This Blog's History: Raw Water

In case you missed it last time, for This Friday in this Blog's History, I point you back to the post I wrote last month on the raw water fad that seems to be seeping through all woo-ish lifestyles.  Raw water is untreated water.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  Since it is untreated, there's no reason that you should EVER drink it.  Sigh.

Misconceptions that Kill #10: Raw Water

The Colored Carnation Experiment

As part of a Girl Scouts project my 11 year old setup a science experiment to see if she could turn white carnations into colored carnations.  The idea is very simple.  Take white carnations and split the stems in half very carefully with a knife.  Once split, place each end of the stem in a different glass of water, side by side.  Put food coloring (different colors) in each glass as shown below.

Carnations in colored water.

This image was taken minutes after putting the stems in colored water so the flowers are still white.  They are expected to slowly change color over a period of three to four days so we are now in waiting mode.  In a few days I'll post on image to show how they changed...or if they changed.  I assume they'll change based on what others have said, but we shall see what our experiment shows. 

The Halfling's Gem - Book Review

I recently finished reading The Halfing's Gem which is one of many books taking place in the Forgotten Realms universe.  This universe was created by author R.A. Salvatore and is part of the core series of books that include the drow elf, Drizzt Do'Urden.

The Halfling's Gem

Similar to the Dragonlance universe, I really enjoy the books in the Forgotten Realms universe.  Salvatore has done a magnificent job creating a new world filled with elves, drow elves, spider queens, barbarians, drawves, and wizards, to name just a few of the types of characters.  These books are often quick reads but provide a great escape from the day to day problems of the real world.  Books of these types are great for a 20-30 minute read before bed to end the day.  

If you have a science fiction/fantasy fan in your house, I recommend any of the Drizzt Do'Urden books by R.A. Salvatore. 

Misconceptions that Kill #11: An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

We've probably all heard the saying that an apple a day keeps the doctor away.  Eat that apple every day and you'll never need to visit the doctor.  Um...not really.  Eat an apple a day, that's fine.  Apples are delicious and they are a fruit.  I eat apples quite often, but I still get my flu shot every year and I still visit my doctor each year for an annual physical.  Eating a healthy diet high on fruits and vegetables can lead to a healthy lifestyle but it doesn't mean you won't get sick.  It's still important to listen to your body and see the doctor when something doesn't seem right.

Mmm...apples!

There are probably very few people who avoid the doctor because they eat an apple a day.  However, many people believe in many ridiculous misconceptions and many of these misconceptions are harmful and deadly to one's health.  Thus it wouldn't surprise me if there are a few people out there who eat an apple each day and use this as justification to avoid visiting the doctor.  Or more likely, people who eat a very unhealthy diet, but add an apple each day believing the apple itself will save their health. 

Math Bowl Competition

Last year as a fourth grader my 11 year old daughter tried out for the school's math bowl team but didn't quite make the cut.  She tried out again this year as a fifth grade and did make the team!  Practices took place for about 6 weeks and then came the day of the math bowl competition against several other teams.  I didn't really know what to expect for questions, but when the questions started popping up I was impressed by the ability of these 10 and 11 year olds.  I have a Ph.D. in Astrophysics so I didn't find the questions tough for me, but there were several questions requiring the use of algebraic equations.  There were a few that I admit, not having pencil and paper, I wasn't able to do in my head!  Yet many of the teams present answered the questions correctly! 

Cars and algebra!

There was the classic problem of one car leaving Town A traveling at x mph and another car leaves Town B and y mph, at what time do the two cars pass each other on the road?  LOL!  It takes a bit of algebra do to this, but these 4th and 5th graders did it.

I was very pleased to see a large number, maybe even the majority, of girls participating.  Math and science still have a male to female ratio problem and that will only change with the continued encouragement of girls in math and science.  My daughter loved math bowl this year and looks forward to trying out again next year.  Encourage your child, regardless of gender, to try out for the math bowl team at your school. 

This Blog's History: Science Fair 2018 Results

In case you missed it the first time, for This Friday in This Blog's History I point you back to the post I wrote on my daughter's science fair results this year.  She finished first at the school level and third at the regional level.  But most importantly, she had a lot of fun and learned something.  For the details on her project, click the link below.

Science Fair 2018 Results

Dinosaur-Sized Paper Chain

My 7 year old recently joined 4-H (technically Mini 4-H as a second grader) and the time has come for her to start her first project.  She chose to study dinosaurs, a great choice!  4-H provided a packet of activities and resources for learning about dinosaurs geared to her age.  One of the first activities is to do a hands-on demo to visualize how big a large dinosaur is.  She has to make a paper chain that is 50 feet long!  She's working on it at the table as I write this.  Here's what she has so far:

Current paper chain.

