HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: vnelson@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Gerald Vernon Nelson)
Subject: Re: Hot Water flow mystery.
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 02:13:32 GMT

In <1992Dec14.214841.4240@dbsun.uucp> check@dbsun.uucp (checkett) writes:

>I have a question that bothers me every morning. I wake up and go to the john
>to have a shave and turn on the hot water full blast. Over the next 20-30
>seconds the water temperature goes from freezing to quite hot as desired. 
>The problem is that the flow rate of the water drops off as the temp goes up. 
>If I don't touch the faucet the flow nearly stops. What is happening? 

When the faucet is closed, the water pressure is at a maximum.
When you open the faucet, water rushes out because of the high pressure.
But the pressure drops because youve created a leak, so the flow rate
drops off.

Potential is highest when no current flows, as soon as current flows, 
pressure drops due to internal losses and line losses.
Works the same with electricity, and air lines.

Vern Nelson
From: unknown@apple.com (Matt Ackeret)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Shell Game (Dixie cups work too)
Date: 12 Dec 92 02:10:32 GMT
Organization: Apple

In article <1992Dec11.204515.19071@dbsun.uucp> checkett, check@dbsun.uucp
writes:
>Here's a slick little brain teaser I ran across.   Don't let the title
>bother you, there's no slight-of-hand involved, just straight logic.
>
>Description of game:
>The game is played by two people, a dealer, and a player.
>The game uses three upside-down cups and one quarter.
>The player attempts to guess which cup conceals the quarter.
>
>Action:
>The dealer secretly places the quarter under one of the three cups.
>The player is asked to point to the cup of his choice.
>After the player makes his choice, the dealer removes one of the empty cups.
>Two upside-down cups remain, the one the player picked, and a second cup.
>One of which hides the quarter.
>The player is given the option to switch to the second cup or stay with 
>his original selection.
>
>Here's the questions:
>Should the player switch to the other cup or stay pat?
>What are the odds?

AAAAH! The Monty Hall/Marilyn Vos Savant problem comes up again! It's
become the Craig Shergold of puzzles..
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: check@dbsun.uucp (checkett)
Subject: Shell Game (Dixie cups work too)
Organization: BioMerieux-Vitek, St. Louis Mo.
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 20:45:15 GMT

Subject: Shell Game (Dixie cups work too)

Here's a slick little brain teaser I ran across.   Don't let the title
bother you, there's no slight-of-hand involved, just straight logic.

Description of game:
The game is played by two people, a dealer, and a player.
The game uses three upside-down cups and one quarter.
The player attempts to guess which cup conceals the quarter.

Action:
The dealer secretly places the quarter under one of the three cups.
The player is asked to point to the cup of his choice.
After the player makes his choice, the dealer removes one of the empty cups.
Two upside-down cups remain, the one the player picked, and a second cup.
One of which hides the quarter.
The player is given the option to switch to the second cup or stay with 
his original selection.

Here's the questions:
Should the player switch to the other cup or stay pat?
What are the odds?

Dave Checkett - WG0Y, St. Louis, Mo.
check%dbsun.uucp@wupost.wustl.edu
From: app@shamash.cdc.com (CDII Advanced Pkg/Processes)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Car Batteries die in the Winter - Why?
Date: 20 Dec 92 05:29:48 GMT
Organization: Control Data Corporation, Arden Hills, MN


In article <BzD4pI.JE5@gabriel.keele.ac.uk> you write:
>From article <Bz7tFD.CF6@ais.org>, by draper@ais.org (Patrick Draper):
>
>> In cold weather chemical processes generally proceed at a slower rate. A
>> marginal battery in warm weather might not crank out enough juice to turn an
>> engine over in cold weather.
>
>But wouldn't it warm up as soon as the starter tried to draw current (a
>couple of hundred amps I believe) from it?  Does cold affect its stored
>energy, or just the internal impedance?  Does the EMF depend on temperature?

I might be able to comment a bit, having spent some time dealing with
survival of batteries under thermal cycling.  The main effect is to
raise the internal impedance a lot, and the EMF slightly.  The amount
of current going out is not enough to significantly raise the
electrolyte temperature before the the boundary layer acts like a
voltage divider and really bites into the current available.  (For the
same reason, the voltage drops very rapidly.)  But the main effect is
the internal impedance, which is an Arrhenius temperature dependance,
if I'm not mistaken.
Steve Axdal   Computing Device International, Inc.
app@shamash.cdc.com
From: ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu (Dave Seaman)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Full moon and tides
Date: 15 Dec 92 17:32:01 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Purdue University

In article <1992Dec14.153154.22191@newsgate.sps.mot.com>  
markm@bigfoot.sps.mot.com (Mark Monninger) writes:
> Over the weekend, I heard a network news commentator say that high winds  
> and a full moon caused (or made worse) the higher-than-usual tide that  
> caused so much damage along the northeast coast. What does a full moon  
> have to do with it? 

