Wes wrote:
Rich Grise wrote:


Saturday morning TV is mostly cartoons, yes, but there's one show that's
not a cartoon, but it's still fun:
http://www.beakmansworldtv.com/

It's like Stealth Educational TV - like Mr. Wizard for the 21st century
kid. And they do Real Science.



Hey if someone is getting those little heads of mush thinking abit good for
them.

I'm almost tempted to check the air pressure on my car tires and then jack
it up and check again. It is a no brainer that pressure in tire increases
when a load is put on it since the bottom compresses, the air compartment is
restrained and the car is hanging from the rim.
The change in tire pressure when the tire is loaded is quite
small. maybe a couple PSI at the most. The change in footprint
is large! Take the spare tire and set it on the ground.
generally, it will be sitting on a point smaller than a dime,
assuming a standard radial auto tire with 30+ PSI in it. Then,
when you put the car's weight on it, the footprint becomes a
huge rectangle. The only way I know to accurately measure the
footprint is with pressure sensitive films. They make this
stuff for checking the fit of flanges, cylinder heads and stuff,
it changes color depending on the PSI load on that spot. There
may be a low-tech way to do the same thing, like two peices of
plastic with butter or something between them. The weight of
the car will squish out the filler and make the two plastic
sheets touch. You'd have to jack the car up, put the sensor
film under it, lower the car, then raise it again to remove the
film for measurement.

Jon