Re: [Phys-l] [tap-l] amazing instruments

[Michael Edmiston <edmiston@bluffton.edu>]

No attachment to physical reality?  Well, I would say yes and no.  On one 
hand, getting a ball to follow a perfect trajectory time after time is 
tough, especially when it bounces from something that can vibrate or move. 
However, I remember visiting the Museum of Science and Industry when I was 
in high school (1960s) and seeing this type of thing in action.  Several 
displays involved 1-inch ball bearings that were released onto sloped 
tracks.  The tracks ended in midair and the balls would freefall onto 
substantial hard metal plates set at various angles.  The balls would bounce 
from plate to plate, and after several bounces (like 5 to 8 bounces) around 
a circle or other pattern, the balls would pass through a hole not much 
larger than the ball, and the ball got recycled.  I was mesmerized and 
watched these demos for a long time.  The balls never missed, and I was 
amazed.

When I returned to the museum in around 1995 I looked for these to show my 
son and daughter, and the displays were no longer there.  I was sad.

I also personally have seen water fountains in several places, including 
some amazing ones at Disneyworld, in which the water is pulsed out of a 
nozzle in a foot-long cylindrical shape.  This arcs through the air and 
lands in a receptacle that triggers a burst from a new nozzle.  That burst 
may go back to the original, to get a Ping-Pong effect, or it may go to a 
3rd (and beyond) nozzle to create a pattern that eventually ends up back at 
the original nozzle to start another round.  These are amazing to watch, and 
even work in a mild to moderate wind.

We've also seen real Rube-Goldberg-like machines that actually work, 
including the amazing "Cog" video from Honda.  I understand that one didn't 
always work without a snag here or there, but still... it did work.  I also 
have a DVD that I got from the Smithsonian Museum of Modern Art with a video 
called "The Way Things Go."  This shows a long contraption set up by Peter 
Fischli and David Weiss.  Although I have a video that could have been 
doctored, they have portions of their contraptions actually working and on 
display in galleries and museums throughout the world.

My point is, that even though the video originally described here is not 
reality, there are many instances of reality that appear impossible at first 
glance.  I would not be too harsh on people who thought the "musical 
instrument" was real.  Also, in case we physicists might tend to be overly 
skeptical about things that seem far out, remember the initial skepticism 
aimed at people like Boltzmann, Einstein,  de Broglie, etc.


Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Chair, Division of Natural and Applied Sciences
Bluffton University
1 University Drive
Bluffton, OH 45817

419.358.3270 (office)
edmiston@bluffton.edu


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From: "Richard Berg" <reberg@physics.umd.edu>
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2011 11:33 AM
To: <tap-l@lists.ncsu.edu>
Cc: "Forum for Physics Educators" <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu>
Subject: Re: [Phys-l] [tap-l]  amazing instruments

> I have seen this several times, including some earlier versions.  It is
> truly amazing how many people actually think this thing (or it's
> predecessors) are real.  No commmon sense, I guess, or no attachment to
> physical reality.
>
> Dick