The Insights of Youth

The March, 1983 issue of Science Digest contains a thought-provoking little article by Paul MacCready, in which he explains that as a youngster he was fascinated with trying to float the largest possible needle on water. Such a feat is possible, of course, because of the surface tension of water.

Years later, MacCready was telling his son, then about 10, about his earlier experiments and he suggested to the boy that he perform his own experiments on placing the needle on the surface of the water as gently as possible so as not to break the water's "skin." Possible gadgets such as hooks or electromagnets might do the trick, he said.

The boy thought about this for a moment, and then said "Why don't we just freeze the water, set the needle down on it, and let the ice melt?"

Whether or not that worked, the story doesn't say, but that is not significant. The point is that most adults would work for many days on the problem without coming up with such an ingenious approach because they have grown up to be too biased and patterned in their thinking.

Another example of youth's unfettered thinking is the famous story of a large van on an eastern turnpike which became wedged underneath a low overpass. While the driver, the state troopers and the wrecker operator nervously milled about trying to figure out how to extricate the van, a little girl who had been standing by watching, timidly offered the suggestion, "Why don't you let the air out of the tires?" It worked, of course.

Incidentally, Paul MacCready who floated needles as a boy need not think of himself as being uninventive. He designed the Gossamer Albatross, with which the first human-powered flight across the English Channel was made. As for his needle-floating son, he became the first pilot to fly the lightweight, sun-powered Gossamer Penguin.