Point of the Question
When we advanced to the junior high
school, we studied electrical energy in science. Science was
one of my favorite courses, but one day, my interest was
changed to something unpleasant. During the lesson about the
principle of lightning strikes, I asked the teacher why the
electricity charged in the sky runs into the earth and dose
not discharge in mid air. The teacher's explanation was
quite clear, saying the electricity charged in the sky is
plus while the earth is minus.
I wondered, then, why the electricity charged in the sky is
always plus, and why the earth is minus. But I missed the
chance to ask further question about it. As a result of lack
of such basic understanding, and with the lesson advancing
to alternating currents, I became more weak in it. In other
words, the teacher did not understand the true point of my
question. It is funny that the question is still unsolved in
my mind even at this late stage.
Also, during the lesson of mathematics, the teacher asked us
why the tempo of music recorded on a disk plate does not
become quicker following the needle moving into the central
part of the disk. I could not understand what the question
meant, but in the class, there were several students
pondering the same question as the teacher's, and the class
became a little noisy from the whispering. Somebody answered
that it is because the music is reborn in the same speed as
it was recorded, therefore, the tempo of music has no
relation to the time of the needle's movement traveling
around in a circle. Then, I understood the real meaning of
the teacher's question.
It seems that this kind of discrepancies happens rather
frequently in our daily lives.