What Is #10: A Neutron Star?

The 'What Is' Series

A couple of months ago I started a new series on this blog titled "What Is". Thus far the focus is on the field of astronomy where we hear all sorts of cool science taking place in space. The goal of this series is to explain the details of different objects we hear about relatively frequently.

Stars

I have recently covered Brown Dwarfs and White Dwarfs. Brown Dwarfs are objects that were not quite large enough to fuse hydrogen, so they never reached full star status. White Dwarfs are the final stage of a low mass star such as the Sun. After these low mass stars shed away their outer layers, the stellar core leftover is called a White Dwarf. The end stage process is different for stars that start out with more mass. Stars starting with a higher mass of 5-8 or more solar masses, will end their lives much differently. They will explode as a supernova (to be covered in a later post) and leave behind a small stellar core called a Neutron Star.

Neutron Stars

If a star begins its life with more than 5-8 solar masses, it will take a different path in the latter stages of life. It still fuses hydrogen to helium in the core, just as all stars do for most of their lives. Smaller mass stars like the Sun can fuse up to carbon in their cores. At this point the core can no longer contract. But a higher mass star has greater gravity and the core continues to collapse, allowing it to fuse all the way up to iron. At this point the star explodes as a supernova.

The first direct observation of a neutron star in visible light. The neutron star being en:RX J185635-3754. Credit: Fred Walter (State University of New York at Stony Brook) and NASA. Source: ST Scl. neutron stars are really small and can't be seen by the eye

In these higher mass stars, the core contracts until it is only 10-15 km in size, so very small. Yet it has the mass of several suns. Therefore it has a very large gravitational force on its surface. In fact, if you could land on a neutron star and survive, you'd have to launch with a velocity of about half the speed of light to leave and not be pulled back. Wow!

Most high mass stars end their lives with a supernova explosion and leftover Neutron Star. The very highest mass stars, however, take it one step further. In these stars, the mass is so great and the gravitational force is so great, the stellar core doesn't stop collapsing. It continues to collapse into an infinitesimally small space called black hole. That's a topic for another day.

Ticket to Ride Europe

Ticket to Ride

Our family loves board games, particularly strategy based board games. We've been building our collection the past few years. One of our first strategy based board games was the original Ticket to Ride. The goal of the game is to collect the right cards to build trains that connect cities. You earn points for building trains, completing destinations, etc. We've had a lot of fun with this game and it's one of my 8 year old's favorites. This past Christmas she received Ticket to Ride Europe.

Ticket to Ride Europe

Ticket to Ride Europe is very similar to Ticket to Ride but the game board is a map of Europe with European cities. The goal is the same. You build trains, complete destinations, and try to outscore your opponents.

Ticket to Ride Europe

Differences

There are a few of cool differences between the original Ticket to Ride and this version. The first is the addition of ferries. There are paths over water that require you to use the special locomotive cards. A second addition is tunnels. To travel through a tunnel there is a chance you'll have to play more cards then expected. The final addition is the use of train stations. The train stations allow you to connect from one city to another if the path is already blocked by another player.

These differences throw in several twists and add in more critical thinking! If you're a fan of Ticket to Ride, I highly recommend you add Ticket to Ride Europe to your board game collection.

Top Astronomy News Stories of 2018

Exciting Astronomy

Each year there are multiple exciting stories and discoveries in the field of astronomy. We are about one month into 2019 and we've already seen the landing of a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon and the passing of New Horizons by a small object a few astronomical units beyond Pluto. With 11 months to go there are sure to be many more exciting discoveries.

Top Astronomy News Stories of 2018

It is hard, if not impossible to determine the 'best' astronomy story of 2018. There were so many wonderful things that happened! We talked about these in my astronomy class the other day. Students brought up the InSight landing on Mars, the end of the Kepler mission and the start of the TESS mission, landing a spacecraft on an asteroid, the death of Stephen Hawking, etc.

Professor Stephen Hawking in Cambridge, UK - Doug Wheller

It was sad to see Stephen Hawking and his tremendous accomplishments in the field of astrophysics leave us last year. 

