• 418_im_a_teapot@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      Clockwise and counter-clockwise makes sense.

      But when you say “right” it’s not clear which side of the circle is being referenced. If the top of the circle is moving to the right, the bottom is moving left at the same time. So the saying only makes sense when you specify that you’re talking about the top of the circle.

      • pyre@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        you have to have never seen a steering wheel to not understand which side of the circle is being referenced. it’s always the top. who would even reference anything else and why.

        “turn it right”

        “which part???”

        “the middle of course, you absolute alien”

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          4 months ago

          I think we can all understand how it functions but that doesn’t make it “correct.” It’s spinning around a circle. Exactly half of its moving right as the other half moves left. That’s why we have the terms clockwise and counter-clockwise. If left and right were actually reasonable for something spinning in a circle this wouldn’t exist.

      • underisk@lemmy.ml
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        4 months ago

        Imagine it as if it were a track you were driving around, which way would you turn the wheel?

        • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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          4 months ago

          So you’re explaining rotation, in terms of a smaller imaginary rotation, which engages with imaginary traction wheels, which engage with the work to be turned?

          If that works for you, great, but it is complicated.

          • underisk@lemmy.ml
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            4 months ago

            No im trying to illustrate the parallels between how you turn the wheel, how the car turns in response to that , and how they are all related. You turn left you will make the exact same rotational movement, with both the vehicle, and the steering wheel.

            It’s as simple as, “What direction do you turn the wheel to make the car go left?” I just stacked on top “and also it makes the car itself do that same exact circular movement” so you don’t just dismiss this as some kind of arbitrary convention.

            • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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              4 months ago

              Oh, I see.

              Car steering wheels work that way because of the convention. Change the side that the steering column’s pinion meets the rack and the wheel would work the opposite way. From the mathematical perspective, there’s two ways to continuously map an arc of the steering wheel to an arc of the wheels, and since they aren’t in the same plane neither is “wrong”.

              • underisk@lemmy.ml
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                4 months ago

                i know you can make the wheel work the opposite way, jesus christ. the circle motion the path of the car makes when you turn left is the same as when you turn the wheel to the conventional left. imagine, instead you steered “left” by a joystick. the car would still draw the same circular path the same fucking way, because turning left makes an anticlockwise circle, every time, in every situation.

                • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
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                  4 months ago

                  Ah, so the car isn’t even important. You’re one of the people imagining standing on the screw. As long as you have a convention about which way is “up” on it, that does work.

                  • underisk@lemmy.ml
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                    4 months ago

                    You have to have a convention about Up to usefully describe a rotational direction at all. I don’t see how that’s relevant. Left implies an Up.

          • underisk@lemmy.ml
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            4 months ago

            If a steering wheel has you this perplexed then I beg you to never ever drive a vehicle.

            • crapwittyname@lemm.ee
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              4 months ago

              If you’re gripping the bottom of the wheel you move your hands left to make the car turn right. Which is kind of the whole problem here. Rotation around a centre doesn’t happen right or left. That’s the whole reason why the words “clockwise” and “anticlockwise” exist. Translation = right, left, up, down, forward, back. Rotation = clockwise, anticlockwise.

              • underisk@lemmy.ml
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                4 months ago

                If I ask you to turn the car left and you give me this speech I would eject from the car.

                  • underisk@lemmy.ml
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                    4 months ago

                    At least until the next bend in the road where the sign indicating a left turn ahead is more than you can handle.

              • angrystego@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                It doesn’t matter where you hold the wheel. When you’re turning right, you’re always doing the right movement for tightening a screw, no matter the hand position. That’s the point.

                • crapwittyname@lemm.ee
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                  4 months ago

                  A clockwise rotation turns a car to the right (in forward gear) and tightens a nut (right hand threaded). But this is not a rotation to the right. It’s a clockwise rotation. You can’t rotate “to the right”. That’s the point.

      • Zron@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        What the fuck are you talking about.

        You’re either rotating the fastener to the right or the left.

        It doesn’t matter what side you’re talking about, because you’re not moving one side of the fastener, you’re rotating the whole thing one direction or the other.

        Clockwise just means something is rotating to the right.

        If I ask you to turn around to the right, are you going to ask me what side of you I’m referencing?

        • asap@lemmy.world
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          4 months ago

          Here is clockwise. One arrow is going to the right and one to the left.

          • Zron@lemmy.world
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            4 months ago

            The whole thing is rotating to the right, that’s what clockwise means. Clocks rotate to the right. One arrow is not pointing left, it’s pointing in the direction of rotation, which is to the right.

              • Zron@lemmy.world
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                4 months ago

                If you follow that arrow around to the next with your hand, which direction is your hand moving?

                That is indicating clockwise rotation, or a rotation to the right. We’re talking about circles here

        • doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          4 months ago

          If I ask you to turn around to the right, are you going to ask me what side of you I’m referencing?

          No, because humans have a pretty clear forward direction. Screws don’t. You say turn a screw to the right, do you mean make the top of the screw move right or the bottom move right?

          Most people assume the top, but not all, and the language is ambiguous.