Weakness moxibustion versus physics

[Crescent Pulsar S]

Okay, so, despite being "weaker than a baby," Ranma can still move fast and jump high. Hitting someone in the face is somehow almost completely negated in its effect, while the reverse situation proves to be the complete opposite. Now, while there are a few discrepancies regarding this (like lifting a boulder over his head, being punched into a wall and caving it in, keeping a hold of Akane while inside of the tornado, and being hit by various objects while in said tornado), I think I can get away with sweeping those under the rug rather than address them.

There's an idea that I have, regarding a certain aspect of the soul of ice training. Before that, however, I'm not all that literate in the ways of physics, and I want to know if there's any real differences in applied forces. For instance, is there a difference between the forces being exerted when jumping and when an object impacts with another object? Is Ranma's ability to move fast and jump high, yet not apply the forces involved normally elsewhere, some kind of trick involving the transference of inertia?

[Cheb]

The moxibustion is a total BS from physics point of view. No viable explanation lies that way.

I tend to view it as the victim's ki reinforcement being hacked and scrambled so that it works on themselves inside the body but gives opposite effect when interacting with other people's ki. Instead making the effect of a hit 10 times stronger against what physics allow, it makes it 10 times weaker.

Either way, there's enough reality warping to make the laws of physics cry in the corner.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

Well, the real question that I was asking was in regard to the physics side of things. I want to know how certain things work before I even attempt the attempt to explain how some moxibustion thing manages to mess with it.

[Cheb]

can still move fast and jump high.

That answers the question. If he is strong enough to move himself (50+kg) fast then he is strong enough to punch hard.
Because most of the strike power is inertia of your limb you had accelerated to high speed.
So, no. Laws of physics do not allow for someone who hits like a baby and weighs like Ranma to even walk freely, much less to jump.

Only reality warping by ki could allow that

[Crescent Pulsar S]

So, between jumping and punching, the forces involved are the same? Just making sure so I know how to apply the moxibustion's effects.

[Cheb]

Its moving your body or parts thereof with high acceleration that results from significant forces. Weakness = unable to move your body or its parts with any significant acceleration = no jumping.

Research how weakness works IRL, I can't hold your hand all the time.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

Yeah, thanks for being condescending about the part that wasn't an issue. I know what weakness is. I know that Ranma's weakness under the moxibustion's effects is conditional, not thorough or normal. Hence, I just wanted to understand the physics aspect by itself, so I can come up with an explanation for why the moxibustion affects him in the manner that it does. Really, if I'd gotten a straight "yes" or "no" to my first question, I probably could have worked with that.

That aside, I suppose I have enough to work with now.

[Cheb]

Yeah, thanks for being condescending about the part that wasn't an issue.

I apologize, but really the principles are so simple that it begins to feel like you either A) too lazy to research such a simple topic on your own B) are trolling us, getting your kicks from making us do meaningless research -- which sadly isn't uncommon in the Internets.
I apologize again, but I have zero tolerance towards trolls.

I just wanted to understand the physics aspect by itself,

It's really not much more that Newton's Second and Third Laws https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_laws_of_motion
There's really no way to manifest the effect shown in manga without raping the F=ma formula.
Either the weakness works as the RL weakness, with Ranma barely able to move, or something fiddles with the Laws of motion. I already provided my opinion of what that could be: the ki strenghtening effect being reversed.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

They may be simple, but I'm simpler. Or, rather, I'm wired differently. Or both, I guess. I usually try to learn these things on my own first (if I know what to look for), but that method doesn't work well for me, and stuff goes in one ear and out the other (if they go in at all, that is). I dropped out of high school, lived a life where just about everything I learned was unneeded, and now I can't do anything more than addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. None too well, I imagine. To sum it up: I'm stupid.

[Cheb]

lived a life where just about everything I learned was unneeded,

95% of what learned in school is unneeded. I view physics and mathematics as PE for the brain: while the knowledge itself would likely never be needed, it's vital for proper leveling up.
If you have that INT stat, looking up a reference is a matter of minutes.

, and now I can't do anything more than addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. None too well, I imagine.

I too. But as I work in software developing (even as lowly as php for web) I suppose it helped me keep my form :/

[Crescent Pulsar S]

I can't say that I have much of an INT stat. I can use my reasoning ability with language, so I can make it sound like I know what I'm talking about, but actually understanding something beyond fact (which you can just use for trivia) is another story.

