Sleeping Beauty
Once upon a time, there was a king and a queen who had just given birth to a daughter. Every nobleman in the land came to see the beautiful girl with golden curls, rosy cheeks, and big, blue eyes. A huge party took place at the glowing palace. There was food, dancing, and an endless supply of smiles, laughter, and admiration for little Princess Aurora. Needless to say, everything was well. That was, until dorky Martha the Scientist arrived, uninvited.
"What's Martha doing here?" asked one nobleman's wife.
"I don't know," said another. "She couldn't have been invited."
Everyone groaned and complained when Martha started explaining her science experiments.
"Yesterday, I discovered that, in our kingdom, gravity pulls at a rate of 9.8 meters per second per second," Martha stated obnoxiously. "Now, I am going to begin to develop a new tool that will help average people, much like yourselves, understand gravity."
"Throw her out, great King!" the people cried.
"This kingdom needs science! Believe me!" Martha shouted as the King's guards dragged her away. "In fact,
King, I will teach your own little girl the ways of science!"
Everyone who had been celebrating the new baby now halted and gasped. Martha was the only one in the entire kingdom who knew such witchcraft as science. As long as her science didn't interfere with anyone else in the kingdom, Martha was allowed to practice it, but she was forbidden to try to spread or expose her science to other people. How dare she threaten the King and Queen with her knowledge!
The guards continued to drag Martha out of the hall, and the celebration continued, although somberly.
Sixteen years later, beautiful Aurora sat on her bed in her royal chamber. Martha the Scientist rested on a wooden chair across from her.
"You see, dear. I performed three different gravity labs: the Drop Lab, Pendulum Lab, and Water Drop Lab. I designed these experiments to help people not as smart as us, such as your parents, discover for themselves that gravity pulls at a rate of 9.8 meters per second per second in our kingdom," Martha told Aurora. Unbeknownst to Aurora's parents, Martha had secretly been teaching Aurora science for the past two years.
"I discovered the Pendulum Lab was the most accurate of the three experiments with only 2 percent error when I incorporated all of my trials. I'll show you, dear, how I did it." Martha went through the brown bag she had brought with her this particular morning. She pulled out a ring, ringstand, rubber stopper, string, stopwatch, and meter stick. Martha stated the procedure as she performed the tasks.
"Attach a ring to a ring stand. Then, tie the end of a ball of string to the ring. Next, measure approximately 102 centimeters of string and cut it to allow for a rubber stopper to be tied to the end of the string and have the distance from the top of the rubber stopper to the ring be exactly 100 cm. Are you following this, dear? When I'm ready, I'll pick up the rubber stopper at the end of the pendulum I have made and I will let go of it. One must time from the moment you release the rubber stopper until the pendulum has gone through 20 cycles, or has gone back and forth 20 times. Record the time. Do you understand? In my experiment, I completed 10 trials of 20 cycles, and then I created pendulums with a 30 centimeter string and a string that almost touches the ground from the ring stand sitting on the table here. I repeated all of the steps for these additional two pendulums. Make sure nothing touches the pendulum as it swings, dear. Now, watch!" Martha said excitedly as she pulled back the rubber stopper and released it. The pendulum swung back and forth . . . back . . . and forth . . . back . . . and . . . forth. Aurora watched the pendulum, and she felt her eyelids droop down. She felt so tired . . . so tired . . . so . . .
Aurora fell back on her bed.
"Dear, are you alright?" asked Martha nervously, but Aurora did not answer, for she was fast asleep. Martha decided to let the young girl rest. The scientist then jumped out of the window, so as not to be seen, and tested the gravitational pull one more time by timing how long it took her to drop from the distance she had already measured to the ground. She couldn't wait to get home and calculate.
Martha, who had fallen asleep in her lab, was suddenly awoken by a booming sound, which, she calculated in her head, must have been traveling at a speed of 314 meters per second. She knew this because the cry was coming from the castle, approximately 206 meters away from her home. The cry was none other than the King's, for he believed his daughter was dead.
"Asleep all afternoon, night, and morning! I don't think so! She isn't even moving! She must be dead! Martha killed her, for there are scientific instruments about the poor girl's room!" the King screamed. His words reached the entire kingdom. Martha gasped. She had left the pendulum in Aurora's bed chamber.
The whole kingdom gathered in the Princess' chamber. It was a tight squeeze, and the pendulum, which had previously stopped swinging, was pushed into movement again by a citizen, who had unknowingly created kinetic energy. The whole town (the only person not present was Martha) turned to stare at the pendulum. It swung back and forth . . . back . . . and forth . . . back . . . and . . . forth. Everyone's eyes drooped. They became sleepy . . . ever so sleepy, and so, they slept.
Martha meanwhile was packing in a hurry. Surely, a mob would come for her. However, no one came, but Martha left the kingdom before she could find out about the slumber party.
Eventually (hundreds of years later), a young scientist came and saved the kingdom by hooking up circuits to everyone's ears. He used a 6 volt battery. After the young scientist saved the kingdom, everyone began to appreciate science and how it can help people (although they had learned earlier that one must be cautious with science, as well). To this day, no one knows what happened to Martha, and, as for Aurora, she and the young scientist ended up being wed. The kingdom prospered for years, and everyone lived happily ever after.
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