Lxy - Slashdot User

Submission + - Physics Fun with Scalding Hot Water

Submitted by

Dan Olive

on Friday December 29, 2006 @02:01PM

Dan Olive writes: "The students in the Advanced Physics Lab at Illinois Institute of Technology built a geyser as one of their experiments this semester. Powering the 6 foot tall creation is nothing more than an electric roasting oven; a copper fire pit provides the basin, and a copper pipe joins the two (along with a generous helping of epoxy.) Throw in some sensors to measure temperature and pressure and you have the makings of a science experiment that not only affords a study in heat, pressure, and hydrodynamics, but chaos as well. The unpredictable (read: highly sensitive to initial conditions) nature of the eruptions, which vary from several feet high to not much more than a trickle, led to the affectionate nickname "Old Yeller," a takeoff of its geologic cousin Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park.

A video of the geyser in action, entitled "Physics Fun with Scalding Hot Water" has been posted on YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr_uko0TiD4"

Submission + - 100 things we didn't know last year

Submitted by

gollum123

on Thursday December 28, 2006 @03:03PM

gollum123 writes: "The BBC news magazine is runnnig a compilation of the interesting and sometimes downright unexpected facts that we did not know last year, but now know ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/magazinemonitor/index.h tml#a007948 ). some examples — There are 200 million blogs which are no longer being updated, say technology analysts. Urban birds have developed a short, fast "rap style" of singing, different from their rural counterparts. The lion costume in the film Wizard of Oz was made from real lions. Online shoppers will only wait an average of four seconds for an internet page to load before giving up. just one cow gives off enough harmful methane gas in a single day to fill around 400 litre bottles. More than 90% of plane crashes have survivors. For every 10 successful attempts to climb Mount Everest there is one fatality. The word "time" is the most common noun in the English language, according to the latest Oxford dictionary. Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobiacs is the term for people who fear the number 666. The egg came first. Thinking about your muscles can make you stronger."

Top Ten Apple Rumors of All Time 170

Posted by timothy on Thursday December 28, 2006 @12:33PM from the blasphemous-rumours dept.

An anonymous reader writes "CNET have taken a look back at 30 years of Apple rumors during which we have witnessed Apple's 'rise, fall, and rise again, like a kind of technological Jesus Christ.' Some of the rumors are outrageous, and some came true. The list includes such treasures as the Apple-Nintendo merger, which the article calls 'utterly outlandish,' and the persistent rumor that Apple will release Mac OS X for PC — described as 'so counter-productive and financially damaging for Apple that we doubt the company has ever seriously considered it.' There is also mention of the iPhone, which CNET says is 'an elaborate hoax dreamed up by Steve Jobs to keep journalists busy.'"

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