Randomised Friday 25th September 2009 Issue 33

Welcome to Randomised. Have you got a sweet tooth? Sweetie makers in the US have unveiled the world's largest gummy bear. Weighing in at a cavity-inducing 2.3kg (5lb), the giant confectionery is the size of 1,400 regular sweets and is 23cm tall. It also contains 12,600 calories - the same as six days worth of the recommended adult intake. Now you know what to put on your Christmas list...
  1. Sooo Random - Interactive periodic table
  2. Gear Giveaway - iTunes vouchers giveaway
  3. Over 2U! - Foil Boat
  4. Winners - Cuddly brain cell

1. Sooo Random - Science news straight to your Inbox...

periodic table Interactive periodic table

According to Weird Fact of the Day...

“Humans have discovered or invented over 50 million different chemicals in history - that's according to the American Chemical Society's database of unique chemicals, which passed the 50 million threshold on Monday 7 September 2009. Over the past year, a new substance has been uncovered or created every 2.6 seconds.”

And talking of chemicals, and more specifically, elements - have a look at the The Periodic Table of Videos which has short videos of all 118 chemical elements. Plus if you look in the ‘Extras’ section you’ll find a video about making a very special birthday cake. Wouldn’t fancy eating it though!


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2. Gear Giveaway - You’ve got to be in it to win it...

Brain Training

brain scanWe have two iTunes vouchers for £15 each to give away. Do you want to win one? Send us your favourite science-related song title. E.g. Biology by Girls Aloud.

To win one, send us an email with your song title, your name and address, and the words ‘I LOVE TUNES’ in the subject line, to randomised.news@nesta.org.uk The draw will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 7 October.

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

boat botherFoil Boat

Hopefully you won’t need 78 attempts to get your foil boat moving!

What you need

1. Kitchen foil and sharp scissors. Try not to use cheap kitchen foil - the thicker it is, the better.
2. Washing up liquid.
3. Washing up bowl filled with clean water.

What you do

1. Cut your foil boat to the approximate design shown in the SciCast film. The dimensions aren’t vital, but smaller may be better, as it’s best if the foil is as smooth as possible - bigger pieces may be more affected by wrinkles. The foil needs to be made as smooth as possible, almost ironed, because you don’t want the washing-up liquid molecules to be able to get under the foil boat.

2. You should have a cutaway shape at the back (stern) of the boat - this is the place into which you’ll put a drop or two of washing up liquid.

3. There’s no harm in making the front (bow) pointy, for streamlining.

4. Gently place the foil boat on the water in one corner of the washing-up bowl.

5. Add your drop(s) of washing-up liquid to the water surface in the cut-out.

What's going on

The boat should float on the water due to surface tension. Soap molecules will tend to spread over the surface of the water, but due to the foil of the boat being in the way, they can only go ‘backwards’ initially. The boat is shoved forwards by the reaction to this movement, akin to the recoil of a gun when it fires a bullet. If you want to repeat this, you may need to empty out the water and start again with fresh - once the water has a detergent layer all over it, the motion stops.

This activity came from the Boat Bother activity on the Planet SciCast site.

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

brain cellLast time we were offering a cuddly brain cell. The lucky winner is Thom Skews of Cornwall. Well done! Keep it safe - no-one wants to lose a brain cell!

THAT’S ALL FOR NOW

You’ve been Randomised!

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

P.S. If you wish to unsubscribe from Randomised then reply to this email with UNSUBSCRIBE as the subject.

Bye for now!

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designs