Steps for Eating an apple:

1. Using your front teeth (incisors) , you bite off a piece of the apple. Incisor teeth are thinner and sharper than [...]]]> Kids too often do not properly chew their food.

This page contains information about chewing and the part of digestion that occurs in your mouth.

Chewing

Steps for Eating an apple:

1. Using your front teeth (incisors) , you bite off a piece of the apple. Incisor teeth are thinner and sharper than other teeth.

2. Once the food is in your mouth, you then chew it with your grinding teeth (molars). Molar teeth are wide with a rough surface on top. These teeth are in the back of your mouth and are used to grin food.

No matter how much you chew food, chewing cannot break the chemicals in food apart.

Digestion

Digestion is the breakdown of chemicals in food to forms the body can use.

Food Digestion starts in your mouth where saliva (spit) mixes with the food that you chew. It is important to chew your food well so that the saliva thoroughly mixes with the food.

Challenge:

Does saliva digest all kinds of food?

Discover For Yourself

Use small jars of differnt kinds of baby food, such a meats, fruits, and vegetables.

Disign your own technique for adding saliva to the food in each jar. One method might be place a spoon in your mouth so that its surface is covered with saliva, and then stir the food in one of the jars. Use a clean spoon for each test.

Please share your testing method and results. pictures would be wonderful.

I like to try to figure out the trick that is behind the so called “magic.” I guess that is what makes [...]]]> Just like kids, I love magic, but I am never happy until I figure out how the trick is done. Equally as important, I don’t want to know the punch line in advance.

I like to try to figure out the trick that is behind the so called “magic.” I guess that is what makes science so exciting to me. It’s the never ceasing desire to explore and explain the magical mysteries of what is going on around us that keeps me challenged and very entertained.

As a teacher, I try to keep kids challenged. So instead of always giving answer to questions, I often answer with: “Let’s Find Out!”

Question: How can circles be magical?

Answer:

Let’s Find Out!

Have you ever made Möbius strips? If not, then you and your kids are in for wonderful surprises.

Remember: It is most important that the results of magical activities comes as a SURPRISE. So, be sure and do not reveal how the curvy circles are made. In fact, make them at a time when your children will not observe the process.

For instructions on how to make the three curvy circles needed for this Science Magic Activity as well as instructions for presenting the magic show,

Click Here, and then Search for Möbius Strips

photo source http://www.flickr.com/photos/barkbud/4537268923/

Janice VanCleave’s 203 Icy, Frosty, Cool and Wild Experiments

Yes! I am saying that flies deposit poop as well as vomit on the food they land on. They may not always poop on the food, [...]]]> I hate flies for many reasons, including the fact that they are annoying. But more than being a nuisance, flies are nasty creatures that poop and regurgitate on food.  

Yes! I am saying that flies deposit poop as well as vomit on the food they land on. They may not always poop on the food, but if the food is solid, they do vomit on it.

The vomit contains digestive chemicals that causes the chemicals in the food to start decomposing (breaking apart). The decomposed food can then dissolve in the liquid vomit.

Why all the vomiting? Flies do not have teeth to chew with. In fact, part of their mouthparts is a type of drinking tube called a proboscis. The picture compares a fly’s proboscis with a sponge. Both can soak up liquids.

After a fly has prepared its juicy meal by mixing vomit with the food, it then soaks up the juicy food with the end of its  proboscis. The absorbed food is then sucked through the proboscus into its body where it is further digested and the nourishing parts are absorbed by the body.

Did you know that a fly can taste your food by standing on it? Yes, flies have taste sensors on their feet. If they like the food, they –well you know the drill. They have to prepare the food so that it is juicy enough to be  sucked through their  proboscis.

Flies are always swarming around rotting foods. Must be like going to a buffet with all the different partially decomposed foods. These juicy delights are easily to slup and the germs in this food are not a problem to the fly.  

Not only do flies suck up germy foods,  but they get it on the bristles of their feet.  I wonder where th fly in the photo had its last meal? Looks like he is standing on a brown sugar treat prepared for someone—

The diagram shows four locations of the Moon in its eastward revolution (orbiting) about the Earth.  The red line on the small circles represents one position on the Moon. 

