# Sense of Balance

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense-of-balance/4963>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 22, 1999, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense-of-balance/4963 "1999-11-22T22:58:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\
**Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense-of-balance/4963/21 "1999-11-25T02:06:00Z")

</div>

handy - so you did. Oops! I read it as you were disagreeing with Joey, also I tend to think of ears only in the sense of hearing - the semicircular canals being attached but not really the same system.

So your semicircular canals are damaged? Yuk! [gratuitous tangent]I had bad dizzy spells a few years back - found out it was the nitrous oxide the dentist was using. Lasted for a couple of years after I quit using it[/gratuitous tangent]

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 1999, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense-of-balance/4963/22 "1999-11-26T10:51:00Z")

</div>

If you remove the small grains of shell material in a lobster’s equivalent to the human semi-circular canal, and replace them with iron filings, and then pass a magnet over the lobster, it will turn over, in the water, accepting the new orientation of “down.” as now defined by it’s senses.

(It so happens that the lobster’s sense organ is open to the water, so doing so doesn’t involve surgery, just seriously annoying the lobster.)

**\<p align=“center”\>Tris\</p\>**

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 1999, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense-of-balance/4963/23 "1999-11-28T02:19:00Z")

</div>

And what happens if you do that to a bunch of lobsters and also put bar magnets on their shells? Have you considered running a lobster circus?

Ray (full of attractive ideas)

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sense-of-balance/4963.md?page=1)