"Sailing Stones" in Death Valley

stonesatiety

How fun! This feels like a gateway. Perhaps the stones are preparing us to learn more about them? I'd forgotten about this one. Thanks again shelikes!
 

Hemera

How fascinating! I had also forgotten about these. Thanks for posting this shelikes2read.
 

N1ghts0ng

from the first time I heard about this I found them completely intriguing!! i'm terribly curious as to how they move!

the article mentions this: "Explanations for the stones’ movement have tended towards the absurd (magnetism, aliens and mysterious energy fields, for example)." but I don't see anything absurd about those theories.
 

ravenest

They become absurd when measured against Occam's Razor, i.e. the obvious and most reasonable explanation:

“Basically, a slab of ice forms around a rock, and the liquid level changes so that the rock gets floated out of the mud,” he explains. “It’s a small floating ice sheet which happens to have a keel facing down that can dig a trail in the soft mud.” Calculations show that, in this scenario, the ice causes virtually no friction on the water, so the stones are able to glide with just a slight breeze. The team argues that their model accounts for the movement far better than any other, since it doesn’t require massive wind speeds or enormous ice sheets. (or aliens ... ;) )
 

Atcandela

Hello Ravenest,

In lieu of Death Valley's recent near record breaking heat wave, articles about DV had been
popping all over the internet. Including the sailing stones. I agree on the snippet you posted
about how the stones travel. Temperatures are extreme there during the season, so it
makes sense that water/ice can form under these stones and when wind or environment
shifts occur they "move" to whatever speed/distance.

I myself would like to pay a visit to DV this year for my photography.
 

ravenest

Not many people realise a desert can be full of ice ... it does seem strange ... until one realises the Persians (or was it the Arabs?) invented ice cream centuries before electricity and freezers were utalised - they harvested ice in the desert pre dawn and made underground insulated ice chests with it ... eventually it was able to hold enough ice to freeze whatever was put in there.
 

Richard

They become absurd when measured against Occam's Razor, i.e. the obvious and most reasonable explanation:

“Basically, a slab of ice forms around a rock, and the liquid level changes so that the rock gets floated out of the mud,” he explains. “It’s a small floating ice sheet which happens to have a keel facing down that can dig a trail in the soft mud.” Calculations show that, in this scenario, the ice causes virtually no friction on the water, so the stones are able to glide with just a slight breeze. The team argues that their model accounts for the movement far better than any other, since it doesn’t require massive wind speeds or enormous ice sheets. (or aliens ... ;) )
Huge floating rocks seem to me as absurd as the other explanations. I would like to see an animated video of exactly how that happens, including how the keel forms on the ice boat. It reminds me of the absurd "scientific" explanation of the Brown Mountain Lights phenomenon in North Carolina. They are so outrageous that they give science a bad name. I have seen the lights, and they are weird, but as a scientist I would not presume to fabricate some outlandish pseudo scientific rubbish to explain it.
 

ravenest

But ... but ... he said the magic phrase; "calculations show". ;)