charliep@sri-unix (07/20/82)
Can anyone provide me with a reliable reference detailing the facts surrounding famous feats of self-control performed by Hindu ascetics and/or fakirs? I am especially interested in walking on coals, sleeping on nails, and (would you believe) levitation. Thanks... PS. My bias is not to believe any of it.
tugs (07/25/82)
I don't know about levitation, BUT...
Sleeping on a bed of nails is a very simple trick. If you look at the number
of nails per unit area on one of those boards and work out the force the
body applies on each one - basically the formula
force on each nail = person's weight / (nails per unit area * area of person's body in contact with nails)
- then it becomes evident that there's not really very much pressure involved.
In fact, there was a guy who used to appear on Merv Griffin (I think) who
would regularly break the world's record (his own) for the largest weight
he could have placed on him while on a bed of nails. Once he lay down on
the bed, had a sheet of plywood placed on him and a concrete block on top
of that, and had someone smash the concrete block with a sledgehammer.
Here's a neat trick of physics: the only danger in that case, as far as I can
see, is that the hammerer might not hit hard enough to smash the block;
THEN you'd have a punctured personality. The reason is that if the block
breaks, it's an elastic collision and all (most) of the hammer's force
is absorbed by the block. If the block doesn't break,it's an inelastic I
mean it this time inelastic collision, and all the force of the hammer is
transmitted throught the block, through the plywood, to...
Walking on coals is also a straightforward phenomenon. There are films
of the natives of Fiji doing it - it's a fairly routine ceremony for them,
I believe. The reason it works is the same reason you can put a drop
of water on a VERY hot skillet and it will bead up and skitter around
for quite a while before evaporating. If the skillet is NOT hot, it just
boils. Apparently, a very thin layer of water in contact with the skillet
is instantly converted to steam and acts as an insulator for the rest
of the drop. The water is suspended off the surface of the skillet, which
is why it scoots around so easily - it's basically a hovercraft.
I don't have a reference for the nails (other than Merv Griffin), but
the walking on coals is something an American physics professor named
Gerrold regularly performs (yes, performs!) for his classes.
He has a book of fascinating and weird physics problems called "The
Flying Circus of Physics", and I believe there's a reference to the
coals there. (a word of warning - I'm positive of the book's title,
but not sure I have the guy's name right. Any university library should
have the book)
If you hear anything about levitation, let me know.
Steve Hull
decvax!hcr!tugs