Walking in New York in a cold rain is no fun. On a recent cold, rainy, we opted for staying indoors and amusing ourselves.
One amusing activity worth sharing is Greg's attempt to turn our apartment into a thermometer, a Galileo thermometer. You might remember more than a decade ago when Galileo thermometers were popular.
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| Modern Galileo thermometer |
The concept was devised about four centuries ago and is based on Galileo's discovery of the scientific principle that the density of a liquid changes in proportion to its temperature.
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| 400 year old Galileo thermometer |
We already had the necessary items: a variable heat source (gas log fireplace), floating bulbs (partially filled helium Happy Birthday balloons with neutral buoyancy) and the space (a living room with a high ceiling). On went the fire and voilà! You can see the results as the room warmed.
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| Photo 1: Temperature rising in the room |
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| Photo 2: Getting warmer and balloons rising |
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| Photo 3: Downright toasty as the balloons near the ceiling |
Grazie/Thanks, Galileo!
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| Prego |
P.S. Please don't tell Greg that a different scientific principle was actually at work. We were amused and turned a cold, rainy day into a warm, fun day.
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