RE: kVA Effects on Discovery Channel

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: Yurtle Turtle <yurtle_t-at-yahoo-dot-com> 

I totally agree with Dan here.

While some of us may have thought it was
neat/cool/interesting to make our own electromagnets
and crystal radio sets when we were very young,
science now has to compete with Nintendo, X-Box and
PlayStation 2, with surround sound on a big, wide
screen. A homemade electromagnet is boring. A crystal
radio isn't capable of being "cranked up", and only
receives talk radio.

It's gotta explode to capture a kid's attention these
days. A Tesla coil, or coin shrinker captures their
attention; even if only for a brief instant. TV shows
and commercials are much different than they were when
I grew up. Rapidly changing frames and lotsa loud
sounds. It's sensory overload. Science has to compete
with that. If you gotta cheat a little, so be it.
Maybe it'll get a few younger folks interested in our
craft.

Adam

--- Tesla list <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com> wrote:
 > Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H"
 > <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>
 >

<snip>

 >  > Hate to sound like an
 >  > old geezer at age 21, but this kind of crap is
 > the reason America's
 >  > children don't pay attention to science and
 > technology these days.
 >  > Society tells them the details aren't important
 > and they don't have to
 >  > understand it or know anything about it.
 >
 > I vehemently disagree with this statement.  Again,
 > you are assuming a
 > child is intelligent enough to
 > understand the difference between volts, current,
 > etc... One of the most
 > important thing in getting a child
 > interested in science and technology is exposure.
 > Even if the
 > explanations are incorrect, it is ultimately
 > the exposure of seeing a tesla coil working, etc...
 > that provides the
 > true inspiration.  Once inspired, the
 > child can then choose to learn more about the device
 > in question on his
 > own or by continuing his/her education in a science
 > related degree.