woodchurch science » engineering

james may 20th century…making glass and neon lights

woodchurchscience — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 10:58:38 +0000

play from the beginning to about 13.5min for skyscrapers and glass making and then from about 22.5min to about 27.5min for how to make neon lighting.

Watch James May's 20th Century Ep. 06 in Educational | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

journey through a jet engine…

woodchurchscience — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:47:59 +0000

[turn your speakers on!]…then click on this link from rolls-royce and take a journey through a rolls-royce trent jet engine (used on the a380 airbus). watch as the temperature and pressure increases as you pass through each segment of the engine.

honda fcx clarity – hydrogen powered car

woodchurchscience — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:27:41 +0000

here’s a clip from topgear with james may showing us the future of motoring – a hydrogen powered electric car. handy for when crude oil runs out…

smart materials

woodchurchscience — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:53:51 +0000

here’s a load of links about smart materials for c1a chemistry:
a nickel-based alloy that changes shape in response to a magnetic field is attracting interest and funding from some powerful sectors, including the U.S. military.
trick spoons bend when you stir hot coffee.
dental braces and orthodontic archwires: using memory metal causes less pain for patients, and increases the amount of time between needed visits.
nitinol faqs
car parts: shape memory actuators
all these and more can be found in this informative smart materials activity booklet

teenagers do not see science as route to good career

woodchurchscience — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:28:24 +0000

two-thirds of teenagers do not believe science qualifications would help them to have rewarding careers. a poll of 1,000 16- to 18-year-olds found that just over a quarter (28%) saw the sciences as relevant. the study said that students were unaware of the range of career options – including in sectors such as fashion and sport – that studying sciences could open up for them.
many young people have preconceived ideas about science subjects leading solely to laboratory jobs and wearing a white coat, it said. read more about the survey here

the science minister, lord paul drayson, said: “i want to shake this image problem that science has. “i’m sure teenagers would agree that lewis hamilton’s formula one race engineers have an exciting life. we need to make them realise it’s because of what they studied at school.”

soap ‘a’ sonic one day project

woodchurchscience — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 17:48:19 +0000

here is the reource material for 18.6.08 engineering fortnight one day project for year 8 form 8yn

this project is for the whole morning
you can choose as many as you wish
you could do all…or just one…but all must be done in one morning (there ‘might’ be some time later on but don’t bank on it). get it done by lunchtime.

use these links as part of your research
what is soap? google search
history of soapmaking google search
the story of port sunlight google search
william lever and lever brothers google search
pears soap google search
research into soap prices at local supermarkets tesco asda sainsburys
design a survey to find out about peoples tastes in personal care products.
design a new logo for ’soap ‘a’ sonic’
here’s the current one:

try to answer these questions: what is soap? look at the history of soapmaking, what is and how does ’saponification’ work, the story of port sunlight village, the life of william lever and lever brothers, the pears soap story, ivory ‘floating soap’, do some research into soap prices at local supermarkets, how are soap powders made? what’s the difference between ‘ariel’ and ‘persil’? what do proctor and gamble ltd do? how much do soap powders cost at local supermarkets?

lots to choose from…lots to do…now get cracking

intelligent bra battles bounce

woodchurchscience — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:39:26 +0000

australian researchers have designed a bra with sensors built into the fabric giving a more comfortable experience for women. exercising wearing a poorly-fitting bra can raise the risk of long-term injury. the findings, in the journal of biomechanics, may allow more accurate laboratory analysis of breast movement during exercise.
and who says physics is boring?

robot constructor game

woodchurchscience — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:11:46 +0000

your mission is to construct robots which can successfully collect precious golden cubes scattered about a variety of hostile zones. robots must be able to navigate their way around each zone to collect the gold cubes while at the same time avoiding hazards and making sure they’ve enough energy by periodically recharging or refuelling. play here at channel 4’s excellent science site. robot constructor.

