What is #41: Hydrogen?

Today I'm moving away from moons in the Solar System for a little while. I figure you've had your fill of Solar System moons over the past few weeks in this series. Moons are cool, but so are many other objects in space! Today I look at hydrogen. What is hydrogen?

Bohr_model_Hydrogen.JPG: Renjishino1derivative work: Asiela / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

Hydrogen is the most basic element in the Universe consisting of one proton. If the atom is neutrally charged, it also has one electron. Under certain conditions, the electron can be stripped. It's still hydrogen, but the atom is ionized. Hydrogen can also have one neutron. It's still hydrogen, but we call it deuterium.

Why do astronomers care about hydrogen? Astronomers care about hydrogen because it makes up 90% of matter (by number) in the Universe. By mass, the percentage is about 75%. Helium comes in second. To understand our Universe, we must look at hydrogen! Stars are primarily made up of hydrogen. The space between stars is primarily hydrogen. Stars form out of dense molecular hydrogen clouds. When stars expel their gas back out into space, it starts out as ionized hydrogen. Hydrogen is simply everywhere!

Hydrogen will always hold a special place in my heart. I spent five years as a doctoral student studying neutral hydrogen in our galaxy and wrote this 200-page book, earning my Ph.D. I may be the only one who ever reads that book! It's some great bedtime reading if you are suffering insomnia.

Anyway, hydrogen is everywhere, so it's important for us to know what it is and understand how it works in space. If we ignore hydrogen, our understanding of the cosmos is severely lacking!

The Spine of the World - Book Review

With COVID-19 stay at home orders in place since mid-March for much of the country, I've had more time to read. Currently, I'm 6 books ahead of pace to reach my reading goal of 45 books read in 2020. My latest read was The Spine of the World by R.A. Salvatore. This is the 12th book in the Drizzt series, although this book has very little to do with Drizzt, the dark elf. This story focuses on the inner turmoil of Wulgar, the barbarian who was held captive, thought dead by his friends and tortured endlessly by a demon. Upon Wulgar's freedom, he struggled to return to normal life and left his friends to go out on his own.

I enjoyed the book as I do pretty much any fantasy book, but I have to say this book was not as good as the others in the series. The first half of the book moves pretty slow and there's a lot of predictability to it. Predictability isn't always bad, but the slow movement of the story was a bit of a struggle to read. The book picks up in the latter half and raises my overall ranking of it. I'm still glad I read it and I think it's worth the read if you are reading the series. Don't skip it, but don't expect it to be one of the better books in the series. In my opinion it ranks near the bottom, if not the bottom of the 12 books thus far.

Dancing Sprinkles!

A couple of weeks ago my fourth-grader had a science experiment to do for one of her e-learning classes. Like most of the nation, we are working and schooling from home right now. For this experiment (really a demo) she needed to make sprinkles dance. We grabbed a bowl, covered it tightly with a clear, plastic wrap, as shown below. Then you need a speaker and some sprinkles. We grabbed my other daughter's karaoke machine for a speaker.

Then we turned on some music, cranked up the volume, and placed the pull right next to the speaker. Then we had dancing sprinkles!!!

Energy from the sound waves is transferred to the clear plastic wrap. As long as the sprinkles are light in weight, the vibrations in the plastic wrap will cause the sprinkles to jump! Notice how the smaller sprinkles move more than the larger sprinkles.

A fun little experiment to fill a bit of time at home.

Bumblebee - Movie Review

A couple of years ago we starting watching the Transformers movies during our family movie nights. All of the Transformer movies are basically the same. They are about two hours of non-stop, unrealistic action, but for some reason, we are all drawn to them. Are they great movies? No. Are they enjoyable? You bet!

We finally got around to watching the 6th movie in the series, Bumblee, which takes place just before the timeline of the first Transformers meeting. It was just like the first five. Action, action, action, action, action, action, action, and then a conclusion. LOL! I've said this in my posts on the other Transformer movies, but once you've seen one, you've seen them all. Of course, that doesn't mean you shouldn't watch them all, just don't expect them to be revolutionary in any way.

Will there be a 7th Transformers movie? Originally there were plans for one, but these were pulled in 2019. So right now the series is on hold. If the series is re-booted, will I be thrilled? No. But will I be disappointed? Also, no. Will I watch it? Yep, just not in the theater. We'll wait until it's released on DVD.

To conclude, Bumblee was another Transformers movie filled with lots of unrealistic action. :-)

This Blog's History: 12 AM vs. 12 PM

In case you missed it earlier, for This Friday in This Blog's History, I point you back to the post I wrote about a huge pet peeve of mine, which is confusing 12 AM and 12 PM.

I don't know why this irritates me so much, but it does. LOL! For more of my ranting on this subject, read the original post, linked below.

12 AM vs. 12 PM

What Is #40: Atlas?

