![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Physics show
Jun. 30th, 2011 10:25 pmIt's finally gotten warm here--in the 80s, even! With it being dry and always a little windy (and sometimes a lot windy!), it's kind of pleasant, even near 90. We don't have AC and so far we haven't needed it--we just open the windows and the breeze zips through. Between a number of all-nighters (PMB still often wakes up at night, plus some of our kids think they live in the Hawaiian time zone while others think they're in Maine), I feel like there is a child awake in this house at all times. Which means that when the warm wind blows through in the afternoons, all I want to do is zzzzzzzzz...
But tonight the kids were getting cranky, so it was time to go somewhere. We decided to try out the planetarium at my husband's university. Unfortunately, it was sold out by the time we got there, so we'll have to go another week. But lucky for us, the physics department was also doing a one-time public show on er, Fun with Microwaves. Basically everything you should NEVER do with a microwave at home. So we got to see them nuke lightbulbs (the gas inside glows, even when the bulbs are technically burnt out), candles (plasma flares!), grapes (more plasma sparks), soap (it bubbles and expands--but is still hard when you take it out), balloons with water vs. air (the water ones explode, the air ones don't), CDs, and even a glass bottle that they first blowtorched to get the electrons moving in a spot, then put in the microwave where it became electrified. They ended the whole thing by pulling out the Tesla coil (no, not related to microwaves, but still cool. And yes, they made everyone move several rows back.) The people putting on the show really played up the mad scientist/science nerd thing with weird science jokes and just generally reveling in nerdiness. It was fascinating. PMB was initially disappointed when we weren't going to "see space," but when we walked out after the microwave show, he said in his little 2YO voice, "Dat was cwazy--and vewy cool!" I just hope he doesn't try any of these things at home...
But tonight the kids were getting cranky, so it was time to go somewhere. We decided to try out the planetarium at my husband's university. Unfortunately, it was sold out by the time we got there, so we'll have to go another week. But lucky for us, the physics department was also doing a one-time public show on er, Fun with Microwaves. Basically everything you should NEVER do with a microwave at home. So we got to see them nuke lightbulbs (the gas inside glows, even when the bulbs are technically burnt out), candles (plasma flares!), grapes (more plasma sparks), soap (it bubbles and expands--but is still hard when you take it out), balloons with water vs. air (the water ones explode, the air ones don't), CDs, and even a glass bottle that they first blowtorched to get the electrons moving in a spot, then put in the microwave where it became electrified. They ended the whole thing by pulling out the Tesla coil (no, not related to microwaves, but still cool. And yes, they made everyone move several rows back.) The people putting on the show really played up the mad scientist/science nerd thing with weird science jokes and just generally reveling in nerdiness. It was fascinating. PMB was initially disappointed when we weren't going to "see space," but when we walked out after the microwave show, he said in his little 2YO voice, "Dat was cwazy--and vewy cool!" I just hope he doesn't try any of these things at home...
