Today’s blog post features a fun bit of physics from Wired.com’s science blog.
Writer Rhett Allain, professor at Southeastern Louisiana University, received an interesting question over Twitter – “What would happen if everyone on the planet jumped in the water?”
“Let’s give a slightly refined version of the question.
‘If everyone on Earth went for a swim at the same time in Lake Michigan, how high would the water level rise?’
I have two primary assumptions to start with. First, I will assume that during this time the volume of water in Lake Michigan will be constant. So if the people make the water level rise, the water level will indeed rise instead of pushing water into the other Great Lakes. Second, I will assume that all of the humans in the lake are floating. If they aren’t ‘swimming’ or touching the bottom, then it will be easier to calculate the rise in the water level.”
Follow the link above for a fun Lake Michigan physics lesson.