The Sky is Falling: Perseids Meteor Shower

5 08 2010

The night sky and a few meteors. Photo by adcuz on flickr.

No, Chicken Little, it’s just a meteor shower! Sometimes called “shooting stars”, meteors are actually small bits of rock and debris that burn up as they enter Earth’s upper atmosphere at speeds of thousands of miles per hour.

If you’re looking in just the right spot at just the right time, you can get lucky and see meteors on almost any clear, dark night – but every year, during the second week of August, there’s a meteor shower. A meteor shower usually happens when Earth passes through the path of a comet. Comets leave behind a trail of ice, dust, and rocks that turn into meteors as they pass through the Earth’s atmosphere.

The meteor shower that takes place every August is called the Perseids and it occurs because Earth is passing through the path of the Swift-Tuttle comet. The Perseid meteor shower is named after the constellation Perseus because meteors seem to radiate out from that constellation (even though we now know that the meteors are coming from comet debris that is much closer to Earth than any of the stars in the constellation).

This year, the Perseids will peak on the night of Thursday, August 12th (and there should be an increase in the number of meteors a few days before and after the peak night). Because the moon will be setting early, the sky will be especially dark, which is the perfect condition for watching meteors!

A meteor from the Perseids shower in 2008. Photo by aresauburn on flickr.

We’ve put together a list of tips for enjoying the meteor shower:

- Find a dark place, away from city lights, to watch the sky. Parks and open spaces away from the city’s light pollution work best. Look for places that aren’t covered with trees – you want to be able to see as much of the sky as you can when you look up.

- Check earlier in the day to make sure that it won’t be overcast – even at night clouds will obstruct our view of the sky. Unfortunately, if it is cloudy, there’s not much hope for watching the meteor shower.

- Bring a blanket for everyone to lie down on – it’s a whole lot easier than craning your neck back for the whole night.

- Bring a flashlight with a red bulb (or one that’s been covered in red cellophane) for navigating around your viewing area. Turning on a regular, bright flashlight will overwhelm your eyes but using a red light will not disrupt your night vision.

- Dress for the weather – even in Central Texas, it can cool off at night. Dress comfortably, and in layers.

- Don’t use a telescope! That’s right – trying to see meteors through a telescope requires a lot of patience – you won’t be quick enough to follow (or focus on) a “shooting star”. Instead, stare up at the sky, with the widest possible view for the best chance of seeing meteors. That said, it’s always fun to bring telescopes and even binoculars to a sky gazing party – they’re great for looking at constellations, stars, planets, and the moon.

- Be patient! Your friends will probably see some meteors that you miss and you might see a meteor that no one else notices. At the Perseid’s peak, there may be upwards of 50 visible meteors per hour.

- Look for satellites. While looking for meteors, you might notice an object moving across the sky that looks like a dim, slow moving star. You’re probably looking at an artificial satellite – a object put into Earth’s orbit by humans to help with observations for weather forecasting, transmitting phone calls, or aiding in scientific research. According to NASA, there are currently about 3,000 useful satellites in orbit and an additional 6,000 pieces of space junk


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Learn

How does sunscreen work?

17 05 2010

When it’s summer and it’s sunny outside, we usually have to wear sunscreen to protect ourselves from getting burned.  Do you know how it works?

The ingredients in sunscreen scatter and absorb the ultraviolet light that comes from the sun, or UV light. The higher the SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, the more protection you have against the sun.

Watch this video from PBS to see a really cool experiment with sunscreen!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , , ,
Categories : 5 years & up, Learn

Make a smoothie, learn math!

13 05 2010

Did you know that making food can teach you a lot about math? Today we’re going to make a smoothie and find out how many combinations of fruit we can put in it.

Ingredients:

1-2  cups of 3 different kinds of fruit, frozen or fresh. I like bananas, blueberries and raspberries.

1/2-1 cup of fruit juice

1 cup of ice

1/2-1 cup of vanilla yogurt

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Add more juice to make the smoothie more drinkable, or more yogurt to make it thicker.

2. Enjoy your smoothie while learning about math.

Think about how there are many different combinations of smoothies you can make.

