SCIENCE FESTIVAL-Grahamstown Tuesday 12th-Friday 15th March

SCIENCE FESTIVAL-GHT
Tuesday 12th - Friday 15th March

Aimee's posting:
 WEDNESDAY 13TH MARCH
SOLAR SYSTEM & TELESCOPES: Today we did a workshop called Telescopes and the Solar System. We learned about the planets, stars and solar system. We even made our own telescopes!
Check out the picture. Anyway the next workshop we did was, " Pick your dream holiday!" They taught us how to read a weather graph and of course we had to pick our dream holiday destination and what time of year we would visit and why, also what activities we would do.
The last workshop we did for the day was to find out what sport we could be good at.
They took our height and we had to check our pulse after doing stretches and then again after exercising. We also did a test to see if we had a good reaction time. All of these workshops were so much fun and tomorrow we are going to do some more.

THURSDAY 14TH MARCH
Today we went to the laser show and it was packed. At the beginning there was a remote controlled baloon shark and a robot that you couldn't understand what it was saying. Finally the laser show started and the lights went dim and lasers were everywhere. The lasers formed shapes and it read Science Festival Grahamstow and soon after that a lady with a violin with a laser attached started playing. She was fantastic and played wonderfully, then as she left the stage a man with a laser suit came onto the stage. His lasers went everywhere in the room and then the laser show was finished. I looked at my watch and it had already been an hour.
When we got out of the show we saw our friends at the coffee shop and I was so happy to see my friend Leah. We stayed at the cafe for a while and then after that we did a workshop called, "Ice-cream watercycle." We learned all about the watercycle and of course we made our own ice-cream. Should I tell you how to make it? Ok, so what you do is to get two zip lock packets, one big and one small. Then put two teaspoons of castor sugar and milk in the small ziplock bag. Close the packet very tightly and shake. Then in the big packet put a lot of coarse salt and ice. Then put the small bag inside the big bag and cover the small bag with the ice in the big bag. Then you must massage your bags every 5 minutes or so. When you see that the ice has sort of melted take your small bag out of the big bag and enjoy your home made ice-cream!!!!!

FRIDAY 15TH MARCH
Today my Dad and Bryce left the Science Festival to go back to East London. Mom, Mitch and I did one more workshop before we left for P.E. for Mitch's tennis tournament. The last workshop we did was called, "Build a Rocket Car". The Bloodhound project is trying to build the fastest car and they are going to try and break the land speed record. The drivers name is Andy Green, he gave a lecture in the Guy Butler theatre where we watched the laser show. He spoke about how they have designed a car with a rocket engine, a formula 1 racing car engine and a jet engine. They are hoping to get to 1630km.
Anyway after we had built a rocket car model we pumped air into them and raced them down these gutters. Well the Science Festival was awesome and we learned a lot.
Goodbye Grahamstown and Hello P.E.
THE END

Bryce's posting:
TUESDAY 12TH MARCH
Today my dad and I drove down to Grahamstown in the truck, it was boiling hot. Once we arrived at Makana Resorts camping site we set up and went for a swim in the pool. Later on my mom, Mitch and Aimee arrived and we had a braai for supper, it was a beautiful, warm evening.

WEDNESDAY 13TH MARCH
This morning we woke up, had breakfast and went to the Scifest at the Grahamstown Monument. It took my mom a long time to get our tickets for the workshops as the printer was broken. Finally they fixed them just in time for our first workshop which was called " The Solar System." The gentleman that was presenting the workshop was from the South African National Observatory in Cape Town. He taught us that up until 2006 there were 9 planets and now there are 8 because Pluto was classified as a dwarf planet. There are 5 dwarf planets and they are Pluto, Eris, Makemake and Haumau. Mercury is the smallest planet but also the fastest as it takes Mercury 88 days to rotate around the sun and 176 earth days to rotate on its own axis.
Here is the order that the planets starting closest to the sun: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.
We even made a telescope.

