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fandomhigh2010-05-10 07:00 am
after-17-years.livejournal.com) wrote in fandomhigh2010-05-10 07:00 am
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Unblinded Science, Period Six [5/10]
Walter fussed at the front of the classroom. On the one hand, it wasn't Harvard, but on the other hand, there were nice acid-resistant black tabletops. Those had been constants even from his own student days and as much as he loved new things, the old things were comforting.
Today's lecture? Microwaves! Fun times!
Okay, maybe not, but Walter has an ace up his sleeve, apparently involving.... fruit.
Once the class was settled, Walter surveyed the students, absently patted a papaya sitting in front of him that had been given a face through the clever use of a googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and a sharpie, and smiled absently.
"My name is Dr. Walter Bishop," he said and then frowned, trying to remember what he was going to say next. "And this is..." he referred to a paper on the table, "Unblinded Science. We will be exploring some of the things that make science interesting and which push the boundaries of what you will believe science is capable of. After all, an old friend of mine once wrote that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Keep an open mind, and more importantly, a fertile imagination."
But first, the lecture, which apparently Walter didn't trust himself to give without notes, and which, in his manifest discomfort, he read from directly.
"The existence of electromagnetic waves was predicted by James Clerk Maxwell in 1864 from his equations. In 1888, Heinrich Hertz was the first to demonstrate the existence of electromagnetic waves by building an apparatus that produced and detected microwaves in the UHF region. The design necessarily used horse-and-buggy materials, including a horse trough, a wrought iron point spark, Leyden jars, and a length of zinc gutter whose parabolic cross-section worked as a reflection antenna."
Walter looked at the rest of his notes, lips moving slightly while his thoughts ran on a complete tangent to microwaves involving an especially pneumatic woman he had once met in Kansas City, and then he slapped the notes down on the desk and looked up at the class with a bright, almost hectic smile.
"But this is a survey course, and you young people get distracted easily, so let's have some fun instead. At each of the seven stations you'll find two pairs of safety glasses. Put them on, put on your lab coat, and examine the devices that I have assembled for your practical today.
"These devices will project microwaves at the glass dome in your workstation. I have provided" (Peter has provided) "a supply of papayas and papaya-decorating supplies. Place the papaya under the glass dome and press the button on the device. You may experiment with the settings on the dial to determine how high you must go to achieve gooification, and how high to reach explosion."
Some intelligent soul has ensured that the boxes cannot be turned in any direction other than the glass dome. It might have been Walter. It might have been someone not as intelligent but far wiser.
[ooc:Wait two minutes for OCD please. Class roster and syllabus are out of my reach at the moment. I'll add them when I get home from work this evening.]
Today's lecture? Microwaves! Fun times!
Okay, maybe not, but Walter has an ace up his sleeve, apparently involving.... fruit.
Once the class was settled, Walter surveyed the students, absently patted a papaya sitting in front of him that had been given a face through the clever use of a googly eyes, pipe cleaners, and a sharpie, and smiled absently.
"My name is Dr. Walter Bishop," he said and then frowned, trying to remember what he was going to say next. "And this is..." he referred to a paper on the table, "Unblinded Science. We will be exploring some of the things that make science interesting and which push the boundaries of what you will believe science is capable of. After all, an old friend of mine once wrote that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Keep an open mind, and more importantly, a fertile imagination."
But first, the lecture, which apparently Walter didn't trust himself to give without notes, and which, in his manifest discomfort, he read from directly.
"The existence of electromagnetic waves was predicted by James Clerk Maxwell in 1864 from his equations. In 1888, Heinrich Hertz was the first to demonstrate the existence of electromagnetic waves by building an apparatus that produced and detected microwaves in the UHF region. The design necessarily used horse-and-buggy materials, including a horse trough, a wrought iron point spark, Leyden jars, and a length of zinc gutter whose parabolic cross-section worked as a reflection antenna."
Walter looked at the rest of his notes, lips moving slightly while his thoughts ran on a complete tangent to microwaves involving an especially pneumatic woman he had once met in Kansas City, and then he slapped the notes down on the desk and looked up at the class with a bright, almost hectic smile.
"But this is a survey course, and you young people get distracted easily, so let's have some fun instead. At each of the seven stations you'll find two pairs of safety glasses. Put them on, put on your lab coat, and examine the devices that I have assembled for your practical today.
"These devices will project microwaves at the glass dome in your workstation. I have provided" (Peter has provided) "a supply of papayas and papaya-decorating supplies. Place the papaya under the glass dome and press the button on the device. You may experiment with the settings on the dial to determine how high you must go to achieve gooification, and how high to reach explosion."
Some intelligent soul has ensured that the boxes cannot be turned in any direction other than the glass dome. It might have been Walter. It might have been someone not as intelligent but far wiser.
[ooc:
Re: Science!