Slow boiling frogs

August 15, 2008 · Filed Under Legends · Comment 

Slow boiling of a frogIt is generally believed that a frog placed in cold water and raise the temperature so gradually that the increase in heat is not perceptible to the frog at any given moment, the frog will make no attempt to escape from the vessel in which is heated. In fact the story gets extended to believe that the poor frog starts enjoying the cozy warmth that it dozes happily and dies without even opening its eyes! Sadism, indeed!

But why slow heating? It is at once conceded that if you put the same frog in boiling water it will quickly jump out!

This anecdote is generally used to illustrate an axiom that you can introduce any change in the system very gradually such that the folks affected by it do not perceive the change immediately and react against it. It also means that you will get cooked without your knowledge if you just wallow in the comfort of the present environment if you resist change.

What about the veracity of the “slow boiling frog” theory? Snopes discounts it and votes an outright “False”. This is what Snopes has to say about this belief:

The legend is entirely incorrect! The ‘critical thermal maxima’ of many species of frogs have been determined by several investigators. In this procedure, the water in which a frog is submerged is heated gradually at about 2 degrees Fahrenheit per minute. As the temperature of the water is gradually increased, the frog will eventually become more and more active in attempts to escape the heated water. If the container size and opening allow the frog to jump out, it will do so.

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Ramanujan mentioned in Good Will Hunting

November 30, 2007 · Filed Under Legends · 2 Comments 

Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan was one of India’s greatest mathematical geniuses. He made substantial contributions to the analytical theory of numbers and worked on elliptic functions, continued fractions, and infinite series. He was a poor and sickly Hindu Brahmin from the Tamil Nadu state of south India, who was not lucky to have any fancy degrees. But he was a math wizard and numbers were his toys. His genius was spotted by Hardy, another of the species from England. And the association brought the genius to the eyes of the world through Cambridge.

Ramanujam’s pioneering work is the embryo from which the present day digital world has spawned itself!

In the 1997 film, “Good Will Hunting” about another math genius portrayed by Matt Damon (as Will Hunting) who was an autodidact and a recluse , a mention about Ramanujan had been made by Prof. Gerald Lambeau (Stellan SkarsgÃ¥rd) in a very appropriately fitting context. Here is the video clipping showing that episode:-
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The Barometer Problem

October 15, 2007 · Filed Under Legends · Comment 

The barometer comnundrum!It is one the urban legends doing rounds around the internet. It has attained such a longevity that it pops up over and over again in different versions, sometimes attributed to a celebrity to bestow it a bit of respectability!

Here is the story:-

Some time ago I received a call from a colleague who asked if I would be the referee on the grading of an examination question. He was about to give a student a zero for his answer to a physics question, while the student claimed he should receive a perfect score and would if the system were not set up against the student: The instructor and the student agreed to submit this to an impartial arbiter, and I was selected.

I went to my colleague’s office and read the examination question: “Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer.”

The student had answered: “Take a barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower the barometer to the street and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is the height of the building.”
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5 second tomfoolery

December 23, 2005 · Filed Under Legends · 7 Comments 

Heard about the (in)famous “5 second rule” of dropped food?

For the sake of those folks who are allergic to out-navigating from my blog, here is an explanation of the prime elements of this rule:

Ever dropped a cookie on the floor, yelled “Five-second rule!”, then quickly picked it up and popped it into your mouth? The assumption is that five seconds is not a long enough time for your food to pick up harmful bacteria. The exact origin of this urban legend is unknown, but supposedly, Genghis Khan was the first to make such a claim, specifying a lenient 12 to 20 hour period for food left on the ground to remain safe. The fast food industry also has been credited with the “rule,” supposedly to help minimize food waste. Whatever its origin, the “5 second rule” has become a readily accepted practice by young and old alike, especially to rationalize the eating of sweet foods like cookies that have fallen to the ground.

And an interesting find by a survey shows that women are more likely than men to eat food that’s been on the floor! May be they are more active conservationists!

Ok, Now enjoy this video clipping on the 5 second crap! Read more

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