Kids Science Newsletter #6
Solar Tsunami

This Kids Science Newsletter includes a question of the month, current science events, science trivia and a simple science experiment.

Question of the Month
How many bones were in your body when you are born?
(answer follows the simple science experiment)

Science Current Events

Solar Tsunami

The Sun had a series of violent events that sent a large solar flare and a burst of charged particles to Earth on August 1st. The events on the Sun created displays of the aurora borealis and aurora australis when they reached Earth's magnetic field. Beautiful displays were seen by many people as far south as Michigan.

Silver Foxes are Battling Plague of Rats

Rats have been damaging vast areas of grasslands in a western province of China. Three hundred foxes have been released into the wild to combat the rats. The Chinese said that a single fox can catch about 20 rats per day. After the foxes were released in one area the rat population dropped over 70 percent.

Cape Town Apes

A troop of apes in Cape Town South Africa are vandalizing visitors cars when they leave them unlocked. The apes have learned to listen to the sound of cars being locked by remote control. If they don't hear the sound they open the car doors when the visitors leave grabbing cameras, food and other valuables.

Science Trivia

• A moon day is 27 Earth days. It reaches 216 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and minus 279 degrees Fahrenheit at night.
• Scientists do not know the real color of dinosaurs.
• The Amazon rainforest produces more than 20% of the world's oxygen supply.
• Bulls are colorblind so they do not see the red on a bull fighter's cape. Instead they charge at the movement of the cape.
• Every second your eyes process more than 12 million bits of information.
• You burn about 11 calories per hour when you chew gum.
• Hot water weighs less than cold water because the molecules are spaced further apart.
• Fleas can jump 100 times their height. If we could jump as high as fleas we could jump to the top of a 34 story building.

from a coat hanger to your ears.

Materials

• 2 Paper drinking cups
• String (24 inches long)
• 2 Paper clips
• Metal coat hanger
• Metal fork
• Ball point pen)

Directions

1. Punch a hole in each cup with a pencil.
2. Push one end of the string through the bottom of the cup.
3. Tie the end of the string to the paper clip so it will not slip back through the hole.
4. Repeat this procedure with the other cup.
5. Place the two cups over your ears and lean forward slightly.
6. Put a coat hanger on the string so it swings freely.
7. Have someone tap the coat hanger with the fork while you are holding the cups to your ears.
8. Repeat the above step using a ball point pen.

Science behind the experiment
Sound waves can travel through solids, liquids and gases. To hear the sound waves in this experiment the waves traveled through solids (coat hanger, string), gases (air) and liquids (in your ear).

Answer to the question of the month
You had 275 bones in your body when you were born. As a person grows older some of the bones in your body fuse together so adults have only 206 bones.

Easy Science Experiments
Science Activites
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Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this Kids Science Newsletter and tell me what you think!

Sincerely yours,
Myrna Martin