Earthquakes have been in the news a lot recently. It’s scary for children to watch the news and see the mass destruction, death and rubble caused by a quick shaking of the earth. From the damage in Haiti to Chile and most recently in Turkey, earthquakes occur across the globe.
The surface of the Earth is made up of many puzzle pieces, called tectonic plates. The pieces move and slide along each other all the time. The places where the plates meet are called plate boundaries. An earthquake happens when two plates slip past one another on one of these boundaries, also called a fault line. Most earthquakes occur along these fault lines.
The boundaries of the plates are rough and get stuck while the rest of the plate keeps moving, causing stress on the plate. Once the plate has moved too far, the stuck edges become unstuck along the fault and the boundary area moves suddenly, causing an earthquake.
The location directly above an earthquake is called an epicenter. The place below the earth’s crust where the earthquake actually starts
The Olympics may be over, but teachers and parents are still using the science behind the games to educate children.
Ice skating is a classic lesson in physics. When an ice skater spins, they are using angular momentum. In a spin, their arms act as weights. When arms are extended, the skater spins slowly. When the skater changes their moment of inertia and bring their arms into their body, they spin faster.
I brought this demonstration to Becky Ditchfield on the morning newscast. It’s my rule to never practice ahead of time with Becky. So, what you see on TV is the first time she’s ever seen the demo. I guess she’s sensitive to getting dizzy because she could barely read the teleprompter at the end of the segment. If I hadn’t of caught her, she would have spun into a half million dollar camera.
Next to Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day is a favorite holiday of mine. From the first year the leprechauns turned our water green, I have worked hard to uncover the secrets of the leprechauns.
My crack team of Leprechaun Specialists have discovered how the sneaky little guys turn water and snow green, lay eggs and uncover hidden rainbows.
The leprechaun science doesn’t end there. Leprechauns maybe small, but they eat large sandwiches. The secret is in an inflatable eight-foot sandwich bag that is blown up with only one breath. They also make jewelry out of leprechaun beads that change color in the sunlight.
Don’t forget to build your leprechaun trap this year and fish for leprechauns using green worms.
Olympic athletes wear special competition clothing to gain an edge in their sport. Science & technology continues to improve the clothes and protective gear they wear.
In the bobsled, downhill racing and speed skating, athletes want to go faster. How do they do it? Hard work, physical training, the right equipment and fast clothes made of special aerodynamic material all contribute. Clothes are engineered to enhance performance and reduce drag.
All Olympic suits start in the lab with synthetic polymer materials and molecules called monomers. Engineers string the monomers together to make polymers. A long polymer chain is strong.
Chemical engineers decide which monomers to use and how to connect them to make different materials for different uses. Spandex is lightweight and flexible for suits while Kevlar is strong yet lightweight for skis and helmets.
Even wind resistance can be engineered into a clothing design. Sometimes, a rougher surface can have less drag than a smooth surface helping an athlete go faster. Golf balls are designed with dimples to go farther. The dimples create whirlpools or tiny vortexes of air
It might not be as obvious as physics or materials engineering, but math from arithmetic to calculus can describe every move the athletes make from jumps to spins on the snow and ice.
Math counts in the Olympics. There are 2,500 athletes competing in 86 sports and events to win 252 medals at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. But these are only the base numbers in the games.
Math is all around in scores and measurements, motion and quantities. It can be as easy as how many hockey players are on the ice? Or how many times has the puck gone into the net?
Scoring in ice skating involves arithmetic. Addition is only part of the scoring. Each element is assigned points and then is judged on how well it is performed. A triple axle is worth three points, but the judges will also rate the overall performance and artistry of the skater.
Nine judges give scores, but only five of the scores will count. Two of the scores are thrown out at random, then the highest and lowest
