With many cheerful facts about the square of the hypotenuse

Courtesy of Chris , here is photographic evidence of the startling discovery we made a few months ago at the Glasgow Science Centre The idea is a demonstration of Pythagoras's theorem that a^2 + b^2 = c^2. The area (a^2 + b^2) in this case is equal to the cross-sectional area of the two smaller tanks filled with fluid.



Then we simply rotate the apparatus and let the "hypotenuse" tank fill with fluid.



The result: the larger tank does not contain all the fluid. a^2 + b^2 > c^2. Convincing experimental disproof of Pythagoras's theorem!



I think it's great that thousands of Scottish schoolchildren are getting to witness first-hand hoary mathematical theories being uprooted by real-world experiments. That is science in action!