Mr Wizard

[Doug Coulter]

This is just a stub for now. JonH and I have been discussing how it would be a good thing to make some videos that would help motivate some more kids to get into science and tech, as without good old Don Herbert (the original) doing it, the enrollment rates are dropping off. Now, most of the cool stuff he did would get your arrested if you tried to do it in a school, in this "think of the children" mentality era, but hey, we're not kids, this isn't a state funded public school, and we have some awfully nifty toys to show off and it can be done in an inspiring and educational way I think.

I for one have a many-joule output laser that will punch holes in coins, much experience with HE and other cool chemistry, things kids find fascinating -- and enough Joules in Maxwell capacitors to amaze anyone, once I get the courage to charge them up (about 20k joules worth and hundreds of kilo-amps) -- perhaps I'll close the circuit with a bullet from a hundred yards or so. So if anyone has a great idea for a gosh, that's cool, kind of video -- this is where to put it. You can re-title responses to this post (so the search bots will find them better), and if we get a number of them, we'll start another forum for just them -- but hey, they'd be "eye candy" for sure, right? Anything that makes kids drool would fit here. Just add a little explanation to it.

Let's set aside a little time for pure fun.

Since Jerry has kind of gotten the ball rolling for us with videos, check out this one -- one of several he's put up that show how cool machining can be, not like what a lot of people think of (dirty auto mechanic) at all! Also check out his vid under Titanium.

I've tried to get a few of my "professional" friends to play in my shop, and there seems to be some resistance to it, as though it were some sort of grunt work, beneath them. Or gasp, they might get dirty (not!).
Silly boys! Check out the above for the real deal. This stuff is just plain cool! Y'all do what you can to catch up!

[William A Washburn]

Doug,

This is a great idea: maybe a small battery-operated Tesla-Coil or a Geiger counter.
Neither is extremely complicated and the Geiger-counter needs 300-400 V for its circuitry which could be a problem.

I built both of these when I was twelve years old or so and was allowed (asked actually) to bring them to science class.
All the kids seemed interested.
I guess today the determining factor would be codes and requirements of the school district.

I, too, have been unhappy by the lack of REAL science in the classroom like it used to be when I was starting out.

Bill Washburn

[Doug Coulter]

Heck, those are good projects for HERE, you know, and I ought to get some of those posted as I've done them. No big deal getting geiger voltages with a CCFL inverter.

What I'm thinking for the Mr Wizard though, is for us to make some videos of things we can do that kids can't (yet) because of parental fears, lack of funds and skills, and so on. This idea came from JonH13 originally. The idea is to inspire first, then instruct -- can't really do the latter until they're listening because of the former. But any good ideas are, well, good ideas, and I'm all ears.

Stuff like Don Herbert did like popping a green balloon inside a clear one with a red laser, leaving the outer one untouched. Stuff that makes big fires, sparks, loud noises and throws things. (In other words, things even we should only do with careful forethought and while very sober). I've got the stuff to make a coin crusher for example. Darn dangerous if it blows up -- that's why there are cheap vid cams you can put close to the action while you sit in safety! I have a number of demos in mind, but most of them are going to have to wait for nice weather here, it's Brrrr, the cold part of winter now, and some of this stuff is not for indoors.

[William A Washburn]

Don't know how I missed the main issue here of doing videos. This WAS Mr. Wizard. However, in today's
times of restrictions, it could be the only way it might fly.
What's the school board like back there? They looking for something for free that would enhance their program?
That could be an easy way to get this proposed program into their schools.

[Doug Coulter]

Schools are always looking for "free" -- they, after all, teach kids to feel "entitled" as part of their deliberate effect on future politics. They never feel like they are swimming in money even when they are, and now they aren't.

In fact, I've been approached by both a couple of local science teachers on the high school level to do some things, and an outfit that gives grants to people who want to do things like this.
As well as some faculty from the local college (VA Tech).

BUT! In the first case, the grant guys and teachers expected me to do all the legwork to get every science teacher in the few-county area to get on-board before anyone would (had to be a big "official" program), and when I proposed a list of cool inspirational things, 100% were rejected for "think of the children" reasons. I couldn't even show my big telescope at night (too dangerous for kids to be out, and hassle for parents) or even in the day time (I have sun filters and it's actually quite nifty to get a good view of our closest star in various H lines).

Basically, anything DonH did is now banned from the system entirely. Even the tamer stuff (which of course is not what gets kids going -- they like the exciting things -- mythbuster-class at minimum or weaponmasters kinds of things). Kids love dramatic demos and by their very nature -- drama implies some sort of danger to most nanny types. You can't even do the ammonium dichromate volcano kinds of stuff anymore.

I've not yet followed up with the VA tech guys yet. My stuff isn't all that portable (they actually want the physics stuff shown) and my lab won't accommodate enough kids at a time to make it worth them coming here. They at least would like me in person, but of course couldn't run a fusor there -- X rays and all that.

I'd love to do things in person -- I'm a fairly decent public speaker and know how to inspire an audience, but....hard in this case. Videos have the advantage of not directly exposing "precious kids" to anything more than ideas (bad enough in some eyes) but are also re-usable, you only have to produce them once for a lot of uses. So that seems to be the way to go at the moment.

I know that when I was doing other stage work (music in this case) that recordings generated a lot of interest for in-person gigs, maybe it works like that in this case too?
I know it's easier to inspire in person if that's the goal -- you read the actual audience and adapt your pitch, and enthusiasm is contagious, much more so in person. But you might need some kind of opening wedge to get there.

I'd bet if you asked a few hundred kids whether they'd like to see the difference between a half pound of HE knocking crap out of something (no flash, just flying stuff), and a Hollywood special effect for the same thing (100ft tower of fire), or something about color-changing chemical reactions or the art of dying cloth, or DNA replication -- what the result of the vote would be without asking. However, teachers, PTA's, laws....all that crap means they'll never be exposed to what real vs Hollywood SFX looks like outside of something a bit more subversive -- a video they'll watch without having to get permission -- ain't the web great? About the only thing that would fly would be showing a solar panel running a water pump, in person. Getting into what it's really like living off the grid probably wouldn't be appreciated by anyone -- everyone has an agenda there (it's either the perfect wave of the future, or it's completely not worth it, and as usual, neither is true).

Maybe I'm thinking too negatively, but that's kind of what I've encountered in the past. I wouldn't need a grant to do this myself, I have the stuff and can make the time, but without that official stamp of approval, I don't reach very many subjects.