Re-reading a post from last term on diffusion and smell inevitably made me think about flatulence. Flatulence is the polite word for farting. Apart from Her Late Majesty the Queen, everybody suffers from flatulence from time to time. Flatus (a Latin word I believe) refers to gases produced in the gut although a hefty proportion …
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Gold Part Two…
[This is follow up to Gold Part One.] A pupil asked… Will the earth naturally produce more gold for us to extract? How long will this take? How long is the half-life of gold and what does it decompose into? Would it be possible to industrially produce gold from different atoms? A. Pupil Esq. When …
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Nuclear Fusion…
At a laboratory in California, in what is called the National Ignition Facility, is the largest collection of giant lasers in the world. Their aim is to produce sustainable nuclear fusion similar to that happening in the Sun. The nuclear power stations we currently have split large atoms (such as Uranium) in a process called …
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Eliomys quercinus…
As I sipped my coffee this morning, I watched a mother garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus) attempting to carry one of her young up to her nest in the eves of my house. She wedged herself between the wall and a drain pipe and scrambled upwards with the pup squeaking loudly.It had rained over night and the …
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Words, Words, Words (Phys. Ed.)…
Some physics words with links to relevant Twig World videos. You will need to be logged into your Twig World account to be able to view the videos but you only need to log in once then you should be fine. Force – a force is a push or a pull gravity/weight – the force …
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Words, Words, Words (Chem. Ed.)…
I thought it might be good to have a page with definitions for some commonly used words in science. This post will be largely chemistry based; I have done biology and physics versions too. I apologise in advance if it is too simple for you – just make sure that you really do understand each …
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Words, Words, Words (Bio. Ed.)…
More definitions and links to Twig Prep videos as a companion to Words (Chem. Ed.) Respiration – whilst dictionaries and encyclopaedia will define this as ‘supplying the cells with oxygen’ we always use it in the sense of “the process within all living cells that releases energy from food molecules (usually glucose)” aerobic – aerobic …
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Food Groups…
Apologies – this has ended up being a long read. Don’t feel you have to do it all in one. I will post separate pieces on much of this in the future. This might be a useful page to refer back to in the future. Graphics like this annoy me slightly. The information is good …
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Raindrops Keep Falling…
In the rain, is it better to walk or run if you want to get the least wet possible? This is such an obvious sounding question. Surely you need to run to spend as little time in the rain as possible? It is not quite that simple although most physicists do agree that if it …
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Osmosis…
One of my favourite SF classroom moments was when discussing density. I said that osmium was the densest metal, and therefore the densest material that one would be likely to meet on Earth, at 22.59 g/cm3 (with iridium as a close second on 22.56 g/cm3). A voice chimed up from the front asking whether osmium …
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