h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Corks (under construction) - A731873
Author: Gnomon - U151503

Here's a little something I knocked together at lunchtime today.

Ah...gotta love those lunchtime entries .

Can't really fault this, although I'd suggest adding the following:

Corks work, traditionally, because they have a negative Poisson's ratio - ie. when they are squashed in one direction, they also contract along the perpendicular directions (most materials would expand). That's how they come out of (and go into) the bottles.

Things to do with corks: Tie them to your hat on bits of string to keep the flies away (surely an essential)

Nice entry

B

Thanks, B. I've added a paragraph "How do corks work?" about the Poisson's ratio, although it seems to be "close to zero" rather than negative.

I've also mentioned the hats.

Hi Gnomon, great entry!

I'm glad that you mentioned the cork forests, they've been managed well for a long time. Down with plastic!

Hope to see it in the Guide soon.

Oh, so I'm obtuse now, am I?

Yes, you are technically correct: 'close to zero' is more accurate for corks, rather than *cork*, which as a material is definitely negative.



B

You did all that during lunchtime?

Great entry, Gnomon!


Some more applications:
- DIY doorstoppers
- wheels for small children's toys (simply cut a cork into slices)
- for DIY people: drilling holes into plastic material is quite tricky, as most of the time the drilling machine is too fast and the object rather melts than receiving a neat hole. The way out of this is to drill a small hole through the *borer* (close to the end of its shaft and at right angles to its length), another one into the cork (lengthwise, but only halfway through), insert the borer into the cork and fiddle a piece of wire transversely through the whole arrangement. Bingo: there's a borer with a hand grip for some tricky work


Somewhere out there, there's a book which also deals with people who had enormous lunch breaks

And let's not forget the old burnt cork moustache trick

It's a bit late now, but I'll try and add some of those uses during tomorrow's lunchtime.

I've added burnt cork and doorstoppers as possible uses. I've left out the awl (boring tool) as it is too difficult for most people - it involves drilling a hole in a cylindrical steel bit. I've also left out the wheels for children's toys. While it is a good suggestion, I think children's toys are already well represented with stick animals and boats.

Hi Gnomon,

great entry. Do you think it's possible to mention, that the cells that gave origins to the word 'cell' were cork cells inspected by Robert Hooke?

Maybe it will be difficult to squeeze that in, I suppose, anyways i had to say SOMETHING y'know...

H

Thanks for that, Hell. I had forgotten about the cork cells. I don't think it quite fits into the general tone of the article, so I think I'll leave it out, if that's OK with you.

Of course it's OK, great entry. I just had to say SOMETHING .

Hug,

H

Great Entry.

I much prefer plastic corks. Any residual uses for them?

Some of the uses listed in the entry will apply to plastic corks as well. They're probably not easy to cut though, so toy boats and stick animals are out. I wouldn't advise trying to burn them either.

Another nice entry, Gormon!

Plastic corks?

Might it be worth saying that the cork on the trees gets denser the more they are harvested?

I thought you might like to know that this entry has just been recommended



Z

Thanks, that's great news!

And you'll have to edit your name tag once again