Happy Birthday to Bill

Let me wish Bill, our teacher-at-sea, a happy 50th! Thanks to you, there was cake and ice cream for dessert! Check out the link to his blog (top left) for a 7th-grade teacher's view of science at sea.

Got the urge to do a solar simulator experiment last night, but our lab benches are such that I had to find a way to raise the solar simulator about 4 1/2 inches up. Went scrounging for wood scrap, and came up with a plan after enlisting the help of Morgan and Elio. We ended up stacking together 2x2s, screwing them into the bench, balancing the solar simulator on top, and tying the whole thing down. Success! Or, to quote Elio, “That is the sketchiest setup I have ever seen.”

Am please to report that the experiment itself went off without a hitch. And the solar simulator is still upright. Ha!