Morse Code

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Morse code uses a sequence of short and long elements to represent a message. The short and long elements can be formed by sounds, marks, or flashes with a flashlight and are commonly known as "dots" and "dashes" or "dits" and "dahs".

It was originally created for Samuel Morse's electric telegraph in the early 1840s, and Morse code was also extensively used for early radio communication beginning in the 1890s. For the first half of the twentieth century, the majority of high-speed international communication was conducted in Morse code, using telegraph lines, undersea cables, and radio circuits.

The most popular current use of Morse code is by amateur radio operators. Pilots and air traffic controllers are usually familiar with Morse code and need to have a basic understanding.

The book Swallows and Amazons, which you can get on DVD, has a group of children going camping on an island and using Morse code and also semaphore, to communicate with each other.

Hot enough to fry an egg

This is how hot it is in Australia's capital city right now. But, is it hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk?

In cooking terms, an egg needs a temperature of 158F to cook, and most sidewalks do not get up to that temperature. The egg, when cracked open on the cement, cools it down. Black macadam sidewalks are hotter than gray ones, and using metal as well, can raise the temperature. So you could try using aluminium foil on top of the sidewalk surface.

And lastly, you can place a pane of glass under a frypan, on top of the sidewalk or cement. For good measure, you can place another pane of glass on top of egg in the frypan.

Now, another way to try to cook an egg, is on the bonnet of a car that has been outside on a very hot day. Don't use a teacher's car, you're likely to get detention.

Stalactites hold tight!

I was looking at the icicles on my friend Gerry's porch Torch Lake Views when I thought that this would make a great science experiment.



So here's how to make stalactites and stalagmites.

Collect two glass jars, two fishing sinkers, epsom salts, string and a small plate. Fill the glass jars with hot water from the tap and stir in as much epsom salts as will dissolve. Wet a piece of 18 inch long string, tie a sinker to either end and hang it in the solution as shown in the diagram. Leave it undisturbed in a warm place for a week, then come back daily and check it out.

Here's a handy saying to help you remember which is which:

Stalactites have to hold on tight to stay on the ceiling of the cave. Stalagmites have to be mighty to stand up on the floor of the cave.

* You can also try this with baking soda, salt or sugar. And hey - add some food coloring just for fun!

Try looking at your crystals through a magnifying glass. What shape can you see?

Word Bank
week, salt, soda, cave, warm, add, epsom salts, magnifying, crystals, diagram, ceiling

Lost in Space

Do you ever feel like you want to get lost in space? Well now you can when you make your own balloon rocket.

The scientific principles involved are the uses of pressure to cause movement. In other words, you are learning how to make a rocket fly.

Materials:

- a balloon
- a paper bag
- string
- a straw
- sticky tape
- a tape measure

Procedure:

Decorate your paper bag so that it looks like a rocket. Attach the paper bag to a straw. Put the straw through the string that is stretched tight across the room. Put the balloon in the bag and blow it up.

Ready? Let it go!

What is Happening?

This balloon rocket experiment uses the pressure difference between the gas inside the balloon to that outside the balloon. The gas inside moves towards the area of lower pressure. The gas pressures are moving towards an equal state; technically this is called moving toward equilibrium.
This experiment is a good demonstration of the ability of pressurized air to make an object move.

Can you get an Egg into a Bottle?

Is it really possible to get an egg into a bottle? It is, and here is how you do it.

Drop three lit matches into a glass bottle that has a narrow neck (a 600 mL bottle works well.)

Quickly put a peeled, hard-boiled egg on the mouth of the bottle.
The egg should squeeze its way through the mouth of the bottle and get inside it.

What happens you may ask? The lit matches heat the air inside the bottle. When air is heated it expands and takes up more room. As the heated air expands, some of it escapes out the bottle. When the matches go out, the air inside the bottle cools and contracts (and takes up less room), and this makes the pressure inside the bottle less than the pressure outside. The greater pressure outside the bottle sucks the egg into the bottle.

STOP PRESS! It's snowing in Canberra!

Wrap up tight in that pashmina, Ms S. It's snowing on the Science website in cool Canberra.

Can you make your own snow? Here's a fun link if you want to give it a try.

Seahorses have a secret...

And the secret is that the male carries the eggs.

Seahorses live in small compacted places. They like to eat shrimp and lots of other small kinds of fish. The eggs are in the male's pouch for nine days then they hatch. Some Seahorses hatch 2,000 to 3,000 eggs.

There are 32 different species of seahorses. They live from three to five years in the wild.

