As a show presenter and exhibit designer, I dislike lengthy explanations
which occupy more 'space' than the actual experience of the phenomenon.
A reliable audience-pleaser, which may also be easier to explain, is to ask
a volunteer to hold a brick on their head, on which you smash a walnut with
a hammer.
The broomstick experiment reminds me of the party trick where I ask someone
to hold both ends of a pencil while I apparently cut it in half with a swift
blow from a new banknote. Of course I always explain afterwards how I
actually hit the pencil with a briefly extended forefinger. The only time
this ever failed was when my host produced a ridiculously thick,
triangular-section, Blackpool-souvenir pencil. When I demurred, everyone
insisted I should "try it anyway", unaware of the implications. It did not
break and the pain and humiliation were excruciating...
Promoting public engagement with science
through a contagious delight in phenomena
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[log in to unmask] * http://www.interactives.co.uk
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Give people facts and you feed their minds for an hour.
Awaken curiosity and they feed their own minds for a lifetime.
*
Ian Russell
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