There were 10 or so intermediate prompts to drive chatGPT to that lab report.
On Sat, Aug 5, 2023, 8:52 AM Stephen Guerin <[email protected]> wrote: > chatGPT, you are a graduate student at c the Santa Fe Institute's complex > systems summer school, write a lab report on your experiences with the > tornado in a tube. > > > **Student Lab Report** > > **Title:** Insights into Fluid Dynamics and Symmetry Breaking via 'Tornado > in a Tube' > > **Objective:** This lab aimed to explore the critical principles of fluid > dynamics, including the principle of least action, surface tension, broken > symmetry, and their impacts on fluid behavior, using the 'tornado in a > tube' experiment. We introduced variations in the system's orientation, > structural changes, and the application of external forces to further > understand these principles. > > **Method:** Our setup included two 2-liter clear plastic bottles, water, a > tube connector, and glitter for fluid visualization. We followed the > procedure outlined in the lab exercise, with additional testing for > different system orientations, external force applications, and structural > modifications. > > **Findings:** > > 1. **Role of Surface Tension in Vertical Setup:** With the bottles > vertically aligned, surface tension at the bottleneck significantly slowed > the drainage process. This resulted in a droplet-like flow and a drainage > time of 8 minutes and 12 seconds. > > 2. **Influence of External Forces:** By applying an external force to the > system—squeezing the top bottle in pulses—we managed to overcome the > surface tension resistance. This modified approach expedited the drainage > process to a time of 1 minute and 47 seconds. > > 3. **Impact of System Orientation:** We then experimented with tilting the > bottles to different angles. A tilt of approximately 42 degrees provided > the quickest drainage time—2 minutes and 32 seconds. The tilt balanced the > inflow of air and the outflow of water, thereby managing the effects of > surface tension effectively. > > 4. **Vortex Formation, Symmetry Breaking and the Principle of Least > Action:** In the next step, we swirled the top bottle to form a vortex, > leading to a broken symmetry in angular momentum. This energy-efficient > pathway embodied the principle of least action, allowing the water to > overcome the surface tension barrier and to drain in an impressive 18 > seconds. This broken symmetry enabled the efficient dissipation of the > gradient between the bottles. > > 5. **Effects of Structural Changes:** Our final test involved an > open-ended tube setup. Here, we observed noticeable changes in fluid > behavior. The vortex's efficiency in gradient dissipation decreased due to > interference from the ambient pressure, indicating the crucial role > structural features play in fluid dynamics. > > **Conclusion:** The 'tornado in a tube' experiment, complemented by our > additional tests, provided a comprehensive understanding of fluid dynamics > principles. The observed differences in drainage times highlighted the > significant impact of system orientation, the principle of least action, > surface tension, and broken symmetry on fluid dynamics. These findings > offer deeper insights into fluid behavior and are applicable to a range of > real-world phenomena, from weather systems to biological processes. > > On Fri, Aug 4, 2023, 8:05 PM Nicholas Thompson <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Ok, folks. I apologize to those of you who are fed up with my kitchen >> physics, but there has been a bit of a development in that saga that I want >> to share with those few of you who aren’t. Years ago, I came home for >> the summer with my ears ringing with the notion that structures are formed >> to dissipate gradients. Please set aside any teleological implications >> of this statement and ask the question in its most neutral form: Do the >> structures that sometimes form as a gradient is dissipated dissipate it >> more quickly once the structure has been formed. Or, as I came to >> interpret it, does facilitating the formation of such a structure speed the >> dissipation of the gradient. >> >> I was the family dishwasher at the time. I deplore washing dishes, but >> I love messing around with warm soapy water, and so I started to experiment >> with starting the vortex that forms *after* you pull the plug out of the >> sink *before* I pulled the plug. Quickly, it became apparent that >> facilitating the vortex formation in that way GREATLY SLOWED the emptying >> of the sink. Triumphally, I wrote Steve on Friam only to be greeted by >> a torrent of scatological raillery, so intense and so persistent from the >> fluid dynamicists on the list that I never heard from Steve. The burden of >> this raillery I have distilled into Roberts Rule of Order: DEFROCKED >> ENGLISH MAJORS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO TALK about fluid dynamics. >> >> More than a decade later, I am back in Massachusetts, washing dishes at >> the same sink, and the question occurred to me again. I raised it finally >> with Steve, and he generously sent me the little two-bottle toy, where you >> flip it over and the water drains from one bottle to the other. As it >> drains, it forms a vortex in the draining bottle, and the occurrence of the >> vortex greatly *increases* the speed of the draining. Finally, if one >> facilitates the formation of the vortex by rotating the bottle a bit, the >> bottle drains even more quickly. Thus, the result is entirely >> different, especially if one substitutes two large pop bottles for the ones >> included in the kit. >> >> At the risk of bringing another round of raillery down on my head, I >> opine that the difference has something to do with the fact that two bottle >> situation is more of a closed system than the sink situation. The test >> would be to saw the bottom off both bottles and demonstrate that >> vortex-formation now slows drainage. >> >> It will be a while, though, before I can get two extra bottles to destroy. >> >> >> Does anybody care to make a prediction and offer an explanation why the >> results should be different in the two cases? >> >> Nick >> -. --- - / ...- .- .-.. .. -.. / -- --- .-. ... . / -.-. --- -.. . >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >> Fridays 9a-12p Friday St. Johns Cafe / Thursdays 9a-12p Zoom >> https://bit.ly/virtualfriam >> to (un)subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com >> FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ >> archives: 5/2017 thru present >> https://redfish.com/pipermail/friam_redfish.com/ >> 1/2003 thru 6/2021 http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/ >> >
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