Re: kVA Effects on Discovery Channel

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

Original poster: dhmccauley-at-spacecatlighting-dot-com 

Nicely said, Adam.  I also recently did a demonstration for a Society of
Women's Engineers (SWE) event.  The event involved high school girls from a
number of schools in the area and they were given tours of our company,
etc... in the hopes of getting them interested in engineering.  I know a lot
of people would think that girls (especially high school
girls) wouldn't be very excited seeing tesla coils and other high voltage
stuff.  But, in reality, this group of female students turned out to be the
most responsive audience I've
ever had.  They just loved the tesla coils and were hammering me with
questions left and right.  They were definitely inspired!

Dan



 > 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.
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >