Do You Conduct Your Own Scientific Experiments

Turtle · 05-13-2005

___Perhaps it's my eccentricity, but part of my scientific interest involves conducting my own experiments. I build machines, write programs, take & anylize phototgraphs, & otherwise incorporate experiments into my acquisition of knowledge.
___This brings us to this poll, an experiment of sorts, for establishing some quantification in this regard.
___Note: this is not a scientic poll technically.

Buffy · 05-13-2005

Yep! How can you know anything if you don't at least know how to do an experiment. I try to stay away from the ones labeled "do not try this at home" since I have no desire to win a Darwin Award. But when my kid is trying to do something interesting with her grape juice or perform interesting stunts on the chair while watching TV, I have always warned her with the line "that looks like a really interesting/dangerous physics/hydrodynamics experiment"...she laughs and stops before doing too much damage...

Most of my experiments involve either food or programming or the Buffymobile if the cops aren't around...

Cheers,
Buffy

infamous · 05-13-2005

Life without experiment would be utterly boring. Like the ticking of a clock, tick-tock, tick-tock..............................a endless road to nowhere.

C1ay · 05-13-2005

Somehow I don't think the first 3 options are going to get many hits amongst the population of a science community....Just thinking out loud!

infamous · 05-13-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by C1ay

Somehow I don't think the first 3 options are going to get many hits amongst the population of a science community....Just thinking out loud!

Absolutely C1ay; That almost goes without saying. If anyone at Hypography does answer this poll with any of the first 2 options, I would have to question their reasons for participating at this forum.

orbsycli · 05-13-2005

everything i do is virtually an experiment!

niviene · 05-13-2005

I was an experiment!

I said occasionally, because, let's face it, I'm not the most scientific person here, but I still am very curious and I am fascinated by how stuff works. As a child I was scolded often for taking things apart to find out what was inside... watch, car, batteries, cat... just kidding. My father worked for IBM ever since I can remember, so there were always things laying around that I didn't understand, voltmeters, oscilliscopes, boards and resistors, capacitors, and transistors... old computer parts... those were fun to experiment with. I try to figure out how certain experiments were conducted before the accuracy of today's instruments, that's something I really like to think about, although rarely can I come up with something that works. After I finish my classes, perhaps I'll take a class or two in a real science... so I won't feel so behind around here.

bumab · 05-17-2005

All the time. Especially in the classroom to see what seems to work better, but often at home. I just recently ran an experiment to determine the optimal amount of oil in a pan when popping popcorn in a 6 in. pan. it's about 1 1/2 tsp. olive oil, if you were wondering....

Fishteacher73 · 05-17-2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by bumab

All the time. Especially in the classroom to see what seems to work better, but often at home. I just recently ran an experiment to determine the optimal amount of oil in a pan when popping popcorn in a 6 in. pan. it's about 1 1/2 tsp. olive oil, if you were wondering....

For you.... Variances in heat source, pan material and shape, altitude, can all play a factor. My favoite method involves just the microwave....