In astronomy class we browsed the web for other astronomy news stories from 2018. Society loves lists, so we found many sites publishing top ten lists of astronomy stories. Here are a few we found:

Top 10 Astronomy News Stories of 2018

The top space stories of 2018: Mars, new moons and a mystery asteroid

Highlights From the Year in Space and Astronomy Developments

We you see these, it makes you wonder what 2019 will bring us!

Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park Movie Series

Our family is working through the Jurassic Park movie series. I've previously discussed Jurassic Park I and Jurassic Park II. We recently watched Jurassic Park III and still have the two most recent Jurassic Park movies to watch to finish off the series as it currently stands.

Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park III is the first in the series not based on one of Michael Crichton's novels. The first two were based on the books. This could be one reason why Jurassic Park III does not hold its own against the first two. Overall I enjoyed the movie but there were several plot lines that didn't make sense. Thus I did not walk away thinking this was a 'good' movie.

Jurassic Park Tyrannosaurus exhibit in Universal Studios Islands of Adventure, Orlando, Florida. - Marco Becerra

The Problems

Here are the major problems as I saw them.

1. The movie begins with a dad and son para-gliding near the island the dinosaurs reside. Something goes wrong and they crash land. We later learn the dad is killed, but the son, a kid, survives. Not only does he survive the crash landing, but he survives for several weeks, maybe months, on the island by himself. No food. No weapons. No shelter, nothing. But he survives where others quickly die. Nope, not buying it.
2. Later in the movie there is a series of scenes in which one of the adults tries to fend off the pterodactyls. He's able to create a distraction to save the rest of the group, but we see him being repeatedly bitten in the river and the water suddenly turns red. He's a goner...but wait, he's not! At the very end of the movie he suddenly reappears as he was 'rescued'! Um? Seriously? It made much greater sense knowing he met his end. Given how savagely he was being attacked, it makes no sense for him to suddenly re-appear at the end.
3. I'm a big fan of Tea Leoni in her leading role on Madame Secretary. I did not, however, like her character in this movie. The writers built her up as the stereotype of a woman shrieking and screaming non-stop. I give her credit for pulling off that role, but this is a classic example of male writers and producers creating a weak female character. There was no need for that. 

If I think hard enough I can probably come up with more, but those are the three main problems I had with this movie. Hopefully the next two movies are better!

This Blog's History: Growing Bacteria for Science Fair

This Blog's History

Starting several years ago, every Friday I link back to a previous post I wrote. Why? I may be biased, but I think there's quite a bit of good, exciting science I post on this blog, and I like to revisit these old posts. Plus it is a way for new readers to see many of the cool science experiments I've done with my kids in the past without reading the blog from day one, which was over 1,000 posts ago!

Growing Bacteria

Today I point you back to a classic science fair project that is sure to amaze. Growing bacteria in petri dishes. It is very easy to do and very interesting to see which areas of your house have more bacteria than others! This is a project my oldest daughter did two years ago for her science fair project. And, yes, I'm bragging about my kid here, it earned her the grand prize at the school level and advanced her to the regional science fair in which she earned an honorable mention.

Where do I go?

Here's the link, with cool pictures, of my daughter's project on day four of growing bacteria.

Growing Bacteria Day 4

As you can see, the bacteria grows very quickly!

Transformers 4: Age of Extinction

Transformers Movie Series

I still don't know what it is about the Transformers movie series, but I can't stop watching. I've seen the first four so far. We watched them as a family. They are basically the same. Lots of ridiculous action. But somehow I'm not turned off and I want to watch more! Thus expect a post on Transformers 5 and Bumblebee, as well as any other future Transformers movies in the future!

A promotional display for the 2007 Transformers movie at en:BotCon 2006. The same display appeared at 2007's en:Toy Fair.

Transformers 4: Age of Extinction

To be honest, this movie is basically the same as the first three. There are good Transformers and bad Transformers. The good Transformers are trying to help the humans and the bad Transformers are trying to destroy humans and the good Transformers helping them. There are good humans wanting to help the good Transformers and there are bad human helping the bad Transformers try to rid the planet of the good Transformers.

