Curiosity nearly killed the cat lover
This post is a result of me reminiscing about the golden days when I was watching cartoons and playing games all the time. No, I'm not talking about last week 😝, I'm talking about the days when TV wasn't all about politically charged debates and Cartoon Network had good shows - the '90s.
A couple of tweets made me go down memory lane, made me realize how naive and stupid I was. I thought you might get a chuckle laughing at my stupidity.
It was the time when I was fascinated by magnets. These small chunks of metal able to attract nails and filings were practically magic to me. It was also the time in school when we taught to kindle the "spirit of inquiry." "You should ask questions," "no question is stupid," and so on. That fateful day, an episode of Dexter's Lab was aired which showed a powerful electromagnet. My interest was piqued... "Is this even possible? Can magnets be so strong?" I inquired with my dad. "Yes, they are even used in industries to lift tonnes of weight," said the physicist, seemingly happy about the question.
"But why is magnet so weak." "It is a permanent magnet made using DC. Those will be AC electromagnets using 220V." I'm obviously paraphrasing.I asked a bit more and figured that a coil is used to in electromagnets.
Then, the stupidity kicked in after a few hours. "Wait a minute... a coil is just a piece of metal." I'm rummaged through my stuff to find an expendable piece of metal. Voila, the divider in the geometry set is completely useless. You might be wondering "did he try to melt the divider and forge a coil??". Nope.. I run to the closest power socket. I shove the 2 prongs in and flick the switch. That's when the lights went out....
Thankfully, it was the circuit breaker literally shutting out the lights and not me figuratively. My brain had the sanity to go find a pair of slippers, and to find the divider which had a plastic holder. I was stupid, yet had enough of a fear of electrocuting myself that I had insulated myself correctly. Surprisingly, no one suspected that I tripped the circuit breaker.
So kids, watch good shows and ask the right questions. Just make sure you don't electrocute yourself. For all practical purposes, consider magnets to be magic pieces of metal forged in the heart of Mt.Doom. That is until you are able to understand the laws of electromagnetism.
I'd like to end this with the tweets that led to all these.
A couple of tweets made me go down memory lane, made me realize how naive and stupid I was. I thought you might get a chuckle laughing at my stupidity.
It was the time when I was fascinated by magnets. These small chunks of metal able to attract nails and filings were practically magic to me. It was also the time in school when we taught to kindle the "spirit of inquiry." "You should ask questions," "no question is stupid," and so on. That fateful day, an episode of Dexter's Lab was aired which showed a powerful electromagnet. My interest was piqued... "Is this even possible? Can magnets be so strong?" I inquired with my dad. "Yes, they are even used in industries to lift tonnes of weight," said the physicist, seemingly happy about the question.
"But why is magnet so weak." "It is a permanent magnet made using DC. Those will be AC electromagnets using 220V." I'm obviously paraphrasing.I asked a bit more and figured that a coil is used to in electromagnets.
Then, the stupidity kicked in after a few hours. "Wait a minute... a coil is just a piece of metal." I'm rummaged through my stuff to find an expendable piece of metal. Voila, the divider in the geometry set is completely useless. You might be wondering "did he try to melt the divider and forge a coil??". Nope.. I run to the closest power socket. I shove the 2 prongs in and flick the switch. That's when the lights went out....
Thankfully, it was the circuit breaker literally shutting out the lights and not me figuratively. My brain had the sanity to go find a pair of slippers, and to find the divider which had a plastic holder. I was stupid, yet had enough of a fear of electrocuting myself that I had insulated myself correctly. Surprisingly, no one suspected that I tripped the circuit breaker.
So kids, watch good shows and ask the right questions. Just make sure you don't electrocute yourself. For all practical purposes, consider magnets to be magic pieces of metal forged in the heart of Mt.Doom. That is until you are able to understand the laws of electromagnetism.
I'd like to end this with the tweets that led to all these.
1. Swat Kats - the radical squadron— Abhijith (@a_niyath) March 24, 2019
2. The real adventures of Jonny Quest
3. Tom and Jerry
4. Dexter's lab
5. Samurai jack
Honorable mention to "ninja robots" for introducing me to Japanese anime https://t.co/CK3S6GnB9j
Do share your favorite shows and such stories. (I promise that I'll not tell your parents😂)Camlin geometry box set, the one with the nice compass 😅— Abhijith (@a_niyath) March 26, 2019
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