daily journal #1 – sept. 13, 2010

Daily Journal #1 – Sept. 13, 2010

1. What plaything (toy) is associated with a 1752 experiment involving electricity?

2. When you sneeze, how many miles per hour (mph) on average does the spray shoot out of your mouth/nose: 50, 75, or 90 mph?

3. What is bioluminescence? Hints: bio = life, luminescence = light

kite

light given off by a living thing (organism)

(done by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia)

(for example: light given off by a lightning bug/firefly) ---- picture = surface of CD

Daily Journal # 2 – September 14, 2010

1. What is most likely to happen when your diaphragm goes into a spasm?

2. What sport was played on the Moon?

Golf – astronaut Alan Shepard on Apollo 14 mission in 1971

3. How many Earths could fit inside the Sun? 50; 40,000; or 1,000,000?

You hiccup

Picture = lava rock


1. What is the definition of a light year? Hint: it is a measurement of distance, not time.

3. What lower-48 state has the most shoreline? Hint: it is not necessarily seashore.

Distance light travels in one year – speed of light = 186,000 miles/second or 5,878,786,100,000 miles/year or ≈ 6 trillion miles/year

2. By the time you are 75 years old, how many years will you have spent sleeping? 17, 25, 37, or 42?

Michigan – 4 of the 5 Great Lakes surround Michigan picture = salt


1. True or False? If all your blood vessels were laid end to end, they would circle the Earth more than twice.

3. When is the coldest temperature of the day usually recorded: midnight, 3 am, orjust before sunrise?

2. What is the formula for speed?

Just before sunrise Earth has had longest time to cool off picture = Kleenex

Earth at the Equator ≈ 25,000 miles, therefore length of your blood vessels > 50,000 miles

Distance ÷ time (miles/hour, meters/second, etc.)


1. A PA state law just celebrated its 2-year anniversary. It banned what activity in most public places?

3. Does a strawberry look red because it reflects red light or absorbs red light?

2. True or False? Humans get a significant part of their food from plant seeds.

Reflects red light – “white” light from the Sun or a light bulb is actually made up of multiple colors – chemicals in the strawberry absorb all colors except red which is reflected off the strawberry’s skin and into your eye making the strawberry look red

Picture = healthy & cancerous lungs

Smoking

Corn, wheat, rice, & beans (the edible parts) are all plant seeds


1. Who or what is Roy G Biv?

2. True or False? Dead people’s nails continue to grow.

As a dead body dehydrates, skin around the nails shrinks back exposing more of the nail. This gives the false appearance that the nails are growing.

3. What does a sphygmomanometer measure?

Hint: not a person – it’s a mnemonic (something to aid memory) Colors of rainbow (red, orange, yellow,

green, blue, indigo, violet -- all these colors combined make “white” light)

Blood Pressure – 2 blood pressure measurements are taken – systolic pressure (when heart contracts) & diastolic (when the heart relaxes – Picture = fruit fly eye


1. What type of scientist studies living organisms such as plants, animals, bacteria, etc.: a chemist, biologist, physicist, or a psychologist?

Hint: what is another name for a car’s gas pedal?

3. True or False? Sound can travel in a vacuum.

Prefix bio = life – [chemist: chemistry (atoms & molecules); physicist: motion & forces; psychologist: human & animal behavior]

Sound requires waves of compressed air to travel from one point to another – no air means no way for sound to travel --- picture = potato chip

2. The formula for speed = Distance ÷ Time ---- What is a change in speed called?

Acceleration – gas petalalso called an accelerator


1. What substance earns recyclers the most money: aluminum (Al), paper, or glass?

3. Which process helps to stop erosion: irrigating land, planting trees, or clearing forests?

Irrigating land & clearing forests increases erosion – tree roots hold soil in its place --- picture = blood clot

2. True or False? Natural gas has no odor.

A “smelly” harmless chemical called mercaptan is added by

the gas company to give natural gas its odor. ---- Why?So leaks can be detected (for safety purposes)


1. What gas makes up most of the air around us?

3. When liquid water (H2O) freezes into solid water or ice (also H2O), do the water molecules expand, contract, or remain the same size?

Scientific concept that living things are created by like living things

2. What is biogenesis?

Hint: it is NOT Oxygen (O)

Nitrogen (N) 78% - Oxygen (O) 21%, Argon (Ar) 1%, carbon dioxide (CO2) .04%, average of 1% water vapor (H2O)

Hint: ever put a can of soda in the freezer and forgotten about it? ---- picture = Velcro


1. In which of the following would you not expect to find an electric motor (the basic job of an electric motor is to spin an axle): a personal computer (PC), a DVD player, a light bulb, or a hair dryer?

3. What percentage of the Earth’s water is fresh water: 92%, 54%, 23%, or 3%?

2. What happened at 12:13 am EDT yesterday afternoon?

Autumnal equinox – beginning of fall – word equinox means equal night (& day) – 12 hours light & 12 hours of darkness

Picture = muscle fibers


1. In the month of May, which 10-year-old grows faster: Tim in the US or Tom in Australia? Hint: what season is it in the 2 locations?

