logo
Learning the science behind the Harry Potter magical spell that seemed to work

Learning the science behind the Harry Potter magical spell that seemed to work

The Hindu5 days ago
As a group of curious children gathered on the first floor of heritage bookstore Higginbothams on Saturday hoping for an explanation of science, author Jagadeesh Kanna took the centre stage and announced he would teach them magical spells instead.
While the children were musing on what he had just said, he made a paper plane out of a sheet, and chanted a fictional spell from the Harry Potter series: Wingardium Leviosa right. The paper plane turned right; the spell worked. As he urged children to chant the second spell--Wingardium Leviosa left--the paper plane turned left. By the end of all the six spells, awestruck children started realising that spells didn't work, it was the science of aerodynamics that controlled the paper plane. And, Mr. Jagadeesh Kanna taught them different ways of how to fold the paper to achieve precise outcomes according to Bernoulli's principle.
'The Wright Brothers took seven years to learn how to control the airplane. You need the right teachers. All it needs is ten minutes to learn pitch, roll and yaw in an aircraft. It all started with a small dream. It will reach all over the world. You learn this in school, but not in this perspective,' he said.
After a few minutes of storytelling about young Hanuman as he taught students aeronautics, Mr. Jagadeesh Kanna made the children understand the science behind the airplane as part of The Hindu's meet the author programme at Higginbothams Mount Road. He stressed the need for knowing the problem statement children want to solve, with storytelling as an educational tool. He spoke about the moment of spark great people had experienced and the significance of emotions in learning concepts in science without getting bored.
Mr. Jagadeesh Kanna is the author of The Hindu's new kids book titled 'Science with Young Hanuman'. To maximise awareness, The Hindu intends to organise in select schools a few interactive sessions with the author who is also the founder and CEO of Vaayusastra Aerospace Centre, an IIT Madras's Incubated Company.
Under the Special Publications Division, The Hindu Group has published more than 170 titles since April 2017. These titles have been published under various genres like Coffee Table Book, Religious, Spiritual, History, Kids, Sports, Science and Premium series. We have published 14 titles under the Kids Series so far and Science with Young Hanuman is the latest one. Link to the book: https://shorturl.at/xJv7B
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Learning the science behind the Harry Potter magical spell that seemed to work
Learning the science behind the Harry Potter magical spell that seemed to work

The Hindu

time5 days ago

  • The Hindu

Learning the science behind the Harry Potter magical spell that seemed to work

As a group of curious children gathered on the first floor of heritage bookstore Higginbothams on Saturday hoping for an explanation of science, author Jagadeesh Kanna took the centre stage and announced he would teach them magical spells instead. While the children were musing on what he had just said, he made a paper plane out of a sheet, and chanted a fictional spell from the Harry Potter series: Wingardium Leviosa right. The paper plane turned right; the spell worked. As he urged children to chant the second spell--Wingardium Leviosa left--the paper plane turned left. By the end of all the six spells, awestruck children started realising that spells didn't work, it was the science of aerodynamics that controlled the paper plane. And, Mr. Jagadeesh Kanna taught them different ways of how to fold the paper to achieve precise outcomes according to Bernoulli's principle. 'The Wright Brothers took seven years to learn how to control the airplane. You need the right teachers. All it needs is ten minutes to learn pitch, roll and yaw in an aircraft. It all started with a small dream. It will reach all over the world. You learn this in school, but not in this perspective,' he said. After a few minutes of storytelling about young Hanuman as he taught students aeronautics, Mr. Jagadeesh Kanna made the children understand the science behind the airplane as part of The Hindu's meet the author programme at Higginbothams Mount Road. He stressed the need for knowing the problem statement children want to solve, with storytelling as an educational tool. He spoke about the moment of spark great people had experienced and the significance of emotions in learning concepts in science without getting bored. Mr. Jagadeesh Kanna is the author of The Hindu's new kids book titled 'Science with Young Hanuman'. To maximise awareness, The Hindu intends to organise in select schools a few interactive sessions with the author who is also the founder and CEO of Vaayusastra Aerospace Centre, an IIT Madras's Incubated Company. Under the Special Publications Division, The Hindu Group has published more than 170 titles since April 2017. These titles have been published under various genres like Coffee Table Book, Religious, Spiritual, History, Kids, Sports, Science and Premium series. We have published 14 titles under the Kids Series so far and Science with Young Hanuman is the latest one. Link to the book:

How would NISAR expand our understanding of the Earth?
How would NISAR expand our understanding of the Earth?

The Hindu

time5 days ago

  • The Hindu

How would NISAR expand our understanding of the Earth?

How would NISAR expand our understanding of the Earth? On July 30, the India-US space collaboration crossed a historic milestone with the successful launch of NISAR, or the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite, a flagship earth observation mission jointly developed by the two nations' space programmes. It is the first satellite to use radars of two frequencies — the L-band radar by NASA and the S-band radar by ISRO — to continuously monitor the earth's surface. NISAR is expected to provide unprecedented data on land deformation, ice-sheet dynamics, forest biomass, and natural disasters like earthquakes and floods. With its high-resolution, all-weather, day-night imaging capabilities, NISAR aims to enhance climate resilience, agricultural monitoring, and disaster response. Beyond science, NISAR also holds commercial promise to enable new data services, geospatial analytics, and early-warning systems across sectors such as insurance, infrastructure, and agriculture. Guest: Dr. Karen St. Germain, director of the Earth Science Division at the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Hosts: Mukunth V, Deputy Science Editor, The Hindu Kunal Shankar, Deputy Business Editor, The Hindu Video edited by Shivaraj S Audio edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Listen to more In Focus podcasts:

Kamchatka earthquake: How come 8.8 on Richter scale but zero casualties?
Kamchatka earthquake: How come 8.8 on Richter scale but zero casualties?

The Hindu

time6 days ago

  • The Hindu

Kamchatka earthquake: How come 8.8 on Richter scale but zero casualties?

The Richter scale is used to measure the strength of an earthquake. Theoretically, the maximum reading that's possible is 10. The most powerful quake ever recorded was 9.5, which happened in Chile in 1960. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami for instance, was caused by a quake that measured 9.2 on the Richter scale, and it led to the death of 228,000 people. The 2011 Tohoku quake in Japan measured 9 on the Richter scale – it caused the Fukushima nuclear accident, and led to more than 19,500 deaths. On July 30, the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia was hit by an earthquake of magnitude 8.8 – not far behind the deadly quakes of 2004 and 2011. It is the sixth most powerful quake ever recorded. It led to tsunami alerts in a dozen countries. But amazingly, and fortunately, for such a powerful quake, there were zero casualties. Kamchatka is on the Circum-Pacific seismic belt or the so-called 'Ring of Fire,' and is prone to seismic activity. So how did the region escape such a major earthquake with no casualties? Guest: Christina Malyk, special correspondent with Sputnik, based in Moscow. Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu Edited by Sharmada Venkatasubramanian Listen to more In Focus podcasts:

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store