# Were any of the Professors experiments workable **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964 "2001-03-22T04:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2001, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964/1 "2001-03-22T04:57:36Z")
On Gilligan’s Island the Professer (or Roy to his friends) did a lot of experiements. Most were bogus. Obviously you can’t cure radiation by eating soap, or fill a tooth with a copper penny. What experiements, if any, were workable. Like can you really recharge, chargeable batteries, by stirring seawater quickly in coconut shells? ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964/2 "2001-04-13T04:38:17Z")
Obviously that should have been experiments. Any clue??? ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964/3 "2001-04-13T04:52:38Z")
**OH!** Now I get it! You mean “experiements” = “experiments” _That_ explains why no one has posted to this thread! [Sorry **Markxxx** I’m feelin’ smartassy this a.m.; I actually really like your question.] ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964/4 "2001-04-13T20:11:20Z")
Well, for what it’s worth, I fixed the subject line, but I doubt it’ll make a difference. On to the question, though, I don’t think that enough details were ever given to say. Most of the time, you see him just mixing gourd-beakers of various unspecified chemicals, and coming up with something which is claimed to have a particular effect. Maybe the appropriate raw materials could be found on your typical tropical island… But since we don’t know what the raw materials were, we can’t say for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964/5 "2001-04-13T23:19:58Z")
Crude batteries **can** be made with acidic fruit juice & pieces of metal. So _that_ might work. But I doubt it. As Bob Denver was once quoted as saying: > [@](#): > > I was once marooned for 20 years on an island with a guy who could build an atomic reactor out of bamboo & coconut shells, but he couldn’t patch a three foot long hole in a wooden boat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2001, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964/6 "2001-04-14T19:49:19Z")
I remember in one episode the skipper (not the professor!) turned the AM radio into a transmitter by “reversing the transistors,” or something like that. Uh, not hardly. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2001, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964/7 "2001-04-14T20:45:39Z")
IIRC, the copper penny being melted into a filling COULD be done, but the recepient would suffer from severe copper poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964/8 "2001-04-15T01:58:32Z")
Actually, turning a reciever into a transmitter is one of the few things they showed that could be done: The trick is just in getting a big enough power supply. I would have mentioned that, but of course, it wasn’t the Professor that did it. For those who are wondering, by the way, he learned it in his Navy days, but only remembered how to do it following a bump on the head. Of course, later in the episode, the transmitter fails somehow, and he gets another bump in the head, so he can’t fix it. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-any-of-the-professors-experiments-workable/58964/9 "2001-04-15T04:33:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*Actually, turning a reciever into a transmitter is one of the few things they showed that could be done: The trick is just in getting a big enough power supply. I would have mentioned that, but of course, it wasn’t the Professor that did it. > > For those who are wondering, by the way, he learned it in his Navy days, but only remembered how to do it following a bump on the head. Of course, later in the episode, the transmitter fails somehow, and he gets another bump in the head, so he can’t fix it. \*\* I agree it would be possible, but my point was that simply “reversing the transistors” wouldn’t cut it; you would have to tear out just about every component and build a transmitter circuit (amplitude modulator, etc.). But even if you could do it, you would still need another _receiver_, because an AM radio won’t have enough components to build a genuine _transceiver._