Science success-UPDATED!

Men love to wonder, and that is the seed of science.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

   Following in her brother's footsteps, the Lady has proven to be quite an effective scientist.  She scored first place in her school science fair a couple of weeks ago.  Last week she was a finalist in the District Science Fair.  Now she will go on to compete in the Regional science fair at our local university next month.  Way to go sweetheart!  We are so proud of you. (Try to imagine a picture of her cute self in front of her display board--her scatterbrained Mom forgot the camera.  Twice!)

For those of you who love to "wonder" as much as we do...she chose to do her science project on the energy use of various hand held gadgets (iPhones, iPods, cell phones, etc).  She wondered if the typical family spent enough money each month to charge the batteries of these gadgets to warrant the purchase of a solar charger.  She determined that if a typical family spent more than five dollars a month to charge their gadgets, it would be worth purchasing a solar charger.  She polled about 85 people to see how many gadgets (and what types) were in a typical home.  Then she measured the energy use of each gadget and calculated the cost of charging them.  What do you think the results of her experiment showed?  How much money do you think you spend each month to support your gadget habit??

Results:
The average home has NINE gadgets that they are charging on a regular basis.  I can't remember the exact distribution of gadgets.  I think it was one smart phone, two cell phones, three hand held games, and three musical devices.  The cost to power those nine gadgets.....a whopping six cents a month!!  So don't rush out and buy a solar charger for your gadgets.  It would take you well over fifty years to recover your cost!