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01. TRANSIT OF VENUS
"To have seen even a part of a transit of Venus is an event to remember for a lifetime, and we felt more delight than can be easily expressed..." So wrote Professor Sir Robert Stawell Ball in 1885. Nobody alive today has ever seen it happen, but a week on Tuesday, weather permitting, we'll get our chance... As mentioned in last week's newsletter, the astronomical event has its own website (how things have changed since Professor Ball's time) and you can find it at: http://www.transit-of-venus.org.uk/ However, there are now additional - and rather more colourful - resources to be found on our own Planet Science site too, here. Special highlights include a pair of orbiting animations that show why the event is so rare... To check out the nifty technique for observing the Sun safely over your shoulder, click here - all you'll need is two pieces of white card and a pin, so put them in your bag right now, and even if you get stuck in gridlocked traffic on the morning of the 8th, you'll be able to give it a go...  |
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| 02. HERE COMES THE SUN QUIZ Meanwhile, if it's solar activity you're interested in, and you think your Sun IQ is up to scratch, why not have a go at our new June Sun Shiner quiz? All you need to do is answer 10 questions correctly, and you'll go into the draw to win a solar-powered Freeplay radio. Sounds easy huh? But just watch out because there are one or two tricky questions lurking in amongst those dazzling rays... Click here to go to the quiz. |
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| 03. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK: STATIC ATTACK You know that strange sensation when your chocolate biscuit wrapper refuses to leave you alone and sticks to your fingers no matter how hard to shake it off? Or how your hair develops a mind of its own, and a flagrant disregard for the law of gravity, after a bout of vigorous brushing? What's all that about? Here's an activity that will allow you to explore the sticky world of static... You will need: * A plastic ruler * A duster * A scrap of plastic film e.g. cellophane * A scrap of aluminium foil * A scrap of paper What to do: 1. Tear up the scraps of paper, packaging and foil into small pieces and place them in separate piles on a smooth surface. 2. Spread out a few pieces of plastic packaging. 3. Rub the ruler vigorously with the duster. 4. Place the ruler on top of the pieces of packaging. Hey presto! The pieces stick to the ruler. 5. Put the pieces back on the surface and see if you can pick them up with the ruler again. Amazing eh? 6. Now breathe along both sides of the ruler, and try again. Can you pick the pieces up now? 7. Try it once more but this time use the foil. Does it still work? What about paper? |
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| 04. THE BIG BUG COUNT 'Is the UK losing its buzz?' Or, in other words, is our insect population declining? That's what the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is aiming to find out this summer - and they want YOU to help them find out. The UK is host to 23,000 species of insects, and for many birds and other animals, they're are an essential source of food, which is one reason the RSPB are so concerned. Our six-legged friends are more than just tasty in-flight snacks for birds though; in fact they prop up our whole ecosystem because they pollinate plants, and help to recycle all sorts of dead organic matter, including animals. We'd be in a mess without them - and we'd have no honey either... Helping with this survey sounds like a lot of fun though, whether you're coming at it from a point of eco-responsibility, or just trying to find something to keep the kids busy on a Saturday afternoon. All you need is a car, somewhere to go, and a 'Splatometer'. If you've never seen such a thing as a 'splatometer' before, you're in for a treat. There's a pdf template on the RSPB's website for you to print off, mount on card if possible, and cut out the six windows as indicated. There's also a 'Big Bug Count Journey Log' you'll need to keep track of your findings. Then, get in your car and go for a drive (20-80 miles is the type of distance they'd like if possible). Now get out of car in a safe place, position splatometer in the middle of your front number plate, and count the splats in each of the windows... Then submit your results online. Fancy taking part? Here's where you'll find all the information: http://www.rspb.org.uk/bugcount/index.asp Poor old insects. |
