Topic Starters... discuss

[drathbun]

Okay here are some topic starters to repopulate the decimated forum. I'll give you a tawwwpic and you can discuss...

 

1. I'm leaving this forum, you guyz suck... discuss

 

2. Does this guitar make me look fat? ... discuss

 

3. What strings do you guyz use? ... discuss

 

4. I used a magnifying glass on my Gibson and noticed there were some flaws in the finish, should I picket the Bozeman plant? ... discuss

 

5. Country music sucks, long live The Beatles... discuss

 

6. I think the moderator stole all the posts on purpose in order to take over the world! ... ok... don't discuss that one

[ksdaddy]

You found me out.

 

Other people found out too. That's why they're in a shallow grave.

 

What exactly did you say your address was again?

 

Omigod, I'm kidding. Please don't turn this into a 7 page thread crucifying me!

[ajsc]

Consider yourself crucified!!

[Fred_Engr]

"Omigod, I'm kidding. Please don't turn this into a 7 page thread crucifying me!"

 

 

 

Let's see, page 1 and I bet we can get more than 7 pages.

[Gilliangirl]

And here's a refresher, just in case anyone needs some pointers....

 

 

How many forum members does it takes to change a light bulb?

 

 

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs

1 to move it to the Lighting section

2 to argue then move it to the Electricals section

7 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs

5 to flame the spell checkers

3 to correct spelling/grammar flames

6 to argue over whether it's "lightbulb" or "light bulb" ... another 6 to condemn those 6 as stupid

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp"

15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct

19 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb forum

11 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this forum

36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty

7 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs

4 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's

3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group

13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"

5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy

4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

13 to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs"

1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again.

[Gilliangirl]

Just realized the above list doesn't include the various YouTube videos that should accompany each thread :-D

[larryp58]

Just realized the above list doesn't include the various YouTube videos that should accompany each thread :-D

 

 

:) =D>

[Fred_Engr]

Let's Hear It for Pickle Power!

 

Several years ago I had a student named Daegan who kept bugging me with the same comment every time that I did a demonstration for the class. Basically, he said that he would not be happy until I set my tie on fire. After months of hearing this comment repeated, I finally decided to make his wish come true. I designed a new demonstration where I took my ugliest tie, soaked it in rubbing alcohol, and then set it ablaze. Daegen was not impressed, however, because the tie was still intact after the fire went out. He wanted the tie to be burned to a crisp. I, on the other hand, wanted to teach some science. (As I tell all of my students, please do not try this at home!)

 

Obviously, there is some sort of deception going on with my tie experiment. Without revealing my secret, let's just say that the alcohol was not what it appeared to be. This tie trick does, however, lead me to the one demonstration that my students seem to remember for life. This one also has a bit of magic to it. And, because it involves something known as a suicide plug, I am not going to tell you exactly how to do it. In other words, don't try this one at home, either.

 

Every school year, my last demo is always what my students refer to as the “electrocution of a pickle”. Basically, this works on a principle very similar to that of frying someone in an electric chair. Just put a current through something juicy that conducts electricity and watch it sizzle.

 

What is very unusual about the pickle is that is doesn't just cook. Within a short period of time, steam starts to escape out the sides and, amazingly, it starts to light up like a light bulb. Yes, you read that correctly. It emits light. Yellow light, to be specific. And the smell… Let's just say that the word bad does not describe the scent well enough!

 

Now, I would be lying if I told you that I came up with this trick on my own. I didn't. In fact, I first saw it demonstrated at a Physics Teacher training course that I was taking back in 1991. I was captivated by what I was watching and knew that my students would find equal fascination with it. That night I went home and built my own apparatus to perform the demo.

 

Unfortunately, my building principal did not approve of the idea (can anybody say lawsuit???) and forbid me from doing the demo for a couple of years. When a newly hired teacher down the hall from me started doing it, followed by Mr. Wizard performing the electrocution on the Nickelodeon channel, I convinced the administration to let me do it.

 

What amazes me most about this demo is that no one ever explained to me what it was supposed to prove. It just looked cool. Who cares if it the glowing pickle really ever taught any concept? Again, it just looked cool! Well, I quickly found out that my students really did care.

 

They thought that they had finally stumped me, but they hadn't. Every good teacher learns that they must be ready for anything, and I was. I gave them some cockamamie story about how it all tied into Niel Bohr’s model of the atom. It seemed to me that the electricity flowing into the pickle excited the electrons in the sodium ions that made up the pickle's salt content. When the electrons fell back down to a stable orbital, the yellow light was emitted. It all made perfect sense to me because I remembered doing flame tests in college chemistry where sodium emitted a similar yellow light.

 

In plain English, this means that you add energy to throw something up and then you get the energy back when it comes back down. To prove this, just take a rock and throw it straight up in the air. You have to add energy to throw the rock upwards. When it comes down and hits you in the head, you will quickly realize that it just transferred that energy back to you.

 

Honestly, this did not take much thought on my part to figure out. It just seemed fairly obvious to me. Well, it turns out that scientists have been working feverishly to solve the mystery of the glowing pickle.

 

I recently learned that two important (yeah, right!) papers have been published on the topic.

 

Seven researchers at Digital Computers did the first study in April of 1989. Their findings were just amazing. They concluded that Kosher dill pickles were the best because they had the highest salt content. Also, they determined that pickles would not make good light bulbs because they only gave off yellow light and that they smelled really, really bad. Duh! They published their results in a paper titled “Characterization of Organic Illumination Systems”. There is nothing as effective as using big words in a publication title so that no one can understand it. (Do you think that they were trying to fool their bosses into thinking that they were performing serious science?)

 

The second set of findings was released by a team of four scientists in 1993 and appeared in the Journal of Chemical Education. Their findings? Very simple: The light emitted by the pickle was nearly identical to that released by the sodium atom. Just as I had suspected.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to diminish the need for serious scientific studies. Yet, I can't help but get a small chuckle when I see how much time and energy went into these projects. I have a hunch that they were also laughing while writing these studies up. Sometimes there is a need for making science fun and interesting.