The Latin name for a seahorse is Hippocampus. You can also read more about seahorses here. The one in the picture lived a very long and happy life.

Somewhere over the rainbow

What you need to make a jello rainbow:

Measuring jug
Boiling water 125 mls
Cold water 125 mls
Packets of different colored jello

Directions:

1. Empty jelly crystals into a measuring jug.
2. Add half a cup of boiling water. Get an adult to do this.
3. When it is stirred together, add a half cup of cold water.
4. Stir until the jelly crystals are completely dissolved.
5. Pour into a container and refrigerate until it is almost set.
6. Do steps one to five several times using different colors of jello.
7. Use a glass container to layer the many colors of jello to make a rainbow effect. Refrigerate until it is set hard.

Questions:

Did you ever drink unset jello? Try it, you might like it!
Did you ever try to make a jello sculpture?

Facts:

- In 1845, industrialist Peter Cooper (who built the first American steam-powered locomotive, the Tom Thumb), obtained a patent for making powdered gelatin.
- Some discontinued flavors are: Italian salad, pickle and bubble gum.

The lyrics for the Aeroplane Jelly Song:

I like Aeroplane Jelly, Aeroplane Jelly for me.
I like it for dinner, I like it for tea,
A little each day is a good recipe!
The quality's high, as the name will imply,
It's made from pure fruit - one more good reason why
I like Aeroplane Jelly, Aeroplane Jelly for me!

Supersize me!

The kitchen is the best place to do science experiments! Today, we are going to make pancakes!
Did you know, baked goods are like balloons and need gas to rise? Rising agents like baking powder and baking soda produce carbon dioxide, and trapped air and steam are additional sources of gas. The protein in eggs and flour provide a stretchy structure that traps the gas as it expands due to heat, causing the batter to rise.

If you like pancakes and want to make some then follow these instructions.

Ingredients:
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup milk
1 egg

Method:
1. Pre-heat a large non-stick frying pan.
2. Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix until combined.
3. Lightly grease the pan with butter or cooking spray.
4. Cook large spoonfuls of batter until bubbles burst on top and the edges start to go dry.
5. Turn and cook other side until golden.

Delicious toppings:
Maple syrup, lemon juice and sugar, jam.

Stun your friends with a playdough sculpture

Ingredients:

half a cup of salt
1 cup of plain flour
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon of oil
food colouring

What to do:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.


2. Knead it until the dough is pliable.


3. Store it in a well sealed plastic bag or a container.

Things you can make and even bake:

An ashtray, Christmas ornaments, a pendant for a necklace, animals, or a sculpture.

FACTS:

Salt is used as a preservative.

Salt is the most common food seasoning.

Over consumption of salt can lead to high blood pressure.

Salt is bad for plants and can kill them.

Bread Making Word Bank

bread, yeast, breadmaker, flour, water, loaf, crust, ingredients, dough, knead

Bread Making

What You Need

Water
Flour
Yeast
Butter

Here is a link to make bread at your home. Breadmaking

How to Make A Solar Oven

Equipment and Material

• 1 pizza box
• newspapers
• scissors
• tape
• black construction paper
• clear plastic wrap
• aluminum foil
• ruler

Method

1. Draw an 8 1/2 inch x 11 inch square in the
lid of the assembled box.
2. Cut out three sides of the square, and fold
the flap back along the uncut edge.
3. Cover the inside of this flap with aluminum
foil, using tape to hold the edges securely.
4. Line the inside bottom of the box with black
construction paper. Use tape to hold the edges down.
5. Create insulation by rolling up some newspaper (about 1 1/2
inch thick) and fitting it around the inside edges of the box.
6. Tape one piece of plastic wrap (stretched tightly) to the underside
of the lid opening, to cover. Tape another piece on the top of the lid opening, to create a layer of
insulation that will help hold the heat in the box.
7. Prop the box at an angle facing the sun. Use a ruler to prop the flap open.

On a hot, sunny day the temperature can reach 200°°F in
your oven! Use it to make smores, or to warm some muffins.

Who are you calling a Pee Wee? - the Magpie Lark

Hello to my commenter. :)

How about a couple of blown up balloons tied to the chairs or table top? Streamers - like you use for a party - we scared away crows at school outside our classroom this way. The paper streamers flutter in the breeze and are off putting to birds. A mobile hanging up above the table? One that will chime or make a musical sound? This may disturb them. Good luck!

Description:
The adult male has a white eyebrow and a black face whereas the female has a white face and doesn't have a eyebrow. The young, no matter what gender, have a black forehead, a white eyebrow and a white throat.

