What do you know about helicopters? Plenty?  That’s brilliant because this month’s quiz is all about helicopters.

If you get all the questions right you’ll go into the prize draw for a PicoZ Micro Helicopter. It’s a teensy weensy little remote controlled helicopter no bigger than your hand.  Don’t be fooled by its small size, it’s a powerful toy!

The February Helicopter Quiz

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We are heading into the Year of the Pig (or Boar as it is often known).  So what does this mean?  Well according to Chinese legend, Buddha asked animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve animals came – the Rat, the Ox, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse, the Sheep, the Monkey, the Rooster, the Dog, and the Pig. So he named each year after them claiming that a person born under that year would have similar characteristics to the animal. Those born in 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, and of course 2007 are born under the sign of the pig. Persons born under the Year of the Pig work very hard, have excellent manners, are loyal friends and enjoy luxuries.  Let’s hear it for Pigs!!!

If you want to join in the fun then check out this website for activities and games including how to make an origami pig.

If you want to know which sign you are born under then click here and look up your birth year.

Next year will be the Year of the Rat.

Talking of rats, back to Charlotte’s Web – the story of a pig saved by a spider with a little help from a rat.  Are pigs intelligent?  Well Wilbur wasn’t very clever was he?  Else Charlotte the spider wouldn’t have had to do all the thinking for him! Mind you pigs, like dogs, are trainable but does this have anything to do with intelligence?  One of the most intelligent animals is the dolphin and if you want to read more about the bottle-nosed dolphin then click here. Another intelligent animal is the orang-utan and of course the chimpanzee. Chimpanzee DNA is 98.6% the same as our DNA which makes them our closest relative. They can make and use tools such as rocks to crack nuts in half or sticks inserted into mounds to ‘fish’ for termites. Clever monkey!

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Snow Science

How very topical! It’s just the time of year to try these out.

You will need:

• Black velvet or black card or paper
• Magnifying Glass
• Snow

What to do:

1. Since snowflakes melt so quickly you need to freeze your cloth or paper.
2. Have it ready frozen and ready to go for the next snowfall.
3. When it is snowing go outside and let some snowflakes land on the dark surface.
4. Quickly, before they melt, examine the flakes with a magnifying glass.
5. Many snowflakes are "broken" and so you don't see the whole six-sided crystal, but keep trying and you'll see some beautiful examples.
6. Print off a copy of Types of snowflake
7. Compare your snowflakes to those on the chart.

What’s going on?

When cloud temperature is at freezing or below and the clouds are full of moisture, snow crystals form. They say that no two snowflakes are the same. What do you think? All snow crystals have six sides. There are 6 different types of snow crystals: needles, columns, plates, columns capped with plates, dendrites and stars. The type of crystals depends on how humid and how cold it is when they are forming. That's why when it's very cold and snowing, the flakes are small, and when it's closer to 0^o C the flakes are larger. Click here for more photos of snowflakes.

This activity came from UK Education 4U.

More Snow Science Activities

• Make a snow gauge.
  Take an old clear plastic drinks bottle and cut off the top half. Mark the outside in centimetres or inches with a permanent marker and place it outside in a place where it can collect the falling snow.
• Measure how much melted snow it takes to make water.
  Collect some snow in a container and record the level of snow on the container. Let the snow melt. How much water is there? Are you surprised at the difference?  

These activities are courtesy of Snowflakes.com

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