Both the moon and the sun have an effect on tides. The moon's effect is  
larger because it is so much closer.

When there is a full moon or a new moon, the sun and moon combine their  
effects and produce higher-than-usual tides, called "spring tides." When  
the moon is at first or last quarter, the sun partially cancels the moon's  
effect and produces "neap tides."

--
Dave Seaman
ags@seaman.cc.purdue.edu
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: pciszek@nyx.cs.du.edu (Paul Ciszek)
Subject: Re: Full moon and tides
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 92 05:50:50 GMT

markm@bigfoot.sps.mot.com (Mark Monninger) writes:

>Thanks to all who responded to my post regarding full moons and high  
>tides. If I had thought about it a little more I would have realized why  
>it is indeeed the case. I guess you'd expect questions like that from a  
>guy who lives in the Arizona desert...

Or a Pierson's Puppeteer...

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: Shell Game (Dixie cups work too)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 10:53:41 GMT

sl31+@andrew.cmu.edu ("Stephen M. Lacy") writes:
: Excerpts from netnews.alt.folklore.science: 11-Dec-92 Shell Game (Dixie
: cups work.. by checkett@dbsun.uucp 
: > Here's the questions:
: > Should the player switch to the other cup or stay pat?
: > What are the odds?
: 
: HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF THIS PROBLEM BEFORE!  Gawd, there was an entire
: multi-million television game show based exactly on this proposiiton!
: (The Monty Hall show, if you couldn't remember)  The correct answer (I
: believe) is that you definately want to switch no matter what.  The odds
: are in your favor to some non-significant amount.  I think its something
: like 66% win if you switch, but I forget the numbers.  

Yep. The explanation is very simple.

When you make your first choice, you only have a 1/3 chance of guessing
right.  Now, when one of the empty cups is removed, this does not change
the odds from your first choice. Thus, there is a 2/3 chance that the 
coin is under the cup you did not pick.

Bill
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: markm@bigfoot.sps.mot.com (Mark Monninger)
Subject: Full moon and tides
Reply-To: rapw20@email.sps.mot.com
Organization: SPS
Distribution: usa
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 15:31:54 GMT

Over the weekend, I heard a network news commentator say that high winds  
and a full moon caused (or made worse) the higher-than-usual tide that  
caused so much damage along the northeast coast. What does a full moon  
have to do with it? I find it hard to believe that a full moon has any  
effect on the tides. The mass of the moon, and hence its gravitational  
pull on the ocean doesn't change, nor does its distance from the earth (at  
least not because the moon is full). The only thing that really changes is  
that we on earth can see more of the moon. Is this an urban legend or  
what?

Mark
Organization: K.U.Leuven - Academic Computing Center
Date: Tuesday, 15 Dec 1992 12:09:17 +01
From: <FFAAC03@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Car Batteries die in the Winter - Why?
 <1992Dec13.213841.24118@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>

Too bad.  Just when you need a stronger battery because of the higher
viscosity (is this an English word?) of the oil in your motor,
it gets weaker.  Tsss.

Erik Broeders
From: baylor@NEBULA.SSD.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Car Batteries die in the Winter - Why?
Date: 15 Dec 92 17:49:55 GMT
Reply-To: baylor@NEBULA.SSD.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM
Organization: LMSC, Sunnyvale, California

In article <92350.120917FFAAC03@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be>, <FFAAC03@cc1.kuleuven.ac.be> writes:
>Too bad.  Just when you need a stronger battery because of the higher
>viscosity (is this an English word?) of the oil in your motor,
>it gets weaker.  Tsss.
>
That's why they make 10W40 oil. It's supposed to have a more constant
viscosity over a wide range of temperature than a "single weight" oil.

