Mitad Del Mundo - The actual Equator!

Steve's dream trip today - a trip to the actual line that marks the Equator. Well, sort of. The guide books all tell you to go to a town called Mitad del Mundo ("Halfway point of the world") where the French colonials erected a massive monument to mark the equator. Except they got it wrong! They were off by about 200 feet!

At last! The real Equator!

Of course, we didn't find this out until after we'd taken all our photos, all proud that we were at the actual Equator. Never mind, a friendly guide pointed us in the right direction when Steve asked where he could balance an egg on a nail.

The real Equator was discovered with GPS about 10 years ago, so a very small museum marking it has been built just down the road from the main tourist site. It's brilliant! It´s amazing! There are certain experiments that can only be done at the Equator where the Coriolis forces that govern the direction of hurricanes, cyclones, even the water draining from your bath cancel out. We got to see the classic experiment where a bowl of water is filled and allowed to drain whilst standing on the Equator. The water drains straight down with no rotation. Move the sink 1 metre to the North and the water drains anti-clockwise. Move it 1 metre to the South and the water drains clockwise. Bonkers.

Finger pulling experiment - part 1

You can also balance an egg on the head of a nail with a bit of fiddling, and also the effect of the forces colliding at the Equator lessens your ability to resist forces (e.g. if you stiffen your arms and have someone push down on them, you will find it much more difficult to resist the downward force whilst standing at the Equator).

Anyway, Tara is getting bored with this science lesson, so we'll quickly mention the examples of indigenous houses and huts they have at the museum. Walls made from mud and cow dung apparently!

Algo para los que hablan español: Un hombre me miraba haciendo mis medidas con el GPS y riendose. Le dije, "Dice el GPS que no estamos en el ecuador, pero he hecho la cosa con el equilibrio y el huevo. Yo creo el huevo, no el GPS." Luego una pausa, y dije, "Como todos los hombres, yo creo en mis huevos!" Estaba muy orgulloso de mi chiste!

Finger pulling experiment - part 2

** Addendum

Thanks to Martin for pointing out in his (as ever, so eloquent) manner that the experiments we witnessed at the equator were "b*?$ocks for the tourists". Have since done a bit of research and found the following websites. One seems to debunk the water draining down the sink experiment, and the other seems to imply that, whilst the effect is theoretically demonstrable in near-perfect lab conditions, the demonstrations that us pleb tourists see are, in fact, a con. I suppose it's a bit like the fact that you can demonstrate the presence of a tidal effect in saucer of water in a lab but it would be very difficult to reproduce outside the lab. Anyway, we hold our hands up to the fact we were sucked in, but are comforted by the fact that the phenomenon does in fact exist on a miniscule scale.

It´s sunny at the fake Equator

DAILY FACTS

- Observation of the day: Bus conductors in South America love to play the "let's wait until the bus starts moving before I jump on it" game at every single stop. Health and safety means nothing to these people.

I´ll assume the museum got it right

One foot in the north , one in the south

Steve and his triumphant egg

Steve at the monument marking the fake Equator

Steve tests the claims out for himself

Tara balancing an egg at the real Equator

Tara straddling the fake Equator

The famous water draining experiment

When two hemispheres meet