EARLY FALL AT WEBB MOUNTAIN DISCOVERY ZONE

While my son was having his "Pirate Treasure Hunt Birthday" at Webb Mountain Discovery Zone in Monroe CT, I got to snap a couple non-pirate pics of the site.  The first shot is one of the many vernal pools located 171-acre plot and the second pic is the butterfly garden located near the entrance.

Vernal Pool

Butterfly Garden

The Discovery Zone officially opened to the public in 2007 with a mission to promote exploration and learning in a fun, hands-on environment.  If you are traveling through Monroe CT, it is a definitely a worthwhile stop.

Hey any mycologists out there!  Are these edible?

These neat looking bright orange mushrooms are growing on the side of my house in a recently planted field of pachysandra.  I am a self proclaimed bio bozo and have no clue.  About all I know about mushrooms is they are a fungus and get their nutrients from decaying organic matter since they lack chlorophyll.  My wife, the much better biologist in our family identified the fungus as either Jack O`Lantern or Orange-latex Milky.  The Jack O'lantern is poisonous while the Orange-latex Milky is edible.  I think she wants to know whether to put them in the family salad or just my salad...

Low Tech Activity Yet Worthwhile Results!

Although I love using the latest technology or some computer app, sometimes the simplest things give students the best understanding.  When discussing the many benefits of knowing the density (D) of a substance, I focused on how you can determine the mass (m) of object if it is too big to put on a scale if you know the density.  The solution is to simply multiply it by the volume (V).

D = m/V  or rearranged is m = D*V

Rather giving examples from the book or a worksheet as I normally would, today I took the students outside and asked them to estimate the mass of some concrete slabs that make up sitting benches outside our building.  As an added bonus they got practice taking measurements and it led into another discussion about significant figures.  The students were able to see real-world applications since you can use this to estimate masses of sorts of objects, even buildings.  I thought about having some students determine the mass of the school by counting all the bricks if they get bored in class.  Good lesson and we got outside on a nice day...

Am I Joking?

I just got done making a big stink about why we need to use the Metric System and my choice for Featured Scientist of the Month is Daniel Fahrenheit.  Actually Fahrenheit was a brilliant dedicated scientist who understood the need to develop a universal scale for thermometers.  See post below...

SEPTEMBER 2012

Daniel Fahrenheit (1686-1736) was born into a German merchant family in Gdansk, Poland.  He was a scientist who is best known for making the modern day alcohol thermometer and mercury thermometer.  His parents died from eating poisonous mushroomswhen he was fifteen.  After spending time in foster homes, apprenticeships, and studying natural science, Fahrenheit become a  glassblower making barometers and thermometers. 

Early thermometers had arbitrary scales and he as well as Isaac Newton years earlier recognized that thermometers based on materials that change at certain temperatures would make them reproducible.  Newton was not a thermometer maker and did a couple of other things anyway.  Fahrenheit choose a mixture of ice, water, and ammonium chloride (a salt) for zero.  He used 32 degrees for the freezing point of water and 96 degrees for body temperature.  The funny numbers come from his original idea of have a 12-point scale where zero, four, and twelve are the three constants.  He then separated each point by eight gradations.  The result, multiply each constant by eight: 4 X 8 = 32, 12 X 8 = 96.  Body temperature is normally measured at 98.6 degrees but he was close.

sources:

John Lienhard: http://inventors.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=inventors&cdn=money&tm=6&f=10&su=p284.13.342.ip_&tt=2&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.uh.edu/engines/epi1300.htm 

wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Gabriel_Fahrenheit 

Unfortunately Fahrenheit's constants were not as simple as the constants Anders Celsius chose for for his scale who used the freezing point and boiling point of pure water.  

Also, for those interested in the where the following conversion formulas comes from:

        F to C where C = (F-32)*5/9     

        C to F where F = C*9/5+32

Notice the difference between 0 and 100 (100) on the Celsius scale and their corresponding Fahrenheit temperatures 32 and 212 (180).  The ratio is 100 to 180 which reduces to 5 to 9.  Whether it is 5/9 or 9/5 and if you have to add or subtract 32 depends on which scale your looking for.