Make sense? Doesn't matter. The point is this movie is 2 hours and 45 minutes of non-stop action. There is very little non-action time in this movie. And that action is completely ridiculous. Yet...and I can't explain it...I want more! Bring on Transformers 5!

What Is #9: A Brown Dwarf?

The 'What Is' Series

A couple of months ago I started a new series on this blog titled "What Is". Thus far the focus is on the field of astronomy where we hear all sorts of cool science taking place in space. The goal of this series is to explain the details of different objects we hear about relatively frequently.

Stars

In my discussion of other objects in this "What Is" series, I've made mention that an object in space becomes a star when it starts fusing hydrogen into helium in the core. It takes high temperatures of nearly 10 million K to start fusion, but once started, the object is an official star. Later on, the star can stop fusing hydrogen as it enters its latter evolutionary stages, but it is always referred to as a star. What happens though if the object trying to become a star is not hot enough to fuse hydrogen into helium in the core? If it's very close to another star, it will orbit that star and be a planet. This is similar to Jupiter in our Solar System, although Jupiter needed much more mass to become a star. It isn't very close. If the object is by itself and not gravitationally bound to another star, we call it a Brown Dwarf.

Brown Dwarfs

Sometimes would-be stars do not acquire enough mass to have core temperatures high enough to fuse hydrogen into helium. If not part of another solar system, these objects are Brown Dwarfs, or often referred to as "failed stars". It's much easier to make small stars than big stars, so there are far more small stars than big stars in our galaxy. Thus there are likely many, many more Brown Dwarfs than there are regular stars in the galaxy. Brown Dwarfs are very difficult to observe as they are very dim and give off very little light. They have energy from their formation, but don't emit much at a time. As telescopes improve, more Brown Dwarfs will be discovered, but the numbers at this time are small. The first Brown Dwarf was discovered in 1995 and there are only about 3000 confirmed observations of Brown Dwarfs to date. There are billions of stars and likely billions of Brown Dwarfs in the galaxy, so this shows how difficult they are to find. Below is a comparison of the Sun to Brown Dwarfs and a few other astronomical objects.

MPIA/V. Joergens - First published in "Joergens, Viki, 50 Years of Brown Dwarfs - From Prediction to Discovery to Forefront of Research, Astrophysics and Space Science Library 401, Springer, ISBN 978-3-319-01162-2.

As you can see, the Sun is much bigger than a large Brown Dwarf, although Jupiter is still smaller than a very cool Brown Dwarf.

Conclusion

Sometimes there just isn't enough material to make a star, but an object, a Brown Dwarf, still forms. Could there be planets around Brown Dwarfs? Yes! Could there be life on one of these planets? Possibly!

Chang'e-4 Lunar Probe

Chang'e Lunar Probe

I often focus on astronomy in the United States, given this is where I live, but it's important to not forget that many other countries are doing some amazing astronomy research. China is one of those countries. On January 3, 2019, just two days after New Horizons flew by 2014 MU69, China successfully landed the Chang'e-4 lunar probe on the far side of the Moon.

Significance

Several spacecraft, including a few human missions, have successfully landed on the surface of the Moon, so what is the significance of this mission? This is the first mission to successfully land on the far side of the Moon facing away from Earth. All other successful landing sites were on the near, Earth facing side of the Moon.

Far Side

The Moon rotates on its own axis at the same rate it orbits the Earth. Thus it always shows the same side to the Earth. The far side of the Moon is unexplored and the Chang'e-4 probe will provide more information on the side of the Moon facing away from us. Note that there is no 'dark' side to the Moon and any media reports of a dark side are simply false. All portions of the Moon are illuminated at some time in the Moon's orbit about Earth, just as all portions of Earth are illuminated as it rotates on its own axis as orbits the Sun.

First Images

As with the New Horizons mission two days ago, images thus far are the very first images and more are certainly to come. Here is one of the first released images of the far side of the Moon from this mission.

A view of the Moon as seen by the Chang'e-4 lunar probe. - EPA/CNSA

Very cool!

New Horizons Flyby of 2014 MU69

New Horizons

Earlier this year, in the early morning hours of January 1, 2019, the New Horizons spacecraft flew by the small object 2014 MU69.

