Did you ever test the safety of ozone based home air filters? One student’s science fair project was featured in Sierra magazine.
Her mother has asthma and used an ozone based home filter. She tested to see if her breathing improved after turning on the machine. Then she asked other people to come to her house, sit in the room with the filter for a period of time. The result were that all participants had more difficulty breathing after sitting in the room with the filtered machine.
See more on indoor ozone here.
Posted in 12th Grade Science Fair Projects | Comments Off
 Science Daily: Human-driven changes in the earth’s atmospheric composition are likely to alter plant diseases of the future. Researchers predict carbon dioxide will reach levels double those of the preindustrial era by the year 2050, complicating agriculture’s need to produce enough food for a rapidly growing population.
Credit of the image to the left goes to the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences.
Soybean plants growing in high carbon dioxide environments have denser canopies that can result in more disease problems. This seedling is showing signs of brown spot on its lower leaves. (
University of Illinois researchers are studying the impact of elevated carbon dioxide, elevated ozone and higher atmospheric temperatures on plant diseases that could challenge crops in these changing conditions.
So what brings to mind a science fair project that you can do that will influence your community to make shifts in the use of their cars, air conditioning and other pollutants?
Posted in earth science | Comments Off
 Did you know that at one time birds grew to enormous sizes? These frightening creatures lived millions of years ago while a few survived until the last millennium. Fossils of these birds have been found in Australia, France and Madagascar.
Who were these giant birds?
Terror birds, share the family name, Phorusrhacidae, were fearsome. Six million years ago these monster birds could actually fly, casting a shadow over the earth from their 23′ wingspan. They weighed up to 155 pounds, about the size of a Cresna plane.
Read about them in Science Illustrated
magazine, January / February 2010 issue.
Posted in Factoids | Comments Off
Scientist believe that the universe started as a “perfect” liquid when the Big Bang occurred.
What is the Big Bang? Cosmologists use the term Big Bang to refer to the idea that the universe was originally extremely hot and dense at some finite time in the past and has since cooled by expanding to the present diluted state and continues to expand today. Wikipedia.
What brought on the liquid theory is that in 2004 scientist smashed gold ions into each other at nearly the speed of light. To their surprise the gold turned into liquid.
Posted in earth science | Comments Off
 Did you know that pur calcium is a silver-gray metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife? It burns with an intense red flame, and when in powered form it reacts violently with water to release free hydrogen.
Although one of the most common elements on Earth, it is never found in its pure form in nature because it reacts so readily with oxygen and water. It combines with other elements to form such key minerals and rocks such as chalk, gypsum, limestone and marble.
Another secret of calcium is that each adult human body contains more than 2# of calcium. Out of the two pounds – teeth and bones contail more than 99%. Calcium is also important in the functioning of nerves and muscles.
Posted in chemistry | Comments Off
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