Why Use The Metric System!

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post "IS AMERICA'S MEDIOCRE (AT BEST) SCIENCE SCORES DUE TO NOT USING THE METRIC SYSTEM?" suggesting the mediocre science scores for U.S. high school students is related to the lack of familiarity to the metric system.  That is one reason for using the Metric System.  But why do scientists like the Metric System (technically scientists use the  International System - SI which is a simplified Metric System) in the first place?

The U.S. Metric Association (USMA) summarizes these to six points or advantages:

1. No conversions - only one unit for each quantity.
2. Coherence - derived units are based on simple algebraic quotients or products of base units.  There are no numerical definitions to memorize.
3. No fractions - uses decimals only.
4. Prefixes - prefixes are short and to the base 10.
5. Few units - The SI system only 30 individually named units and students only need to remember a few units depending on which subject they are taking.
6. Easy to write and say - quantities are much easier to express in the SI system.

Although my colleagues and I always teach and reteach the metric system year in and year out for science classes, this year I am focusing on why we prefer the Metric system.  It should be a "no brainer" but I always have a student who will argue that the U.S. customary system works fine and the rest of the world should follow us.  I tell the student I hope not!

Source:
U.S. Metric Association (USMA), Inc. 
Wikipedia

Good Observation and Question from my son!  The answer to the question is biochemistry...

On my way to dropping my son off at the Peabody summer camp during the cool morning, we pass by a large pile of wood chips on the side of Route 111 in Shelton near Jones Farm (Figure 1).

Figure 1

My son not only noticed but asked why is the pile smoking?  This is a great question because it involves lots of science disciplines.

The pile is not really smoking as it is water vapor produced as the wood chips are being composted somewhat.  Composting is a bit more involved.  Aerobic bacteria in the pile feed on the wood chips, as they do they produce carbon dioxide, water vapor, and heat.  Most life forms on Earth do this.  In fact, most of the instruments looking for extraterrestrial life are looking for these compounds rather than direct evidence.

Since the wood chip piles are slightly warmer than the rest of the ground, the cool morning air causes warm moist air from the compost to condense and produce the mist.   The air became saturated with water and reached its dew point as a result of lowering the temperature.

WHAT LIES BENEATH MONT ROYAL!    

While on vacation last week to Montreal, I learned that Mont Royal sits on a volcanic complex or more precise is a remnant of one.   In particular, 125 mya southern Quebec, Canada was above a volcanic hotspot (region where magma is close to the surface a.k.a. plume).  Mont Royal (or Mount Royal) as well as the rest of the Monteregian Hills are the remains since they are more resistant to erosion.  The hotspot known as the New England Hotspot, is similar to the more famous hotspots currently over Hawaii and Yellowstone.

Apparently, the hotspot had its beginnings 200 mya in an area northwest of Hudson Bay, as the plate moved the plume was recorded in 150 million year old rocks in Ontario.  Continued movement of the North American Plate produced Mont Royal 125 mya.  It was recorded again in rocks from the White Mountains of New Hampshire and from 100 to 80 mya the hotspot created the New England Seamount chain of the coast of North America.  The hot spot became active again 75 mya as it produced the Corner Rise Seamounts.  The Mid-Atlantic ridge has overridden the hotspot and formed the Great Meteor Seamount chain 20 to 10 mya.

Figure 1 (from NOAA)

Figure 1 shows the plate movement over hotspot from formation of Mont Royal ~125 mya to the Great Meteor Seamont chain ~10 mya.

For the rock hounds (weird people who worry about such things and collect them), the Mont Royal country rock is a grey limestone (CaCO3) which was intruded  by magma.  Where the magma was in contact with the limestone marble was produced.  Inside the chamber the magma crystallized to form a dark gabbro of which I have a sample [ROCK HOUND].  The gabbro consists of the following minerals; pyroxene ([Fe,Mg]Si2O6), olivine ([Fe,Mg]SiO4), and plagioclase (CaAl2Si2O8).