Re: The Doucet Theory on Pumpkins with Split Personalities

--- Brock <brocfarm@pacific.net> wrote:
> Diana,
> 
> The hot air idea is interesting and stimulating.   I
> don't necessarily agree with the air permeation
> idea .       

> If your experiment was done with a stronger
> structured can and less heat would it
> still crumple??
> 
> MB


Mike,

Good response and question.  If you don't buy the idea
that air permeates into the pumpkin, where do you
think the internal air comes from?  Pumpkins don't
create gas do they?  Do you have a theory on pumpkin
flatulence that I don't know about?

The answer to your question about what happens with a
stronger structured can is an interesting bit of
physics.  The metal container we used was not very
rigid. It therefore crumpled long before the crushing
force reached 200 pounds and thereby reduced the
internal cavity size reducing the internal pressure.  


Interestingly enough, the more rigid and inflexible
the container, the higher the crushing force that can
be created.  Also, the larger the container, the
higher the crushing force that can be generated.  The
crushing force the Doucet effect can exert on the
rigid structure of a pumpkin is probably much higher
than you would ever imagine.

It is a valid point that with less temperature change
the expansion and contraction of the air is reduced. 
But the experiment you did with a thermometer I
believe is somewhat flawed. 

Have you ever gone inside a tent on a cool day when
full sun is hitting the tent?  The air inside the tent
gets stifling hot.  When I have pumpkins in full sun,
I've noticed that the surface of the pumpkin facing
the sun is hot to the touch and the bottom of the
pumpkin is still cool.  The pumpkin has so much mass
that the part of it that is not being directly heated
by the sun changes temperature slowly even though the
outside air temperature may be 85.  The air inside the
pumpkin changes temperature very readily just like the
air inside a tent.

Your experiment measured the temperature of the
pumpkin shell, not the internal air, so it may be
misleading.

Question, where did you place the thermometer.  Into
the flesh where the sun was hitting it or in a shaded
area of the pumpkin?

diana

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