Origami n' Stuff 4 Kids: science

Origami Folding Tips

Origami, from the Japanese ori (to fold) and kami (paper), began in the 6th century when Buddhist monks introduced paper to Japan. The print-and-fold crafts and easy diagrams are designed to help children with fine motor skills, directions and hand eye coordination. Some basic origami folding tips:

Print and cut out patterns carefully.
Fold with clean, dry hands.
Follow the instructions. Study the diagrams and be patient.
Be precise: fold each crease well, flattening the creases by running your fingertip over the fold.
Folding the paper away from you is easier than folding towards you.
Be creative...use your origami on greeting cards, holiday decorations, table place cards and bookmarks.

Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

SWARMING DADDY LONGLEGS! The explanation behind the creepy phenomenon

So, fellow nerds, what's with this video circulating on Facebook and Youtube?

First of all, these are not spiders. They are harvestmen or daddy-longlegs. For those of you who remember the ol' mnemonic device for taxonomy, King Philip Can Order Fresh Green Salad (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus and Species), these critters, like spiders, scorpions and ticks, are in the class Arachnida. However, harvestmen belong to their own order, Opiliones.

So what's the difference?

Harvestmen have a single cephalothorax and a single pair of eyes. True spiders have a narrow "waist" that creates two segments, the cephalothorax and abdomen.
Harvestmen have a single pair of eyes. True spiders most commonly have eight eyes, however they can have no eyes, or as many as 12 eyes.
Harvestmen are nonvenomous.
Harvestmen have no spinnerets, so they do not spin webs.
Harvestmen are older than spiders--the oldest fossil, from Scotland, is at least 400 million years old. True spiders are about 300 million years old.
Harvestmen are omnivores--they eat dead stuff, bird droppings, fungus and small arthropods and slugs.

Finally, the question every one is asking. WHY DO THEY DO THIS? They mass for defensive purposes, and to keep themselves warm. Harvestmen possess a pair of stinky glands called ozopores; when they mass, the combined smell can be quite disturbing. Swarming also makes them appear larger. When disturbed, the entire throng will sometimes bob and sway--a truly unsettling effect.

Learn more about harvestmen/daddy long legs:

http://spiders.ucr.edu/daddylonglegs.html

http://www.newsweek.com/video-science-explains-why-thousands-daddy-longlegs-swarmed-house-312362

http://mentalfloss.com/article/59455/15-fascinating-facts-about-daddy-longlegs

Origami, Math and Science

Robert Lang merges mathematics with aesthetics to fold complex origami insects and creatures from a single sheet of paper. His scientific approach helps him make folds once thought impossible -- and has secured his place as one of the first great Western masters of the art. Here he explains the history and principles behind origami, and how it is applied in engineering space telescopes, solar sails and airbags.

To learn more, visit his website: www.langorigami.com

Paper Planes: Space Shuttle

On April 17, 2012, the space shuttle Discovery made its final flight, riding piggy-back on a specially equipped 747 over the Capitol, White House, and the National Mall before touching down at Dulles International Airport. The retired shuttle's final resting home will be at the Smithsonian's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. Curators plan to display the space craft in its well-loved, working state--unwashed, with cracked ceramic tiles and scorched underbelly.

Since its maiden voyage on August 30, 1984 until the completion of its final mission on March 9, 2011, Discovery has traveled more than any other aircraft, having flown 149 million miles (238 million km) in 39 missions, completed 5,830 orbits, and spent 365 days in orbit in over 27 years.

Farewell, Space Shuttle Discovery!

Space Shuttle Fun Facts
Space Shuttle Paper Model

Print and fold a flying Paper Airplane Space Shuttle Endeavour or Discovery:

SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY

SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR

Difficulty: Easy

Directions:
1. Print and cut out paper plane Space Shuttle. Fold back horizontally along A.

2. With printed side down, fold diagonally along C and D.

3. Fold tip along E.

4. Fold in half along B.

5. Note that there are two vertical lines along the fuselage, to either side of the center fold. Fold these down to open up the wings, as shown in the final sample.

6. Tape or staple fuselage as shown. Fold wing flaps up as shown...these can be adjusted as you test your paper airplane Space Shuttle.

