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[–] 173 points 2 months ago (15 children)

Erosion is largely done by sediment being transported by the water I believe. The same principle is used in cutting water jets, it isnt the water pressure that cuts things, the water is a medium for abrasive materials

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  • [–] 39 points 2 months ago (8 children)

    This is also how they cut rocks in ancient egypt I believe? Not with water, mind you, but would use a pretty mediocre if not useless saw but would drop sand in there, so it was actually the sand cutting the rock

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  • [–] 31 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    This is also how they cut rocks in ancient egypt

    I'm tired of this human-centric revisionist history. It completely devalues the contributions of hard working aliens.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Yep! The would use a saw that often had a blade made of string, like a bow, but would but gritty, sandy water in the hole they were cutting to slowly grind it away. I think they would also use “dull” copper saws (don’t quote me on that one though)

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago

    I think water by itself can randomly break a few loosely bound atoms off the surface of anything. But the rate of that dissolution is dwarfed by the wear effects of the sediment being transported by the water, which is the primary material remover.

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  • [+] -9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 child)

    As my compatriot elucidated, when we were wee morons of damn near adult age, "I could keep stabbing this pole with this piece of metal, and after many eons of stabbing, this pole would come down!"

    I may just hallucinated . actually that young man graduated and went on.

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  • [–] 94 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    Eventually, water always wins. But that eventually can take a lot longer than we have patience for

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  • [–] 28 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    Given enough time, same water would carve the tiles around the drain.

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  • [–] 18 points 2 months ago (3 children)

    The hair though, that remains.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Envisioning a pretty nasty post-apocalypse sci-fi movie here... Title ideas? 'The Hair That Remains' 'Hair For Eternity' etc

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  • [–] 27 points 2 months ago

    Just give it a few thousand years.

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  • [–] 26 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    Hair is pretty tough, just see how easily it dulls steel blades

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  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago*

    I think micro-rusting does the damage here. I oiled a cheap disposable-head razor after every use and the blades were still sharp enough over a year later when the rubber/silicone flex point (hinge?) fell apart.

    Sneaky bastards had to specifically add in that part that was vulnerable to oil.

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  • [–] 24 points 2 months ago

    It'll make its way through. Just give it a few thousand years

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  • [–] 8 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    New rock paper scissors just dropped. Rock Water Hair.

    Hair blocks water. Rock breaks hair. Water cuts rock.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    Thousands to millions of years vs a few weekends, it's about the same right?

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago*

    The thing is, hair is way stronger against erosion than rocks.

    You need bacteria, or to cook it in some geothermal activity. Otherwise, even if you gave them the same time, the results would still be similar.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 months ago

    It's amazing how little hair it can take sometimes, too.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    Pour 5 gallons into the Grand Canyon, and you'd get about the same effect.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago

    because how much force the water is hitting it matters, you can just cut your drainage pipe in half if you use those water blades.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 months ago (1 child)

    I guess it's because of the water force. Water tend to has stronger force in nature place than in a pipe.

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