The New Horizons spacecraft - NASA - http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=27362

New Horizons launched from Earth in January 2006, and flew by Pluto in July 2015, giving us our very first images of Pluto's surface. Not just any pictures, but high resolution images showing a cratered surface, mountains, and a thin atmosphere!  New Horizons continued on to the outer solar system and astronomers later determined an outer Solar System object called 2014 MU69 (nicknamed Ultimate Thule) was a good target close to New Horizons for an upcoming flyby. Well that flyby was successful and images are starting to come in.

2014 MU69

The object 2014 MU69 is much, much smaller than Pluto, with a size of 30 km by 20 km. It has an average distance from the Sun of about 45 AU, so slightly farther away than Pluto's 40 AU. It was first discovered in 2014, thus the '2014' in its official name. Here is one of the first pictures to be returned.

2014 MU69 taken by the Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI)- NASA - https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/808/nasas-new-horizons-mission-reveals-entirely-new-kind-of-world/

Okay, that is super cool! This is not two objects but one object with what appear to be two parts connected. How this formed is not known yet, but I guarantee astronomers will be studying this in the coming months and years. 

The Future

The study of the flyby is far from done. This is just one of the very first images. Higher resolution images are expected in February and astronomers will likely be studying this object for months to years. This is the most distant object in the Solar System a spacecraft has every flown by! On top of that, New Horizons is not necessarily done either. Astronomers will continue to look for other nearby objects that might be visited while New Horizons is still operational. We'll just have to wait and see if they find anything. 

This Blog's History: Science Fair Time!

This Blog's History

Starting several years ago, every Friday I link back to a previous post I wrote. Why? I may be biased, but I think there's quite a bit of good, exciting science I post on this blog, and I like to revisit these old posts. Plus it is a way for new readers to see many of the cool science experiments I've done with my kids in the past without reading the blog from day one, which was over 1,000 posts ago!

Science Fair Time

It's mid-January right now, which means it is likely science fair time in your local school district. I've written about science fairs many times on this blog and point you back to the most recent post on this topic. This year is an exciting year for us in regards to the science fair. Not only do we have my oldest daughter participating, but my youngest daughter is now old enough to participate. We are now a two science fair project family!

Check with your local school district on dates. If this year's deadline has already passed, that's okay, just start working on next year!

Where do I go?

For the original post, click the link below. This links to the original post I wrote a couple of weeks ago.

Science Fair Time!

Bears vs. Babies

The Game

For Christmas this year we gave my 12 year old cousin the board game Bears vs. Babies. It's a game we have and one I enjoy. The game was designed by The Oatmeal, whose comics I have read for years and whose other games, Exploding Kittens and You've Got Crabs, I also own. The basic premise of the game is to design monsters (bears) given the cards in your hand and build a strong enough monster force that can defeat the deranged babies. All while battling the other players who are trying to destroy your army so either they defeat the babies or the babies destroy your own army.

One of the cool parts of this game is the amazing and creative graphics designed by The Oatmeal. The monsters you create are no ordinary monsters. They are definitely unique! The game is now sold by some mainstream retailers, such as Target, but you can get it straight from The Oatmeal's shop here:

The Oatmeal's Shop

Strategy

The other cool part about this game is that it requires you to use critical thinking skills. Yes, some of the game is based on the luck of the draw and which cards you get, but a greater portion involves you deciding which cards to play when. To gain points you have to provoke the babies and fight them, but sometimes your armies are too weak. Do you build the strength of your own armies, or provoke the babies in an attempt to destroy another player's army? That's the tricky part and where the critical thinking comes in.

Conclusion

Bears vs. Babies is a great gift idea. It's a fun game, with very cool graphics and the requirement of critical thinking. You can't beat that in a board game! Definitely check it out.

New Lego Sets

Fun with Legos

Both of my kids are big fans of Legos. They've been playing with Legos since they were old enough not to swallow them, and even then, they played with the extra large Legos you can't stuff in your mouth. Over the years they've acquired several Lego sets, building and rebuilding them, as well as using their creativity to develop their own buildings. This past Christmas they each received a new Lego set they immediately constructed!

