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1. Stump the Scientist
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 This week’s stumper comes from Paul Bland who says:
"We're currently revising group one metals in year 11 and have (after much staff room discussion) decided to turn to "stump the scientist" for help.
Does anybody know why, just when it has almost been used up, the sodium or potassium may suddenly give a fierce explosion and throw sparks out when dropped in water? Sometimes it just fizzles to nothing, but sometimes it can be fierce enough to throw out pieces that burn the bench.
I'm sure it's just a matter of time before a pupil asks me the same question!"
If you can help or have a burning question of your own then send us an email with STUMP THE SCIENTIST in the subject line to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk
Do you remember the wealth of answers we had to last week’s stumper? Peter Levitt has an excellent analogy to the conduction/radiation debate:
"Here is a good model: A teacher wants to move a stack of books from the desk to the back of the room.
The class scatter themselves randomly around the room, arms length apart,and pass books from hand to hand until all the books eventually reach the back = conduction.
The students near the teacher's desk carry a few books each to the back of the room, unload and come back for more books = convection.
The teacher throws the books one at a time to the back of the room = radiation."
He also responds to the comment about exam questions:
"A few words in defence of exam question setters - I speak from experience! Exam questions are written, checked, submitted, scrutinised and then re-written before the final print. Teams of well-qualified and experienced teachers do this work - they are good scientists. They then produce a mark scheme which allows the numerous responses that students can come up with to be accommodated. Sometimes a 'simplistic' or generalised answer can be the best solution. However ALL answers that express correct science are credited. The original statement was about a REVISION GUIDE not an exam question. There is a significant and important difference! The revision guide is sold for profit and so extra words mean more costs and hence less profit for a given price."
Thanks for those Peter.
Why do some plastic bags disintegrate in the freezer?
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2. Royal Prize winners
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This week saw the announcement of the winners of the Royal Society Science Book Prizes. The winners are Junior Prize: Can you feel the force? by Richard Hammond and General Prize: Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert.
In ‘Can You Feel The Force?’ Richard Hammond uses physics to answer questions like "Can you lie on a bed of nails?" and "Can you walk on custard?". He probably has a few other physics questions up his sleeve no doubt, after his dramatic crash earlier this year. Planet Science sponsored 25 of the 119 groups that took part in the judging (yeah! Let’s hear it for Planet Science!). Hands up those who chose this as the best book? Well done you lot and well done Richard. And if you were wondering if it IS possible to walk on custard then look no further...
Why are there rainbows in puddles sometimes?
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3. Activity of the Week: Custard Gone Crazy
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 Yes it's that old Planet Science classic!
If you've never done this for a group of unsuspecting people before then give it a try, kids, adults... everyone can't get enough of feeling the wierdness. Good idea to have something to wipe your hands on standing by.
You will need:
- Custard powder (or cornflour – but not instant custard powder)
- Water
- Eggcup
- Bowl
- Spoon
- Food colouring (optional)
What to do:
- Put 8 eggcups of custard powder or cornflour into a bowl.
- Slowly add 3 eggcups of water, gently stirring the mixture as you add the water to make sure you don't get any lumps. (Still too dry? Add a little bit more water.)
- The result is a strange yellow substance that can act like a solid (if you punch it quickly or roll it into a ball) and also acts like liquid (if you touch it gently). Weird.
- If you increase the amounts of custard powder and water, you could in theory fill a paddling pool with the mixture, and run across the top without falling in. (If you do this you can jump up and down, but when you stop jumping you sink into the mixture. To remove your feet pull gently or you may be stuck there for good!)
What’s going on?
When you move the custard mix around slowly the custard powder particles can move around in the water quite freely, and so it acts as a liquid. When you move the mix faster or hold it in your hand tightly, the solid particles rub against each other causing friction. This makes them stick together and act like a solid.
A solid-liquid mixture that behaves in this way is called dilatant.
