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In our class we have been

learning about climate change, how it affects our

planet and how we can slow it down. As many of you will

already know, climate change

is one of the biggest problems of our time. It is caused by

the Greenhouse Effect; this is when extra heat is kept in the

atmosphere by gases that are mainly man made e.g. Carbon

Dioxide, Methane and several others.

The effects of global warming are many. The melting of the ice caps is one of the most well known

ones, but there are several others such as the extinction of some animals, rising sea levels causing floods and some scientists even

think that earthquakes may become more frequent. One group of scientists think that we may see ice free poles by 2013.

Fortunately there is a way of slowing it down. If we were

to switch off all the power in our houses and schools while

not needing it we would cut down on the amount of

electricity used and the electricity bill as well. You

see...in order to create our electricity, power stations

have to burn coal and gas which release the

greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. So even if you

don’t think that global warming will affect you yourself, do it for your

future children or grand children who will have to live in a world without creatures such as the polar bear and the penguins as they

would have become extinct. By David Robertson and Cameron Watson 2G

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Dingwall Cluster Science 3-18 Newsletter

Titanic

This year is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It sank on its maiden voyage on the 15th April 1912. It is probably the most famous shipwreck ever. There

have been many films including an animation and James Cameron’s popular film,

‘Titanic’. A lot of people were extremely confident in the ship which partly led to its downfall. Some people even said, ‘Even God couldn’t sink this ship’ and were, of course,

proven wrong. RMS Titanic was built during the period of 31st May 1909 to the 2nd April 1912 by Harland and Wolff but they made a few mistakes which proved fatal when it hit

the iceberg.

The owners of Titanic, White Star Line, were competing with Cunard, who had just launched, ‘Lusitania’ and ‘Mauretania’, which were both massive ships. RMS Titanic

departed Southampton to New York on 10th April 1912, never to come back. Because of the overconfidence of the owners, Titanic had only enough lifeboats to hold 1178

people, about half of the amount of passengers on the ship. When Titanic hit the iceberg, the boiler rooms filled up and overflowed into the other rooms. Due to the

design flaws, when the water overflowed into the 5th boiler room, she would sink. It split in half as it sank and there was a total of 1517 deaths because of the sinking of the

Titanic.

Daniel Mackay 2G


Interesting iPod Facts

The iPod, created under project codename Dulcimer, was announced by Apple Computers on 23 October 2001. This was several months after the launch of iTunes.

The father of the iPod is Tony Fadell.

The first song played using iTunes was a house-music dance tune called Groovejet (If This Ain't Love).

The first generation iPods had scroll wheels that physically

rotated. Post 2003 iPods (third generation) have touch

sensitive wheels. Fourth generation (2004) iPods have buttons integrated onto the wheel.

The iPod's wheel technology can measure changes in position greater than 1/1,000th of

an inch.

April’s Competition

Win a voucher from Waterstones by answering the following question:

How many rings are there on Saturn at the moment?

The first correct answer drawn will receive a £20 voucher.

Details found on the last page.


News from the Academy

National Science and Engineering Week is a 10 day programme of around 4,500 events running throughout the whole of the UK. The aim of it to celebrate

science, engineering and technology and its importance in our lives. Hundreds of thousands of people across the UK take part in National Science and

Engineering Week activities every year.

This year our school participated by doing different activities involving making

different glues and testing their strength. Our third year class studying chemistry prepared the activity and worked in teams to present to all ten first

year classes.

This involved a lot of preparation because we had to make and present a

PowerPoint in a group and making each individual glue. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would definitely take part again if we were given the

opportunity.

By Eilidh MacRae and Laura MacLean


The four groups attended to ten first year classes, over the two days.

Group 1: Laura Maclean, Eilidh MacRae, Rebecca Williams and Phoebe Lipp.

Group 2: Megan Dale, Kirstin Dilley, Susie Kerr and Christopher Aird Group 3: Ella Scarr, Imogen Callan, Joanna Macdonald, Eleanor Wilson and Katie O’Brien

Group 4: Ross Slater, Russell Dingwall, Jack Cuthbertson and Stuart Greenwood.

Here are some pictures taken in S1 classes with their S3 presenters and some

comments from the classes.

“I have enjoyed

making our own glue.”

Andrea Aquino-S1

“The glue was made out

of ping pong balls, I enjoyed it all.”

Grigor Brookfield-S1

“It was well presented, fun and interesting.”

S1 pupil

“I learned that there are many easy ways to make glue with

household items.” Annelise Hoey- S1

Even Mr Stein got involved and was

helping to make milk glue.

