First of all, please excuse the English, I suffer from dyslexia. It was
great to see the article by Dan Stober. After reading the article, I had
thoughts on this summers day, flooded with electro-magnetic waves from the
sun, after heavy rain fall, with the southern hem, in winter time and
somebody talking on Radio 4 about people trapped in winter time under
ground, just to say a few words about a single man, that change time and
transmission of time signals, and the 20th century. More to the point, what
makes these great people, what facilitates them to prototype, the good old
blue peter badges of the future. These kind of resonated with Dans article,
don't ask me why. For those that wade through the thick soup of dyslexia,
that make up this article, please excuse the length. If you don't want to
read it all, please go to the end bit.
Well lets start to push and feel the force that pushes back. Its nearly 100
years since the Shortts clock was tested by prof Simpson (hope I smelt,
sorry, spelt that right) in Edinburgh. Its first measured the effect, on a
pendulum, due to lunar cycles, then the sun over the year and then we are
told the variation in gravity due to the wobble of the earth. Three of these
clocks went to the Bell institute and refinement of quartz oscillators
continued to open the gate towards the electronic age. We had gone from the
Royal pendulum (1 meter 1 second) to micro seconds. A big jump with massive
improvements on accuracy, resolution, precision....
The weird thing gravity itself, with an expanding universe. Its the joining
force that acts locally, trying to collect back mass systems. I know most
adults have difficulty with this, they understand buoyancy, but gravity seen
as just belonging to big things like planets. We do start are a very early
age, to unpeel this understanding. Guess what the teaching aid is, a model
of a shorts clock. Its an experiment that can run for many years, and called
the race4time. (Please if you still have your pendulum master clock in your
school keep it, grab it and get it in the physics lab).
Every time we do the workshop on the clock, I have to say, 'Hang on, the
pendulum, this tiny mass system, is influenced by something 670 million
miles away', one student literally shouted out, 'space is not empty, its a
fabric that allows for transmission of energy, gravity and
electromagnetic...'. Just a great way to start 101 questions that make
think. One student explained that per meter squared, we can get up to 90kw
of energy, from the sun, which of course has equivalent mass, with
electro-magnetic waves from the sun. Its a love story of resonance that
continues, if you push there must be something pushing (forces in pairs,
good old Newton) against, in the same way transmission of any energy,
depends on the 'soup' its transmitted in. With the purest environment, that
constant we use for the limit of everything, C.
If you do one thing next year, tell your students about the marvelous man
Mr. Shortts, a humble railways (civil engineer) that put in to production
the master-slave clock (two pendulums one free in a vacuum, the other
synchronized to it), that opened the door to the Quartz age, electronics and
the computer. Apparently in 2020 we would have reached the zenith of the
electronic (solid sate) development, looking for a new clock, or concurrency
through parallel processing, perhaps time for Occam and the transputer age?
We are going to need a new age of math's, physics, electrical, electronic,
chemistry.....A new drum to beat against. Or what ever the new
multi-disciplines will be, to enable the ever increasing length of the
journey of discovery to be transferred to new minds, the future. With
science being inclusive, rather than separate, sure this is possible. This
week, two very bright students, have turned away from physics, one went to
University and found a harsh environment, the other barely a year into his
course. This is a great shame or do we want this survival of the fittest,
these where bright students, it was the environment they had problems with.
Again inclusion as early as possible, gives broad understanding to
population, those that want to follow the journey further, the future
scientist. Without getting political, in a money orientated world, most of
the jumps between principle to production, by good communicators, able to
get the funding. So it could be survival of those that can speak the gab?
If we look at the past, from Harrison with the chronometer, Lord Grinthorpe
with gravity arm, Hope Jones and the synchronome (radio transmission of time
signals soon after Marconi, the Horophone and good old Brillie master clock
system and effile tower) and Mr. Shortts free pendulum. The jumps, to
resonating strips of metal, to quartz, atomic, light and nuclear, we have
gone from the heavens to the elementary particles, almost in 100 years. (By
the way the development of the Shortts clock was delayed, he had to serve in
the first world war). What is so breath taking, given the opportunity, these
normal individuals with the Great Britain Island mentality, change the
world.
