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Re: [Phys-l] Walking on water



On 6/15/2011 6:29 PM, Julie Quah wrote:
In one of the Criss Angel mindfreak, he walked on water, with camera and
audiences checking the real. Any scientific explanation?

The Mythbusters tried amusingly hard to run on water - using olympic level athlete., etc.
Their most successful method, truly convincing to the camera, was to provide a just-submerged walkway in camouflaged color. Others have demonstrated a brisk walk on non-newtonian corn starch mixes. Pilots of suitably intrepid nature, can demonstrate touch n go landings on still water.
You are familiar with floating a sewing needle on a scrap of paper 'til it waterlogs and sinks, leaving the needle suspended on the surface.
Small water insects manage this trick routinely.
It might be interesting to float a half inch of water on a bed of mercury to demonstrate some sort of liquid walking - but the activity is inherently unstable - as one or two people have found who wanted to walk long stretches of sea between countries, though their floats had sufficient buoyancy.
Another approach to impossible levitation is the Peter Pan suspension - on thin wires.

Brian Whatcott.