Women of NASA

My oldest daughter received the Women of NASA Lego set that features four female astronauts: Sally Ride, Margaret Hamilton, Mae Jemison, and Nancy G. Roman. Very cool!

The Bat-Space Shuttle

My youngest daughter received the The Bat-Space Shuttle for Christmas. We were going to watch a family movie together after opening gifts, but she was so excited to put her new Lego set together that we changed plans! Lego building for her it was! A few hours later and she had this set put together and had a huge smile on her face as she showed off her handy-work!

Legos and Critical Thinking

Playing with Legos is a great way to develop critical thinking skills. The sets themselves come with step by step directions, but the real critical thinking and creativity comes from taking the pieces and building free-style. I've spend hours watching my kids play with their Legos and it is always such a joy watching them think through what pieces they need to create the masterpieces they have in their minds!

What Is #8: A White Dwarf

The 'What Is' Series

A couple of months ago I started a new series on this blog titled "What Is". Thus far the focus is on the field of astronomy where we hear all sorts of cool science taking place in space. The goal of this series is to explain the details of different objects we hear about relatively frequently.

Stellar Evolution

Stars are giant balls of gas that fuse in their cores. For most of their lives stars are fusing hydrogen into helium in their cores and releasing energy in the process. Eventually the hydrogen supply runs out and low mass stars such as the Sun evolve into Red Giants and grow very large in size. Red Giant stars were discussed in the last edition of this blog's 'What Is' series.

Eventually these stars start to fuse helium into carbon. It is possible to fuse carbon into heavier elements, but very high core temperatures are needed. This doesn't happen in low mass stars the size of the Sun. Instead, the outer layers of the star are shed outward (called a planetary nebula) and the remaining carbon core is called a White Dwarf.

A White Dwarf Star

The Sun, in about 5-6 billion years, will eventually become a White Dwarf. This is the last stage of a low mass star such as the Sun. White Dwarfs are very small for stars. The core continues to contract during the Red Giant stage and eventually becomes the size of a terrestrial planet such as the Earth. When stars finally reach the White Dwarf stage, they have shrunk, but are very hot objects. They are no longer producing energy, but instead slowly releasing their energy. Eventually they will release all of their energy, dim, and become what is called a Black Dwarf. A Black Dwarf is a White Dwarf that has released its energy. This takes a long, long, long time! In fact, it takes several billion years to reach the White Dwarf stage and several tens of billions of years more to become a Black Dwarf. Therefore, the Universe, at 13.8 billion years old, is not yet old enough for any Black Dwarfs to exist!

White Dwarf stars - NASA

White Dwarfs Can Be Weird

This isn't the end story for White Dwarfs, however. When stars are in binary systems and the conditions are just right, a White Dwarf can pull mass from the atmosphere of another star. This mass can start to fuse on the surface, drastically increasing the White Dwarf's brightness for a period of time. This is a nova. If enough mass is dumped on the surface of the White Dwarf, it can explode as a supernova! This is a different type of supernova compared to the typical supernova that is the result of high mass stars. The moral of this story is that weird things can happen to stars in binary systems.

Think 100%: The Coolest Show on Climate Change Podcast

Science Podcasts

I'm a big fan of science themed podcasts, as any reader of this blog knows. I'm constantly on the lookout for new science podcasts. Some I've kept on my must-listen to list for years. Others come and go as my mood changes. But as far as I'm concerned, there can never be too many science podcasts out there. I recently came across a very good climate change podcast that currently resides on my ever changing must-listen to list.

Think 100%: The Coolest Show on Climate Change

The title of the podcast says it all. Think 100%: The Coolest Show on Climate Change. The show self describes as:

"Cutting-edge show infuses climate and culture to tell the stories that inspire action to stop climate change and protect the frontline communities fighting for their existence."

Sadly studies show that presenting facts on controversial topics (let's be clear that climate change should not be controversial or partisan, but it is) does very little to change pre-conceived notions and often does nothing but reinforce those incorrect misconceptions. Infusing science with story telling and the effect it has on individuals can change beliefs, however. This podcast does a great job of doing just that. Facts are important, but the story of how individuals are affected is what really gets people to change. 