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

I learned physics and calculus. Boy, did I learn them. Haven't used them formally that much, but the habits of thought they cultivate are worthwhile. It's like they used to say about Latin.

[Spica75]

They may be simple, but I'm simpler. Or, rather, I'm wired differently. Or both, I guess. I usually try to learn these things on my own first (if I know what to look for), but that method doesn't work well for me, and stuff goes in one ear and out the other (if they go in at all, that is). I dropped out of high school, lived a life where just about everything I learned was unneeded, and now I can't do anything more than addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. None too well, I imagine. To sum it up: I'm stupid.

Stupid? Nope. If you were you wouldn´t be able to reason logically as well as you do.

I can't say that I have much of an INT stat. I can use my reasoning ability with language, so I can make it sound like I know what I'm talking about, but actually understanding something beyond fact (which you can just use for trivia) is another story.

You can´t "fake it" well if you´re stupid or understand nothing of it. Trust me when i say that that shows, often very blatantly.

[Crescent Pulsar S]

But people can be stupid without it affecting them across the board. Some people are only good at a few things, and others don't seem to have much of a learning curve or ability for this or that thing. :O

I learned physics and calculus. Boy, did I learn them. Haven't used them formally that much, but the habits of thought they cultivate are worthwhile. It's like they used to say about Latin.

What habits of thought? And what did they say about Latin? That it was a dead language?

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

What habits of thought? And what did they say about Latin? That it was a dead language?

What habits of thought? Oh my, I've not had to output this, ever. But I'll try.

First off, there's numeracy. It's like literacy, but with numbers. It's things like looking at income and outgo, and deciding whether the situation is sustainable. It means looking at rates of change, and rates of change of the rate of change. (Think position, velocity, acceleration.) It's seeing how rapidly a rate of interest will get you into trouble (or into green pastures).

Most of all, it's an appreciation for powers of ten -- the way they can affect the quality of the situation as well as the magnitude. My favorite illustration of that assumes somebody (call him Fred) is a creative artisan.

One year Fred thinks of something really neat. He goes into the shop, makes it during the course of an evening, and gives it to Bill as a Christmas present.

Well, Tom, Dick, and Harriet -- and others -- see that present. They want one. Ten of them are willing to pay. So next year, Fred gathers the material, does the work over some November evenings -- ten of them -- and hands them over. He counts up the money and decides that was a nice bit of work.

It continues. The next year, a hundred people are willing to pay for one. Fred looks at the money, looks at burning up a hundred evenings, goes out and buys special tools to help him do the job. He burns up fifty evenings. The money is nice, and he likes the tools, but this is getting to be a bit much. It's turning into a lifestyle change.

The next year, a thousand people show up waving money. Fred looks at them, and gulps. This is way too much, he thinks. But he looks at all that money. He goes out, rents a larger workspace, and hires a couple of his buddies on a piecework basis. They work hard, and manage to do the job, but their regular jobs suffer because they're exhausted. Their boss starts frowning at them.

Ten thousand customers show up. Fred and his friends quit their regular jobs and start a business. It's a total lifestyle change for them.

And all because ten people saw something, and wanted it. Four years in a row. That's only four powers of ten. It's the difference between having a dollar bill and having ten thousand dollars.

Now apply your appreciation of powers of ten to the federal deficit. A trillion dollars is twelve powers of ten, and we owe over ten of them. How much of a lifestyle change could happen to the USA because of thirteen powers of ten?

And if you think that's bad, start looking at astronomical weights and distances.

So far, I've only failed to consider this once. I had to print, mount, and hang about a hundred pieces of copy in our museum. "Piece of cake," I thought. "Once the mounting press warms up, I can do it in a minute." I ended up pulling an all-nighter over two powers of ten.

And that's why numeracy is important. Latin isn't quite as dead as one might think. Much scientific nomenclature is created by hammering pieces of Latin and Greek together into terminology. (It's consider bad form to hammer a piece of Latin together with a piece of Greek.)

The "habits of thought" comment comes from an earlier day, when you weren't considered educated unless you could read Latin. I'm glad those days are gone, but in my case Latin was replaced by Fortran. I'm not sure what languages coders are using today, because that keeps changing. This is another great advantage of Latin: it holds still. If you learned Latin long ago, it's still the same Latin today. Fortran cannot make that claim.