View source for Lecture Demonstration

{{Infobox short story
| name              = Lecture Demonstration
| author            = [[Hal Clement]]
| country           = [[United States]]
| language          = [[English language|English]]
| series            = 
| genre             = [[Science fiction]]
| published_in      = ''[[Astounding: The John W Campbell Memorial Anthology]]''
| publication_type  = [[Anthology]]
| publisher         = 
| media_type        = Print ([[Hardcover]])
| pub_date          = 1973
}}
"'''Lecture Demonstration'''" is a [[science fiction]] [[short story]] by American writer [[Hal Clement]].  It was first published in ''[[Astounding: The John W Campbell Memorial Anthology]]'' in 1973. The story is set on the planet [[Mesklin]] as used in the author's novel ''[[Mission of Gravity]]'', but in an earlier period when the college established by the Terrestrials is still being set up and the teachers as well as the students are still learning.

==Plot summary==
Dr LaVerne, a teacher with the college, takes a party of Mesklinite students on a geological expedition. Whilst examining a layer of rock, it collapses. LaVerne and the students fall into a cavern. They are unable to climb out; the limiting factor is time, as the teacher is enclosed in a suit with a finite [[oxygen]] supply.

The students and teacher discuss various possibilities until they realise that they can raise the melting point of the surrounding [[ammonia]] 'snow' to the point where it solidifies. They climb out to safety.

[[Category:1973 short stories]]
[[Category:Science fiction short stories]]


{{1970s-sf-story-stub}}