There are many good science podcasts out there, but I encourage you to give this one a shot. I think you'll like it.

How Do I Get the Podcast?

You'll likely find it on your podcast player of choice, but if you are struggling, here is the direct link to the podcast website. 

Think 100% The Coolest Show on Climate Change

This Blog's History: Exploding Soda Pop

This Blog's History

Starting several years ago, every Friday I link back to a previous post I wrote. Why? I may be biased, but I think there's quite a bit of good, exciting science I post on this blog, and I like to revisit these old posts. Plus it is a way for new readers to see many of the cool science experiments I've done with my kids in the past without reading the blog from day one, which was over 1,000 posts ago!

The Exploding Soda Pop Experiment

This one's a classic and sure to be a crowd pleaser! Drop a few Mentos candies into a two liter bottle of carbonated soda and very quickly you have a chemical reaction that causes the pop to shoot out the top of the bottle!

Where do I go?

For the full details and procedure, click the link below. This links to the original post I wrote on this experiment over six years ago in 2012. There are even a couple of videos showing our results!

The Exploding Pop Experiment

Most Distant Solar System Object

Overview

Astronomers continually look for new objects in the Solar System. Many questions have been answered over the last few decades, but many other questions remain unanswered and new questions arise. Are there planets beyond Neptune? If so, how might these objects effect the orbits of inner Solar System objects? Did the planets migrate in and out in their orbits? How far away is the farthest Solar System object? Prior to a recent discovery, the most distant object in the Solar System was Eris, a dwarf planet with an orbit that takes it as far as 97 A.U. from the Sun. But astronomers have recently found a more distant object!

Eris - NASA, ESA, and M. Brown (California Institute of Technology)

Most Distant Solar System Object

Astronomers have recently discovered an object named 2018 VG18, cleverly nicknamed 'Farout'. 2018 VG18 is about 120 A.U. from the Sun, placing it significantly farther than Eris' greatest distance. Given its great distance, little else is known about 2018 VG18, including its size, orbit, composition, and surface features. We'll have to wait for it to eventually get closer to us before we learn more. Despite what we don't know, this is an interesting discovery. We've known objects are likely to exist farther out in the Solar System, but they are hard to find. There are most certainly objects farther out than 2018 VG18, but we'll just have to wait until they are discovered.

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

Transformers Movie Series

Our family is late to watching any of the movies in the Transformers movie, so we are playing a bit of a catch-up. Thus far we've watched the first three movies and I've written on this blog about the first two. I actually checked out the fourth movie from the library, but the disk was damaged and we were deeply disappointed we couldn't watch it. I know that some will think I'm crazy, but I am really into these movies, as is my wife and kids. Yes, it is action porn and the story line is pretty repetitive, but the action is cool I'm a fan of pretty much anything in the super hero genre.

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

The Autobots are back trying to save the world once again with a few key humans assisting. The movie starts out with a crash landing on the Moon that is crucial to the story line. And that is where the bad science begins.

Bad Science

Like any superhero type of movie, you have to suspend reality to enjoy the movie. Obviously machines turning from cars into large robots is bad science, but without it, you have no movie. The bad science that annoyed me in this movie was the continued references to the dark side of the Moon and the spread of misinformation.

Ful Moon by Frode Steen

We see the Moon in different phases due to the Moon's revolution around the Earth relative to the position of the Sun. The Moon is tidally locked to Earth, which means we always see the same side of the Moon. We can't see the back side of the Moon from Earth. This is where the misconception of the dark side of the Moon comes from. At any given time, half of the Moon is lit by sunlight and the other half is in darkness. The same is true for Earth. Half of Earth experiences day while half of Earth experiences night. The portions of the Moon receiving day and night change throughout the Moon's path around the Sun. Thus there is NO permanent dark side to the Moon! 

Not only was the presenting of a dark side of the Moon annoying, but when scenes of the supposed dark side of the Moon were shown in the movie, the Moon's surface was lit up! In other words, the supposed dark side of the Moon in the movie wasn't dark! It was light! ARG!!!!

