1. Get a large light styrofoam container, something that weighs only a few ounces. 2. Weigh it. 3. Weigh yourself. 4. Take a piss in it. 5. Reweigh yourself. 6. Reweigh the container. 7. Empty the container. 8. Repeat 2-7, but take a shit instead of a piss.
Not only will you sort out this puzzle, but you'll be testing shit-related conservation of mass. If the numbers don't add up, you can measure how much energy is consumed or created in each transaction.
Happy to be of help,
[brother]"
"I think the only way to get to the bottom of this is a large box of 24oz jars, a box of latex gloves, and a food scale.
Cartwright"
Neither of them is thinking far enough outside the box here.
Porous Turds
anonymous
March 15 2007, 00:40:55 UTC
Problem: Turds weigh half of piss, with similar volume. Yet turds sink, appearing to be more dense.
The turds may be porous. They sink like a roll of barbed wire because they absorb water. But clearly a tangle of wire is quite light. You could weigh the turds in a dry container, soak them in water, and weigh again.
For less mess you could just measure the actual volume of the turds using the Archimedian principle by seeing how much water they displace. Just put marks on the inside of your toilet bowl. They probably displace less than the piss.
Or you could stop eating all those Ritz crackers. Add a little more fiber and you won't wait weeks between dumps.
Finally you could eat the turds and weigh yourself again. This would control for any nuclear effects during defecation.
Re: Porous Turdswintermute_caMarch 15 2007, 00:53:17 UTC
"The turds may be porous. They sink like a roll of barbed wire because they absorb water."
This is an interesting idea, and theoretically could be confounded with the effect I discovered. But from visual inspection, I would claim that the porosity of my turd was negligible, or at least could not alone account for the disparity between shit volume and weight. Your point does illuminate a potential path of research into deconvolution of shit porosity and the effect (unmentioned, as of yet) that I discovered regarding the surprising apparent lightness of my turd.
"For less mess you could just measure the actual volume of the turds using the Archimedian principle by seeing how much water they displace. Just put marks on the inside of your toilet bowl. They probably displace less than the piss."
Not a bad idea. But again, although the question of volume of shit vs. volume of piss is likely part of the answer to this question, you are still barking up the wrong tree.
Piss must weigh more than waterdeitelcMarch 15 2007, 02:24:56 UTC
Piss must weigh significantly more than water. I assume the more hydrated you are, the less you piss will weigh in comparison to water. If you're dehydrated, you're piss will weigh much more in comparison to water and thus be quite yellow.
Comments 33
"I see only one way to know for sure.
1. Get a large light styrofoam container, something that weighs only a few ounces.
2. Weigh it.
3. Weigh yourself.
4. Take a piss in it.
5. Reweigh yourself.
6. Reweigh the container.
7. Empty the container.
8. Repeat 2-7, but take a shit instead of a piss.
Not only will you sort out this puzzle, but you'll be testing shit-related conservation of mass. If the numbers don't add up, you can measure how much energy is consumed or created in each transaction.
Happy to be of help,
[brother]"
"I think the only way to get to the bottom of this is a large box of 24oz jars, a box of latex gloves, and a food scale.
Cartwright"
Neither of them is thinking far enough outside the box here.
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The turds may be porous. They sink like a roll of barbed wire because they absorb water. But clearly a tangle of wire is quite light. You could weigh the turds in a dry container, soak them in water, and weigh again.
For less mess you could just measure the actual volume of the turds using the Archimedian principle by seeing how much water they displace. Just put marks on the inside of your toilet bowl. They probably displace less than the piss.
Or you could stop eating all those Ritz crackers. Add a little more fiber and you won't wait weeks between dumps.
Finally you could eat the turds and weigh yourself again. This would control for any nuclear effects during defecation.
Kim Lee
Reply
This is an interesting idea, and theoretically could be confounded with the effect I discovered. But from visual inspection, I would claim that the porosity of my turd was negligible, or at least could not alone account for the disparity between shit volume and weight. Your point does illuminate a potential path of research into deconvolution of shit porosity and the effect (unmentioned, as of yet) that I discovered regarding the surprising apparent lightness of my turd.
"For less mess you could just measure the actual volume of the turds using the Archimedian principle by seeing how much water they displace. Just put marks on the inside of your toilet bowl. They probably displace less than the piss."
Not a bad idea. But again, although the question of volume of shit vs. volume of piss is likely part of the answer to this question, you are still barking up the wrong tree.
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Deitelc
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