[math-fun] Spooning cold quince soup from a tall, thin jar,
I was perplexed when the spoon suddenly jammed in the neck and refused to move up or down. After minutes of flopping it back and forth, I finally realized what was happening, and finished my soup. How? --Bill
Quince has a high pectin content, so your soup went non-Newtonian. You could have run warm water over the jar. Hilarie
From: Bill Gosper <billgosper@gmail.com> Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2017 01:29:18 -0800
I was perplexed when the spoon suddenly jammed in the neck and refused to move up or down. After minutes of flopping it back and forth, I finally realized what was happening, and finished my soup. How? --Bill
Had your hand warmed the spoon sufficiently to cause it to be too large for the neck of the jar? On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 2:29 AM, Bill Gosper <billgosper@gmail.com> wrote:
I was perplexed when the spoon suddenly jammed in the neck and refused to move up or down. After minutes of flopping it back and forth, I finally realized what was happening, and finished my soup. How? --Bill _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
-- Mike Stay - metaweta@gmail.com http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~mike http://reperiendi.wordpress.com
Had you poured cold soup into an (initially) warm jar? WFL On 12/12/17, Mike Stay <metaweta@gmail.com> wrote:
Had your hand warmed the spoon sufficiently to cause it to be too large for the neck of the jar?
On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 2:29 AM, Bill Gosper <billgosper@gmail.com> wrote:
I was perplexed when the spoon suddenly jammed in the neck and refused to move up or down. After minutes of flopping it back and forth, I finally realized what was happening, and finished my soup. How? --Bill _______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
-- Mike Stay - metaweta@gmail.com http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~mike http://reperiendi.wordpress.com
_______________________________________________ math-fun mailing list math-fun@mailman.xmission.com https://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/math-fun
On 2017-12-12 13:30, Mike Stay wrote:
Had your hand warmed the spoon sufficiently to cause it to be too large for the neck of the jar?
On Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 2:29 AM, Bill Gosper <billgosper@gmail.com> wrote:
I was perplexed when the spoon suddenly jammed in the neck and refused to move up or down. After minutes of flopping it back and forth, I finally realized what was happening, and finished my soup. How? --Bill
Precisely! The jar and contents were cool, but the spoon was warming faster. Its smoothness and that of the jar disguised the snugness of the fit. Soon after I let go of the spoon and wrapped my hand around the jar neck, it was possible to lower the spoon into the cold soup, and then easily draw it out. --rwg
participants (4)
-
Bill Gosper -
Fred Lunnon -
Hilarie Orman -
Mike Stay