es a little sail-boat
and went sailing in it. A storm came up. The boat rocked badly
and was in danger of tipping over. "Throw out all the heavy
things, quick!" shouted one. "No, no, don't for the life of
you do it!" called another. "Chop down the mast--here, give me
the hatchet!" another one said. "Crouch way down--lie on the
bottom." "No, keep moving over to the side that is tipped up!"
"Hold the things in the bottom of the boat still, so they'll
not keep rolling from side to side." "Jump out and swim!"
Every one was shouting at once. Which parts of the advice
should you have followed if you had been on board?

INFERENCE EXERCISE

Explain the following:

21. A ship when it goes to sea always carries ballast (weight)
in its bottom.

22. If the ship springs a leak below the water line, the water
rushes in.

23. The ship's pumps suck the water up out of the bottom of
the ship.

24. The water pours back into the sea from the mouths of the
pumps.

25. As the sailors move back and forth on the ship during a
storm, they walk with their legs spread far apart.

26. Although the ship tips far from side to side, it rights
itself.

27. However far the ship tips, the surface of the water in the
bottom stays almost horizontal.

28. While the ship is in danger, the people put on life
preservers, which are filled with cork.

29. When the ship rocks violently, people who are standing up
are thrown to the floor, but those who are sitting down do not
fall over.

30. If the ship fills with water faster than the engines can
pump it out, the ship sinks.

CHAPTER TWO

MOLECULAR ATTRACTION

SECTION 6. _How liquids are absorbed: Capillary attraction._

Why do blotters pull water into themselves when a flat piece
of glass will not?

How does a towel dry your face?

Suppose you could turn off nature's laws in the way that you can turn
off electric lights. And suppose you stood in front of a switchboard
with each switch labeled with the name of the law it would shut off.
Of course, there is no such switchboard, but we know pretty well what
would happen if we _could_ shut off various laws. One of the least
dangerous-looking switches would be one labeled CAPILLARY ATTRACTION.
And now, just for fun, suppose that you have turned that switch off in
order to see the effect.