Have you ever jumped on a trampoline and, in the process of jumping, created a whole lot of static electricity? What did you do then? Did you shock your friend? Whenever I play with electricity on a trampoline, I like to dare my friends to touch the outlying metal frame of the trampoline. That way, only one of us gets hurt, and it's not me. Where am I going with this? Well, let me tell you.
A couple of months ago, I was in my gym class. My friends and I were bouncing a basketball around, and we figured out how to generate static electricity from the basketball (which was a really fun find). We then commenced to shock one another after generating a large amount of static electricity. This has been going on for some time. But earlier this week, one of my friends and I decided to try and create a human circuit. (You can probably tell where this is going.) I put one of my fingers on my right hand on the metal on our gym bleachers, then I stuck my other finger from my left hand out where my friend could touch it. She then generated some electricity and put her finger onto mine. What a shock, literally! I could feel the electricity pulse through my left hand and exit out of my right, straight into the metal bleachers. It was fantastic! We then wondered how many people it would take to dilute the effect of this static shock. We rounded up a few willing participants, and we had them all connect fingers, with the last person touching the metal. I generated enough electricity for it to be a real shock, then I touched the first person's finger. They all shouted, "Ow!" almost at the same time! It was the most fun I've ever had in gym. Not because I caused my fellow classmates pain, but because my friend and I discovered something we hadn't thought about before. Sure, some basketball player probably had a shock every once and a while, and this effect was probably well-known to the basketball-playing community, but had anyone ever thought of creating a human circuit with this power? It was a very interesting experiment, one that resulted in my fascination with curiosity.
What causes us to have these questions pop up into our heads when we come in to contact with a new idea? How did my friend and I jump from "Let's shock each other," to "How long of a human circuit can we create"? This piqued my curiosity on the subject of curiosity, so I researched a little bit.
Basically, curiosity (according to what I've read) is humans innate ability to question why things happen the way they do. We see something we want to know about and our brain activity flares up, making the parts of our brain that deal with memory (like the hippocampus) or attentiveness and comprehension (like the inferior frontal gyrus or the basal ganglia) become more active than normal. This certain brain activity also suggests that there are some parts of the brain activated that deal with this new information like a reward. Our lovely hippocampus, which deals with long-term memory, is activated especially when we incorrectly answer a question. We then, strangely, become more intent on the right answer, which has a better chance of appearing in our brains than what we had for breakfast last Sunday. The psychology is harder to grasp. In fact, I haven't found a direct answer to why we humans feel curiosity. Everything I've read sort of skids around the subject and focuses more on what does happen while we feel curiosity, not why it happens. This is because this topic is highly controversial. And why not? Don't we all feel fascinated by different subjects? If you're wondering, the answer is yes. I'm sure some of you who've read this probably don't care about what two teenagers can do with a basketball and metal bleachers. And I'm also sure some of you are typing in "electricity" into Google. The fact is, we humans all feel curiosity. We might pretend we don't with certain topics (something considered boring like math or science) but we can't help but question why the world is the way it is. And that, my friends, is something I don't think the humans are going to get over any time soon.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Sunday, February 5, 2012
A new post...weird
Almost one year ago, I wrote a blog post which can be described in one word: blah. Of course, I was under the influence of medication and schooling. So I read the next to last one. I am proud to say that I can now solve the equation I put into it. So there. May I continue now?
Ah, the sweet smell of a new driver's license. This handy little piece of plastic has given me the right to the road, however scary that is to my parents. When I drive, it's like there's no one to tell me what to do; I alone control the car. (well, there's a few choice people who like to honk when I actually stop at a stop sign, but they don't count.)
Ever since I started driving on my own, I've noticed how many people really don't pay any attention whatsoever to the rules of the road. What is this? Instead of waiting for a green light to go through the intersection, they start to roll forward until they're in the middle of traffic before the light turns green. Not only is this a hazard to traffic, it totally freaks me out when I can't see the light and the huge monster truck in front of me starts to edge forward into the intersection. Personally, I think these people want to be the FIRST ones to pass through the intersection. Maybe it's their only form of achievement. "Hey, I just went through FIRST! Take THAT, all you rule-followers! My car is the BEST because I can pull into traffic and 4 times out of 10 no one honks at or hits me!"