First, there are 6 fruits that taste great in smoothies:

Bananas, raspberries, mangoes, strawberries, blueberries and pineapple

Then there are 3 juices that help combine the fruit:

Then you add ice by itself:

Then there are 3 yogurts to choose from:

Vanilla, fruit flavored, or plain

To figure out how many combinations we have to make a smoothie we need to multiply all of our options.

6 fruits x 3 juices x 1 ice x 3 yogurts=54 combinations of smoothies! Wow!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , ,
Categories : 5 years & up, Cook, Learn

Mother’s Day

6 05 2010

This weekend is Mother’s Day.  For my mom, I’ve decided to make a couple of things I know she would like.  Instead of buying these things, I’m actually going to make them.

Today I’ll show you how to make custom-dyed carnations.  I thought it would be cool to give my mom something that shows a scientific process and that was pretty. Later this week I will show you the card I made.

Dyed Carnations

Supplies:

12 carnations
3 vases
A bouquet of white carnations, ends cut off at an angle after purchasing
Food coloring

1. Divide your flowers up into thirds.

2. In each vase place a couple cups or so of water. Make each vase of water a different color with the food coloring. I’m making pink, purple, and red. Leave the flowers in the vases for about a day or until you like the colors.

The color moves to the petals as the flower drinks the water. When a flower is growing from the ground, its roots spread out to find the water. When they find the water, the flower can drink it and grow even more.  When we bring flowers home from the store they no longer have roots.  However, these flowers still need water, which is why we put them in a vase. If you watch your flowers throughout the day they are drinking the dyed water, you can observe how quickly or slowly they drink water.

3. Fix into a bouquet or put them all in a new vase with un-dyed water. Now they’re ready to be a gift.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , , , ,
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft, Experiment, Learn

Community gardens

26 04 2010

All around Austin, communities have gardens where they can grow their own fruits and vegetables for their family and friends.  Some community gardens have been around for a long time, while others are just starting.

These gardens were created to help Austin locals who don’t have a backyard to grow their own plants. They are also communities within themselves, allowing the members to help each other and give each other advice about gardening and growing plants.

One of the most developed gardens is the Deep Eddy Community Garden. The garden is over 25 years old and has over 30 plots.  The plots range from growing herbs, flowers, vegetables and fruit trees, or making a compost pit.

A compost pit is where you put waste from your house, like banana peels or cardboard,  into a pit and nurture it so it can turn into soil.  The soil made from this process usually helps plants grow better.  Also, when you put your waste in compost pits you are reusing it instead of sending it to a giant landfill, which means you’re helping the Earth!

Click here to find out more information on community gardens around the country, and to search for local gardens that you can tour, volunteer at, or work on your own plot. Also, on May 1 you can tour the community gardens in town.


Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Learn

Eco-friendly everyday!

7 04 2010

April 10 was Keep Austin Beautiful’s Clean Sweep.  During clean sweep, volunteers from around the city helped remove all of the litter from the city in places like parks, schools, neighborhoods, and creeks.

You can also keep the city beautiful by doing more green activities in place of those that can harm the environment. Here are some simple tips on how to make the Earth a healthier place.

Always recycle when you can. The easiest places are at home and school, so make sure both have places to recycle.

Try to carpool.  When you carpool, less cars are being used, meaning less gas is being used and there isn’t as much pollution being let off into the air.

Turn off any light that you aren’t using. This is so easy and can save a lot of energy!

Same with water. When you’re brushing your teeth don’t keep the faucet running.

Take your lunch to school in a lunch box or grocery bag. When you use a lunch box or grocery bag, you don’t have to use a paper bag. Both can be reused several times, cost less, and help the environment since they have a longer life. If your grocery bag is getting worn out, save it and turn it back into a grocery store that recycles their bags.

Use a reusable water bottle. A good reusable water bottle can last for years and prevent you from using disposable plastic water bottles. Disposable bottles are often not recycled, meaning they can sit in a landfill for years.  Also, making them requires using a lot of oil which results in pollution.

Eat and buy local products.  When products are from places nearby, like vegetables, bread and fruit, it means that they traveled less of a distance.  Because of their shorter distance away, these products used less gas to get to their destination, reducing their pollution and making them more sustainable.