I held it up and it's about 4 feet in length, so only 46 feet to go.  LOL!  She's moving pretty quickly, so reaching 50 feet won't take all that long.  Plus it's a good activity to keep her busy inside the house since it's pouring rain outside!  When it's done we'll take it outside and it will be a great visualization of the length of a large dinosaur that lived over 65 million years ago!

Re-Organizing the Bookshelf

The past weekend I finally found some time to re-organize my bookshelf in the house.  It was overloaded and double stacked with books upon books.  I re-organized my clothes closet and cleared a bunch of space on a shelf in there to then move a bunch of books off the shelf in the picture below to make it look less messy in the common area in our house.

The re-organized bookshelf.

The bookshelf is now clean, organized, yet still full.  This is probably 1/3 of the books that were on it with the other 2/3 being moved to a shelf in my clothes closet.  What can I say?  I love books and I'm not getting rid of them, even after I've read them.  I may want to read them again and my kids may want to read some as they get older.  Oh, and this doesn't count the huge collection of e-books I own.  :-)  Life without reading is a life not lived!

Misconceptions that Kill #10: Drinking Too Much Water

Everyone needs at least 8 full glasses of water per day to remain healthy, right?  Turns out this is a myth.  There's no clear cut answer as to how much water one should drink.  It all depends on the person and what they are doing on any given day.  The amount of water one needs on a daily basis depends on how much one loses due to bodily functions.  Work out a lot on a hot day and sweat profusely?  You'll need more water to replenish your lost fluids than someone who didn't work out.  But there's no scientific evidence 8 glasses are needed.  Snopes.com does a great job explaining this here:

Eight Glasses of Water Per Day?

Why is this misconception deadly?  The misconception can be deadly if one drinks too much water in an effort to be healthy.  Drinking too much water can result in water intoxication in which sodium levels in your body drop and you develop hyponatremia.  When this happens, brain damage and death are possible.

Drinking too much water can be deadly.

So how much is too much water?  Death has occurred with as little as 2.5 gallons of water drank over a period of a few hours.  This is the equivalent of 40 glasses (8 ounces/glass).  This may seem like a lot, and it is, but it's not impossible to consume this.  Given the many horrible health fads out there, too many people are susceptible to the harmful ones, including the excessive drinking of water. 

To conclude, watch how much water you drink.  Too little or too much can be very harmful and even deadly.  There's no correct amount of water one can apply to everyone.  It all depends on how much water your body releases.  The basic rule of thumb is to drink water when you're thirsty and don't drink when you're not thirsty.  Do that and you should be fine.

Lazy Cat Monday

A few Monday's ago I took the afternoon off from work.  Well, not really off.  My kids had Presidents' Day off so instead of dragging them to work with me, I just took a half day, but I worked from home.  I wish I could have been as lazy as my cat, but alas, duty beckons!  Mid-afternoon our cat decided he wanted a closer look at what I was working on.

Newton checking out my work!

LOL!  He didn't stick around for long.  It was the afternoon and that's his sleep time, but for a few minutes, he was offering me his help!  :-)

This Blog's History: The Egg Drop Experiment

For This Friday in This Blog's History I'm taking you way back to 2012 to the first post egg drop experiment post I wrote.  The egg drop experiment is a common project in high school physics courses and one I've done each year when I teach physics.  It's a lot of fun to watch and students tend to have a lot of fun getting out of the classroom and applying the physics they've learned in a real-world example.  The post itself is the top viewed post on my blog with over 22,000 views!  So add a few more views to that total and check out the original post from 2012 below.

The Egg Drop Experiment

Astronaut Wendy Lawrence

Last month we had the great opportunity to see retired astronaut Wendy Lawrence speak live, and she did not let us down.  She spent about an hour discussing the different aspects of traveling to and working in space, as well as spending time discussing how she came to be an astronaut.  She pointed out several times how people around her, as she was training to be an astronaut, did not look like her.  What she meant by this is that everyone around her was a man.  There were very, very few women in her math, science, and engineering courses.  There were very few women in her naval academy class.  Her class was just the second class to allow women.  And in the astronaut training program she was one of just a very few women. 

