Kevin's Watch

Ok...here's a haunted swing which I think is kinda cool!

The news story goes:

Haunted' swing keeps rocking

AN out-of-control playground swing has spooked families and police in Argentina.

The swing rocks back and forwards without being touched - and anxious parents have decided the playground must be haunted.

In an attempt to explain the swing's mysterious movement, police called in physics professors. But even they have been unable to explain the why the swing keeps moving.

Residents claim the middle swing in a playground in the north-eastern town of Firmat can keep moving continuously for ten days before suddenly coming to a halt.

Teacher Maria de Silva Agustina said one child had nicknamed the area the "Blair Witch Playground".

"We believe it is haunted," she said.

Watch it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yk-oQ_28ns

Looks like the wind to me. The one in the middle is probably swinging higher by the pendulum effect of the other two swings adding their mechanical energy to it.

It cant be the wind; if it was, when the seat swings back the wind would act against it and we would thus see a marked deceleration. And if it was the wind, why aren't we seeing sand blowing? Also note how their clothes aren't blown? If the wind was strong enough to move a seat, it's strong enough to do that. I might finally add that microphones are notoriously bad for picking up the slightest sound of wind; we therefore can't use that as an indicator for wind strength (in order to gauge the force against the swing).

its probably a MYSTERY SPOT!!


www.oregonvortex.com/

There was a kid trying to fly a kite in the background. And if the wind is coming in at an angle, it will be blowing into the seat harder across the top at one point, like a parachute. At the furthest point back, where the wind would be working against it, it would be pushing against less surface area. Throw in Bernoulli's principle...

The two other swings remaining mostly stationary are somewhat more of a mystery. But like I referenced to earlier, pendulums on a common base will synchronize to each other in a fairly short amount of time. It's possible that the two opposing swings' vibrations are canceling each other out. Or perhaps the angle is such that the wind does equally push and pull them.

Anyway, if a layperson like myself can postulate a reason, I highly doubt that 'scientists across the world' are all that baffled. Intrigued, perhaps, but...

I am not that impressed by the video. I am sure that there is a reasonable explanation for the swing movement, and the video shown isn't anywhere near proof that the wind, inertia or other factors are causing the movement.

Magnet burried under the ground that doesn't pull steadily, but turns on and off on a cycle? Or the reverse - a metal plate under the ground, and coils built into the seat of the swing with current coming down one chain and up the other - so that the swing pulls itself down on some cycle. Just a guess (at how I'd try to reproduce it). Or maybe something built into the place where the chains connect to the top that are rigged to move a little - it wouldn't take much to start the bottoms swinging.

The wind does seem a little high, but it's hard to tell from the sound of the video (my camera doesn't like any wind at all or it has that kind of sound on the tape). Remember the bridge (in the US, I think) that resonated so much with the wind that it tore itself apart. Maybe the holes in the chains - or something like that - push the swing just a bit before turning itself out of the wind, and then when it twists back into place it takes another push from the wind. (it sounds like the simpler solution for a natural phenomenon, but I'd bet it's a well concocted hoax - Chris Angel gets paid to do this stuff all the time <grin>)

Hmmm. . . interesting!

I think the ghost is drunk though. It sure doesn't swing in a straight line.

Hellfire! The kid leaning against the swing frame is pushing against it. If you use your leg muscle to rythmically change the pressure on the frame, you can make the frame move back and forth imperceptibly, which will eventually impart motion to the swings.

That? Looks like a haunted swing to me.

Romeo wrote: Remember the bridge (in the US, I think) that resonated so much with the wind that it tore itself apart.

the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge

Tacoma Narrows Bridge Disaster
www.enm.bris.ac.uk/anm/tacoma/tacoma.html