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Stone Skipping the Scientific Way
Quirk writes "National Geographic has a bit on the scientific analysis of stone skipping. Using a machine launching aluminum disks Lyderic Bocquet, a physics professor at the University of Lyon, and his colleagues discovered the 'magic angle' of 20 degrees as that required to maximize skipping. 'Jerdone Coleman McGhee of Wimberley, Texas, holds the current Guinness Book of World Records title for a 1992 toss that yielded an impressive 38 bounces across the Blanco River in central Texas'"
Why do a scientific analysis of something when you ignore the #1 variable: The Stone.
Can the one who asked for this please step forward, so we can publicly shoot him, and don't let any more money be spent on 'skipping stones'.
If we _do_ plan on wasting money, then at least do a 'Icecream Eating Gets Scientific' : Im first in line to some testing for that !
... that some people have entirely too much time on their hands. :)
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Any disc golfer or ultimate frisbee player can tell you that changing the shape or weight of your disc can very significantly affect its dynamics. It could be that they've only found the ideal release conditions for the particular disc they were testing with.
How can this be applied to real-world applications? Are they going to redesign jet-skis with this information? Or surfboards or body-boards?
Those are a few things this research could possibly apply to, can anyone give me examples of others?
I ran a benchmark on my quantum computer, now I can't find it anywhere!
Yeah, I agree to a certain extent... But isn't it the goal of science to learn more about the laws that govern the environment/world/planet/universe/what-have-you that surrounds us?
Yes, it's kind of trivial. But there's some value in every bit of knowledge humans gain, no matter how small.
Two objectives were destroyed, one damaged.
/Styx
Every year the folks who put out The Annals of Improbable Research , formerly The Journal of Irreproducible Results, formerly The Worm Runner's Digest hands out ten IgNobel Prizes for scientific achievements "which can not or should not be repeated". It's sort of a Feast of Misrule for science.
If they can give an Ig for the first MRI images showing conclusively how men and women's bits fit together during coitus and a scientific study on the optimal way to dunk a biscuit in coffee, then by G-d this deserves one too!
The man who never alters his opinion is like the stagnant water and breeds Reptiles of the Mind -- William Blake
I'm sorry, but when I've skipped stones, half of the challange is finding the right flat stones. This whole experiment takes the fun out of it and turns it into a joyless exercise.
I'd certainly hope this isn't going to lead to 'skipping stones' at the Olympics, or a standard skipping stone, produced by AMF and Wilson. Can't something just be fun without the jocks getting involved?
A Good Intro to NetBS
There is a lot of military research on skipping bombs, see PBS
The latest Slashdot meme.
Empirical science rules - I was explaining to a friend who'd never skipped stones how to hold and throw them, from, I guess, 18 years of experience.
And if I picture how I hold the stone, I'll bet it's pretty much exactly 20degrees, with as much spin as possible. Probably what my old da' showed me. The human brain amazes me.
'This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it' - Eeyore
Surely they had to do similar research during WW-II when they used the bouncing bomb to blow up the dams? That would date back 60 years or so now.
For anyone who doesn't know what I am talking about, I highly recommend the movie 'The Dam Busters' (although I cannot vouch for its accuracy).