“I found it really interesting how household

items can make glue.” Grace Kerr-S1

“It was well presented, fun and

interesting.” S1 pupil


Competition Winner

Well done to Gavin Ashcroft. He helped make a QR code quiz.

Some S1 classes took part in a class quiz after they made their glue. Each group used a phone to scan the QR code and they

got a text message question on their phone to answer.

A QR code is a special barcode like thing. It stores information

like a picture, a photo, a text message or a website link. When scanned with a phone that has a QR code reader the

information will show up. The code obviously has to be scanned with a camera. It is a modern way of advertising or

entering a competition like on a famous brand of cola.

Gavin Ashcroft S1

Bill Bryson Competition

During Science Engineering week a number

of S1 and S2 pupils decided to make posters

and booklets for the Bill Bryson Competition. This year the competition offers the chance

to welcome the Olympics to the UK. In support of this major event the 2012

competition has the theme "Science and Sport".

This highlights the role science and

chemistry play in supporting sport around the world. Boosting a competitor's

performance through improved nutrition,

ensuring the integrity of competition by uncovering cheats and providing sportsmen

and women the latest and most advanced equipment they need to excel, all rely on the

uses and applications of chemistry and offer a rich vein of scientific ideas for entrants to

explore.


S1/S2 Competition Entries


Sports and Science - The bleep-test challenge.

For her biology investigation, Nichole Mcphee designed an experiment to see the effect different food and drinks had on our performance in sport.

She did this by using ‘The bleep test’ which determined our maximum fitness levels. For

this, we had to do shuttle runs across the gym hall, each time reaching the other side of the gym hall before the next ‘bleep’ sounded from the CD player. In total, we did ‘the

bleep test’ three times, aiming to get our own personal best each time we did it.

However, each time we did ‘the bleep test,’ Nichole gave us a different food or drinks substance thirty minutes before we started, to see if it had any effect on our

performance.

The first time we did the bleep test, we didn’t take any food or drinks substance. This

was to provide a comparison for the experiment.

The second time we did it, Nichole gave us a caffeine tablet, the same substance found in tea, coffee and many fizzy drinks!

The third time we did the fitness test, she gave us a sugar cube.

It was thought that by taking the small sample of food and drinks substance thirty

minutes before the fitness test that we would have more energy to do the fitness test and so our results would improve.

This is what happened for most people

who did the experiment, including me.

After taking the caffeine tablet, I managed to complete a further 4

shuttle runs in the test and after taking the sugar cube, a further 7 shuttle

runs.

However, it is obviously not good to drink fizzy drinks and eat sugary

snacks, but this particular experiment did suggest that they can provide extra

energy which could improve your performance on the day of a sports

competition. Rozy Shepherd S6


Scientist of the Month: James Young

By Seonaid Mackinnon 2G

James Young was born in Glasgow on the 13th of July 1811. As you will have noticed, his name doesn’t sound familiar. That’s because he was a forgotten scientist although what he did was very important. He discovered ways to distil paraffin for coal and

then to use it as a fuel source.

He developed his nickname, Paraffin, when he opened Young’s Paraffin Light and Mineral Oil Company. He sold paraffin lamps.

He went on to develop the paraffin lamp that burned the paraffin oil, that he had distilled from the coal, to produce a light source.


Cooking Chemistry

You will need:

Sugar Citric acid

A hotplate or cooker

Various beakers and dishes for heating, dissolving and crystallising the sugar.

A stirring rod and thermometer Natural honey

Corn flour

What you do

The instructions for this experiment require materials which are difficult to find in the

UK. The following instructions approximate the materials and procedure shown in the video.

Dissolve 100 grams sugar in 100ml of distilled water and pour into a dish. Add 0.1g of

citric acid (you'll need to look at the strength of acid if you are using a solution) and heat the whole thing for an hour. Take it off the heat and let it cool.

Have a look in your dish and you should have something which looks very like honey.

If you accidentally get your real honey and your fake honey mixed up you can then test

to work out which is which.

Make a very weak solution of corn flour and water - you may need to

experiment with different quantities that work well with the honey you have.

Put 20ml of each of the 'honeys' in two beakers and add 10 ml of corn flour solution to each, and then make each up to 100ml with some more water.

Warm each solution gently, to no higher than 40 degrees Celsius for 60 minutes.

1. An alternative, if you can find it is 20ml of honey, 60 ml of water and 5ml of Dr Oetker's Whip It, a whipped cream stabiliser made of dextrose and modified corn

starch: http://www.oetker.ca/en/product/baking-ingredients/pouch/11140

Making Honey


2. Again, warm at 40C for an hour. 3. Then add some drops of iodine solution and stir. The real honey will remain

honey coloured, whilst the fake honey turns blue.

