Perhaps it is best this way. One must approach the world with a child like wonder to ask the correct questions. One must have the determination and creativity of child to devise an interesting solution to obtaining data. Scientists are merely over grown children with more expensive toys and the jigs are simply science fair projects which have changed the thinking of generations.
Friday, July 16, 2010
The "Jig"
The jig is a term that anyone who has worked in a lab is very familiar with. It is a device which is put together to help meet the goals of the project. Usually duct tape or JB Weld will be involved with the creation of this device. Most of these jigs look like something that one might fight in the reject pile of an avid builder, yet these rough devices prove to be invaluable in the process of attaining information. It bring one to humbling realization that the bulk of our experimental scientific knowledge is the result of luck and jerry-rigging. The mighty scientist is no more than a tinkerer with a hunger for knowledge and a questioning mind.
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Yep, much of science experiment is building a device appropriate to address specific questions at hand as quickly and inexpensively as possible with little concern for durability past answering these questions and little concern for aesthetics. The point is to answer the questions and move on. In many cases one does not need to build 'the machine that goes "ping"!' Nice blog!
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