Fun Science: Age-Old Questions
Is science fun?
Science is just fun. I just have a ball with science, because science is nothing more than understanding our world, and what scientists do is make our world a better place to live. I love undertanding my world, and I don't like living in a world that I don't undertand. So the more I know about science, the more I know about how our world works, and the happier I am.
What is "metamorphosis"?
Metamorphosis is a term that simply means changing and a lot of insects will go through a metamorphous. The classic example would be a butterfly. A butterfly lays an egg, that egg hatches and grows into a larva, which is kind of like the caterpillar. The caterpillar goes into a state where it is called a chrysalis or a cocoon and then from there it changes into the full blown butterfly or moth.
What is "mass"?
Mass is the amount of matter in a substance. I can have a very large styrofoam ball, and I can have a bowling ball. The bowling ball has much more mass than a styrofoam ball and more mass actually means it has more energy. If you want to prove that, you just lay down on the floor and I'll hold the bowling ball over your stomach and drop it. If you like that, thats okay, otherwise I'll hold the styrofoam ball over your stomach and drop it. Having less mass, the styrofoam ball is going to have less energy, and you won't be bothered by the styrofoam ball, but I guarantee the bowling ball is going to bother you.
Can I push a boulder up a hill?
If you're pushing a boulder up a hill, you're going to have some problems with gravity. You're going to have some problems with mass. If you were pushing an empty box up a hill, that's another story because the empty box is very light, doesn't have much mass and it can move easily. A boulder is very big, and that's not even the important part. A boulder has a lot of mass or weight to it, and that mass is going to be what you're going to have to overcome from gravity. So, if you're pushing it up hill, that boulder has all the energy that you put into it. So, if you were to let go, all that energy starts coming out and you are going to be the recipient of that energy and it won't be very pleasant.
How can birds fly?
Birds can fly because they actually have hollow bones and they're lighter, they're very light. And they have feathers and their wings are shaped so that when the air passes over the wing it actually creates lift. That gets into Bernoulli's Principle.
Why is fire hot?
Fire is hot because it is releasing a lot of stored energy. When that energy is released, it's not confined to anything, so the energy comes off very quickly. And when you have lots of energy released at the same time, it gives off lots of heat.
What happens to my body when I burn myself?
You actually are destroying skin, and if the burn is big enough or bad enough it may actually destroy tissue underneath. You are literally burning your skin. Minor burns like when you touch something really hot causes blisters. That's causing a problem with the skin, but it's not actually burning it. The skin reacts by repairing tissue quickly, sending lots of fluid to the area so you get blistering and the skin breaks. Then, the dangerous part comes along when that skin breaks and you get infections.
Why do marshmallows turn color when I roast them?
Well, if you're cooking marshmallows and they turn brown and they start turning black on you, what's happening is the sugar that's in the marshmallow is actually being chemically changed by the heat. The sugar is breaking down into carbon, and that's what you're seeing when you have black.
How does my body keep the water out when I go swimming?
Some water gets into the outer surface of your skin when you go swimming, and if you open your mouth you get some in your body. Your skin is basically a barrier to the outside. It proteccts you from viruses and bacteria. The surface of your skin is totally covered with bacteria, even if you've just taken a shower, you washed yourself, you're full of bacteria, you'refull of all kinds of little critters. But that is your barrier of protection. Your cells need that protection from the outside world, or those infections can get in. So when you do get infections in your body, it's usually through an open cut of your skin or it can get in through your mouth or your nose or your eyes.
What does it mean to be "carnivorous"?
A carnivore is where they have clowns. No. [laugh] A carnivore is an animal that would eat other animals, basically meat. So if an animal like a lion eats meat, it is a carnivore. An animal that eats plants is a herbivore and an animal that eats both plants and animals is an omnivore. We would be classified as omnivores, OK? Unless you are a vegetarian, then you are a herbivore. So those are the differences between carnivore is a meat-eater, herbivore is a plant-eater and omnivore eats both.
If I had a big head, would I be really smart?
If you had a giant head, would your brain be big and be really smart? Not necessarily so. There are some animals that have very big heads, very big brains, but they don't have much in the way of intelligence, so that has nothing to do with it.
Why do Mentos and Coke cause such a cool reaction?
Mentos and Coke is a really neat experiment. Now, what happens during this experiment is that, the Coke when it's made, has carbon dioxide dissolved in the pop itself. And when you drop a Mentos in, or a bunch of Mentos, the Mentos have places on the outside of the Mento itself, where the carbon dioxide can come out of the solution very quickly. So when you normally open up a bottle of Coke, it will bubble or fizz a little bit. You pour it into the glass, it bubbles or fizzes a little bit. But if you drop the Mentos in, it will bubble or fizz very, very rapidly, and most of the carbon dioxide that's dissolved in the Coke comes out. And, I guess Diet Coke is the better of the two as this seems to work better. And then when all that gas comes out, the gas fills the bottle and pushes the pop out and you get this wonderful Mentos Coke fountain.
Can I look directly at the sun?
You can't look at the sun directly because if you look at the sun, the radiation that's coming from it is so strong that were it to hit the back of the eye you could damage the light receptors in your eye, and possibly be blinded by the sun.
What is light made of?
When white light is in a room, you will see a nice white light. But, white light is actually made up of all kinds of different colors. If you take that white light and separate it into its various colors by shining it through a prism, or even a raindrop, you're going to see a rainbow color. That rainbow color is the light spectrum. The easy way to remember that is with ROY G BIV, and it stands for all the colors in the spectrum, so it's red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, and those are all the colors of the spectrum.
What is a "prism"?
A prism is a device that can actually take white light and spread it out into its various colors. A lot of times when you refer to a prism, it is made out of a triangular piece of glass. But even a water droplet will do the same thing, and that's the effect that we get when we see a rainbow. It's the white light passing though rain drops, which act as a prism, and it spreads the light out so we get to see the rainbow color.
How do we "throw up"?
When we eat, our esophagus carrys food down, it's not that it just falls down into our stomach. In fact, you can stand on your head and you can eat a piece of cake and drink water, and it will actually go up to your stomach. That process is called paristalsis. It's almost like taking and putting a marble into a hose and you squeeze behind the marble to make it move along, that's what's happening to move food down into our stomach. Well, if you get sick and you have to throw up, it happens in reverse, and the food particles and things that are in your stomach, partially-digested, are pushed back up, and they come out. It's not a pleasant experience.