Question: What parts of the Moon would an observer from Earth see if the Moon did [...]]]> Trying to visualize two of the Moon’s movement, rotation and revolution, can be difficult.

The diagram shows four locations of the Moon in its eastward revolution (orbiting) about the Earth.  The red line on the small circles represents one position on the Moon. 

Question: What parts of the Moon would an observer from Earth see if the Moon did not revolve on its axis?

Answer:

In the diagram, the  small circles connected by the black line represent the movement of the Moon around the Earth if the Moon did not rotate on its axis.  

In position 1, the red line points toward the East. If the Moon did not rotate on its axis, when it moved in its orbit around the Earth, the red line would always point toward the East.

Discover for Yourself

You could model this using anything to represent the Earth. Place your Earth model where you have enough room to walk around it. Letting each wall in the room represent a compass direction, stand so that you are facing the Earth Model as well as facing the east wall.

Now start your rotation around the Earth, but continue to face the east wall. Make note of the part of your body that faces the Earth in each of the four positions.

Position one–you face the Earth
Position two- your left side faces the Earth
Position three–your back side faces the Earth
Position four- your right side faces the Earth

Question: What parts of the Moon would an observer from Earth see if the Moon revolves once on its axis as it orbits the Earth? 

Answer:In the diagram, the circles closest to the Earth represent  the movement of the Moon around the Earth if the Moon Rotates ONCE during the orbit. Notice that the part of the Moon’s surface pointed to by the red line always faces the Earth.

Discover  for Yourself

Repeat the previous activity, but this time you must continue facing the Earth Model.  For each of the positions, which compass direction are you facing?

Using the information from this investigation, explain why an observer on Earth only sees one side of the Moon.

Moon Movement

Kids as well as adults observe the daily movement of celestial bodies across the sky. We can depend on the Sun to daily rise in the east, move across the southern sky, and then set in the west. The Moon follows the same path that the Sun traces out.

Actually, neither the Sun nor [...]]]>

Moon Movement

Kids as well as adults observe the daily movement of celestial bodies across the sky. We can depend on the Sun to daily rise in the east, move across the southern sky, and then set in the west. The Moon follows the same path that the Sun traces out.

Actually, neither the Sun nor the Moon move westward across the southern sky each day. Instead, this apparent daily movement of these celestial bodies is due to the eastward rotation of the Earth.

Investigation

Facts:

• When you are not moving, stationary things around you remain at the same distance from you.
• When you are moving, stationary objects in front of you appear to move toward you, while stationary things beside and/or behind you seem to move in the opposite direction of your motion.

1. While sitting in a stationary car, ask your kids to look at stationary objects, such as telephone poles  outside the car. Note: You are an observers. Your position of observation is a stationary car.

Are the telephone poles stationary (not moving)? Explain your answer.

2. When the car is moving, again ask your kids to look at telephone poles. Note: You are an observers. Your position of observation is a moving car.

Are the telephone poles stationary (not moving)? Explain your answer.

3. The Earth is rotating toward the east. Note: You are an observe. Your position of observation is on the surface of the rotating Earth.

Neither the Moon nor the Sun is daily moving toward the west. Explain why these two celestial bodies appear to rise above the eastern horizon, move across the southern sky, and then set below the western horizon.

Astronomy for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiment That Really Work

Weight of Box on Earth

I invite you to test science activities and experiments for me. If you are interested, you can contact me directly at ASKJANICE@aol.com

To give you a clue of what to expect, the following activity was field tested by Shay Arnold and her children. I emailed the activity with pictures to her. [...]]]>

Weight of Box on Earth

I invite you to test science activities and experiments for me. If you are interested, you can contact me directly at ASKJANICE@aol.com

To give you a clue of what to expect, the following activity was field tested by Shay Arnold and her children. I emailed the activity with pictures to her. She and her children completed the activity and Shay let me know which parts worked best for each age as well as which parts were not clear. As a results of her input, I can now present to you a much better version of the activity. So let’s get started!

