Royal Academy of Magic (Jump-In!) - IMF&M ended; Current Class: Dragonology

[Voidwalker]

"Should I produce a calibration curve for the thaumerimeter to compare the readings against?" Cloudy asks.

[The Wandering Magus]

"Should I produce a calibration curve for the thaumerimeter to compare the readings against?" Cloudy asks.

The professor smiled and nodded.  "For the rest of the class, calibration can be simplified as simply two or three readings for different inputs; the instructions should be on the white card in the bin in front of you.  However, Cloudy is correct; for more precise measurements it is always good standard procedure to produce as accurate a standard as possible to compare future readings against."

[LostSanity]

"Should I produce a calibration curve for the thaumerimeter to compare the readings against?" Cloudy asks.

The professor smiled and nodded.  "For the rest of the class, calibration can be simplified as simply two or three readings for different inputs; the instructions should be on the white card in the bin in front of you.  However, Cloudy is correct; for more precise measurements it is always good standard procedure to produce as accurate a standard as possible to compare future readings against."

Mage and Flare sweatdropped.

They began to start over from scratch. They didn't want to be the ponies to cause an explosion to occur.

[Voidwalker]

Cloudy began taking readings with several readings with fire rubies of varying calibrations. After obtaining enough points of data to produce a reasonable line of best fit (around 7 readings) she began to measure the strength of the field, moving the thaumerimeter away from the center of the field in 2cm steps.
((I'm taking some liberties with the instructions on the assumption that the field's power is inversely proportional to distance from the source. Assuming it isn't a directional source it would be at the center of the field.))

[The Wandering Magus]

Feather smiles as Cloudy's matrix begins to glow correctly, the thaumerimeter giving accurate data in a rather nice-looking graph, with power being inversely proportional to the square of the distance.

"Now remember, class, that the equations you'll need are right up here on the board.  If you need a spare abacus, there should be one in the bin.  Later, we'll be creating matrices ourselves that can generate complex graphs and calculate all the components automatically, but for the moment it's good practice to do it once yourself to get a good understanding of how it works.  As my father taught me, just watching somepony do something doesn't grant you a skill; the only way to learn is through practice."

[LostSanity]

Mage and Flare attempted to try to do this to the best of their ability...

They placed the ruby and began testing it to make sure everything was correct. They tested it twice to be absolutely safe.

They attempted to have the magic flow through it and sort of became tense.

...

Nothing happened. But that was a good thing they thought. Nothing exploded. Perhaps they were doing it right?

[The Wandering Magus]

Mage and Flare attempted to try to do this to the best of their ability...

They placed the ruby and began testing it to make sure everything was correct. They tested it twice to be absolutely safe.

They attempted to have the magic flow through it and sort of became tense.

...

Nothing happened. But that was a good thing they thought. Nothing exploded. Perhaps they were doing it right?

The professor looked at their matrix with a slightly pursed lip.  He thinks for a second, then smiles as he looks away.  A single line of chalk shifts slightly, and suddenly the matrix begins glowing brightly, and the thaumerimeter began spitting out excellent data.  He kept smiling as he walked to the next lab group.

[PPBG]

Shard followed the instructions of the teacher. He hooked up the thaumerimeter and set it to twenty-four Swirls. Shard checked it with the Fire Ruby, and it was correctly calibrated.

(( And, after that, I understand none of Professor Scroll's instructions.  Sorry about my clueless-ness.))

[Voidwalker]

((Does a reading of 101.2 Thaum at 0cm, 96.8 at 2cm, 84.1 at 4cm, etc seem like suitable data?
The field would read 0 Thaum at around 10cm.))

Cloudy places the pendulum at the center of the field, the plum-bob on the same horizontal plane as the source.
She note the length of the string then releases the bob, which drifts away from the source. Cloudy measures the angle of the string at the with the protractor, with the center on the pivot and the 0^oat the string's position during equilibrium.

[The Wandering Magus]

Shard followed the instructions of the teacher. He hooked up the thaumerimeter and set it to twenty-four Swirls. Shard checked it with the Fire Ruby, and it was correctly calibrated.

(( And, after that, I understand none of Professor Scroll's instructions.  Sorry about my clueless-ness.))

Feather stopped by and smiled.  "Looks like you're doing a good job!  All you need to do to measure the flow now is to use the thaumerimeter that you calibrated and put this tip at increasing increments of distance from the matrix, and record the numbers on the display.  You should have about ten or so readings minimum if you want a good trendline to analyze for the write-up.  And don't worry about finishing the analysis and conlcusion today, you've got plenty of time and you can turn in the report next session."

((Does a reading of 101.2 Thaum at 0cm, 96.8 at 2cm, 84.1 at 4cm, etc seem like suitable data?
The field would read 0 Thaum at around 10cm.))

Cloudy places the pendulum at the center of the field, the plum-bob on the same horizontal plane as the source.
She note the length of the string then releases the bob, which drifts away from the source. Cloudy measures the angle of the string at the with the protractor, with the center on the pivot and the 0^oat the string's position during equilibrium.

