Tag: Science

PongSats

PongSats

Now you can send you own scientific experiment into near space. As long as it fits into the space of a ping-pong ball:

A PongSat is an experiment that fits inside of a ping pong ball.
These ping pong ball ‘satellites’ are flown to the edge of space by balloon or launched in sounding rockets. The PongSats are then returned to the student. It’s an easy and inexpensive way to get students excited about science and engineering. There are endless possibilities for experiments that can fit inside a ping pong ball. PongSat’s can be as simple or complex as you want them to be. Experiments can be as simple as comparing how high a ball bounces before and after being exposed to vacuum. The PongSat can carry seeds to see if exposure to cosmic rays effect their growth. Several small inexpensive computers and other electronic can fit inside a PongSat. These can be used to create a wide range of experiments. Whether carrying a marshmallow to see if it puffs up in the vacuum of near space or an entire sophisticated satellite in miniature, PongSat can create motivation, drive and passion in the classroom.
PongSats are flown at no cost to the student or school.

How cool is that? Some flights have reached over 100,000 feet, that’s definitely high enough to measure the UV index or even gamma rays if your detector is small enough.

[via neatorama] 

PongSats

Model Rocket Altitude Predictor

Rocket day

 

 

 

 

 

 

This looks to be a handy tool. You enter the body diameter, the rocket weight, drag coefficient, and the motor type and you get an estimation of how high it will go and even how long it will take to land if you add the parachute size. You can use it for other things too, like seeing if you could launch a full roll of paper towels into the air. You can, it takes about 3 D-12 motors. 🙂

Model Rocket Altitude Predictor

R.I.P. Amateur Science

 

 

In my recent issue of Wired, I was saddened to read an article on how the amateur exploration of science and chemistry is being criminalized. It’s all in the interests of anti-terrorism or anti fireworks laws. Mostly the ‘dumbing down’ of science has been because of the lawsuit happy nature of our society. (Gee, could the greedy lawyers and the lawyer law makers be the root cause of this? I wonder…) When the United States no longer has people winning Nobel prizes, or creating new technology, or science classes in schools become electives, all will be lost. All of the people who cry "but letting kids play with chemistry sets is dangerous and irresponsible! Think of the children!" Bah! If you give a bright kid the right tools to learn with they won’t kill themselves. Some of the less bright ones might get some injuries from adding water to an acid or something like that, but it’s a lesson learned. If enough do that then you will weed out the idiots. Harsh I know but that’s life. You never get anywhere by hiding at home and living life through what you see on TV. Having hands on experience is what makes you learn how and why things work. Look at how popular magazines like MAKE or Ready Made are. That’s because over the recent years the whole ‘hands on lets see what’s inside the black box’ creativity that made this country what is it has been bashed about it’s head and neck by litigation. Heck, even buying parts of a healthily chemistry set can get you fined or even jailed. What is this world coming to?

Anyway, here are a few links that can help open the doors to scientific exploration: 

Household Chemistry from the International Order of Nitrogen

DIY – Hollow Out A Light Bulb

DIY – Alcohol Backpacking Stove

Scientific American’s "The Amateur Scientist"

Henley’s Formulas for Home & Workshop

Don’t break any laws with this knowledge and try not to hurt yourself. Remember that part of science is having ethics and a broader look of the world around you. Think of the impact your experiments will have on others. Be smart and responsible. And if you hurt yourself it’s your own fault.

Celestia

 

I love the night sky, I used to spend hours looking at stars and planets with my 4-1/2" reflecting telescope when I was young. Now days, I rarely have the time to do that any more because of work and other things (like this blog). However, I did run across a very cool program that makes it easy to have a look around the sky. Its Celestia. This free multi platform open space exploration program is great. With it you can zoom in on where the International Space Station is, or check out the moons of Jupiter, or even see how our solar system looks from thousands of light years away.

Celestia

Mars Unearthed – In 3D!

Mars Unearthed

Here is an impressive collection of images of the planet Mars from the spacecrafts and rovers that are out there now. I’m partial to the crosseye stereo images myself but some of the anaglyphs are pretty cool.

This site contains Mars 3D anaglyphs, 3D flash movies, comparisons, and free view stereo pairs from images returned by the Mars Global Surveyor’s Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), camera systems aboard the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and European Space Angency’s Mars Express High Hesolution Stereo Camera (HRSC).

Mars Unearthed

Looking For Aliens On The Moon

Moon

But the big question is: If something is found, will they tell anyone?

When astronauts return to the Moon, they should keep their eyes peeled for extraterrestrial artefacts – pieces of technology from alien civilisations that have wound up on the lunar surface either by chance or design.

[via Futurismic] 

Looking for aliens on the Moon