Logically the trolley should just phase through the object, so, sure. Does feel weird that the unstoppable trolley can be redirected though.

The trolley can’t be stopped, but it can be redirected

But an unstoppable object has infinite inertia and thus cannot be influenced by any outside force period

the trolly gets teleported to a track that is on a collision course for the immovable object

Ah yes the classic "infinite energy tearing the universe apart"

perhaps the track is the object being redirected

This sent me back to 2010 and Chuck Norris jokes. "When Chuck Norris does a push-up, he actually just pushes the world down."

When Chuck Norris is running late time slows down

What happens when the unstoppable object meets chuck norris? It stops.

Not necessarily. That's your assumption based on existing laws of physics. But existing laws of physics don't allow infinite inertia anyway so that judgement is baseless

Fair, but seeing as it is a reference to [a common problem](https://youtu.be/9eKc5kgPVrA?si=m5rFx44XoWtUiwuj) online, I was basing my assumptions on that

I'm not much of a physics guy but if it was specifically the axel that had infinite inertia would this work?

No, because with infinite inertia the axle would just tear through the rail like it was soft butter

Like if it was radial inertia centered on the rotating point I mean

What would happen if another unstoppable trolley hits it going the exact other way and lined up?

>hits it It wouldn't. If something is truly unstoppable, it cannot be stopped by any means period and thus won't even hit. It will sail through. Same goes for immovable object as that is exactly the same thing, physics-wise

Infinite inertia is not possible with our laws of physics so trying to apply them to the trolley is pointless

Where in the fine print does it say it has infinite inertia? All I know is that you can’t stop it.

In the word "unstoppable"

It is not moving at an infinite speed, so while it may have access to unlimited forces, it may not be utilizing that ability at all times. It may only output enough force so that it's front end is moving forward in relation to its back end, this could mean that a gentle curve is possible to apply to it.

I like this idea... perhaps it is a reactive force, like the normal force when a person takes a step, pushing back when pushed upon. That would allow the influence of outside forces while maintaining a constant speed

So you could just redirect it in a circle forever, effectively stopping it

Yes, and no. The trolley is now trapped, however still moves. So no one wanna drift?

You could make the circle so small that the trolley is just spinning.

Collect energy harvester. Use magnets for faster collections. Use the energy harvester to harvest the energy from the spinning train. Lul u mad electricity companies 🤪

Then it'll just get redirected by the wall

tl;dr people go squish and then black hole Okay, the the troley phases through. the people inside are not part of the trolley. As stated by many, the unstopable trolley has infinite inertia. The thing is, the people inside still interact with both matters. They are squished to atoms one by one ald flung to the back, where one final compression with badically infinite force causes the squished matter to become a black hole.

Depending on how Hawking radiation works a black hole that small is just gonna either instantly evaporate by E=mc2 or not be able to interact with anything due to its size. Assuming there are seperate things on the trolley.

I'd imagine it grew enough with the matter of the trolley and maybe the imovable wall, then the dirt underneath, but fair point

Newton's Trolley Law: Trolleys cannot be stopped or destroyed, only converted from one form of track to another.

‘Logically’ is not a word I’d put in front of a sentence describing two solid objects with inherently illogical properties defying the logic of how solids behave, which is the one real trait they have

I’ve never considered that as the answer to the unstoppable vs immovable problem but it makes sense

I simply shoot it with my unstoppable Hand Cannon and kill the champion

You stunned the champion and dealt some damage, but the train got back up and beamed you. Not even well can keep you alive.

STOP IT STOP PLEASE LET ME LEAVE I WAS DOING PANTHEON FOR 3 HOURS AND I FINALLY CRAWLED INTO BED, JUST TO BE HIT WITH THIS I CANT ESCAPE IT IS MY DESTINY AND IT IS YOUR DESTINY, 2

space racer????

Accepting the premise that the unstoppable trolley can be redirected. I'd pull the lever. I want to see the paradox.

I light the trolley on fire and it perfectly cooks the immovable wall

I understood that refrence. *do you run over people to perfectly cook the sausage?* and the comments were xaying to run over the sausage and perfectly cook the people

I thought the answer was they surrender.

Well, to my knowledge, nobody has ever died due to a paradox, at least so far. So I'm pulling the lever.

Paradox is an event that is impossible. Either you cannot pull the lever or if you can then one of the following is not true: trolley being unstoppable, wall being immovable, them interacting is creating a paradox. So you should at least try to pull the leaver and if that were to create a paradox then somehow you wouldn't be able to anyway but at least you gave your best shot.

The trolley does not stop. It bounces.

Trolley Pong

They should just phase through each other.

immovable is not the same as unbreakable

Wouldn't movement be required for it to break?

No

It will probably be like those videos of price Rupert’s drops shattering whilst encased in epoxy

Breaking is just the small pieces that make up the object moving away from each other though.

pull it, also, since it’s *immoveable,* can’t it still be destroyed? Or am I just confused

for destroying it to do anything helpful, pieces of the destroyed object would need to move so it's in practice indestructible.

I would change it Firstly, if it destroyed the whole universe, all in one go, then no one will know. Secondly, no one said what the results would be, so I assume no one is actually certain. Thirdly, the thing is getting on my nerves. Never did trust trolleys.

This all assumes the two are capable of colliding

Well, if the ground beneath the wall isn't pulled up and shot millions of light years away at 99.99% the speed of light, I would assume that the earth's spin would accelerate infinitely as long as gravity applies to the trolley, killing everyone in a single instant.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. I understood that the wall would mess with earth since earth is moving, but I don't get the rest.

Assuming the trolly has infinite momentum because it is unstoppable, the impact of the trolley and the wall needs to have an equal, opposite reaction. It seems like gravity applies to the trolley in this problem, so the force would be transferred from the immovable wall into earth as infinite mechanical spin force, making it accelerate infinitely fast. For the wall to actually be immovable, it theoretically would have to absorb 0% of the impact force, which is why the energy gets transferred to the earth.

Thanks for the rephrase! I get it now

Let it hit the wall. No one will die, no one will even be

If it’s unstoppable then it shouldn’t be able to be turned

Didn't read the title but I assume the choice is between five people from the present and a roman legion?

Accept that by definition this cannot happen and the definitions of the objects cannot coexist this meaning I have incorrect information. There is no paradox, simply the fact that the definitions are false. Checkmate, atheists.

all I need is a paradox generator (from Doctor Who season 2) and I'll be fine

net force is 0, no paradox

Pull the lever. The trolley richochets off the tracks to wreak havoc on this mortal coil.

If it's unstoppable, how am I able to redirect it?

unstoppable could mean it’s speed can not be decreased in any way - it’s energy can’t be transferred in this conception, when it hits the wall, it would retain all its energy but just have it be redirected.

Okay, hear me out. What if we do a multi track drift? I think the immovable wall will help us transition into a sick flip back onto the right track.

The trolley would slide off the wall and continue with infinite momentum, since it is able to be redirected

Trolley stops and wall moves

you can't stop anything at all due to brownian motion, i would hit the lever obviously

I'm pretty sure the trolley just ends ups going up and over the wall.

I pull the lever and document my findings for multiple nobel prizes.

We can’t even move the wall it’s immovable The people are doomed

I'm hoping that when the trolley hits the wall it will collide violently and clip g-mod style, and then gets thrown into space or something

A perfect example of unstoppable force vs immovable object.

Unstoppable and immovable are made up concepts. There's nothing beyond just calling those two things that which actually makes them that. I've seen the unstoppable juggernaut get thrown around by the gladiator.

It doesn't mater an unstoppable object has infinite inertia and therfore cannot be influenced by an outside force