World’s Tallest Tree!

Redwood National Park

On Sept. 7th, two naturalists discovered what they believed to be the tallest tree in the world. It was confirmed a few days ago once scientists were able to measure the tree accurately. The Redwood tree tops out at 378.1 feet! The discovery was made by Michael Taylor and Chris Atkins in Redwood National Park. The previous record was held by a 370.5 foot Redwood tree in Humbolt State Park which was named Statosphere Giant. Check out the article in the SF Chronicle.

Image from the SF Chronicle article

Facts about Redwood trees:

*The seed is not bigger than a tomato seed.

*Redwoods can live up to 2000 years.

*Thick bark with a high tannin content helps to protect Redwoods from fire, disease, and insects.

*Redwoods do not have taproot. Their roots may go down to 10-13ft in depth and spread outward to 60-80ft.

*Redwoods move hundreds of gallons of water per day from their roots to the top of the tree.

*Redwoods can regenerate by growing sprouts from a stump or a downed tree’s root system. Sometimes you can find a ring of redwood trees around a dead or burned stump. These are all clones of the original tree!

“And then it goes ‘Zap’!”

Here are some pictures from the class where we made the Electrophorus and the Leyden Jar.  Great job with working through the analysis of how the charges are moving!  It’s a little tricky, but I can tell that you guys are getting it!

Grant and Mesale working hard on the activity.

Kayla is feeling the electrons pass from the aluminum pan to her face!  Zap!  Some students were trying this on their tongue.  A little unsanitary… but they felt a good shock.  Why do you think they felt a sizable shock on their tongues?

Apparently I have very ATTRACTIVE hair.  Emma’s found an excellent source of electrons.  I was making good use of my head to charge up the styrofoam plates.

Lightning website

We won’t be having regular science classes during the Farm school weeks. However, we will have one science class where I’ll show a video: Nova- Lightning! This is the website with current data, interviews, and a short video. PBS-NOVA-Lightning!

Faraday’s 215th birthday!

Today is your science teacher’s 28th birthday! Yea! And it happens to be Michael Faraday’s 215th birthday! Who is Michael Faraday, you ask?

Michael Faraday followed the footsteps of Ben Franklin. Born on September 22, 1791, this famous English physicist and chemist is best remembered for his understanding of electromagnetism. Once Faraday discovered that electricity could be made by moving a magnet inside a wire coil, he was able to build the first electric motor. (We’ll make a simple motor in class.) He later built the first generator and transformer. He introduced several words that we still use today to discuss electricity: ion, electrode, cathode, and anode.

Faraday is also remembered for his contributions to the study of chemistry. Most noteworthy was his discovery of benzene, a common carbon compound. Later in life, Faraday became Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution. He was a powerful speaker and his lectures were popular. Every year on Christmas Day, he presented his Faraday Lectures for Children which were crowded with interested listeners. To honor his accomplishments, a unit of electricity was named after him. The “farad” measures capacitance, an amount of electrical charge. Faraday lived his whole life in England, where he died on August 25, 1867.

Biography from The Franklin Institute

Lightning and thunder

In class today, somebody asked about how they could tell how far away a storm was from seeing lightning and hearing thunder. So after a little research, here’s the info:

The flash of a lightning strike and resulting thunder occur at roughly the same time. But light travels at 186,000 miles in a second, almost a million times the speed of sound. Sound travels at the slower speed of one-fifth of a mile in the same time. So the flash of lightning is seen before thunder is heard. By counting the seconds between the flash and the thunder and dividing by 5, you can estimate your distance from the strike (in miles).

More static tricks

Here’s an experiment you can do at home!  You can make a stream of water bend by charging up a comb on your head or with your favorite balloon.  I think I demonstrated this with one class.   Here’s a website that explains how to do it.

Try it out!  And then think about what might be happening with the water.

A water molecule is made up of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom.  The molecule itself looks kind of like a Mickey mouse head.

The hydrogen atoms create a slight positive (+) charge and the oxygen atom creates a slight negative (-) charge.

After you charge up the balloon or the comb and bring it towards the stream of water, the water molecules will rearrange themselves and cause the stream of water to bend.

A shark that walks on its fins!

Scientists have discovered 52 new species in the corals reefs off the coast of Indonesia’s Papua province. One species includes a shark that appears to walk on its fins. This particular region is home to more than 1,200 types of reef fishes and nearly 600 species of hard corals, plus whales, sea turtles, crocodiles, giant clams, manta rays, and manatees. Some scientists can say that this might be the most biologically diverse place on Earth. Conservationists are concerned about protecting this area because of fishing practices which involve the use of poisons and explosives. For more info and a video of the shark, check out Conservation International.

Homework for the Week of Sept. 18

1) Read “History and Mystery of Lightning” and “Point of Invention” handout.

History and Mystery of Lightning document

Point of Invention document
2) Complete HW#4: Ride the Lightning hw_4-ride-the-lighting.doc

Due date:

Block I: Wed. Sept. 20

Block II: Friday, Sept. 22

Block III: Thursday, Sept. 21

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So far…no homework for the rest of the week because the 1st week of Farm school begins next week! But if I’m inspired, I’ll pass out HW later in the week. Don’t worry. I’ll update you.  Please let me know if you have trouble with downloading documents.

Do it yourself Safety goggles

I know that you all want your own safety goggles since it IS the new Fall accessory. Save that two-liter soda bottle! Here’s a simple way to keep your eyes safe and to keep your style cool: DIY safety goggles

Check out the safety demo.

This is from a site called Instructables.  People write in instructions on how to make all sorts of fun home-made things.

Static cling

Just click on the pictures for a larger image.

Maya is demonstrating the proper “charging” technique on Jimmy’s head.

Emilia discovers a very attractive balloon!

Ben is using some magical powers to move the aluminum can without touching it.

Michaela discovers her balloons attraction to bubbles. Nice bubble mustache!