What's New; 228; George Fischbeck and Merle Dousings

in and out and round about. Here, there and everywhere. What's new? Hi, we've been here waiting for you and kind of hoping you'd drop by. So now that you've shown up, let's get rolling with our what's new travels for the day. On past days and referring to our currently holding forth what's new personalities, I've mentioned on different occasions that George Fishbeck has been speaking to us from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and that Merrill Ducing has been speaking to us from New York City. Well, that information is quite true, and in each case, each man for the purposes of our what's new program and some others too, has been working with the station in each city that is one of the many that are part of NET, National Educational Television. In Albuquerque, the station is KNME, and the people who live around this part of the country

are used to tuning in what's new on that particular station, KNME. And wherever you're tuned in, if you're expecting to see George Fishbeck, you've come to the right place. This is a current detector. It detects when electric current going through the wire. We have a light bulb connected to the wire and we have a galvanometer or the current detector and a battery. And when the battery is connected, the light goes on and the current moves this needle. How does the current move the needle? Let me show you.

Down at the bottom of the needle, you'll notice that it's connected to a coil of wire. And this coil of wire is wrapped around some metal and there's a magnet on the inside. When current goes through the wire, when current goes through the wire, it makes a magnetic field and the north pole of the magnetic field of the wire of the force around the wire is equal to the north pole on the magnet and it deflects. It moves it away. Every time you, well, every real science corner ought to have a good current detector. You can get one of these for under $200 and you should have one in your garage. You say you don't have $200 to pay for one of these. Maybe I can show you how we might be able to make them a little more reasonably than that. First of all, when you want to detect current, you have to be careful about the current you're trying

to detect. This 110-volt house current is a poor one to work with. This is a killer. Be very careful of this one. No, we should find some that's a little more safer to work with. I recommend, here's a battery charger. Battery charger that many garages have. Many garages have one and if I plug it in, we'll see if it works. It breaks house current down to six volts. Six volts and look at there. Find spark. It's for real. And yet it's safe enough for me to hold in my fingers like this. You do not get a shock even though there's a real current going through it. Or if you have a battery charger at home, you might try a train transformer.

Here's a train transformer and I'll plug this one into to see if it works. Five. Now, if you connect this base with this first terminal, you get a variable between seven and 15 volts. And if you go across to the outside terminals, you can get a straight 15 volts after it's turned on. Now, this is a good safe current to work with. But still, there are people that do not have train transformers either. I think everyone can get batteries, flash light batteries. You can, they're inexpensive and they surely work for real. If you'd like one that lasts a little longer by one of the bigger ones. Each one of these is a volt and a half and a volt and a half is less, is less voltage than these big ones. But for our purposes, it should work

fine. Now, what did we, what did we do over there with the galvanometer? We said that we had to have a magnet that was able to be moved and we had to have an electric current and a source of electric current. What can you do in your home about a magnet? Look, a magnet that floats and can easily be moved by a jingo's compass. There's, there's a magnet and it's easily deflected if there's something to deflect it. Let's try this, let's try this battery charger first. It's still hot. Now, if we put the, the wire of a, of one of the leads over the top of the current, over the top of the compass in this manner, run it right parallel to the, to the needle and then

bring the two together to close the circuit. Now, we've got it, we've got a floating compass and we've got the source and we've got the wire. One, two, three, go and look at it, go. It surely works. I said that you shouldn't use a house current. You know why? I'll give you another reason. It won't work. That's a good one, isn't it? This is the, this is the house current coming in and let me put it right across the top just as we did. Just as we don't put this one out on this side. Now, we'll run this right over the top of it and there's no, there's no current deflection at all. But just as soon as we put one of these direct current wires over the top, boy, look at it, kick over. All right, so there's another good reason for not using house current.

