Bruce writes:

> In related news, I was studying engineering when they were building the CN
>  Tower in Toronto. The main part of the tower was built by pouring concrete
>  into a form that was raised as the concrete set.
>
>  We were told that they had to apply torque to the form to counteract the
>  coriolis force and prevent the tower from taking on a corkscrew shape.
>
>  Do you think our professors were lying to us gullible first year
engineering
>  students, or would the coriolis force result in a twist to the tower given
>  the year or so that concrete pouring was going on?

Engineering professors -- and I used to be one -- will often say something
outrageous just to see if anyone is paying attention. It's all part of the long
process of sharpening the students' bullshit detectors, especially when the
source is supposedly a trusted one. Every statement should be questioned, no
matter who says it.

But as for the strength of the coriolis force, anyone who has sat through a
mid-level class in dynamics in Physics, and who was moderately awake for the
experience, should be able to quickly calculate that the force is several orders
of magnitude too small to act on a drain when the radius of action is the
size of a sink or washbasin, and that result is only made much, much worse when
the fluid is as viscous as something as concrete.

Wirt Atmar

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *