I suppose it all seems very serious sometimes - Scientists in white lab coats talking about gravity, trajectories and orbits. Where is the fun in that? It is pretty serious when you are hurtling millions of dollars into space and hoping to use the gravity of other planets to "slingshot" you to where you want to go as they did with the Gallileo and Cassini probes. Luckily someone has thought up a fun way of showing the theory behind it!
BigIdeaFUN.com has a game on their Penguins Arcade called Spaced Penguin! As it says on the web site - "Kevin took a wrong turn and ended up lost in space. Use the highly advanced GPS (Giant Penguin Slingshot) to launch him back to the ship! "
Have fun!
The Home Port of the StarShip Bronzewing is in the Southern Highlands of NSW, just South West of Sydney, Australia. Come with us as we explore the far reaches of the universe from the smallest molecule to the farthest Galaxy
Sunday, August 08, 2004
Monday, August 02, 2004
Sugar as a Crystal
As we discussed in class, sugar is a type of crystal, and as such we can grow them. Check out the following links ...
Grow Sugar Crystals - Make Your Own Rock Candy: Sugar crystals are also known as rock candy since the crystallized sucrose (table sugar) resembles rock crystals and because you can eat your finished product.
This one from ChemShorts for Kids suggests another way of growing the crystal from sugar and how to make them into jewelry. Have a look at come of the others on this page and if they look interesting look at the list on their Home page.
This one from the Timbuktu Academy is a bit above your level, but have a look at the diagrams and and see how the molecules I showed you join together in "polymerization".
No, it's not juts a term from Yu Gi Oh!
Grow Sugar Crystals - Make Your Own Rock Candy: Sugar crystals are also known as rock candy since the crystallized sucrose (table sugar) resembles rock crystals and because you can eat your finished product.
This one from ChemShorts for Kids suggests another way of growing the crystal from sugar and how to make them into jewelry. Have a look at come of the others on this page and if they look interesting look at the list on their Home page.
This one from the Timbuktu Academy is a bit above your level, but have a look at the diagrams and and see how the molecules I showed you join together in "polymerization".
No, it's not juts a term from Yu Gi Oh!
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
How not to burn sugar!
You were all so nice about not not giving me a hard time about burning the sugar at our last lesson - I really did mean to do that you know! - that i thought I'd find some easy recipes from the internet that show you how to make tofee without burning the sugar!
This one for Bonfire Toffee looks like it gives you a hard old fashioned toffee, like the kind you see glazed over toffee apples! Might be a bit hard to make as well though.
This one for English Toffee looks absolutely simple though! I think a Hershey bar is just plain chocolate which is easiest to melt in a microwave
A couple of good sites that use cooking as an introduction to chemistry are Kitchen Chemistry which not only shows how to make toffee, but how to turn it into honeycomb! Or there is this simple quizor perhaps you want to try this Canadian site
Interested in Chemistry? It's an interesting subject, finding out what the world around us is made up of and how we can use that knowledge, in fact last week from 18-24 July it was Australian National Chemistry Week!
This one for Bonfire Toffee looks like it gives you a hard old fashioned toffee, like the kind you see glazed over toffee apples! Might be a bit hard to make as well though.
This one for English Toffee looks absolutely simple though! I think a Hershey bar is just plain chocolate which is easiest to melt in a microwave
A couple of good sites that use cooking as an introduction to chemistry are Kitchen Chemistry which not only shows how to make toffee, but how to turn it into honeycomb! Or there is this simple quizor perhaps you want to try this Canadian site
Interested in Chemistry? It's an interesting subject, finding out what the world around us is made up of and how we can use that knowledge, in fact last week from 18-24 July it was Australian National Chemistry Week!
Friday, June 18, 2004
Which way was up? It all depends on your viewpoint!
Heads up crew! Incoming transmission from CSIRO, Education! My query to them was basically why some photos and movies showing Venus moving over the Sun's disk showed it moving across the top from left to right and others showed it going across the lower half of the disc from right to left!
I sent an "Help! Please explain" to the enquiries email on their Questions and Answers page and it was quite promptly passed on to their Education department. Today I got a reply from none other than Darren Osborne, the Editor of "The Helix" magizine, the official magazine of the Double Helix Club, the kids club of the CSIRO.
Kirok
I’m sorry you weren’t able to access our live webcast. We reached our limit of close to 50,000 feeds quite quickly. The slashdot.org website may have contributed, as you suggested.
Our images through the video feed did show Venus crossing the Sun from the bottom left, heading right. This was because the image was magnified by an eight inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. The still image was taken with a digital camera and zoom lens, which correctly show Venus entering from the top right and moving towards the left.
I haven’t seen the Lancashire images, but as you suggest, the image would be rotated according to our position on the Earth.
All the best,
Darren
--------------------------------------------
Darren Osborne
Editor, The Helix
CSIRO Education
PO Box 225, Dickson, ACT, 2602, AUSTRALIA
Ph +61 2 6276 6472 Fx +61 2 6276 6641
www.csiro.au/helix/magazine/
--------------------------------------------
[EndSnip]
Did you get the hints about the photos with trees in them? Dooh! Of course this would be proof of which way was up!
