Icon of Peace Floating Stone Sphere Fountain

[Xylogeist]

I've been here. It's at the Museum of Natural Science in Houston Texas.

[Wawa4lyfe]

Dear Santa...

[breonhammond]

there is one of these in Houston, Tx in front of the Butterfly Center....when i was a kid i use to always grab hold of it until it stopped......its hard to stop but it is possible.....i might go visit sometime soon

[letsrockroll]

where is this?

[Diggzist]

SPIN IT

[MrHarry46]

I used to work in an office that had one of these fountains in the lobby. It was identical to this one except the base was made out of a white granite boulder. The globe was made out of black granite.I used to work graveyards alone, and when I'd get bored late at night I'd spin the globe around really fast and water would wake out. I also used to sit on top of it.I would hug it and make love to it. I had a name for it but I forget now what it was all I know is that I LOVED this boulder

[The501stLego]

They had one of these at South Carolina. I had like ten people trying to stop it but it won't.

[Juefawn]

wow, how much does it cost to see it! I'd pay millions, so amazing.

[ironman197268]

Awesome!! How much does something like that cost?

[TheYtml]

they have one of these at disney land and also at the fry's electronics i go to (although the one there is always broken down, they've never fixed it)

[abbazin102]

I don't like the way it's spinning, turn it the other way.

[PwnageMcWhoopPants]

I live in Florida, and they have on of these in Disney World, Magic Kingdom. ANd I have stopped it before, easily, just dont touch a wet part :P

[MsMiamia2010]

i like that i want one

[GedMpBasS]

I've seen mini model fountains like this sold in Chinatown NYC, but can you imagine how perfectly round that granite had to be shaped to achieve this?

[THEROLLINNGDICE99]

Spin it backwards fast enough and we'll go back in time.

[BLOODWICCAN]

You can stop it, my kids stopped one that was bigger than that. It's in a park in nashville

[TheZero1777]

have you ever touched one of those rocks? they're so smooth!

[vfedericox]

it is imposible to stop it ive tried you have to let it stop itself

[AwwC00L]

@vfedericox no its realy easy

[GlassDeviant]

@vfedericox It is not impossible to stop, it just has so much more mass than you do that your efforts were impotent.

[datzfast]

no it is on a film of water. if you have say 30 pounds per square inch of water pressure and the area is say 5 ft by 5 feet

you can raise 108,000 pounds.

its simple hydraulics Archimedes's

[Landotter1]

@datzfast Thank God, someone has a brain.... Great job man!!! If I were to say the same thing??? I'd be considered a troll. :-D whatever. Glad someone else said it and you are exactly right!!!

[sk8mike]

I used to work in an office that had one of these fountains in the lobby. It was almost identical to this one, except the base was made out of a white granite boulder. The globe was made out of black granite.

The globe is only supported by water pressure. I used to work graveyards alone, and when I'd get bored late at night I'd spin the globe around really fast and water would wake out. You can spin it in any direction. I also used to sit on top of it.

[Laevi1337]

If you can't understand how these work then your an idiot!!!!

[gtq838]

no it actually is floating on the water. its not as hard to do as you may think its just a perfect seal granite to granite then water is raised on small jets instead of ball bearings... its a demonstration of how just a few of gallons of water per minute can lift massive objects when its flow it controlled.

[vladimir0B]

we have the same thing at the Seattle Science Center. its awesome you can spin it and it will barely stop!

[ParadigmaticShift]

This looks like the one at the museum in downtown Houston. If it is not then we have one just like it. The ball of granite weights 5,000 lbs.

[breonhammond]

@ParadigmaticShift yea ur right........maybe not the same one though....its right by the butterfly center......if thats still there anyway....and there is a statue of Sam Houston also

[ComaCupTV]

Its at some science museum i think south carolina

[494c6f7665416c6578]

Poor Antarctica.

[charleskafka]

one could easily float a stone globe on mercury. then put metallic weights on the bottom of the globe so the north pole kind of stays up.

[TheNilvarg]

LOL, now you're just being stupid. I've seen one of these in person. It floats freely. You can stop it, and start it spinning in a different direction. For the love of God, take a science class.

[sketchyfolk]

that would be a good process for floating fat americans to and from the welfare office.

[chillz27]

hahaha gr8 shout

[tylerakawings]

haha yea

[TheNilvarg]

No.

These spheres can be stopped and restarted in any direction, including vertically. Its spin is circular, and someone just managed to start it spinning with some good precision.

[methodsin01]

Why does the stone rotate in one direction at a steady pace? Is it like why water spirals down a plug hole in one direction?

[TheNilvarg]

"A steady pace," because there's very little friction. It rotates in any direction you spin it in, including a vertical spin. You can stop it with your bare hands, and set it spinning in a different direction.

[rrcambraia]

I doubt so much of this. Its have a axis suporting it. If it was floating the spin should be randon and the water couldnt be so homogeneous.

[TheNilvarg]

The spin should be random? You really need a physics class. Please read up on angular momentum.

And the water wouldn't be so homogeneous? What? If the sphere weren't spinning on a pole, the water's composition would somehow change?

[Zaneus92]

Ive seen a few of these types of fountains before. One, i've touched on my own. You can spin them any which way which makes it impossible to have any sort of support other than water pressure from underneath it.

[gtq838]

@Zaneus92 well yeah they are supported by water pressure... but it could very well be supported by bearings as well, they don't have to be attached to the globe. in fact its highly likely that it has bearings at least as a secondary support just in case water pressure drops too low, if that happened the globe could become damaged

[VER0NIKKE]

now i understand..thank you

[Makrillol]

oh dear god that is amazing isnt it!??! How does it work!??!?! PLS REPLY TO THIS COMMENT!!

[tylerakawings]

iv allways wanted to sit on one of those

[abebeau]

There's one at Islands of Adventure in Orlando as well.

[URBANCH1LL]

obviously aint floating...its probly spinning around attacked to something under the water

[waterfountains]

Wonderful use of the English language by the way...... but I must tell you, it is floating on water, a thin layer coming up under the sphere, freely floating and rotating. Gary Jackson

[sckryde]

lol

[Domytar]

now i whant one of them for my castle

[LivingDog94]

@Domytar: LOLOL!!!! well said and ohhh so funny! +1

[xyzmr100]

@Domytar Do you have one? If yes send some picture. I love palaces and, castles etc.

[nintendopi]

There's a smaller version of one of these at W5 in Northern Ireland's Odessey. It's great fun.

[sublime1010101]

Victoria in Canada has one.

[AbbysalWizard]

paulton's park in the uk has 1

[uexp4]

wow i want one how much will it set me back lol (just joking)

[Hagriss4me3]

They had one of those at Disney World.

[Al3xX256]

LOL! :D

[secret00agent00man]

i didnt see it. where?

[Hagriss4me3]

In Magic Kingdom in Tomorrow land or whatever it's called

[secret00agent00man]

hmm, it rings a bell, maybe i did see it. after all, it was like 8 years ago

[conrad2468]

it requires such precision to make that levitate because the globe can only have a ex 1 mm gap

[M3T4LH34D812]

AWESOME, beautiful, perfect

[SuperPatrizzi]

they have one of these at my mall

yeah first comment :)

[markiboyataiea]

u have ur own mall?????

[SuperPatrizzi]

sorry.Its my cities mall