Conclusion

Of the first three Transformers movies, I enjoyed this one as much as the others and my kids loved it as well. It was, however, the one that thus far has annoyed me the most in regards to clearly bad science.

Jurassic Park II: The Lost World

The Jurassic Park Series

As a kid I loved the movie Jurassic Park. Later I read the book written by Michael Crichton and then the sequel, Lost World. I went on to read most of Michael Crichton's books, but that's another story. A few weeks ago my wife and I introduced our kids to the original Jurassic Park movie (as of this writing there are five Jurassic Park movies). Our kids loved it so of course we had to continue watching all of them!

Jurassic Park II: The Lost World

I thought the book was great, but the movie was only okay. It didn't live up to the same level as the first Jurassic Park. Don't get me wrong, the movie had a lot of great dinosaur scenes with your typical 1990s action, but much of it seemed too predictable. You could tell immediately who was dying and who was going to survive. Jeff Goldblum does a great job, but I refuse to believe his daughter (not his real daughter) in the movie was able to sneak on board and join the crew to the island. This was a mission with high level equipment to an island of dinosaurs the general public doesn't know about and we are to believe a young child is able to sneak on board with no one noticing. No one did a double check before taking off? Not buying it.

Although much of the movie was predictable, there was one surprise regarding one of the characters.

Vince Vaughn Appearance

Jurassic Park II brings us a young Vince Vaughn who is part of the team traveling to the island. He plays the role of the cocky, athletic "strong man" brought along to take pictures and look pretty. Eventually he sacrifices himself to save the others and we see him carried down river being torn apart by a group of pterodactyls. That's the end of Vince Vaughn until he suddenly appears at the very end, having somehow been rescued by...who knows who. He's lying in the helicopter, injured, but in good spirits and clearly in non-critical condition. Um...no. It makes no sense.

Bad Science

Well, there are full sized dinosaurs roaming the island, so there's some bad science. The entire explanation of how DNA was discovered and dinosaurs were re-created is completely bad science, but without the bad science you don't have Jurassic Park, so I'll forgive Michael Crichton. We also now know most dinosaurs were likely covered in feathers. So there's that too.

Conclusion

Despite the problems I mentioned above, I did enjoy Jurassic Park II, but not to the same level as the original. My kids, however, loved it. Next up: Jurassic Park III.

What Is #7: A Red Giant

The 'What Is' Series

A couple of months ago I started a new series on this blog titled "What Is". Thus far the focus is on the field of astronomy where we hear all sorts of cool science taking place in space. The goal of this series is to explain the details of different objects we hear about relatively frequently.

Sun-like Stars

The Sun is considered a low mass star currently on the main part of its life called the Main Sequence.

The Sun taken by NASA/SDO (AIA)

The Sun is currently fusing, in its core, hydrogen into helium and releasing energy in the process. Eventually the Sun will exhaust its core hydrogen supply. When this happens the Sun is no longer a Main Sequence star. It begins to evolve and becomes a Red Giant star.

What is a Red Giant?

A red giant is an evolutionary stage low mass stars, such as the Sun, go through in the latter stages of their lives. Once the Sun's core hydrogen supply is exhausted, a thin layer of fusing hydrogen surrounding the core provides a force causing the outer layers of the Sun, beyond the core, to expand outward. In other words, the Sun begins to grow in size. As it grows in size, the surface temperature cools and the star becomes redder in color. Thus the term Red Giant. The star will grow quite large in size, much larger than a Main Sequence star.

How Large?

How large will a star such as the Sun grow when it becomes a Red Giant? The simple answer is very large! The more detailed answer is found in comparing the distance from the planets to the Sun in its current stage. As the Sun grows into a Red Giant, in approximately 5-6 billion years, it will expand past Mercury's orbit, expand past Venus' orbit, and come close, if not surpassing, Earth's orbit. There's a question as to what will happen to the Earth. Earth is either swallowed up by the Sun or pushed farther outward in its orbit. Either way, life will not continue. Earth, however, moves out of the current Solar System's habitable zone in as few as 500 million years, so humans will have to figure out space travel long before the Sun becomes a Red Giant.

