Re: A Moment of Science for Mr. Wizard

Hey guys, go vote for my video at http://skepchick.org/blog/ I really want to win the full set of Mr. Wizard DVD's. Thanks!

In honor of Mr. Wizard, I'm going to make a normal 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper into a big paper hoop that I can walk through.

Music: Oingo Boingo's "Weird Science"

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Mr.
• Wizard
• moment
• science
• skepchick
• skeptic
• experiment
• contest

[kaycem]

i like this video, but i really wish you hadn't sped it up ~ i want to know how to do this, but you're the ONLY result on both google and youtube, LOL. good job, nonetheless: i loved mr wizard!

[Razela]

That's not a bad idea. It's really easy once you see how. I think I'll write up some step by step instructions with diagrams on my blog. Send me an email ( jamiebb -at- uchicago -dot- edu ) and once I write up a post on it I'll send you the link.

[jakeydrums]

I did this with a post-it note...

Do i smell a challenge?!

[Razela]

If you click the video response from Balbu, that's what he did. He's a friend of mine and when I showed him my video he immediately went home to try it with a post-it.

[jakeydrums]

alright, so here is what we do,

we take 3 cups of suga'

and a little bit of love

and make

cocaine.

just kidding ill

try the post it note tonight and see if it will work

without tape....

[Razela]

He said he didn't use tape, but it did take him a bunch of tries before he stopped breaking the post-it.

[berther88]

I love your big hoop.

[Eskarina6]

I did the math.

Let L=length & W=width of the paper, n=number of parallel cuts made, & f=fraction of (half) the paper NOT cut through by each parallel cut. (They can't go 100% across or the paper falls apart. f=0.1 means 10% is uncut.)

For reasons I won't go into, let n be odd (not even).

Fold paper in half width-wise & cut.

C = ring circumference = (n-2fn+1)L {almost}

B = breadth of ringSTRIP = W/(n+1)

More precisely:

C = 2L(1-f) + 2(n-1)*SquareRoot{ [W/(n+1)]^2 + [(1-2f)L/2]^2 }.

[Vaserlan]

Glad you decided to wear bloke friendly clothes for your demonstration: really short shorts and cleavage to boot. :)

Note re DavidSChander: 10 atoms wide might just be enough for one molecule of cellulose in width. So the 'paper' would be one very long single chain of cellulose.

[rocabear]

btw, will u marry me? ur pretty...and smart. a BIG plus in my book.

[telega]

Nice Video, I was a big fan of Mr. Wizard too, he will be missed...

To the guy below me: you are an idiot...

[aceserve]

i haven't done the math on your claim that a piece of paper can be cut to encompass the earth but I found an interesting investigation into a similar claim. Check out (Why do people laugh at creationists? part 4) by: Thunderf00t

[espiritu001]

Cool and Funny.