Science: Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle Discovery Since 1981, six Space Shuttles, or STSs (Space Transportation Systems) as NASA calls them, have flown on more than 120 missions, carrying payloads weighing up to 50,000 pounds--that's as heavy as four full grown elephants! While there are no plans to launch elephants into space, there's plenty of work to do, shuttling satellites, telescopes and parts for the International Space Station (ISS) into low-Earth orbit.

First shuttle launch 4/12/1981 Credit: NASA

2.5 million parts make the STS the most complicated machine ever built, capable of withstanding extreme temperatures inside and out.

At -423 degrees Farenheit, the shuttle's liquid hydrogen fuel is the second coldest liquid on Earth (only liquid helium is colder, at -450 degrees Farenheit). When it is combined with liquid oxygen, combustion occurs, and the temperature within the main combustion chamber rockets to a staggering 6,000 degrees Farenheit. That's hot enough not just to melt iron, but to bring it to the boiling point! This chemical reaction is so efficient that the combined energy of the shuttle's three main engines at full power would equal the energy created by 13 Hoover Dams (enough power to serve 16 million people).

The Journey Home: Fresh from the STS-126 mission space shuttle Endeavour, mounted atop its modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, flew over California's Mojave Desert on its way back to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Dec. 10, 2008. Image Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas

Though every shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral, Florida, there are over 50 alternate landing sites.

Fun Facts:

The External Tank is half the length of a football field; if all of its foam insulation were spread out on the ground, it would cover nearly one-half acre.
The shuttle has two Solid Rocket Boosters. Each Solid Rocket Booster is two feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty, yet weighs three times as much. Combined, they consume 11,000 pounds of fuel per second, or two million times the gas mileage of an average family car!
The Space Shuttle travels 25 times the speed of sound while in orbit. Its tires are filled with nitrogen.
Up until 2007, a software glitch prevented the shuttle from orbiting from December to January, during the year change. The original software had to be reset each New Year.
There have been six Space Shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour and Enterprise. Discover has flown the most missions; Enterprise was built for testing only; and Endeavour was built to replace the Challenger.
More Space Shuttle Trivia from the Marshall Space Flight Center: http://www1.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/pdf/113069main_shuttle_trivia.pdf

Space Shuttle Activities:

Visit www.coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com: to print and color the Space Shuttle and other cool planes:
Print and fold a Space Shuttle Paper Airplane or a Space Shuttle Paper Model:

Crafts: Space Shuttle Paper Model

Difficulty: Easy

Directions:

1. Print and cut out paper model shuttle body, tail and wings. Make sure you do not cut off the tabs. Cut slits along red lines as indicated by red arrows in diagram.

2. Fold tail in half. Crease flaps as shown.

3. Insert tail into cut slit on top of fuselage, as shown. Secure tail with tape or glue.

4. Fold bottom of body under as shown.

5. Bend fuselage and secure as shown. Slide wings into cut slits on body.

6. Fold back of shuttle up and secure with tabs. Fold front of shuttle down and secure to the underside with tabs.

Enjoy your Paper Model Space Shuttle!

©2009 Tammy Yee
All rights reserved.

Super Science: Seriously Cool Robot!

This robot rolls, unfolds, then scampers!

March Equinox and a Spring Bouquet of Origami Flowers

What's an equinox? The equinox occurs when, because of the Earth's tilt as it orbits the sun, the sun shines directly on the equator, when the "length of day and night are nearly equal in all parts of the world." Hence the name equinox, from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night).

There are two equinoxes each year. The first occurs on March 20 or 21 and the second occurs on September 22 or 23. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we associate the March or Vernal equinox with the official start of spring (in the Southern Hemisphere, the March equinox marks the start of autumn). The 2011 equinox on March 20 was special because it coincided with the rare supermoon, which occurs only once every 20 years or so. On March 19, 2011, the full moon was on its closest approach to earth, appearing 14% larger and 30% brighter than normal.