Retired astronaut Wendy Lawrence

She offered great advice to those seeking to be an astronaut and those seeking to get involved in science.  The steps that it takes to reach your destination are often difficult and filled with obstacles.  To get through these obstacles you need to continue to work hard, but also talk to others and seek out friends you can confide in.  No one can do it alone.  She shared the story of her first calculus test at MIT and how she failed it and failed it badly.  It was a wake-up call for her and she sought out help from her professor.  This resonated with me as I failed my first classical mechanics test in graduate school.  I clearly remember the score of a 6/30 which was not even close to passing.  It was a wake-up call to me that if I wanted to succeed in grad school, much greater effort was needed on my part, in addition to seeking help from others.  In case your wondering, I did put in greater effort, scored a 26/30 on the second test and earned my Ph.D. in Astrophysics.  But it wasn't smooth sailing.  

I was so glad my wife and I had the opportunity to take our kids to hear Wendy Lawrence speak.  It was great to hear about her experiences in space, but even better to hear from her that everyone struggles.  No one is perfect and no one can do it alone.  Great advice!  She also took questions for another hour after her talk and not once seemed annoyed nor did she hurry any of the questions.  Many of the questions were from young children who struggled formulating their thoughts in front of a microphone.  She remained very patient and answered all questions fully.  A great public speaker!!!  

NASA astronauts speak all over the country.  You probably don't have to look far to find one speaking near you.  If you have the opportunity to attend, do so!  It will be a great experience for you and your kids!

Science Fair Season Recap

Science fair season is now over and my 10 year old had a great time.  For her project she chose to test glucose levels in various food items as a way of determining which foods have more sugar.  She used tap water as a control for low glucose levels and a glucose tablet as a control for high glucose levels.  She ran through three trials and in the end gained a much better understanding of which foods are higher in sugar.  In addition, through her background research she gained an understanding of why it is important to know how much sugar is in food.

My daughter's science fair poster.

She had a lot of fun with this project, and put in a lot of work.  Her efforts paid off when she earned first place in 5th grade at the school level, thus advancing her to the regional level.  At the regional level she earned third place.  The ribbons are great, but the important part of a science fair project is having fun with an investigation.  She had a lot of questions going in, answered some of them, and came up with new questions to test in the future.  That's what science is all about and science fairs are a great way to encourage kids to investigate a scientific problem and work toward a conclusion. 

Let Your Kids Make Slime!!!

I heard the craziest thing the other day.  It was so crazy, in fact, that I was sure I wasn't hearing it right.  Apparently there are some parents out there who don't let their kids make slime!  WHAT?!?!?!  Supposedly making slime is too messy and therefore some kids are told to not make it or stop making it because they are making too much of a mess.  BALDERDASH!  LOL!  I've been waiting to use that word! 

Book of slime.

I'm the Cool Science Dad and I'm telling you that you need to let your kids make slime!  Get them a book about making slime.  Buy them materials to make slime.  Encourage their slime making habits!  My two daughters love making slime and they specifically love trying out new types of slime.  Making slime is one big experiment that uses and hones those critical thinking skills.  Sure, it can make a mess, but a wet rag can quickly clean up that mess.  Don't let a mess stop your kids from experimenting.  Let them make slime!

Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

I just finished reading Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.  This is the second book in the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy.  I wrote a review on the first book that you can find below.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

I really love this series and the universe of fantasy characters Weis and Hickman have created.  It's truly a masterpiece of imagination, and books such as these help me escape the everyday worries of real life.  Nothing beats taking a few minutes each day to immerse myself in a world of dragons, elves, dwarves, and magic! 

Dragons of Winter Night

If fantasy is your reading genre, please check out Weis & Hickman.  I think you'll like what you read.

This Blog's History: Misconceptions that Kill #9: Natural Supplements are Better

In case you missed it last month, for This Friday in This Blog's History I point you to the ninth post in a series I'm writing on misconceptions that can kill you.  This one focuses on the misconception of natural supplements.  Natural does not mean better.  In fact, natural could be deadly.  Click the link below to read more.

Misconceptions that Kill #9: Natural Supplements are Better

Tallest Mountain in the World

Here's a good trivia question for your kids, or possibly one your kids may ask you.  What is the tallest mountain in the world.  Easy, right?  Obviously it's Mt. Everest in the Himalayan mountains which stands at just a few feet above 29,000 feet.  Nothing is taller than Mt. Everest, or is there?  Turns out there is!

Mt. Everest

The tallest mountain on Earth is Mauna Kea in Hawaii.  The difference is in how you define mountain.  If the definition of mountain is above sea level, then yes, Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain on Earth.  It is the highest point above sea level anywhere on Earth.  If you measure from the summit of the mountain, however, Mauna Kea blows Mt. Everest away.  Mauna Kea has a height of 13,800 feet above sea level, but it's summit is below sea level.  Measuring from the summit, Mauna Kea is just over 33,000 feet tall!  That's 4,000 feet taller than Mt. Everest!  That's not a small distance.