This Blog's History: The Floating Egg

This Blog's History

Starting several years ago, every Friday I link back to a previous post I wrote. Why? I may be biased, but I think there's quite a bit of good, exciting science I post on this blog, and I like to revisit these old posts. Plus it is a way for new readers to see many of the cool science experiments I've done with my kids in the past without reading the blog from day one, which was over 1,000 posts ago!

The Floating Egg

This is a relatively simple science experiment that does a great job illustrating density to kids. It's also an experiment in which you likely already have the supplies in your kitchen. As long as you have running water, salt, and an egg, you can do this experiment in just a few minus.

Where do I go?

For the full details and procedure, click the link below. This links to the original post I wrote on this experiment over six years ago in 2012. There are even a couple of videos showing our results!

The Floating Egg Experiment

The CW's Elseworld MiniSeries

What is The CW's Elseworld Series?

Readers of this blog know I'm a huge fan of pretty much any comic book series turned into a movie or television series. The CW channel does a great job with several comic book series shows, including The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, Green Arrow, and Supergirl, to name a few.

Typically each year there is a crossover week in which several of the shows have a single story line and the characters cross over into the other shows. This year's crossover, titled "Elseworlds", combined Supergirl, The Flash, and Green Arrow. This year the Legends of Tomorrow did not participate, but there was a one line quote in which one of the characters made mention that it was the time of the year for the annual crossover, but they were a big no this year. LOL!

The Bad Science in Elseworlds

All three shows in Elseworlds are based on comic book characters, so of course there is a ton of bad science. Humans/aliens flying, shooting fire out of their eyes, running super fast, vibing, etc. Any fan of comic books has to let this bad science go to enjoy the story, but sometimes the bad science becomes a bit too much and usually with no reason. In the last episode of the Elseworlds crossover, officially a Supergirl episode, The Flash and Supergirl decide they need to slow down time. To do so, they must both move super fast around Earth, but in different directions, and exactly at Mach 7, seven times the speed of sound. Um...okay.

First, why Mach 7? I honestly have no clue. Mach 7 is seven times the speed of sound which equals about 5400 miles per hour. That's pretty fast. The Flash and Supergirl are trying to stop the rotation of Earth. At Earth's equator, Earth is moving about 1000 miles per hour (movement due to rotation only). So the two numbers don't even match, not that matching would mean anything.

Second, stopping Earth's rotation? Okay, let's assume that's possible. It doesn't stop time. It simply stops Earth's rotation! Time continues on!

Third, let's ignore the first two problems. Why do The Flash and Supergirl have to move in opposite directions? Theoretically you could slow down Earth's rotation by applying a large enough force. Assuming your super powers allow you to apply this force, it is possible, but by moving in opposite directions, The Flash and Supergirl are working against each other! They'd have much more success stopping Earth's rotation by combining their powers and moving in the same direction!

Conclusion

I really enjoyed this year's crossover special, Elseworlds, despite the bad science of stopping Earth's rotation and stopping time. If you haven't seen these shows and you are a comic book character geek, you are missing out! Check them out now. Just remember it is okay to enjoy these shows and at the same time nit pick the bad science!

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen

It only took one Transformers movie for us to be addicted! As a family we loved the first Transformers movie and recently watched the second. Our goal is to watch all of them and then go to the theater to see the most recent Transformers movie, Bumblebee, which is currently out in theaters.

To be honest, there isn't all that much difference between the first and second Transformer movies. The cast is pretty much the same. The action is the same. The story line is a bit different, but not all that much. As I said in my post on the first Transformers movie, this is classic action porn, but as a family we love it! Please forgive us. LOL!

Optimus Prime. - Airman 1st Class John D. Strong II, USAF

Happy New Year!!! Welcome to 2019!!!

Happy New Year!!! I say something similar every year, but let 2019 be the year of science! Make it your resolution to inject more science in your life. Read more science books, blogs, news articles. Throw in a few science documentaries. Talk to your kids about science and give them opportunities to immerse themselves. Give them science books, science experiment kits, science movies for gifts. Take them to science museums or local talks on science. Take them to a local planetarium. Science surrounds us so make it your goal to be more aware of the science that's out there!!!