Monday 27th September

After two day's hard work, plus a run back to the hotel the previous night, I was tired, and took the Land Rover up to the prison. But if I was tired I was doing better than my clothing. The vest that I had worn the previous two days was gopping — the most disgusting piece of clothing one could imagine.

Today was the last chance to get the generators going. I had a generator without a decent power supply, and Jonathan had a great, if intermittent, power supply combined with a crap generator.

We did the sensible thing, and combined forces, resulting in an acceptable machine. We still had problems however. For a start, if the windmill rotated in the wrong direction (for example if the wind caught the sails from behind), the generator could easily be damaged.

Secondly, because the generator was made of very basic parts, the commutator caused bulbs to flash on and off, rather than give continuous light.

Even so the thing worked!

To end the programme we visited the lab to see what Anna and Mike had been up to, and found out that they had been producing anti flatulence medicine, and a hair restorer — both for me!

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Major funding for Rough Science was provided by the National Science Foundation. Corporate funding was provided by Subaru.