Named for Erwin Schrodinger the water balloon was made by my daughter to illustrate a spherical harmonic. The simple vertical oscillation of the water following the bounce which is called a p mode. I would have used a small purpose made water balloon with no face and hair, but this funny monster is way more fun and is recommended, but please, not on mother's kitchen floor to avoid unfortunate yelling.

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The rubber rotates around the oscillating water to put the hair underneath because of the slight extra weight of the wool. The dominant spherical harmonic is the simplest p mode with water oscillating vertically through the centre. This mode persists with a well defined period as Erwin hops across the floor to exit left. On the reverse journey we have the unfamiliar addition of energy. Video at 240 fps replayed at 30 fps.

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Inspided by Conall's comment. "fascinating and slightly comical." Thank you for that. Slow-mo at 240 fps on the iPhone (time dilation x8).

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Water balloon drop on tiles with symmetrical wall tension. The 20 cm water-filled balloon on tiles was videoed at 240 fps. Note the brief appearance of concentric circular nodes and the dominance of a strongly damped vertical p mode.

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Approximate sketch to scale of 24 satellites in six 12 hour orbits. Crossed stereo pair. Many people seem to assume that the GPS constellation is in low orbit, less than one earth radius above the ground, but not so. The satellites are well out in orbits that are free of the atmosphere but they do require frequent minor course corrections to maintain their relative positions. The animation was made in Flash. I do regret the loss of that platform.

Tags:   tpc tpcu6 tpcu6l4 tpu6l4

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