Walking on water

[jutntog1]

In the mockumentary "what the beep do we know!" the idea that people could theoreticly do things like walk on water, if things worked out at a quantom level. I know this is not statisticly posible obvously, but im wondering is it theoreticaly posible? and if it is what are the odds (pleese express simply in scientific notation) of an average person taking one step onto water, would this be configurable?

[Kyrisch]

If one walked fast enough, they could move across the Dead Sea more or less without falling down.

[J.C.MacSwell]

In the mockumentary "what the beep do we know!" the idea that people could theoreticly do things like walk on water[/b'], if things worked out at a quantom level. I know this is not statisticly posible obvously, but im wondering is it theoreticaly posible? and if it is what are the odds (pleese express simply in scientific notation) of an average person taking one step onto water, would this be configurable?

 

 

 

If it's frozen solid and 4 inches thick the odds are very close to 100% or 1 in 1.

[mezarashi]

If one walked fast enough, they could move across the Dead Sea more or less without falling down.

 

LOL, I love your answer.

 

UPDATE

If it's frozen solid and 4 inches thick the odds are very close to 100% or 1 in 1.

 

Oh, and this is even better. Too many great thinkers in our time.

[danny8522003]

This sounds like the "if you walk into a wall continuously for an infinate amount of time, at least one time you'll walk straight through it" thing i once heard.

 

I cant remember where or who said it though lol.

[tabasco man]

hey my man jesus could do it

[AzurePhoenix]

So can a lizard ... and bugs

 

You just need momentum or a small enough mass to not break the surface tension. We might find away to do the first for a short while, but we'll need Wayne Szalinski for the second.

[Kyrisch]

Even with a considerable amount of momentum, one cannot walk on water due the the shape of the human foot. It is not suited for walking on water, and only if one has an incredible amount of momentum (i.e. Dash from The Incredibles) would one be able to "walk (In truth, run) on water." In all other cases, the human foot would "puncture" the surface tension and they would fall into the water.

 

The lizard in the picture above is a Basilisk and has specially designed feet so it can flee from predators across a river or small lake.

[AzurePhoenix]

Yup, Basiliscus basiliscus (I think???), also called the, you guessed it, Jesus Lizard. One of my favorites. Even with their adaptations, they can only move about 60 feet before they lose speed and sink, though that's quite enough to escape preds.

[ydoaPs]

This sounds like the "if you walk into a wall continuously for an infinate amount of time' date=' at least one time you'll walk straight through it" thing i once heard.

 

I cant remember where or who said it though lol.[/quote']

iirc, it was The Elegant Universe

 

hey my man jesus could do it

he had REALLY big feet.

[MetaFrizzics]

Of course, the OP was really interested in human cases.

While Jesus' abilities are well known,

Fred Astair was also able to walk on water,

although he was actually better known as a water dancer.

 

[jutntog1]

ok so does anyhone have any real answers?

[MetaFrizzics]

Short answer:

 

Walking on water has apparently never been observed, other than in the incident with Jesus in the synoptic gospels, although I wouldn't be surprised to find mythologies in other cultures suggesting such scenarios. And miracle stories in the New Testament are perplexing at best from a scientific viewpoint.

 

Walking through walls has never been observed either, except as recorded in ghost stories, other than again the single reference to Jesus after the resurrection in the story of Doubting Thomas in the gospel of John.

 

Scientifically, walking on water is quite plausible through all kinds of possible mechanisms, such as freak organization of water-molecules or EM fields etc.

 

Walking through walls in my opinion is impossible, because it is not the same kind of macro-effect that could be explained quantum mechanically. I think large massive objects like people have strong EM fields which absolutely prevent significant penetration at the macro-level, in spite of the idea that there is lots of space between atoms and molecules.

 

To sum up, walking on water is rare and difficult, but no miracle, while walking through a wall would be a true miracle, in the sense of improbable to the point of impossible.

[Kyrisch]

ok so does anyhone have any real answers?

 

[offended] Excuse me, but my second attempt at answering this question was quite scientific (and "real") in nature... Not cool! [/offended]

[jutntog1]

Truly sory i scimmed over your post and did not read it... OOPS yes it was helpfull

[tabasco man]

Now if my man jesus really did walk on water, then mi amigos how in the hell did he do it. yourdadonapogos may just be right man, but how else could he had done it

[MetaFrizzics]

A clever synchronized EM field would galvanize the water into a temporary solid. This could be done via a belt-pack to enable Jesus to walk on water, and also direct a beam to allow Peter to leave the boat to walk to him. However, it appears in the actual event that Peter stepped in the wrong place and began to sink, forcing Jesus to wave his hands like a magician for purposes of distraction while he re-directed his beam.

Hmmm....could this technology also be used instead of Viagra?

[tabasco man]

I think we have a winner ding ding ding

 

you da man MetaFrizzics

[Mind of Ross]

I have never seen this documentary, but a friend had mentioned it.

 

"Walking on water", was simply an analogy made to illustrate ONE aspect of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.

 

Essentially, as someone mentioned above, (In a MACROSCOPIC world--based on derivations of QUANTUM BEHAVIOR)it would take an almost INFINITE amount of time, but eventually, one could walk through a wall, or "walk on water". The statistical liklihook in realistic terms is..well...never...

 

But it HAPPENS on a QUANTUM level everyday. Electrons walking through walls, particles occupying two, three--an INFINITE number of positions at the same time, all sorts of WHACKY stuff! This is the quantum realm, and the laws are somewhat different down here.

 

However, applying the uncertainty principle(which applies only to subatomic behavior) to macroscopic pheonomena is simply for entertainment purposes only....

 

-Ross

[ydoaPs]

the uncertainty principle applys at all scales. it is just inconsequential at large scales.

[fordyjohn]

I know you said water but would you settle for a liquid ie custard because ive seen it done, a swimming pool was filled with custard and then a man walked across it as long as he kept moving he was ok but as soon as he stopped he sank what do you think.cool eh.

[jutntog1]

ok, maby i wasnt clear enough, first off i dont believe the uncertainty princibal is exactly what your talking about second off, i knew that, what im asking is what are the odds, and is it even actualy statistcly posible (not likely)

[J.C.MacSwell]

ok, maby i wasnt clear enough, first off i dont believe the uncertainty princibal is exactly what your talking about second off, i knew that, what im asking is what are the odds, and is it even actualy statistcly posible (not likely)

 

Personally I doubt it is possible although I know the theory says that it is.

 

I will guess (someone more capable can do the math) theory says it should happen once every Billion to the billionth power Universe lifetimes if a billion humanoids constantly attempted it without stopping to eat.

 

The successful humanoid should just barely beat out the winning chimp in the "Billion Chimps randomly hitting typewriter keys until one types the complete works of Shakespeare in order contest".

 

I'm sure I have grossly (to the power of grossly) underestimated the time required though for either event.

[Thomas Kirby]

This just goes to prove that we should have paid more attention to Einstein. Most physicists seem to believe that he could walk on water. It never occurred to us to ask him to explain how he did it.

[reyam200]

how well do human nerves transfer the electricity? if (big if) they superconduct, than it could be possible to do alot of things, like levatation, telekinesis, invisability, ect.

although you need a REALLY powerful EM field to bend light. and i don't think a human brain could genorate the nessary power.

 

to my knowledge, superconducting electricity will cause a anti-gravity effect