Friday, July 5, 2019

Counting Bees ~ book reviews return in August


Archimedes is taking the Month of July off to count bees. Want to join me? Head over to the Great Sunflower Project to see how you can get involved. Or maybe you'd rather get involved with Bumble Bee Watch.

And if you still need ideas for things to do, check out the list of summer activities to the right.

Wednesday Explorer's Club and Friday Book reviews will return in early August! So go, pack sandwiches, head outside, and have some fun.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Wednesday Explorers Club ~ Fireworks!

It all started with an experiment.
About a thousand years ago.
A Chinese monk stuffed gunpowder into a piece of bamboo and tossed it into the fire. He wanted to make a noise loud enough to scare away ghosts.

He did more than that; he inspired people to continue experimenting with noise and colors. That's why, when you head out to a fireworks display this week, you'll get more than a big bang. The designs and colors we see in the sky are a result of chemistry. Inside the fireworks are pellets of the sparkly stuff that burns in the sky. The pattern you see in the sky results from how those pellets are placed inside the firework. They may explode outward in shapes that look like fronds of a palm tree or a brittle star. Or they might snake across the sky. You can read more about patterns here.

The colors come from burning different metal salts: barium chloride for green, lithium carbonate for red, copper compounds for blue, and sodium - like the salt you shake onto your potatoes - for yellow. Here's a handy color chart.

Have fun and remember: it may look like a fireworks show but it's Science in the Sky!