Someone found the Bryce 5.0 export->reality function.

Only the gooc cranberries float.

sorry guys... it was me. I was tryng to make the most kick-ass christmas ornament ever, and it just sorta' fell outta my boat and went off to sea...

gooc=good

"Then lancelot, galahad and I jump out of the sphere..."

Senordos13: Good one. Perhaps this so-called sphere is actually the Holy Handgrenade of Antioch.

Five is right out!

HellHound...Im glad I'm not the only one with some understanding of Surface Tension...

OOOOkay.. Looks like someone with a functioning BRAIN needs to step in and point out the obvious (well, to me anyway.)

Assume it's really 3 feet in diameter. The volume of a sphere 3 feet in diameter is not quite 8 1/2 cubit feet. (4/3(PI))*(R^3)= volume.

8.5 cubic feet of volume is roughly 63.6 gallons. Water weighs about 9 pounds per gallon, therefore the total weight of 63.6 gallons is 572.4 pounds. The UFO is said to be several hundred pounds (less than 500, we can assume, no?) Therefore, it floats, Q.E.D.

You are most welcome.

Just for your reference, the reason I cited 1150 pounds instead of 882 pounds was because I used 1 meter instead of 1 yard as the diameter of the sphere. I also worked on the Mars Climate Orbiter...

maybe it's that scary weather balloon thing (rover?) from the prisoner.

bloop!

Kurst_Putz so what it the air speed velocity?

I was wondering where that went...

Corporate Mofo: Good God, someone please get McGoohan a bigger camera! "I will call him Mini Arriflex."

CheekyMonkey: I swear I meant to stay on topic! mmmmNI!

Damn bold tags.

Then open the largest sphere in the ocean... with a herring!

Wow. Over 100 comments in a thread not about religion, politics, or boobies. However, there is a vigorous discussion of water displacement. Can you have a flamewar about water?

*gets up and runs out of the lab* They found me!

Hahah.. That makes three of us to prove that it floats.

"HellHound...Im glad I'm not the only one with some understanding of Surface Tension..."

Jesse: Too bad you have NO understanding of relative density...

I'm gonna' need some pliers, and a set of 30 weight ball bearings (it's all ball bearing nowadays) And I'm gonna' need about 10 quarts of antifreeze, preferably Prestone. No, make that Quaker State.

Isle of Palms, smooth balls, what's really going on here?

ahahahha Zombie Zero, you beat me to it!

The bible doesn't mention floating silver balls. Therefore this didn't happen.

this might be my favorite thread EVAR

Given a diameter of 3 ft, the volume of the sphere is roughly 14.14 cubic ft. A cubic ft of water is roughly 62 lb (more for saltwater, and I think gets higher the deeper you go in the ocean). Anyway, 14.14 ft^3 * 62 lb/ft^3 gives us a weight of roughly 875 lb. Sooo.. the sphere, immersed in water, would displace ~875 lb of water. If it weighs less it'll float. Sounds like it probably floated just fine.

And yes, metric is better, but I found a page with the units in english and I'm too tired to make sure I convert to metric right.

As for boats, their floating is more a function of displacement than a solid object like the sphere. As long as water can't get inside the hull, the boat is effectively a giant hollow object, making its total effective density much lower than the density of each part individually. Once water gets access to the inside, it's no longer effectively hollow, and it sinks like the rock it really is.

Occurred : 11/7/1998 (Entered as : 11/7/98 21:50-22:00)
Reported : 11/10/1998 12:18
Posted : 11/19/1998
Location : Isle of Palms, SC
Shape : Cone
We were looking towards the city of Charleston from the Isle of Palms when we noticed an extremely bight orange object moving slowly acoss the sky. The object was four times the size of the north star "Polaris." It was at least 10 times brighter than the brightest star in the sky. At its brightest moment it appeared to have the structure of a cross which bulbed out at each end. It traveled N.W. to S.W. at a consistent speed and appeared to be floating, instead of being propelled across the sky. Between 7-10 minutes later, as it approached the South West, it came to a complete stop for about 10 seconds. Then between 5-8 smaller objects began to fall out of the larger object. The smaller objects which fell out of the larger one fell for 15-25 seconds. Each object that fell from the larger one, fell straight to the earth for 2-3 seconds and then another one would fall. The smaller objects were extremely bright and moved at a high consistent speed. After each of the smaller objects made their way to the earth, the bigger orange object became less bright. After the last small object fell, the larger orange object dissappeared for a split second and then re-appeared brighter than before. This is when the cross shape structure of the object was visible. It remained at a dead stop for a few seconds and then dissapeared completely.

