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Re: RE- caps, spark gap, and
From: Dale Hall[SMTP:Dale.Hall-at-trw-dot-com]
Sent: Friday, September 12, 1997 5:52 PM
To: Tesla List
Subject: Re: RE- caps, spark gap, and
Reply to: RE>RE- caps, spark gap, and more
Kevin, Robert and ALL,
Hi, I'm new on the list and have been reading the TL mail for a couple weeks.
I am a Judge at the CA State & L.A. County Science Fairs (14 years) see:
http://www.usc.edu/CMSI/CalifSF/History/1997/pictures/BouleSr.html
Read the section on Judging Criteria for insight to winning projects at:
http://www.usc.edu/CMSI/CalifSF
I'll consult with any student to help produce a tesla project success at a fair.
I've built Tesla Coils and coached winning Tesla projects.
Construction projects (incl Tesla Coils) in my years of judging have typically done poorly (Students build a model, display it, period - interesting sparks from alot of work, sweat and experimentation, but attention to the scientific method is needed to win).
Calif is a SCIENCE & ENGINEERING Fair, others may not include separate Engr judging criteria.
Proposed engineering projects must "have practical use support - i.e. how does it benefit society. (I'm not aware of any fair that judges solely Engr criteria to the exclusion of Scientific)
Otherwise the project must apply the scientific method: Propose a Hypothesis and prove/disprove same by experimentation and data with creditable presentation - charts, graphs, orally. This will move judges in your favor !
Privately email me: dale.hall-at-trw-dot-com and we'll talk
Understanding breeds success (1st, 2nd, 3rd, HM)
Judges come from all back grounds, they want you to do well, but they must be convinced through your efforts and methodology compared to that of your peers. Well conceived/presented projects do well. Judges who are not the brightest may be easily swayed or wowed, where others must be convinced via whats been done & presented.
Yet another Scientist and Engineer
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Date: 9/12/97 5:41 AM
From: Tesla List
From: Robert Michaels[SMTP:robert.michaels-at-online.sme-dot-org]
Sent: Thursday, September 11, 1997 5:38 AM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: RE- caps, spark gap, and more
TL>From: Kevin[SMTP:wawa-at-spectra-dot-net]
TL>Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 1997 8:39 PM
TL>Subject: caps, spark gap, and more
TL>I remember when I made my capacitors that I put oil on the top part.
[ ... ]
TL>One last thing. I'm a senior in high school and last year, for the
TL>first time, a science fair sponsored by IBM was opened up to the
TL>highschool level. (I did research on chaos thoery (sp) and won first place
TL>in the math catagory :-) ). Anyway, I was hoping I could enter my coil
TL>in the competition. There's just one thing, and it seems to bother me.
TL>The judges that they have aren't the brightest people in the world and
TL>for most of them the first thing they'll ask is, "what practical
TL>purposes does this serve?" I've already been asked this by some people
TL>and it really frustrates me. Maybe because I don't have anything that I
Is it a =science= fair, or isn't it? Science, by definition,
specifically and explicitly does not have any practical purpose.
Science is the pure investigation of nature and natural phenom-
ena, of, by, and for themselves. It is the undiluted pursuit
of knowledge strictly for the sake of acquiring knowledge.
Maybe you and/or the sponsors of the competition are confusing
engineering with science? It is the business of =engineering=
to take the discoveries of science and make something practical
out of them.
If your entry in a =science= fair were to be the
=only= entry with no practical value, then yours
should be declared the winner, by default!! Any
entry having a practical value is an engineering
project, not a science project.
(Look up the definition of "science" in a standard
reference work and post an enlarged photocopy of
it on your Tesla coil).
A Scientist & an
Engineer (and quite
clear on the concept)
in -- Detroit, USA Robert Michaels