Wonderfully exciting - Piezoelectricity!

In 1960s, I listened to Gramophone machine with wonder, how it worked, as its arm danced on a grooved disc that rotated round and round! When the operator of this machine (player) lifted up its arm in changing the disc, I noted a needle under it. I had been wondering about it till I studied Physics at college. Yes, that needle (stylus) produced electrical signals as it went up and down the grooves of the disc, (called as record). It did it through a crystal mounted inside the arm's head (called as pickup). This stylus and the pickup did the whole magic in the gramophone record player - producing Piezoelectricity!

A striking force or pressure on a material such as a quartz crystal, can produce this piezoelectricity. This electricity was found out by French Physicists, Pierre Curie and Jacques Curie in 1880. This piezoelectricity is also used in Inkjet printing, in SONAR and Radio Telephony. Earlier, I knew well about some devices that produced sparks - cigarette lighter and the gas stove lighter. Now, I know that they use this piezo effect in them! Do you know that piezo effect is also used in watches and radio wave transmission?

The reverse of this piezo effect has been also discovered to work for us! It produces Ultra Sound waves when an electric curent is applied on to a crystal!

I am going on learning and learning about new uses of piezo effect: it is used in cars for echolocation of objects! 

So, it is a wonder-full Piezoelectricity that is also exhibited by cane sugar crystals, ceramics and even by our bones!

Terrorizing wonder - Mirror!

We see others in front of us. Can others see themselves as we see them in front of us? Yes, they can see themselves with a mirror held in front of them! When a baby sees first its own face in a mirror, it will be some another person or an object; but later, it understands, learns and identifies it as its own image! 

Viewing wonders big with this Lens!

Whenever I see hand lenses, I am reminded of my father using it to read fine prints - moving/focusing it towards and away. And also of my experiments with it in my boyhood days. Then I focused a lens on the house wall to get the inverted image of the windows! I tried also to make a camera with it, and a negative film of the inverted windows' image! With it I even viewed film strips on dark room wall using battery light as light source! I also used it outdoors on a piece of paper or a wisp of cotton to burn them - by sharp focusing of sun rays!

Incandescent bulb to light up now!

A round transparent glass that produces light - yes, it is the incandescent bulb that was the wonder in my school days. I even conducted experiments with it by connecting it to a battery cell (1.5v) to get the light from it! Even if a bulb got fused out I never ceased to conduct such experiments on it.

Wonder magnet that attracted me!

A hitherto lifeless inanimate thing starts now to move about - this will amaze you, is it not? In childhood I too wondered this when an iron piece 'went by itself' to attach with a pocket magnet! With the magnet I used to go on testing all the objects in the house. Some coins were attracted by it while others were not. Quality ever- silver utensils were not attracted and so on ....!