I really can't blame them for that. They have to feel accomplished somewhere.
There is a downside to getting a driver's license, my friends. It's called "chauffeuring." Take last night, for example. It's about 10:30 and I'm all ready for bed. My mother, who is also ready for bed, says, "Oh dear. Melodie, I need you to run an errand for me. Here are the keys. Be back before curfew."
Uh huh.
Fortunately, my sister was still publicly decent, so I sent her in while I sat in the car in my pajamas.
I have a feeling that this is going to happen a lot more around here.
In other news, reality hit me on the head like a cliché piano falling off of a skyscraper when my counselor started telling me about the ACT test this year. Yikes! This test is a monster. It's the test that proves whether or not you've been listening to your teachers all the years you've been going to school. Colleges look at this test score and tell you whether or not your life will continue after high school. It's not just the test that bothers me. It's the "life after the test" stage that's coming faster than a cheetah running down a slick slope. (If you haven't noticed, I'm on a simile role today.) I have to start thinking about college and housing and money and responsibility... That alone should be enough to make my head explode. Unfortunately, it doesn't. Don't get me wrong; I'm really excited to escape the grasp of the high school bubble. I just have pre-life anxiety. Or whatever adults want to call it. I call it CRAZY!
Suffice it to say, growing up is becoming a nuisance as well as a blessing. Blessing: I can drive. Nuisance: I'm not allowed to play on the playground anymore because I'm "too old." (That one gets me every time. Hey, I love to slide down the twisty slide.) I guess the only thing I can do is wait it out and hope for the best. And play on the playground before anyone gets up.
Ah, the sweet smell of a new driver's license. This handy little piece of plastic has given me the right to the road, however scary that is to my parents. When I drive, it's like there's no one to tell me what to do; I alone control the car. (well, there's a few choice people who like to honk when I actually stop at a stop sign, but they don't count.)
Ever since I started driving on my own, I've noticed how many people really don't pay any attention whatsoever to the rules of the road. What is this? Instead of waiting for a green light to go through the intersection, they start to roll forward until they're in the middle of traffic before the light turns green. Not only is this a hazard to traffic, it totally freaks me out when I can't see the light and the huge monster truck in front of me starts to edge forward into the intersection. Personally, I think these people want to be the FIRST ones to pass through the intersection. Maybe it's their only form of achievement. "Hey, I just went through FIRST! Take THAT, all you rule-followers! My car is the BEST because I can pull into traffic and 4 times out of 10 no one honks at or hits me!"
I really can't blame them for that. They have to feel accomplished somewhere.
There is a downside to getting a driver's license, my friends. It's called "chauffeuring." Take last night, for example. It's about 10:30 and I'm all ready for bed. My mother, who is also ready for bed, says, "Oh dear. Melodie, I need you to run an errand for me. Here are the keys. Be back before curfew."
Uh huh.
Fortunately, my sister was still publicly decent, so I sent her in while I sat in the car in my pajamas.
I have a feeling that this is going to happen a lot more around here.
In other news, reality hit me on the head like a cliché piano falling off of a skyscraper when my counselor started telling me about the ACT test this year. Yikes! This test is a monster. It's the test that proves whether or not you've been listening to your teachers all the years you've been going to school. Colleges look at this test score and tell you whether or not your life will continue after high school. It's not just the test that bothers me. It's the "life after the test" stage that's coming faster than a cheetah running down a slick slope. (If you haven't noticed, I'm on a simile role today.) I have to start thinking about college and housing and money and responsibility... That alone should be enough to make my head explode. Unfortunately, it doesn't. Don't get me wrong; I'm really excited to escape the grasp of the high school bubble. I just have pre-life anxiety. Or whatever adults want to call it. I call it CRAZY!
Suffice it to say, growing up is becoming a nuisance as well as a blessing. Blessing: I can drive. Nuisance: I'm not allowed to play on the playground anymore because I'm "too old." (That one gets me every time. Hey, I love to slide down the twisty slide.) I guess the only thing I can do is wait it out and hope for the best. And play on the playground before anyone gets up.
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