Brainbuilders
Redwood Trees of California
What is a lumberjack?
What is this type of shirt called?
Wood that has been made into planks and beams is known as lumber.
The largest trees in the world are found in California.
One of the oldest and largest trees in the Redwood Forest is known as ‘The President’
The Arctic Ground Squirrel and Space Travel
The Arctic Ground Squirrel lives in Alaska USA.
It lives in the Tundra. A Tundra is a place that has long cold winters and short cool summers. The Tundra has little rain and dry winds. It is like a cold desert.
The Arctic Ground Squirrel hibernates for 8 months of the year no other animal hibernates for that long.
Its body temperature goes to -3 degrees but its blood doesn’t freeze. In order to stay alive it’s body does an amazing thing.
Every 2 weeks without waking up, its body starts to shiver and heats up and causes brain neurons to fire for half a day.
If this did not occur its brain would die and it would never wake up after hibernation. Scientist are looking at closely at these animals to help with dementia and for space travel.
What is the longest you have slept for?
It took astronauts 3 days to travel to the moon.
Humans plan to travel to Mars in the next 20 years. If you travelled at the speed of an airplane to Mars it would take over 20 years.
On a spacecraft travelling at 40,000 kmph it would take 7 months.
How would you like staying in the same room for 7 months?
That’s a long time twiddling your thumbs. Hence a form of hibernation is required by astronauts.
Do you think the sun is big?
The sun is just one of millions of stars in the Milky Way.
Do you think the Milky Way is big?
Tectonic Plates
The Bay Bridge in San Francisco in 1989.
The Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge.
The World Series is what Americans call the Baseball final.
Each continent is a Tectonic Plate.
Tectonic Plates are always moving.
This is how planet Earth looked 90 million years ago.
This is how planet Earth looked 150 million years ago. Dinosaurs were on the Earth then.
Plates colliding make huge mountain ranges like the Himalyas. Everest is in the Himalayas and that’s why Everest continues to grow higher. 50cm every 100 years
Plates Slide by each other most of the time, but sometimes they get stuck. Pressure continues to build and then one day it releases the pressure causing an earthquake.
The Ring of Fire is around the Pacific Plate. It has 452 volcanoes and 1000’s of earthquakes every year.
The Richter Scale invented by Charles Richter.
The scale gives a reading between 1 and 10. The 1989 San Francisco earthquake measured 6.9 on the Richter Scale.
The largest ever earthquake was in Chile in 1960. It measured 9.6 on the Richter Scale.
Maradona
From Buenos Aires, he also played for the Boca Juniors, one of the top teams in the city before joining Barcelona and then Napoli.
How to warm up for a game – Maradona Style
There is a double meaning to many newspaper headlines today. Why so?
The ‘Hand of God’ goal versus England 1986 World Cup quarter final.
The Goal of the century versus England 1986 World Cup quarter final.
The Honey Bee
What is the meaning of Clon in placenames like Clondalkin, Clonmel and Clonmacnoise? Clon means meadow.
Clonmel in Tipperary. What is is famous for? Clon = meadow and mil = honey. It is the meadow of honey.
In order for apples to grow, they must be pollinated. That is when pollen is taken from one flower and brought to another. This pollen fertilises the flower and a fruit is made.
A bee will travel 90,-00 miles in its lifetime. That’s 3 times around the world. In this time it will make 1/2 a teaspoon of honey.
Bees have a built in compass. When they leave the hive their brain takes note of where the sun in and other factors. They use this information to return to the hive.
Bloody Sunday 1920
This is a famous location in 1920. What is it called?
The Hogan Stand in Croke Park. Who was it named after?
Tipperary play Cork in the Munster football final this weekend but instead of their blue and gold jersey, they will wear a white and green jersey. Why?
Canals
Before lorries and trains, canals were the most common way of transporting goods.
However unlike a river which flows downhill, a canal is flat and therefore stretches of water are at different levels.
Some famous Irish canals are the Royal Canal and the Grand Canal. They both join the River Shannon to Dublin.
There are many more canals all over Ireland. One of these these is called The Cong Canal (The Dry Canal). It was a canal between Loch Mask and Loch Corrib but it was never used. Why?
The Panama Canal
The French began building it. It was so difficult. Panama is mostly jungle and so many of the worker got diseases such as malaria.
The Masters
There is a competition in a particular sport where the winner gets a green jacket. What is the sport and the competition called?
The Masters Golf Tournament takes place in the same golf course each year, Augusta National, Georgia.
There are 18 holes on a golf course. In Augusta holes 10, 11 and 12 are really difficult and they have become known as ‘Amen Corner’.
The Aral Sea
Electric Circuits
What is this called?