What's going on?

Natural honey is mainly made from 'invert sugar', where the sucrose molecule is broken

into its glucose and fructose components. A small amount of acid (citric, ascorbic or even just lemon juice) helps break down the table sugar in the experiment in this way.

Invert sugar doesn't crystallise as easily as table sugar, so it is more often used in cooking when pure syrup is required.

When it comes to telling which is which, natural honey contains the enzyme amylase along with a lot of other enzymes. When starch (in the corn flour) is added, and the

water / honey / starch mixture is left at the optimal temperature, the amylase rapidly

breaks down the starch into sugar. There is no such enzyme in the artificial honey, so the starch shows up as a positive iodine test for starch. If you over-heat the test the

amylase will become denatured and stop working, so make sure you keep the solutions around body temperature.

Special Safety advice: Be careful when heating the sugar as it can get very hot. Do not

taste your artificial honey unless you have used food grade materials and the appropriate cooking equipment, and DO NOT consume after you have finished the iodine

test.

Interesting Facts About Bees

Bumblebees have smelly feet - they produce oil to tell other bees which flowers they've

already visited.

Not all bees are black and yellow - for example, bumblebees can have orange or red on

their bodies, or even be completely black!

A lot of work goes into making honey - honeybees have to visit over 2 million flowers to make just one jar!

There are over 60,000 bees in an average bee colony.

Bees never sleep Liam Mackenzie 2G


Activity of the Month 1: Edible Fake Blood

You will need:

100g cornflour 100 ml water

Bowl or jug Spoon to mix with

4 tablespoons (about 80 ml) golden

syrup Red food colouring

Green food colouring

What you do

1. Make sure that your equipment and the surface you are working on are clean, so

that it's quite safe to eat the 'blood' if you want to. 2. Mix the cornflour and the water together in a bowl or jug. (If you're wondering

why the cornflour behaves the way it does, take a look at the Custard Gone Crazy! experiment on this website.)

3. Stir in the golden syrup. 4. Add two teaspoons of red food colouring and a few drops of green food colouring.

Does your blood look realistic enough yet? You will need to play around with the quantities of red and green food colouring. Adding more red food colouring will

make the blood look more pink and adding more green will give the blood a more browny colour.

5. Add a drop of peppermint essence to give the blood a lovely minty taste. 6. Use to decorate horror style cakes or as a realistic addition to a costume.

What's going on?

What makes blood that wonderful vampire-attracting colour? Real blood gets its colour from haemoglobin, a protein containing iron that's found in red blood cells. These cells

are pretty essential for human life as they carry oxygen from our lungs to tissues all around the body.

Blood appears red because when white light falls on it, it absorbs all the colours except red, which it reflects.

Red food colouring is more of a pinky colour than blood, so you need to add green to

remove the pink tinge. Green food colouring absorbs all colours apart from green. When you mix green with the red colouring it absorbs some of the red light that would have

been reflected, giving your fake blood that realistic brown tinge. [Planet Science]


Activity 2: Very Berry Lip gloss

Make a gorgeous lip gloss from yummy honey and other natural ingredients. Protect sensitive lips with this simple yet rich lip balm. Delightful to wear alone or on top of your lipstick for extra shine! Makes a great home-

made gift too.

You will need:

1tbsp sweet almond oil 10 fresh raspberries

1tsp honey 1 drop Vitamin E oil (optional) A sieve or a tea strainer

A small portable plastic container or tin Decorative stickers, gift box and tissue paper (if you're making it for someone else)

What you do

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for two minutes or

until the mixture just begins to boil. 2. (If you don't have a microwave, place the bowl on top of a pan of water on a stovetop

and then boil the water. This will take longer and you have to be careful not to let the water boil over into the mixture. If you are doing it this way you should get an adult to supervise you.)

3. Stir well and gently crush the berries. 4. Cool mixture for five minutes.

5. Strain through a fine sieve or tea strainer to remove all the fruit pieces. 6. Stir again and set aside to cool completely. 7. When cool, transfer into your container.

8. Apply a small amount onto your lips and remember to smile! 9. (If you're making this as a gift, you could decorate your container with stickers and put

in a gift box lined with tissue paper.)

What's going on?

The miracle ingredient in this lip-gloss recipe is the honey. It acts as an antioxidant, moisturizer and gloss. Antioxidants like Vitamin C or green tea extract are key ingredients in many

expensive skincare products. They are not absorbed into your skin, but they might protect your skin on the outside from damage by sunlight and pollution.

