Experts, Logic, and Experiment - A Plumbing Story
My wife hired a plumber to install a new kitchen faucet set which she had bought. It was an easy job. However, when she tested the left hot water faucet, holding her hand under the flowing water, it never warmed up but remained cold. When she tested the right cold faucet the water became warm, then hot. The plumber had mismatched the faucets to the water feed lines under the sink.She recalled the plumber. He was incredulous. He came back and checked, just as my wife had and confirmed the problem. He said he did not see how this could have happened since he installed the lines correctly.
He looked under the sink and the left line went to the left faucet and the right line went to the right faucet. The plumber said that the builder had installed the feed lines backwards, the left feed line should have been hot but it was cold, and the right should have been cold but was hot. He switched the feed lines so they crossed under the sink to the correct faucets on top. Now the left hot faucet gave hot water and the right cold faucet gave cold.
Experts say that the left feed line should be hot and the right feed line should be cold.
Logic says that if you attach the left faucet to the left feed line it will be hot. If you attach the right feed line to the right faucet it will be cold.
Experimental testing showed that the left faucet was cold and the right faucet was hot.
Which of these methods of determining the truth actually determined the truth: Experts, Logic, or Experiment?
posted by X-Bar @ 8:21 AM
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