So far, there has been only one published scientific experiment on the source of the ringing ability. In the 1960s, a
Rutgers University professor did an informal experiment where specimens of "live" and "dead" ringing rock boulders from the Bucks County park site were sawed into thin slices and then measured for changes in shape.
[13] The rock slices were measured with delicate foil strain gauges, which could measure minute changes in size. According to the professor, the dead rocks showed no change after the rocks were sawed; however, the live rocks showed a distinctive expansion or "relaxation" within 24 hours of being cut. This relaxation indicates that the rock was under internal elastic stresses that were released by the mechanical sawing of the rock. The professor went on to make the observation that the live rocks were generally found toward the middle of the boulder fields, where they did not come in contact with soil and the shade of the surrounding trees. He then theorized that the slow weathering rate in the dry "microclimate" of the fields caused the stresses, because the outside skin of the boulders would expand owing to the conversion of pyroxene to
montmorillonite (a
clay mineral). Boulders along the periphery of the fields weather too quickly and break apart before the stresses can develop.
Although more rigorous testing needs to be done to verify these results, it does suggest strongly that the ringing ability is a direct result of internal stresses. Less likely is the assertion that outside weathering conditions created the stresses. It is very improbable that the expansion of a thin skin around the outside of a large boulder could set up a balance of forces that would create the severe stresses found in the ringing rock boulders. The result of such a situation would be that the outside skin of the boulders would peel or exfoliate, a condition that is virtually non-existent in any of the ringing rocks sites. In addition, the majority of the weathering in the boulders occurs at the exposed top surfaces, not on the bottoms; thus, the stresses would not be balanced. Furthermore, if slow weathering created the stresses, then there would be ringing rock boulder fields in
deserts throughout the world, a condition which does not occur.
Void
whenever you can get a chance to watch it mister.
