Help your classroom go green, literally, by adding some ozone-reducing plants.
We’ve been told for decades how plants and trees are great for taking carbon dioxide and turning it into oxygen. But new studies show that houseplants can help us in other ways – from decreasing ozone gas in indoor air to increasing student satisfaction.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University tested three common houseplants to see if they reduced ozone in the air. The plants were Snake Plant, Golden Pothos, and Spider Plant (a Golden Pothos and Spider Plant are shown on top of a file cabinet in the picture at right). Ozone is a gas that is the main part of smog, but it is also found indoors and can be released by copy machines, laser printers, ultraviolet lights, and other devices. And since most of us spend 80 to 90 percent of our time indoors, this form of air pollution can be a serious health risk. It can cause hemorrhage, inflammation, reduced lung function, and pulmonary edema.
The researchers tested the plants in chambers that simulated the indoors. They also tested empty chambers. Ozone was put into all chambers, which were checked every five to six minutes for ozone levels. All three plants equally reduced ozone better than the empty chambers.
And there are other reasons to bring some plants into the classroom or office. Past research has found that plants reduce eye irritation and stress, improve concentration, and are motivating. And now scientists at Texas A&M University have found a connection between plants and what college students think of their class and instructor.
The study included three sets of two classes – each set had one class with plants in the room and on class that did not. The same professor taught all the classes. When the classes ended and students were given a survey, students in classrooms with plants said they thought they learned better and that the instructor was more enthusiastic and organized than those in rooms without plants.
Ironically, there was no real difference in the students’ grades.
So adding some plants will clean the air and make students think better of teachers. But be careful of which plants you pick.
A study at the University of Georgia found some plants actually release volatile organic compounds, called VOCs, which are gases that can have negative health effects. The team studied four plants – Peace Lily, Snake Plant, Weeping Fig, and Areca Palm. In chambers that had purified air coming in, they tested the air coming out and found the plants released 12 to 23 VOCs in the air.
The researchers noted that 11 of the VOCs came from the plastic pots that the plants were in. And some VOCs were released by microorganisms in the soil and not by the plant.
Sources:
American Society for Horticultural Science
http://ashs.org/pressrelease/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1038:houseplants-cut-indoor-ozone&catid=2:horttechnolgy&Itemid=4
http://ashs.org/pressrelease/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1035:indoor-plants-found-to-release-volatile-organic-compounds&catid=1:hortscience&Itemid=3
Medical News Today
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/163007.php
The Straw Rocket activity always gets good reviews when we show it off it to educational conferences. Teachers like how quick and easy the rockets are to build as well as their many design and testing options: launch angle, nose cone mass, rocket length, fin shape, and more.
Students, of course, love how fun it is to launch a straw rocket across the classroom or gymnasium.
It seems that the San Antonio Elementary School in San Antonio, New Mexico, has discovered the fun and learning potential of the Straw Rocket activity – it was the grand finale of the school’s summer program. The El Defensor Chieftain described what a blast the students had with their rocketry experience: http://www.dchieftain.com/news/90353-07-18-09.html
Though the program’s staff members appreciated the math potential of straw rockets, it is also pretty impressive that students ranging in age from five to 14 years old worked together to build and launch the rockets.
Controversy concerning when dinosaurs became extinct is the current theme in dinosaur research.It has long been thought that the meteor impact at the Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) boundary in Mexico’s Yucatan state caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and many other species 65 million years ago. Now, two studies suggest that the impact didn’t cause the extinction.
Photo: At right is an artist’s image of the meteor impact. Courtesy of NASA.
A research team led by Gerta Keller of Princeton University and Theirry Adatte of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, dug up evidence at the meteor impact site that suggests it happened as much as 300,000 years before the dinosaurs became extinct.“We know that between four and nine meters of sediments were deposited at about two to three centimeters per thousand years after the impact,” Keller said. “The mass extinction level can be seen in the sediments above this interval.”Those that support the old theory say the impact and extinction appear far apart in the sediment because of earthquakes or tsunamis that they believe disturbed the sediment.“The problem with the tsunami interpretation,” Keller explained, “is that this sandstone complex was not deposited over hours or days by a tsunami. Deposition occurred over a very long time period.”According to their study, the sediment that separated the time of the impact and the time of the extinction were like normal sediment, with burrows formed by creatures that colonized on the ocean floor – and nothing to suggest a major disturbance.Another recent study – this time in the San Juan Basin in the United States – also suggests that dinosaurs survived the crater impact. Chemical investigations that date dinosaur bones found in New Mexico and Colorado – as well the age of the rocks in which the bones were found – indicate that dinosaurs survived the crater impact.“The great difficulty with this hypothesis – that these are the remains of dinosaurs that survived – is ruling out the possibility that the bones date from before the extinction,” said Jim Fassett, author of the research, which was published last week by Palaeontologia Electronica. “After being killed and deposited in sands and muds, it is possible for bones to be exhumed by rivers and then incorporated into younger rocks.”To rule this out, Fassett did several tests to conclude that the rocks are from after the meteor impact. He also found that the bones have different levels of “rare earth metal elements” compared to bones from before the meteor. Also, he found 34 bones from the same hadrosaur together – if the bones had been moved by a river, they wouldn’t have been kept together. However, not everyone will embrace this idea.“This is controversial conclusion, and many paleontologists will remain skeptical,” said David Polly, an editor for Palaeontologia Electronica.Sourceshttp://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/tpa-eot042709.phphttp://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=114648&org=OLPA&from=news
