Learning the Principles of Small Gas Engines from a Stream & A Home Insulation Specialist

The small engine class that we took did not pan out so well.  Even though we each had a small engine in front of us, the teacher only read from a powerpoint presentation!  At one point I did have a 'moment' when I recognized the piston in the engine in front of me from the picture on the board and then it started to make sense!  And this brings me to the stream...

Alyce and I were exploring the woods and we came to one of the many little streams that run all through the property.  We were looking at the flow of the water through the rocks where the stream had narrowed and the water was moving much faster.

Slow moving stream

Narrowing caused water to speed up

Alyce said, "that is just how the carburetor works"!  (Inside the carburetor is a narrow space called the venturi which causes the flow of air to speed up as it moves from the wider part through the narrow space.   The application of pressure difference is the basis of carburetor function.  Using the principal of atmospheric pressure.)   WOW lots of new words!  So I saw that the calm water was really a result of reduced pressure created by the narrowing of the stream.

Now if you are still with me....A lesson in Atmospheric Pressure made clearer by a Home Insulating Specialist who came to the house to evaluate movement of air (cold or hot) through the house.

So evidently, if you have spotty insulation in the top or bottom of your house, it is like the venturi mechanism.  The small holes speed up the movement of air from the large inside space of the house to outside to equalize the pressure.  But it really can't stop the process because the holes are always open.  So when you air condition or heat - that hot or cold air is constantly being sucked out of the house by the principal of atmospheric pressure create by the small uninsulated spots in the house.

I UNDERSTAND ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE!! and could have saved myself $149

Which brings me to what happened today.  The family went visiting friends and I had almost an entire day alone.  It was 16 degrees outside...but not to be deterred....I decided to venture out into the woods alone.  I have not felt comfortable leaving the paths and forging into the woods (as the kids keep asking me to do).  But my daughter assured me that my iphone would allow me to find my way back.  So armed with my iphone I left the beaten path and ventured into the unchartered.  My iphone actually showed that I left the driveway! pretty cool.  So I walked and walked and decided to take a panorama of the woods to show how dense they were.  As I turned around I saw that the trees had actually been planted in rows!  All I had to do was get inside a row and I would find my way back to the driveway.  How could I have missed the obvious!  But I did....

One of my favorite parts of James Cameron's movie Avetar was the 'I see you" scene.  My son told me that maybe the atmospheric pressure principal also applies to my change from the fast pace life in the city to the slower life of the farm.  The city life was the venturi, speeding up life so I couldn't always 'see'.  Now I am in the lower pressure life of the farm and I am beginning to 'see you'.....