If you hold a Dippy Bird upright in your hand, touching the abdomen, the following happens:
- Your body heat warms the fluid in the abdomen.
- The heat increases the vapor pressure in the abdomen relative to the head (the reverse of what happens when you wet the head).
- The fluid rises into the head in response to the pressure difference (moving from high pressure to low pressure).
- The bird becomes top-heavy, and tips.
No es preciso que la cabeza se moje. Al dilatarse el líquido y subir por el tubo llega un momento en que se rompe la burbuja y el líquido del tubo retorna a la panza. Como el tubo está inclinado, al llenarse sube el centro de gravedad y va aumentando la inclinación. Cuando alcanza un cierto ángulo, el líquido (cloruro de metileno) vuelve.
The dunking bird in action. The fuzzy head is simply a widening of the glass tube body, while the tail is a separate bulb enclosing the end of the tube. When the bird is upright, this arrangement acts as a vapor lock between the vapor in the bird's head and that in his tail.
The dipping bird seems to go forever but it's not perpetual motion!