Science Week 40: Two Engineering Fields

MATERIALS ENGINEERING What it is Materials engineering involves the study and application of different materials' properties and how they can be used for engineering. Education To be a materials engineer, you need to have a solid understanding of algebra, trigonometry, calculus, biology, chemistry, physics, and computer programming. You should be a good writer, able to …

Science Week 38: Encryption

Ciphers have been around for almost 2500 years. They've been used by ancient greeks, by Caesar, in the US civil war, and extensively in the world wars. There are many types of ciphers out there. The Caesar shift is one of the simplest ones out there. First, the sender and receiver determine a shift number, …

Science Week 33: Java

Java is a popular computer programming language that was released in early 1996. People like it because it's fairly easy to use compared to other languages, and programmers don't have to re-write their program for every type of operating system out there. From my experience, Java is a great first coding language. It was fairly …

Science Week 31: The CPU

Have you ever wondered how computers can make such complex calculations? In what's known as the central processing unit (CPU), many mini calculations are constantly being done in order to calculate more complex problems. It's kind of like the way we solve algebraic equations: x = 2x - 3 0 = x - 3 x …

Science Week 23: Black Holes

Black holes are strange and powerful objects with odd properties that can boggle the mind. We've all probably heard about them, and know that they form when a large star collapses, but what actually is a black hole? For a star to collapse into a black hole, its core must be 2.8 times larger than …

Science Week 22: Counting the Innumerable Stars

Have you ever tried counting the stars? I'm sure all of us have at least started at one point or another. On a clear night, someone with good vision can see about 3000 stars (without a magnifying device). After the invention of telescopes, however, trillions upon trillions of previously unknown stars were discovered. The total …

Science Week 19: Astronomy Introduction

This was the first week of astronomy in this class. The first lesson was more of a welcome and overview of the astronomy section, but after this, we got right into the class. In the second lesson, we looked at various astronomy tools. First of all, there are two main types of telescopes: refracting telescopes, …

Science Week 16: River Safety

Rivers possess both great fun and danger for anyone in or near them. Even the strongest of swimmers can get hurt if not careful. Deep, swift, and muddy rivers are especially dangerous, because the current is so strong and you can't see what's below or in front of you. However, there are a few things …

Science Week 15: Water Safety

As with almost everything, swimming can potentially be dangerous. Even if you know how to swim, there is still a small level of risk involved. But for those who don't know how to swim, the risk is even greater. That's why learning how to swim is so important, and you shouldn't be embarrassed if you …

Science Lesson 39/40: Getting the Right Medical Kit

Choosing the right first aid or medical kit to suit your needs can be a challenge sometimes. While the biggest problem is that most of them don't have enough gauze included, others will occur. Other than containing enough of the actual medical supplies, kits must be efficient. They must have as much as possible packed …