Mr. Tedder was quite sure that a strip tease
dancer had no place in his physics classroom. But
what bothered him more was how she got there!
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Imagination Stories of Science and Fantasy
April 1951
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The strip teaser materialized in the first period physics class atTerre Haute's Technical High School.
It all happened just because Mr. Tedder was fresh out of college,and anxious to make good in his first teaching job. He'd been givenPhysics II, a tough class for a new teacher. His pupils, a set ofhardened II-A boys, were sure of themselves and so were the few girlsin the class. It was with hopes of shaking that assurance that Mr.Tedder had spent a month of after-school hours studying an article onZiegler's effect. He also hoped, but with less faith than wistfulness,that a demonstration of Ziegler's effect might shock his class intostaying awake. Above all, Mr. Tedder felt that his Junior boys mightbe considerably edified by an electrical phenomenon that was not yetunderstood by the best physical theorists of three planets.
Mr. Tedder wanted to give his class a good show. So, with more feelingfor dramatic effect than for scientific good sense, he'd wound thethree solenoids with heavy insulated silver wire rather than with thelight copper wire Ziegler had reported using. On the theory that, if hewere to demonstrate the Ziegler effect it would be best to demonstratea whole lot of it, Mr. Tedder contrived a battery of the newlithium-reaction cells. The direct current from this powerful batterywas transformed by an antique, but workable, automotive spark coil.
The bell rang as usual that morning, marking the beginning of the firstclass. Twenty pupils filed into the physics classroom and took theirseats. Eighteen of them slumped down in an attitude which suggestedthat, although they were prepared to accept stoically the hour'sordeal, they weren't going to allow themselves to be taught anything.After all, Tech had lost last night's game to Walbash: what physicalphenomenon could hope to shake off that grim memory? There was ashuffling of papers as the boys in the back seats pulled comic booksfrom their notebooks. Guenther and Stetzel, sitting up front, pulledsheets of paper from notepads and headed them, "The Ziegler Effect."
The classroom settled into an uneasy silence. Mr. Tedder waved aninstructive hand toward the apparatus set up on the marble top of thedemonstration bench. "As you can see, I have a set of three solenoids,or coils of insulated wire, connected to a source of alternatingcurrent. A sudden surge of this current through the outermost solenoidwill give an iron-cerium alloy bar placed at the center of theapparatus an impetus toward horizontal motion." Stetzel and Guenther,who were conscientious, took rapid notes. The rest of the class wasdivided between those students who were surreptitiously catching upon the adventures of "The Rocket Patrol" and those who were quietlysinking into sleep.
Mr. Tedder continued. "The alloy bar's initial movement will befrustrated, as it were, by the action of a second solenoid placedwithin and at right angles to the first. A third coil, within and atright angles to each of the outer two, completes the process. Thewinding ratios of the three solenoids are 476:9:34." Stetzel andGuenther scribbled the numbers rapidly; Ned Norcross, in the back row,stirred in his sleep, and two members of the Class of '95 who shared avolume of the Rocket Patrol's exploits agreed to turn the page.
"W