My girlfriend and I have just recently moved to the Charleston area from Denver Colorado. She was raised in Atlanta and I was raised in Denver, Colorado and Seattle Washington. She has been living on the Isle of Palmes for about five months. On November 7, 1998, we had just returend from dinner. It was between 21:50 and 22:00 when we both noticed a bright orange object in the North West. There was no clouds in the entire sky. It was about four times the size of the north star and at least ten times brighter. It was a bright consistent orange light and it never changed color or brightness until the end. It moved towards the South West, traveling very slowly at a very consistent speed. It appeared to be floating instread of being propelled. It made no sound. We watched it float across the sky for at least five minutes before it came to a complete stop in the South West sky. It stayed there for about ten seconds. The stop was extremely sudden and abrupt. After about ten seconds, smaller objects began to fall from the large orange object. They fell for about 15-25 seconds and there was between 5-8 total objects that fell from the bigger one. They were very bright and fell extremely fast. Each small object fell for about 2-4 seconds and then another one would fall. Each time a smaller object would fall, the orange object became less bright. After the last small object fell the orange object dissappeared for a split second and then re-appeared brighter than before. At the objects brightest moment, it appeared to have structure. The structure resembled two perpendicular bars that bulbed out at the end. My girlfriend discribed it as two dog bones perpendicular to each other.

Do not tease Happy Fun Ball.

Kurst_putz

Your math is a bit off

Argh. I farked up. I guess that makes me a Total Farker. AND someone else not only beat me to it, but did it better.
Surely, now you can see the depth of my CURSE.

poop.

Michiru lifted the positron rifle attached to Unit 01's right arm and aimed
it at the giant silver orb. She squeezed off a shot, wincing slightly as
she felt the recoil from the huge weapon. A brilliant bolt of energy lanced
out from the rifle and burned a hole straight through the Angel.


ahh.. that explains it.

Speedshifter187

and it took 3 1/2 years to float to the coast???

i think not

Cheeky Monkey...I was farking joking...the only thing I know about surface tension is the little experiment with soap that I leaned on Mr. Wizard....Lighten up Professor!

A parade of authorities from local, state and federal agencies examined the odd ball Wednesday.

And I'm still sore.

Can you have a flamewar about water?

How about a flamewar about MATH? Kurst_Putz, check your math -- your results are the lowest of the four that have been posted on the subject (yours being the fourth). Your result for volume is incorrect -- the answer is 14.137 cubic feet.

There is absolutely no way that this thing floats. An object will float if it weighs less than the weight of the amount of water it dispacles. It is impossible for a 3-foot sphere to displace 'several hundred' pounds of water.

That there's a space peanut!

Kurst_putz

It is just math, your point is still valid.
Water is denser than we think.

When people ask questions like "How can something that heavy float?" They are confusing weight with density, and forget explaining displacement.

David Blaine is inside it.

Oh, sorry, that's my bling.

Thanks for the insight, Phineas.

"There is absolutely no way that this thing floats. An object will float if it weighs less than the weight of the amount of water it dispacles. It is impossible for a 3-foot sphere to displace 'several hundred' pounds of water."

Phineas: Feel free to provide proof...

Phineas.

A 3 foot sphere of water would weigh 892 pounds.
(see previous posts) so anything that size, but weighing less, would float.

Yes, there is a way.

READ.

It's from a really BIG ASS can of guinness.

Guylorensmith How about a flamewar about MATH?
See my Mea Culpa above. as you can see, I chose a nick that would best describe me: A cursed PUTZ. argle-bargle.

Well, at least a math flame war has a high statistical probablility of having definite, proven winners and losers.

Perhaps it is the Fury's Eye from Dungeon Siege?