I wonder who will be developing the new clock/oscillator/synchronizer for
the 21st Century? In ever increasing transmission and electro magnetic
interferences, from eco LED lights, that should be run of low voltage power
supplies to cars that will need charging, but need an inter-changeable
battery system, park and swap, to vehicles that optimize the roads we all
use, we push and push harder. But as we know with the up and coming
Olympics, this is not a linear push, the nearer you get to physical
limitations the harder it becomes to push, not even Top Gear can change the
fabric and fundamental physics of space, well not yet. This is the realms of
imagination, but the most wonderful thing, is as soon as are parents had
some fun, we became part of science, its all inclusive, we make it
controlled (simpler) with white coats and labs, experiments, but science
surrounds all of us, you push against your pedals, with your bike, the
mixture of refined fossil oil and air, though the throttle of your car, in
the jet engine, those great hair dryer in the ski, to the humble hovercraft,
we keep on pushing.
So science is inclusive, its the very fabric of space-time. The big
challenge now is to close the loop on consumerism, designs, where products
go back to manufacture, looking for the exact materials to repair, reuse or
recycle, to make again in a sustainable way. Its a complex world, not an
open ended one with assumption of no limitations, to ones with sustainable
loops. Again without getting too political, the slight tilt of the earth,
giving counter seasons from north to south and as we explain to very young
children with a model of a solar system, the goldilocks story, we are not to
close, warm, or to far away, we are just right in the middle. It would be a
shame to waste this! Whether the Earth can cope with us, we are using
materials that took millions of years to form, great for plastic, but just
burning them seems daft? Are we made as hatters, mixing up nappies, sanitary
towels, old tomatoes with materials that can be recycle. The composting of
one gives heat, gases and compost, the other valuable materials.
I was told by a good control engineer, all constants are assumptions, until
proven other wise. Again the lovely article by Dan, reasoning this point, if
its pushing out and at a certain velocity, something is pushing back. We did
a lovely session, 'do atoms die', 'why are all electrons and photons' the
same. Its the discovery, the magic, the treasure trail, sometimes simple
fact and figures don't resonate will all children. The beauty of the
mechanical age is its visible, and the core reason we set up the center, we
have water meters that teach calculus! It would be interesting to know what
the great scientist did as children? Well lets ask this big question to this
group now:
END
BIT----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1st Response
1) Motivation: What would you list the reasons you followed the path to
becoming a scientist and the ability to teach it?
2) Choices, Creative Opportunities: Where would you say the cross-roads
where?
3) Effort and Reward: What/Who encourage you, what hurdles?
4) Consequences: What would you have done if these hurdles to high?
5) Future Motivation: You got through all the hurdles as scientist and now
teachers of science, how?
Then read this, no cheating.
2nd Response. This is to map a journey. It may simply not apply to you.
That's fine, but we would still like to know. We want to know if it started,
the progression of this. WHO, WHAT, WHY, WHEN, HOW as your childhood
developed. You may wish to avoids the clumsy attempt to structure a set of
questions and just give your account. That's fine. We are not here to
measure just to see if their is a link between taking things apart as a
child and the development of mapping skills, how things work. The accounts
of your childhood experiences can be un-named, but would be a shame to be
so. We want to develop the www.reclaimfun.com website and we need to show
the link and have some great stories that inspire.
1) Were you able to take items apart when you where young?
1a) Who did you do this with and when did it start?
1b) How did this progress?
1c) Where were the places that this took place?
2) Were your family/friends (please state) ones that allowed you to explore
and take the risk of creative opportunities?
3) If you did take things apart, did you discover how they worked?
3a) Who assisted with this understanding or what sources of information
4) Did you make things from the things you took apart?
5) Have you ever thought of the process of taking something apart as a
child, fundamental to your passion and career development?
5a) Do you still take things apart, if you stopped when was this?
Obviously, would be nice to get some replies, but please do this using
[email protected] . We are trying to find out the 'importance of taking
things apart'. Please feel free to pass this on to the great and the good.
Its a simple question we feel at the very core of inventorship, those
creative opportunities. If you have read the main article, just one real
question, where you allowed to take things apart as a child? By reference to
Mr. Shortts and tolerant family, his house, like mine full of dis-assembled
items, waiting for the creative opportunity of them becoming something else.
One thing Mr. Shortts had, was a lot of washing machine bits, apparently,
but he witnessed the first controller of a potential automatic washing
machine, in 1920, the synchronome bell ringer, with programmable clock and
two motors, for Westminster/Winchester/wittering chimes and strike motors,
they could have been equally wash and spin. Sometimes you have to push in
un-know terriritory, but their is always something pushing back.
Very best wishes Paul
Dr Paul Strickland
www.timemachinefun.com
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