Welcome to the IHS science club blog. This is an informal forum for the communication and sharing of neat and relevant information and announcements. Feel free to comment and scroll through it all. Suggestions are sooooo welcome!! <iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/32001208?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/32001208">Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/michaelkoenig">Michael König</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p> hmmm.... does anyone know how to embed the url text for a really neat video of the earth shot from outer space onto this page?... check out the site that I got it from @ http://vimeo.com/32001208 ADAPT AND OVERCOME!!! Zoe, Tina, Will, Fiona and other passers by were amazed by the sugary and shrinky science happening in this week's installment of the science club. Not only did we make the a fore mentioned liquid goodness of the ginger flavor, but we also have a honey modified concoction, a blueberry option, the ihs attempt at orange fanta as well as a grape varietal too. We had a cookie contest while we contributed to charity and left the room smelling of spice and cleanly goodness. No one had a camera to document all of the controlled chaos, but use your imagination and let it inspire you to try the edible parts of today when we sample it on Friday... (no worries Tina, we'll save some for you) ...if they don't evolve too much gas and explode... STAY TUNED!!!! Hmmm, were have all of this year's entries gone?.... Missing are about five entries about the stuff of this year... Hot ice, radiolab discussion... and much more.... 3/18 Woooa! Had a good trip into the Planetarium with the inner circle of the club and saw the Undiscovered Worlds show. 10Interesting stuff, who knew the first discovered extra-solar system planet was only discovered about ten years ago!? I thought that Galileo, Copernicus, or another ancient gazer would have found one! Apparently this new planetary object is 100 times the size of the earth and is so close to its star that it goes once around it every 4 days earth days!!! That's CRUISING!!! 10/26/11 Think about where we should go next or some neat spring activities... Stay in touch!! 2/28 Welcome back!!! After all the snow-days and the start of the new semester, the science club is getting traction again! Wednesdays meeting produced the following images of stop-motion and non-linear fluid dynamics.     These images showcase more surface tension as well as contrast with colored liquid. Stop-motion and the macro focus of the lens captures the small detail in the instant. The next trip to the Planetarium at the Museum of Science is coming up soon. Stay tuned for details and times. - Mr. B. 12/20 The last meeting showcased a movie about growing large ice crystals in a dry ice cooled environment and we took what we learned from that to find examples of ice crystals of our own. The frost in the freezer proved a trove of large crystals and Mother Nature was busy making some snowflakes outside for us to catch on black plastic to look at. Since the altitude of the snow was so low, the flakes were not that big. Did you know that you can tell how high a flake has fallen from based on its size? The larger the flake, the longer it takes to grow and consequently the higher it has fallen from. Some flakes even get caught up in circular currents that send them up and down thousands of feet before they finally reach the ground!! In the spirit of the holidays and evolution, if you can believe it, we talked about the concept of self sacrifice, giving, and altruism. Discussion centered around what altruism is and if there really are any examples of it in nature. Is there any such thing as a selfless act?.. Is niceness ever rewarded biologically?... Think about it... (others have, and have been for years!!) Again, be safe and happy. See you all next year - Mr. B. 12/15 Well, the banana smell certainly worked!!! Last Wednesday a small section of the Science Club got the chemistry right for two of the three fragrances. Our stand-by Oil of Wintergreen did not disappoint and we had super success with the banana ester. I was even worried that we would not be able to get rid of the smell. Mr. Chmura's biology classes would have something to say about that! Banana would get old after a while. We can meet on Monday after school to plan and do some activities as well as map out the vacation and start of the new year and what we want to accomplish. Between now and then, take a look at the sciences pages in the major newspapers and try to listen to the shows radiolab ( http://www.radiolab.org/ ) and sciencefriday ( http://www.sciencefriday.com/about/listen/ ) for some interesting material. There