Whoa! It has been a crazy week! It feels like our field trip on Tuesday was weeks ago rather than days ago. Now that the science fair has happened, and you all performed wonderfully, I have time to reflect on our lovely trip. I would like to again thank Layla's mom and Mahnoor's uncle for helping us drive so that the field trip could happen!
I have to say that I even enjoyed driving back and forth to the museum. The 5th and 6th grade boys rode in my car and it was amusing to hear you guys discussing your video games with so much enthusiasm . When we got to the museum we found seats in a big spacious classroom that had experiments set up on tables around the outside of the room. Of course, all the girls sat at one table and al the boys sat at another (I sat at the girls table). Our educator was very enthusiastic and had been a teacher for a very long time before she started working at the museum. She introduced us to the concept of nanotechnology by giving us a quiz about what types of nanotechnology had already been developed. Its amazing how much nanotechnology is already being used! Next, we worked on getting a handle on how small a nano really is by measuring our hands in nanometers and then trying to cut a piece of paper as thin as a nanometer (imposible!).
Next we learned that a lot of nonotechnology is constructed out of carbon molecules, in which the carbon atoms come together in hexagons that for little spheres that look like a soccer ball. To help us understand this shape, we folded up a buckey ball. Buckey was the name of the scientist that discovered the structure of this special carbon molecule.
After building these models of carbon molecules, we learned that it is very, very hard to see nano particles. In order to see them, an electron scanning microscope is needed. Instead of looking at nano particles, scientists "feel" them by using special instruments. We modeled this idea by pulling a "nano probe" over a magnet and feeling the bumps. The little bumps represented nano particles and showed us how scientist's feel nano particles.
When the carbon buckey balls are put together to make a tube, they are incredibly strong. To model this concept, we did an experiement with stacking pennies on post-its between two small paper cups. First, the post-its were laid flat and students stacked as many pennies as they could on the paper. Then, the two post-its were rolled up into two small tubes and pennies were stacked on the two tubes. If you could get the balance right, the two tubes were much stronger than the flat pieces of paper.
Then we learned about the importance of surface area by place an alka seltzer tab in water with food coloring and a crushed alka seltzer tab in water with food coloring. The crushed tablet fizzed fatser and for less time because more of the tablet was exposed to the water at once. This is important in so many biological and chemical applications. Surface area is why cells are small!
We also learned about nano technology is sunscreen. Nano particles allow sunscreen to be clear instead of white like the lifeguards in movies with white noses. Inorder to see the effects of sunscreen with nano particles, the girls made bracelets out of UV beans and coated some of the UV beads with sunscreen before heading outside. The beads without sunscreen turned pink, blue, and purple, while the beads with sunscreen stayed white.
Meanwhile, the boys got a handle on how hard it is to pick up nano particles, move them around, and put them together. Two teams were made and one team member would choose lego blocks to hand the builder. The builder wore large oven mitts and had to construct a house of a certain shape and size. It was a lot harder than they thought it would be, but eventually there was success. This showed that it is difficult to work with small materials when you are big, but that it is possible.
After this competition, we moved out into the museum and had our guided tour. We first learned about all the positive uses of radioactivity in medecine. I now know why radiation kills cancer cells, but not regular cells; it targets fast growing cells. This is why it also affects hair follicles and the digestive tract! We observed uses of radiation in everyday life throughout the last century, before people learned that radiation could be harmful to your health. Then we learned about the creation of the atomic bomb, how radioactive material is mined and purified. We learned about the bombs dropped in world war 2 and about the sentiments behind the cold war. We saw fall-out shelters and examples of reading material people had during that time. Next we saw how much nuclear bombs have changed over the years and looked at examples of modern nuclear warheads.
The tour ended outside with all the bombers and missiles that have been retired from use. It was a beautiful day and everybody enjoyed the fresh air. We ran around the yard and looked inside all the airplanes. Next, we headed back inside and played in the Einstein lab. Some of use tried to build up enough air pressure to shoot a ball all the way to the ceiling to ride a stationary bicycle fast enough to power a television.
We ended our trip by trying to build a nanotube out of carbon molecule building blocks. The teacher told us that non of the visiting classes ever finished the tube, but our tour guide told us that he had finished it. It ended up being a lot harder than it looked. We didn't finish the tube, but we did get it to reach almost over our heads when we communicated and cooperated. Next time we will get it all the way to seven feet tall!
Thank you again for such a wonderful day of learning and playing! I can not wait for our next trip together! :)
