Photo by Pat Christman
Russ Palma (left) and Eric Koser, two of the brains behind the annual Minnesota State University Physics Show, conducted one of the many wacky demonstrations at Tuesday's show to teach kids about the wonders of physics and science.
MANKATO — Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, step right up to the greatest show in all of Trafton Science Center, the show full of eye-popping wonders, the show where gravity is "defied," inertia explained and every kid gets his own smoke ring. It is the one, the only PHYSICS SHOW!
"Physics is not magic," a physics guy in a wizard robe says as he disrobes, tosses it aside. "It is real."
A mystery kicks off our show: A guy in a blue shirt with the words "physics show" across the chest — there are a half-dozen guys like this — places a metal plate on a book. On the plate he spins a top. He raises the metal plate and spinning top, pulls away the plate and, like magic, the top spins in mid-air for a few seconds.
(Applause, applause, applause!)The secret: Magnets inside the book and top. Their forces repel. It's amazing.
Next.
"Igor is gonna do a table cloth jerk," a blue shirt says.
"Igor's a jerk?" another jokes.
"No! A table cloth jerk."
Dr. Igor deftly arranges a series of cups, saucers, silverware and a wine glass into a delicate tower.
"Let's see," he says, "we do zis one, we put zis here ..."
With a grunt he tugs the table cloth beneath it all away and, amazingly, the tower remains intact.
(A little laughter, applause, applause, applause.)
The lesson: Objects at rest tend to stay at rest.
Next.
Two blue shirts arrange a curious concoction: two water-filled five-gallon pails topped with a plank of wood topped with two big tubes of PVC pipe topped with two bowling balls. They're going to up Igor's table cloth trick.
Now, if they do this correctly, they'll whip away the wood plank and the two bowling balls will splash hard into the five-gallon pails. One ... Two ... Three! The plank comes out, the PVC pipes fall to the floor and the balls hit the pails like boulders in a shallow stream.
(The crowd goes wild!)
The lesson: Bowling balls make big splashes.
Next. Eggs.
While it's true that it is somewhat difficult to play catch with an egg without breaking it, the blueshirts proved you can go Nolan Ryan with an egg and, as long as you have a bed sheet for a catcher, it won't break.
He demonstrates. Throws it harder. And harder.
"Throw it against the wall!" a little kid yells. Harder. Still, doesn't break.
Lesson: Given enough time to slow down, even something as delicate as an egg won't break.
(Applause.)
Next. Air pressure.
Dr. Igor holds up a silver chemical can.
"What will happen if we take the air out?"
"It'll collapse!" a kid yells.
"Why is zat?"
"Because there's air pressure outside, but not inside."
"You're going to be a great physicist someday."
Next. A blue shirt takes a three-foot piece of PVC pipe with a ping pong ball inside and the ends taped shut. He sucks the air out, then asks the crowd what will happen if he pokes a hole in one of the pieces of end tape.
"It'll turn into a cannon!" a kid yells.
Photo by Pat Christman
Tammey Gatchell directs 3-year-old daughter Sophie's attention to a demonstration of sound. Ears were plugged around room as a physicist tried to use sound waves to break a glass beaker. The sound waves were high, the glass breakage was not. It didn't work. Almost every other demonstration did, however.
"I've never heard a more accurate description," the blue shirt says. He sucks the air, pokes the hole and ... BANG! The ball shoots across the room.
"Do it again! Do it again!" the kids yell.
Next. Nails.
"Alright!" the wizard guy says, "the moment you've been waiting for. Each year Dr. Igor puts his life on the line. It is what we call the ubiquitous bed of nails."
"I'm going to lay down on zis one," he says. "Zis one will go on top of me."
"You've heard about the Sealy Posturepaedic? This is puncturepaedic," another blue shirt says.
Same thing every year. Igor lays prone on a hunk of wood studded with a thousand nails. A similar hunk goes on his belly. A cinder block goes on top. A blue shirt wielding a sledge hammer pounds the block. (Applause, applause, applause!)
Igor rises triumphantly, dusts the rubble off his shoulders.
Finally. The smoke-ring finale.
Igor takes a specially made garbage can, fills it with smoke. In the can's bottom, a dinner plate-sized hole. He pounds the other end and smoke rings the size of the hole float around the room. The kids around the room are on their feet, jumping up and down, waving their arms over their heads, begging for smoke.
Igor obliges. He reloads, sends smoke rings all over the room. Any kid who wanted to stick their arm through a floating circle of fog got their chance. That's it. Show's over.
Applause!
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