It is important that there are no gaps in order for a circuit to work.
What is a conductor and insulator?
US Presidential Election
Today America goes to the polls to elect a new president. Name these American Presidents?
Name the 2 main candidates in this years US Election?
The President of Ireland is elected in a very different way to the US president. It is done by a method known as the Electoral College.
Turlough Hill, Co. Wicklow
What is a Turlough?
Glaciers is a large body of ice that moves.
The Wicklow Mountains has really hard rock. Very few areas in Ireland has rock as hard as the rock in the Wicklow Mountains.
What do you know about Turlough Hill in Co. Wicklow?
First, we need to know how water can make electricity?
Turlough Hill Upper and Lower Lakes?
Mary Celeste
The Bermuda Triangle
The Bermuda Triangle is also known as the Devils Triangle. Why so?
300 ships, 75 airplanes and 100 people have been the victims of the Bermuda Triangle.
UFO’s
What is a UFO?
What is the most famous place in the world for UFO’s?
Roswell and Area 51
Public Transport
What is public transport?
It is buses, trains, and other forms of transport that are available to the public.
What is gridlock?
You can now almost walk faster than Dublin City Traffic. It moves at a speed of 11 kph. Why is this a problem for businesses?
Bus Connects is a new Bus Network in Dublin.
Do you see any problems with Bus Connects?
Amazon Rainforest
Name this largest river in South America?
What is the rainforest in this area known as?
What is deforestation?
What is happening in this picture? Why has the amount of carbon increased in the atmosphere increased so much in the last 50 years?
If this rainforest was to disappear, what would happen Planet Earth?
What is the Trans – Amazonian Highway? Why did they build it?
The government gave Brazilian plots to farm to improve the economy.
It led to what is now known as The Arc of Deforestation.
The human population has exploded in the past 50 years and this has led to a greater demand for meat. Cattle also feed on Soy Beans and Soy Bean farms also take over the Amazon rainforest.
Dyslexia
Although everybody’s brain looks the same they all work differently.
We all have different strengths, weaknesses and personalities.
Our brain also sees the world in different ways. One of those ways is called dyslexia.
Being dyslexic can affect how people feel about themselves. When they struggle with a task that other people find easy, they may feel frustrated, angry or sad.
However thinking differently can be one of the best things in the world.
A person with dyslexia may be very good at solving problems, telling stories, taking apart, understanding how they work and figuring out how to put them together again, inventing, drawing, painting and making things.
What do all these people have in common?
Dyslexic people have changed the world.
SEE DYSLEXIA DIFFERENTLY
Everest
What is this map showing?
The 10 tallest mountains in the world are in the Himalayas. What is the tallest mountain in the world?
Mount Everest is 8,848 meters high. It is so high, airplanes fly at that height.
The first people to climb Everest wereEdmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay his Sherpa guide.
Tenzing Norgay was a Sherpa, the Sherpa people live in the Himalayas and no one can climb Everest without their help.
One of the most difficult things to get past on Everest are the many crevasses.
The Lhotse Face is a famous part of the Everest climb. It is a steep sheet of ice.
The final 800 meters of Everest is known as the Death Zone. Here, only 1 in 8 climbers survive.
On top of Everest.
The Eiffel Tower
What is known today as the Iron Lady (La Dame de Fer)?
Why is The Eiffel Tower painted ever 7 years?
It was once the tallest building in the world. It is 324 meters high.
Where would you find this tower, an almost exact copy of The Eiffel Tower?
The Apollo Mission
What does orbit mean?
Sputnik (First Satellite in Space (Russian)) 4th Oct 1957
Yuri Gagarin (the first man in space(12th April 1961), he was a Russian Cosmonaut)
To show USA superiority over Russia during The Cold War, President John F Kennedy made a famous speech in May 1961.
The missions to land a man on the moon were called Apollo. There was to be 17 Apollo missions. Named after the Greek God Apollo. The Nasa bosses said the image of “Apollo riding his chariot across the sun was appropriate to the grand scale of the proposed program.
Here is the Saturn 5 rocket. It was used for all the Apollo Missions. Engineers debated whether to land a large rocket on the moon but it would be impossible to make such a large spaceship take off again from the moon.
Scientists also didn’t know what the moon surface was like. Some said there was 10 meters of dust on the top of the moon. How would they land and take off on that?
So the astronauts left the Earth with this massive rocket and after visiting the moon, they returned in this capsule. What happened everything else?
A method called extract, undocking and docking was used. Look where the Lunar Module is located. It was put here to protect it during the flight but it needed to move to the front of the rocket when travelling to the moon. They achieved this at a speed of 25,000 mph.
