Tag: heat

Cool Sciency Stuff!

Sibo's Experiment

Once again it is that time of year – National Science Week. Some of you might remember that I’m always saying you should go visit your local science centre. If you can’t get your teacher to take the whole class, then ask your parental agents to take you. They’re really very cool places, where not only do you have loads of fun, but you also learn some very interesting stuff.

So I thought I’d share some crazy facts and maybe you’d like to do a little science experiment all of your own at home.

First the facts. Did you know…

  • Your tongue is the strongest muscle in your body.
  • Earth is the only planet not named after a god.
  • There are no naturally occurring blue foods, even blueberries are purple!
  • Just like finger prints, everybody’s tongue is different.
  • A “jiffy” is the scientific name for 1/100th of a second.
  • You breathe on average about 5 million times a year.
  • Cockroaches can live several weeks with their heads cut off. (Eeergh – that’s really gross.)

 Now for the experiment…

Its winter time and we all enjoy a bit of heat when we are cold – right. Heat is an important form of energy. It is produced in our own bodies as we break down and use the food we eat. We can release stored heat energy by burning fuels such as wood or coal.

Heat can move from one substance to another in three different ways:

  • By convection. (Convection takes place when heated molecules move from one place to another, taking the heat with them.)
  • By radiation. (Radiation is rays of energy – the Sun’s rays travel through space and reach us as heat and light energy.)
  • By conduction. (Conduction is the way heat spreads through a solid or a liquid object – metal is a faster conductor than glass.)

Maybe get an adult to help you here – or at least ask if you can have 3 peas and a teaspoon of butter!

Take a metal spoon, a wooden ruler and a plastic spatula. Stick a frozen pea to one end of each using a bit of butter. Put the other ends in a jug of hot water.

Heat is conducted from the water up each object, melting the butter and making the pea fall off. Which one do you think will be the best conductor?

Science makes the world go round!

Sibo

Sibo makes a clever plan

Hey guys!

Hope you are all surviving this hot weather.

I was so hot the other day I had an extra cold shower in the middle of the afternoon. But then I felt really bad about wasting water so I came up with another plan.

I asked my mum if I could have her old spray bottle – the one that had stuff in it to clean the windows.  She had put it in the plastic pile to be recycled. I always go and nose around in the recycling pile to see if there is anything interesting that I can re-use or modify. Think I sometimes drive my poor mum a bit crazy.

I washed the bottle out very well, using some sunlight liquid to make sure that all the nasty detergent was gone. Then I rinsed it out several times too. I thought it was okay to use all that water because I’m planning on using the bottle for quite a long time.

Then I filled the bottle up with water and put it in the fridge for a while.

Later on, while I was doing my homework – I sprayed my legs and arms with nice cool water. It worked a treat. If you’ve got a fan – you can also spray the water into the fan and stand in front of it – that works well too.

But be careful not to make your books all wet and smooshy though, otherwise your teacher will be miffed with you.

I know some people are lucky and have swimming pools that they can use to cool down in – but we don’t. So I had to think of a clever plan instead. My Grandmother always says to me, “Sibo! When you have a problem, you have to put on your thinking cap and figure out a way to solve it.”

Sometimes it’s fun thinking of ways to unravel problems. And sometimes it is easier than we imagine. It’s the really simple things that work and make a difference.

Did you know… the 22nd of February is World Thinking Day?

Imagine that! A whole day dedicated to thinking about thinking.

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Cool word for the week:

Word:  miffed

Meaning:  to be annoyed with, to be displeased

Example: I left the recycling pile in a mess when I took out the spray bottle and Mum was miffed with me.