Now That’s a NYE Ball Drop!

Yay Science…

YouTube - Bouncy Ball New Year 2009!

Make: Science Room

Fantastic lab and activity ideas you can hack and perform at home (always be safe, of course)…

Greetings citizen scientists, budding biohackers, and backyard explorers! We think you’ll find the Make: Science Room a fun and useful resource. We hope you’ll use it as your DIY science classroom, virtual laboratory, and a place to share your projects, hacks, and laboratory tips with other amateur scientists.

via Make: Online: Make: Science Room Home.

I’m ready for school to start now that the Holidays are over… I’m thinking about doing a few of these myself over the weekend since Mrs H is working and it’s “Daddy Day Care Weekend.”  MH loves geeking out.

I’ll post pics if we do.

10 Science Party Tricks for the Holidays

Entertain your family and friends (but as always, be careful and use proper saftey!) during those long holiday gatherings:

Fun stuff!

I love the carbon dioxide trick.

Journal Article Grades

I’m working on the Journal Article grading this weekend (even though there’s a fantastic marathon of Godzilla movies from the 1960′s playing tonight that keeps distracting me).

Nevertheless, I will have your articles graded with comments and responses by Monday or possibly Tuesday at the latest.

I’ve really been impressed with some of the projects I’ve seen and read today.

In the meantime, have a great weekend and start reviewing for your exams that start on Friday!

NASA Experiment Contest

Anyone want to give it a shot?

NASA – Kids In Micro-g!: “The experiment demonstration must take no more than 30 minutes to set up, run and take down. Experiment challenge winners and runners-up will be selected regionally and nationally by the Education Offices of the ten NASA centers. The ten regional winners, one national winner and one national runner up winner will have their experiments conducted by the Astronauts on board the ISS in the April-May 2010 timeframe. The experiments will be recorded onboard in HD video and the winners supplied with copies of their video before the end of their school year. “

Final Article Due Date Moved to Friday 13th

Some of you need more time for experiments, so I’m extending the final due date for the Journal Article to Friday Nov 13th. So, the Journal Article Research Prep Guide will be due on Thurs Nov 12th.

This is all changed on our class assignment calendar as well.

Let me know what you think in the comments here or over on the GriffinScience Facebook page.

LHC Shut Down By Bird

This is just getting odd…

LHC Shut Down Again — By Baguette-Dropping Bird: “This time, it is not falling cranes, cracked magnets, liquid helium leaks or even links to Al Qaeda, that have halted man’s efforts to understand the meaning of life, the universe and everything. It now appears that the collider is hindered from an initial firing by a baguette, dropped by a passing bird: ‘The bird dropped some bread on a section of outdoor machinery, eventually leading to significant over heating in parts of the accelerator. The LHC was not operational at the time of the incident, but the spike produced so much heat that had the beam been on, automatic failsafes would have shut down the machine.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Maybe our future selves really don’t want us to turn on the LHC!

Bagel or fate?

Ah, science!

So When Are We Going to Do More Experiments??

Good question…

I just made a large order for chemicals, beakers, safety equipment and all sorts of fun supplies that we just haven’t collected for our Middle School Science Lab before (made the order at Carolina Supply, which is a fun place to look around… let me know if you see something you’d like to try in class!).

The order should arrive by the second week of November (many of the chemicals we need are on backorder until Nov 6).

I’ve set aside the last two weeks of class before the exams as a time for labs. So, we’ll be revisiting some of the chemistry we’ve discussed in class and do some practical experiments as a way to review everything we’ve learned about atoms, elements, compounds and mixtures this semester… should be fun!

Class Notes for Thursday Oct 15, 2009: Lavoisier

Today we continued our studies of Antoine Lavoisier and his importance to chemistry (and many other areas).

Here is a link to the reading that we covered in class on the life of Lavoisier.

Additionally, here’s a link to the Wikipedia article we discussed which has a couple of fantastic pictures relating to Mr. Lavoisier and his experiments.

Remember, your homework is due tomorrow. In case you forgot…

Your Homework:
Find 10 important points about Lavoisier from our conversation in class or from your own readings of their linked texts.

Write/type/blog those points and your responses to them in complete sentences.

(Your points should not just regurgitate what others have said but include your own insights).

See you tomorrow!

Why Do Flourescent Lights Buzz?

I love science…

Fluorescent bulbs are made up of a glass tube that is filled with a low-pressure inert gas and a small amount of mercury, have a phosphor coating on the inside, and have an electrode on each end. When a large enough voltage is applied across the electrodes, the gas begins to conduct, which allows an electric current to flow from one electrode to the other. This current causes collisions between gas molecules and the mercury, which creates UV energy that is then converted to visible light by the phosphor coating on the tube.

via Make: Online : Ask MAKE: Why do flourescent lights buzz?.

Go read the whole article. It really is fascinating how we’ve put our knowledge of the noble gases to use in our technologies. It’s even more fascinating that we can study these things and realize how amazing it is that we can create light by heating up an inert gas element!