Be a part of a community garden. Instead of buying local produce, you can grow your own! When you do this, you aren’t buying food that has traveled a long distance which causes pollution.

These are just a few easy tips you can use everyday.  Keep looking for more eco-friendly tips and projects throughout the month!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: ,
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Learn

Wildflowers in bloom

5 04 2010

Over the weekend I noticed all of the wildflowers along the highway. They were all different colors and sizes, but they were all beautiful.

When I saw them I wondered why they were there.  I found out that in 1934, the highway department stopped mowing the grass around the highways so the native wildflowers could grow. Now each year they plant over 30,000 seeds of all different kinds of wildflowers.

If you go on a road trip this spring or a long drive, make sure you look out for these flowers.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Learn

Here come the butterflies

28 03 2010

It’s time for butterflies!

Every spring Monarch butterflies migrate from the fir forests of central Mexico to Texas to lay eggs.  From Texas, the Monarchs keep moving throughout North America during the late spring and summer.  After their summer migration they will travel back down south, and we can see them again in September.

Monarchs like it here when it’s warm, humid and there are southerly winds. When a cold front comes through, they keep heading up north. Check out this map.

Monarchs migration patterns.

Have you spotted any Monarchs yet? Let us know!

For more information on the butterflies and their migration, check out Texas’ website on them, or the University of Kansas’ Monarch Watch website.


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Learn

International Women’s Day

8 03 2010

Today is International Women’s Day, meaning we celebrate women’s achievements throughout history.

One well-known and admirable woman is Marie Curie.
She was the first woman to be honored with a Nobel Prize and the first person to ever receive two Nobel Prizes. She is also the only woman awarded with two Nobel Prizes. Curie won the first prize for her work
with physics and the second for her work with chemistry.  Curie isn’t just an inspiration because of her awards, but also because she was a woman at the forefront of science when it was not commonly accepted for women to be working in science.

To learn about other inspiring women, look at our posts on Bessie Coleman and Mae Jemison. To see some of the Museum’s girl scientists from Girls Explore Science Camp, click here.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : 5 years & up, Learn

Bessie Coleman

22 02 2010

For Black History Month, we would like to once again feature an African-American who was at the forefront of science and technology.

Bessie Coleman.

Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman, born in Texas, was the first person of African-American descent to become a licensed pilot in 1921.  She was also the first American to hold an international pilot license.  She is now part of the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Bessie Coleman is admired by many, including the first African-American woman in space, Mae Jemison.  In the book Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator, Mae Jemison said that Bessie Coleman “serves as a model to all humanity: the very definition of strength, dignity, courage, integrity, and beauty.”

To commemorate Bessie Coleman, you can make your own flying mechanism that shows how a helicopter works.

Spinners

Supplies:

Strips of paper 6-8 inches long and 1/2-1 inch wide
Scissors

Instructions:

1. Cut notches in the paper, one on each end, on opposite sides.

2. Assemble by inserting the notches into each other.

3. Hold the spinner high in the air and drop it. See what it does as it’s going down towards the ground.

4. Keep trying with different lengths and widths of the strips of paper. Note what happens with different sizes.

Spinners work when air is pushing on the flat sides of the strips of paper. When the flat side of the paper strip is parallel to the ground, the spinner drifts down like a flat piece of paper.  If the Spinner tilts so that the flat side of the strip is at an angle to the ground, the paper strip gets a sideways push, just like the blade of a helicopter, sending the Spinner spinning. Each time the flat strip comes around, it gets another push and goes for another spin.

For more information and activites with air, click here.


Comments : Leave a Comment »

Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Build, Learn

W. Lincoln Hawkins

19 02 2010
For Black History Month, we would like to recognize an African-American who invented technology still used today.  W. Lincoln Hawkins was a chemist who would help make telephones universally possible with science. Here’s his story.

Hawkins worked as a chemist for AT&T’s Bell Laboratories, part of the telephone company. At the time, telephone cables on telephone poles were made of a plastic that didn’t work very well.  Because of the coating on the wires, the wires wouldn’t last in different weather, like extreme heat or cold.

Telephone cables.

