Random Day!

I've been keeping notes on different things that would be interesting for a blog post, but some of them don't inspire a whole thing. So here's a bunch of stuff!!

How much weight can Steve from Minecraft hold?

Here are some sweet pictures of ice that formed when the water level was higher and then remained after the water level dropped again. For more on ice, see my previous blog post here

These silly chickens thought it was nighttime during the most recent solar eclipse:

 

I also have a past blog post about eclipses :)

Want to see things bouncing on Jello in slow motion?

This is how a lock and key works:

The gaps only line up when all the pins are properly aligned

And finally, First World Problems :)

Building Knowledge

One of my students wanted to know how we learn - what's going on when we read something or hear something and then remember it later? You might be disappointed to learn that coming back to the information again and again is very important:

The internet is changing the way we remember things, though. School used to be filled with facts to memorize: dates, scientific laws, names, but those things are less important now that you can look them all up in seconds with your phone. So what IS important? How things work. It's far harder to Google an entire concept, especially if the results are full of vocabulary that you don't know. Sure, you can look up those words, but that really lengthens the process - that's why vocabulary will always be important, because it gives you the tools you need to understand a bigger process.

Just like letters are the building blocks to words! (source)

Here are some more important facts about your ability to learn:

• Being tested improves your ability to remember (source has some study tips)
• Memory improves when you get plenty of physical activity (I discussed this in an earlier blog post about brraaaiiinnnns)
• You should avoid stress and especially drugs/alcohol
• Get plenty of sleep!
• You HAVE to practice using your brain :) (source for last 3)

So use it or lose it people!

That's deep, man...

Scroll down through this graphic to see the full range of height and depth from the earth that humans have gone (not including space). And yes, this chart means that you need oxygen to get to the top of Mount Everest - everyone who climbs it has to carry it with them.

 Also interesting to note is the depth of Deepwater Horizon, which you might recognize from one of the worst environmental disasters in human history - almost 5 million barrels-worth of oil spilled into the gulf of Mexico, as the incredible depth made the well extremely difficult to close. The next largest oil spill was "only" 1.3 million barrels.

As for that Kola borehole, the deepest we've ever gone, here's a video breakdown of what we learned:

And here's what it might sound like to drop something down there...and here's a comic about the supposed sounds down there.

Even with these "huge" heights and depths, the earth is SO big that it's actually relatively smooth. In fact, if you shrunk the earth down to the size of a pool ball, it would be SMOOTHER THAN THE POOL BALL. Awkwardly, it wouldn't be round enough though - the earth is actually a little wider at the equator, not a perfect sphere. (source)

I'm not sure what else to add here, but I'd love to answer some questions if you have any! And if you have any science tips or possible future blog topics, let me know at barrentine@mewebacademy.org 

Radioactive

What does it mean to be radioactive? Not the song, the scary, potentially-cancer-causing state of radioactivity...the song isn't very instructive, but the music video sure is weird. Radioactivity is NOT the same as radiation though - most radiation isn't radioactive; radio waves and the heat off of a fire are both radiation, but they wouldn't have radioactivity.

WATCH OUT - But it's not actually that scary...

If a substance is radioactive then it's giving off tiny particles or energy waves that are so miniscule that they can go right through our bodies. This is fine if they just pass right on through, but they're also small enough to hit the nuclei of our cells, where the DNA is stored, and change that DNA. If it changes the DNA to make that cell start replicating uncontrollably, then it becomes a "disease" that you've all heard of: cancer.

 

"Ionizing Radiation" ('z' and 's' are both right) is the specific type of radiation that's radioactive.

Now this is all an odds game! You could be exposed to a lot of ionizing radiation and never get sick or even notice, because all of the particles happened to miss your DNA. The main thing all of this radioactive stuff has in common is being very tiny, which is why microwaves CANNOT give you cancer. Certainly you wouldn't want to be inside one because it would get very hot, but the waves are simply too big to change your DNA.

Only the 'ionizing' area can be cancerous - but don't worry, x-rays are VERY low risk. (source)

Where does all of this radioactive material come from though? All atoms naturally decay, or break apart - bigger ones more quickly than smaller ones, which is why plutonium and uranium, some of the biggest naturally occurring elements in the universe, are so radioactive. Their nuclei are so big that they naturally tear themselves apart, which is why we use them in nuclear power plants (nuclear being similar to nucleus is NOT a coincidence - nuclear reactions are the only time the nucleus of an atom changes, otherwise it's just a normal chemical reaction like burning wood or digesting food). 

Check out this video about some of the most radioactive places in the world, it's seriously so good:

The most radioactive place MIGHT surprise you...

This is a pretty complicated topic, so please ask any questions you have in the comments - there are no bad science questions! Also check out this article from The Onion, it's satire so it's fake news but it's hilarious.

Dwarf Planet Ceres!

Here are some of the exciting space things happening JUST IN MARCH:



That's a lot of things! The exploration of Ceres is probably the coolest: Ceres is the largest known object in the asteroid belt, a 'dwarf planet' that orbits between Mars and Jupiter. It has half the diameter of Pluto, but it's very big for an asteroid - in fact, when Pluto was demoted from planet to 'dwarf planet,' Ceres was part of the reason! Because if Pluto was going to be a planet, then maybe Ceres should be too...

 

This is a scale drawing, so Jupiter really is that much bigger than Earth. The Sun can't even fit! Eris is the 2nd largest dwarf planet after Pluto

The asteroid belt doesn't quite look like you'd expect though - Star Wars indicates that it's very tough to navigate, but space is SO BIG that the asteroids are actually pretty far apart. When scientists sent the Voyager spacecraft (the farthest man-made object from Earth), they didn't even calculate how to get through the asteroid belt because it was incredibly unlikely to hit anything.

Want to know more about any of this? How about the Voyager spacecraft? They were sent out in the 1970's and Voyager 1 entered 'interstellar space' a couple of years ago, meaning it's way out past Pluto. Both are still running and sending back information!

Here's a gif of Ceres:

 

Nobody knows what those white spots are!

Check out this link for 9 historical mysteries, solved by astronomy!