ME: ...so, in all of your pulley experiments, we find that you needed a larger amount of force to lift the weights than you expected from the calculations. Why do you think that is?
TEN-YEAR-OLD: I don't know.
ME: Well, what's the difference between an ideal imaginary pulley and a real experimental pulley?
TEN-YEAR-OLD: ...
ME: Something the real pulley has that the imaginary pulley doesn't. We talked about this, remember?
TEN-YEAR-OLD: ...
ME: One word. Starts with "F."
TEN-YEAR-OLD (desperately): Flammable!
ME: ...
TEN-YEAR-OLD: Real pulleys are flammable, you know.
Love this.
Posted by: Rebekka | 04 December 2010 at 04:52 AM
Hmmmm. Well, friction could lead to something bursting into flames, I guess... Surely at least partial credit, right?
Posted by: Darwin | 04 December 2010 at 09:13 AM