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 Welcome to anther round-up of science-related news, activities and ideas. And apologies for the delay in sending to you - we've had a few technical difficulties ... Anyway: this week we're embracing winter, with a a new 'science wonderland' homepage, a snow-white new quiz, and a sledgeful of free tickets for a magical skating experience ... Ready? Duck! Snowball coming your way... 01. WINTER WHITES QUIZ + HOMEPAGE 02. Mouses at the ready for: ICE MAGIC IN NEWCASTLE 03. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: FAST FOOD 04. 'CATCH A STAR' competition for Euro-schools 05. RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK 06. UNSUNG HEROES No 2: THE INVENTOR OF pH ... 07. WINNERS WINNERS WINNERS 08. JOKES OF THE WEEK Ready? Here we go... |
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01. WIN A SLEDGE - AND CHECK OUT THE COOL NEW HOMEPAGE
What do the following have in common? An egg, an eye, and your clothes under UV light in a nightclub? Hint: our new quiz is on the theme of 'all things white' ... Specially created to tie in with the snowy plumes of winter that will be heading our way shortly, the prizes of offer are six sledges - and all you have to do is answer 10 easy questions. Well, there might be a couple of slightly more tricky ones tucked in towards the end, but here's the first question to get you started: Q. What is the real name for egg white? a. Meringue b. Albumen b. Yukky Slime If you think you know the answer, and you'd like to do battle with the other nine questions too, here's where you'll find the full thing: While you're in the neighbourhood, treat yourself to a look at the new Planet Science homepage. Gone is the Hawaiian surfer dude - to replaced by gently falling snow and a little darling aiming his tightly-packed snowball right at your face ... enjoy! And on a related note...  |
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| 02. MOUSES AT THE READY: FOR A VERY N(ICE) OFFER ... If it's winter fun you want, and you're going to be in or around the Newcastle area over the next couple of months, stand well back! We have an extremely ice-tastic offer for you, courtesy of our friends at the Life Science Centre. You maybe already know about the Life Science Centre and all its amazing interactive exhibits and zones. (If not, you can check out the whole lot in a really nifty way, by visiting their website at http://www.lifesciencecentre.org.uk and clicking through for a 'virtual visit'). Anyway! It's a great day out for all ages whatever the season - but there are two *particularly* cool attractions on at the moment. Firstly, their Ice Magic Show, which is a 20 minute live show that takes visitors on a trip to the freezing depths of Antarctica, where temperatures can go as low as -89C. How do changes in temperature affect the solids, liquids and gases of daily life? Here's your chance to find out ... It's one of those shows that may be 'educational' in the sense that people learn things, but it feels more like entertainment, with there are plenty of fun moments along the way. Meanwhile, a huge open air ice rink has just been opened! It was a massive success last year, with over 38,000 visitors slithering across its frozen footage, so it's back and well worth a visit if you like your skating (or even if you don't, because there's a heated viewing area and café fully stocked with piping hot cups of tea and nibbles ...) Both of these winter marvels are happening now, and run until the 23rd January, and we have six - yes SIX - 4-person family passes for both the show and the ice rink. If you fancy one of them, here's what you need to do. First of all, answer the following question: Q. At what temperature does water (at sea level) freeze? Now, send an email entitled I WANT A COOL DAY OUT! to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk . Make sure you include your answer to the above questions, and a note of your name and address in the body of the text. The draw will close next Thursday at 5pm and the winners will be selected at random thereafter! Now, time for a hot snack? |
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| 03. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: FAST FOOD What have marshmallows got to do with the speed of light? Well, we can use them to measure it. It's true! And we could even do it with chocolate or cheese - fast food indeed. NB We also need to use a microwave oven, and it must be the sort where you can remove the turntable. Check with the person who owns the microwave BEFORE you attempt this experiment! You will need: * A microwave oven * A large microwave-safe plate * A packet of mini marshmallows (find them in the baking section of the supermarket) otherwise use chocolate buttons or Milky Way Stars * A ruler * A calculator Caution: Never put anything metal in a microwave - and that includes crockery with gilt or any other metallic decoration on it. Always make sure that any plates are cool before handling. And don't keep re-heating for short bursts - if the experiment doesn't worked the first time, leave the plate for a few minutes to cool down before trying again. What to do: 1. First open the marshmallows and place them on the plate, completely covering it with a layer one marshmallow thick. Make sure that the flat side of the marshmallow is facing upwards. 