Friday, May 13, 2005

Almost Fun

If you were able to get into the heads of scientists, an odd exploration into some odder territory, you'd probably find a little kid in there. Of course, the childish sense of wonder at the universe is there, but you would just as likely find the little scamp that likes to break stuff or just play with the stuff your mother would have had a fit over. Electricity and lasters for physicists, deadly poisons for chemists, the really gross creepy crawlies for biologists. Me, I always liked destructive testing. Putting a rod of metal in a loading frame and stretching it until is breaks. I got to where I could give you a decent estimate of the final load of the test by how loud the BANG was. Now, I get to see the pretty patterns on metal made by some of the nastiest acids known to man.

So I suppose that there might be some appeal to this explosion simulator at UC San Diego. You do get to watch things get hit really, really hard and see how they break, so that is cool. But come on, guys, wouldn't you rather just use the explosives?

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