MAGS Science Blog

Travis Scarfo’s Goldberg Machine, designed and constructed as part of 7D’s Physics unit.  Goldberg Machines are designed to complete simple tasks in the most complicated manner imaginable.  Travis’ machine shows a wonderfully complicated series of ‘pushes, pulls & twists’ as it attempts to complete a relatively simple task, turning on the kettle.  It took Travis more than 5 hours to construct the machine ‘successfully’ – another typical (& possibly frustrating) aspect of Goldberg Machines.

Here are the answers to the science week quiz, the questions are below this post if you would like to try them first.

Answers to the questions from The Science Week research Quiz.

1. Planet Mars was name after the Roman God of War
2. The twin rovers that landed of Mars where called Spirit and Opportunity
3. Paul Scully-Power was Australia’s first astronaut and was on the space shuttle ‘Challenger’ in 1984
4. There are about 900 satellites in orbit around the earth
5. NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration
6. It takes 8 minutes and 18 seconds for light to reach us from the sun
7. Neptune is now the furthest planet for the sun and is about 29 times the distance from earth to the Sun (1 astronomical unit or 1 AU)
8. 40 years ago a meteorite rained day on the nearby town of Murchison.
9. A light year is the distance light travels in a years, which is 9,461,000,000,000 kms.
10. The closest dwarf planet to the Sun is Ceres, it is between the Jupiter and Mars.
11. The closest star to our Solar system is Proxima Centauri, in the alpha centauri system. (It is the one of the pointers in the southern sky). It is 4.2 light years away.
12. The brightest star is the night sky is Sirius, it is also known colloquially as the “Dog Star”
13. Australia’s first satellite was called WRESAT and launched in 1967 from the spaceport at Woomera, South Australia.
14. The $13 million SkyMapper telescope is located at Siding Spring Observatory, near Coonabarabran NSW.
15. The universe is thought to be around 13.7 billion years
16. The only planets not to have moons are Mercury and Venus
17. The last person to set foot on the moon was Eugene Cernan He was the commander of Apollo 17
18. The drive to the moon at 100km/h would take about 160 days plus rest stops.
19. Ganymede is the largest moon of Jupiter and the largest moon in the Solar System.
20. The American Skylab satellite (not Russian) fell back to earth in July of 1979 near Esperance  in WA.

Next week is National Science Week (www.scienceweek.gov.au) and the theme is “Astronomy Science without Limits”.  There are some great national activities to get involved in, including the “The Big Aussie Star Hunt” (http://www.starhunt.net.au) with a $2000 prize! There is also the “UP” competition from the new movie which has many great prizes.

Locally at MAGS, to help celebrate the week, the science faculty with be having many activities during the week to allow students get involved. There will also be some great prizes to be won, kindly donated by local business Book City and Paramount Cinemas. Some of the activities include:

Daily Trivia question on the student bulletin, prizes are up for grabs so put your answers in the box in the school office and remember to put your name on it!

• Zweckies Zcience Zhow, In room 2 at Lunchtime on Thursday
• Amazing Science Race, similar to the TV show, students race around the school finding clues and completing challenges.  Wednesday Lunchtime.
• Year 7 students will be painting a scale model (60m long) of the solar system on the pathway.
• Presentations at assembly and other lunchtime activities.

To get you started with have a research quiz where you need to answer the following 20 questions. So get out your books or jump on the ‘net and get cracking. Submit your answers to Mr Young by next Wednesday and the winners and answers will be in next week’s newsletter (they will also be post here on the blog!).

There is plenty for you to get involved in, so ignite your imagination in Astronomy, Science without Limits.

Research Question:

1. What or Who was the planet Mars named after?
2. Name the twin rovers that landed on Mars in January 2004.
3. Who was Australia’s first astronaut?
4. Roughly how made satellites (natural and manmade) are in orbit around the earth?
5. What does NASA stand for?
6. How many seconds does it take sunlight to reach the Earth from the Sun?
7. Which planet is furthest from the Sun? How many times further is this than the Earth-Sun distance?
8. Almost 40 years ago a meteorite rained day on a nearby town. What is its name?
9. How far in kilometres is a light year?
10. Name the closest dwarf planet to the Sun.
11. Name the closest star to our Solar System. In light years how far away is it?
12. Name the brightest star in the sky (apart from the Sun).
13. What is the name of Australia’s first satellite?
14. Where would you find the $13 million SkyMapper telescope?
15. How old is the universe thought to be?
16. Name the planets that don’t have moons.
17. Who was the last person to set foot on the moon?
18. If you could drive to the moon at 100km/h. How long would it take?
19. What is the name of the largest Moon in the Solar system.
20. Name the Russian satellite that crashed to the ground in WA and in what year did this happen?