budding robot engineers wanted

woodchurchscience — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 18:57:05 +0000

please contact mrs moulton if you want to get involved with this years robotics project. geoff (the robot) needs rebuilding!

nanotechnology faq

woodchurchscience — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 12:22:31 +0000

what is nanotechnology?
it’s a broad term used when referring to any science or technology that manipulates things at the atomic level, measured in nanometres. it comprises a diverse collection of fields, touching on biology, medicine, computing, materials, manufacturing, physics and many others.

what’s so good about nanotechnology?
the central theory of nanotechnology is that almost anything that doesn’t contradict the laws of physics can be built atom by atom by scientists. it was first introduced in 1959 by richard feynmann. a key understanding of nanotechnology is that it offers not just better products, but a vastly improved means of production. scientists believe that one day manufacturing will be as easy and cheap as copying computer files. that is why it is sometimes seen as the next industrial revolution.

how big is a nanometre?
a nanometre is one billionth of a metre. for example the width of a human hair is approximately 80,000 nanometres and human fingernails grow roughly one nanometre per second. a nanometre sized particle is also smaller than a living cell and can be seen only with the most powerful microscopes available today.

what is the difference between microtechnology and nanotechnology?
aside from the obvious difference in scale (nanoscale is one to three orders of magnitude smaller than the microscale), nanotechnology is based on the principles of quantum physics, which means different laws of physics apply in the nanoscale.

what is molecular nanotechnology?
it is the concept of building machines out of precisely designed molecules. most nanotech research occurs in this field,

what are the current uses of nanotechnology?
there are numerous products available to industry and consumers today which benefit from nanotechnology. most computer hard drives on the market today depend on nano-thin layers of magnetic materials to increase their storage capacity. nanomaterials are also used to produce anti-scratch surfaces and paints, protective and glare-reducing coatings for glasses and cars, several kinds of cosmetics and stain-free clothing.

how will nanotechnology affect our lives in the future?
the first major improvement will be in manufacturing techniques. due to the precision of working in the atomic scale manufacturers would have a better understanding of the building of things and greater flexibility in the types and quantities to build. consequently the cost of manufacturing would decrease significantly. in medicine the expected applications of nanotechnology are dramatic: machines would be able to travel through blood vessels, cleaning arteries or repairing damaged tissue from the inside. ‘nanobots’ could also be used as a helping hand against cancer cells or infections.

any other questions? please ask at the comments link.

fusion project green light

woodchurchscience — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 15:50:08 +0000

a british-led team of scientists has won eu approval to seek to make nuclear fusion, the physicist’s dream, a reality. nuclear fusion has the potential to solve the world’s energy crisis with carbon-neutral technology by harnessing the process that drives the sun. so far, decades of research have generated little more than hype. the energy needed to stoke the vast temperatures at which such reactions can occur still outweighs the energy they produce, and supposed breakthroughs such as “cold fusion” have turned out to be false dawns. physicists joke that they have been predicting the technology is “30 years away” for the past 30 years. read more here. to read how nuclear fusion works you could also visit this site.

y9 booster day 2007

woodchurchscience — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 09:08:32 +0000

36 pupils attended a full day of science sessions aimed at boosting sats levels from 4 to 5. many did datalogging for the first time, collecting temperature, light, dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide levels using pasport dataloggers. leaflets were handed out, copies of which are available here.

woodchurch robotics project

woodchurchscience — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:22:13 +0000

woodchurch were one of nine schools across the country, who were selected as winners for the rolls-royce science prize for the years 2006-2007, and that was out of over 300 applications. we were given an immediate grant of £5000, to get our project ‘up and running’. with that money, we bought a 18 servo robot, called geoff, all the necessary tools and equipment to help create our robot, a laptop especially for robotics and with £1,500 of the money, we paid for all supply covering costs. in june of 2007, we find out whether or not we have won an extra £15,000 to expand and develop our project further, and to help facilitate our future needs. also if we win, we will have a day out with the red arrows, and we will also have a trip to the rolls-royce major factory, where they develop air-craft engines. You can get more information about the project here. you can also meet the team in their own video clip.