Another workshop we did was called,"Pick your dream holiday." The ladies that presented the workshop were Pumla and Tenielle and they taught us how travel destinations are affected by the weather and climate. We had to read weather graphs to find the right time to visit a destination depending on rainfall and temperatures.

In the afternoon we attended a workshop called, "Do you have what it takes?" The University of Pretoria ( TUKS) presented it and they did the following exercises with us and we had to record our results: We did our resting and active heart rate count, height, co-ordination and a reaction time test. According to the results the main sports that I should be good at are tennis, squash, hockey, cricket and soccer.

THURSDAY 14TH MARCH
Today we went to the laser show. It was amazing and they showed you the development and progression of transport as the theme of the Scifest 2013 is Science on the move. There was a lady that was wearing lights on her dress that was playing the violin with a laser attached to her bow. She was brilliant and very energetic, you cannot believe the pace that she played with. After her their was a man with lasers attached to his hand and releasing smoke everywhere. The smoke is used to reflect the lasers. After this we saw the Harris' and we took part in a little competition with them called the Science Olympics. We had to as a group make a tower with a diving board that could hold a weight. It would be calculated at the end judging by the height times the length of the diving board x the weight it was able to hold. Mitch, Aimee and I could not finish this activity as we had to attend our next workshop which was, "Ice-cream water cycle."

The same presentors as, "Pick your Dream Holiday," hosted this. They are from the South African Weather Service. We learned about phases of water, water cycle and we got to make ice-cream.
Phases of water are solid, liquid and gas. Then we discussed the water cycle/hydrologic cycle finding out more about condensation, transpiration, precipitation, evaporation.
Precipitation: The process in which water in the form of rain, snow, sleet or hail falls fro the clouds in the sky.
Condensation: The process in which water vapor(eggs) turns into liquid water. Condensing water forms clouds in the sky.
Evaporation: From a liquid to a gas
Transpiration: The process in which some water within plants evaporates into the atmosphere. Water is first absorbed by plant roots.
Surface/Runoff: Rain and snow melt or other water flows in surface streams, river or canals.

Mitch's Blog post:

Solar System and Telescopes                    

Today we did a workshop called Solar System and Telescopes. There was a guy called Cedric Jacobs. He is from the South African Observatory in Cape Town. He told us all the planets and Dwarf planets that they have discovered. Since 2006 there have been 8 classical planets and 5 dwarf planets they are called, Mars, Earth, Uranus, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune, Saturn, Mercury, and the dwarf planets are called, Seres, Pluto, Eris, Makamaka and Haymay. Seres is the biggest asteroid and was classified as a planet, it is in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Did you know that Mercury is the smallest planet and it takes 176 Earth days to rotate around its own axis and takes 88 days to go around the sun? Did you know that the brighter stars in the sky are the baby stars? Anyway we built a telescope with cardboard and lenses. It turned out very well and we see quite far.

South

African

Large

Telescope

Pick Your Dream Holiday

We did a workshop called Pick Your Dream Holiday. It was based on how weather effects where we chose to go on holiday. There were two ladies that hosted it and their names are Tenielle and Pumla. They are from the South African Weather Service in Port Elizabeth. We played a  game and we got weather charts, graphs for Skukuza, Sani Pass, Calvinia, Durban and Cape Town. We had to pick one of those and tell them when we would go and why. I chose Sani Pass because in Winter there is not as much rainfall as the summer and we have a chance to see snow and do some skiing. Bryce chose Durban because of the warm water,   surfing and all the amazing things there. They showed us a room with all the equipment and bases in Antarctica. They have to use a special boat to get there. It can chop through ice bergs without getting a dinggggggggggggggggggg.

  

Do You Have What It Takes?

