My Pre-Phd Physics Work

Having a Physicist for a dad has its advantages - a good exposure to unique experients for school project work. How else can one even think of a topic such as "effect of irradiation on the germination of chick-peas" for a biology project?I had to monitor the germination of the irradiated chick-peas and would have probably continued the experiment for more than a week if my mom had not thrown me and my samples out of the kitchen because of the stink that waqs invading the place! - God bless my mom's soul!!

Then there was that fancy experiment of determining the radius of a blood sample using lasers for a physics project (did I tell you that my Physicist dad loves biology?). And then a friend of mine and me tried to determine the various functional groups of some vegetables and fruits - for a chemistry project.

In retrospect I can only admire my teachers at KV IIT for having put up with all these fancy ideas and allowing us to explore and experiment. This is especially after I have noticed that very many students are deprived of such freedom in schools in the name of ranks and results.

This was followed by some interesting ESR (Electron Spin Resonance) and conductivity experiments on Pterocarpus santalinus, Indian red-wood tree. The samples were thanks to my late maternal uncle, an official with the department of forestry.

What I have listed are decent, official experiments. Pranks like short circuiting the mains of the locality are left un-cataloged.