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.
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"Go get it," said Mrs. Drazil.

"If I had a screwdriver¹, I could get the pencil sharpener off the wall," said Eric Fry.

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

"Can we use a fluorescent² 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 grabbed³ Mrs. Drazil's old blue notebook.

"Put that down!" yelled⁴ Mrs. Drazil. "Right now!"

Sharie dropped the notebook. Mrs. Drazil's kindly⁵ 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. Standing⁶ on her tiptoes, she was able to pull the cover off the fluorescent light. She grabbed the light just as the pile collapsed⁷ beneath her.

She fell to the ground, triumphantly⁸ 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.
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"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 smashed⁹ 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.

1 screwdriver   

n.螺丝起子；伏特加橙汁鸡尾酒

参考例句：

• He took a screwdriver and teased out the remaining screws.他拿出螺丝刀把其余的螺丝卸了下来。
• The electric drill can also be used as a screwdriver.这把电钻也可用作螺丝刀。

2 fluorescent   

adj.荧光的，发出荧光的

参考例句：

• They observed the deflections of the particles by allowing them to fall on a fluorescent screen.他们让粒子落在荧光屏上以观察他们的偏移。
• This fluorescent lighting certainly gives the food a peculiar color.这萤光灯当然增添了食物特别的色彩。

3 grabbed   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的过去式和过去分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• He was grabbed by two men and frogmarched out of the hall. 他被两个男人紧抓双臂押出大厅。
• She grabbed the child's hand and ran. 她抓住孩子的手就跑。

4 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 kindly   

adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地

参考例句：

• Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
• A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。

6 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

7 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

8 triumphantly   

ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地

参考例句：

• The lion was roaring triumphantly. 狮子正在发出胜利的吼叫。
• Robert was looking at me triumphantly. 罗伯特正得意扬扬地看着我。

9 smashed   

adj.喝醉酒的v.打碎，捣烂( smash的过去式和过去分词 )；捣毁；重击；撞毁（车辆）

参考例句：

• Several windows had been smashed. 几扇窗户劈里啪啦打碎了。
• In time-honoured tradition, a bottle of champagne was smashed on the ship. 依照由来已久的传统，对着船摔了一瓶香槟。 来自《简明英汉词典》