Bird On A Wire

Q: Is it true that birds will sit on a wire to keep their feet warm?

Thanks,
Avian Fowl

A: Dear H5N1:

In answer to your question we went to Rocky Mountain Power company:

100HB: "I was hoping you could tell me why birds sit on your powerlines. It has been suggested that it keeps their feet warm. Is this true?"
RckPW: "I don't know. I've never heard of that. I guess if it is a hot day and the sun is keeping the wire hot. It is metal...I really don't know. I can tell you why they don't get electrocuted though."
100HB: "No, that is alright, just want to know about why they sit up there."
RckPW: "I think it is becuas they can see prey from up there."
100HB: "As apposed to the wood sections of your poles? I mean why the wire?"
RckPW: "I don't know. But they don't get electrocuted because..."
100HB: "Yes, yes, I know the second wire bit. I just need to know about why the wire."
RckPW: "Beats me."

Oh, I think we will beat you...I think we will.

I went and asked one of our professors in Natural Sciences- he wasn't too pleased with the question. He started going off on how a bird will lift one leg close to its body to keep it warm and how wires provide unabstructed views for hunting.

Wow, you're a REAL professor and everything? So impressive (sarcasm).

The wires contribute no heat themselves to the birds' feet. First we are talking about high power transition lines and not telephone wires. With telephone and cable wires they are insulated so you wouldn't get any heat if it let out any at all. Just feel your cable to your lamp or cable box. Is it hot? of course not.

Now high power transmission lines I read average about 7.2% loss across them, which means somewhere the lines are resisting and changing the electricity into heat. This is due to grounding and the corona effect - a blueish discharge of electricity more than just heat loss in resistence. But b/c aluminum alloys are used in transmission lines it is possible to have some heat. Heat loss to resistence is given by Q = I^2 x R (power loss = current ^2 times resistence) Resistence in aluminum is 0.248*10^-8, average current in line is 100-3000amps (high voltage means low current PV=I (power x voltage = current). This gives about .00558kW in power loss. Power x Time = Energy - so assume you lost ALL of that energy is lost to one bird foot in a second. That's 5.58 kWs or 5.58 Joules. 1 Joule can heat 1 gram of dry air 1 degree Celsius. You release 1 Joule in 1 hundredth of a second. 1 /100th of energy in one drop of beer. So it COULD heat up a bird's foot a very little bit, but I assumed all the heat came out in 1 second at one point. No the bird ain't getting warm.

The real answer most likely has to do with wires warmed in the sun over the day that have a heat from radiation effect. Like sitting on a warm sidewalk. MUCH MUCH more effect from that (magnitudes more). Add in a social, hunting, and need to sit down and raise a foot to keep warm - and you have a handy community perch.

Until the Disney researchers get back with me, the answer is for the birds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3IpOFsKcDQ

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Whirling Johns

Q: Dear All-Wise-100-Hr-Board,

I have heard (but have never traveled far enough to confirm) that when above the equator a toilet flushes in the opposite direction than from below the equator. Is this true?


If so, what occurs when you are located AT the equator?
 
Sincerely,
Flushed Away
 
A: Dear Swirly,
 
Who says they use toilets south of the equator? Or even AT the equator for that manner? Seeing as you have not traveled beyond the confines of your particular commodal region, you may not be aware what occurs in Australia. What do you think wombats are designed for? Which is why Tazmanian Devils are so very feared lest you confuse the two in the middle of the night. All of South America actually uses small buckets that magically teleport the...umm..leftovers to a specific septic tank in the 1000 Islands that magically needs extra pumping every year. And as you near the border, well...trophies are dried, shipped to Seattle and used as in high-price grande soy mocha latte.
 
We jest. Toilets in the Northern Hempisphere rotate counterclockwise, clockwise in the Southern. That is the whole toilet gets up and spins in only one direction. And then puts thier who selves in...their whole selves out... Ok...they flush in those respective directions. So at the border things just go straight down. Quickly. So watch the hands.
 
How do we know this? From watching hurricanes and cyclones that rotate similarly. Using deduction and gross-literary allegories we know that toilets behave similarly (gross...ha ha). What's good for the cyclones good for the crapper. If you know what I mean. I mean we give both of them men's names? Really...don't we consider the Gulf of Mexico our common WC? Coincidence? I think not.
 
Back in 1984 a group of MIT engineers and physicists undertook a NIS funded project to study this phenomena. Although fluid mechanics is central to engineers' studies (and essentially most civil engineers end up spending their career designing oversized toilet systems - HA BRIAN!), the real reason for the study arose from a debate on hair styling post swirlies. There was a worry that if an Aussie bloke gave you a swirlie while visiting a conference on Crocco effect in fluid dynamics (or a Star Trek convention Kirk) down under, you may not be able to adequately return to your 30 year old hairstyle. German nerds avoided this issue years ago by removing any toilet bowl and installing shelves. Trust me..I'll risk wet hair!
 

Surprisingly it was discovered that in fact the toilet bowls aren't large to come under the hyptonizing Coriolis effect. (Or that is, it is extremely neglibigle. Like spitting into the wind of a hurricane to mix analogies) The Coriolis effect is a 'fictional force' that is how straight movement on something rotating is perceived in another reference frame. Commonly we recognize this as air rotating in a low pressure storm - hurricane or cyclone (ruled by Buys-Ballot's law). Basically, hurricanes are huge and last around several days so the rotation of the earth effects the winds flowing towards the low pressure point to curve them. In the North you see this as counterclockwise storms, clockwise in the South. On the equator: nada - but only exactly there.

Turns out toilets, sinks, bathtubs (yes even jacuzzi tubs), swimming pools and the like are way too small to be effected or noticed. (Unless you live in a crapper).

 

 

"But my toilet swirls counterclockwise!" you say in consternation (NOT constipation). Well, the swirls are actually caused by the way the toilet flushes. Or small disturbances when the drain is plugged. So sorry, no dice. Toilets generally behave the same no matter the geography.

 

Although, in the 1930's British scientists did study the effect in bathtubs in very controlled experiments and found a very minimal effect to draining. Only the Brits have that much time on their hands. And week old bath water. Although we did watch a great video from 1961 of Ascher Shapiro demonstrating drains and how to calculate velocity vectors. But that's a little dry for most people. (Dry?!! We are too funny!) (In case you need to sleep watch the video Vorticity Part 1) More info here and here.

 

But this is ok. You won't believe what happens to toilets in Japan! Watch out! And of course I found this one that isn't about toilets flushing - but fun.
 
Sincerely,
Your WC Director

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