Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 10:36:39 -0700
Reply-To: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Elliott <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: How is the Westy water tank inlet routed?
In-Reply-To: <86476e250704210952i4aa67372o7029ba4f9797239e@mail.gmail.com>
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Yeah...
I think I got Schroedinger's Tank and Heisenberg's Uncertaintank
Principle confused. In the first, the volume of the tank is
simultaneously 10 or 13 gallons, and will become either one or the other
when it is measured (observed). It's not clear if this is a destructive
(i.e., "one way") event like when a cat is used. With a cat in the box,
the experiment can be repeated only until the cat is found dead the
ninth time. Thereafter, it will always be dead. With the tank, it might
go back to its indeterminate volume forever and ever.
The Heisenberg Uncertaintank Principal, which you correctly identify as
an observer being able to accurately know EITHER the volume of the tank
OR the flow, but not both simultaneously, confounds any attempt to
determine the volume of the tank when water is running in or out of it.
There are practical problems. Schroedinger tells us that when the faucet
is turned on (the act of observation), the tank will become either 10 or
13 gallons total volume. This means that if 1 gallon of water was in it,
it could contain either 1 gallon of water or -2 gallons* of water. In
the latter case, the suction alone might cause irreparable damage to the
fabric of space. Or at least to any nearby piles of talcum powder.
Heisenberg, however, tells us that once the flow has started, the actual
volume of the tank cannot be known to any degree of confidence, so the
water could be flowing out the faucet while air is being sucked in
simultaneously.
Quantum Westies are difficult. Best thing to do, I say, is to never,
ever, use the water tank. It's far too dangerous. I shudder to think
what kind of bombs were sitting on when we consider the gas tank. . . .
*The word "gallons," when stared at too long, becomes very weird-looking
and appears to be misspelled. Same thing happens to the word "energy."
--
Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
KG6RCR
Loren Busch typed:
> No Mike, if it's flowing you can't tell how much you have but if you
> measure it it won't flow....
>
> On 4/20/07, *Michael Elliott* < camping.elliott@gmail.com
> <mailto:camping.elliott@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Aw, shoot. That's no fun. I thought it meant that we had a Westy
> Heisenberg uncertainty principle going on here. The actual capacity of
> the tank is indeterminate until we measure it, at which point the tank
> function collapses into one of the two volumes.
>
> --
> Mike "Rocket J Squirrel" Elliott
> 71 Type 2: the Wonderbus
> 84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> 74 Utility Trailer. Ladybug Trailer, Inc., San Juan Capistrano
> KG6RCR
>
>
>
>
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