((Magic Flow equals the enclosed integral of the Magic Field dotted with the area of the surface through which the field passes, and is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the center; at 0cm the distance would be zero and therefore the equation explodes; the Flow is also equal to the amount of Magic inside divided by Clover's Constant))

The professor looks at Cloudy, and chuckles; the mare is almost finished with the lab already, while most of the others are still stuck trying to get enough readings.  She certainly seemed to have a talent in this field.

[LostSanity]

Mage and Flare now attempted to begin getting their readings of the magical energies with the abacus they had at their station.

[Voidwalker]

((Oh good, I can use that data set then I'll just have the 0cm value read too high for the Thaumerimeter and extrapolate the line of best fit to meet the origin.))

With the measurements of the field completed, Cloudy moves on to the Poison Joke potion. She struggles with the cork and when it comes free the bottle is jolted slightly, spilling some potion. Cloudy gets some disposable paper towel and wipes up the spill, disposing of the contaminated paper in the magical waste box. She then returns to her experiment. She reads the text-book to check the next step.

((I assume we place the potion within the field in a vessel with no magical influence?))

[The Wandering Magus]

Mage and Flare now attempted to begin getting their readings of the magical energies with the abacus they had at their station.

Feather smiles and nods approvingly at the good readings and the graph.

((Oh good, I can use that data set then I'll just have the 0cm value read too high for the Thaumerimeter and extrapolate the line of best fit to meet the origin.))

With the measurements of the field completed, Cloudy moves on to the Poison Joke potion. She struggles with the cork and when it comes free the bottle is jolted slightly, spilling some potion. Cloudy gets some disposable paper towel and wipes up the spill, disposing of the contaminated paper in the magical waste box. She then returns to her experiment. She reads the text-book to check the next step.

((I assume we place the potion within the field in a vessel with no magical influence?))

((yes, in order to test the reactivity properly))

The professor helped mop up the mess, along with other messes.  The students, careful as they were, occasionally made mistakes, as was to be expected.

[LostSanity]

The professor helped mop up the mess, along with other messes.  The students, careful as they were, occasionally made mistakes, as was to be expected.

One of the "messes" came from Mage and Flare. Nothing too awful happened. Just a small explosion leaving Mage and Flare with "soot faces."

They both just sweatdropped and blushed briefly before shaking it off and continuing the measurements.

((This is just to indicate that I still don't really understand this. But oh well. It's fun though.  ))

[Voidwalker]

Cloudy poured the potion into a magically-inactive beaker and places in the center of the field.
She begins taking readings with the thaumerimeter again, starting at 2cm from the field's source after the last set of results showed the reading at the center to be too high for the instrument. The explosion made her jump a bit, focused as she was in her work and she knocked over the pendulum setup. Fortunately it was undamaged in its fall and hadn't disturbed the current experiment, so Cloudy righted it and returned to gathering her final set of data.

[The Wandering Magus]

The professor helped mop up the mess, along with other messes.  The students, careful as they were, occasionally made mistakes, as was to be expected.

One of the "messes" came from Mage and Flare. Nothing too awful happened. Just a small explosion leaving Mage and Flare with "soot faces."

They both just sweatdropped and blushed briefly before shaking it off and continuing the measurements.

((This is just to indicate that I still don't really understand this. But oh well. It's fun though.  ))

Other, less attentive students began chuckling at the explosion, until their own matrix blew up in their faces as well, making the professor sigh as somepony in the corner muttered about geniuses skipping grades.  "Everypony, PLEASE be careful about the equipment, this IS rather expensive stuff here..."

Cloudy poured the potion into a magically-inactive beaker and places in the center of the field.
She begins taking readings with the thaumerimeter again, starting at 2cm from the field's source after the last set of results showed the reading at the center to be too high for the instrument. The explosion made her jump a bit, focused as she was in her work and she knocked over the pendulum setup. Fortunately it was undamaged in its fall and hadn't disturbed the current experiment, so Cloudy righted it and returned to gathering her final set of data.

As expected, given the amount of care the student had given to the experiment, data was very satisfactory, though there was a particular blip in the trendline which reflected the small distraction.  Besides explaining that particular procedural error, the rest of the write-up and analysis should be quite simple for the gifted mare.

[Voidwalker]

With the necessary data gathered, Cloudy begins cleaning up her bench.
Once all the equipment had been returned to its default state, she raises a hoof to ask a question.

[The Wandering Magus]

With the necessary data gathered, Cloudy begins cleaning up her bench.
Once all the equipment had been returned to its default state, she raises a hoof to ask a question.

When the various messes and accidental-on-purpose craters repaired, the professor turned a slightly-more-stressed-than-before smile to the bright student.  "Yes, Cloudy, you have a question?"

[LostSanity]

Mage and Flare were beginning to get the rest of the readings, being extra careful to not allow anymore explosions.

[Voidwalker]

"How should we dispose of the poison joke potion?" Cloudy asks the professor.