Chapter 14 A Light Bulb, a Pencil Sharpener,

a Coffeepot, and a Sack of Potatoes

"Galileo was a great scientist," said Mrs. Drazil. "He was born in Italy in 1564 and died in 1642. He was the first person to use a telescope to study the stars. And he also helped figure out the laws of

gravity."

"Oh, I know about gravity," said Joe. "Mrs. Jewls pushed a computer out the window. It fell a lot faster than a pencil."

"I don't think so," said Mrs. Drazil. "Galileo proved that all objects fall at the same speed. He conducted a very famous experiment. He dropped lots of different objects off the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is in Italy. It was built in-"

Todd raised his hand. "You're getting a little boring," he said.

"Oh, my goodness, am I?" asked Mrs. Drazil.

Rondi, Leslie, Paul, and Calvin nodded their heads.

"I'm sorry," said Mrs. Drazil. She thought a moment. "I know!" she exclaimed. "Let's do the experiment here!"

The children cheered. They loved experiments.

Mrs. Drazil rubbed her hands together. "Let's see. We'll need a coffeepot, a pencil sharpener, a light bulb, and . . ." She thought a moment. "We need something heavy."

"An elephant's heavy," said Benjamin.

"There are no elephants in Wayside School," said Mrs. Drazil.

Everyone laughed.

"How about a sack of potatoes?" asked Ron. "I bet Miss Mush has one."

"Go see," said Mrs. Drazil.

"There's a coffeepot down in the office," said Stephen.
78
"Go get it," said Mrs. Drazil.

"If I had a screwdriver, I could get the pencil sharpener off the wall," said Eric Fry.

"I've got a screwdriver!" said Jenny.

"Can we use a fluorescent light bulb?" asked Bebe. She looked up at the ceiling.

"I guess so," said Mrs. Drazil.

"How do I get it?" asked Bebe.

"You're the scientist," said Mrs. Drazil. "You figure it out."

Bebe put her chair on top of her desk and stood on it. She still couldn't reach the ceiling. "Hey, Benjamin, let me have your chair!"

She put Benjamin's chair on top of hers, but she still wasn't tall enough.

Calvin dumped the wastepaper basket onto the floor. "Try this," he said.

Bebe turned the trash can upside down and put it on top of Benjamin's chair. Then she climbed on top, but she still couldn't quite reach.

Leslie brought the class dictionary. Jenny and Dana donated their math books. Sharie grabbed Mrs. Drazil's old blue notebook.

"Put that down!" yelled Mrs. Drazil. "Right now!"

Sharie dropped the notebook. Mrs. Drazil's kindly old face had suddenly turned mean.

"Don't ever touch that again!" Mrs. Drazil ordered.

Sharie returned, trembling, to her seat.

Everyone was staring at Mrs. Drazil. She smiled sweetly. "Go back to what you were doing," she said.

Jason threw Bebe his lunch box. She set it on top of the books, then climbed on top. Standing on her tiptoes, she was able to pull the cover off the fluorescent light. She grabbed the light just as the pile collapsed beneath her.

She fell to the ground, triumphantly holding the unbroken light bulb high above her head.

Ron returned with a sack of potatoes from Miss Mush.

Stephen returned with Mr. Kidswatter's coffeepot.

Eric Fry unscrewed the pencil sharpener from the wall.

Mrs. Drazil wrote "Coffeepot" "Sack of Potatoes," "Pencil Sharpener," and "Light Bulb" on the blackboard.

"We're going to drop all four objects out the window at the same time," she said. "How many people think the coffeepot will hit the ground first?"

"Is there coffee in it?" asked John.
80
"It's about half full," Stephen reported.

Eight kids thought the coffeepot would hit the ground first. Sixteen thought the sack of potatoes would hit the ground first. Three thought the light bulb would be first. Only Terrence thought the pencil sharpener would hit first

Jason, Jenny, Joe, John, and Joy were the judges. Mrs. Drazil sent them outside.

Stephen held the coffeepot out one window.

Bebe held the light bulb out another.

Eric Fry held the pencil sharpener out another.

And Ron held out the sack of potatoes.

Everyone else crowded around to watch. With everyone on the same side of the classroom, the school leaned a little bit, just like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

"On your mark. . . . Get set . . . Let go!" said Mrs. Drazil.

The objects fell through the air and smashed against the pavement.

A short while later, the judges returned. Their clothes were splattered with coffee. Jenny had bits of potatoes in her hair.

"Was the pencil sharpener first?" asked Terrence.

"It happened so fast," said Joe. "They all hit about the same time."

"But the coffeepot made the coolest explosion," said Jason.

"I think the light bulb hit the ground last," said John.

"Well, that's possible," said Mrs. Drazil. "Gravity causes all objects to fall at the same rate. But air slows them down. That's called air resistance. And that's good. Otherwise raindrops would kill us. Air resistance slows all things down a little bit, but it has a greater effect on very light objects, such as a piece of paper. And of course the shape of the paper is important too. A crumpled-up piece of paper will fall faster than-"

"You're getting boring again," said Mac.

Mrs. Drazil stopped talking.

"Now we need a new pencil sharpener," said Leslie.