"Bob Minchin" wrote in message
...
Pete Zahut wrote:
would this work http://www.wimp.com/wineshoe

It's a video of someone removing a cork from a wine bottle using a shoe.
The
cork comes out of the bottle but I don't see how - although I'm not the
world's greatest physicist, of course :-) IMHO the cork, if it moves
at
all, should go inside the bottle because (and this is the bit that
justifies
it being in a DIY group) it would seem to be the same principle as
putting a
hammer head on a shaft, ie, shaft and head travelling downwards, shaft
stops, head carries on downwards and fits snugly on shaft. Wine bottle
and
cork travelling in same direction, bottle stops, cork should continue
same
way as the bottle, not go in the opposite direction - shouldn't it?


As he says it is the shock wave travelling through the wine that pushes
out the cork.
The cork does not have sufficient mass for your suggestion to move
downwards to any degree. In the case of the hammer head, the head is much
heavier so dominates over the shock travelling up the handle.

Not sure why he demonstrates this on a wall, I think I'll try the floor
first.

Bob

I assume the cork has to be in contact with the wine for it to work - it if
were on the floor, there is an air gap!

Toby...