So let's not discriminate against those mountains that start below sea level.  Measure from the summit and Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world.

Mauna Kea

Peter Rabbit

We usually hit one movie per month in the theaters as a family and last month's movie was Peter Rabbit.  Peter Rabbit is the story of a rabbit who wears a blue coat and no pants and lives with his three sisters and cousin.  His parents are no longer alive and this plays a role in the story.  Peter Rabbit is a fun, feel good movie that has humor at both the level of kids and adults.

Peter Rabbit

I really enjoyed this movie.  And so did our kids.  It's a great family movie I highly recommend.  And if you like poo jokes, there are a couple of them in the movie.  LOL!  By now it might be out of the theaters, but check Redbox or Netflix in the future.  The voice of Peter Rabbit is James Corden and he does a great job in this role.  Perfect voice!

New Planets Outside Our Galaxy

Finding new planets outside our solar system is nothing new these days.  There are now 3,588 known exoplanets, as of February 1, 2018.  Very recently, astronomers discovered for the first time ever exoplanets outside our galaxy!  Obviously there are billions and billions of exoplanets in our galaxy and many more outside of our galaxy, but technological limits prevents us from seeing exoplanets outside our galaxy, until now.

Astrophysicists discover planets in extragalactic galaxies using microlensing

Wow!  Odds are low that any of these planets, including this one outside of our galaxy, harbors life, let alone intelligent life, but one of these days, one of the planets we discover will harbor life.  When that happens, I argue it will be the greatest discovery of all time.  Astronomy never ceases to amaze me!!!

Upcoming Trip to Iceland

This year my wife and I are taking our kids to Iceland for our family summer vacation.  My wife and I visited Iceland in 2014 without the kids and absolutely loved it!  Since that trip we've always had the goal of taking the kids to Iceland, but finally decided to do it this year.  Initially we weren't thinking about Iceland in 2018, but last year we found plane tickets for an extremely cheap price for an international flight and jumped at the opportunity!  I just looked the other day and the cheapest tickets are more than twice what we spent so I feel pretty good! 

Map of Iceland

In 2014 we stayed in Reykjavik and toured the south-west and southern part of Iceland.  We plan to spend part of our trip in this area this year.  In particular I want to take the kids to the glacier we visited in 2014.  Glaciers are disappearing all over the world due to climate change, and I want my kids to experience a glacier first hand.  This year may be the only opportunity in their life to do so.  

This year we are also heading up north which has me excited.  There's the possibility of crossing into the Arctic Circle, but this requires a boat trip of several hours and I'm not sure we'll do that.  It would be cool to say I've been to the Arctic Circle, but is it worth it to spend a full day of our vacation doing so?  I'm not sure.  

I'll be sure to post all the cool things we did and saw while in Iceland, but I'll leave you with this.  VISIT ICELAND!  It is an absolutely amazing place. Great people!  Delicious seafood!  Amazing scenery!  A great vacation destination and kid friendly!

This Blog's History: How Big is the Universe?

In case you missed it, I wrote a short blurb on the size of the Universe that I'll point back to for This Friday in This Blog's history. 

How Large is the Universe?

Misconceptions that Kill #10: Raw Water

It's hard to believe that it is 2018 and there is a raw water 'health' craze taking place.  Sigh.  Let's start with the basics of raw water.  As defined on Wikipedia:

"Raw water is natural water found in the environment that has not been treated and does not have any of its minerals, ions, particles, bacteria, or parasites removed. Raw water includes rainwater, ground water,water from infiltration wells, and water from bodies like lakes and rivers."

Raw water is nothing more than untreated water.  It is not healthy and can cause your body a great deal of harm.  Raw water is not healthier than treated water.  It is the exact opposite, but people are selling raw water at high prices do to its 'natural healing powers' for $50/gallon or higher.  And people are buying it!  

The other claim raw water proponents make is the healing powers are only good for one lunar cycle (one month).  They always use the term lunar cycle to sound more scientific.  It just means a month!  The water will start to change color after a week.  Of course it's not good!  It's not treated water!  

Drinking raw water is extremely expensive, but there is a high chance of causing great harm and possibly death to your body.  DON'T DRINK RAW WATER....unless you've had it tested.  Tap water from a well that has been tested to be safe is raw water and safe to drink.  But this is not what the raw water supporters are selling.