Cupboard Posted March 11, 2014 According to the New York Times Science section, "a key to understanding the phenomenon, [said Dr. John Biggins, a Cambridge physicist] is that mathematically, a chain can be thought of as a series of connected rods. When you pick up one end of a rod, two things happen. One end goes up and the other goes down, or tries to. But if the downward force is stopped by the pile of chain beneath there is a kind of kickback, and the rod, or link, is pushed upward. That is what makes the chain rise..." He continues, "'Finding a new physics problem in an Internet video was,' Dr. Biggins said, 'something of a treat. For a scientist it's "really reassuring" that new problems like this can pop up,' he said." In other news, physics, (along with Newton's 3rd Law) how do they work? 0 Share this post Link to post
MajorRawne Posted March 11, 2014 It's funny how this can be answered with a quote from the Doom film: "I gotta take a dump." 0 Share this post Link to post
Creaphis Posted March 11, 2014 I saw this a while ago. I've heard half-a-dozen different casual explanations. This seems to be one of those things like powered flight where nobody can come up with a satisfying force diagram. My dad actually thinks this is video trickery. 0 Share this post Link to post
Kirby Posted March 11, 2014 Creaphis said:I saw this a while ago. I've heard half-a-dozen different casual explanations. This seems to be one of those things like powered flight where nobody can come up with a satisfying force diagram. My dad actually thinks this is video trickery. That's all I keep thinking after seeing it. I feel like he stuck the jar onto a surface upside down and then manipulated the chain from there. That's just me being quizzical, though what would anyone actually need to do to replicate this anyways? 0 Share this post Link to post
tourniquet Posted March 11, 2014 Believe it or not but it's no fake. I watched a documentation on TV a few weeks ago where this phenomena was explained. It's basicly refering on Isaac Newtons law of inertia. 0 Share this post Link to post
Technician Posted March 11, 2014 tourniquet said:Isaac Newtons law of inertia. I wanted to post that. I wanted to look smart for once. 0 Share this post Link to post
Maes Posted March 12, 2014 It's a variant of fluid siphoning, but with a solid, segmented body instead of a liquid. Creaphis said:This seems to be one of those things like powered flight where nobody can come up with a satisfying force diagram. My dad actually thinks this is video trickery. Seriously? When was that, in the early 19th century? 0 Share this post Link to post
Creaphis Posted March 12, 2014 Maes said:Seriously? When was that, in the early 19th century? Alright, well, I was thinking more along the lines of how theories of aerodynamic lift like "the Bernoulli effect" tend to have their limitations, but I didn't want to spend much time making my half-assed point. Forgive me for not delving deep into theoretical physics to make a better analogy. 0 Share this post Link to post
gggmork Posted March 12, 2014 I always thought there has to be some great siphoning troll opportunity somewhere, like move an entire lake from one place to another with a big camouflaged tube or something. Though there's enough ecosystem destruction, so I guess no. 0 Share this post Link to post
flubbernugget Posted March 12, 2014 Maes said:Seriously? When was that, in the early 19th century? If my understanding is correct, those diagrams show how the forces exist, but don't show why they exist. 0 Share this post Link to post
Maes Posted March 13, 2014 flubbernugget said:If my understanding is correct, those diagrams show how the forces exist, but don't show why they exist. It's easy to forget that air is still a fluid and not vacuum... 0 Share this post Link to post
Waffenak Posted March 13, 2014 Fascinating phenomenon and for aerodynamic lift force: are there people who live in barrels and dont believe in laws of physics? people sure can be stupid and ignorant 0 Share this post Link to post
Gez Posted March 13, 2014 Waffenak said:are there people who live in barrels and dont believe in laws of physics? They call themselves Creationists. 0 Share this post Link to post
Cupboard Posted March 14, 2014 Is it just me or did Maes assume control of this thread with his usefully labelled diagrams? 0 Share this post Link to post