THE LAB
Welcome to The Lab.
This is where we stop arguing about whether an idea should work and start asking what happens when we actually test it.
You don't need a white coat, an engineering degree or a million-dollar laboratory. You need a question, a reasonable way to test it, enough knowledge to do it safely, and the willingness to accept whatever answer the experiment gives you.
THE RESULT YOU HOPED TO GET.
FROM QUESTION TO ANSWER
It doesn't have to be complicated. Good experiments usually begin with a simple question.
ASK THE QUESTION
What are we trying to find out? A clear question is worth more than a complicated experiment.
MAKE A PREDICTION
What do we think will happen — and why? Write it down before the experiment gets a chance to change our mind.
BUILD THE TEST
Build only what is necessary to test the question. Fancy equipment doesn't automatically make better evidence.
MEASURE IT
Voltage, current, temperature, pressure, speed, fuel, time — whatever matters. Numbers help keep our eyes honest.
DO IT AGAIN
One surprising result is interesting. A result that happens repeatedly under the same conditions is much more useful.
REPORT WHAT HAPPENED
Not what we wanted to happen. Not what somebody said should happen. Record what actually happened.
“BUT LOOK — IT'S WORKING!”
A motor spinning, hydrogen bubbling, a battery charging or a light glowing tells us something is happening. It doesn't necessarily tell us how efficient the system is, where all the energy came from, or whether we're getting more useful energy than we're putting in.
MEASUREMENT TELLS US WHAT WE FOUND.
KEEP A LAB NOTEBOOK
Write down what you built, the materials used, dimensions, settings, measurements, changes you made and anything unusual you noticed.
Take photographs. Draw terrible sketches. Keep receipts. Write numbers on scraps of paper if that's what you've got. Six months from now, that ugly little note may answer the question: “Now what in the world did I do here?”
THE LAB RULES
02. Change one thing at a time whenever possible.
03. Measure input and output.
04. Keep notes before changing the experiment.
05. Repeat surprising results.
06. Look for the explanation you might have missed.
07. Never hide a result because you don't like it.
08. Know when the safest experiment is the one you don't perform.
⚠ THE BORING PART THAT KEEPS US ALIVE
Electricity, hydrogen, batteries, chemicals, pressure vessels, heat, fire and rotating machinery can injure or kill. Knowing how an experiment works includes knowing how it can fail. Use appropriate protective equipment, ventilation, electrical protection and safe procedures. Never reproduce an experiment simply because you saw somebody else do it.
BE WILLING TO BE WRONG.
Discovering that your idea doesn't work isn't losing. Discovering why it doesn't work means you know something today that you didn't know yesterday.
And every once in a while, the experiment does something nobody expected.
WHAT SHOULD WE TEST NEXT?
Have an experiment you've performed, a question you think can be tested, or an idea you'd like somebody to investigate? Bring it into The Lab.
SUBMIT AN IDEA FOR THE LAB →