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From: keithl@tekcad.UUCP (Keith Lofstrom)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Hourglass Thought Experiment
Message-ID: <62@tekcad.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 1-Oct-83 18:32:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekcad.62
Posted: Sat Oct  1 18:32:04 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 2-Oct-83 10:15:25 EDT
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 24

As much as I enjoy interminable political debates in net.physics, I will
interrupt with a relatively value-free thought problem.  This thought
problem requires:

    A weight scale with "infinite sensitivity", no memory, and no platform
    deflection.
    An hourglass with "infinitesimal" sand inside.

Set the hourglass on the scale with the sand in the upper chamber.
What does the scale read as a function of time?  How will the changing
behavior of the stream of sand change the apparent weight?

To start with, let's leave Heisenberg, Einstein, and Boltzmann out of this
(No quantum, relativistic, or thermal effects) so more folks can play.
What do YOU think happens?

Physically yours;

-- 
Keith Lofstrom
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