Comments on: Why does your hand look dry underwater?

By: sciencegeekgirl

sciencegeekgirl — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:49:44 +0000

A comment from the Facebook version of my blog:
“One of (the many) fun tricks we did in college was to put on a scuba mask and then float upside down in a swimming pool, just below the surface, at night. Then watch the under surface of the water and your feet as you stick them up and out of the pool into the air. I can’t remember if they looked wet or dry, but I do recall it was a strange sight.”

By: sciencegeekgirl

sciencegeekgirl — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:24:55 +0000

Yeah, the effects are mostly lost when water is in motion, but that’s just because you can’t see through the surface of the water when it’s moving.

Give it a try, it’s pretty interesting!

By: James

James — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 23:37:43 +0000

Hi ScienceGeekGirl!
I was wondering about the effect of the mirrorand how it seems to amplify the dry appearance of the hand. I would speculate that less light scatter off the surface of the water is reflected out of the mirror. This would further the effect of the mind’s interpretation of the hand.
I haven’t had a chance to try it out myself but are the effects lost if the water is in motion?
JB

By: sciencegeekgirl

sciencegeekgirl — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 03:08:24 +0000

Paul Doherty (whose Q&A with a teacher sparked this post) wrote me on Facebook:

“Sounds good to me. Now catch a bubble under the palm of your hand and let it roll around, it looks like a blob of molten metal in your palm.”