Turkey Dinners, Aladdin's Lamp and more

S5 E14: MICROSCOPIC IMAGES - Tarek comments on how big the flower on the television screen is compared to its actual size. Mr. Wizard quickly traces the path from the actual flower, through the lens and TV camera to the TV screen. With a ruler on the screen, Mr. Wizard has him count the number of millimeter marks: 32. Tarek then measures the width of the screen: 280 millimeters. He then divides to find they are magnifying the object almost 9 times or about the same as looking through a magnifying glass. STORAGE BATTERY - To a small light bulb Vanessa connects two wires fastened to two plates in a beaker. The bulb lights up very briefly because not many electrons are stored in the beaker which is a simple lead-acid battery. INDOOR ORCHARD – Mr.Wizard narrates: These peaches are unusual because they are in an orchard made up of 350 trees growing indoors. Protected from severe weather, the trees grow two times faster and produce fruit two months earlier than those growing outside. These peach trees are about two years old and will soon be trimmed to keep them at the desired height. DOUGH SCULPTING - Mr. Wizard gives Lorilee 1.5 cups Flour, .5 cup salt, .5 cup water, & .25 cup of vegetable oil to mix and use a sculpting dough. TURKEY DINNERS – Mr.Wizard narrates: To feed this flock of turkeys, start with a few tons of corn, add a ton of soy bean meal, and blend eight pounds of vitamin supplement. You could add several dozen other ingre­dients. It is very important to feed turkeys a proper diet at each stage of their lives. Young birds need protein to support their growth while mature birds like these need more of the carbohydrates in corn and wheat. HOW FAST IS A COCKROACH? - Mr. Wizard shows him a cockroach inside a transparent plastic tube. Brian stands by with a stop watch as Mr. Wizard prods the insect to start running down the ruler at the bottom of the tube. They find the insect runs at about 10 centimeter in 1 second. Mr. Wizard points out they would need many more trials to be accurate and that temperature makes a difference. Scientists who have carefully timed cockroaches have found they can run 50 times their length in one second. THE LENGTH OF A SNORKEL - Mr. Wizard challenges Damon to blow water out of a transparent plastic tube inserted under the water in a larger tube. Damon does it with little effort. Mr.Wizard lowers the tube deeper and deeper until Damon cannot blow hard enough to clear out the water because of its weight. In the same way, if the garden hose had water in it, it would be impossible to force the water out from the bottom of a pool. The breathing tube is raised until Damon can easily clear it of water. It’s at the same distance from the surface as the length of a snorkel. That’s why the snorkels are all that length. DOUGH SCULPTING-Part 2 - Lorilee is painting her model heart made from the dough clay. Mr. Wizard asks her to describe some of her other clay objects. She has used the dough clay to make a French horn, flute, a spinner with numbers, a monster’s face, and dice. ALADDIN’S LAMP - Mr.Wizard cautions Erin that they are going to do a dangerous experiment and have on safety glasses and a fire extinguisher handy. On the workbench is a strange looking flask which Mr. Wizard suggests has a genie inside which will be released by adding a few drops of water. He gives Erin a squirt bottle and has her aim it at the top of the flask. After a few seconds, a large amount of violet smoke forms an impressive cloud as it escapes from the bottle. (In the bottle are a small amount of powdered iodine and powdered aluminum.) Mr. Wizard asks her if she made a wish that the genie can grant. She says: Yes, that the experiment would work