Randomised Friday 12th December 2008 Issue 20

Thank Randomised it’s Friday! This is your last Randomised before the Holiday – so wishing you all a very good one, from all at Planet Science. Back next Year!
  1. Planet Picks - Planet-Super-Cast-Quiz
  2. Gear Giveaway - Sprout Crackers
  3. Over 2U! - Table Tricks
  4. Winners - November Flipsides

1.Planet Picks - Planet-Super-Cast-Quiz
"SPLISH! SPLOSH! Sounds like water drops. AHOY! It's Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner.

Sub-Mariner
Namor's special blood system means he can withstand freezing temperatures and of course he breathes underwater! Is it all in the blood or science fiction?

Maybe the Sub-Mariner's blood is made up of fluorocarbons that carry more dissolved oxygen and have a lower freezing temperature than blood. Try making your own special blood.

Could a person breathe underwater?
Not without an artificial breathing device. Sea water (H2O) contains plenty of oxygen but most of the oxygen is joined to hydrogen and can't be transferred into the blood. The LikeAFish artificial gill uses a centrifuge system to lower the pressure of the water releasing the free oxygen dissolved in it. Another artificial breathing device uses electricity to split the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gas (electrolysis).

Sea Wave
Sea Wave (St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School) has two lungs - one artificial to allow her to breathe under water - and a super suit with a shape memory alloy mermaid tail that unfolds when she presses a button.

Keeping warm at the bottom of the deep blue sea...
What about a phase-change material super suit that adjusts the temperature by absorbing or giving out heat?

The competition deadline has been changed to the 9th of January 2009. Visit Planet Super Powers! to find out more and enter the competition.”

Thanks Miz, mightily wateringly interesting!


And here’s something else with the deadline of 9th January – Planet SciCast www.planet-scicast.com – if you’re thinking of making a film in the holidays – EXCELLENT!

Check out the site and observe…you really don’t have to slave away for days to whip up something bright, breezy and brilliant fun, with some serious science included. We’ve updated the film school section so if you need any tips or hints that’s a good place to start. You don’t need fancy equipment either, a phone camera or the movie option on a digital stills camera will work, as long as you can edit it together afterwards. If your teacher hasn’t already noticed SciCast, it might make a great end of term project with the school kit.

If your film wins an award category, you’ll get a coveted trophy at a glitzy award ceremony (oooer!) and £250 of Amazon vouchers to spend.

Which brings us to the Planet Science Winter Wonderland Quiz 2008 www.planet-science.com/quiz, which we’ve brought down from the Planet Science loft, dusted off and trimmed with 40 new questions and tinselly silliness. You may remember that it’s impossible not to get them all right, as the quiz will give you a stern shake of the head if you dare to answer incorrectly – this means that literally everyone who enters will be in the running for a bonkers Christmas pack of games, tricks and toys.

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2. Gear Giveaway - Sprout crackers

Crackers eh? Corny jokes, tired paper hats and plastic moustaches? Not this year my friend. How about pulling your cracker only to find inside sprout crackersa loveable plastic sprout to wind up and race against his mates. Yay! We have TWO boxes of Clockwork Brussels Sprout Christmas Crackers to give away!

Would you like to win one? If so then email us with your name and address, and the words SPROUT AND ABOUT in the subject line, to randomised.news@nesta.org.uk

The draw will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 17 December and we’ll send the crackers in time for you-know-when.

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3. Over 2U! - Science experiments for you to try at home...

Balancing Forks - Advanced Level!

Picture the scene: Christmas Holidays. There is dinner devastation all around and everyone is groaning and wishing they hadn’t stuffed their face quite so much. They need cheering up and distracting. They need you (supervised by a responsible adult of course who hasn’t overindulged too much, it involves fire after all) to show them this mind-bogglingly fantastic trick…

You will need:

  • 1 cork

  • 1 cocktail stick

  • 2 identical metal forks

  • 1 glass

  • Matches

What to do:

  1. Push the two forks symmetrically and firmly into the side of the cork so that the handles of the forks form about a 90-degree angle.

  2. Push the cocktail stick carefully into the end cork; take care the cocktail stick does not break at the tip when you push it into the cork.

  3. Now put the cocktail stick on your finger, and try to balance the above assembly on your finger. If the angle of the forks is suitable, you should find a point on the cocktail stick that you can balance the forks. Mark this point.

  4. Now try to balance the assembly on the rim of the glass. It should balance at about the marked point on the cocktail stick - even though this seems highly unlikely, being such a top-heavy construction ... So, just to clarify, you've got part of the cocktail stick inside the rim of the glass, and everything else balancing on the outside.

  5. Now for the even crazier bit. Light the cocktail stick at the end that's in the glass and watch it burn away. The burning will stop once it hits the glass rim, but the fork assembly will continued to be balanced at that point.

  6. Accept the applause from your audience!

  7. Explain the science if you like – or leave it as a mystery – up to you.

balancing folks Here’s the explanation:

The ‘centre of gravity’ of any object is the point about which you can balance the object as if all the masses were concentrated or gathered at this point. In other words, the net torque of all the masses of the object about this point is zero, regardless the shape of the object. The centre of gravity does not have to be on the object, it can be in the open space. For instance, the centre of gravity of this fork assembly is in between the forks in the empty space.

This activity came from the Balancing Forks in the
Little Book of Experiments.

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4. Winners - Has your name been picked out of the bag?

flipside magazine


Last time we offered 5 November Flipsides and these are now in the post to: Emma Martin of Devon, Andrew page of Essex, Amira Allen of Derby, David France of Welshpool and Dan Blickett of Surrey – happy reading!


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THAT'S ALL FOR NOW

You've been Randomised!

Send any questions, comments, jokes or experiment ideas to: randomised.news@nesta.org.uk

Bye for now!