Hi Guys,
Ok I am looking over the replies and I just want to point out something first: I don't know the answer! So this isn't any kind of trick question. Honestly a local radio station asked this question because it came up in the studio. Since it's an Extreme Rock station and not a talk station, they couldn't elaborate too much. I just liked the topic.
Anyway, this is great! Electric fields, Vacuum Tubes, Gravitational Axis, etc.
The reason I like this whole thing is because each answer sounds like a complicated explanation to a simple concept. And it HAS to be that way because a level is strange tool.
Putting on the advocate's hat (given to me personally by the devil himself), I want to point towards something else completely. Remove gravity, fields, and calibration altogether. It looks to me like a level is simply measuring relative elevation.
It looks to me that the bubble is looking for a point in the tube where there is a higher elevation than any other.
I could simulate this by creating a new level of new material. How about a giant toilet paper tube (hey, I got a giant ass!) and a helium baloon? Doesn't a helium baloon seek the highest altitude? Inside this giant tube the baloon will always go to this point, and will act the same as your tiny bubble in your level. This would seem to demonstrate that instead of gravity (a pull downward), the baloon is operating on a pull Upward. Does this make sense? We do agree that if you have each end of a level at separate elevations, the bubble will ALWAYS go to the higher point, right?
The problem is in what pix pointed out. We still need to have a master standard for our comparison. What is this going to be, sea level? I don't think so. Sea level is a man made standard for elevation. What would be a true starting point?
Question #2 Could you hang a picture using a level on the international space station? Further, could you do so in an anti-gravity tank here on Earth?
Please continue to tackle the first question to this topic. I just think the second will help look at gravity, the strongest suspect so far.
Beastie
Ok I am looking over the replies and I just want to point out something first: I don't know the answer! So this isn't any kind of trick question. Honestly a local radio station asked this question because it came up in the studio. Since it's an Extreme Rock station and not a talk station, they couldn't elaborate too much. I just liked the topic.
Anyway, this is great! Electric fields, Vacuum Tubes, Gravitational Axis, etc.
The reason I like this whole thing is because each answer sounds like a complicated explanation to a simple concept. And it HAS to be that way because a level is strange tool.
Putting on the advocate's hat (given to me personally by the devil himself), I want to point towards something else completely. Remove gravity, fields, and calibration altogether. It looks to me like a level is simply measuring relative elevation.
It looks to me that the bubble is looking for a point in the tube where there is a higher elevation than any other.
I could simulate this by creating a new level of new material. How about a giant toilet paper tube (hey, I got a giant ass!) and a helium baloon? Doesn't a helium baloon seek the highest altitude? Inside this giant tube the baloon will always go to this point, and will act the same as your tiny bubble in your level. This would seem to demonstrate that instead of gravity (a pull downward), the baloon is operating on a pull Upward. Does this make sense? We do agree that if you have each end of a level at separate elevations, the bubble will ALWAYS go to the higher point, right?
The problem is in what pix pointed out. We still need to have a master standard for our comparison. What is this going to be, sea level? I don't think so. Sea level is a man made standard for elevation. What would be a true starting point?
Question #2 Could you hang a picture using a level on the international space station? Further, could you do so in an anti-gravity tank here on Earth?
Please continue to tackle the first question to this topic. I just think the second will help look at gravity, the strongest suspect so far.
Beastie