Last Monday was the 40^th anniversary of man walking on the moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 mission carried Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Buzz Aldrin into space. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.

A quote from British scientists in the Telegraph newspaper said, “It was carried out in a technically brilliant way with risks taken … that would be inconceivable in the risk-averse world of today…The Apollo programme is arguably the greatest technical achievement of mankind to date…nothing since Apollo has come close the excitement that was generated by those astronauts – Armstrong, Aldrin and the 10 others who followed them.”

Over the years there has been some talk that it might have all been a hoax. One of the activities this week at lunchtime saw students watching an episode of Mythbusters to squash these claims.

Year 9 students, Pat Barry and Josh Carey put together an informative and interesting video package on the moon landings. The presentation can be viewed below:

NASA is currently streaming the original mission audio on its website in real time. 40th anniversary website.

Below are some more videos of the Lunar landing from you tube.

Whilst the Year 9 students were on camp, their progress was recorded with the aide of a GPS datalogger. To view the data you will need the Google Earth application which can be downloaded for free here.

Click on the link below to download the data and view it in Google Earth.

year9campgpsdata

The zip file above contains data for:

Monday’s Bus Trip to Camp
Monday’s Bike Ride
Tuesday’s Bike Ride
Tuesday’s Night Beach walk
Wednesday Beach hike (Note that the GPS ran out off batteries, so only the first 5km was recorded.)
Thursday’s Canoe trip before lunch
Thursday’s Canoe trip after lunch

Please note that the data isn’t 100% accurate, but will give you a reasonable guide.

Search For E.T. Is Underway – Phone home

Over the weekend NASA launched Kepler. Kepler’s mission is to peer closely at a patch of space for at least three-and-a-half years, looking for rocky planets similar our own. The spacecraft will target an area rich with stars like our sun, watching for a slight dimming in the starlight as planets slip through the space between. By the end of Kepler’s three-and-one-half-year mission, it will give us a good idea of how common or rare other Earths are in our Milky Way galaxy. This will be an important step in answering the age-old question: Are we alone? Kepler’s telescope is so powerful that, from its view up in space, it could detect one person in a small town turning off a porch light at night. For more information about head to the NASA website. or you can watch the lanch below.

Yenka is a new generation of educational modelling software from Crocodile Clips, which let you simulate concepts and create content easily. This software can be used in student’s homes for free. Once the software is downloaded and licence key enter, students will be able to design and carry out their own science experiments and well as review concepts covered in many subjects. The software is especially useful for Science and Mathematics, but could also in many other areas.

The software can be download from http://www.yenka.com/en/Downloads/ and the activation key is 9037-4977-1824 (Yenka for use at Home by Students from Moama Anglican Grammar School only)

The World Of Goo!

Some students have been playing the computer game “The World of Goo”. It is a physics based puzzle / construction game. A recent review states, “Physics’ latest, purest, and most brilliant gift is World of Goo. A game so utterly charming, so pregnant with charisma, and so simple in concept, that it belongs in another era”. A free demo of the game can be downloaded from www.worldofgoo.com

Increase your knowledge with Podcasts:

Podcast are audio files downloaded from the web that you listen to on your mp3 player or computer. You will need some software to get your started like itunes (download for free at http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/). There are millions of podcasts on every possible topic, but to get your started here are a couple of great science shows:

3RRR’s Einstein a Go Go : http://einsteinagogo.net/

JJJ’s Science with Dr Karl : http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/podcast/drk_rss.xml

Star Gazing
A relaxing pastime, especially in summer is lying on the ground outside at dusk and watching all the stars appear. Try naming the stars as they appear. A Great Sky chart for the southern hemisphere can be found at: http://www.skymaps.com/downloads.html

Science experiments at home.
Here are a couple of great website that show you how to before some great science experiments using materials that can be found in most household
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~macinnis@ozemail.com.au/scifun/miniexp.htm#1a

http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/HomeExpts/HOMEEXPTS.HTML

It has been a busy year for Science. We have had The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on Swiss French border smashing protons together at close to the speed of light. Doomsayers would have you believe that it would cause the end of the world, but scientists were not worried, they said they were searching for the answers that might help explain “The Big Bang.” The collider is currently shut down to allow some repairs and modification to be done. It is expected to restart in the first half of next year.

In May we also saw the space probe Phoenix land on Mars looking for signs of water and life. The probe has now ceased communications after operating for more than five months. As anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot’s arctic landing site is not providing enough sunlight for the solar arrays to collect the power necessary to charge batteries that operate the lander’s instruments. More information on these highlights of the scientific year head to the following website:

http://public.web.cern.ch/public/en/LHC/LHC-en.html

www.nasa.gov/phoenix/

Do you want to know more about the cells found in animals and plants. Then click below on the type of cell you need and then click on the different parts for a description of the various parts.

For more info head to Cells Alive website