Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Finished the chapter on electric potential in my electricity and magnetism class today. After discussing the potential of a system of charges last time, I showed them the equations for a dipole moment (a special case for two point charges) and solids: a line of charge, a ring and a disk, but only for specific points along a line or axis because the rest required differentiation and/or integration. The sphere was not included though.

I also had some examples, including a flat ring that required them to use the equation for the disk twice, once for subtracting from the inner radius. Another example was for getting the distance from a ring in terms of its radius where the potential is half of that at the center of the ring.

Next meeting, after discussing the answers to their exam/problem set, we’ll take up capacitance.

Bringing up something from the past week that I forgot to mention: one of the last experiments the students recently had in their chemistry laboratory (before their topic in the five unit course shifts to biology) was making ice cream.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, as the case may be), to be able to determine if their manufacture was successful, they had to have other judges than just the taste of their teacher.

They also could not be relied upon to grade each other’s work, as the “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours” dealing would not surprisingly result in everyone getting high grades. So the task fell to the other teachers. On the two days of the biology and chemistry laboratories, Monday and Wednesday, the faculty room was inundated by several cups of hand whipped frosted desserts that we had to grade.

The most popular choice so far was chocolate (from powder or syrup), with fruits from juices and jellies a close second. Mixes and topping included candy sprinkles, marshmallows, chocolate chips, cookies, butterscotch and cherries.

Teachers fell into several categories depending on their reaction to the offers.

There were those who were suspicious why they were chosen, thinking the concoctions would upset their stomachs and render them incapable of going to class the next day.

There were those who were pleased that the students would choose them to try the fruits of their labor, thinking that they had successfully established a certain rapport with the students.

There were those who just treated it like a gift of appreciation, like flowers or an apple.

There were those who looked at the whole enterprise objectively, as if they were chefs in a prestigious competition between five star hotels or something, and wouldn’t even crack a smile of thanks or murmur favorably for the better flavored attempts.

Of course, whether these corresponded with what the students were thinking when they approached the teachers is another thing altogether.