Habitat:
Pee wees can be found in Australia, New Guinea and Timor. They can be found in almost any habitat except rain forests and the driest deserts. Birds that don't breed and young birds make large wandering groups that move flock together. These groups can sometimes consist of several thousands of birds.

Food:
The pee wee is a mostly ground dwelling bird and can be seen slowly searching the ground for a variety of insects and their larvae. They also like to eat worms and freshwater invertebrates.

This bird does not at all sound like the noisy magpies but yet, does not sound as sweet as the lark but... as Slinky likes to say - "I like to think that they are there, having a peaceful time as they fly, eat and enjoy life."

Here is a female on her nest in Brisbane in an African Tulip tree about 3 metres off the ground. The nest is covered with mud on the outside and the eggs have not hatched out yet. They lay from three to five, and they are pale brown with splotches.

* Can you name six black and white birds found in Australia?

* Did you know? Magpie larks are very attracted to mirrors and will look at themselves for hours.

(Article written by Slinky.)

Why is it so?

This is a simple (excuse me, I am laughing really hard here) test to see if you are correctly processing what you are reading. After all, if you don't read your Science instructions correctly you will end up with very queer results in your experiments.

Take this color test and see how you measure up.

Are these colors for real?

... or are they photoshopped? Wait for it - they are REAL!

Nature gives us some pretty amazing sights, and on Mommy Bytes by Angela we find an unusually colored frog.




Can you find some more blue creatures in nature? Here are some other examples:



This is a blue footed bird from the Galopagos Islands.





And on Fish and Frog, Turtle and Blog, we can learn all about the beautiful blue damselfly.

Test Tube Aliens - Are they real?

They LOOK real! After looking up Roswell on Google, we studied two views of an alleged alien crash site.

We discovered that the town of Roswell, New Mexico, USA, became famous on July 7, 1947, as there was speculation that an alien space ship had crashed near there.

Reports from the United States military say that what was actually recovered was debris from a high-altitude surveillance balloon.

However, many UFO believers spoke up to the media, saying that a crashed alien space ship and some UFO bodies were recovered from the crash site and that the military covered it up.

The name Roswell is now mentioned whenever talk turns to UFOs. It's the most famous UFO incident. It even got its own TV series!

So to simulate the Roswell incident, and just in case it wasn't a weather balloon, or a sleek Stealth bomber, we hatched and raised a Test Tube Alien.

They come dehydrydrated, and encased in a white cocoon which melts away as the alien hatches, until a very live looking alien is revealed. To hatch it, you add water and keep adding water until it stops fizzing. Then you feed it. The heart beat is fascinating to watch as it flashes from green to orange to red - signifying that the alien is alive and well!

Word Bank:

alien, test tube, live, water, melt, cocoon, heart, hatch, fizzing, encased, revealed, dehydrated.

Cyber Scope! Turn your world upside down!

Can you imagine how strange the world would look if everything was upside down? When you put on the Cyber Scopes glasses, that is exactly what happens! Students will have a fun time watching each other try to complete challenges while wearing the disorienting glasses.

It's a board game with a difference. It contains a pair of special glasses, game board, 16 puzzle pieces, 7 puzzle cards, 1 foam ball, dice, a pen and two timers. Students compete to make their way around the game board as quickly as possible by completing tasks wearing the Cyber Scopes. The tasks range from putting together a puzzle, to catching a ball in the air, to reading a single word.

While the tasks may initially sound easy, they become a whole lot more difficult when the world is turned upside down by the Cyber Scopes glasses! These distinct glasses put a new spin on the board game that will have you attempting to work in reverse, upside down, in a disorientated state - all in the safety of your classroom. Is it all an illusion, or is it real? You decide!

It's moving!

It's moving! Hold the page still! Double click on the image to make it larger.

An optical illusion is also called a visual illusion. The brain processes the information given to it by the eye, but - the effects of certain stimulation, like brightness, tilt, colour or movement, can give a false perception.



Ms S once watched a movie called "The Goonies" and she believes that if you feed these things Dr Pepper, they will multiply!

The Monarch Butterfly

To start with, here is a website I follow which gave me the idea.

Torch Lake Views

Here is a fun website to look at, with migration maps and information inside.

Monarch Butterfly site.


Now we have the activities:

1. Show the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly in a diagram.
2. On a map, show where it lives and how it travels.
3. Full illustration, either by drawing or scrapping.
4. Interesting and unusual facts.
5. And just for fun, write a Haiku poem (5, 7, 5) about the Monarch Butterfly.