From: Michael M. Butler (butler@comp-lib.org)
Date: Tue May 14 2002 - 15:26:14 MDT
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> On Tuesday, May 14, 2002, at 02:43 pm, Dossy wrote:
> >> You don't eat it raw. Cooked rice has already expanded and will not
> >> expand any more.
Cooked 'til mushy, yes; undercooked/al dente, no. Let's move on to the dry
rice case.
> > Clearly, you don't eat much rice, do you?
>
> I eat tons of rice. I also know a little about nutrition, biology,
> physical science, and urban legends.
I know that some "debunked" urban legends have occurred to me personally.
Don't ask, don't tell. :)
> Rice only expands in volume equal to the amount of water it absorbs.
> Unless it gets fluffed up with air, the solids and liquids are merely
> combining, but there is no change in volume. Rice only appears to
> expand if you don't count the water volume before absoption, but you do
> afterwards. In a liquid-filled stomach, the total volume of rice plus
> water remains constant.
> This is the basis of old urban legends about birds or people exploding
> after eating raw rice. It has been debunked by skeptics many times.
Exploding? Maybe so. What about dying less dramatically?
I will confine myself to pointing out the consequences I see from a key point
of your argument: that your model assumes the stomach plus liquid plus rice is
a closed system.
Do I detect an invalid hypothesis? Might not the stomach lining secrete more
fluid in response to the absorbtive effect of the rice? How about the many
feet of intestine?
I'd think that, if it/they did, the effect on the creature would be to reduce
the available fluids outside the digestive tract.
I agree that the _creature_ plus liquid plus rice could be considered a closed
system. Until the creature gets thirsty. At that point, what?
I don't think the critter has to explode for it to experience infirmity or
injury if food swells up inside its digestive tract. The weak form of the
"urban legend" might have some basis in fact.
Would you care to make a small wager on the consequences of my forcefeeding a
critter an effective neutral deliquescent in dry form?
Cordially,
Mike B.
> --
> Harvey Newstrom, CISSP <www.HarveyNewstrom.com>
> Principal Security Consultant <www.Newstaff.com>
--
butler a t comp - lib . o r g
I am not here to have an argument. I am here as part of a civilization.
Sometimes I forget.
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