Another dilatant mixture is quicksand – a mixture of sand and water. If you are ever stuck in a patch of quicksand, don’t start to thrash about wildly! The sand particles stick together and it will be harder to get out. But if you move very slowly, the quicksand behaves like a liquid and you can get out, or just lie back and float on it if you prefer.
So can you walk on custard? Yes if the mix is right and you walk quickly, but don’t hang about else you’ll mess up your Nikes good and proper!
This experiment came from Planet Science’s Little Book of Experiments
What is the purpose of all the face furniture on a turkey?
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4. Mouses at the Ready
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 Stars in your eyes - can we really see to infinity and beyond?If you’ve been enjoying our features by Dr Ben Craven (Spurious Science for example and Mind-blowing Maths) then join him as he sets his sights on the heavens above. During this evening talk under the twinkling stars of the Centre’s planetarium, Ben will take a sideways look at the secrets of our sense of sight and explore if seeing really is believing when it comes to stargazing.
Where: Glasgow Science Centre’s Scottish Power Planetarium
When; 31st May 2007
Time: 7pm. Doors open at 6.45pm
Tickets: £4.95
Telephone: 0871 540 1000
We have FOUR tickets to give away so if you want to go to this intriguing talk (part of the Thursdays Under the Stars series) then send an email with your name and address, and the words UNDER THE STARS in the subject line, to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk.
The draw will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 23rd May.
Why don’t our elbows bend backwards?
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Planet SciCast Workshop - Cardiff, Thursday, 28th June
Have you seen some of the movies on Planet SciCast? www.planet-scicast.com/ Our resident expert Jonathan Sanderson has been working with schools and teachers to make these movies to inspire you to get filiming yourself. The last of his workshops for teachers is to be held in Cardiff on Thursday 28th June, (9.30 to 4pm - lunch provided) and there are a number of places left. It's a totally hands-on day; you'll work in teams to film and edit your mini-movie of a science demonstration, and you'll get hints and tips on how best to do this with your students too. This workshop would cost quite big money, if we were charging for it - but we're not, so if you are interested in taking part please email scicast@nesta.org.uk with Cardiff in the subject line.
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Win Bedlam Cubes!
Don’t forget the May Mayhem Quiz. Answer the ten questions and you could win one of two Platinum Bedlam Cubes. The Bedlam Cube is the hardest & most addictive 3-D puzzle ever. Strangely enough it is named after the inventor and not the asylum!
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Calling all primary teachers...
Are you teaching primary science? Or have you got a little 'un at home who loves science? Then Dr Sai Pathmanathan would like to hear from you. Two small science education projects are being run as part of a Masters in Science Education, and she'd like feedback from primary science teachers, parents and pupils. To find out more, contact Sai on spsciencemail-stuff@yahoo.co.uk
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ETB Careers Site - 16+
Have you seen the new incarnation of the Engineering and Technology Board’s careers site www.scenta.co.uk.
It’s aimed at the 16 + age range, with news on top engineering topics from aerospace and energy, to film and travel - plus info on the various related engineering careers you can take up. Along with the revamp comes blogs and forums, which you’ll see are populated with a few rather interesting types. But look up to your top left on that page. They need you, science people and students! After all, you’re interesting too... and if you’re really very interesting you might win £30 in Amazon vouchers. Simply comment on a blog, forum or any article to win. Or if you fancy writing a blog, contact lynda.stamford@scenta.co.uk to find out how.
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Marvellous Munchers at the Grant Museum – KS1–KS3
Free family activity day! No need to book.
From camels to cockroaches and monkeys to mammoths, come and explore the amazing diversity of the planet's plant-eaters. Take part in the amazing hands-on activities with fascinating specimens and see what you can discover about the world’s chewers, chompers, grazers and grinders.
Saturday 19th May 10am to 4pm
Free
www.grant.museum.ucl.ac.uk
Why does swimming pool water look blue?