Did You Know?

A celestial body is any and all objects making up the universe. These include, planets, moons, suns, comets, stars, asteroids, etc….

Earth and its Moon are both celestial bodies.

Measuring the Earth’s Gravity

1. Your weight is the measure of the force of Earth’s gravity pulling you down.
NOTE: Down is the vertical direction toward the center of the Earth.

2. Weight on Earth, Fw = Force of Earth’s gravity, Fg
This means that when you stand on the bathroom scales, you are measuring the force of Earth’s gravity pulling you down .

Weight = Force of Gravity
Fw = Fg

Force of Gravity = Weight
Fg = Fw

The black box in Diagram A has a weight of one pound on Earth. This means that Earth’s force of gravity pulling the box down is equal to one pound.

Pound is a unit used to measure force.
Pound is a unit used to measure weight.

Measuring the Moon’s Gravity

Weight On the Moon

Let’s pretend that you can snap your fingers and send the box in Diagram A to the Moon.

Question: How much would the box weigh on the Moon?

REMEMBER: Weight is a measure of the force of gravity pulling an object down.

Answer: The gravity of the Earth’s Moon is about 1/6 as much as Earth’s gravity. This means that the weight of the box would be 1/6 of its weight on Earth. Thus the box’s weight is 1/6 pound.

Math Enrichment: 1/6 x 1 pound= ??  (Divide 1 by 6 = 0.167 pounds)

Investigation:

1. How much do you weigh on Earth?

Examples: Bret- 100 lbs. Bree and Brittan= 50 lbs.

2. How much is the force of Earth’s gravity pulling your body down?

Remember: Fg = Fw

Example:
1. Bret: weight = 100 lbs; Earths’s force of gravity pulling down on Bret = 100 lbs.
2. Bree and Brittan: weight = 50 lbs;  force of gravity pulling down on Bree and Brittan= 50 lbs

3. If you could snap your finger and be on the Moon, how much would you weight?

Example: Bret= 16 lbs Bree/Brittan= 8 lbs

4. How much is the force of the Moon’s gravity pulling your body down?

Example:
Bret: weight =16 lbs; Moon’s force of  gravity pulling down on Bret= 16 lbs

Bree/Brittan:= 8 lbs; Moon’s force of gravity pulling down on Bree and Brittan = 8 lbs

Did You Know?

I rode in NASA’s training and investigation plane commonly called “The Vomit Comet.” For information about my “weightless” investigation, click    HERE.

When water boils it does not evaporate!

It’s true. We all may have been guilty of defining evaporation as the change of a liquid to a gas, but there is more to this definition.

Evaportation: The phase change of a liquid to a gas at a temperature below boiling point.

So what is going on [...]]]>
Did You Know?

When water boils it does not evaporate!

It’s true. We all may have been guilty of defining evaporation as the change of a liquid to a gas, but there is more to this definition.

Evaportation: The phase change of a liquid to a gas at a temperature below boiling point.

So what is going on when water boils? Juts that, it boils. Boiling describes the change of a liquid to a gas at the liquids boiling point. Another description of this change is vaporization.

Vaporization can be used to describe the change of a liquid to a gas at any temperature.

The subscripts after water tells you the state of matter, L for liquid, g for gas, and s for solid (ice).

For water to boil, liquid water must absorb heat. Notice that the change from liquid water to water vapor in the diagram requires heat. The process is labeled Vaporization.

The reverse of this reaction is called condensation and for this process to occur water vapor must loose heat.

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN!

Tell me about fun activities that represent:

Evaporation

Condensation

Vaporization

Boiling

Challenge:  Do you know why things cook faster in a pressure cooker?

 Answer: Sky watchers from the beginning of time have observed the presence of the Sun and Moon no matter where they travel.

Early astronomers’ explanation of this phenomenon was that Earth is flat and has a dome over it. The dome [...]]]>  Question:  Why does the Sun and the Moon follow us every were we go?

 Answer: Sky watchers from the beginning of time have observed the presence of the Sun and Moon no matter where they travel.

