Fun Science Activities

COOL MOON F ACTS We all know that the natural satellite "Luna" that hovers above us is the moon though it  disappears for some nights. Moon phases and the moon's orbit is a mystery for some of us. We all know that the natural satellite "Luna" that hovers above us is the moon though it  disappears for some nights. Moon phases and the moon's orbit is a mystery for some of us. Did you notice that we get to see the same face (one side) of the moon always. That is because it takes 27.3 days for both the moon to spin on its axis and orbit around the earth. It is in a synchronous rotation with the earth. Scientists believe that the moon's orbit is expanding over time as it slows down. For example, billion years ago, the Moon was much closer to the Earth  and took only 20 days to orbit the Earth. Also, one Earth 'day' was about 18 hours long (instead of our 24 hour day). The tides on Earth were also much stronger since the moon was clos...

You grow taller in Space, Did you know that? In space, far from the pull of gravity of planets, objects have no weight. This is known as weightlessness. People get a little taller in space because the discs in their backbones are no longer squashed down by the pressure of gravity and their backs stretch a little.  But, when they return back to earth they come back to their original height. For more information Check out HYPERLINK "http://www.space.com/19116-astronauts-taller-space-spines.html" http://www.space.com/19116-astronauts-taller-space-spines.html

Itchy mosquito bite "Ouch, That hurts" is what P said when she scratched her hand. I turned around to check what made her say that. Understanding why I was looking at her she said "Mom, that was a mosquito bite".  I told her that was not the Mosquito bite , but her body releasing a chemical called 'histamine' when a mosquito bites. Since, she continued to have the puzzled look I sat down with her to explain what was really happening. A female mosquito sticks her beak into your skin to suck blood. She uses the energy to produce eggs. After sucking the blood, she leaves the traces of her saliva on the wound. Most humans are allergic to this saliva and our body releases a chemical "histamine" which causes the skin to be itchy and red. The itch prompts us to scratch which helps to remove the top most layer of the dead skin cells and some of the irritating substances in that place. It is better not to scratch deeply, because that wi...

Me and my friend "R" came home from our trip to the art museum. It was a hot day, so I offered her a glass of juice  with a straw in it and poured myself  too. As we were drinking  the juice we remembered our childhood days of how we enjoyed drinking  milk, juice,water and anything we could drink with a straw.  During our conversation, she asked me "do you know how a straw works?" and the immediate reply I wanted to give was " I am sucking the juice up the straw". I paused for a minute and thought about it.  When I leave the straw sitting inside the glass, the juice fills up the straw up to the level of the juice outside of the straw. So, the atmospheric pressure is same inside the glass and the little bit of place inside the straw too. But, when I suck the air out of the straw, the pressure inside the straw decreases compared to the rest of the glass. And the high pressure outside of the straw pushes the juice up the straw and into my mouth. Ac...

Halley's comet belongs to the comet group which are  made of ice,rock and dusty substances which orbit around the solar system in an elliptical orbit. They are formed from the  outer layers of the Sun. During their orbital travel when they are closer to the Sun, we see their ice melting and forming a fuzzy like tail on the Sky. The heat from the Sun causes ice and other materials on a comet’s surface to heat up until they vaporize. That vapor is what is seen as the comets tail. Vesta the brightest  asteroid belongs to the asteroid group that are made of metal, rocky substances. They orbit around the sun in small circular orbit closer to the sun . There are tens and thousands of them as an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.  Since they are made of dark metal they are dark in colour. There are only 3,572 known comets, but there are many millions of asteroids. Some as small as dust particles.