Thursday Thirteen #29

October 4, 2007 12:02 am


Thirteen Things about Mark Caldwell

  1. Yesterday my Wordless Wednesday picture was of this vase full of nuts and I promised I’d post an explanation.
  2. I was walking in Newsham Park in Liverpool a year ago. As I went under a Horse Chestnut tree a gust of wind brought a liberal shower of Horse Chestnuts down on me. Fortunately it was a chilly day so I had a thick hat on. The one at the front is new and shows what they looked like when they fell on me.
  3. I don’t know why but I collected them up – it seemed like the thing to do. I probably wasn’t thinking straight – I’d just been nutted by a load of nuts on my nut.
  4. I dried them out, got rid of a few bad nuts and put the 122 that remained in a glass vase from Woolworths.
  5. If I were a modern artist I’d sell them to a gallery and call it "What the sky looks like when it falls on your head"
  6. The Common Horse Chestnut tree (Aesculus hippocastanum) was introduced to Britain from the Balkans in southern Europe in the 17th century. They have distinctive oval leaves. A typical mature Horse Chestnut tree is around 25m tall although some reach 35m.
  7. The nuts are inedible but much sought after by children. In Britain we call them Conkers and children play a game with them.
  8. Now the science bit: They weigh 0.6kg (1.3lbs) so the average conker is 0.05kg (0.01lbs).
  9. They have a volume of 0.55l or 0.0005m3 (0.12 imperial gallons 0.15 us gallons) giving an average volume of 0.0045lm3 or 4.5cm3 (0.001 imperial gallons 0.0012 us gallons) each. That gives a density of 1090kg/m3 (68.1lbs/ft3).
  10. Assuming the tree is 25m tall a conker falling from the top of the tree will take 2.3s to hit the ground. Assuming the conkers on average fell from half that height 1.6s to hit the ground.
  11. The velocity of that theoretical falling conker will be 16m/s (51ft/s) or 56km/h (35mph).
  12. The impact energy for our theoretical conker is 0.6J (0.8 foot-pound force). As a comparison the impact energy of a brick falling the same distance would be 370J (500 foot-pound force). Or if I was a journalist being hit by a conker is equivalent to being hit by two three millionths of an elephant falling out of a tree.
  13. I’ll take getting conked on my cranium by conkers over elephants any day.

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32 Responses to “Thursday Thirteen #29”

  1. What a great story…lol…they look beautiful in that vase. Happy TT.

    2. Lori on October 4th, 2007 at 12:37 am

  2. Very interesting! Great T13! Mine is up too!

    3. AF Wife on October 4th, 2007 at 12:42 am

  3. There used to be three horse chestnut trees on my street, now there’s only one; when I was out walking my dog tonight, I just happened to pick up two chestnuts thinking maybe I could start a seedling from them!

    4. Janet on October 4th, 2007 at 1:11 am

  4. Ouch! Your poor nut!

    Some really great and clever writing in here, Mark. Impressive!

    5. Susan Helene Gottfried on October 4th, 2007 at 1:30 am

  5. very interesting! Happy TT!

    6. Morgan Leigh on October 4th, 2007 at 1:41 am

  6. Wow. I’ve only ever had books fall on my head. Ouch!

    7. Celticangel on October 4th, 2007 at 1:47 am

  7. LOLOL! This is one of my favorite TTs ever — so creative and funny. Well, I don’t mean to say it’s funny that you got ouched. But using your decidedly nutty experience as a TT is superduper!

    Happy TT, Mark, and thanks for visiting mine! You put a big smile on my face today. :-D

    8. Thomma Lyn on October 4th, 2007 at 2:12 am

  8. Wow, this was hilarious and so much fun to read!! That alas, explains the vase!!

    9. wfmom on October 4th, 2007 at 3:05 am

  9. Great facts!

    10. Starrlight on October 4th, 2007 at 4:03 am

  10. You know you can go your whole life without hearing a word, and then all of a sudden it comes up a lot? For me, that’s Conkers. I looked it up after Paul McCartney referenced it in his new song, “That Was Me.” Then I heard it in a documentary about London during WWII. And now this post!

