Randomised Friday 18th July 2008 Issue 13

Welcome to the last Randomised before the summer break! Have a thoroughly Random time and we’ll see you back here on Friday 12 September!

  1. Wassup Planet Science? - The Summer SciCast Quiz
  2. Sooo Random - Nick Boing, a huge amount of RAM
  3. Over 2U! - Floating and Sinking Bubbles
  4. Gear Giveaway - family ticket to Glasgow Science Centre
  5. Winners - Johnny Mackintosh book

 

1. Wassup Planet Science? - what’s new on the Planet Science website

The Summer SciCast Quiz

This summer, if you do nothing else, have a go at the Planet Science Summer SciCast Quiz. All you need is an observant eye. The answers are found in the SciCast films or experiments on the SciCast site so there’s no excuse! If you get them all right you could be in with the chance to win a video camera of your own! Wow! And then of course you can film your very own SciCast film!

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

Nick Boing is a 22-stone ram who moved in with a family in Wales because he doesn't get on with other sheep. He was rescued by David Palmer three years ago when he was a newborn lamb but things have changed since then. He even used to sleep in a bed till he got too big! Now he nudges the family off the sofa. "He's part of the family. He comes in every evening, head-butts the cushions off the settee and watches TV" said David. Presumably the Ten O’Clock Ewes? Or maybe Tup Gear? No, surely his favourite is Gordon Ram-say? Mr Palmer said it takes five hours to shear Nick with scissors once a year. "He loves being shampooed and will lie on his back with his legs in the air for me to wash him," he said. Well we’ve heard it all now…

Photos of Nick Boing

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

Floating and Sinking Bubbles

You will need:

  • A high sided basin: a small fish tank or see-through aquarium is best.
  • A bowl which fits in the basin or tank.
  • Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda).
  • Vinegar: you'll need about twice as much vinegar as sodium bicarbonate.
  • Good quality bubble mixture and wand.

What to do:

  1. Place the bowl in the basin and a fill it a third full with sodium bicarbonate, making sure the sodium bicarbonate is spread out
  2. Fill the bowl up with vinegar and very gently give it a stir to make sure all the sodium bicarbonate is reacting, and take your hand out without stirring up the air in the basin too much.
  3. After a few seconds, start blowing bubbles above the tank so they sink down into it. Don't blow them straight into the tank as you risk blowing the carbon dioxide out.
  4. If there is enough carbon dioxide in the basin, the bubble will begin to hover over the bowl.

What's happening?

The sodium bicarbonate and vinegar react and release lots of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide molecules are heavier than air (which is made up of mainly nitrogen and oxygen), this makes carbon dioxide gas more dense than air. The carbon dioxide sinks to the bottom of the basin. The bubbles contain air and are less dense than this carbon dioxide layer, so they float on the top of it in the same way that wood floats on water.

Gases can travel through the skin of the bubble: they dissolve in the bubble, which is made primarily of water, and they also evaporate out of the bubble. Under normal circumstances the amount of air moving from the outside of the bubble to the inside is the same as the amount of air moving from the inside to the outside - so the bubble remains the same size. When the bubble is next to the carbon dioxide layer the bubble grows. As carbon dioxide is more soluble in water than air, more carbon dioxide moves into the bubble than air moves out of the bubble, and to balance out the pressures the bubble must grow. The bubble then starts to sink, for the same reason as floated earlier: now that the bubble is filled with carbon dioxide it is more dense than air, and at the same density as the surrounding carbon dioxide layer, so gravity takes over and the bubble ends up at the bottom of the basin.

This activity came from the I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles activity on the SciCast site.

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

Elemental - is the new Summer science show at the Glasgow Science Centre. From baking a cake to creating instant snow and gooey slime, this show explores how scientists use chemistry to help understand and create new materials. With experiments ranging from stalagmites to fashion trends, there's no limit to what will be made!

Visit www.glasgowsciencecentre.org for online bookings, film and programme times.

And we’ve got a family ticket (admits 4) to give away!

If you want to win it email us with your name and address, and the words ‘ELEMENTALLY’ in the subject line, to randomised.news@nesta.org.uk

The draw will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 23rd July.

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

Last time we were offering FIVE two-packs of June/July Flipsides to give away. The winners are Oliver Vipond of Pensford, Anne-Marie Taylor of St Albans, Kian Broadhead of the Isle of Man, Lucy Colclough of St Albans and Conor Bryan of Peterborough. Enjoy!

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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!