289
Can we settle this: how many holes does a straw have?
(lemmy.world)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
289 points (94.5% liked)
Ask Lemmy
26665 readers
1347 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com.
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
1 'hole' if you can call it that. Imagine if the straw started life as a solid cylinder and you had to bore out the inside to turn it into a straw: if that were the case, you would drill 1 hole all the way through it.
Another analogy is a donut. Would you agree that a donut has just 1 hole? I would say yes. Now stretch that donut vertically untill you have a giant cylinder with a hole in the middle. That's basically now just a straw. The fact you stretched it doesn't increase the number of holes it has.
What if you bored from both ends of the cylinder until they meet in the middle?
There would be two holes until, at the moment of contact, it becomes one?
Does the method with which the straw shaft is created influence the number of holes it has?
No, topologically there would be no holes until the moment of contact. This is the same as there being no hole when drilling through from only one side until the surface on the opposing side is broken.
So how does one “dig a hole?” Straight to China? Or whatever is opposite of you?
Topologically, yes. Buy you could also go down a bit, make a lateral tunnel, then pop back up.
So what you are saying is, if I dig a hole that doesn't go anywhere, then that's not really a hole?
Topologically, yes. Coincidentally, "Hole to Nowhere" is the best Talking Heads parody album.
Heh I will have to check that out!
In topology, yes. It must go through to count.
That's fascinating. So most of what I would call "holes" are what, in topographical terms, hollows? Depressions?
I don't even know if they have a name for that since it can simply be undone by stretching the object, which is allowed under topological rules.