Ever wonder what it is like to be a graduate student training to be a scientist? How about what it is like to attend a scientific meeting? Danielle Lee at Urban Science Adventures(c) has been posting about her experiences writing a PhD thesis and attending an International meeting in France. It gives you a window into what the pathway to becoming a scientist is like. I wish someone like her had been around when I was a graduate student.
The Science Behind-the-Scenes post is a good starting point, then take a look around. The newest posts are from the meeting in France. In Live Blogging she describes her field of science, called ethology.
Danielle is also trying to win a trip to Antarctica via blogging. If you are interested in helping her out, stop by her contest site and vote for her. It does require registration to ensure you only vote once. I think it would be wonderful if she won. If she can make us feel like we’re tagging along when she is blogging about France, think what it would be like to hear about her experiences in Antarctica!
Wind, or the movement of air, can be a powerful thing. People have used the wind to do work for hundreds of years. From sailing ships to modern wind turbines, the wind has been harnessed for many useful purposes.
This week we have been investigating how air movement works with various pinwheels, windmills and propellers.
Activities:
Blowing Feathers/Streamers
You can learn about wind using a household electric fan. Be sure to remind your children about safety around fans, such as never sticking anything into the moving blades.
Gather:
Feathers or other lights objects, such as bits of tissue (available in craft stores)
Electric household Fan
Give each child a feather or piece of tissue and allow them to blow on it. Let them free explore, seeing how the feathers lift and fly as the air moves. When they are finished, turn on a fan. Allow them to drop their feather in front of the fan. Does the feather move differently? An actively working air return vent can also work if you don’t have a fan. Repeat using tissue streamers, if available.
If possible, let the children try this outside when there is a breeze.
Windsocks/Streamers/Wind Chimes
Make or obtain a windsock (see windpower.org, for example)
How to make a weatherproof windsock video
and/or tie a few long streamers of cloth or ribbons to a wooden dowel
and/or make or obtain some wind chimes.
Hang the windsock, streamers or wind chimes outside. Watch them often. Discuss whether the day is windy or calm. Explain that windsocks are found at airports, The pilots need to determine the direction and strength of the wind when they take off and land the planes.
Pinwheels
There are hundreds of ways to make pinwheels on the Internet. Here is one way to make a simple pinwheel.
Gather:
Heavy paper, card stock or file folder
Pencil with eraser
Dressmaker’s Pin
Drawing compass or circular pattern
Ruler
Scissors
Modeling clay
Draw a circle about three inches in diameter and cut it out of the paper. Find the center of the circle. Draw a line through the center across the circle. The draw another line perpendicular through the center, creating four equal wedge or pie shapes. Now draw two more lines across the center dividing the fourths in half. You will have eight wedge shapes. Cut along each of these lines to about 1/4 inch from the center.
Have and adult place the pin through the center of the pinwheel and push into the side of the pencil eraser. The pencil will be the handle. Be careful with the pin around small children. Place the modeling clay over the sharp end of the pin to hold it in place. Now gently bend one corner down on each wedge, making sure to create the same angle with each.
Blow on your pinwheel or push it through the air holding the pencil. It should spin as the air hits it. Putting it in from of a fan is fun too.
Windmills
Windmills are basically pinwheels that do work of some kind. In the past windmills were used to grind grains, make paper, extract oils from seeds, and pump water, among other things. These days people are investigating many ways to generate electricity using wind.
This is a video of three example windmills. Note: the quality of the video is slightly better at the original website.
Kids can learn a great deal more about using windmills to generate electricity at Wind with Miller
If your children are interested in making a model of a windmill, Tinker Toys have some useful parts, such as hub wheels.
Helpful Resources:
Feel the Wind (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Arthur Dorros
The Wind at Work: An Activity Guide to Windmills by Gretchen Woelfle
Cool book about the history of windmills.
Tinker Toys
Twirly Pinwheels
Can you believe it? You can get a windmill at Amazon!
Are you ready to find out what the mystery insect was in last week’s post?
Most of you probably noticed the two circular depressions. The creature at the bottom of those funnel-shaped pits is the larval stage of the ant lion, also called a doodlebug. Ant lions are found in warm areas throughout the world, including Florida and the southwestern United States.
If you were to dig out the bottom of the pit, you would find the ant lion larva, which looks a bit like a lacewing larva and the two are related. Here’s a photo of an ant lion larva from Iowa State University. Some species have even longer jaws.
The ant lion larva digs a pit in loose dirt or sand near ant colonies. They spiral around and around from the surface down to the lowest point, creating a steep and slippery slope. The ant lion prefers to dig in areas with fine sand, and maintains the pit by throwing out any pebbles or bits of plant that might fall in.
When an ant or other small insect falls into the pit, the larva flicks sand at it to knock it towards the bottom. Once the ant is within reach, the larva grabs it and drags it under the sand and eats it. Don’t feel too bad though, many times the ant is able to scramble out of the pit unharmed and the ant lion often goes hungry.
When the larva attains its full size, it pupates. The pupa is round and covered with a layer of silk and sand, similar to that of the lacewing. The adult ant lion emerges from the sand. It is slender with wings with many veins that fold back over its body when it is at rest. The adult might be mistaken for a damselfly or dragonfly. Firefly Forest has a fantastic photograph of an adult ant lion, go on over and take a look.
