Comments on: The Middle of the World http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/ Just another WordPress weblog Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:24:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Steven Hines http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-88 Thu, 31 Aug 2006 15:42:35 +0000 http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-88 Apparently, the effect DOES exist, but you would never be able to reproduce it under non-lab conditions. See http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/bathtub.html Apparently, the effect DOES exist, but you would never be able to reproduce it under non-lab conditions. See http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/bathtub.html

]]> by: Martha Gonzalez http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-58 Thu, 13 Jul 2006 18:34:29 +0000 http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-58 I know for a fact Michael and Joshua would love this little mueseum. I would love to try it all! I know for a fact Michael and Joshua would love this little mueseum. I would love to try it all!

]]> by: Andy Buchanan http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-47 Thu, 29 Jun 2006 12:40:59 +0000 http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-47 <strong>Editor's Note: Andy debunks my equatorial experience, but it was really fun. No idea how they do it. I still recommend a visit to the GPS museum. Despite evidence he provides here, it's still more fun than the official equator.</strong> I've just come back from the Inti Nan museum in Ecuador too, and while the guide was very interesting, informative and friendly, unfortunately, the experiments are bunkum. Read this: http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html I was extremely frustrated that I couldn't work out how they achieved the fraud with the water (much to the irritation of my girlfriend, who kept telling me to stop being a cynic). The setup is to leave the water standing in the basin on the equator for several minutes between groups of visitors; obviously, this allows a lot of the motion introduced by filling to subside, making the water flow down straight for most of the time. However, it still has some residual motion, meaning the water will then start spinning one way of the other (depending on how it was filled) right at the end; just then he diverts your attention so you think it went down straight for the whole time or says something so you think that it's not significant. (Experiments have shown it takes days or weeks for all of this residual motion to subside and the Coriolis effect to influence the motion.) When he let me do it myself on the equator I was able to get it to spin in either direction, although not at will. He told me this was because I wasn't leaving it to rest for long enough. I don't know what trick he uses to make it go "the right way" on either side of the equator, although the easiest would probably have been rotating the basin slightly to "enable people to see". I'm very annoyed that I couldn't spot it! Interestingly, I've heard that there's a similar site on the equator in Kenya where they've got their information wrong and they convincingly make the water go the opposite way from what it "should"! The thing with the egg can be done anywhere in the world at any time of the year, if you have the patience and dexterity. The thing with the arms is most baffling; I have no idea what it signifies other than probably just the power of suggestion. Andy Editor’s Note: Andy debunks my equatorial experience, but it was really fun. No idea how they do it. I still recommend a visit to the GPS museum. Despite evidence he provides here, it’s still more fun than the official equator.

I’ve just come back from the Inti Nan museum in Ecuador too, and while the guide was very interesting, informative and friendly, unfortunately, the experiments are bunkum. Read this: http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html

I was extremely frustrated that I couldn’t work out how they achieved the fraud with the water (much to the irritation of my girlfriend, who kept telling me to stop being a cynic). The setup is to leave the water standing in the basin on the equator for several minutes between groups of visitors; obviously, this allows a lot of the motion introduced by filling to subside, making the water flow down straight for most of the time. However, it still has some residual motion, meaning the water will then start spinning one way of the other (depending on how it was filled) right at the end; just then he diverts your attention so you think it went down straight for the whole time or says something so you think that it’s not significant. (Experiments have shown it takes days or weeks for all of this residual motion to subside and the Coriolis effect to influence the motion.)

When he let me do it myself on the equator I was able to get it to spin in either direction, although not at will. He told me this was because I wasn’t leaving it to rest for long enough. I don’t know what trick he uses to make it go “the right way” on either side of the equator, although the easiest would probably have been rotating the basin slightly to “enable people to see”. I’m very annoyed that I couldn’t spot it!

Interestingly, I’ve heard that there’s a similar site on the equator in Kenya where they’ve got their information wrong and they convincingly make the water go the opposite way from what it “should”!

The thing with the egg can be done anywhere in the world at any time of the year, if you have the patience and dexterity. The thing with the arms is most baffling; I have no idea what it signifies other than probably just the power of suggestion.

Andy

]]> by: Geoff http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-42 Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:23:12 +0000 http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-42 Well cool story must visit Ecuador, which I guess must mean equator in some language. Well cool story must visit Ecuador, which I guess must mean equator in some language.

]]> by: Jan Bauer http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-27 Wed, 14 Jun 2006 18:07:34 +0000 http://www.lillicloud.com/blog/2006/06/12/the-middle-of-the-world/#comment-27 Loved the water swirl story. I remember learning about that in the 4th grade, and pouring so much water down the drain to see the phenom! Hugs. Loved the water swirl story. I remember learning about that in the 4th grade, and pouring so much water down the drain to see the phenom!

Hugs.

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