Randomised Friday 11th September 2008 Issue 14

Hadron ColliderWhere the Randomised have you been all summer? According to the Met Office it was the dullest August since 1929. It certainly was! Thank goodness Randomised is back to inject some random fun and a healthy wodge of science too. Take it away folks!

  1. Sooo Random - the LHC
  2. Wassup Planet Science? - The Summer SciCast Quiz
  3. Over 2U! - Wild West Fizzout
  4. Gear Giveaway - Dr Frankenstein’s Human Body Book
  5. Winners - family ticket to Glasgow Science Centre

 

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

Let’s start this newsletter off with a bang – a big bang to be precise! The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) started up on 10 September. So what exactly is it? Well tune in to the Large Hadron rap to explain.

According to their website

“The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is a gigantic scientific instrument near Geneva, where it spans the border between Switzerland and France about 100 m underground. It is a particle accelerator used by physicists to study the smallest known particles – the fundamental building blocks of all things. It will revolutionise our understanding, from the miniscule world deep within atoms to the vastness of the Universe.

Two beams of subatomic particles called 'hadrons' – either protons or lead ions – will travel in opposite directions inside the circular accelerator, gaining energy with every lap. Physicists will use the LHC to recreate the conditions just after the Big Bang, by colliding the two beams head-on at very high energy. Teams of physicists from around the world will analyse the particles created in the collisions using special detectors in a number of experiments dedicated to the LHC.”

And if that blows you away and you’re gasping for video clips then try the LHC Machine Outreach site

>>> Back to top

2. Wassup Planet Science? – what’s new on the Planet Science website

The Summer SciCast Quiz

Still time to 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!

>>> Back to top

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

wild west fizzout

De-Fizzing a Soda Can

You will need:

  • An unopened can of soda, the warmer the better.
  • A finger
  • Optional: a pencil or other tapping utensil

What to do:

  1. Shake, shake, shake your can of soda (or simply use a can that has fallen or has been shaken accidentally).
  2. Place the can on a tabletop and tap the sides of the soda can with your finger (or a utensil). Rotate the can as you tap. Five to ten raps on the side of the can should do it.
  3. Wait a few seconds.
  4. Point the mouth of your can away from your body, anyone else's body, and any thing that you don't want spritzed with soda. Open the can and see what happens.
  5. Option 2 - try this with two cans of soda, side by side, both shaken but one tapped and one not.

What's happening?

When you opened the can, did the soda spray out of it? If you tapped the can it shouldn't have. However, if you didn't tap the can…watch out! The soda probably spewed out!

Carbonated drinks in a can are under pressure and contain a dissolved gas called carbon dioxide. At normal drinkable temperatures and atmospheric pressures this dissolved gas wants to leave the liquid. As it does, it makes tiny bubbles in your glass and when you drink the soda, these bubbles give you that tongue tingling sensation.

If the can has been shaken (particularly if it is warm) bubbles get trapped in the liquid, attached to the walls and bottom of the can. Tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide attach to these larger bubbles and the result is a drink / bubble mix. Opening immediately can have horrible consequences as these bubbles grow rapidly when the pressure is released. They rush to the surface bringing the liquid with them.

You can just wait before opening your can or tap. Waiting awhile gives carbon dioxide bubbles time to re-dissolve into solution. Tapping however allows the bubbles to detach from the sidewalls and bottom of the can so they can float to the top (Step 3, where you waited a few seconds, is where you gave time for the bubbles to float upwards). There they meet the largest, but most benign bubble of the bunch - the one right under the lid.

Special Safety Advice

Be careful not to spray fizzy drinks into your, or other people's, eyes. This activity came from the Wild West Fizzout activity on the SciCast site.

>>> Back to top

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

Fancy an eye-popping around the body experience? Who wouldn’t, now you put it like that? Well join Dr Frankenstein in his laboratory and see how the human body works! Dr Frankenstein’s Human Body Book from Dorling Kindersley takes you on an incredible journey into Dr Frankenstein’s laboratory as he binds bones, organizes organs, sets up systems and creates a living, breathing human body.

To accompany the book DK have created a monstrously magnificent online Dr Frankenstein game, where you can build your own living, breathing human body. It’s the best blood-boiling, stomach-churning, eye-popping experience around!

And we’ve got a copy of this fabulous book to give away!

If you want to win it email us with your name and address, and the words ‘DR FRANK’ in the subject line, to randomised.news@nesta.org.uk
The draw will take place at 5pm on Wednesday 24th September.

>>> Back to top

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

Last time we were offering a family ticket to the Glasgow Science Centre to give away. The winner is Conor Bryan of Peterborough. Well done Conor!

>>> Back to top



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!