Answering your hypothetical questions, every Tuesday. Prev Assuming that you have a spaceship in orbit around the Earth, could you propel your ship to speeds exceeding escape velocity by hitting golf balls in the other direction? If so, how many golf balls would be required to reach the Moon? —Dan (Kanta, Ontario) It depends how good your swing is. That sounds glib, but it's sort of true. The answer to this question hinges on exactly how fast you can hit a golf ball. Sometimes, exact numbers don't matter that much. If my baseball, car, dog, or Zamboni goes a little faster than yours, [1] $20 says they will! it will go a little farther. But that's not how it works in rocket golf. The design of our spaceship turns out to involve an equation where the speed of the golf ball is in the exponent. That means a small change in speed can make a big difference. The equation i...