March equinox celebrations:

World Storytelling Day, which began in Sweden in 1991 as a day devoted to the art of storytelling, is now a global celebration.
World Citizen Day celebrates the unity of the human family, transcending borders.
Burning of the Socks Festival in Annapolis, Maryland. Traditionally, the boating community wears socks only during the winter. These are burned at the approach of warmer weather, to welcome the start of spring.

Create an Origami Spring Bouquet for March

Science: The Aurora Borealis

Astronaut Don Pettit creates a time lapse video of the Aurora Borealis from the International Space Station. NPR Science Friday, April 10, 2009.

What is the Aurora Borealis?

Auroras are brilliant curtains of light most often seen in the polar regions. In the north they are called the Aurora Borealis (Aurora, after the Roman Goddess of Dawn, and Borealis, Greek for "north wind") and are most often seen from September to October and from March to April. In the south they are called the Aurora Australis (Australis, Latin for "south"), and can best be viewed from September to May.

The Aurora Australis over Antarctica, as seen from space.

What causes auroras?

Molten iron swirling deep within the Earth creates a magnetic field around the planet. If you can imagine a giant bar magnet inside the Earth, the ends are where the magnetic north and south (or positive and negative) poles would be. Magnetism is a force which attracts magnetized objects, just as a magnet attracts paperclips or iron filings. The Earth's magnetic field draws particles along magnetic field lines, toward the magnetic poles:

When solar winds bombard the Earth with ions, these charged particles move along the magnetic field lines toward the magnetic poles. When these particles strike our atmosphere, they erupt in spectacular displays of light, what we call the auroras.

Photo by Senior Airman Joshua Strang, U.S. Air Force (from Wikipedia).

Some fun facts about the Aurora:

Solar winds drive particles toward the Earth at about a million miles per hour. It takes 40 hours for these particles to strike the Earth's atmosphere.
The Earth's magnetosphere shields us from these particles; if not for this shield, life on Earth would be very different.
The colors of the aurora result when charged particles from the sun strike atoms in our atmosphere:
* Green - oxygen, up to 150 miles in altitude
* Red - oxygen, above 150 miles in altitude
* Blue - nitrogen, up to 60 miles in altitude
* Purple/violet - nitrogen, above 60 miles in altitude

Science: Soap

NASA astronaut Don Pettit experiments with candy corn aboard the International Space Station to demonstrate the hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of soap. From NPR's Science Friday, April 10, 2009. Hosted by Ira Flatow.

So how does soap work? And just what is Dr. Don Pettit saying?

First, let's think about what happens when we get dirty. Our bodies secrete oil, through sebaceous glands, to keep our skin soft and supple. Dirt clings to this film of oil.

What happens when we try to wash ourselves without soap? The same thing that happens when you try washing an oily frying pan without any dishwashing detergent. The oil repels the water, making it nearly impossible to clean.

This is because oil and water are immiscible—they do not mix. What you need is an emulsifier or surfactant, something to get the party going so that oil and water can get along.

Along comes Mr. Soap, the life of the party. Each molecule has an end that is hydrophilic (water-loving), and an end that is hydrophobic (water resistant).

One molecule of soap can't do very much...but if you have enough of them, their hydrophobic ends surround the glob of fat, creating a tidy droplet called a micelle. With the fat enclosed, and with the hydrophilic ends exposed on the surface, they're ready to rock and roll in water.

These micelle allow the oil to mix with water in a suspension or emulsion...and voila! Now the oil and grime can be washed away.

Hey...doesn't that micelle look like Dr. Pettit's ball of candy corn? Except Dr. Pettit's ball is reversed, with the water on the inside and the hydrophobic, oil-dipped ends of the candy on the outside.

Another example of an emulsion, where two unmixable substances are combined, is mayonnaise. Instead of soap (that would taste horrible!), the lecithin in egg yolks acts as an emulsifier, suspending the oil in vinegar and lemon juice.

Here's an article on how mayonnaise works: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question617.htm

and an easy experiment that demonstrates how soap acts as an emulsifier or surfactant:
http://candleandsoap.about.com/od/soapmakingbasics/ss/howsoapcleans.htm

©2009 Tammy Yee

Origami n' Stuff 4 Kids

Pages

Search This Blog