APPSC group1 and group2 ; VRO VRA ; PANCHAYATH SECRETARY NOTIFICATIONS ; STUDY MATERIAL AND GUIDANCE: Australian physicist finds 99-year-old mistakein Oxford dictionary
.............. .....................
Monday, April 28, 2014
Australian physicist finds 99-year-old mistakein Oxford dictionary
.............. ......... Melbourne: An eagle-eyed Australian scientist has forced the
Oxford English Dictionary to change its definition of how a
siphon works, after he found an error in the entry which had
gone unnoticed for 99 years.
For almost a century, the dictionary incorrectly stated that
atmospheric pressure, rather than gravity, is the operating force
in a siphon, researchers said.
In 2010, Dr Stephen Hughes from the Queensland University of
Technology spotted the mistake, which went unnoticed for 99
years.
For Exploring the boundary between the siphon and barometer
in a hypobaric chamber, Hughes conducted an experiment in a
hypobaric chamber, which simulates the effects of high altitude.
A siphon 1.5 metres high was set up in the chamber and when
the pressure was reduced to an altitude of 40,000 feet a waterfall
appeared at the top, but the water flow remained nearly
constant.
At 41,000 feet, the siphon broke into two columns of water and,
when returned to 40,000 feet, it reconnected as if nothing had
happened, researchers said. Atmospheric pressure at 40,000
feet, which is more than 10,000 feet higher than Mount Everest,
is about 18 per cent ...........
