Physicists point out that `` the brain may be damaged '' when shaking the head and removing ear water


By

DragonImages

“Water in your ears” during swimming and showering is uncomfortable and does not go away. A physicist warns that when a small child tries to pull out the water of his ears by shaking his head strongly, his brain may be damaged .

APS -72nd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics-Event-Acceleration-induced water ejection in the human ear canal
https://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD19/Session/A31.7

Shaking head to get rid of water in ears could cause brain damage | EurekAlert! Science News
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-11/aps-sht111819.php

Warning: Shaking Head to Get Rid of Water in Ears Could Cause Brain Damage
https://scitechdaily.com/warning-shaking-head-to-get-rid-of-water-in-ears-could-cause-brain-damage/

The ear canal is the part that extends from the outside of the ear to the eardrum and refers to the so-called “ear hole”. The “Ear canal” in the red frame below is the ear canal.


By

Papa November

A research team of physicists at Cornell University and Virginia Institute of Technology at the 72nd Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society, Fluid Dynamics Division held in November 2019 May be damaged. ' The research team created 3D data of the shape of the human external auditory canal by CT scan, and created a “artificial external auditory canal” made of glass. The inside of this artificial external ear canal is coated with silicon hydride (silane) and is as close to the “human ear” as possible in terms of hydrophobicity. The artificial external auditory canal looks like this.


By Anuj Baskota, Seungho Kim, Sunghwan Jung

The research team measured `` acceleration necessary to drain water from the artificial ear canal '' by experimenting `` filling the artificial ear canal and then dropping it on the spring '' which reproduced the action of shaking the head and discharging water Did. As a result of the measurement, it was found that the acceleration required to drain water from an artificial external auditory canal that mimics the ears of a small child is 10 times the acceleration of gravity. The research team says it is “acceleration that can cause serious damage to the human brain”.

It has also been found that the acceleration required to drain water from the artificial ear canal is directly proportional to the volume and position of the liquid, and that the shape of the adult ear canal does not require that much acceleration. Therefore, the risk is greatly reduced for adults.

The research team has announced a method of “dropping a few drops of alcohol or vinegar into the ear” as a method of removing water from the ear. Alcohol and vinegar have lower surface tension than water, so when mixed with ear water, the surface tension of the whole water decreases and water comes out.

in Science, Posted by darkhorse_log