Orange clockwork

Having visually estimated flow during my PhD, due to the lack of proper instrumentation, and being criticised for it, I have recently been informed of another method: using an orange to calculate flow velocities. The Washington State Department of Ecology endorse this method. Meanwhile, at the US EPA, recent budget cuts mean they only use orange peels! Given my budget, I wonder if zest would work? Another benefit of this method is that you can have some juice when you’re done. Paul and I have recently been discussing a comparitive analytical study examining the bouyancy properties of a range of citrus fruits.

4 Responses to “Orange clockwork”

  1. timtim says:

    you are so very clever with your titles and puns today, you must be struggling through some tough stuff with the doctorate at the moment

  2. tom says:

    right now i’m tacking the evolutionary history of wet tropics freshwater fishes, with particular reference to the role of upland cloud forest stability in maintaining access to lowland habitats, and therefore determining rates of speciation in various families. was there a holocene bottleneck? to what degree did such a bottleneck, if it did in fact occur, influence the current distribution of extant species. etc.. etc..

    later i have to deal with the fact that i didn’t use oranges to estimate flow velocity, then i need to work out how riding a bike to and from uni got so complicated.

    not necessarily in that order though ;)

  3. timtim says:

    phew

  4. tom says:

    there’s more lateral thinking than you can bash a bible with today:

    http://www.illuminatedbible.com/proverbs/chapter030verse030.htm

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