Tornado season is underway in the nation’s Midwest, and scientists are taking advantage of this time of year to better understand this dangerous form of weather. Phase 1 of VORTEX2 – or the Verification of Rotation in Tornadoes Experiment 2 – starts on May 10 and is supposed to be the largest and most ambitious study of tornadoes. The experiment, which is a follow-up to the first VORTEX experiment done in 1994 and 1995, will build on the previous experiment as well as improve tornado warnings and weather forecasts.The National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are working together on the project. “An important finding from the original VORTEX experiment was that the factors responsible for causing tornadoes happen on a smaller time and space scales than scientists had thought,” said Stephan Nelson, NSF program director for physical and dynamic meteorology. “New advances will allow for a more detailed sampling of a storm’s wind, temperature, and moisture environment and lead to a better understanding of why tornadoes form – and how they can be more accurately predicted.”With more than 50 scientists and 40 research vehicles, the team aims to sample the environment of supercell storms, which are the violent thunderstorms that cause damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes. The team will focus on South Dakota, western Iowa, eastern Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, the Texas panhandle, and western Oklahoma.Phase 2 of VORTEX2 will start in the spring of 2010.Extra-terrestrial Tornadoes?Another type of tornadoes is attracting attention from scientists: space tornadoes. But the ones in space are very different than Earth-bound tornadoes.THEMIS, or Time History of Events and Macroscale Interaction during Substorms, is a group of probes that recorded the size and power of these electrical funnels as the probes passed through them when they orbited Earth. Measurements taken from the ground show that these space tornadoes use their electrical current to create auroras, also known as the Northern Lights and Southern Lights.While both space tornadoes and Earth tornadoes are funnel-shaped, they are very different. Earth tornadoes are rotating columns of air that usually move between 40 and 110 miles per hour (mph). Space tornadoes move faster – often more than 200 mph. They are made of hot, ionized gas. Space tornadoes can have a volume as large as the Earth itself and can generate large amounts of electrical energy inside their funnels. Though these do not harm humans, they can damage manmade things like power transformers.THEMIS was built and now operated by the University of California-Berkeley, but it was launched by NASA. The researchers wanted to learn the origin of the magnetic storms that cause the Northern and Southern Lights. Sources:http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2009/04/23_keiling.shtmlhttp://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/nh-nnt040609.phphttp://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-04/nsf-lai040709.php
Getting to meet you – the teachers – isn’t an everyday event for those of us who work for the Pitsco catalog division. Typically, we only have this opportunity when exhibiting at educational conferences. Two weeks ago, Pitsco was at the National Science Teachers Association’s national conference in New Orleans. And while the wonderful food and the beauty of the French Quarter were treats for us Kansans, meeting our customers face-to-face was also a great experience.It was fun to watch teachers get excited trying to beat a coworker in a CO2 drag race. It was amazing to see kids quickly pick up how to maneuver TETRIXTM robots in the TETRIX play area. Of course, rockets, trebuchets, and the EQs Tremor Table were popular attractions as well. The part I enjoyed most was getting to work with teachers and students during the EZ Build Dragster workshops held in our booth. With 14 workshops over the three-day conference, dozens of people built a laser-cut dragster. After completing their cars, participants raced them on the track. We had all types join us in the workshops. Some could look at a finished dragster and build one without much instruction. Others had never worked with a hands-on project and appreciated any tips we could offer. Working with these teachers helps us understand how Pitsco needs to develop its products and user guides to help all our teachers.And sometimes we enjoyed just being silly – like when a teacher from the Bahamas decided to decorate his dragster with leftover parts from the laser-cut wood. It was quickly dubbed the “Bling Dragster.” It wasn’t the most aerodynamic car – and its racing time was adversely affected – but it was cool to see teachers enjoying the project. Even if you never see us at a conference, you can still send us your feedback or questions. You can comment on this or other Pitsco blogs. Or you can contact our Customer Service: e-mail at www.service@pitsco.com or call 800-358-4983.So for any of you that might have stopped by to see us in New Orleans or other conferences – thank you! We appreciate your time and input. But for those who don’t get to travel, we hope you know we’re always here to help.By PJ GrahamPitsco Technical Writer
In the December 2006, The Cause reported on Duke University’s progress toward creating a cloaking device. Duke University and other scientists are getting even closer to creating the device with a science fiction flare. The Duke University engineers were the first to demonstrate that such a device was possible in 2006. Now, they have made significant progress toward the goal. By developing a new set of algorithms, or math commands, the Duke team has created composite materials called metamaterials. These can be designed to guide electromagnetic waves around an object. With this, cloaking devices can be created that are custom made to cloak specific things. “The difference between the original device and the latest model is like night and day,” said David R. Smith, William Bevan professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke. “The new device can cloak a much wider spectrum of waves – nearly limitless – and will scale far more easily to infrared and visible light. The approach we used should help us expand and improve our abilities to cloak different types of waves.”Though the popular science fiction idea of cloaking is to hide someone during a covert action, Smith sees many other applications for cloaking. These include improve wireless communications or to make protective shields from vibrations, sound, or seismic waves.Duke University is not alone in its progress toward feasible cloaking technology. A paper on the mathematical aspects of cloaking by researchers from the University of Rochester, University College of London, Helsinki University of Technology, and University of Washington was published this month in Siam Review. In the near future, cloaking may a reality and not just a movie special effect.Sources:http://news.duke.edu/2009/01/invis09.htmlhttp://shop.pitsco.com:80/about/newsletter/item.aspx?ap=1&nli=14&art=540http://www.siam.org/about/news-siam.php?id=1503