We did an activity called Let Science Move You. The students from the University of Pretoria hosted it. They were trying to find out what you are good at. The 1^st thing we did was jump up and down and do any exercises you want and then we had to check our pulse for 30 seconds and count how many beats we felt. I felt 63 beats. The 2^nd thing we did was measure our height with plastic strips. That was fun. Then the 3^rd thing we did we had to flip a bead over an ice-cream holder and see how fast we did it. I did it in 14 seconds the record of the day. The 4^th thing we did was a person dropped a ruler and we had to try and catch it. The results of what I should be good at is tennis, squash, hockey and soccer.

 

Laser Show

Today I was so excited for the Laser Show because everybody was talking about it. When we walked into the theatre it was packed and we luckily found five seats. When it started there was a robot called Pals and he did a little speech. I don’t really know what he said but he sprayed a lot of people with water. Then the guy came out for the opening speech, he told us how lasers are used to cut metal, function cars and send messages from our phones. Then it started, lasers were shining everywhere it was amazing. Half way through  there was lady playing the violin and she had lasers attached to the sides, it was amazing. Then there was a man who did a dance and was spraying smoke everywhere and once we couldn’t see where he was. That was amazing too. They had a lot of  lasers in the theatre. When it was over I was pumped up for the next workshop.

Light

Amplication

Sensor of

Emitted

Radiation

 

Ice –Cream Water Cycle

We did another workshop called Ice-cream Water Cycle. The ladies  that organised it were the same people that organised Pick Your Dream Holiday, Pumla and Tenielle. As you know they are from the South African Weather service in Port Elizabeth. They taught us all the stages of the water cycle. Let me show you. We also made ice-cream with milk and sugar.

 

SORRY NOT ABLE TO PAST DIAGRAM ONTO BLOG POST

                                                       

Transpiration                                                    Surface/Runoff

The process which the water from the plants            When rain, snow melt and all the water

evaporates into the atmosphere.                                 flows into streams, rivers or canels.

Condensation                                                           Evaporation                                                                

The process which water vapour turns into                The process where water or gas

liquid water and turns into clouds.                                evaporates into the sky.

Rocket Science

 Bryce and I did another workshop called Rocket Science. One of the guys that hosted it was only 14 years old. His name Tibo and he is from Germany. He had built these mini rockets and launched them. He showed us all the attempts he had done and how he got into building rockets. After that he showed us how to make a water rocket and a  pop rocket. Bryce and  I built a water rocket. We used a 2L bottle, plastic wings and cardboard. When we had finished it we launched it. When I launched my rocket it went flying away. It was called BushWaka. After that my Mom bought us an ice-cream and we went to watch the other people launch there pop rockets and water rockets. One person almost broke a window launching a water rocket.

 

Build a Rocket Car   

Today Aimee and I did a Workshop called build a rocket car. There was a guy from the project Blood Hound SSC. He is from the UK. What we did was build a small Blood Hound model. The 1^st step you have to do is cut cardboard in the shape of a rocket car. Then you have to get 2 small rounded sticks and 4 wheels. Then get a straw and cut 2 pieces about the same length as the front and back and stick it on to the car. Then put the stick throw the straw and add the wheels on. Then  we got a piece of paper and folded  it. After that you stick  the top of the paper to the car and then stick the car together. After we had built our cars we raced them. That was lots of fun because I won most of my races.

 

Bloodhound Project
We went to a talk in the Guy Butler Theatre. Andy Green did the talk. He is the man that has the land speed record. The land speed record at the moment is 1.227 kph, that is 27 kph faster than the speed of sound. He came to talk about the Blood Hound car that is being built right now. It is designed to go 1. 690kph. It is going to be launched in the Northen Cape next year in March or April. It has a Formula 1 engine, a jet engine and a rocket engine. It is going to be 13.470m long and 3m high. The wheel diameter is 0.915m. It is supposed to go from 0-1000 in 55 seconds. The runway in 22km and it supposed to finish in 2 minutes. If you want to join google www.bloodhoundssc.com.

Super

Sonic

Cars