More annoying: I just realized that this probably means my smoke
detector will ALWAYS give off the "my battery is low" beep in the
wee hours of the morning. !@#$%%$^$&&*!!
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: check@dbsun.uucp (checkett)
Subject: Hot Water flow mystery.
Organization: BioMerieux-Vitek, St. Louis Mo.
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 21:48:41 GMT

I have a question that bothers me every morning. I wake up and go to the john
to have a shave and turn on the hot water full blast. Over the next 20-30
seconds the water temperature goes from freezing to quite hot as desired. 
The problem is that the flow rate of the water drops off as the temp goes up. 
If I don't touch the faucet the flow nearly stops. What is happening? 
I assume it has something to do with the expansion/contraction of the pipes 
in response to the temp. Any good plumbers out there?
One more thing, the pipes start to scream as the water gets hotter but if
I increase the flow by turning the knob the noise disappears.


Dave Shine, St. Louis, MO
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: kfl@access.digex.com (Keith F. Lynch)
Subject: Re: Radiator Pipes
Organization: Express Access Public Access UNIX, Greenbelt, Maryland USA
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 18:33:55 GMT

In article <Bz0rEr.6Cz@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu> cucem@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Chad Mattingly) writes:
> Do some people actually beat on their steam pipes, thinking that it will
> bring heat to their environs?

I had thought it was supposed to be a signal to one's landlord, to turn
on or turn up the heating system.  Just as one pounds on one's ceiling to
get some quiet out of the upstairs neighbors.

Keith Lynch, kfl@access.digex.com
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: kaydin@jarthur.claremont.edu (puck)
Subject: Re: Full moon and tides
Organization: Forest of Satyrs, City of Vampires, the wilds.
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 1992 04:30:58 GMT

In article <647.1561.uupcb@synapse.org> steve.crabtree@synapse.org (Steve Crabtree)  writes:
>
>One thing I've never tried to work out is whether the centrifugal hump
>and the gravitational hump are the same size, and further, if they
>are, whether they have to be or whether it's coincidence. I know from
>personal experience (living by the banks of a tidal river) that they
>are approximately equal.
>                                                                                        

   The relative strength of the centrifugal hump depends a great
deal on your delclination (latititude).  Since the Earth is spinning
on it's pole, a point on the equator is farther from the center of
spin than a point near a pole.  This causes tides in different areas
to have different effects.

   For example, the tides on the U.S. west coast have two peaks daily.
The difference in height between the two peaks differs from day to
day---sometime the peaks are the same height, sometimes the peaks
have several feet of difference between them.

   Local geography also affects tides greatly.

.k.


-- 
 ``Much of what is greatest in human     |kaydin@jarthur.claremont.edu
 achievement involves some element of    |kaydin@hmcvax.bitnet
 intoxication.''                         |!uunet!muddcs!jarthur!kaydin
                   --Bertrand Russell    |or send mail by W.A.S.T.E.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: kilroy@ms.uky.edu (Paul S. Kilroy)
Subject: Re: Shell Game (Dixie cups work too)
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 23:11:12 GMT
Organization: Big, Dangerous Ideas, Inc.

check@dbsun.uucp (checkett) writes:

|Subject: Shell Game (Dixie cups work too)

|Here's a slick little brain teaser I ran across.   Don't let the title
|bother you, there's no slight-of-hand involved, just straight logic.

|Description of game:
|The game is played by two people, a dealer, and a player.
|The game uses three upside-down cups and one quarter.
|The player attempts to guess which cup conceals the quarter.

|Action:
|The dealer secretly places the quarter under one of the three cups.
|The player is asked to point to the cup of his choice.
|After the player makes his choice, the dealer removes one of the empty cups.
|Two upside-down cups remain, the one the player picked, and a second cup.
|One of which hides the quarter.
|The player is given the option to switch to the second cup or stay with 
|his original selection.

|Here's the questions:
|Should the player switch to the other cup or stay pat?
|What are the odds?

stated simply

switch

2 out of 3 to win

paul

|Dave Checkett - WG0Y, St. Louis, Mo.
|check%dbsun.uucp@wupost.wustl.edu
-- 
                       -Paul   (kilroy@ms.uky.edu)
From: wingo@apple.com (Tony Wingo)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Full moon and tides
Date: 14 Dec 92 22:38:42 GMT
Followup-To: alt.folklore.science
Distribution: usa
Organization: Apple Computer

In article <1992Dec14.153154.22191@newsgate.sps.mot.com>,
markm@bigfoot.sps.mot.com (Mark Monninger) wrote:
> 
> Over the weekend, I heard a network news commentator say that high winds  
> and a full moon caused (or made worse) the higher-than-usual tide that  
> caused so much damage along the northeast coast. What does a full moon  
> have to do with it? I find it hard to believe that a full moon has any  
> effect on the tides. The mass of the moon, and hence its gravitational  
> pull on the ocean doesn't change, nor does its distance from the earth (at  
> least not because the moon is full). The only thing that really changes is  
> that we on earth can see more of the moon. Is this an urban legend or  
> what?
> 
No.  Its real. Look at any tide chart.  Ther reason for it is that at full
moon (and new moon) the sun and the moon are lined up, so their tidal
effects add. The tides that occur at full and new moon are called Spring
Tides.  At the quarter moon, the sun and the moon are pulling at right
angles to each other, so their effects partially cancel.  These are Neap
Tides.  