is a neat video about growing ice crystals..... if there is enough interest, perhaps we can try this if I can get enough dry ice... Perhaps in the beginning of next semester when I get it for my classes... Be good, be safe - Mr. B. 12/13 Before the holidays slip away from us, I intend to help as many people who show up complete the tested reaction to synthesize the fragrance for wintergreen Wednesday after school in room A204. Think of it... a minty science lab! 12/5 After a little hiatus and waiting for chemicals to arrive for our ester lab, we all took a trip into Cambridge. The trip in to the MIT Museum went well. No trains were missed and we got to see the museum and the Broad Institute's labs. No skating or dinner because of the early train, but we all got to do some cool stuff in the lab. Members got to work at the same lab bench set-up in a setting similar where the bulk of today's science is being conducted. Basic lab skills about safety and procedure were demonstrated as we purified hemoglobin fractionally from vitamin b-12 using a size-exclusion frit and column chromatography. The following are some pics that are from the museum. People that still owe money for the T subway ($4 for those that didn't have their own Charlie Card) should bring that money in soon. Let's all try and meet on Wednesday to make the wintergreen molecule in the Science Pod.  Our intrepid group off to the train! Neat perspective on the new foot bridge!! Look at this picture from close up and then stand about 30 feet back from your computer... Do you see a different face?  Where the future is being made today!!!  11/4 We were treated to a FINE evening of food (Wild Boar, Veggie burgers, big thick fries, steak tips, 3 types of brownies...) and the heavens revealed some of their secrets to us. Jupiter let us see the demarcation of the weather patterns (no red spot though) of its atmosphere. We saw four of the moons that orbit it and found out that one of them is so fast that it goes around that entire giant planet every 1.25 days!!! Our moon takes 28 day to go around our tiny little planet. We even saw it using a small telescope in the HS parking lot!! Below is a pic of Jupiter a little washed out and its 4 moons.
We also saw a set of binary stars where two stars we locked in each other's gravitational pull and destined to dance with each other, orbiting endlessly until one dies and takes the other with it. Friends to the end... 
We also saw the remnants of the star Lyra as it made a planetary nebula. This looked like a smoke ring floating in space. The center of the ring was where the star used to be, but when it came to the end of its life and contracted after being a gas giant it left a ring of material that it shed in the last violent stages of its life.
Due to light pollution, we could not see some of the other deepspace objects like spiral galaxies, stellar nebula and such, but we will try to get back when we can... Next time!!! THINGS ARE LOOKING GREAT FOR THE 11/3 OBSERVATORY TRIP!!! Oh, the heavens are cooperating so far!!!! I am really excited :-) We are still "go" for tonight at 6:30 outside the school to gather into our rides and then dinner. I might recommend that you have a small snack before dinner if you have trouble making it to 7;30 without food. DRESS WARMLY!!! It can get cold in the observatory, open to the night air and all!! Hat and gloves type cold... See you soon!!!! - Mr. B 11/3 Re: Observatory trip for Wed 11/3 Weather is predicted to be possible to go... keep your fingers crossed! As it stands now (1:30) on Tuesday, there is reason to be skeptical, but not enough to be pessimistic. I hope that the weather will be nice enough to go and we can start by meeting at the high school at 6:00 to drive to dinner so that we have some warm food in us under our warm clothes by the time it gets dark. Bring cash for dinner, some warm clothes, and a plan for a ride (there will be a few open seats). Any and all parent drivers are welcome to come and join all the activities. Hope to see you soon!! - Mr.B. 10/27 Wahhhhh Wahhhhhhh Wahhhhhhhh!!!! Due to the poor weather that is predicted for this evening, the Science Club trip to dinner and the observatory is CANCELED and moved to next week. The science club observatory trip is canceled for tonight and moved to next week. Hmmmm... the weather does not look like it is cooperating for this week... I have just looked at the radar and there still is a chance that it'll clear for the evening but the odds are not looking in our favor right now. Plan accordingly! If I were to give odds, I would say that they are not in our favor (70% negative and 30% positive). I'll be in touch, keep checking back... Mr. B. 10/26 Update re: observatory