1. Wassup Planet Science? - what’s new on the Planet Science website
The Bloody Quiz
Never won a prize in your
life? It’s enough to make your blood boil! Still, this month sees the
anniversary of the birth of Karl Landsteiner who was born in Vienna on June 14,
1868. We’ve got a lot to thank this man for - ‘O’ yes! ‘A’ great man! So
‘B’ positive - if you get all the answers right you could win a pair of
cuddly blood cells.
Are you a bit nifty with a camcorder? Considering
entering this year’s SciCast Awards? The first thing you need to do is send
off for a FREE SciCast pack that will tell you all you need to know.
Lend
us your brain!
There’s
going to be a new feature on Planet Science to explore the idea of ‘Challenging
Received Wisdom’. Well for a kick off you can see it’s in need of a catchier
title, but apart from that, we’d like you (if you are 13 or 14) to help us
decide what this feature will be like and how we can really make the subject
zing. If you’d like to lend us your brain and enter into a few email convos
with Planet Science Editor Katie Walsh, then email her with ‘Borrow My Brain’
in the subject line at katie.walsh@nesta.org.uk . She wants to get cracking, so email in the next couple of days.
Thanguverymuch!
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2. Sooo Random - Science news straight to your Inbox…
Things are definitely changing in schools these
days.
Firstly, a group of parents have got together and
been given permission to open their own primary school in West Sussex. At the
moment, children from the village travel to 20 different schools and most are
driven to schools three miles away. Some of the parents will sit on the
governing body but they won’t be taking classes. We suspect some of you will
think that’s a good thing!
Elmgreen Secondary School was the first secondary to
be created in partnership with parents when it opened in 2007 in West Norwood,
London.
Parents there took action because of the shortage
of secondary school places in the area.
What do you think? Is it a good idea for parents to
be more involved in running schools? Do you think they are in a good position
to do so? Let us know your thoughts by emailing us at randomised.news@nesta.org.uk with
‘PARENTS’ in the subject line. We’ll print your comments.
Secondly, at St Agnes Primary School in Gateshead
they've adopted some racing pigeons. Yes that’s right - pigeons. And
what’s more they take part in loads of lessons. In science, the children have
been learning about their water-proof coats. In art, design and technology the
children have been designing lofts for them to live in. In maths the class can
measure the distances the birds have flown and how fast they were flying.
And what’s more - they've only pooed in the
classroom once! Unlike Micky McSquitty from Y7.
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3. Over 2U! - Science
experiments for you to try at home...
Seeing Sound
You will need:
- cling film
- a jam jar
- grains of rice, or unpopped popcorn...
- elastic band
What to do:
- Place a piece of cling film over the top of the jam jar and pull it
tight.
- Put an elastic band over the neck of the jam jar to
keep it extra taut.
- Place a few grains of rice or corn on the cling
film.
- Take a deep breath and bellow loudly at the rice
grains. Make sure your face is quite close to the jam jar. Think: Sergeant
Major!
- Watch what happens to the rice grains as you shout.
"Come on! You ‘orrible shower!"
- Try shouting with a deep voice and with a high
voice, loudly and softly - what happens?
What's happening?
When you shout, your vocal cords
vibrate. This causes air molecules to vibrate, moving
backwards and forwards. This is a "sound wave". As the air molecules
vibrate backwards and forwards, the movement is passed on to surrounding
molecules, including those in the cling film. Consequently the molecules in the
cling film also vibrate and this vibration
is transferred to the grains of rice, which jump up and down.
What you’re seeing is the
effect of the sound waves hitting the cling film. Groovy eh?
We hear different sounds from different vibrating objects because of variations
in the sound wave frequency. A higher wave frequency simply means that the air
pressure fluctuation switches back and forth more quickly. We hear this as a
higher pitch. When there are fewer fluctuations in a period of time, the pitch
is lower.
The wave's amplitude determines how loud the sound is. When shouting
with a high voice, the rice grains should jump around faster; when shouting
most loudly the rice grains should jump higher.
Most people detect sound with their ears, but you can also sense sound through your body, as well as see it with
your eyes, as you’ve just done.
The world famous percussionist, Evelyn
Glennie, is profoundly deaf - but she hasn’t let that stand in her path to
success for a single moment!
Read all
about her experience of sound and music on the Evelyn Glennie website.
This activity came from Soundcheck activities on Planet-Science.
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4.
Gear Giveaway -You’ve got to be in it to win it...
Soundcheck is on the Out There section of the Planet Science website. It’s a great
resource with info on the science of sound, careers in sound and fantastic
activities like the PS100X Sound Sampler. Get with the rhythm!
We’ve
got a £15 iTunes card to give away. If you want to win it you’ll need to
answer the following question:
What is Julian Meyer’s
job?
(Hint: You can find the answer
in the ‘Careers’ section of Soundcheck)
Email
us with the answer and your name and postal address to randomised.news@nesta.org.uk with
‘SOUNDS GOOD’ in the subject line. The winner will be picked at random at 5pm
on Wednesday 25th June 2008.
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5. Winners
- Has your name been picked out of the bag?
Last
time we were offering THREE ‘Annoying Sound’ boxes. The winners are Daniel Howard
of Brighton, Ben England of North Yorkshire and Jake Rowland of Wiltshire.
Well done! Now off you go and annoy everyone. And don’t be surprised if they
call you a big drip.
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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!
