Physics

I don't remember how we got onto the subject yesterday, but we had a great conversation with the kids about physics... of all things.

Between the two of us Jen and I remember almost nothing, but we did manage to get the basics of free fall across to the kids.  My step son was fascinated by the thought that if you drop something there is a tiny amount of time when the item you drop is not moving.  He had to go over that a couple of times before really getting it (and he was really interested in how long that tiny amount of time is), but he totally got the idea that when you throw something the rules are different and there is not a moment when the object you throw is not moving.  We also talked about vectors and how when you throw a ball there is a force acting in the direction you aimed for, but there is also another force acting on the object that pulls it toward the ground.  That force is called gravity and its the reason why the ball doesn't travel at the same height you threw it at forever.

It was so much fun, and they both got so much of each idea.  We were in the car for most of this discussion and when we got home it sustained itself for a couple of minutes.  I was just about to show them how you can use d = rt to figure out about a million things when they decided they would rather play video games.  I would have gotten all algebraic up in their faces and blown their little minds, but I'm thrilled with what we did talk about.  Hell, we were talking high school stuff with kids who are 10.5 and 9 years old.  How awesome is that?

Smart kids RULE!