2. Take the turntable out of the microwave. 3. Next put the plate of marshmallows in the microwave and cook on low heat. The microwave will not cook evenly after the removal of the turntable and the marshmallows will begin to melt at the hottest spots in the microwave. 4. Heat the marshmallows until they begin to melt in 4 or 5 different spots. (roughly 30s at Medium setting). 5. Remove the plate from the microwave oven and observe the spots. With mini marshmallows you should see that certain areas look like flowers where the central marshmallow has started to swell and the surrounding neighbours also. 6. Take the ruler and measure the distance between the melted spots. In the case of the mini marshmallows you can measure between the centres of the 'flowers'. You will soon find that one distance repeats over and over. This distance will correspond to half of the wavelength of the microwave. That should be around 6 centimetres. It may be that your distance corresponds to the full wavelength of the microwave i.e. around 12 cm. 7. Now, turn the microwave around or look inside the door and look for a small sign that tells you the frequency of the microwave. Most commercial microwaves operate at 2450 MHz. We need to convert that to Hertz i.e. 2450000000 Hz. 8. Now we can do a calculation to find out the speed of light. 9. Multiply the distance you measure (it should be around 6 cm) by 2. This is equal to around 12 cm. Convert it to metres i.e. 0.12 m. 10. Now multiply this distance by the frequency of your microwave. This is equal to 0.12 times 2450,000000 Hz. 11. The answer should be close to the speed of light i.e. 300000000 or 3 x 108 m/s. What's going on? Both visible light and microwaves are forms of electromagnetic energy and therefore have the same speed since they are both part of the electromagnetic spectrum. When you turn on your microwave oven, electrical circuits inside start generating microwaves. These are electromagnetic waves with frequencies around 2.5 gigahertz (GHz), which is the same as 2500 megahertz (MHz) or 2500000000 Hz. These waves bounce back and forth between the walls of the oven. The size of the oven is chosen so that the peaks and troughs of the reflected waves line up with the incoming waves and form a "standing wave". Microwave ovens cook unevenly because of the pattern of standing waves that form inside the oven chamber. The pattern creates an array of hotspots in a complex 3D pattern throughout the oven's volume. By using a turntable the food is rotated whilst cooking so the hotspots appear in different places within the food and it cooks evenly. Have you noticed how ready meal instructions always ask you to stir the food prior to eating? Microwaves penetrate food and are absorbed by water and fat molecules. These molecules then begin to vibrate rapidly which generates heat and so cooks the food. The full wave is shaped like a "sine function" going from zero to a maximum back through zero to a negative maximum and back to zero again. The distance between the maximum displacements of the wave is one half the wavelength. The electromagnetic field inside the microwave behaves in roughly the same way - except the vibrations are in "the electromagnetic field". Where the vibrations are greatest (the anti nodes), you will see the greatest heating, but at the nodes, the mini marshmallows will only melt slowly as heat diffuses into those areas. Thus, the distance between the melted regions (x) is equal to the distance between the antinodes, and equal to half the wavelength (?) So, the detailed calculation to find the speed of light (c) is: c=?*f c=2*x*f And now after all that hard work - the only thing left is to eat them! |
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| 04. 'CATCH A STAR' ASTRO-COMPETITION Just a quick mention for the annual 'Catch A Star' competition, with its phenomenal prize of a team trip to the ESO Paranal Telescope in Chile ... This is an astronomy competition for both primary and secondary schools throughout Europe, jointly run by the European Southern Observatory and the European Association for Astronomy Education. Their aim is to stimulate young people's interest in the space, by getting them to carry out an investigation into a particular heavenly body. Full details can be found on the website at: http://www.eso.org/outreach/eduoff/edu-prog/catchastar/ Don't hang about though - if you want to take part, you have to register your team by 10th December. Then you have a month before the 10th January deadline for entries. Well, two weeks anyway, if you were planning on having a holiday during that period!) |
