Scientific Method

1. Ask a Question
2. Do Background Research
3. Construct a Hypothesis
4. Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
5. Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion
6. Communicate Your Results



I want you to imagine two graduate students, one in Physics the other in Chinese Lit, huddled over a toilet watching the water go down. Do you have that wonderful image in mind? now here's the story...

Sammy has this awful fascination with the toilet. He will bee-line to the bathroom whenever the door happens to be left open in nothing flat. He has taken more than one toilet water bath and loves to unroll all the toilet paper. it's a nightmare! anyway, he happened to do this while we had some friends over and then the comment came up that someone had heard that if you flushed the toilet with the toilet paper dangling in it from the roll (still mounted on the wall) that it would unravel as the toilet flushed.

Then, the big question: Does it really work???

This brings us the the mental image of two grown men huddled over the toilet. They were thoughtful enough to even close the door and do this experiment in private (i really didn't need my kids getting ANY ideas).

The conclusion to this hypothesis and experiment: it doesn't work-- at least not with our Costco toilet paper and our toilet--didn't move an inch off the roll, just hung in the toilet while it flushed.
thank you Josh and Jon for answering that burning question!

if you so desire, feel welcome to conduct your own experiment and let me know your results!