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| 05. MOUSES AT THE READY: FOR MAGNA CENTRE If you're in or around the Rotherham area and fancy an adventurous day out, here's an idea for you... Our friends at the Magna Centre have offered us four family passes for a big day out at their lovely venue, and if you've ever visited this award-winning science centre before, you'll know it's designed to have more adventures per square metre than most other places in the UK. There are four giant pavilions which are themed Fire, Air, Earth and Water, and each one's full of interactives and displays to make you wonder afresh at the elemental power of our world. There's also a live show, and for the benefit of younger visitors there's a huge adventure playground outside. Explore their groovily animated site and find out more at: http://www.magnatrust.org.uk Fancy one of those family passes? Then send an email to planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk entitled MAGNA CENTRE TICKETS! Make sure you include a note of your name and address in the message or we can't put you in the draw. The winners will be randomly selected at 5pm next Thursday... Good luck! |
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| 06. THIS WEEK IN SCIENCE HISTORY This week sees the dual anniversary of both the birth (4th June 1910) and the death (1st June 1999) of Sir Christopher Cockerell, the inventor of the hovercraft. Cockerell was a British electronics engineer who had worked on advanced radar and navigational equipment for the Italian company Marconi. Leaving Marconi at the end of the fifties, he began his own boat-hire business. Here, his trained engineer's mind came up with a novel solution to the challenge which any body faces when attempting to make headway through a liquid medium. The actual movement of such a body - say, a fish or a boat - through water is the net result of four different forces acting upon it: thrust; drag; lift; weight. 'Thrust' is the force which the fish or boat produces to push itself forward; while 'drag' is the force which resists this movement (the water ahead 'pushing back', so to speak). 'Weight' is of course the force which gravity exerts, tending to cause the fish or boat to sink; and 'lift' is the opposing force, keeping it level or moving upwards. In many fish, the average density of body tissue is close to that of water, which means that weight and 'static lift' (also know as 'buoyancy') are normally equal. Such fish will tend to maintain the same depth in the water. Fish which are heavier than water must create 'hydrodynamic lift'. In this case, their side (or 'pectoral') fins act as hydrofoils: when the fish tilts its fins, water moves faster over the upper surface than the lower. This produces a higher pressure below the fin than above it, and this pressure difference creates the 'lift' which pushes the fish upwards. However, the real problem for bodies trying to move fast through water is drag. Drag increases with the square of speed. So if speed doubles, drag quadruples; and if speed triples, drag increases nine-fold. Swimming fast therefore requires the ability to produce vast amounts of thrust to overcome the mounting drag-force. This is why, in some fast-swimming species of fish, as much as 60% of body weight consists of thrust-producing muscle. Cockerell's breakthrough idea was to support the water-faring body on a cushion of air. This would both provide lift - so counteracting weight - and minimise drag - so requiring less thrust. In modern hovercraft, a large fan blows air into a flexible rubberised cavity called the 'skirt', situated between the vehicle and the water surface. Once the air pressure inside the skirt is greater than the pressure acting to push the craft down - that is when 'lift' is greater than 'weight' - the craft hovers. A backward-pointing propeller then engages to provide the 'thrust' needed to counteract the relatively small 'drag' produced by the craft's reduced contact with water. Cockerell originally used a cat-food tin, a coffee tin, a pair of kitchen scales, and a vacuum cleaner to show that a stream of air could produce the required lift, which just proves that you should never let a lack of high-tech gadgetry stand between you and your potential place in the history books... |
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| 07. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK We've had solar power, we've had static electricity, so this week we're keeping with the energy theme and rounding up three good energy-related sites which have come our way over the last couple of years in case you missed them. First of all, the Museum of Science and Industry Manchester's JOULE AND ENERGY SITE. 