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CLEAPSS
Just a quick message to wish Peter Borrows a happy retirement! CLEAPSS have helped Planet Science make sure nothing untoward will occur with our suggested experiments, and Peter’s been their director for nearly 12 years. It’s a membership organisation and if you don’t know about them have a look at their website. They specialise in safe, exciting and (our favourite) practical science for primary and secondary teachers and students.
www.cleapss.org.uk/
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Mint Packs Disaspearmint
Yes, They've ALL GONE! Which means that 5000 packs of mint seeds are now germinating, growing, sprouting and leafing throughout the UK! (If you've remembered to water them of course...). If you have any mint tales that you'd like to share with Planet Science Newsletter readers, or any cool photos of your mint doing its thing than do drop us a line planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk
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The Napoleonic Surgeon, Half Term Talk
Have you ever wondered at the lack of gruesome talks about pain, infection, amputation and scary instruments over half term? Well, you'll be pleased to know that the Royal College of Surgeons have spotted that niche in the market and are offering two talks on The Napoleonic Surgeon on Tuesday 29th May 2007, 12.00 and 14.00. Join Mr Mick Crumplin FRCS, Honorary Curator of the Historical Surgical Instrument Collections who will appear as a surgeon working in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries during the Napoleonic Wars. He will describe and demonstrate some of the operations performed on the battlefield, at sea and in civilian life, at a time when hygiene was poor and pain relief unheard of. A chance to get up close and personal with surgical instruments used at that time! Suitable for all ages. Tickets are FREE but pre-booking is essential. Please call 020 7869 6560 to book. Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons, 35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PE
www.rcseng.ac.uk/museums
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Yenka 3d Shapes
Good discount spot by PS webmaster Neelesh, at the start of June, Crocodile Clips will be launching Yenka 3D Shapes. It's a new user-friendly 3D geometry tool which lets teachers and students experiment with shapes, measurement, scale and volume. Yenka 3D shapes will be available on 4 June 2007. To celebrate the launch, any UK school that registers on www.yenka.com before the end of May will be sent a 25% discount voucher. Registration is free, and carries no obligations.
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7. Recommended websites of the week
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Which scientific question does the nation most want answers to?
Psychologist, Richard Wiseman is curious about why a balloon makes such a loud bang when popped, Adam Hart-Davis wants to know whether fizzy drinks stay fizzier if kept in the fridge and Jonathan Kestenbaum, Chief Executive of NESTA (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts), wants to know why our hair turns grey as we age.
But which scientific questions do you most want answered?
NESTA FameLab, the national competition to find the new voices of UK science and engineering, the Cheltenham Science Festival and the Daily Telegraph want to discover which scientific questions the nation most wants answers to. Whether it's whether woodpeckers get headaches or why wet objects look darker than dry ones we want to know!
Visit www.telegraph.co.uk/science to see what questions the experts want answered, submit your own burning questions and if you are feeling clever provide some answers. Okay then, since you’re asking – what are those furry things that hang down on a goat’s neck?
Results will be announced just ahead of the NESTA FameLab final on 9 June at the Cheltenham Science Festival.
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Last week we had two giveaways. Now don’t go getting used to it – that was a special treat. A year’s subscription to Okido magazine, the new magazine aimed at 2-7 yearolds goes to Elspeth Hartley from Halifax. Congratulations!
The winner of the Royal Society Junior Book Prize is Mrs S. Stubbs of Derby. Hope you enjoy the books!
How does paper cut you? Something so innocuous yet so painful!
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9. Joke of the week
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A man walks into a bar and orders a pint. Then he hears little voices saying things like ‘Ooooh, you look really nice’ and: ‘That haircut really suits you’. He tells the barman about it, and the barman says: ‘Just ignore it, it’s the peanuts – they’re complimentary’.
Don’t blame us! This came from ‘Laughlab – The Scientific Quest for the World’s Funniest Joke’. And there’s plenty more where that came from...
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PS if you would like to unsubscribe from the newsletter please reply to this email nsonawane@nesta.org.uk with unsubscribe as the subject line.
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