field trip: The weather still looks questionable, but the heavens might not be bashful... I am hoping that there will be a break in the clouds big enough for Merrimack to open the observatory. Unfortunately we won't know till the early evening. Keep checking the emails. I'll be out in front of the high school at 6:00 to organize or cancel in person and via email. I'll post best guesses as they are relevant. Remember that rides are at a premium and while I have 3 spaces in my car and know of at least a couple of large cars going, it will be tight as far as spaces go. I still need to hear about who can drive and need to remind everyone that you cannot go unless you have given me a signed permission slip. Hope for clear skies!!! - Mr. B. 10/18 Balloon day We did it! And inside too :-) Using only trashbags, and a small engine powered by ethanol with a little wire, we actually got enough bouyancy to float a hot air balloon inside! Yeah, that's right, INSIDE!! We overcame the temperature differential and got some mass floating! Too bad it was windy outside or we could have seen just how high the fuel load would have reached... Next time!!!! At the end of the session, we talked about what is next and handed out permission slips for the upcoming adventure to the observatory at Merrimack College and Bertucci dinner. The weather needs to cooperate, but the plan is to get some rides and parent chaperones together for a trip to the Bertucci's at the corner of 125 and 133 in North Andover where we can get some hot fuel in us before we climb through the cold night air to the top of the scinces building on the campus of Merrimack College next door. We'll need the food because it is COLD! We should be able to see Jupiter REALLY well with all of it moons and then peer deep into the unknown.... to see who knows what.... Here's Last Year's page info. Scroll through it for ideas and the FARINACANE!!! Well now... Off we go into the ether of internet space. Brand new territory for all of us :-) My vision is to have this space as a blog of what we have done, complete with pictures and everything, and also to use it as a way to communicate between the group. Mr. Ingram and I are working on getting more functions up on this as soon as possible (including movies of the Farina-cane!!!). Next Meeting - Wed Sep 30 after school. Think of what else we can make and play with!!!! We need to prioritize our list of science adventures and also figure out who can drive us to some of the places we want to go to. Jupiter is in the night sky and I just got a spotting scope (45x) to see it with. We could also brainstorm the science of cooking things that we talked about lst week. Food science, flammable foods, sour, hot, salty, deep frying, ice cream, msg and umammi, fluff/sundaes and mentos, etc. Toys; divers and air cannons, paper airplanes and kites, dry ice and bubbles. Video from First Week! 9/30/2009 Hey all, Put Wednesday the 14th of October on your calendars for the next meeting. I will get pizza ordered and hopefully there will be enough people who brought $2 to offset the cost of the pies. Try and come with some interesting bits of information or questions about a current scientific event that we can all investigate or that I can help you answer. Have a great two weeks and try to get out into the world where the science is happening. The stars and the leaves will be just right for some amazing images. Let's try to get enough rides for a trip to the Merrimack observatory and a dinner at Bertucci's in North Andover for the week of the 21st of October. Be safe - Mr. B. 10/5 Hey all, when we met last time I spoke of the man that invented the strobe and some of the AMAZING photos that this technology made possible. Specifically, there are some really neat images of nuclear bombs going off. See the following links to get to some photos and an explanation of how they were done. http://www.damninteresting.com/rapatronic-nuclear-photographs and http://simplethinking.com/home/rapatronic_photographs.htm I have also found some photos of the lightning/volcano phenomenon that I spoke of as well. Go here to see one and the story from Nat'l Geo. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/photogalleries/volcano-photos/index.html Think clear skies for the 21st's trip to the observatory in Merrimack College (we will need drivers for this though)... Next meeting will be the Wednesday after we get back from the long weekend. Look to the south in the early evening and the brightest point of light in the sky is Jupiter. With only a basic pair of binoculars you can see Jupiter up close AND its moons. Pretty cool. 10/7 Ms. Fitzsimmons has told me that there is a TTOR skywatching sesion that is happening 10/17 from 7-9 over in Manchester by the Sea. The earth and space class and anyone else interested should contact her about going (pre-registration and $10 required). Perhaps we can compare the small telescope images with the ones we will see at Merrimack College the following Wednesday (weather permitting). 