It won't work as well. Now, we used one wire across our compass and it worked fine. Do you know how you can, how you can make a more sensitive, a more sensitive current detector? I would recommend using coils of wire. If one makes a fine magnetic field, if you had two or ten or a hundred, you'd have many more lines of force. I've got to hear some wire and let's see if it works. And we're going to, we will have to put, these are in short strips. Here are some other strips and we'll just wire them together so we can get a long enough piece of wire to make many, many turns on a coil. There's two, how many should we make? Three, all right. What's the advantage of having many turns of coil, many turns of wire in your coil? Simple. The more turns, the more

sensitivity, the detector it is. What can we wrap it around to make a, a coil of wire? How about this? Last jar. Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. Oh, that's fine. Oh, we've got fifteen, fifteen turns of wire from this already. Now, this should be better than that one, shouldn't it? Let's see how we're going to hold this together. Ah, tape. Tape will hold it together. You know, many students say, I'd like to be a scientist but I don't have the equipment. Shucks, you don't need the equipment. Make do. I didn't have to buy wire. You take wire that you find. And if you don't have tape, use a band-aid. And if you don't have a band-aid, use a piece of string. You know, just to make do with what you've got.

That's the mark of a true scientist. Well, there's our coil of wire. Now, I'm going to flatten it down a little bit so we can slip it in underneath this compass. Oh, look what happens. It's, it's up so high that the compass doesn't lie flat. Here's a key. Here's a secret on, on how to help that compass lie flat. Get some sand in a small box like that. Now we're ready. Let's put the box in like, like so. And we can bury the bottom half of the wire like that. We'll spread it out on one side so it stands up of its own accord. Mash it down a little bit there. Put the compass right in between. Always make sure that the compass needle goes parallel to the wire. Now we're ready. Now we're ready. Let's see what we can test this one with. Let's test this

one with the transformer. Shall we? Look in the transformer. The reason I use these different ones is to show you that they all work. Every one of them works. There we go. I'll have to turn it on and I'll watch that needle carefully. Watch the needle. Boy, do you see that thing kick? I guess it does work, doesn't it? That's because we have more turns of wire. Well, didn't we make a compass once before? We took a, um, oh, we took a bold. Do you remember we had a floating compass. We had a needle on a, here it is. We had a needle magnetized that we ran through a piece of cork and we floated it in water. You recall that and we floated it in water. Oh, I'll bring it over here now and put it. Now, is this one a compass? Yes, it is. How do we

know it's a compass? Because we took a magnet. We took a magnet and we magnetized that. You need to love it. Remember we moved it in one direction only. Now we have a floating compass. It has one disadvantage to it that you should know about. Very often it'll come over to the side. See, it works fine, but it'll come over to the side and it'll cling next to the wall and then it won't work. So for our experiment today, let's make another kind. Let's make it smaller so it will fit in there and let's see if we can change that problem. Our smaller compass is going to be a cup. Instead of the big bowl, we'll use a cup like so and instead of a needle on a cork, let's use a razor blade. Will a razor blade float? Sure will. No problem at all. Now, we're going to have to

magnetize it, aren't we? Sure we are. Remember we move it in one direction only over the surface of the magnet so that the excess electron spin is lined up in the proper direction. Now let's see what happens when it goes in. Good deal. Notice it's lined up. We have a compass pointing north. We have a magnetized needle pointing north and we have a razor blade pointing north and this is small. The razor blade will not cling over to the side of the cup and so this will work even better. Now, let's put that in under our coil of wire just like that. Will this experiment work? Oh, I hope so. I don't know. Maybe it won't. Remember how we see it said that it had to be. It should be lined up north and south.

It should be lined up parallel to the wires over it and that's the way it is. Now, we've used a transformer and we've used a battery charger. How about some batteries? Here's a here. Oh, let's use the small batteries. Some people think that the big battery is stronger, nonsense. Let's put this small battery right up next to it and cross your fingers. God, did you see it work? This works better than any magnetized needle that I have ever tried. Now, there it is back to north and south. One, two, three and off she goes. Again, this is fine. Now, have we used any fancy equipment? Heavens no. We've got a cup of water and old razor blade, a coil of thin wire does it make any difference what size the wire? Nah, not really. The smaller the better. That's all I can say and a battery. That's all we need. Wonderful. I wonder how about another source