The Lunar Module (Eagle) How were they to design it. For every kilogram of weight it took 4 kilograms of fuel to get it off the moon. Glass heavy so use very little. No seats etc reduce the weight. Neil Armstrong looked out a tiny window trying to land the Lunar Module (Eagle). He also had only a limited amount of fuel and had to land the Eagle in a set time limit.
The Lunar Module (Eagle) on the moon. When Neil Armstrong landed the Eagle on the moon he said, “Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed”.
Just as the Lunar Module (Eagle( was about to land.
Practicing to drive the lunar module.
Saturn V Rocket Launch
The Sea of Tranquility (the landing site for Apollo 11).
The Lunar Module (Eagle) and the Command Module separating before landing on the moon.
Armstrong landing Eagle. Armstrong was heading for a boulder field and had to fly longer than he wanted. There was just 18 seconds of fuel left when he landed.
Listen for the voices of Gene Kranz (head of Mission Control) and Charlie Duke (CapCom). They issue a Go/NoGo to all their engineers to find out if it’s safe for the astronauts to continue.
After landing, the astronauts were ready to leave straight away and abort. They didn’t know would the space craft sink, maybe it would topple over. It was a few hours before the astronauts were dressed in their space suits and ready to walk on the moon. Lets watch Neil armstrong take hs first steps on the moon.
Let’s watch the Lunar Module take off and dock with the Command Module in orbit around the moon. This video is taken from a later mission. This mission brought a car (Lunar Rover) into space. The car is left on the moon, it had a video camera and sent this video back to Earth.
How they took cars (Lunar Rover) to the moon.
Views of the moon taken by Apollo 13
Towers
What is the worlds tallest tower?
Name these other famous towers?
The Serengetti
What is this continent called?
Look at the countries Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Look at these countries and ask what animal part does these 3 countries together form?
Kenya and Tanzania share 2 areas of beauty famous all over the world, the 1st is Africa’s largest lake and the 2nd is a National Park.
Lake Victoria and Serengetti National Park.
What is the Serengetti?
What is this animal called that continuously roams the Serengetti?
Why does it continuously migrate around the Serengetti?
Chemical Reactions
For our Science experiment this week, we are going to make a Carbon Dioxide Fire Extinguisher.
What is a chemical reaction?
Today I will add 2 substances together. There will be a chemical reaction and Carbon Dioxide will be produced.
I will add baking soda to vinegar, a chemical reaction will take place and carbon dioxide will be produced.
What 3 elements are needed for fire?
Take away any one of these elements and the fire extinguishes.
To make our fire extinguisher, we will make Carbon Dioxide with a chemical reaction between vinegar and baking soda.
When the carbon dioxide gas is produced we will pour it out of the jug. But won’t the carbon dioxide float off into the air.
Because carbon dioxide is heavier than oxygen the carbon dioxide gas will flow downwards out of the jug and onto the candle and quench it.
The Cuckoo
What is this bird called?
Where in Ireland is the best place to find the cuckoo?
The land is mostly untouched in Connemara and in the Burren. Very little machinery travels the land and there are Meadow Pipits here as Meadow Pipits nest on the ground.
Why has driven cuckoos out of many parts of Ireland?
What sound does a cuckoo make?
Does the male or female cuckoo make this sound?
Why do birds sing?
When do cuckoos come to Ireland every year?
mid April to August, earliest every recorded in Ireland in 2nd April but rare to see/hear them before 10th April
Adults leave in July but young ones leave in August.
Where do cuckoos go for the rest of the year?
meadow pipit,
The Meadow Pipit when translated to Irish goes as :
Banaltra na Cuacha = cuckoos nurse?
Giolla na Cuacha = cuckoos servant
Cuckoo Superstitions
spotify – Mooney Goes Wild, The Cuckoo, time – 10:12
If you heard a cuckoo before breakfast, you would be hungry for the year.
If you heard a cuckoo through your right ear, you’d have good luck all summer but if you heard it through your left ear, the summer wouldn’t be good for you.
If you heard a cuckoo on the morning of your wedding it was a lucky sign but if you heard a cuckoo in the graveyard there was a death in the family coming up soon.
In Ireland the cuckoo will mainly lay eggs in the Meadow Pipit’s nest, however in Britain cuckoos will mainly lay eggs in the Reed Warblers nest.
So how do cuckoos get away with laying their egg in another nest.
How come the birds don’t recognise the the cuckoo egg among their own?
Listen to Spotift Mooney Goes Wild – The Cuckoo – Listen from 38:50 to 47:00
talk first about incubation in cuckoo and she can watch 20 or so nests.
sometimes other cuckoos can lay eggs in that nest too. may be a battle between cuckoos when born