Something to think about... Note that the end speed seems not to change, therefore the second law / conservation of energy is not violated - but somewhere along the way, the effect of gravity shortens the overall time, thus increasing the overall speed (though the actual distance of travel also increased as well), so that the sphere with the longest way to travel paradoxically hits the target first . This works even in repetition: Now imagine the opposite - a cannon ball shot (or a rock hurled) straight up into the air, to fall down exactly where it was: the distance is zero (or, if you miss, very short), but time did pass - and the speed of the projectile was much higher than can be inferred from that resulting 'distance'; in fact, the higher its velocity, the more time passes until it's return, and the slower or lower the resulting overall speed (remember that the trajectory of any missile on earth is always longer than the actual di...
Life, the Universe and Everything - and the real answer may not be '42'. To go where no man (or whatever) has gone before.