As I re-read Fleming's "You Only Live Twice" last night, which features
a geyser that is "regulated" by a valve of some sort I was intrigued by
this idea:
Can one discipline a geyser to an external source?
a) I assume there's some data somewhere on eruption timing - sure, Old
Faithful is quite regular, sufficiently that they can say "the next
eruption will occur at" and people will gather and watch it. But what's
the ADEV? As a kid in the early 70s, I didn't think to ask this
question, and neither Allan nor Leeson seem to mention it in their
papers from 1966. There is a lot of variation in timing performance of
various geysers, though. Old Faithful *is* regular, and in a place
where it's watchable.
b) Are periodic geysers actually regulatable ?- From the little I know
about how they work, I would think the eruption frequency depends on
things like the water temperature and flow. It's also possible that the
valve in Fleming's novel is purely fictional, because it serves as part
of a plot device at the end (much like closing off the safety valve on a
boiler).
Or, are geysers an example of a chaotic system that is only seemingly
regular in some sense? That is, it's not like a VCO, with a consistent
and well defined relation between the control input and the period.
Changing the control input may change the period in an unpredictable
way. Some geysers stop working if the surrounding hydrology changes. Or
is that simply that the Q of the oscillator is so high that it's easy to
"get out of operating range". That would be like trying to discipline a
spurious parasitic oscillation in an amplifier.
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