3. What do the prefixes circ- & crypt- mean?

Uvula is the flap of tissue at the upper back of your mouth

2. When your uvula vibrates, are you sneezing, snoring, or burping?

May is Spring in US & Fall in Australia – many organisms (including humans) are genetically programmed to grow faster under the more favorable conditions of Spring (versus Fall)

crypt = hidden, covered (encrypt, burial crypt)Picture = tip of dental drill

circum = around (circus, circle, circumference,circumnavigation)

Daily Journal #12 – September 28, 2010

1. What is the common name for a “marking device with spheroid point able to revolve in all directions” patented in 1888?

3. The first female astronaut came from what country?

2. What did Edward Binney & Harold Smith invent in 1903? (Hint – it’s still produced by the billions annually by a local (Easton) company)

Ballpoint pen

Russia - Valentina Tereshkova – 1963First American woman not until 20 years later – Dr. Sally Ride – 1983Picture = World Population Graph

Crayola crayons – 3 billion/year

Daily Journal #13 - September 29, 2010

1. Is friction increased or decreased by lubricants such as oil & grease?

3. True or False? Chewing gum (if swallowed) takes 7 years to digest.

2. True or False? 280 billion gallons of water are applied to US lawns every week.

Decreased – why is this a benefit?

It passes through your body undigested at a slightly slower rate than regular food ---- picture = corn field

Applied to 50 million lawns – remember only 3% of Earth’s water is fresh water – Do you think this is a good use of fresh water?

Decreased friction = less wear on machine parts rubbing against each other

Daily Journal #14 - September 30, 2010

1. What % of the world’s population lives in the US: 6%, 12%, 18%, or 22%?

3. True or False? Cigarette smoke contains about 4,000 chemical agents, including over 60 carcinogens.

2. True or False? The small intestine is longer than the large intestine.

(carcinogen = known cancer causing substance)Picture = tobacco smoke particles

small intestine length = 6 meters (m), large intestine length = 1.5 meters (m)

Daily Journal #15 – October 1, 2010

1. True or False? There are 100,000 bacteria on every square centimeter of human skin.

3. True or False? Camel humps are used for water storage.

2. What is 199 x 199 x 199 x 23 ?

camel humps store fat – camels live in harsh, dry climate where food may be hard to get – when food is available being able to eat & store any excess food as fat helps chances of survival ---Picture = egg shell

8 --- (199 = 1 times itself 99 times = 1) --- (23 = 2 times itself 3 times = 2 x 2 x 2 = 8) ----- 1 x 8 = 8

around 182 different species: number & species varies by climate, part of body, diet, & hygiene


1. Every day, 50 gallons of blood are cleaned in your: kidneys, lungs, or liver?

3. True or False? The world’s largest organism is a mushroom.

2. What is the cube root of 27? (What number multiplied by itself three times = 27?)

located in eastern Oregon - size of 1,665 football fields or 10 km2 or 4 mi2 -- estimated age = 2,400 years old --- picture = fish gills

3 – can the answer also be - 3?

No, because (-3) x (-3) x (-3) = - 27 (not + 27)


1. Who would be more likely to know if you had too much garlic for lunch: your aunt or your uncle?

3. True or False? The left side of your brain controls the left side of your body.

2. True or False? Kevlar™ (used in bulletproof vests) is stronger than steel.

left side of brain controls right side of body, right side controls left ----- picture = small intestine

Kevlar™ is a man-made fiber that is 5 times stronger than steel

Females on average have better sense of smell

Daily Journal #18 – October 6, 2010 – 1:10

1. Why do geese fly in a “V” formation?Lessens wind resistance – similar to shape of airplane wings

2. What is the animal responsible for the most human deaths annually?

Mosquito transmits organisms responsible for malaria, dengue, yellow fever, & encephalitis via blood transfer

3. Which language has the highest number of native speakers?Chinese Mandarin – 874 million native speakersPicture = frost on grass


1. What is the value of 8 in the following number: 1.3685? 8 = 8 thousandths ---- 3 = 3 tenths, 6 = 6

hundredths, 5 = 5 ten thousandths

2. What do the prefixes chron- & cardi– mean?Chron = time – chronological order, chronic (long time), chronometer (highly accurate watch)

Cardi = heart – cardiac arrest = heart attack, cardiologist = doctor specializing in diseases of the heart

3. How many new blood cells does the body produce every second: 8k, 80k, or 8 million?

Picture = porcupine quill


Safety hazard crossing street – Distracted cell phone users are 43% more likely to be hit because they don’t look both ways before stepping into street

1. A Univ. of Alabama study found that cell phones are a potential safety hazard for pedestrians. Why?

2. In the 1960s, researchers were able to teach a chimpanzee named Washoe a human language. What language was it? American sign language

3. What is the only skull bone that you can move?Lower jaw bone (mandible)Picture = soap bubble film

daily journal #1 – sept. 13, 2010

Documents