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| 05. RECOMMENDED WEBSITE OF THE WEEK Still on a space theme, this week's recommendation is the CASSINI-HUYGENS SCHOOLS RESOURCE. The site has been created by PPARC (The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council) and it's all about everyone's favourite planet, Saturn, and the voyage of the Cassini-Huygens mission to visit it and find out more. Saturn, as they explain, is the furthest planet that can be seen without a telescope, and the story is told of Galileo and how he was eventually able to discern the rings through the use of his (then) state-of-the-art telescope ... Whatever would he have made of the achievements of the Cassini-Huygens mission and what astronomers now know? As it's a site for teachers, you'll not be surprised to hear that there are loads of suggested activities, pictures and discussion materials, and there's something for every age group from 7 years upwards. (It's fascinating too, you'll enjoy the surf even if you're not a teacher!) Here's the link: http://www.pparc.ac.uk/chrs |
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| 06. UNSUNG HEROES No 2: SØREN SØRENSEN Charles Richter gave his name to the scale of earthquake strength, and Francis Beaufort gave his name to the scale of wind strength ... but by contrast, the man who invented the pH scale of acidity is little remembered today. Our Planet Science Hero reporter Ian Francis has been finding out more ... Every school pupil must have played with universal indicator solution or litmus papers to classify various solutions as 'acid' (pH below 7), 'neutral' (pH7) or 'alkaline' (over pH7), but how many know that these are the legacy of a Danish farmer's son called Søren Sørensen? Sørensen was a medic-turned biochemist, born in 1868. Like John Adams the unsung astronomer we featured last week, Sørensen was the son of a farmer, but his career as a chemist led him to become only the second-ever director of the Carlsberg Laboratory, in 1901. The Carlsberg Brewery was then one of the biggest chemists in the business, due to their interest in the biochemical process of fermentation, and while he was there, he conducted research into enzymes and proteins. Much of his research work was conducted together with his wife Margrethe, and they realised that the activity of the substances was very dependent on how acid or alkaline the conditions were. Sørensen's most significant creation, the pH scale, saw the light of day in1909. The scale refers to the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution. Hydrogen ions are relevant because the higher the concentration of hydrogen ions, the more acid the solution. But because the concentration of these ions in the strongest acids could be 10 million times that of the weakest acids, a clever bit of maths (using logarithms) helps keep the numbers sensible. Each step in the pH scale represents a 10 times change in the concentration of hydrogen ions. So lemon juice at pH 2 is 10 times more acid than orange juice at pH3, and 100 times more acid than acid rain of pH4. Originally it was called 'PH' with a capital letter 'P'. The 'H' seems better to have kept the capital letter as it refers to hydrogen ions, the main player; while the 'p' refers to the power or strength. Even though Sorensen's name didn't stick, his scale is still in everyday use. Farmers and gardeners know that the pH of soil affects how well plants will grow. Acidity regulation is needed to keep food tasting its best, and the phrase 'pH balanced' is regularly trotted out in cosmetic commercials to suggest the product they're trying to sell is kind to your skin ... |
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| 07. WINNERS WINNERS WINNERS Lots of winners to announce this week ... First of all, the winners of our November Autumn Browns Quiz, and thus the recipients of a bumper pack of Green & Chocolate chocolate, are: Sheila Tarpey from Manchester Susan Kay from Exeter Penny Lander from Wiltshire Catherine Buchanan from Ipswitch Cressida Jones from Lancashire Allie Jones from Lancashire Carys Raison from Mid Glamorgan Maggie Nock from Wolverhampton Beth Thayne from Glasgow Diane Cook from Surrey Graeme Sneddon, Glasgow Javier Lozano from Liverpool Betty Alonzo from Liverpool Helen Flint from Doncaster Scott Mawdsley from Portsmouth Wanda Renham from Kent Luke Raines from Dorset Diane Allum from Sandhurst Bob Knight from Essex Jane Ladson from Sheffield As for Dr Mark's Circus Science books, we were inundated with entries for the draw, and the three names out the hat were: Sandie Dixon from Egremont in Cumbria Aaron Cross from 28 Engineer Regt, BFPO Sally Thurlow from Swindon And finally: the winners of the family tickets to the Space Odyssey talks were: For the Bristol talk on Sunday 5th December: H Janes of Bridgnorth in Shropshire For the London talk on Sunday 12th December: Dave Overton of Cottingham |
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08. JOKES OF THE WEEK |
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