can I get back to you on that? March 30, 2006
As we were getting back into the car from a fun-filled afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry yesterday, I had the following conversation with Bassie:
Me: Are you so cute because you have half of my DNA? (context, people; we had just been looking at cloned mice and DNA strands in vials)
Bassie: I have all of your DNA.
Me: No, you have half Daddy’s.
Bassie: How?
Oh, shit!
Me: (smiling stupidly) because that’s how it works.
Bassie: But I grew inside of you.
Me: Yes, but Daddy gave you his DNA, too. That’s how it works. I give you half and Daddy gives you half.
Bassie: How did he give it to me if I was inside you?
Me: Uh, um, you know, that’s a great question, but it’s kind of complicated. I think I have to explain it to you later.
Pause
Bassie: How do the wheels turn the car?
Yosef: Now that’s a great question!
And then we had a super nerdy argument about whether a wheel’s primary attribute is its lack of friction or its exploitation of directional friction.
About a year ago, Rachel bought a book for Yosef that went into quite a bit of detail. He unfortunately took a liking to it and I was forced to read it to him a number of times myself. Luckily, he soon moved on to the Solar System.
Bassie,
This is Uncle Justin. Tell Mommy that I think it’s the wheel’s exploitive use of friction that makes it work.
For example, if the wheel was smooth and riding on a frozen lake, it probably wouldn’t have enough surface contact to move the car forward.
Interestingly enough, sneakers need a coefficient of friction that’s enough to keep traction, but allow for a certain amount of movement.
I miss you!
Uncle Justin
That’s exactly what Yosef said to Dovid (the car on the lake example). All of us UofCers are in agreement; which is to say, we are right.
Just a reminder: Bassie asked how the wheels make the car TURN, not how they make the car move forward.
I would also like to remind people that when examining the motion of a wheel, we must keep in mind that there are two different motions here: The downward motion of the point on the WHEEL which is directly opposite the ground at any given moment, and the resulting forward motion of the CAR (also keep in mind that “forward” is defined by the direction the wheel is facing, seeing as how the wheel is essentially dragging the car.)
Oh, and just tell her that you extracted yosef’s DNA from his tail- just like the cloned mice.