Early astronomers’ explanation of this phenomenon was that Earth is flat and has a dome over it. The dome acted as a background for all celestial bodies ( the natural things seen in the sky including the Moon, the Sun, and the stars). The celestial bodies moved from one side of the dome to another, much like actors entering from one side of the stage, crossing the stage, and then exiting on the opposite side.  You can see actors on a stage from any seat in the theater, so the Sun and Moon could be seen from any location on Earth.

 This  explanation sounds rather dumb to us now, but this is because we know so much more about our universe. Never the less, I do find it fun to dream up imaginary explanation for the things we see. For example, imagine two very long invisible strings, one attached to the Moon and the other attached to the Sun. As you move the two celestial bodies must follow, much like helium balloons attached to strings. While this is a fun idea, it obviously is not true. Actually, the idea that the Sun or Moon is following you isn’t true, but since you see it and it seems to be true it is called an illusion.

 The illusion that the Sun or Moon is following you is due to their great distances from Earth. The Sun is about 93 million miles from Earth and the Moon is 238,000 miles away. No matter where you move on Earth, there is so little change in your distance from the Sun or Moon that you don’t notice it. Because of this, you never move past or away from these celestial bodies. 

Discover for Yourself
Distant objects seem to follow you, while objects near-by move out of view. Outdoors, pick out a distant tree.

1. Walk toward the tree and notice that things you pass, drop out of view but the tree remains directly in front of you.
2. Turn right and walk a short distance. Again, notice that some things drop out of view. The tree is still in view, but it is on your left side instead of being straight in front of you. Has the tree moved? No, you turned so that your left side faces it.
3. Turn right again and walk a short distance. As before things fall out of view and while the Tree is not visible you can still see it if you look behind you. Has the tree moved? No, you turned away from it.
4. Turn right again and walk a short distance. Again, some things fall out of view. The tree is now in view on your right side. Did the tree move? No, you again changed your direction so your right side faces the tree.

While there will be engaging activities, I want our time together to be more than just a fun night of entertainment. To accomplish this, we must communicate. How can I help if I don’t know what your [...]]]> Hi,
I hope you are as excited about our April meeting as I am. Come prepared to play and have fun with science.

While there will be engaging activities, I want our time together to be more than just a fun night of entertainment. To accomplish this, we must communicate. How can I help if I don’t know what your problems are?

Before our April meeting:

1. Send me an email. Let’s get to know each other now. Tell me the problems you have teaching science. What do you like the most. What do you like the least.

2. Perform one of the  experiments that I have posted on this GWCHE website. Email your comments about the activity directly to me at: ASKVANCLEAVE@AOL.COM.

Tell me about the problems you had. Tell me if you don’t understand what the activity is all about.  One thing that I’ve learned in life is that I don’t find the answers unless I am honest enough to tell someone I don’t have a clue what they are talking about. I do soften it a bit more than that.

FYI: Shay has helped me to better understand problems that she and her children had with some of my investigations. Instructions that seems perfectly clear to me are not to others.

I need to periodically remind myself of a personal incident–I told my 8 year old son to clean the hamsters. I passed the cage several times and it was still dirty. When I fussed at my son for not doing this chore he assured me that he had. Of course I suggested that we both inspect the cage. As I expected, the cage was  still dirty. But he pointed out that the hamsters were wet because he had cleaned them. OOPS! I didn’t mean for him to give the hamsters a bath, but I did say, “Clean the hamsters.”

I need you to point out to me when my instructions are not clear–

Hi,

I am Janice VanCleave, the author of the books offered as prizes for each of the following contests.

This is the last contest for March. It will be 10 days in length to finish out the month of March. Winners will be randomly selected and contacted directly via email. Enter as many times as you wish until [...]]]>

Hi,

I am Janice VanCleave, the author of the books offered as prizes for each of the following contests.

This is the last contest for March. It will be 10 days in length to finish out the month of March. Winners will be randomly selected and contacted directly via email. Enter as many times as you wish until you win. There will be no duplicate winners.