Weird Science

Every so often I'll post a picture here that's not necessarily one of my best, but otherwise significant. This is one of those. Chalk it up to a proud dad moment if you must.....

"Dad, Dad, wanna see a great experiment?" My son Alex blasted through the back door as he came home from school last Friday afternoon, completely buzzed about an experiment he'd seen in his fourth grade science class. "I need you to fill a Zip-loc bag full of water and I need a very sharp pencil," he continued, excitedly.

"Is this going to be messy," I asked? (I have lots of experience with science projects)

"Daaaaaaad, it's so cool!"

The experiment they'd done in science was really a lesson in the properties of water pressure. It's really great to see him excited about school, so I filled a gallon size Zip-loc with water and we went out in the back yard and Alex poked the sharpened pencil s l o w l y through one side of the bag, and then, just as slowly, through the other side of the bag. The water pressure sealed the holes and kept the bag from leaking.

Yes, I thought this was as cool as my nine year-old did (maybe I'm just a bit of a child, too?), and it wasn't very long before I ran off to get my camera. Needless to say, by the time I returned with the camera the bag was on the ground and the water was too, apparently a one gallon bag was too large and too heavy for Alex to hold for too long with wet, slippery hands.

A couple of minutes later we'd tried again with a sandwich size Zip-loc and it wasn't very much longer before Alex had rounded-up every pencil in the house, sharpened them, and began trying the experiment with multiple pencils. The exercise proved safe enough that we'd move indoors, to the kitchen, and continued there. These images were made with available (late afternoon) light through the kitchen window... not far from the sink.

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Both above: Canon EOS-5D, 28~105/3.5~4.5 Canon EF Ultrasonic lens, ISO 200