Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Got Science?
Apparently, I got the question wrong- it's not really a mosquito whine, but a mosquito ringtone. Hmm, close enough.
This is a relatively simple question to answer, so I'll keep it brief. Basically, adults can't hear the mosquito ringtone (which is actually simply a really high pitched sound) because their ears are getting old, a condition known as presbyacusis. And I'll stop there before I start giving out rather unfavorable ideas.
This is a relatively simple question to answer, so I'll keep it brief. Basically, adults can't hear the mosquito ringtone (which is actually simply a really high pitched sound) because their ears are getting old, a condition known as presbyacusis. And I'll stop there before I start giving out rather unfavorable ideas.
Can you hear the tones? Check out this link:
Also, here are the winners for this week's question box:
cookiesncream
soccer_bug0912
Toad Rockz
Congratulations!!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Interesting Blogs and Links
Improbable Research � Blog Archive
Interesting article (that I didn't understand) that I'd like to point out while on the topic of musical ringtones (well, we were on mosquito ringtones before). Can anyone figure out what it's trying to say? I don't really get it...
Also, while on the topic of blogs, here are some neat blogs I've found over the year:
And, here are some neat posts from those blogs:
Does anyone have some extra pager motors laying around? I'd really like to make a mini vibrabot, like in the one in the post!
Er, a little weird and I still don't truly get this one. Any insight?
Not strictly science, but it does relate to what we're doing on stocksquest (which I am doing poorly on) However, I don't quite understand what the effect of wind is on the stock market.
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Great Race
The Domino Buggy 1200 is a luxury buggy optimized for the comfort of dominos everywhere. With a frame built to accommodate dominos, its sleek black and gold design wins respect and awe from any and all competing domino vehicle brands. It is most closely related to the original prototype, the Beta Bomino 1000, but has newly improved shafts and has been thoroughly tested.*
The Dominizer 1400, a faster model than the Domino Buggy 1200, is built for stability and consistency in all aspects of its performance. Its light yet strong wooden frame and wide spool wheels provide for a sturdy car that can be depended on for a long time. Tested and engineered* for maximum potential, this car is built to be a steadfast vehicle to transport dominos and demonstrate Newton’s first and second law of motion.
Newton’s first law of motion, the law of inertia, states that an object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an outside force. Additionally, inertia is an object’s resistance to change in motion. The more mass an object (or car) has, the more inertia it will have. Therefore, as we add dominos to a car, once the car starts rolling on its own, it’ll have more inertia to resist a change in motion. The change in motion we’re trying to avoid is slowing down, so more dominos will hopefully allow the car to resist the fore of friction longer.
Newton’s second law of motion states that force is equal to mass times acceleration. In other words, if mass or acceleration increases, then the fore increases. In the Dominizer or the Domino Buggy, we can increase its mass by adding dominos. By increasing the mass, we will also increase the car’s force or momentum, by Newton’s second law of motion. Therefore, as it accelerates down the ramp due to gravity, it will also gain more force, or momentum, to continue to travel a longer distance.
Newton’s third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. However, this law does not truly apply to either car, since there is no action-reaction relationship in rolling down the ramp.
*Our engineer specializes in transducer and sensor design. Tested in a privately owned home. Dominoes, tires, and other accessories sold separately.
