Re: lost msg: Re: bad-faith argumentation (was *earth* vs. *wing*)

[William Beaty <billb@ESKIMO.COM>]

On Tue, 24 Aug 1999, Ludwik Kowalski wrote:

> Did somebody actually perform the experiment with a bird?
> Probably not. An easier experiment to perform would be a
> cage in which a flat plate is suspended from the ceiling. The
> supporting threads are burned and the plate starts falling
> in the air. What is the "recorded weight" during the fall?
> I am assuming that the cage is sitting on a scale. What
> would this demonstrate?

Hi Ludwik!  If the "cage" was a large plexiglass box, I think the net
weight of the box would momentarily fall as the threads parted, but then
it would greatly rise when the flat plate struck the bottom, and the
time-averaged weight would be unchanged in the long run.

A better experiment: place a radio-controlled helicopter inside a very
large box (a box which is far larger than twice the diameter of the rotor
blades)  Fly the helicopter, then suddenly remove the bottom of the box.
(To avoid turbulence, the bottom of the box could be a sort of "venetian
blinds" affair, so it could be "removed" by suddenly rotating each segment
by 90 degrees.)


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