Good Morning,
When I was a young man in my adolescence and well into my teens, maybe even a few years beyond, I self-studied Practical Physics. I never had the academic prowess to actually take Physics in school as that required more than I was either willing or capable.
No… my Physics Education came for the practical applications my friends Jan, Terry, Leon and I conjured up as a young boys living in rural Modesto, CA.
Here are a few of the Physics lessons we learned:
- How big and how many nails it took to “reliably” attach a board to a tree so you could climb up to the tree fort. (Shear Factors & Leverage) Failure to use the proper size or quantity can result in the board coming loose and nails being impaled in your leg.
- That nailing a bunch of boards together in the shape of an airplane does not guarantee that it will fly when you throw it from the hayloft of a barn. (Gravity & Aerodynamics) Albeit fun to watch it crash and come apart.
- That giving your friend (Leon) a ride on your handlebars can be hazardous, especially when his boot gets caught in the
spokes and you both go “tail over teakettle” with a face plant, Leon, me and the bike on top of us both. (Newton’s Law, A body in motion tends to stay in motion…) Bonus: I also learned how to replace spokes in a bike wheel. - That old steel roller skates, a 2×4 and a fruit crate can make a pretty cool scooter. (Friction & Energy) Hard to push, but more fun thanwalking.
- That tying cans to a string across the road and then pulling it taunt when a car comes along can really upset some drivers. (Reaction Times & Consequences) Having an escape route is important and NEVER try this in front of your own house.
- That throwing Green Walnuts against a stucco wall at school to watch them splatter is not something you want
to do, especially if you are the ones that have to stay after school and scrub them off. (Kinetics of Impact & Natural Chemical Stains) Walnut Stains are difficult to remove from hands, clothing and especially stucco. - That making a sled out of a peach box with runners can be fun when pulling your friend through a muddy orchard. (Viscosity & Drag) Being hosed off by your mom after was fun too.
- That sticking your finger in a light socket can be energizing. (Reaction Times & Properties of Electricity) Respect for that invisible energy source was also permanently burned into my brain.
- That if you drop a glob of Mercury on the floor, it goes all over the place and it is very hard to gather back up. (Liquid Metals and Impacts) Note: When I was just 18, I bought a pound of mercury and empty gel capsules from the drug store. Try doing that today.
- That playing with your Gilbert Chemistry Set on the middle of your bed can totally mess up your bedspread and ceiling when something
explodes. (Heat Expansion & Chemical Stains again.) Note: Among other things, my set had Potassium Nitrate, Charcoal and Sulfur, the three main ingredients for Black Powder. They just don’t make them like they used to. - That unless you use a Dethermalizer on your hand-built model glider, it can and will get taken up and away in a thermal and you will possibly never see it again. (Aerodynamic & Thermals) Followed it for a mile before losing sight.
- That using the point of a drafting compass to scrape Mercury Fulminate from the inside of .22 caliber casings can cause it to explode. (Finesse & Chemical Stability)
- That using pie plate tin foil holds up much better than regular tinfoil when you make match head rockets. (Heat & Metal Melting Points)
- That you should always work in small batches when using pliers to remove the phosphorus from a wooden match head. (Chain Reactions & Flash Points) My neighbor learned that one the hard way and lost his eyebrows, at least for a while.
- That match heads work ok for the material in a pipe bomb, but FFFG Black Powder is much better. (Confinement of Explosive Chemicals and The Stresses they cause to certain metals) Note: Now being referred to as an I.E.D. (Improvised Explosive Device), and your parents don’t like it so much if you get caught making these things.
- That even a ½” diameter X 6” pipe bomb can completely remove a mailbox from its post and send it 10 feet in the air. (Extreme Pressures in Confined Areas & Aerodynamics of a Mail Box) I discourage this kind of activity since it is a federal offense. Come to think of it, it probably was back in the 50s as well.
- That levies make good bunkers from flying metal as they whistle by over your head. (Irregular Shapes of Metal and the Sounds they make at High Speed & Absorption Characteristics of soft dirt) This is where I learned to “Duck & Cover” and you though it was from those Nuclear Attack Drills in the 50s.
- That a REAL M80 (3g +) weighted down and tossed in the irrigation canal can make fish swim upside down
for a while and easy to catch. (Effects of Shock Waves in Water) Helped me understand Depth Charges and such. BTW, M80s were outlawed in the United States by modifications to the Child Protection Act in 1966. Something about kids losing hearing, fingers and hands. How’s a kid suppose to learn Physic these days. Go figure.
There actually were many more lessons in Physics that my friends and I experienced and many of these “experiments” were perfected with fine-tuning, repetition and diligence.
I suppose that today some of this stuff would hit National News, but at the time it was just boys and Practical Physics lessons self-taught. Things you will never learn sitting in front of a monitor playing video games.
Have a “Safe & Sane” 4th of July and I will remember some that were… let’s say… not quite so sane.
Love, Dad
Credits:
Fruit Box Scooter Photos from Droolicous
Green Walnuts photo came from here
Gilbert Chemistry Set Photo from Joe Mabel
Pipe Bomb Photo from here
M80 Photo from here