Conversation 19 - Excerpt

Peter: …OK, now you run the experiment like you think you should, and I’ll watch what you do.

Marie: Well, first I clamp this test tube onto its stand…like this… and put in about five milliliters of the hydrochloric acid….

P: “About” five milliliters?! Isn’t this a scientific laboratory?

M: All right, all right. Exactly five milliliters of HCl…like this….

P: OK. Mmm… and….

M: Then I take a little piece of zinc metal with these tweezers, like this, and-

P: Are they all the same size?

M: Yeah, they seem to be. It looks like they’re pressed out of some kind of machine in standard bits.

P: And add “one”?

M: Yeah, one. Like this. And see?- it starts to bubble!