I sent an "Help! Please explain" to the enquiries email on their Questions and Answers page and it was quite promptly passed on to their Education department. Today I got a reply from none other than Darren Osborne, the Editor of "The Helix" magizine, the official magazine of the Double Helix Club, the kids club of the CSIRO.
Kirok
I’m sorry you weren’t able to access our live webcast. We reached our limit of close to 50,000 feeds quite quickly. The slashdot.org website may have contributed, as you suggested.
Our images through the video feed did show Venus crossing the Sun from the bottom left, heading right. This was because the image was magnified by an eight inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. The still image was taken with a digital camera and zoom lens, which correctly show Venus entering from the top right and moving towards the left.
I haven’t seen the Lancashire images, but as you suggest, the image would be rotated according to our position on the Earth.
All the best,
Darren
--------------------------------------------
Darren Osborne
Editor, The Helix
CSIRO Education
PO Box 225, Dickson, ACT, 2602, AUSTRALIA
Ph +61 2 6276 6472 Fx +61 2 6276 6641
www.csiro.au/helix/magazine/
--------------------------------------------
[EndSnip]
Did you get the hints about the photos with trees in them? Dooh! Of course this would be proof of which way was up!
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
The 2004 Transit of Venus in photos
The spaceweather.com web site has an excellent gallery of photographs of last weeks Transit of Venus. I particularly liked their page 12 which show some interesting points in themselves.
The top one thumbnail is in fact a movie that shows a tiny Venus as it races across the bottom of a fiery X-ray image of the Sun. This was taken from space by the Soft X-ray Imager, onboard the GOES 12 satellite.
The fourth from the top was taken in Glen Innes, NSW - must have been about sunset since you can just see Venus above the tree line.
At the base of the page is another, similar photo of Venus on the Sun's disk through trees, this time taken in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Page 11 has some photos that show aircraft "transitting" the Sun during the Transit of Venus!
Have a look at some of the other pages, some of the photographs are quite beautiful!
The top one thumbnail is in fact a movie that shows a tiny Venus as it races across the bottom of a fiery X-ray image of the Sun. This was taken from space by the Soft X-ray Imager, onboard the GOES 12 satellite.
The fourth from the top was taken in Glen Innes, NSW - must have been about sunset since you can just see Venus above the tree line.
At the base of the page is another, similar photo of Venus on the Sun's disk through trees, this time taken in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Page 11 has some photos that show aircraft "transitting" the Sun during the Transit of Venus!
Have a look at some of the other pages, some of the photographs are quite beautiful!
Monday, June 14, 2004
Transit of Venus - Which way is up?
I've sent an email off to the CSIRO - if anyone can give us an answer it is them! In the mean time why not look at this web page put up by the University of Central Lancashire in England and see if you can see a possible answer for the difference.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
Away Mission 04.2.1 - Mission To Venus
Once again we return to Space Exploration!
All eyes have been firmly trained on Mars after the invasion fleet of Probes last year (see the Away Missions of Away Team Baruca) however this month Venus steps for a while into the limelight.
On Tuesday, June 8th, those of us with telescopes and solar filters were able to see one of the most spectacular scenes of the movement of the planets in the heavens - the planet Venus as it appeared to move across the face of the Sun. This was the much anticipated Transit of Venus and in fact it was the planet moving between us on the Earth and the Sun.
You missed it? So did I! I was called in by the Academy Commandant to discuss Ensign J'Keln's performance and so missed the whole transit. I snuck in some time on the compter in the Academy's library to watch part of the Live coverage of the transit in Australia. I was unable to get the Official CSIRO to work at the time. Could have had something to with being mentioned on Slashdot! However I did get a look at the live feed from a privately owned & run observatory in Ballerat, Vic.
If you look at them you might notice that the CSIRO video shows Venus coming in from the lower right of the face of the sun whereas the Ballarat photos show it coming in from the top left! I wonder why that is? Stay tuned, I'll post more as the week goes on!
All eyes have been firmly trained on Mars after the invasion fleet of Probes last year (see the Away Missions of Away Team Baruca) however this month Venus steps for a while into the limelight.
On Tuesday, June 8th, those of us with telescopes and solar filters were able to see one of the most spectacular scenes of the movement of the planets in the heavens - the planet Venus as it appeared to move across the face of the Sun. This was the much anticipated Transit of Venus and in fact it was the planet moving between us on the Earth and the Sun.
You missed it? So did I! I was called in by the Academy Commandant to discuss Ensign J'Keln's performance and so missed the whole transit. I snuck in some time on the compter in the Academy's library to watch part of the Live coverage of the transit in Australia. I was unable to get the Official CSIRO to work at the time. Could have had something to with being mentioned on Slashdot! However I did get a look at the live feed from a privately owned & run observatory in Ballerat, Vic.
If you look at them you might notice that the CSIRO video shows Venus coming in from the lower right of the face of the sun whereas the Ballarat photos show it coming in from the top left! I wonder why that is? Stay tuned, I'll post more as the week goes on!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)