We went to see Leo Houlding talking about two amazing expeditions last night in Lancaster. No photographs allowed but you really ought to watch the trailers to his new films to why I thought the mountains were awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzBaPd3OxmM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqkxeZza5mM
I noted down several bits of Physics.
He stated that a stone dropped from the top of El Capitan in Yosemite falls 1000m in 27 seconds. Simple calculation ignoring air resistance using the equation s = ut + 1/2 at(squared) suggest 14 seconds. There is the possibility that he has timed it but that would mean reaching terminal velocity very quickly. I'll need to think about the calculations involved to figure that out.
About the film of climbing on Ulvetanna he claimed that it went from -5 to -20 degrees Celsius in seconds when the shadow of the mountain moved across the climbers as the day wore on. What a marvellous example of radiant heat - that the heat from the Sun comes as infra-red at the speed of light, even in Antarctica.
He also said that the most efficient way to melt ice for drinking water was to constantly boil 3 litres from below with two stoves and then add a few snowballs at a time. This sounds like a do-able but tricky calculation for the Upper Sixth after Christmas!
