Re: [Phys-l] expand your mind

["Spagna Jr., George" <gspagna@rmc.edu>]

John Denker says 

> I hypothesize it's partly -- perhaps entirely -- because the bagel is
> constrained by friction against whatever it's sitting on while it
rises.

I suspect that the dough on the outer circumference is stretched more
nearly to its elastic limit, while that on the inner circumference (i.e.
surrounding the hole) is not.  Raising the pressure "inside the balloon"
causes a greater displacement of the inner edge than the outer.

Experimental test, similar in spirit to John's "freely suspended" model:
make an assortment of disk and hemispherical shapes from dough, watch
them rise and measure whether the locus of greater expansion correlates
with the locus of smaller radius of curvature.

**********************************************

There are only 10 kinds of people in the world:

         Those who understand binary numbers, 

                           and those who don't.

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Dr. George Spagna
Chair, Physics Department
Randolph-Macon College
P.O. Box 5005
Ashland, VA 23005-5505

phone: (804) 752-7344
fax: (804) 752-4724
e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu
http://faculty.rmc.edu/gspagna