Today marks the 40th post in this 'What Is' series and today I have another moon for you. There are so many cool moons in the Solar System that it would be a travesty to leave out one of them! Today's cool moon is Atlas.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute / Public domain

Take a look at that moon! It's stereotypical UFO-shaped with a bulge in the middle and a thinner disk on the edges. Now that's cool! This moon is not spherical because it is not large enough for gravitational forces to shape it into a sphere over time. This moon was discovered in 1980 by the Voyager spacecraft and is less than 10 miles in radius. We certainly wouldn't want this thing smashing into Earth, but at less than 10 miles in radius, it is a small moon. If it were to crash into Earth, however, that would be a certain extinction-level event. But no worries, this moon orbits around Saturn so there is no possibility of it ever striking Earth.

But it sure is cool looking! No aliens though. Trust me, there are no aliens living on this moon. Don't even ask the questions! :-)

HEATED Podcast

Let me start by saying that if you haven't subscribed to the HEATED newsletter by Emily Atkin (@emorwee), then you definitely need to. I wrote about this newsletter a few months ago. An excellent newsletter on climate change and one I look forward to reading in my inbox multiple times a week. Atkin does a fantastic job informing her readers!

Atkin is now doing a 6-part podcast series on climate change that recently released. You can check those podcasts out here:

HEATED Podcast

You do not want to miss this podcast series! A podcast devoted entirely to climate change?!?!?! Yes, please!

Social Distancing with Newton (Our Cat)

With work at home orders continuing through at least the month of April, here's another picture of our cat, this time doing his best to social distance from us.

Or should I say, doing his best to AVOID social distancing. LOL!

Sheltering at Home with a Cat

These pictures are from a few weeks ago near the end of March just after the shelter in place orders from COVID-19 started coming in from many states. On a family movie night evening, while resting on the couch, our cat, Newton, decided to come cuddle with me.

Yep, he's loving this. :-)

This Blog's History: Particluarly Dangerous Situation Podcast

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 a very cool podcast titled "Particularly Dangerous Situation". A fun podcast in which each episode looks at a particularly dangerous situation. Very informative!

Particular Dangerous Situation Podcast

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms - Book Review

About 1-2 years ago I took a look at my physical bookshelf at home and my kindle book library and realized there were very few books by black authors in these libraries and I vowed to change that. In the genre of fantasy, I recently started a new series titled the "Inheritance Trilogy" by N.K. Jemisin. The first book in the series is titled "The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms" and it is a fantastic book!

The main character of the book, Yeine, is named heiress to the king of the land, but not in the way you think. This did not mean she was next in line to take over the throne. Far from it. I won't give anything else away. I've read many, many fantasy books and series and the story is truly unique. Far different from anything else I've read and very enjoyable. It's rare for me to quit reading a series, even if it isn't so great, but I am eager to start the second book in the series. So eager in fact, that I might change my current reading schedule to fit this in sooner!

N.K. Jemisin has written several fantasy books, which you can check out here.

N.K. Jemisin - Book List

So many great sounding books she has authored! I think I've found my next favorite fantasy author!

Number the Stars - Book Review

A couple of weeks ago, during my kids' first week home of e-learning for the remainder of the semester due to COVID-19, my youngest had an assignment to do on the book Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. The book was at school so we downloaded it from the local public library (public libraries are amazing and crucial to all communities) and used it for her assignment. I went ahead and read it that afternoon. A powerful book about the rise of Nazi Germany and the invasion of Germany into Denmark.

The story itself is fiction but takes the real events of the time into account. It describes the story of a non-Jewish family that helps Jews escape into neighboring Sweden. This book is a great tool to introduce elementary school children to World War II, Nazi Germany, discrimination against Jews, and the ways in which many people risked their lives to help others in need.

If you are an adult reading this post, I highly encourage you to read this book. Read it with your kids if they are reading it in school. Talk with your kids about the book and their thoughts after reading it. There's much quality discussion to be had from reading this book together.

Betrayal at House on the Hill - Board Game

This past Christmas I received Betrayal at House on the Hill, a strategy based board game, for a gift. We finally had a chance to play it, along with many other board games, in late March when we were all sheltered in place at home due to the spread of COVID-19. It was a pretty cool and entertaining game that required the use of strong critical thinking skills.

The game starts with all players playing the role of explorers with the goal of exploring the house, picking up items, and gaining strength. At some point in the game, the haunt begins and one of the players is turned traitor. The traitor tries to defeat the other heroes and the heroes try to defeat the traitor. Each game is different and each haunt is different so no playing experience is the same as any of the other playing experiences. Some games include monsters while others do not.

I ended up the traitor in the first game we played and I was a very successful traitor, defeating the three heroes. Evil won this game. LOL! A great game to kill some time while sheltering in place waiting for the spread of COVID-19 to stop. 