of electricity besides these? Have you ever heard that you can get electricity from a pickle? Let's try it. I brought a bag of things out from the kitchen before. If you've got time, we've got time for, oh, here's a, you could use a tomato, of course. I'm using acid, acid fruits. Am I not? Pickles and tomatoes. Now, for this, we need two metals that are dissimilar in nature. This one is, oh, this one is copper and this one is zinc. Could you use any of any other kind of metals? Probably, but they would not work as well. I would suggest that these be used because they are the best. Here's a pickle, we know. And when we'll put one of these in first all the way down to the bottom there. Now we're set. Now, hook up our wires.

And remember when I said, whenever I do an experiment, I hope that you cross your fingers for me. Now, let's see what will happen. I'm going to have to make a hole through the, oh, look at it, move that, look, take it out and it goes back. I plunge it in again and look at that. Works fine, doesn't it? Beautiful. You know, a very, very sensitive detector, the most sensitive will detect the amount of electricity that can be made, not by a pickle or a tomato or an orange, but by an apple. Now, I said we've got a very sensitive detector there, haven't I? Didn't I? Now, let's see if this is sensitive enough to pick up the apple. It moves very slightly, very slightly. I can see it

move against the edge of a wire. So it does move it a little bit. Well, this is, this is all fine. See how the apple tastes. Fine, but I'm more of a pickle man myself. You know, with these two leads, we might try our fancy, expensive current detector, which is called a galvanometer, of course, a galvanometer. Now, let's see what we can do with this one. Hope it works again. We always hope our experiments work. We don't necessarily guarantee that they do. Let me swallow the apple first. Because I want you to know that the apple has nothing at all to do with this experiment. Let's see now. It's balanced on zero. You know that. Look at that.

By Galley, the saltiness on the surface of the tongue is sufficient to generate electricity to move this sensitive galvanometer. Now, here's a problem for you. How many turns of wire would you have to wrap around in order to make a galvanometer sensitive enough to move that razor blade with the electricity from your tongue? It can be done, and you can try it too. Okay? By Galley, have fun, and I'll see you all again real soon. You know, all these years, I've been thinking that pickles are for eating, and lo and behold, before my eyes, another fishbeck miracle. Merrill Ducing has been speaking to us from another of the NET stations. This one, WNDT,

in New York City, and in Newark, New Jersey, right across the Hudson River from New York. Or as the people in Newark say, New York is right across the Hudson from them. Right now, on that station, and the one you're looking at, Merrill Ducing's waiting for you. Have you ever wondered why fish-formed schools like this? They certainly aren't getting an education. Perhaps they get together because they love company. They like to be part of a crowd. But probably the best reason is the fact that they gain protection. Instead of just one pair of eyes watching for enemies, there are now hundreds of pairs of eyes watchful and alert for danger. And at the first sign of alarm, the entire school of fish will dart away. You know, the more you think about it, the more you realize that the habit

of getting together in large schools gives a fish quite a bit of protection. Not only are there many eyes to watch for danger, but there is also the opportunity to confuse the enemy. It may not be difficult for a predator to hit one moving target, but when there are a hundred darting targets, all moving in different directions, the predator is likely to become confused and wind up with nothing at all. Here in the New York Aquarium, we can see many examples of how fish protect themselves. But the strangest of them all is demonstrated in this exhibit. This is a small group of clownfish. They are bright orange and white in color, and are only two to three inches in length. But these clownfish can do something that no ordinary fish can do and live. They can go right in among the tentacles of a sea anemone, and any other fish would quickly

feel the sting of those tentacles, and death would shortly follow. But these clownfish roll through the stinging tentacles like a cat rolling in catnip. They seem to be immune to the deadly stings, and being immune, they find the tentacles of the sea anemone a place of safety. If an enemy pursues them, they simply dive into the tentacles, and no one would dare to follow. In fact, it is believed that the clownfish often lead other fish into that sea anemone trap and to their death. These clownfish actually feed the sea anemone in which they live, and we can demonstrate this. We are going to drop some clam meat down near the sea anemone. Now watch carefully. The clownfish is taking the clam meat, he's lifting it up, and now he's dropping it into the waiting