It's time to reflect, isn't it? I was going to attach a balloon to my car to make it go faster, but after realizing that my balloon blowing ability was- pititful, to put it nicely, I decided against it. I also wanted to post some pictures, but the cable to connect the camera to the computer has gone missing and plugging in the memory card causes the computer to freeze. Overall, this project is probably on my top five list of the most frustrating projects ever assigned (and continues to go up the list as my family scavenges the house for that missing cable). I have learned, over the course of these two weeks, many things about the nature of- many things. First of all, painting cars is unlucky, as it caused my perfectly good car to go a little bananas in the next trial run. Furthermore, rinsing cars causes the hot glue to fall apart- my dad sanded the buggy down and tried to rinse the dust off, which is when the problems started. Additionally, a good idea can take months of uninterrupted peace in the back of one's mind to develop. Also, spool wheels can get worn down after vigorous testing, so my second car, the Dominizer, didn't have quite so many trial runs and so runs much more smoothly. EDIT: Actually, for some reason, it's also now in the "heavily tested and I'm not going to run well anymore" mood. Maybe sitting around is what causes the car to go bananas. On the bright side, I also discovered that hot glue guns are amazingly cheap (and to think I've wasted all these years without one) and is probably the greatest invention on the face of the Earth, next to chocolate, books, and tape. The planning process for this car was a bumpy and frustrating ride. However, after the idea for my car finally appeared, it was quite fun to make and test it. My little sister and my dad all helped in testing and making the car. We tested whether shorter or longer shafts worked better (longer), whether the shafts were better closer together or further apart (further apart), whether the car worked better with or without lego tires on the back wheels (with tires) and adding various dominos (inconclusive). Most of the testing was done on the buggy, since we only finished the second one when we realized that the buggy wasn't working well anymore, due to all of the testing that we've been doing (or at least, that's what we think. We've already given it new shafts, wheels, and reglued the shafts as well). This project was extremely frustrating, but fun once it got moving. The only things that I wish could happen were: 1. more time, 2. that cable would turn up (we're still looking) and 3. that I could blow up a balloon.
The Dominizer 1400, a faster model than the Domino Buggy 1200, is built for stability and consistency in all aspects of its performance. Its light yet strong wooden frame and wide spool wheels provide for a sturdy car that can be depended on for a long time. Tested and engineered* for maximum potential, this car is built to be a steadfast vehicle to transport dominos and demonstrate Newton’s first and second law of motion.
Newton’s first law of motion, the law of inertia, states that an object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will remain in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an outside force. Additionally, inertia is an object’s resistance to change in motion. The more mass an object (or car) has, the more inertia it will have. Therefore, as we add dominos to a car, once the car starts rolling on its own, it’ll have more inertia to resist a change in motion. The change in motion we’re trying to avoid is slowing down, so more dominos will hopefully allow the car to resist the fore of friction longer.
Newton’s second law of motion states that force is equal to mass times acceleration. In other words, if mass or acceleration increases, then the fore increases. In the Dominizer or the Domino Buggy, we can increase its mass by adding dominos. By increasing the mass, we will also increase the car’s force or momentum, by Newton’s second law of motion. Therefore, as it accelerates down the ramp due to gravity, it will also gain more force, or momentum, to continue to travel a longer distance.
Newton’s third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. However, this law does not truly apply to either car, since there is no action-reaction relationship in rolling down the ramp.
*Our engineer specializes in transducer and sensor design. Tested in a privately owned home. Dominoes, tires, and other accessories sold separately.
