Upthrust

Should there be a disclaimer in subjects taught in schools so that students do not go about practicing it? Something like what we see on TV of dangerous stunts, "The stunts you are about to see, were all designed and supervised by trained professionals. They are extremely dangerous and should not be attempted by anyone, anywhere, anytime."

The one for the class should go like this, "The topic you are about to be taught is purely theoretical, practicals are done by professionals under a conducive atmosphere in a laboratory, you should take the teachers word for it and not try any of it at home."

As if that could stop the experimental traits and need to know more, that is inherent in a young mind to explore on things they are taught or saw. I visited home the other week and saw the dining table.

It is still amazing that our dining table still stands at home. If I could see the table manufacturers today, I would give them a tip and some free ad by telling anyone that cared to listen that they are the best. The table survived a lot of abuse as our favorite wrestling "ring" after watching wrestling on tv.



^unsplash.com


Winning a royal rumble wrestling involves being the last wrestler standing on that table after throwing all opponents off the table to land on the rug covered floor beneath. How we managed to play that game and not get serious injuries is something I still could not explain :)

Finally, one of my siblings was shipped off to a secondary school three hours away, and there were little peace and less wrestling as one of the participants is no more home. We were not allowed to visit him at school, we had to wait to see him when he returned home after the school closes. The school was exclusively for science students.

He returned and was particularly interested in the subject of Physics and had his favorite topic as upthrust. I could not understand his fascination with the word, not until I heard the story behind it.

He told the story of how they had an incredibly long physics class and decided to go to a nearby stream close to the school to swim.

That is a violation of the school's rule since it entails moving out of the school's premises without permission. They managed to get the stream without being seen or stopped by the teachers.

^pixabay.com


Everyone jumped in and were enjoying the coolness of the water on that hot afternoon. The stream was just waist deep so even the not-so-skilled swimmer amongst was having a good time.

They did not notice when one of their partner in crime wandered off towards the deeper, faster-moving, area of the stream.

They just heard someone shout and they looked up and notice it was one of them.

They listened carefully and could make out his cry, "Please upthrust come to my aid!" He shouted in between gulps of water. They panicked as none of them were good swimmers.

"Please upthrust come to my aid!" He cried over and over again as the relentless water swept him further away as his classmates watched in terror.

So they all climbed out of the stream and started running after him by following the bank of the stream. About fifty meters down the stream, a huge tree had fallen into the stream, this was his saving grace as it wedged him. He held onto the tree with the tenacity of a drowning person. He was able to climb out of the stream by crawling on the dead tree.

In their few minutes of horror that just played out, none of them found his cries strange, but now that is safe they started laughing at his words.

From the Physics class, they were taught the Archimedes' principle which states that when a body is wholly or partially immersed in a liquid, there is an upthrust which is equal to the weight of liquid displaced.If something floats in water, the upthrust is equal to the weight of the object.

^Source


How the boy that nearly drowned hoped it could help him when he could not swim, is something we may never know.

Nevertheless, he earned a nickname after that incident, as he was known as Upthrust throughout his school days.

PS: Upthrust if you are reading this, someone from your set in the secondary school, is looking for you.