| Have Camera, Will Travel: Photographer
Needs to Photograph Collections and Experiments
Editor,
I am a photography student in my fourth year at SUNY Purchase
in Westchester, New York. My senior thesis project is based
in our culture's understanding of nature. I am interested
in photographing collections, experiments and the like. I
live in Westchester, NY, but am willing to travel, especially
during my winter break in December.
Please contact me at elizabeth.donadio@gmail.com
if you are interested or have any questions.
Thank you.
Elizabeth Donadio
elizabeth.donadio@gmail.com
A Mercury Motor
Editor,
I read the material about Michael Faraday ("Nova
Program About Einstein Features Famous Amateur Scientist,"
The Citizen Scientist, 21 October 2005). Very cool.
A tiny apparatus can illustrate his apparatus in a user friendly
and safe way. If you take a mercury switch and put two tiny
rare earth magnets from Radio Shack on each side such that
the resulting strong magnetic field is perpendicular to the
current path through the mercury, you can make the mercury
"jiggle" and also produce tiny blue sparks when
you tilt the switch and connect a AA cell across the leads.
Once again, this was inspired by your "Nail-solenoid"
motor in "Getting Started in Electronics." Something
else to try relates to Earth science. If you reverse the current,
the mercury drop gets pushed down further into the electrodes
and starts to "spin." This effect is similar to
what Michael Faraday saw in his apparatus. It might also make
an interesting model for how the molten metal core of the
Earth increases the Earth's magnetic field by moving through
a weaker magnetic field under the driving force of thermal
convection.
Similarly, using a Hall effect sensor, it might be possible
to measure the additional magnetic field caused by currents
induced by the mercury's motion. Flipping the leads around,
as mentioned previously, would make the switch act like an
RF spark-gap source to show how lightning affects AM radio
more than FM radio. Plus, no ozone or spark hazard.
There's a great deal of scientific exploration to be done
with simple materials.
Mark Valentine
Simulating a Hurricane
Editor,
In a television program in Estonia called "Homemade
Hurricane in Your Backyard," I attempted to simulate
the condition inside a hurricane using a leaf blower. When
I used only the blower, the speed of the wind was about 145-150
km/hour (20 cm from blower). It was very unpleasant. I had
no power to breathe, and the pressure of the air hurt my ears.
Then I put on safety glasses and pushed the "ON"
button of the car pressure washer. This made a dramatic change.
The wind and water together left me without my senses. The
water blocked my vision, and the force of the air made breathing
impossible.
All I wanted was just to get out of the action. Twenty seconds
of shooting made such a powerful impact that it took 20 minutes
to recover.
Aare Baumer
Executive Director
Tallinn Technology and Science Centre
Estonia
www.energiakeskus.ee
aare@energiakeskus.ee
Sarah Mims's 2005 Breakthrough
Award and Citizen Scientist Jim Scanlon
Editor,
I've read through all the material about Sarah's experiment
with fungal spores and smoke particles ("Sarah
Mims Wins Popular Mechanics 2005 Breakthrough Award,"
The Citizen Scientist, 21 October 2005). When I looked
through the other projects that received the 2005
Breakthrough Award, I saw among them the hypersonic scramjet
and a thought-controlled computer interface. You must be overjoyed.
I was also sorry to hear about the death of your friend,
Jim Scanlon (James R. Slusser, Ph.D., "Jim
Scanlon: Part 1. Citizen Scientist," The Citizen
Scientist, 21 October 2005). You've done him a great
honor by publishing his letters. In addition to his dedication
to collecting scientific data that has an impact on everyone
(especially the UV measurements), he brings to life the simple
fact that all discoveries, be they scientific or cultural,
are personal.
Again, congratulations to Sarah and to you.
Mark Valentine
The Younger Generation and ImageJ
Image Processing Software
Editor,
Congratulations to Sarah
for her win ("Sarah
Mims Wins Popular Mechanics 2005 Breakthrough Award,"
The Citizen Scientist, 21 October 2005)! It is uplifting
to see our younger generation coming forth with ideas, knowledge
and commitment. She'll go far in her chosen career, whatever
it may be.
Your article on data digitization with Image J was welcome.
When I learn exactly how to make it work, it'll be useful
to me too.
With all best regards,
Richard Haynes
Behind the Scenes at LABRats
The following four letters are but a few examples of
the exchanges that Shawn Carlson has with LABRats students.
Editor.
Dr. Shawn:
We recently purchased the "How to Extract DNA from Your
kitchen," project and we are going to extract the DNA
and insert it into a tuber (potato) that is currently in growth.
So basically our hypothesis is that by inserting the extracted
DNA from a certain fruit into the potato we expect the potato
to suffer some changes, perhaps in taste or color.
So our question to you is, will this work? will the potato
be able to assimilate the foreign DNA or are we just dreaming??
Any suggestions will be gratefully appreciated.
Russell
Shawn Carlson Replies
Dear Russell,
I'm afraid that I do not have prefect knowledge of the universe.
I have my own ideas about whether your experiment will produce
the result will be proven true or false, but having never
done this experiment myself, I can not say for sure. That's
what's so GREAT about science. You don't need to rely the
advise of experts. You can simply "do the experiment"
and find out for yourself!
You have proposed an interesting hypothesis, one that is
well formed and testable. I say do the experiment! Find out
for yourself what happens. Whether your hypothesis is correct
or not, you will have learned something very valuable.
Remember, it is only by testing ideas that knowledge advances.
If you do this experiment, you will be a real scientist.Take
care and do let me know what you discover.
Dr. Shawn
The Magic Temperature for Can Crushing
Dear Dr. Shawn,
As I have run out of cans, I cannot perform my hypothesis,
but I believe how to find the magic temperature that the can
crushes at is to keep a thermometer in the water, and in the
can.
Am I right?
Thanks,
Alexandra
Shawn Carlson Replies
Dear Alexandra,
You certainly could do it that way. One thing to think about
is how the find the magic temperature without running out
of cans. That is, what's the fastest way to zero in on the
temperature if you start off knowing only that it's somewhere
between room temp and boiling?
I'll give you a big hint. Do a google search on the phrase
"binary search". The idea is to keep slicing range
in half. Suppose the temperature range starts at say 100 F
and 200 F. Then set your first trial to 150 F. If the cans
still collapse, then try the next at 175 F (half way between
150 F and 200 F). If not, then set it for 75 F. Each time
you do this you cut the range in two, and so you very quickly
settle on the right temperature.
Does this makes sense?
Take care and do keep experimenting!
Dr. Shawn
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