Left or Right-handed?

[Jeff Corey]

I noticed a curious thing at TAM- the proprtion of people lifting the weights with their left hand. Hence the poll.

[Marc]

about that weight lifting experiment.

I wonder if part of the percieved difference was due to surface area used to pick the objects up. The container could easily spread its weight over a larger area of your fingers through the handle than the area covered by the sinker, hence making it seem lighter.

Perhaps in the future an identical ring and string could be attacked to each object. Then the weight would be on about the same amount of surface area of the fingers used to pick the objects up.

Just a though.

[Brown]

If I remember right, I lifted both weights with both hands. I also distinctly remember "hefting" them, moving them up and down and sensing how much force I needed to apply to make an object change direction. Manipulating the objects in this way, it seemed to me that the container was clearly heavier. Not as dense, of course, but clearly heavier.

Because the display informed me that there was an "illusion" present, I wondered if my assessment might be wrong. After all, most people were selecting the metal weight as being the heavier one....

The hell with it, I decided, if I'm wrong, I'm wrong, and I wrote down that I thought the container was heavier. I fully expected to be told that I was wrong, and was actually surprised to find out that indeed the container was heavier!

[Brown]

Oops, forgot to mention that I'm right-handed.

[Sidhedevil]

Lefthanded. Isn't everyone?

[Mr. Skinny]

Right-handed, but I can shoot a pistol left-handed, and must shoot a long barreled gun left handed (I can't wink my left eye shut - I can only do an impression of this smilie ;)). Back in the day when I still occasionally played basketball, I would sometimes shoot the ball left-handed.

However, I didn't go to TAM2, so I'm not sure you even want to count my response.

[Jeff Corey]

Lifting style or pressure is not the key. You can show this if people lift the objects with a string.

The key to the illusion is density. We learn that there is generally a high positive correlation between the volume and weight of objects. Charpentier (1891) suggested we prepare ourselves to lift objects based on our estimate of their weight. Extremely dense objects are underestimated, objects like the empty plastc water jug are overestimated. These incorrect estimations lead us to overestimate the dense object and to underestimate the other.

I've been thinking about ways to falsify that notion for a while. I even made what looked like a block of concrete out of thin sheets of styrofoam in a hollow cube to enhance the deception. That one worked so well that I had to make lighter matching weights.

If any teachers want to use this, or any students need a Science Fair project, details are on the Education etc. part of this forum.

Back to the original question. How the heck do I get a poll here on the number of adroits and gauches at TAM2?
Did you hear about the original ambidextral?
Sinister Dexter.

[CFLarsen]

I'm weird. Really weird.

I am completely right-"sided", except for two things: I write with my left hand and I kick a ball with my left foot. Everything else, I do with my right hand or foot. Everything. I hold a tennis racket with my right hand, I use fork'n'knife "normally", I point with my right hand, I turn doorknobs with my right hand. Everything is "right", except for the writing and the kicking.

Here's where it gets really weird: If I write on a blackboard, I have to use my right hand. My right-hand handwriting on a vertical blackboard is exactly the same as my left-hand handwriting on a horisontal plane. If I write with my right hand on a piece of paper, it is gibberish. If I write with my left hand on a blackboard, it is gibberish. If I switch, it comes out nicely.

BTW, I was one of the few at TAM2, who got it right. Randi, Shermer, etc. got it wrong. Nyah! :p

[darling]

Originally posted by CFLarsen
Everything else, I do with my right hand or foot. Everything. Everything?? ;)

[Jeff Corey]

Yes, Claus, we know. After all, didn't I announce that Jerry Arbus and our Eurotrash NYASk board member were among the 26 out of 155 who got it right?
But you told me that they felt nearly the same to you and, in truth, one was twice the weight of the other.
So don't gloat. It doesn't bcome you. Or anybody else, for that matter.
A number of people (about 12) wanted to say "same", but I used a forced choice procedure to make the stat simpler. Otherwise I would have had to toss out those "same" choices to do a Binomial Test. The forced choice procedure is slightly more sensitive, anyway.
Some were into the "Reverse Infinite Regression Mode", in that they would say, "Well, I know what I feel, but you say it's an illusion, but that means what I feel isn't correct, but this is a skeptics convention with magicians and all, so it must be a trick or a trick illusion...".
Jerry Arbus and Michael Shermer both said words to the effect that they felt one thing (smaller = heavier), but rationally, they knew the larger one weighed more.
Interesting point.

[SkepticScott]

I lifted one in each hand and I think I might have switched hands. I also closed my eyes, which gave me the impression that they were equal in weight after five or ten seconds.

[Jeff Corey]

But the 0.6 L water jug weighed twice what the 7.5 mL lead sinker did.
So you still showed the illusion. if you thought they were the same.

If Hal had brought the depleted plutonium her promised me, I would have suckered you all in.

I could not get mine through airport security.

[CFLarsen]

Originally posted by budddyh
Everything?? ;)
Shut up! :)

Originally posted by Jeff Corey
Yes, Claus, we know. After all, didn't I announce that Jerry Arbus and our Eurotrash NYASk board member were among the 26 out of 155 who got it right?

Yes, you sure did.

Originally posted by Jeff Corey
But you told me that they felt nearly the same to you and, in truth, one was twice the weight of the other.
So don't gloat. It doesn't bcome you. Or anybody else, for that matter.

Hey, I'm not gloating. OK, well, maybe I am. But I was in a way fooled by the weight - I would not have guessed the huge difference in weight. The jug seemed just a smidgen heavier than the ball.