science

Mr Percival

Mr Percival is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mr Percival rather than just read about it. In short: Mr Percival (1976 – 2 September 2009) was an Australian pelican, noted for his appearance in the 1976 Australian film Storm Boy. He was one of three trained pelicans used in the film, based on the 1964 novel of the same name.

Key takeaways

Mr Percival belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mr Percival to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mr Percival from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mr Percival (1976 – 2 September 2009) was an Australian pelican, noted for his appearance in the 1976 Australian film Storm Boy. He was one of three trained pelicans used in the film, based on the 1964 novel of the same name. He lived at the Marineland aquarium at West Beach until it closed in 1988, then at the Adelaide Zoo. Mr Percival, whose name at the zoo was Gringo, fathered seven chicks with partner Alto, the last in 2007. He died on 2 September 2009.

See also List of animal actors List of individual birds

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mr Percival

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mr Percival claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mr Percival before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mr Percival ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mr Percival

In research: Mr Percival appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mr Percival in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mr Percival is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1976 animal births, 2009 animal deaths, Animal actors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mr Percival outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mr Percival in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mr Percival means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mr Percival out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mr Percival in simple terms?

Why does Mr Percival matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mr Percival?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mr Percival.