Can water solve a maze? [video]

Post by pradn » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 6:18 PM UTC

miketery wrote: post #106

scarmig wrote: post #99

Reminded me: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_integrator The Water Integrator (Russian: Гидравлический интегратор Gidravlicheskiy integrator) was an early analog computer built in the Soviet Union in 1936 by Vladimir Sergeevich Lukyanov. It functioned by careful manipulation of water through a room full of interconnected pipes and pumps. The water level in various chambers (with precision to fractions of a milli…

When I first started learning EE I conceptualized it with water. Ie voltage / potential is a higher water level vs else where. But this takes it to a whole new level, impressive!

Post by latortuga » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 6:40 PM UTC

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #21

freetime2 wrote: post #15

The thing that I found most interesting was actually the little side discussion about all mazes being two pieces. Something that I had never considered, but seems fairly self evident (assuming only one path exists through the maze). Also makes me wonder what a proof would look like.

> Also makes me wonder what a proof would look like. Start with the simplest possible maze (i.e. one square with a start and a finish) which will be in two pieces. Then show that all possible additions will not add further pieces except for when you "cut" into an existing piece to make a separate non-solution route (i.e. a looped route that takes you back to the same point). (Having any loops in the maze would break…

Post by btilly » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 6:49 PM UTC

mywacaday wrote: post #47

Retric wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mostly, but surface tension in aggregate is meaningful. Surface tension is doing two things, first it’s contributing to back pressure several times in the same way it’s just barely keeping water from over topping. Secondly it’s taking up volume in air pockets thus increasing the pressure of those pockets. So, if he added soap to reduce surface tension the tank wouldn’t empty but it would end up lower. My guess is rou…

What's great about this video and the discussion is that something as familiar as water can have new and non intuitive things to learn about it. Are there any other examples of common things that have non obvious behaviour from every day experience?

Post by pxeger1 » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 6:50 PM UTC

pwagland wrote: post #60

pxeger1 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can make a maze with only one path (other than paths that double back on themselves), but has three pieces: https://i.imgur.io/R4j6TH3_d.png I think this is basically a flaw in the intuitive definition (or maybe only my intuitive definition) of "doubling back".

Except that this maze clearly has at least two solutions. Straight through the corridor, or via the loop. And that's assuming you don't wander around the loops n times.

Post by Enginerrrd » Mon, Apr 03, 2023, 7:11 PM UTC

freetime2 wrote: post #15

The thing that I found most interesting was actually the little side discussion about all mazes being two pieces. Something that I had never considered, but seems fairly self evident (assuming only one path exists through the maze). Also makes me wonder what a proof would look like.