What is #40: Iapetus?

Yep, another moon for this edition of "What Is?". :-) The name of this moon is Iapetus, a moon orbiting Saturn.

NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute / Public domain

Iapetus is a big moon, although not one that is as well known as the other big moons. It is the 3rd largest moon orbiting Saturn and the 11th largest moon in all of the Solar System. In the image above you can see it pot-marked with craters, meaning it has been impacted many times, including a very large crater in the bottom half of the image.

An interesting feature on this moon is that one hemisphere is bright and the other is dark. This was known when the moon was first discovered in by Cassini in the late 1600s, but at the time it was not known what caused this difference. The Cassini spacecraft discovered the reason in 2008. This moon is tidally locked, so its same side always faces Saturn. Therefore the same side of the moon is always leading the way as it orbits Saturn. This side has swept up dark dust over many, many, years, depositing it on that side of the surface. Therefore one side is darker due to collected dust, and the other side is brighter. Pretty cool!

Guess what? You can probably expect another moon in the next issue of this series! :-)

This Blog's History: Betelgeuse Dimming

In case you missed it last time, for This Friday in This Blog's History I point you back to the post I wrote on the very cool science topic of Betelgeuse's dimming. Really interesting science that gives us more clues on this super red giant star!

Betelgeuse Dimming

Some Astronomy Humor in Difficult Times

COVID-19 (coronavirus) has taken its toll on the world, both in health and in an economic downturn. We canceled our trip to Utah that was supposed to take place at the end of March over our daughters' Spring Break. Bummed, but also relieved to not have to worry about it. There's just too much uncertainty with increasingly rising numbers at the time. It was the right thing to do. Many of you probably did the same. Morale in the country is low right now, so here's a bit of a boost with some astronomy humor. :-)

Credit: XKCD Comics - https://xkcd.com/1947/

What is #39: Triton?

My focus in this series of late has been Solar System moons and that continues today with Triton, Neptune's largest moon. It is the 7th largest moon in the Solar System, but what makes it different is its retrograde motion. This means that Triton orbits in the opposite direction of most everything else in the Solar System. For example, if most objects are orbiting counter-clockwise around an object, Triton orbits clockwise.

Triton - NASA / Jet Propulsion Lab / U.S. Geological Survey / Public domain

Why is it orbiting in the opposite direction? It's possible a collision caused it to orbit in the opposite direction, or more likely, it is a captured object from the Kuiper Belt early in the formation of the Solar System. Regardless, it now orbits in retrograde.

There are other interesting things about Triton. It is one of the few moons in the Solar System to be geologically active. This was discovered when Voyager 2 flew by Neptune in 1989 and took images of Triton. Active geysers were discovered!

Trition is a pretty cool moon, but to be honest, they are all cool in their own way. They are all different and each difference helps us learn something new about the Solar System.

Life's Little Mysteries - Podcast

I found this very cool science podcast last week titled "Life's Little Mysteries". Each week the hosts, Mindy Weisberger and Jeanna Bryner, answer a science question. And that's all you need for a great science podcast! You can get more information on the podcast here:

Life's Little Mysteries

I know, your podcast list is full. But you should really add this one! Start listening to your podcasts at 1.5X speed. It will be a little weird at first, but I got used to it very quickly.

Our Daily Planet: Monica and Miro

If you are in need of some high-quality climate change news, look no further than the Our Daily Planet email newsletter by Monica Medina and Miro Korenha. You can sign up for the newsletter here:

Our Daily Planet

Each day you get an email filled with news reports on all types of topics related to climate change. There are articles on the ocean, air, agriculture, people, health, animals, and many, many more. Our Daily Planet is a great way to catch up on the most recent news on climate change. At times the news can be depressing, but Our Daily Planet also focuses on the positives and successes of battling climate change.

The newsletter is free, so there really is no reason not to sign up now!

This Blog's History: Augie and the Green Knight

For This Friday in This Blog's History, I point you back to a post I wrote about a fantastic kids book we read together as a family in 2015, titled Augie and the Green Knight. A book that deserves to be on every bookshelf in every home in the world!

Augie and the Green Knight

Our Cat Watching Me Work

I think cute cat photos brighten up everyone's day, even the days of those who are not cat lovers. So here's a couple of photos of our cat, Newton, watching me work the other day.

In this photo, he's trying to determine if I'm doing anything of interest.

And apparently, he decided he wasn't doing anything different because five minutes later he was fast asleep!

Hang in There

I was going to post a witty April Fools joke today but given the seriousness of coronavirus sweeping across the U.S. and affecting everyone, this is no time for a joke. Hang in there. Do what you need to do to relax and cope. It's okay if you are struggling and not finding the motivation to clean the house or work from home. But hang in there. We'll get through this and we'll get through it together as a society.