<html><head><style type="text/css"></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bruce, I'd really like to see pictures.  My daughter loved the geysers this year, and watches the cam almost every day.  She wants to build a geyser for a science fair.  Thanks Long time lurker -  Paul <div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;">----- Original Message ---- From: Bruce Jensen <bpnjensen@yahoo.com> To: Geyser Observation Reports <geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu> Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 9:49:24 AM Subject: RE: [Geysers] Geyser model Regarding Linda Strasser's geyser described by Paul below - My son and I built a geyser model a few years ago that sounds very similar to Paul's and Linda's.  We used a 1,000ml flask, flat-bottomed of Pyrex (borosilicate) glass, using a tight-fitting rubber stopper and approximately 1 meter of copper tubing that fits very tightly in the stopper.  (We ha doriginally hoped to use a glass tube as recommended by some sources so the water column could be seen inside the vent, but we compromised on what we thought would be a sturdier assembly).  The flask set on an aluminum heat dispersion pad atop a Coleman-type propane stove (I think a white gas stove would be better - the propane burns just a little too *hot*). The top of the copper tube was supported by a tripod that we had built of crutches and a wooden slab that we had originally built to support a small telescope - but I think any photographic tripod with a removable center shaft might do well. On top, we made a water pool from a Tupperware-type plastic container with a hole in the bottom center, held watretight using some good wads of plumber's putty.  The container was supported at the right height above the tripod platform using wooden shims. In ordet the get maximum water volume without emptying the flask totally, we kept the bottom of the tube about 1/2 inch above the inner base of the flask. We never started with an empty copper tube; we always kept it ful ot the top, and depending on whether we wanted to simulate a fountain geyser or a cone geyser, we would also fill the tupperware container with water or leave it empty. In any case, after the water would heat to near boiling, a gentle overflow would begin at the top into the container.  As the water slowly poured out, the steam bubble formation in the flask would become more rapid and the gentle pour would occasionally splash.  After several seconds of this, the splash would grow quickly to a full spray of water upward.  The flask and water column provided enough volume for a ten-second or so full play, raging from perhaps 8-12 inches high for the "fountain" geyser to a full eight - ten feet above the basin for an unimpeded "cone" play. Either way most of the played water would be caught in the tupperware container.  Because our flask set almost directly on the fire, at the end of play (to avoid so much heat on a nearly dry vessel) we would turn down the flame.  The water in the tupperware would slowly get sucked back onto the flask for another go.  If some additional cool water were added to the tupperware basin, this last part of the process could be hastened. When we do this again, we would place some boiling marbles within the Pyrex flask to help maintain flask integrity - our flask developed some tiny radial cracks all around the outer rim, and we have been told that these little marbles can help solve that problem.  Nonetheless, the flask, under pressure, did not shatter or even leak. We have some photographs if folks would care to see them. Bruce Jensen ************ --- Paul Strasser <<a ymailto="mailto:upperbasin@comcast.net" href="mailto:upperbasin@comcast.net">upperbasin@comcast.net</a>> wrote: > The one Linda did in the 3rd grade worked very well. > > A 1000 ml Erlenmeyer flask with a stopper - the kind that has the small > hole > in it.  Go to Office Depot and get copper tubing that will just barely, > and > with great effort, fit through the hole.  To the top of the tube she > attached a metal funnel (with epoxy, as I recall)  And on top of the > funnel > she attached - again with epoxy - a flat piece of wood about 2 feet > square > or so with a circular hole in the middle about the size of the top of > the > funnel.  The funnel and wood were attached again with epoxy for zero > leaks. > > The flask, tube, and "basin" were, all told, a couple of feet high. > > Yes, it's top heavy you need to figure out how to hold them in place.   > > She then got some bondo type substance - I really don't recall - that > was > heat-resistant when hard and she fashioned a nice little gently sloping > pool > around the hole about a foot wide, with a higher rim to keep the water > from > drooling out. > > We filled the flask with water (by pouring it down the funnel, put it on > an > electric heater, put an barrier of towels or whatnot between the two, > and > turned on the heat. > > It was fascinating how minor changes in the plumbing (for instance, how > high > above the bottom of the flask did you place the bottom of the tubing, or > did > you curl the tube once or twice before it went straight up, etc.) > affected > eruptions. > > aFter a few minutes of heating the water would slowly rise. When it got > to > the top and began to fill the basin it would erupt.  After a few seconds > of > splashing it would drain quickly.  If you found a nice equilibrium it > would > repeat, again and again, until the water evaporated/splashed. By adding > a > little bit after each five or so eruptions it just kept going.  Max > height > was maybe 4-6 inches. > > Think a really tiny Anenome. > > I know of others who have created rather larger versions... > > Paul Strasser > > -----Original Message----- > From: <a ymailto="mailto:geysers-bounces@lists.wallawalla.edu" href="mailto:geysers-bounces@lists.wallawalla.edu">geysers-bounces@lists.wallawalla.edu</a> > [mailto:<a ymailto="mailto:geysers-bounces@lists.wallawalla.edu" href="mailto:geysers-bounces@lists.wallawalla.edu">geysers-bounces@lists.wallawalla.edu</a>] On Behalf Of Karen Webb > Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 12:12 PM > To: <a ymailto="mailto:geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu" href="mailto:geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu">geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu</a> > Subject: [Geysers] Geyser model > > Hi gang: >    One computer crash ago, I had logged several variants of working > geyser models that had been posted on the list.  My son is now doing an > earth science unit, and his teacher has been nice enough to give me the > excuse I've always wanted to build one of the silly things.  But oops! > that info went down the drain, up the tubes, and out the window with my > last destructive re-install.  Has anyone still got any of this info?   I > thought I remembered one variant that actually built a working > fountain-type geyser that would erupt every few minutes if you kept the > water reservoir hot and wasn't extremely hard to build. > Karen Webb > > -- > Step out of Thy holy chamber, O Maid of Heaven... Drape thyself...in the > silken > Vesture of Immortality, and put on, in the name of  the All-Glorious, > the > broidered > Robe of Light. > > > > > > >  > ____________________________________________________________________________ > ________ > Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page. > <a href="http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs" target="_blank">http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs</a> > _______________________________________________ > Geysers mailing list > <a ymailto="mailto:Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu" href="mailto:Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu">Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu</a> > <a href="https://lists.wallawalla.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers" target="_blank">https://lists.wallawalla.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers</a> > > > _______________________________________________ > Geysers mailing list > <a ymailto="mailto:Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu" href="mailto:Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu">Geysers@lists.wallawalla.edu</a> > <a href="https://lists.wallawalla.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers" target="_blank">https://lists.wallawalla.edu/mailman/listinfo/geysers</a> >       ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! 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