In addition, early in January, full moon tend to coincide with the moon's
perigee, resulting in the most extreme tides of the year.

-tony

>>usual disclaimer<<
From: kibo@world.std.com (James "Kibo" Parry)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Non-Relflecting object
Date: 14 Dec 92 08:19:31 GMT
Organization: Two rooms filled with typography, in downtown Boston

In article <dwarner.18@milo.ub.com> dwarner@milo.ub.com (Dave Warner) writes:
>
>Okay, so suppose the existance of an object that does not emit or reflect 
>anything in the visual spectrum.  The object is not transparent or 
>translucent.  Let the object assume the mass and dimensions of a 4 x 8 sheet 
>of marine plywood.
>
>What does it look like?

a 4 x 8 sheet of marine plywood painted matt black.  Next.

								-- K.
From: gb29+@andrew.cmu.edu (Guntur N Balaji)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Avogadro Number
Date: 11 Dec 92 21:35:40 GMT
Organization: Masters student, Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Hi,

Just wondering how Avogadro got to his number.  6.023E23 atoms....
Looks like the mysterious Eddington number.  Can someone give a
plausible explanation and substantiate Avogadro's number.  Looks like
the explanation must be simple, as I can't think of somebody suggesting
such a number without knowing quantum theory and etc...:-)

Thanx,

Balaji/...
From: baylor@NEBULA.SSD.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Shell Game (Dixie cups work too)
Date: 18 Dec 92 22:53:54 GMT
Reply-To: baylor@NEBULA.SSD.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM
Organization: LMSC, Sunnyvale, California

In article <BzFCM6.K8F@ccu.umanitoba.ca>, mayor@ee.umanitoba.ca (Cam "You didn't see me!" Mayor) writes:
>In article 19071@dbsun.uucp, check@dbsun.uucp (checkett) writes:
>>Subject: Shell Game (Dixie cups work too)
>>
[cut]
>>Action:
>>The dealer secretly places the quarter under one of the three cups.
>>The player is asked to point to the cup of his choice.
>>After the player makes his choice, the dealer removes one of the empty cups.
>>Two upside-down cups remain, the one the player picked, and a second cup.
>>One of which hides the quarter.
>>The player is given the option to switch to the second cup or stay with 
>>his original selection.
>>
[cut]
>>
>
>This is an oldie, but a good one.  Statistically, you will reap a better chance
>if you SWITCH your choice.  If you switch, you have a 66.7% chance of winning.
>If not, you only have 33.3% chance.  
>
>
>cam, who has done an in-depth study of this problem.

Ok, now I'll add a complication for the fun of it.
Given that the above solution is true (& I understand it has been
checked by computer simulation) and both the dealer and the player
know it to be true, what if the dealer chooses to refuse to let 
the player switch cups some of the time, just to confuse him.
How often should the dealer refuse to let the player switch such that
when the player may switch, his odds are 50/50?
From: dnash@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Dave Nash)
Subject: Re: Full moon and tides
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 01:48:12 GMT

In article <BzFDCt.KFH@ccu.umanitoba.ca> mayor@ee.umanitoba.ca writes:

>
>During the new moon, the moon is on the same side of the earth as the sun.  During
>full moon, the moon is on the OPPOSITE side of the earth as the sun.  So shouldn't
>the gravitational tugs oppose each other during full moon and reinforce each other
>during the new moon only?
>

Nope.  You're forgetting that tides form on both sides of the Earth at the same
time.  Recall that the Moon not only pulls on the water directly "beneath" it, 
it also pulls the Earth away fro the water on the other side.  This latter
effect produces another high tide, directly opposite the "obvious" one.
This is why high tides occur roughly 12 hours apart, rather than the 
slightly-over-24 you'd expect if high tide only occurred when the Moon was at 
its highest.

