I see that the dabate about the "worm on rope" is going on. I probably missed
something important but my first impression was, and still is, that the
answer is trivial. How can a worm crawling at a constant speed of 1 cm/sec
(presumably with respect to a fixed ruler along the road) ever reach the
tractor whose speed (in the same frame of reference) is 10,000 cm/s?
I do not want to look at solutions supplied so far. What am I missing? Leigh
wants a proof. I can justify my "obvious NO" answer by drawing two stair-cases
representing positions versus time, one for the tractor (x1(0)=10,000) and
one for the worm (X2(0)=0). The second stair-case curve is steeper and it
never crosses the first one (for positive t). WHAT AM I MISSING?