we need a photo of geoff!!

flue gas desulphurisation

woodchurchscience — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:59:45 +0000

flue gas desulphursation systems are used to remove sulphur dioxide. “wet scrubbers” are the most widespread method and can be up to 99% effective. a mixture of limestone and water is sprayed over the flue gas and this mixture reacts with the SO2 to form gypsum (a calcium sulphate), which is removed and used in the construction industry.

testing steel for hardness…

woodchurchscience — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 19:11:01 +0000

…is apparently a complicated business. usually steel hardness is measured using the rockwell hardness test. this site tells you all about it. HRC is the one normally quoted for steel.

the great pyramids at giza

woodchurchscience — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 15:01:46 +0000

these ancient buildings are made of limestone. why do you think the egyptians needed to build pyramids if they wanted to build high buildings?

concrete and glass buildings

woodchurchscience — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 14:56:07 +0000

see how versatile limestone can be. all of these beautiful buildings have been made from concrete and glass, both products of limestone.

thermit reaction

woodchurchscience — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 14:52:33 +0000

this company (thermit welding) join railway lines together using the thermit process. a classic example of a displacement reaction in action. visit the link and see some photos of the equipment they use to join the tracks in-situ.

this link has a video of the thermit reaction made by some year 10 students from the thomas hardye school in dorchester

greenfuels and biodiesel

woodchurchscience — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:18:09 +0000

this site gives a printable explanation of the process of converting vegetable oil into biodiesel. the printout is not that easy to find so here’s the link

smart materials

woodchurchscience — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 19:41:39 +0000

if you are studying chemistry in year 10 then you will know that oil is not just for energy. you will learn that scientists are developing new plastics and so-called ’smart’ materials.

kettles that change colour and signs that glow-in-the-dark are two recent examples of products becoming ‘smarter’ as a result of new materials. colour-changing thermochromic pigments are now routinely made as inks for paper and fabrics – and incorporated into injection moulded plastics. a new type of phosphorescent pigment, capable of emitting light for up to 10 hours, has opened up entirely new design opportunities for instrumentation, low-level lighting systems etc. more examples can be found here, here for power boots, stunners and minority report stuff and here for more news on new materials.

back to the moon

woodchurchscience — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 13:12:11 +0000

[listen to this blog entry!]

nasa has selected lockheed martin as the prime contractor to design, develop, and build orion, america’s spacecraft for a new generation of explorers.

the orion crew capsule will carry astronauts back to the moon and later to mars. the first flight with astronauts aboard is planned for no later than 2014. orion’s first flight to the moon is planned for no later than 2020.
orion improves on the best features of the apollo project and the space shuttle program, increasing the likelihood of success. orion is being designed to fly to the moon, but could also be used to service the international space station in low-earth orbit. more information together with simulated video clips here

extracting perfumes and making soap

woodchurchscience — Wed, 21 Jun 2006 18:08:32 +0000

15 y9 pupils took part in a project to prepare perfumes. fragrances were extracted from rose petals, lavender, rosemary, mint, orange peel, cloves and stock by maceration and steam distillation. after break pupils then made simple soap from vegetable oil and caustic soda.

resources for this project can be found here:
teacher guide/technician guide/soap making instructions/pupil booklet

new world cup football

woodchurchscience — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 16:07:20 +0000

the new football that is being used for the first time in the world cup is likely to bamboozle goalkeepers at some stage of the tournament, a leading scientist has warned.

