Have some fun from the Institute of Physics website`s spooky physics.
Perhaps you can get your physics teacher to do some of the experiments during the last week of the session.
Click on the picture above to enter the spooky house.
The Science museum in London is celebrating 100 years. The curator has chosen the top ten scientific objects that changed the world.
Among them are the Apollo 10 command module that was used for the moon landing dress rehearsal, the penicillin culture that Alexander Graham Fleming used and the first X-ray machine.
Flick through the above slides to see the rest.
It is 40 years ago this week that NASA launched the final practice mission before landing on the moon.
It is amazing to think that in 1969 there was no internet or multi channel cable tv to follow this momentous mission.
The whole world watched the drama of the Apollo missions from only two channels BBC and ITV.
These missions `launched` many a science teacher`s career.
Nasa has a wonderful project to commemorate these missions. Click the link below to enjoy them.
WolframAlpha is a really special search engine that can compute your questions for you. Check out this description of how it works.
Try entering into the WolframAlpha search box words like pressure, density, velocity etc. You`ll never wonder what these units are again.
Go on experiment with this wonderful search engine and you`ll learn so much.
This week saw the release of the new Star Trek movie. Though not everybody`s cup of tea, the movie contans alot of science you can discuss with your physics teacher.
Just hope that he or she is a trekkie. If you want to read about the science in the movie then you`ll find info here at the Bad Astronomy site.
As the trekkies say, ” Live long and prosper!”
Star Trek Official Movie Site
Solar cells are photovoltaic semiconductors. They are made of a p-type and n-type semiconductors sandwiched together. When light falls on the narrow depletion junction an electron hole pair is produced. These electron hole pairs drift away and create a small potential difference.
The more light shining on the pn junction the more electron hole pairs are produced which in turn creates a larger potential difference.
The only problem is that these cells are rigid. Check out this video below and news report to find out how they are being made flexible.
Pass that solar jumper please!
After discovering that our Sun is at its dimmest in over a century I was enthused by this piece of news on how to chart the Sun`s journey over the sky during six months, using a home made pin hole camera.
The picture above shows the shallow arc of the Sun`s passing during winter while the tallest arc is that of the Sun passing during the summer months.
It is a fabulous experiment which could be set up in any school yard and there is so much that could be gained from such a project.
The instructions and original article are in the links below. Happy Sun charting!
Astronomers have discovered that our nearest star, the Sun, is at its dimmest for a century.
Interesting fact for Standard Grade Physics: Light from the sun takes 8 minutes to reach our planet.
Last evening I caught sight of the International Space Station passing over my house. Fortunately the skies were clear. As I looked at this light passing overhead, I noticed that it didn`t have the flashing lights, which are seen on passenger jets. It had to be the ISS.
The ISS has large solar panels which reflect the sunlight and that is what makes it so bright.
I went indoors and checked the Heavens Above website which confirmed that it was the ISS and what is more the website told me that it was due to pass again an hour later, which it duly did!
If you are looking for something to do these summer holidays then try and capture the ISS passsing over with a digital camera.
To do so you`ll have to log onto the Heaven`s Above site and enter your longitude and latitude. This can easily be done by looking up Google Maps or Wikepedia.
There is a table showing you the times the ISS passes over.
The last thing you need is clear skies.
Best of luck in capturing the ISS.
The summer holidays of 2008 are now under way. If you are a bit bored with your psp or laptop and the rain is getting you down, well here is a fantastic site to get you active in science experimentation.
This professor has been a find! He is so enthusiastic about his science that he makes videos about science. These videos can be found at his website and are brilliant.
They show everyday materials being used to show dazzling science experiments. I can guarantee that you will enjoy these videos and learn at the same time. Cool!
Enjoy your summer holidays!
