In sci.physics, Androcles

wrote
on Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:22:46 GMT
:

"mm" wrote in message ...
Water seeks its own level. This means that when one pours a bunch of
water on a table it won't end up like a little mountain,


Yes is will.

http://www.shiromi.com/gallery2/d/16...water3_std.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/21/24681862_be8d89ed03.jpg
http://www.corporate.basf.com/basfco...r_droplets.jpg

Androcles does have a point here; if the water doesn't
adhere to the tabletop (e.g., wax), it will bead up.
These are definitely "little mountains", although more in
the US Eastern sense, not the Sierra Nevada. :-)

Even if the water does adhere to the tabletop, it will
still bead up, although not as much.

To be sure, surface tension can only go so far; if one
pours a cubic meter (1 metric tonne) of water on a 1 m^2
wax-coated tabletop, it won't all fit as little beads.

However, neither will it all fall off the edges, either.
Most of it, yes -- but not all. The rest will have to
be wiped off with a towel or left to evaporate; if one is
working with impure water, one gets salt -- a fact noticed
by many after a rainfall on their car rooftops, windshields,
hoods, etc.

--
#191,
Useless C++ Programming Idea #8830129:
std::set... v; for(..:iterator i = v.begin(); i != v.end(); i++)
if(*i == thing) {...}

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