In 1956, Hawkins created a new kind of plastic that wouldn’t be destroyed easily.  The telephone company could now put up telephone lines where they wanted without worrying about animals or weather. Although this technology has advanced since then, this polymer is still used for other kinds of cables.

Like telephone cords made of polymer that W. Lincoln Hawkins created, we can find polymer in many parts of our everyday life. In this experiment from Carnegie Mellon University, you can create a polymer.

Gumdrop Polymer

Supplies:

Package of flavored gelatin powder like Jello (cannot be sugar-free)
Bowl or cup
Small, shallow dish, less than 2 inches wide
Water
Eyedropper
Plastic fork
Paper plate

Instructions:

1. Place the gelatin in the small dish, less than an inch deep.

2. Pour your water into a bowl or cup. Take your eyedropper and extract some water from the bowl or cup.

3. Drop the water in the center of the gelatin.

4. After the first drop is absorbed, drop another one in the same place. Keep doing this for 6-8 more drops.

5. Take your fork and scoop under the drops in the gelatin. Lift the lump out of the gelatin and place it on your plate. You just made a gumdrop, which is a natural polymer! (Remember, as yummy as it looks, this polymer gumdrop is like most parts of experiments and cannot be eaten.)

For more fun with polymers, click here to see how we experiment with polymers at the Museum, or here to see how someone else experiments with them. Information and history on W. Lincoln Hawkins courtesy of the Lemelson-MIT Program.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Experiment, Learn

Darwin and DNA

12 02 2010
Today is Charles Darwin’s birthday.  Darwin was born in 1809 and discovered that living things adapt to their environment in a process called natural selection. Natural selection can take a long time, but eventually these plants and animals evolve and keep certain traits so they can survive longer in their environment.

DNA is contained in the cells of every living thing, and it’s the code that makes every living thing unique. When plants and animals evolve, they do so through changes in this special code. It’s amazing that Charles Darwin was able to develop his theory of natural selection without even knowing about DNA and how it works!

In this activity from the New York Hall of Science you can extract the DNA of a strawberry.

Supplies:

1 large glass
1 small glass
measuring spoons
9 tbsp water
1/4 plus 1/8 tsp salt
1 coffee filter
2 tsp dishwashing liquid
rubbing alcohol, at least 70%
1 sealable sandwich baggie
1 wooden coffee stirrer or toothpick
1 strawberry with the top taken off

Instructions:

The extraction buffer.

1. Make an extraction buffer by mixing together the dishwashing liquid,
water and salt in the small glass.

To be able to see the DNA of the
strawberry you have to use an
extraction buffer to break open the cells. The buffer includes soap and salt. The soap breaks apart fat layers of the cell membrane. The salt makes the contents of the cell to come out through  a process called osmosis. The contents inside the cell with a lower salt concentration rush out of the cell to a higher salt concentration.

2. Place your strawberry in your bag and squeeze all the air out of the bag and close it properly.

3. Squash the strawberry in the bag. Then open the bag and add 3 teaspoons of the buffer. Close the bag, squeezing the air out again.  Keep squashing the strawberry and the buffer.

The strawberry and buffer squashed.

4. Strain the mixture into the large glass by using the coffee filter. Wrap the filter closed and gently squeeze the contents against the side of the glass to get the liquid into the glass. Make sure the coffee filter doesn’t rip.  The filter helps separate the cellulose and bigger components of your contents from the DNA in the liquid.

5. Tilt your glass to increase the surface area and  very slowly add the rubbing alcohol. Slowly rock the glass back and forth as you are doing this. Pour until there is a layer 1/2 inch deep on the top of the water.

Pour the alcohol slowly so the DNA can properly be extracted.

6. Let the glass sit for a minute. You should see three layers. One is reddish and contains water with proteins, the middle layer is whitish, and the upper layer is clear (the rubbing alcohol has the lowest density so it goes to the top).

Your mixture should look like this after you pour in the alcohol.

7. Look for the white cobwebs or clumps in your glass resembling mucus, they should be in the middle layer.  This is your strawberry DNA! Take your coffee stirrer or toothpick and stick it into the glass. Twirl the stick until DNA attaches to it.

