Dipping your fingers in molten lead [pdf] | Hacker News Reader

Dipping your fingers in molten lead [pdf]

falstad.com

14 pointslogic16 comments

The best part of the article is the description of how after he had successfully dipped his entire wet hand into the lead without being burnt, he had to prove that it was really film boiling that protected his hand. By touching the molten lead with a dry finger. Knowing full well he was going to be badly burnt.

A true scientist.

I just thought it meant he was insane. I don't understand why he used his hands first on the experiment, with or without water. He could have used anything else-- something not attached to him.

For some, once an idea germinates, it burgeons until it is performed.

At some level, this becomes a battle between the mind and the idea, like some kind of stare down.

The scientist couldn't resist the urge of sticking his finger in there.

Neither can the serial killer.

That brings in an entirely different human faculty (morality?). And in terms of serial killers, abnormally functioning. The focus of my comment was on people who are fairly normal in this regard. The comparison is silly without mentioning this.

I think the scientific term for this guy is "Crazy MOFO".

Not clear on the liquid nitrogen test. How exactly did he deposit it into his mouth ? And given the severe irregularity of the tongue, there surely were multiple points of contact not protected by the vaporized nitrogen.

Anyone know of Videos of such an experiment ?

It was a recurring theme. He dipped his hand into molten lead three times, getting burnt on the third time. He walked on coals five times, getting burnt on the fifth. He put liquid nitrogen in is mouth twelve times, seriously damaging is mouth on the twelveth time.

I guess he's an inductive reasoner, not a deductive one.

http://xkcd.com/242/

(as I read it he was doing demonstrations - knowing the risks - and when it went wrong the first time, stopped)

Very interesting read. The final part is a bit of a stretch:

I have long argued that degree-granting programs should employ "fire-walking" as a last exam. The chair-person of the program should wait on the far side of a bed of red-hot coals while a degree candidate is forced to walk over the coals. If the candidate's belief in physics is strong enough that the feet are left undamaged, the chairperson hands the candidate a graduation certificate. The test would be more revealing than traditional final exams.

I think it should actually reveal the candidate's belief in his/her knowledge of physics, rather than his/her belief in physics.

I thought it was fairly obviously not meant to be taken seriously.

As an instructor myself, I must admit I did take this just a little seriously.

My college physics professor did a similar experiment, but walking on burning coals:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2006/04/28/...

It certainly was fun to watch, but I didn't really remember what it was trying to teach...

In Bulgaria, and in other countries on the Balkans, there is an old tradition of walking on fire. It's called Nestinarstvo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anastenaria

Mythbusters actually tested this out, using their own fingers no less. Was definitely a cool thing to see.

Video of similar experiment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN5aMjTCfo4

Loved it :) It's like Harry Potter in real live!

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