I can't hang around here fixing your science all day. I've got documents to write.

I can't hang around here fixing your science all day. I've got documents to write. - Sauntering Vaguely Downward

Mad Scientess Jane Expat

Serious Business	\|	Flickr
Bounty Information	\|	Wanted Dead or Alive: Mad Scientess Nanila
Deeds of Derring-Do	\|	Full of Wild Inaccuracies and Exaggerations

[20111101|21:26]

Mad Scientess Jane Expat

[	Tags	\|	imperial, teaching	]
[	the weather today is	\|	smug mode	]

I was in lab today and a pair of students were trying to diagnose a circuit. They worked on it for about half an hour before they called me over. They showed me how carefully they'd probed all the components with a multimeter and checked their breadboard connections three times. I listened. I waited patiently. When they finished, I raised an eyebrow.

"I can fix your problem by pushing one button," I said.
"Really?!"

I pressed the power button on their prototyping board unit. The oscilloscope signal flicked from flatline noise into a square wave.

I smiled at them and walked away.

link

Comments:

From:

cosmiccircus
2011-11-02 03:39 (UTC)

Sometimes all that's needed is your presence!

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From:

nanila
2011-11-02 11:31 (UTC)

I wonder how I can put that on my CV. "When

nanila is around, All the Things magically are fixed." Too grandiose? ;)

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

From:

jixel
2011-11-02 08:18 (UTC)

.. Proving yet again that it's nor "rocket science"...

(Reply) (Thread)

From:

nanila
2011-11-02 11:31 (UTC)

Actually, I believe that electronics is much harder.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

From:

pbristow
2011-11-02 23:15 (UTC)

Come back and say that after you've managed to get three Kerbonauts to loop safely around the sun and get back home! =:o}

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

From:

jixel
2011-11-06 09:52 (UTC)

Well as they say, there's no such thing as electrons, just smoke.

When the smoke leaks out of the circuit board it will cease to function.

Just saying'

Orbital mechanics just may be numbers, but miss a variable and you're more fried than a circuit board.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)

From:

pax_athena
2011-11-02 11:20 (UTC)

*snickers*

I just wish it (or something alike) did not happen to me from time to time when doing my own research ...

(Reply) (Thread)

From:

nanila
2011-11-02 11:33 (UTC)

Well, I think that sort of understanding is what helps to maintain patience with students. It's a mistake to be scornful towards people when they're learning. Scorn is a very bad teacher.

(Reply) (Parent) (Thread)