'Joules' are of course are the basic unit in which energy is measured, and the man after whom they were named was James Prescott Joule. The MSIM are very proud of him as he was a local lad, and this site explains all about energy, at the same time as putting his life, times and experiments into their historical and scientific context, in fact by some miracle of time-travel they've got the man himself to explain what he did and why. Find it at: http://www.msim.org.uk/joule/index.htm * * * * * Next up, ENERGY SOURCES, a site for secondary pupils that explores all sorts of energy sources including solar, wind, tidal, nuclear, fossil, and geothermal fuel. This site was originally suggested to us by Becky Hodson, a science teacher who's a great fan of the site's classroom resources. Here's the website: http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg * * * * * And finally for this week, if you've ever wondered what it's like to be on an old rig, or what going on in an oil refinery, DISCOVER PETROLEUM is the site for you. The site is in two sections, ages 8-12 and 13-16, with photographic virtual tours in both, and extra games if you're in the younger age group. The tours are quite basic in format, but it's an effective way of giving you an overview of the processes involved, and there's an "info bank" if you need to find out more. You might come across one or two technical bugs in there (we did) but it's still well worth a visit. The address is: http://www.energyinst.org.uk/discover |
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| 08. AWKWARD QUESTION OF THE WEEK If last week's Awkward Question left you dangling, relax, because the penny, along with the fairground daredevil, is about to drop... Let's revisit the scene: A rather dim human cannonball act shoots the human cannonball vertically upwards. How does their take-off speed compare to their landing speed- faster, slower, or the same? Why? ... and here comes the answer: It's tempting to say 'same speed' thinking of the famous Law of Conservation of Energy (the one that goes 'Energy can't be created or destroyed, just changed between different forms'). But let's look more closely at what's going on... The initial kinetic energy (movement energy) at take-off is steadily traded for gravitational potential energy (stored energy) on the way up. At the top of the trajectory, (when the canonballer thinks 'I can see for miles!'), they're momentarily stationary, with no kinetic and 100% potential energy. Coming down, they get faster and faster with more kinetic energy and less potential energy the further they fall. If this were the only energy transfer then the landing speed would indeed match the take off speed. But other transfers are nibbling away at the total energy 'pie'. Friction due to air resistance acts to slow down the canonballer on both the upward and downward journey. The result is that he/she doesn't get as high as if there were no friction going up and there's a further robbing of energy by air resistance on the return trip. So the final kinetic energy and therefore landing speed is LESS than the take-off speed, because some of the initial energy has been side tracked into heat and sound. You'd still want a well-positioned safety net to land in though... * * * * * Ready for another? It's short but sweet (if you like fiendish things that is). Why would you have got less done in a day during the time of the dinosaurs? (Assume you still have all modern conveniences and supermarkets could still deliver your groceries). Answer next week! |
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09. WINNERS OF 'LION KING' TICKETS |
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| 10. JOKES OF THE WEEK Lots of jokes this week, so make sure you've got your medication at the ready! First of all, from Chris Parry of Summit Saturday School: PATIENT: Doctor, Doctor I think I'm seeing double. DOCTOR: Kindly go over there and lie on the couch. PATIENT: Certainly Doctor, but..... which one? and Q:What happens when Frog parks illegally? A: He gets Toad away! "Did I hear a croaky groan?" asks Chris. Hmmmm! Ali & the boys have another add to the onslaught: Q: Why did the explorer take his camera to the North Pole? A: To get some cool pictures. And finally, a performance-joke from Dale Robinson. Dale advises, "Do the man's voice, for extra effect in this joke, by screwing your nose up really tightly and talking through it." Here we go: A man with the flattest nose you've ever seen goes into the doctor's. It's pressed almost flat against the rest of his face. "Doctor you need to help me." "What's the problem?" "It's my nose, it's really flat and makes me talk funny." "How did it ever come to look like this?" "I eat roses." "How does eating roses give you a nose like that?" " I eat them off the wallpaper." Thanks to Dale, Chris, Ali and the boys... More jokes are urgently needed, so please follow their stalwart lead and send in the next good joke you hear. Or make that just the next joke. (We'll raise the bar if and when we ever get into a position to be choosy!)  That's everything we could lay our hands on this week, but there'll be new batch of nuggets along in seven days' time. If you have any contributions for future newsletters, please send them to Anne McNaught on the NEW email address, planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk Have a great week! |
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