Physics lessons with Jack

The Dangers of Casual Science
Originally uploaded by KarenAlexa.

So tonight when I laid down for bed, Jack came over to see what was going on. As usual, I tackled him with my hand and wrestled him around a bit -- he loves that. I think he thinks I'm a giant kitten (he also thought Steph was a giant kitten when he ran across the room and attacked her leg the other day). Anyway, the room was pitch black (lately I've been sleeping without my trusted night light to try and get over this fear of the dark thing). And as his fur rubbed over the silky satin throw on my bed, I noticed odd lights. At first I thought it was the satin catching some glimmer of light from the window or the computer plug -- but when I tried to do it with my hands to figure out where the light was, it wouldn't work.

And then I remembered the triboelectric series from physics class. And I remember cat and rabbit fur being really high on the list, right. 'Cause my professor is Russian and has this really weird accent and he kept say things like "so you taking your pet rabbit and rubbing your rabbit against the rod of glass and your rabbit becoming positive" He used hand gestures to imitate rubbing a rabbit on glass -- this stuck in my head. So I grabbed jack again and turned him over and rubbed his back against the blanket (don't worry, he loved it). Sparks!

Well I'll be damned -- how fucking awesome is that? I feel so smart. I had to get out of bed to post about this.

Other fun fact's about triboluminescence:

+ Rabbit fur is more positive than cat fur. So if you rubbed a rabbit against a cat, the rabbit would be positively charged when you got done and the cat would be negative.

2. WintOgreen lifesavers are very triboluminescent. If you eat them in the dark and look in the mirror, you can see sparks. I learned that in Chemistry a few years ago. When the sugar splits, it splits so that one side is positive and the other is negative so electrons jump over the fishers to even out again -- that makes sparks.

This is why we go to college, yall. Moments like this.