10/14 Had a great weekend looking at new stars and thing in the heavens and am excited about getting a trip to the observatory in Merrimack College next week. Should start around 8:00 or so when the light of the day has faded. I hope the weather holds so that we can see some interesting stuff. We can try to see if people want to share a dinner at Bertucci's after as well. This week we tried to make glass fibers and show their optical properties in the lab. Willis got really good at pulling long fibers and Taylor had some really delicate/fine examples that were much thinner than a human hair. The pizza went quite quickly and fun was had by all as we made many new shaped with the glass that we bent. Dipping the hot glass into water caused some neat effects made even more interesting when illuminated with a laser. Hope to see as many of you as possible next week at the Observatory. Watch for invites and details in your email and ask your parents who might be able to drive. Have a great week. Mr. Borghesani 10/20 We are trying to go this Wednesday the 21st to the observatory at Merrimack College. I do not have a head count yet, so I am not sure how the transportation is going to work. At least half of the people going should have a plan about how to get themselves over to the end of rt 114. We should start with a dinner at Bertucci's across the street from the college and observatory while the night gets dark and then we can go over to the tower and check out the million year old light. Anyone thinking of going NEEDS TO CONTACT ME!!! Try mborghes@ipswichschools.org so that I know what is happening with you. Thanks for the interest - Mr. B. 11/4 hey there, Here are some of the links that we showed in todays meeting. Science changes even in the weeks that are between our visits. Here are some of the neat things that I have found, click on them to see them again if you want. http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/09/26/science/1247464835573/ways-of-seeing.html?ref=science this is a video about a blind person with an artificial retina. Much like the cochlear implant used to give "hearing" back to deaf people, scientists have created a similar interface for the visual system. http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/09/26/science/1247464835573/ways-of-seeing.html?ref=science this is a link to the slide shows from the NYT site http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03eye.html?ref=science this article is about new science that brings back sight through a drug approach. Can you imagine what it would be like to be without a sense. Which one would be the most troublesome to loose? How would you adapt?... http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114075029&ps=cprs curious about how a virus infects your body?... this simplified animation shows the basics of how viri pirate your cells and hijack them into making more of themselves. Life at the atomic level!!! http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112560128&ps=rs Swine Flu central!!! Here's a page that has some relevant links to good points and articles about the current epidemic craze. Here's an idea for our next project... http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2009/10/12/mit_launched_a_modern_icarus_with_the_right_stuff/ think about it... we could do a tamer version of this or perhaps one on a fishing line.... video from the launch :-) http://space.1337arts.com/ If you were not at the meeting on the 4th, please pick up a permission slip so that we can get another trip to the observatory on the calendar. Hope for clear skies on Wednesdays (and no play, finals, or athletic events :-) 11/12 I have a cool radio show on Parasites (creepy but provoking) if you are interested in hearing some neat stories and seeing a power presentation, plan on coming next Wednesday the 18th. Have a great weekend - Mr. B. we also need to get permission slips for trips to the observatory (again) and to Boston for a trip to the Broad Institute. 11/18 Hookworm curing asthma?... Rats liking cats?.... Ants with red butts advertising themselves as berries?.... GREAT SCOTT!!! What is this world coming to!!! Mayhem?... Grand Plan?.... Evolution?.... 12/1 Simple machine and motion. Cool solutions to neat problems with a new software tool/game. Got to this site and download the software (consider paying for it even though it is free:-) http://numptyphysics.garage.maemo.org/ |