Scientists think the antioxidants in honey are probably the molecules called flavinoids, which give honey its great taste.

Honey is also hygroscopic, which means it absorbs water from the air, so it helps to maintain the natural balance of water in the cells in your lips. The almond oil forms a protective layer to

stop the water evaporating.

Together, the honey and the oil fill in all the crevices in your lips and make them look smooth and glossy. The berries add natural colour and flavour. Add all this together for lips that look, smell and taste gorgeous! Try different berries (strawberries, cranberries or blueberries) or

other soft fruits (peaches or plums) for different colours and flavours. [Planet Science]


Plant of the month

Bluebells

What are Bluebells?

Bluebells are beautiful flowers that come out every year at spring time. Sometimes due to the climate change

the bluebells would come out earlier than they usually due. They are a blue colour which sometimes tends to

look a purple depending on when the light shines on them. Some people think bluebells look like a tear drop

as they have and odd shape which flops over.

Why do they only come out at spring? Bluebells only comes out at spring time as autumn

means trees and flowers lose their leaves and in winter they die as the climate drops down completely.

Bluebells only tend to survive if the climate is warm or hot and as spring is the start of warm weather from the

winter they start to appear out the ground and then begin to grow again.

Where do bluebells from? Bluebells is original from the United Kingdom but can

now be found in many different countries. They first appeared in the UK around February time and have ever

since.

How do they grow? As every flower needs sun and water so do

bluebells. Bluebells needs a lot of sun to keep them alive as they do not survive in

cold weather. They come out at spring and summer as there are a lot of sun and

some water. You plant the seeds for the bluebells in ground and then water them

and watch as you would see them begin to grow over a period of time.

Jenny Urquhart 2G


Animal of the month

Black Bears

Black bears can heal themselves!

Scientists have found that black bears

can heal themselves while they hibernate. Zoologists and medical

researchers have found that bears with wounds come out of hibernation with

almost no scarring and infection free.

As you may probably know once animals go into hibernation their heart

rate, body temperature and metabolism are reduced that means

that it is harder to heal but somehow they heal very well. Whilst tracking

the bears, using radio collars, the researchers noticed some early

evidence of their surprising healing

abilities.

Scientists have been tracking and monitoring the health and behaviour of the black bears for over 25 years in Minnesota

(top of America). They have recently found this out and have begun doing more tests on the black bears. Scientists are checking if this is the same with most animals that

hibernate.

These are some black bears that have just come out of hibernation and they look very healthy!

A scientist said,”a black bear had some injuries like gunshot wounds

and some bite marks. We checked upon the same bear after the winter

and the scars had healed up very nicely with no sign of infection.

By Adam Munro 2G


Maths Corner

1. Coloured cubes Here are three views of the same cube.

What colour is directly opposite the yellow face in the cube on the right?

2. Going on a cruise

Each day at noon a ship leaves Southampton for Bermuda. At the same instant, a ship

Leaves Bermuda for Southampton.

Each crossing lasts exactly 6 days.

How many ships from Bermuda

will each ship from Southampton

meet?


3. Odds and evens Cross out one whole row and one whole column in each grid.

a. The sum of the two numbers in each remaining row and column must be even.

b. The sum of the three numbers in each remaining row and column must be odd.

4. Double up

Three friends play a game of cards. They start with a different number of counters.

After each round of the game, the loser has to use their counters to double the number

of counters held by the other two players.

After three rounds, each player has lost one round,

and each has 24 counters.

How many counters did each player start with?


Science Walk Word Search Challenge


Maths Corner Answers

1. Coloured cubes

2. Going on a cruise

Each ship from Southampton will meet all the ships that leave Bermuda in the next

6 days - 6 ships. It will also meet the ship leaving Bermuda in the preceding 6 days,

making a total of 13 ships.

3. Odds and evens

a. b.

4. Double up

To start with the players had 39, 21 and 12 counters. [ Source TES]


Competition 1:

Send us your answer to April’s question and you could win a book token gift voucher to spend in Waterstones in Inverness.

Competition 2: Picture competition Send us an A4 picture on the theme of nature/habitat and win a presentational

certificate

All entrants will receive an award.

Closing date for all competitions is 24th May 2012

Also if you have any questions of your own, feel free to email or post them and the editorial team here at Dingwall Academy will get back to you.

Contact us at [email protected] or

Alternately, you can use the postal service and write to us at:

Science Walk Dingwall Academy

Dingwall Ross-shire

Highland IV15 9LT

The Science Walk project is funded by the

mailto:[email protected]

DDiinnggwwaallll CClluusstteerr SScciieennccee 33--1188...

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