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Science's Limits Are Only Self-Imposed

Posted by michael on from the there-is-no-spoon dept.

Tristfardd writes "The Independent has a fine article on ridiculous experiments, some of which really are ridiculous, while others have interesting ramifications. If only the article gave links for viewing the rotating frog or the film on self-trepanation."

11 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. As for the 'soul' experiment... by floW+enoL · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The article forgot to mention that there was indeed a plausible explanation for the 21 grams lost after each person died. No matter how much one exhales, there is always air left in one's body. However, when you die, your lungs relax and thus expel that final bit of air, hence making your corpse a little bit lighter.

    1. Re:As for the 'soul' experiment... by dykofone · · Score: 3, Funny
      And here I thought I was the only one who measured volume in units of 1992 Honda Accord Engines' Displacement Worths.

      "Nurse! Get this man two point five times ten to the negative squared 1992 Honda Accord Engines Displacement Worths of morphine, STAT!!"

      In critical moments, it avoids confusions and saves precious time.

    2. Re:As for the 'soul' experiment... by Idarubicin · · Score: 4, Insightful
      The article forgot to mention that there was indeed a plausible explanation for the 21 grams lost after each person died.

      I'm going with the plausible explanation of

      his instruments weren't very precise;

      he saw a loss in weight in only four of the six patients--the others gained weight; and

      he had a result in mind that he wanted to see.

      Also, the air explanation doesn't...er...hold water. Other posters have noted that the mass of air that will fit even in fully inflated lungs is only about (off the top of my head, now) about two or three grams. Plus, as an AC astutely noted, Archimedes would have a problem with this explanation. The air in the lungs won't have any effect on the measured weight of the person, because it's displacing an equal mass of air around the body.

      --
      ~Idarubicin
  2. Frog levitation... by wanerious · · Score: 4, Informative
    I'll pimp myself out --- here's the link to the project:

    Floating Frogs

  3. Trenpnashun by furry_marmot · · Score: 4, Funny
    I non't recomnednd self-treepinashin. 'cuz ow.

  4. Floating Frogs? Sure, we've got those. by IpsissimusMarr · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here in my department at FSU we are fortunate enough to have the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, which develops the stongest magnets on the planet. Couple this with a professor with a sense of humor and you get .... That right! A Frog floating in a magnetic field! Along with golf balls, dice, and other things. When we asked him why he says, because you can. :) Check out the movies:

    http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/science/levitation/

    --
    "Engineers do the work of man, Physicists do the work of God"
  5. Soul experiment was bad science by merdark · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The soul experiment was terribly bad science, and from it we can only conclude that the man who performed it believed in a soul, and hence found that.

    Details can be found here:
    http://www.snopes.com/religion/soulweight.a sp

    Some of the short points are:
    * small sample size of 4 cases
    * the results varied widely
    * deciding upon the exact time of death is no easy task

    All in all, the experiment proves nothing.

    1. Re:Soul experiment was bad science by merdark · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If it interacts with us, then it is by definition part of our physical world.

      If it has absolutely no interaction with us, then I don't see how you can associate it with us.

  6. Re:Levitating Frogs by azav · · Score: 3, Informative

    Blessed be thine google.

    http://www.hfml.sci.kun.nl/froglev.html

    http://www.hfml.sci.kun.nl/levitation-movies.htm l

    http://www.hfml.ru.nl/pics/Movies/frog.mpg

    --
    - Zav - Imagine a Beowulf cluster of insensitive clods...
  7. More fun with grains by blether · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The brazil nut experiment reminded me of this fascinating result. If you shake a container of granular material, the granular material spontaneously collects together in one place.

    The same page also has a cool video of granular eruption.

  8. Re:m00 by WGR · · Score: 5, Informative
    I actually worked on this (writing software for the measuring instruments). We put flow metres on a cow barn roof to catch the ouput of methane over some months, using ultrasonic wind speed measurements and instruments to measure methane as it passed by the fans. We also measured the CO2, water and other gasses as they were exchanged between the barn and the outside.

    We really found a significant amount of methane and it depended a lot on what feed had been given to the cows. Since methane is one of the most significant green house gasses (much more potent per gram than CO2, just less of it), we could make recommendations for feed to help lessen the outgassing.

    The other big source of methane is rotting vegetation in swamps. Often a swamp will have little flames rising over it as the methane burns, creating a lot of legends of ghosts and swamp monsters. Because you get a lot of rotting vegetation in the lakes created by large dams, big hydro projects create almost as much a greenhouse effect as fossil fuel plans creating the same amount of electricty, although this diminishes over time, unlike with fossil fuels.