tentacles of the sea anemone. Slowly and surely the tentacles are closing over the food, and drawing it down to the mouth in the center. Now, isn't that remarkable? It's an interesting case of commensalism, where two animals live together and mutually help each other. The sea anemone gets the food, and the clownfish gets the protection. Now, by means of motion picture, let's go down to the coral reef and learn how other fish protect themselves. One of the best ways to avoid an enemy is to hide. This flying gernard spotted pattern matches perfectly with the bottom of the sea, giving it perfect camouflage, and this frog fish looks like a moss-covered rock, another perfect example of camouflage. Can you see two eyes in the sand? Those are the eyes of a peacock flounder who matches the bottom so perfectly that it is difficult

to see. The flounder is a fish that has turned over on its side. As a young fish, the flounder had its eyes one on each side of the head, but as it grew older, one eye migrated over to the other side, allowing the flounder to lie flat on its side and take a beautifully camouflage position. The trumpet fish has more difficulty in finding a hiding place. He is so long and narrow that he becomes conspicuous. In a horizontal position, he would be easy to see, but when he takes a vertical position, he begins to fit in with the seawip, sponges, and coral. The head downward position is an unnatural position for the average fish, but for the trumpet fish, it is a matter of life and death. The trunkfish doesn't need camouflage. He has another form of protection. The sides of his body are as hard and as solid as a wall. They are formed by bony scales fused together.

The trunkfish resembles an amphibious tank that can swim underwater. In addition to the protection of a hard shell, the trunkfish can discharge a toxin into the water, which will poison his enemies. The pufferfish frightens his enemies by blowing himself up when disturbed, filling himself either with water or with air to two or three times his size. This sandfish finds protection by digging a burrow in which to hide. Using fins and a wiggling body, he digs away at the soft sand. Stones are no real obstacle. When stones are encountered, he simply picks them up with his mouth and casts them to one side. Even large stones can be moved by the sandfish. Working hour after hour, the sandfish digs the burrow, building not only a front door, but also a back door,

a back door that will be hidden among the rubble of rock piled up by the sandfish. Now notice the jawfish in its burrow just to the right of the scene. Coming toward it is a big lumbering sea star moving like a Sherman tank. The jawfish doesn't know what to do. It has no secret back door for emergencies and so it decides to leave temporarily. The big sea star moves over the burrow and accidentally leaves a sea shell lying right over the entrance to the burrow. Now what will happen when the jawfish returns? Will it be able to find the burrow? When the jawfish returns, it slowly drops down tail first towards its burrow. Hey, what's the matter? Oh, an old shell in the way. With the shell gone, the jawfish enters easily. Now you are going to see a remarkable thing. This grouper is waiting to be cleaned.

Just above him are some slender fish called gobees. They are only two inches long. The grouper waits patiently and soon the little gobees come down to do the job of cleaning. The gobees search carefully over the body of the grouper looking for parasites. In this search, the gobees find food and of course the big grouper gets rid of parasites and harmful fungus. The little gobees have great courage. They will actually go inside the cave-like mouth of the grouper to look for parasites. Can you see the little gobe inside the mouth? Now that takes courage. Where are those remarkable pictures? They were taken by Harry Peterson, our underwater photographer. And isn't it hard to believe that fish regularly go to the cleaners? In fact, on a coral reef, these cleaning stations are very important.

To check the importance of a cleaning station, one investigator caught all the little cleaners and removed them from the area. The effect was startling. Within a few days, the fish population had dwindled down almost to nothing. Without their cleaners, fish just would not hang around. Now, tomorrow, we are going to present the jawfish story. Merrill Loosings, speaking to us from WNDT, George Fishbeck from KNME, and Al Benford from WTTW in Chicago, saying so long and see you next time. The name of this program, as always, is what's new? So next time we'll find out even more about the world we're in, and the bigger world that's in us. This is National Educational Television.