Some ASCII diagrams may help:


        (E) ----  M 

Imagine that the parentheses represent a layer of water or whatever
around the Earth. With the Moon here, the portion of the Earth closest to the 
Moon (the ")") gets pulled towards the Moon; simultaneously, most of the rest 
of the Earth ("E") gets pulled away from the far side (the "(").  You end up 
with

        ( E ) ----- M

You get two tidal bulges.

Its should be clear that the Sun will augment these whenever it, the Moon,
and the Earth are almost in a straight line -- namely, at either
full Moon ( S - E - M) or new moon ( S - M - E).

Hope this helps.

>I think so.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Think about it.

-- 
David Nash                  | Gradual Student, Chemistry
                            | University of Illinois (Urbana)
(dnash@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu)    | This .sig is made of 100% recycled electrons.
(nash@aries.scs.uiuc.edu)   | No binary trees were killed to make it.
From: carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick)
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
Subject: Re: Monty Hall / Shell Game / Dixie Cups
Date: 15 Dec 1992 19:37:32 GMT
Organization: HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera
Distribution: world
Reply-To: carl@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol1.gps.caltech.edu

In article <9212151514.AA02487@isfrance.encore.fr>, kstock@isfrance.encore.fr (Kevin Stock) writes:
=> 24            if (winning_door == first_guess)
=> 25                stay_win++;
=> 26            else
=> 27                swap_win++;
=
=Unfortunately, the program doesn't measure what it claims.

Yes, it does.

=Lines 24-27 just test to see whether the player chose the right door
=originally.

That's right.  Given the rules of the game, if he chose the right door
originally, staying wins; otherwise swapping wins.
=Since there are only three doors, we can enumerate the possibilities.
=
=There are three doors, one of which hides a car, the other two hide
=goats.  So, there are three possibilities:
=
=	1	car	goat	goat
=	2	goat	car	goat
=	3	goat	goat	car
=
=The player chooses one of the doors. We now have 9 possibilities
=(** = selected by player)
=
=	1.1	*car*	goat	goat
=	1.2	car	*goat*	goat
=	1.3	car	goat	*goat*
=	2.1	*goat*	car	goat
=	2.2	goat	*car*	goat
=	2.3	goat	car	*goat*
=	3.1	*goat*	goat	car
=	3.2	goat	*goat*	car
=	3.3	goat	goat	*car*
=
=Monty Hall now opens one of the doors which was not selected, revealing
=a goat. If the player has selected the car at his first attempt, MH can
=open either of the remaining doors. Otherwise, he has to open the door
=hiding the other goat. Now we have 12 possibilities (open door
=removed).
=
=	1.1.1	*car*	goat			STAY
=	1.1.2	*car*		goat		STAY
=	1.2	car	*goat*				CHANGE
=	1.3	car		*goat*			CHANGE
=	2.1	*goat*	car				CHANGE
=	2.2.1		*car*	goat		STAY
=	2.2.2	goat	*car*			STAY
=	2.3		car	*goat*			CHANGE
=	3.1	*goat*		car			CHANGE
=	3.2		*goat*	car			CHANGE
=	3.3.1		goat	*car*		STAY
=	3.3.2	goat		*car*		STAY
=
=In six cases, the player should change, in six he should stay where
=he it.

Now, what are the probabilities of each of the cases?  Surely you're not
assuming that all twelve cases are equally likely?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Carl J Lydick | INTERnet: CARL@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU | NSI/HEPnet: SOL1::CARL

Disclaimer:  Hey, I understand VAXen and VMS.  That's what I get paid for.  My
understanding of astronomy is purely at the amateur level (or below).  So
unless what I'm saying is directly related to VAX/VMS, don't hold me or my
organization responsible for it.  If it IS related to VAX/VMS, you can try to
hold me responsible for it, but my organization had nothing to do with it.
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science
From: skubi@prl.dec.com (Marcin Skubiszewski)
Subject: Re: Re^2: Electric Field Question
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation - Paris Research Laboratory
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 11:12:22 GMT

In article <4317@novavax.UUCP>, vest@novavax.UUCP (Steven Vest) writes:
>>>>   Men have a statistically significant greater incidence of skin cancer
>>>>   on the left arm, while women have the same for the right arm. Guess why.
> 
> Because men usually do the driving for a couple and put their left arms
> out the window and vice-versa?

Is the contrary true in England ? Is the contrary true if the woman is a
feminist or professional truck driver (or both) ? Is your wife a feminist ?

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.science