A Feeling Like Floating?

Hi everyone! How've you been? Yeah, I suck as a friend and at anything involving ambition as evidenced by the lack of a blog posting in more than a week. Blame it on my annoyance with computers after being at work on one for 9 hours straight, my constant lack of ideas, or something else, but I resolve to do a little better. It may not be as gung-ho as I planned on - once a day - but I'm going to do one at least 2 or 3 times a week. One day, I'll get back on track. But until then, you'll just have to deal with it.

So, if you're in China (or on The Onion's new staff of great fish mongers) on Wednesday, look to the heavens that the Great Chairman has provided you. Also, bring your pendulum and suction-cup boots with you, because, according to The Times of India - India's, and the world's, largest English-language paper - gravity may actually drop in the area affected by a total eclipse.

You read that right, ladies and gentlemen; it is believed that, because the Moon separates the Earth from the Sun for any length of time, gravity's hold on us is less than normal. "Old wives' tale" or "nut-job conspiracy theorists" is probably your first thought, as it was mine, despite the fact it made it into one of the most-respected papers in the history of the world. "Must be a fluke, I thought," much like the numerous times a caller "Baba Booey-ed" FOX News. However, I did my homework and found this isn't the first time this was suggested; in fact, it's been suggested since at least the '50s that pendulums are affected by the total eclipse. Apparently, the pendulum changes direction violently during a total solar eclipse, and the theory goes as such: since gravity is constantly pulling the pendulum toward the Earth, that constant struggle between gravity and Newton's laws is what keeps it swinging in the first place; because of this, gravity - it seems - must be the culprit to cause those outbursts.

(Side rant: since the most scientific-type of pendulum swings based on a combination all three of Newton's laws of physics and his postulation of gravity, it's a pity it's named after some French guy who used Newton's ideas to come up with the idea the Earth rotates - in 1851, about 2000 years after Ptolmey and Hipparchus figured it out (just so the stupid and brash Europeans could become feudal lords and serfs and forget it until Galileo rediscovered it for them in the early 1600's; thankfully, though, the Indians and Arabs archived those works so they could focus on other things during the Medieval phase, like the concept of zero, perfecting algebra, and universities.) without anyone telling them. Anyway, back to your reguarly scheduled post.)

So, this has lead to the largest test of that theory to date. Hundreds of test sites are set up all over China throughout the "eclipse zone", all with both gravimeters and, in case they don't work like in 1999, backup Foucault pendulums. Since this will be a six-and-a-half minute eclipse, the longest we'll ever experience in our lifetimes, it should be sufficient time to figure out, once and for all, if that light-headedness you experience while day turns into night isn't just you and it really is your head trying to separate from your body.

Therefore, if you're looking for an excuse to not go into work on Wednesday, you can always say you've Velcro'ed yourself to your bed so you don't float off into space. In fact, you can even forward them the link to the story showing it's not just hogwash. However, be forewarned that if your boss has at least some common sense, they'll know the gravity-challenged area of the Earth will be on the other side of the globe from your cushy desk job in Center City and won't buy it for a minute. But let me know if it works; I'll use it for the next total eclipse in July 2010, when it's at least in the Western Hemisphere (Chile and Argentina, in case you were wondering), if they do buy it.

- Photos courtesy of (in order): NASA, flickr, ETFTrends.com, and University of Wisconsin - Madison.