The adidas ‘teamgeist’ football has just 14 panels – with fewer seams – making its surface ‘smoother’ than conventional footballs which have a 26 or 32 panel hexagon-based pattern. this makes it aerodynamically closer to a baseball and, when hit with a slow spin, will make the ball less stable, giving it a more unpredictable trajectory in flight. “with a very low spin rate, which occasionally happens in football, the panel pattern can have a big influence on the trajectory of the ball and make it more unpredictable for a goalkeeper,” said dr ken bray, a sports scientist at the University of Bath and author of the new popular science book How to score – science and the beautiful game.

one-legged kiwi

woodchurchscience — Tue, 09 May 2006 10:38:54 +0000

seems that if you’re a one-legged kiwi then things can get difficult. not just hopping about on the hunt for food but for more, ahem, ‘intimate’ reasons: mating can be difficult if you’ve only got one leg to stand on! so scientists in new zealand have turned to movie magic and the people at weta (lord of the rings and king kong) to make a prosthetic leg for the bird. read more about it here and see some more pictures.

more about pinhole cameras

woodchurchscience — Sat, 06 May 2006 13:25:55 +0000

here’s a link that tells you how you can make your own working pinhole camera from a matchbox and a roll of 35mm film. i’ll definitely be having a go at this and i’ll post the results here.

corrosion – the statue of liberty

woodchurchscience — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 18:51:47 +0000

the galvanic reaction between iron and copper was originally solved by insulating copper from the iron framework using asbestos cloth soaked in shellac. however, the integrity and sealing property of this insulator broke down over the many years of exposure to high levels of humidity normal in a marine environment. the insulating barrier became a sponge that kept the salted water present as a conductive electrolyte, forming a crude electrochemical cell as volta had discovered a century earlier. now the joints between the iron frame and the copper skin are teflon coated.

metals lose weight!

woodchurchscience — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 18:29:39 +0000

a pioneering manufacturing process that can turn titanium, stainless steel and many other metals into a new breed of engineering components could have a big impact across industry. unlike normal solid-metal components, the new parts have a tiny lattice-like structure, similar to scaffolding but with poles twice the diameter of a human hair, making them ultra-light. the parts can comprise up to 70% air while remaining strong enough to perform correctly. the components could replace solid metal in automotive applications and many other fields of engineering. aircraft parts, for example, could be produced that are over 50% lighter than conventional alternatives. the reduction in aircraft weight would cut fuel requirements, bringing down the cost of air travel and reducing the emissions produced by the combustion of aviation fuels that are a major contributor to climate change. the world’s first commercial-scale system for the rapid manufacture of these new-generation metal components is now being developed by engineers at the university of liverpool, funded by the engineering and physical sciences research council (EPSRC).

nature’s strongest glue

woodchurchscience — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 15:59:55 +0000

yves brun and colleagues from indiana university discovered that the world’s strongest glue is produced by the bacterium caulobacter crescentus to stick to river rocks. the adhesive can withstand an enormous amount of stress, equal to the force felt by a 10 pence piece with more than three cars piled on top of it. That’s two to three times more force than the best retail glues can handle. “there are obvious applications since this adhesive works on wet surfaces, one possibility would be as a biodegradable surgical adhesive.” but making it has proved challenging. like a mess of chewing gum, the gunk globs to everything, including the tools used to create it. “we tried washing the glue off,” brun said. “but it didn’t work!”

caulobacter crescentus grabs solid objects with its stalk and holdfast. in the picture, two ’stalk’ cells (at the bottom) spawn mobile clones of themselves.

datalogging on y9 booster day

woodchurchscience — Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:03:33 +0000

24 pupils attended a full day of science sessions aimed at boosting sats levels from 4 to 5. many did datalogging for the first time, collecting temperature, light, dissolved oxygen and carbon dioxide levels using pasport dataloggers. leaflets were handed out, copies of which are available here.

crude oil formation animations

woodchurchscience — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:07:50 +0000

clip 1 dead animals fall to seabed, clip 2 plant/animal matter turns to rock, then oil, clip 3 oil rises through permeable rock, clip 4 drilling for oil