Mitad del Mundo

Greetings once again from the Middle of the World!  I hear there are some St. Pete Catholic students out there following along, hope you're all doing well and staying safe with Hurricane Isaac spinning around up there.  I hope calculus is going well.

So last Friday we went to the museum at the Equator...the real equator.  The French calculated it incorrectly in the 1800s and of course they built a ginormous monument where they thought it was and now it's
nothing but a reminder of just how wrong they were.  The picture above is the real line, as calculated with GPS.  All the things along the equator are various tests, calendars, and clocks that only work at la Mitad del Mundo.

We paid $4 for a tour with our guide to the left.  He was great.  They talked not only about the physics of the equator but also the indigenous people that inhabit the area.  Pictured here is a traditional house

that they actually came and built for the museum.  The floor is sloped in a special manner for drainage.  Up to five families would live in this house and four people would sleep in this hammock.

Among the exciting physics stuff on the equator are the vertical clocks.  Only on the equator can you get both sides to be accurate all year long.  It was 10:50 a.m. at this moment; perfect.

 I've heard about balancing eggs on the head of a nail at the equinox in the northern hemisphere, but I've never tried it.  Apparently it's easiest at the equator all year long.  We didn't have too much trouble (maybe 2-3 minutes of work).  Everyone that did it got a certificate!

 The gold spots on this compass represent some of the major constellations in the world.  In the northern hemisphere (left side of the compass) we see the big dipper and in the South they see the Southern Cross.  At the Equator both are seen.  It was kind of crazy to think we were just hopping between hemispheres.  Something like standing at the four corners states in the U.S.

So here's the mandatory "I'm in two places at once" picture.  In my opinion, The coolest thing we saw was the Coriolis Effect in action.  At the equator the centripetal forces cancel each other out so water in a drain falls straight down.  In the Southern hemisphere it swirls clockwise and in the Northern hemisphere is swirls counterclockwise.  It was amazing that we barely had to move off the line for the direction to switch.  I have a video of each here: Equator Southern Northern

Our trip this past weekend was to Rosa's parents farm (Finca) in the middle of an incredible landscape.  We learned lots about culture and local foods.  Watch out for a post later this week!

I'm also going to have a post soon with all the pictures I've promised.  There are some good ones so get excited.

Until next time!