When I was young, perhaps 5, our homeschool co-op hired a science teacher to give once-a-week lectures to the kids. It must have been interesting, because while I was not the oldest, I was certainly not the youngest either. But regardless, this man was very patient - he must have enjoyed children as much as science - because he encouraged us to bring our own science experiments to class. One day I decided to do so. I read through a book that had scientific concepts in it and picked the one about condensation. The instructions were to fill a jar with ice water, cap it, and wait for condensation to collect on the outside. I had no idea what the word condensation meant, but I figured doing the experiment would help. So I duly brought a jar, filled with ice water and neatly capped, to class. The teacher was kind and allowed me to interrupt the lesson a few times to check my jar, which was slowly but surely getting wet on the outside. All of the adults were proud of me. "Yes, yes! There you go! That's what condensation means!" and in my young mind, I understood.
Condensation was the concept that ice cold water could seep very slowly through glass and get the other side wet. Even when there was a lid on the jar.
I was surprised by how miraculous science was, but I did not question my theory. It was amazing. And I half ways still wish I could believe it.
