NEW OTTER?

NEW STUDENT STEPS

Welcome, New Students!  Follow the steps below to get you ready for fun times in the computer lab!

LEARN COOL FACTS ABOUT ASTRONAUTS SPACESUITS!

What Is a Spacesuit?

A spacesuit is more than just a cool looking uniform astronauts wear when they go into their spacecraft or outer space. A spacesuit protects space travellers from the dangers of the harsh environment in space, while also providing them with the essentials humans need to survive. In essence, a spacesuit is a tiny human-shaped spacecraft!

Why Do Astronauts Need To Wear A Spacesuit?

Space is a difficult place to work and explore as there are none of the comforts we take for granted on Earth. There is no pressurized atmosphere, no air to breathe, no protection from radiation. Temperatures vary greatly from hot to cold (in low Earth orbit temperatures range from 120 °C to -160 °C) and the direct sunlight will quickly burn you. So an astronaut needs to wear a pressurized space suit to protect themselves from all these hazards and provide what they need to survive. So a spacesuit needs to provide:

• A pressurized environment to prevent your blood from boiling

• Air (oxygen) to breathe and to remove CO2

• Warmth while in the freezing shadow

• Cooling while in the boiling hot sunlight

• Protection from radiation

• Protection from micrometeors

• A water tube to drink from

• Communication with other astronauts or the spacecraft

• Clear helmet visors to see, but also a sunshade to protect from the direct sunlight.

To learn more about astronaut spacesuits and space, click here.

WHY DOES BAMBOO GROW SO FAST?

Did you know bamboo can grow up to 1.2m a day??

Not all bamboo grows at that rate. There are over 1000 different species, adapted to different environments. The fastest growing bamboo is tropical giant bamboo (Dendrocalamus asper).

Bamboo grows in dense forests where there’s not much light in the lower layers. Plants need light from the sun to grow and survive so must grow tall quickly to reach sunlight.

Unlike most trees bamboo grows with the same diameter so doesn’t waste growth thickening it’s stalk.

Bamboo has many, many uses and is highly adaptable. Its hollow stems make it very strong. China has bridges made from bamboo and in Japan it is often used for scaffolding as its tensile strength is greater than steel!

FACTS ABOUT BAMBOO

Did you know bamboo survived closer to ground zero at Hiroshima than any other living thing?

Bamboo is one of the most versatile plants on Earth

Some bamboo shoots can be eaten.

Bamboo is a great building material as it is relatively cheap, grows quickly, is strong and has great tensile strength.

DO YOU KNOW WHY THE SKY LOOKS BLUE?

Light from the sun is made up of all the colours of the rainbow. A rainbow in the sky is formed when sunlight is refracted and dispersed in drops of rain or mist which splits the white light into its constituent colours. Red light has the longest wavelength and blue the shortest.

Light always travels in straight lines unless something gets in its way. The Earth’s atmosphere ( made up of a mixture of gases ) scatters light. Longer wavelength colours pass straight through the atmosphere, but blue light with its shorter wavelength is scattered and reflected back to our eyes, making the sky look blue!

To make a rainbow at home, click here.

WHY DO BUBBLES POP?

Bubbles form inside a layer of soapy water, but do you know why bubbles pop?

A bubble is basically air wrapped in soapy water, they form because soap molecules reduce the surface tension between water molecules allowing the mixture to stretch. If air is blown through the soapy water mixture bubbles form as air becomes trapped inside.

Bubbles form the smallest possible shape to wrap around the air inside them. The familiar bubble shape of a sphere gives the least surface area for the volume of air inside the bubble. 

Surface tension is an invisible force which makes a layer of liquid act like an elastic sheet. Image a pond skater walking on water, it’s surface tension that allows them to do this!

If a bubble isn’t poked it will pop when the water evaporates. This is why bubbles last longer on a cold day!

WHY DOES SALT MELT SNOW?

Grit is often sprayed on roads to stop cars skidding on very cold days. What we call grit is actually a mixture of salt, gravel and stone.

When snow falls on a road with grit applied it mixes with the salt, which lowers the freezing point of the snow stopping ice forming.

Water with salt added freezes about 5 degrees lower than water with no salt.

To be most effective, grit must be dropped onto surfaces before they freeze.

INVESTIGATION IDEAS

FREEZE A SOLUTION OF SALT AND WATER

Try freezing water with salt added and plain water in an ice cube tray. The salty water won’t freeze. 

Try sprinkling a little salt on the plain water ice cubes. Watch what happens.

MAKE AN ICY ROAD

Freeze two sheets on ice. Sprinkle salt and sand on one and leave the other. Watch what happens to the two surfaces.

Try rolling a toy car over both surfaces, is one more slippy?