Magnetic Hill of Leh, India If you are travelling through Leh-Kargil-Batalik National Highway, you w

Magnetic Hill of Leh, IndiaIf you are travelling through Leh-Kargil-Batalik National Highway, you will be on the road going towards Magnetic Hill near Leh, India. At about 14,000 feet above sea level, the hill is situated 30 kms from the town of Leh. The Indus river flows through the eastern border of the Magnetic Hill, also known as the gravity hill. In this area, objects seem to move uphill defying gravity. This is a fairly common phenomenon, and is also reported from other parts of the world with a similar topography.Leh, the largest town of Ladakh at an altitude of 11,500 feet, is one of the world’s highest inhabited towns. Ladakh is a region in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Ladakh’s bounded on the east by Tibet, the towns of Lahaul and Spiti are to the south and Kashmir valley is on the west of this region. [Further details on Ladakh: www.lehladakhindia.com.]At the corner of the road, a board mentions the unique phenomenon of this hill. Not only cars, but the unique phenomenon of the hill has a profound effect on aircrafts and helicopters as well. Pilots of the Indian Air Force generally avoid this terrain.Locals attribute the magnetic power to supernatural forces, but science has an alternate explanation. The surrounding area around the hill produces optical illusion.The information gathered by our eyes is processed by the brain, and that processing is how we recognise the world around us. Certain factors help us perceive direction and distance of any object near us, like the balance mechanism of our inner ear and the binocular vision of our eyes. But eyes override the effect of inner ears’ mechanism.In a hilly terrain where our horizon is partially or fully obscured from view, we rely on visual cues like trees and walls to perceive the distance and direction of any object relative to its surroundings. Trees seem to us to stand vertically even though they may be leaning because of uneven terrain. This region is devoid of any trees, and the horizon is also obscured from our view, so we don’t get any visual cues to sense the direction of movement of any object. The typical rock formations of this region have created an unusual topography that cause optical illusion, and toy with our sense of perception.So, a slight downhill slope appears to be an uphill slope, and a car in neutral seems to be rolling uphill. The layering of the rocks and an uneven ground also add to the effect of the optical illusion as it becomes very difficult to judge the slope of the surface.But the mysterious effect of the magnetic hill on aircrafts still remain unsolved. Helicopters flying at low altitudes over this region have often experienced jerks without any apparent cause, which might still relate to the slight changes in the dip of the rocks, but that’s a puzzle for another time.[Video link: m.youtube.com/watch?v=CU23Y18pIDs][Source: http://bit.ly/1N0Qx2Qhttp://bit.ly/1xrQauQ[Image source: www.tripadvisor.iewww.toladakh.com]–RB. -- source link

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