My understanding about the water walking insects is that their weight is
small and the contact they make between their feet and the water is large.
Surface tension of the water supports their weight on what is essentially
an elastic water surface. As for a person walking on water... surface
tension just would'nt support this feat. < g >
It should be noted that when water is viewed from a low angle it is almost
fully reflective. The movie stunts which you refer to would not require a
clear plastic or glass subsurface sheet, a plank of wood will provide the
illusion with a low view angle. A very shallow depth of water (sand bar?)
would also give the illusion of walking on water when viewed from a low angle.
Bill.
At 03:48 8/03/98 -0800, you wrote:
>Hi Folks!
>
>Back to basics.
>
>It is reported that a person by the name of Jesus walked on water in the
>presence of witnesses. How would you duplicate this?
>
>If you try to stand on water, it will not support you and you will sink.
>There is a insect called a water glider which literally glides across teh
>surface of water, often stopping, but never sinking. This is because
>these insects are very light in 'weight' and have a small bubble of air
>trapped under the 'foot' of each leg, thus providing the buyoancy.
>
>Jesus must have weighed in at about 150 pounds. So there is no way a
>bubble of air under his feet could support him. For movie stunts
>duplicating this walking on water feat, a thick sheet of clear plastic or
>glass is placed slightly below the surface of water, making it invisible
>to anyone looking into the water.
>
>A person can easily walk on this supporting sheet giving the illusion of
>'walking on water'. I doubt this was the case with the Jesus account.
>There was reported no helium or hydrogen balloon providing ballast to
>reduce his physical weight while walking on the water.
>
>If you could reduce your physical weight, you would not sink because your
>weight was not sufficient to penetrate the cohesiveness of the water
>molecules.
>
>So, as I see it, either Jesus had some way of altering either the surface
>of the water so that it would support him (as with the clear sheet), OR
>he could alter HIS OWN WEIGHT so that he represented a piece of walking
>styrofoam that could not sink.
>
>I will opt for the latter, he somehow reduced his physical weight to a
>degree that he could not sink. Anyone see any other way to do this?
>--
> Jerry W. Decker / jdecker@keelynet.com
> http://keelynet.com / "From an Art to a Science"
> Voice : (214) 324-8741 / FAX : (214) 324-3501
> KeelyNet - PO BOX 870716 - Mesquite - Republic of Texas - 75187
>
>