It's time to reflect, isn't it? I was going to attach a balloon to my car to make it go faster, but after realizing that my balloon blowing ability was- pititful, to put it nicely, I decided against it. I also wanted to post some pictures, but the cable to connect the camera to the computer has gone missing and plugging in the memory card causes the computer to freeze. Overall, this project is probably on my top five list of the most frustrating projects ever assigned (and continues to go up the list as my family scavenges the house for that missing cable). I have learned, over the course of these two weeks, many things about the nature of- many things. First of all, painting cars is unlucky, as it caused my perfectly good car to go a little bananas in the next trial run. Furthermore, rinsing cars causes the hot glue to fall apart- my dad sanded the buggy down and tried to rinse the dust off, which is when the problems started. Additionally, a good idea can take months of uninterrupted peace in the back of one's mind to develop. Also, spool wheels can get worn down after vigorous testing, so my second car, the Dominizer, didn't have quite so many trial runs and so runs much more smoothly. EDIT: Actually, for some reason, it's also now in the "heavily tested and I'm not going to run well anymore" mood. Maybe sitting around is what causes the car to go bananas. On the bright side, I also discovered that hot glue guns are amazingly cheap (and to think I've wasted all these years without one) and is probably the greatest invention on the face of the Earth, next to chocolate, books, and tape. The planning process for this car was a bumpy and frustrating ride. However, after the idea for my car finally appeared, it was quite fun to make and test it. My little sister and my dad all helped in testing and making the car. We tested whether shorter or longer shafts worked better (longer), whether the shafts were better closer together or further apart (further apart), whether the car worked better with or without lego tires on the back wheels (with tires) and adding various dominos (inconclusive). Most of the testing was done on the buggy, since we only finished the second one when we realized that the buggy wasn't working well anymore, due to all of the testing that we've been doing (or at least, that's what we think. We've already given it new shafts, wheels, and reglued the shafts as well). This project was extremely frustrating, but fun once it got moving. The only things that I wish could happen were: 1. more time, 2. that cable would turn up (we're still looking) and 3. that I could blow up a balloon.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Got Science?
So, what is entropy? It sounds kind of weird, doesn't it? It's a very important part of the second law of thermodynamics (we learned the first law last year in Chemistry): Entropy always increases. But, of course, that doesn't explain much, does it?
Entropy, simply put, has to do with the disorder in the universe. More specifically, you could say it as the molecular organization of an object become disordered, or energy flowing from places with a lot of energy to places with little energy. (Decreasing potential energy, if you're studying for the test tommorrow) Need an example? Let's take an ice cube in a glass of water. Accorrding to entropy, energy will flow from points of higher energy to lower energy. The room, so long as it's a reasonable temperature, is much warmer than your glass of water, correct? So, the warmth from the room will eventually warm up the cup and melt the ice cube. Eventually, the room and the ice cube will be at the same temperature. That's about it! Here's another example I read in a book about how it has to do with organization: say you have a puzzle depicting, say, Einstein. At first, all the puzzle pieces are in order and you can see Einstein's head. However, give it a little shake, and it begins to randomize. There are a bazillion ways that the puzzle pieces may be scattered and messed up, but there is only one way that is correct and "organized." Therefore, it is much easier to be disorganized than organized, or entropy. Hope you've learned something for today!
Links:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-entropy.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_entropy
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/therm/entrop.html
Entropy, simply put, has to do with the disorder in the universe. More specifically, you could say it as the molecular organization of an object become disordered, or energy flowing from places with a lot of energy to places with little energy. (Decreasing potential energy, if you're studying for the test tommorrow) Need an example? Let's take an ice cube in a glass of water. Accorrding to entropy, energy will flow from points of higher energy to lower energy. The room, so long as it's a reasonable temperature, is much warmer than your glass of water, correct? So, the warmth from the room will eventually warm up the cup and melt the ice cube. Eventually, the room and the ice cube will be at the same temperature. That's about it! Here's another example I read in a book about how it has to do with organization: say you have a puzzle depicting, say, Einstein. At first, all the puzzle pieces are in order and you can see Einstein's head. However, give it a little shake, and it begins to randomize. There are a bazillion ways that the puzzle pieces may be scattered and messed up, but there is only one way that is correct and "organized." Therefore, it is much easier to be disorganized than organized, or entropy. Hope you've learned something for today!
Links:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-entropy.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_entropy
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/therm/entrop.html
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Pippin's Question Box
Why can children hear the "mosquito" whine but adults (well, most) cannot? Best
Monday, April 19, 2010
Renovations to Question Box
The Question Box is getting some revamps! Things to look for: new rewards system, a bulletin board, and much more! Keep on answering those questions!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Got Science?
I know, I know, I haven't posted in a while. To follow up on my discussion of heat transfer, I'm going to discuss the question box from two weeks ago: Why is it more efficient to heat up your house with the fireplace rather than the oven?
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
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