at -5 at one moment, the comment reflects that state. If its long-term karma is positive or zero, the implicit hypothesis in my question - i.e. that people are downvoting questions about physics more than questions about headaches - may not be true.

Meta-comment: I know that the question is trivial and this isn't a physics discussion board, but still am surprised by the number of downvotes. I am interested in the voters' reasons. Is it OK to ask for an advice concerning diet, headaches or car purchase, but not physics? Why is that?

I notice the post has dragged itself back up to the positive. Your comment has something to do with that. :)

0Paul Crowley15y

Because physics is something traditional rationalists already do well at?

6DanArmak15y

I didn't downvote, but might have if there hadn't already been enough downvotes when I arrived. The relevant difference, for me, is that this question is not just trivial but is in a well-settled field. Classical mechanics is an idealized, fully specified model. There's no special reason to apply rationality to it or to ask LWers. Even a very difficult mechanics question would be off topic on LW and better placed on a physics forum, IMO. In contrast, diet and medicine are two famously unsettled and contentious fields and LW posters constantly use them as examples of topics humanity needs more/better info on, examples of failures of the mainstream science process, etc. After LWers tell me a randomly chosen dietologist is unlikely to help, it makes sense to ask on LW about diet. The car purchase question is at least about human behavior, so answers might have pointed out biases / irrationality in proposed solutions. I think it should have been posted in Discussion, though. I propose this guideline: if your post is a question and comments provide answers, how likely is it that future readers will benefit from having this content on the site? In my view, much more probable with the diet question than with the mechanics questions.