    11. The Gal Herself on October 4th, 2007 at 4:06 am

  11. Interesting! Happy TT:)

    12. Jackie on October 4th, 2007 at 4:18 am

  12. What an original post. Great story and great word “Conkers”.

    If you get a chance come see my T13. It is my 50th edition! My most controversial one too! 13 Tortures for Women I have Dated Because I’m NOT Bitter

    13. Dane Bramage on October 4th, 2007 at 4:20 am

  13. That was fun! Thanks.

    14. Sandy Carlson on October 4th, 2007 at 4:48 am

  14. Fun story! :)

    15. tanabata on October 4th, 2007 at 5:11 am

  15. Very interesting. We have trees like that here, too. I’ve always wondered about those nuts falling from the trees. Now I know! Thanks.

    Happy TT!

    16. Denise Patrick on October 4th, 2007 at 5:32 am

  16. Great story, great photo.

    17. cj on October 4th, 2007 at 6:15 am

  17. Thnaks for the wonderful story. Happy TT! :) mine’s up, too.

    18. MeL on October 4th, 2007 at 8:05 am

  18. Oh fabulous! A TT post about conkers! I love looking for conkers,and have done ever since I was wee. I have now passed on this love to my kids, and we’re already planning our first conker hunt of the season. We have a secret wood that we got to with my grandad, where we can find bagfuls of beautiful glossy conkers. I don’t know who is more enthusiastic about them, me my kids or my grandad! Also, I could just imagine that installation in the Tate Modern ;-)

    19. amypalko on October 4th, 2007 at 11:00 am

  19. I love the fact that you collected the nuts. My daughter has a thing for rocks and will pick up little ones where ever she goes.

    And it could be modern art!

    20. Christine d'Abo on October 4th, 2007 at 12:26 pm

  20. Did you do all that math after you got conked? [wink]

    Interesting TT!

    21. Carolan Ivey on October 4th, 2007 at 1:53 pm

  21. What a funny story. And with scientific asides!

    22. Ann Aguirre on October 4th, 2007 at 2:29 pm

  22. Very interesting! My aunt has several chestnut trees on her property and her lawn is covered in them. :) Great TT!

    23. Nancy J. Bond on October 4th, 2007 at 4:37 pm

  23. “Conkers.” Heh. I’ve always wondered what they looked like. I’ve been hearing about them all my life, but if they grow in Florida, I don’t know it.

    As noted, they look very nice in a vase…such a beautiful, shiny texture.

    Thanks for visiting Cockney Rob’s T13 at our blog and sharing your insights…He needs all the help he can get, he says.

    24. Damozel on October 4th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

  24. Oh your poor head. I love how you took this single event and got so creative with it.

    http://moondancerdrake.livejournal.com/

    25. Moondancer on October 4th, 2007 at 5:35 pm

  25. Interesting idea for WW and TT!

    26. Mama Pajama on October 4th, 2007 at 8:39 pm

  26. THanks for the explanation! Happy tt.

    27. Buck Naked Politics on October 4th, 2007 at 10:20 pm

  27. chestnuts make me think of Christmas….probably because of the song…nice post…and educational! smile.

    28. katherine. on October 4th, 2007 at 11:02 pm

  28. Educational, and entertaining!! I collect weird things on occasion too :) Happy TT

    29. Sue on October 5th, 2007 at 12:55 am

  29. Walking seems to be a common theme today LOL. I love walking in the rain, or anywhere near water. Water is my energy source I think. I do love your story about the chestnuts :D

    30. Cher on October 5th, 2007 at 12:56 am

  30. conkers … priceless word and story but I’d like to know more about the game too

    Happy TT

    31. cajunvegan on October 5th, 2007 at 2:10 am

  31. Thanks for the congrats over at Ann’s blog. I hope I did Sherwood and Nottingham justice. My husband’s from Surrey, and I’ve never been farther north than Warwick ;)

    32. Carrie Lofty on October 5th, 2007 at 3:12 am

  32. LOL…nice story. I always wondered what the sky looked like up close ;-)

    33. MetaMommy on October 5th, 2007 at 6:45 am

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