1.Planet Super Powers
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News Alert
Coming next week to Planet Science - test your superhero skills in the new game 'Battle for Planet Science'.
HUH?! Who dun it? Find out in the last episode of Battle for Planet Science.
A-HA! The idea was to make eco-batteries and a new engineering process to produce and run super efficient eco-cars.
1. The Unkown was to produce the chemicals for the battery by introducing bioengineered cells.
2. Super Egg Man was to adapt the roads to allow the cars with the new batteries to run on them.
3. Cyber was to change the engineering process in the automated manufacturing facility.
But it all went horribly wrong...
Talking of eco-cars... Warwick University have built a Formula 3 racing car powered by chocolate, made from potatoes and steered by carrots.
Build an Air Powered Car or if you fancy your own edible car why not replace the Styrofoam wheels with polo mints, the straws with peppermint candy sticks, the card with a slab of chocolate and the Blu-tack with soft gummy sweets. Then lick and stick or melt to put it all together!
Next time on Planet Super Powers! ...OH-NO! There is no next time, but look out for the new superhero game 'Battle for Planet Science'. Can you save Planet Science?
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2. Gear Giveaway - You’ve got to be in it to win it...
This week we’re giving away Flipsides! Yaaaayyyyy! Calm down dear, it’s only a newsletter. We’d like to offer you FIVE three-packs of Flipside magazines. Probably March/April and one other but who knows? Could be a complete surprise...
If you’d like to win a pack then send us an email with your name and address, and the word
‘TRI-FLIP’ in the subject line, to randomised.news@nesta.org.uk
The draw will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 20th May.
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3. Over 2U! - Science experiments for you to try at home...
Lenses
You will need:
1. A mobile phone with a video camera.
2. A selection of different lenses that you can see through... a magnifying glass, telescope, fish-eye lens, microscope.
What to do:
1. Put your different lenses in front of the camera lens as you would your own eye. Press record and see the results. You might need to move the lens a little - just as you would with your own eye. You can see the results in real time on your phone screen.
2. Try with lots of different lenses to see which produce the best effects.
What's happening?
A camera and your eyes work in a very similar way. Light is focused through your cornea, lens and fluid in your eye, to the retina at the back. The production of a sharp image relies on the correct amount of focusing.
In the case of the eye the image is focused by changing the shape of the lens and, if this is not enough to produce a good image, other lenses can be placed in front of the eye. Even people with perfect eyesight sometimes use other lenses to see objects which are very small or very far away.
Focusing a camera involves changing the distance between the lens and the detector (or film), with the lens being further away from the detector to focus a closer object.
Here is a very comprehensive guide to how digital cameras work.
The video camera works in the same way as a digital camera - however it takes many more images each second to create a moving image.
When a digital camera is used to take a picture of a distant tree, light rays, reflected off the tree, travel directly through the lens and are focused on the detector. When a different lens is placed in front of the camera the direction of the rays is altered to magnify, shrink or distort the image.
This activity came from Counterfeit Fish on the Planet SciCast site.
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4. Winners - Has your name been picked out of the bag?
Last time we were offering TWO cuddly brain cells. The lucky winners are Jago Edyvean of London and Daniel Farnes of Taunton. Well done both! Don’t forget to put them to good use!
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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!