Strawberry DNA!

For more cool experiments like this, check out the New York Hall of Science’s website here.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : 5 years & up, Experiment, Learn

Fun with Air!

5 02 2010

Today I came to the Museum as a junior intern and learned about air at Air Fair.  I saw that air could move many different objects and is everywhere around us even if we don’t realize it.

Here I am sending messages through air mail, which happens because moving air creates a pushing force and sends the balls through the tubes.

These are the messages I sent, and me receiving them.

Later I tried on headphones that showed me how different ears can hear different things. Bigger ears, like those that elephants have, can hear more. This happens because the sound waves that travel through air and bounce off of shapes of our ear. Bigger ears have more to bounce off of so they can hear more.

Then before I left I tried the pnuematic launch.  In my video you can see how the bowling ball pushes the air from its big tube into a smaller connected tube that holds a tennis ball. When I let go of the rope that holds the bowling ball, the bowling ball drops and forces air from the big tube into the little one, and the speed of the air changes. Watch and see how different air speeds launch the ball!

Remember that air is all around you, even if you can’t see it. I took some more pictures so you could see more experiments with air and what I did today. Just click here to see them. Have a good day!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Cool stuff at ACM, Learn

What can wind do?

27 01 2010

Did you know that wind is very important?  Wind can shape landforms like mountains through erosion.  It can make new plants by blowing their seeds to new places or helping to pollinate existing plants. Birds decide their course because wind can help push them in a certain direction. Sometimes wind can help airplanes and kites in the same way. Wind can also cause bad weather like hurricanes or tornados.

New wind turbine.

Nowadays, we use wind turbines to create energy.  These turbines look like giant, skinny windmills, and are all over the world. When the wind blows, air moves the blades and they begin to turn. When this happens, it starts a generator in the turbine which creates energy. This new energy can power anything electricity can, but it is better for the environment because it does not cause pollution by putting bad things in the air.

To see how wind works for yourself, you can make this pinwheel at home.  Like the wind turbines that create energy for us, this pinwheel also works by catching the wind under its blades to spin.

Supplies:

Construction paper
Ruler
Scissors
Pencil
Push pin
Unsharpened pencil with eraser
Dime
Markers or crayons
Glue stick
Hole punch

Instructions:

1. Measure and cut a 4 1/2″ square out of your paper. Decorate the paper with markers or crayons.

2. Place the dime in the middle of the square and trace around it.

3. Cut from each corner towards the center, stopping at the dime’s outline. You should have 4 sections.

4. With your hole punch, punch the top right corner of each section and the center of the dime’s outline.

5. Use the glue stick and put glue around the center hole. Then bring one of the corners to the center and line up the holes. Press down and make them stick together. Continue to put glue on each corner that you place down, this way they can all stick together. Also make sure the holes are always lined up.

6. Carefully take your push pin and put its needle through the holes. Push the needle end through the pencil eraser. Now you have a pinwheel! Go outside and test it out if it’s windy. If not, try blowing on it or putting it in a room that has a fan or air vent.  

Other than moving our pinwheels,  shaping the land, making plants, helping animals and providing new energy for us, wind can also be fun! Starting Saturday, the Museum’s new exhibit Air Fair will show us the power of wind and more exciting things it can do. To learn more about wind energy, visit Energy Kids.


Comments : 1 Comment »
Tags: , ,
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Craft, Learn

The Cybersquad is leaving ACM

22 01 2010

This is the Cybersquad’s last week at the Museum.  In their Cyberchase exhibit we solved problems and had fun with math.

We made music by making patterns.

We learned about new things in Motherboard's control center.

As a farewell to Cyberchase and the squad, why don’t we show them some of our math skills?

Supplies:

Real or play coins
50 pennies
20 mickels
15 dimes
6 quarters
Paper and pencil

Instructions:

1. Use the coins to make combinations equal to 50 cents.
2. Keep track of your combinations on the paper.

How many different ways can you make 50 cents? What is the least amount of coins it takes?

For more fun ways to use math, check out Cyberchase’s website and their fun math problems.


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: ,
Categories : 5 years & under, 5 years & up, Learn

« Previous Entries