Monthly Archives: February 2017

#TryThisTuesday: Oil and Water

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For this experiment all you will need is a clear bottle or jar with a lid, water, cooking oil and some washing up liquid.

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Fill the water bottle half full with water.

Pour about 100ml of oil in to the bottle and observe what happens.

The oil should float on the water. Try and mix them together or challenge other people to mix them! It is impossible, the oil and water always separate out again.

Add a squeeze of washing up liquid to the bottle and shake. The oil and water now mix together.

The Science

Oil is less dense than water so floats on top. Oil and water don’t mix together as the water molecules are more attracted to each other than the oil molecules. Oil molecules are hydrophobic or ‘water-fearing’.

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Washing up liquid molecules are attracted to both water and oil. When you add a squirt in, one end of the washing up liquid molecule attaches to a water molecule and the other end attaches to an oil molecule. This creates a mix of water with oil droplets spread throughout it. This is because one end of the washing up liquid molecule is hydrophobic (water fearing) and one is hydrophilic (water loving).

The washing up liquid acts as a stabiliser and creates an emulsion. This is a mixture of two liquids that wouldn’t normally mix.

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Real Life Applications

We use washing up liquid when we are washing up as it attaches to the oil on the dirty dishes and lifts it off into the water.

Animals that live in the ocean also stay warm by producing an oily substance on their fur or feathers which keeps the cold water away from their skin.

#TryThisTuesday: DIY Sci-Fi Laser Sound

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This week we will show you how to create sci-fi laser sound effects using a slinky and a cup.

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The first step is to try and listen to the noise a slinky makes on its own by moving it up and down so the bottom of it bounces off the floor as shown in the picture below.

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The next step is to place the cup in the top of the slinky as shown below and try the same movement.

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The Science

Sound is actually particle vibrations and travels in waves. This means it relies on particles colliding to transfer the sound energy. In a gas such as air the particles are really spread out which means they are less likely to collide. In solids the particles are much closer together which means the particles collide a lot more and the sound energy is transferred more effectively.

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This is why the sound is much louder when the sound waves travel through the solid cup as opposed to the air. Rumour has it that they actually used this same technique to make the laser sound effects in the original Star Wars movies back in 1977.

Meet the Engineers

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Recently we hosted the Engineering Education Scheme at Newcastle. Year 12 students from the local area worked with industry to come up with solutions to real life engineering problems. We spoke to some of the engineers who helped on these projects to see what it’s like to be an engineer.

BAE Systems

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Where and what did you study at university?

Naomi studied a Masters in Chemistry at Heriot Watt University.

Martin studied Aerospace Engineering at Bath University.

Why did you choose to study engineering? 

Martin enjoyed studying Maths, Further Maths and Physics at A-Level, so decided to do engineering as it involves them all.

What do you do at your job?

Naomi is a product safety engineer. She looks at all the different types of engineering in submarines such as ventilation and the electricity and makes sure that they all mix well. She is responsible for putting processes in place to make sure that if something happens it doesn’t escalate.

Martin is a systems Engineer and has to make sure things work and integrate engineering systems.

What is the best thing you have done as an engineer?

Naomi’s favorite thing was working on Conning tower flooding (where the doors of the submarine are). If all the hatches are opened at the top of the submarine, when its at the surface it could flood. She looked at how much water a submarine could take on using models on a computer, it was really successful as it meant they stopped a big redesign of submarines.

Martin enjoys providing support for boats that are currently out on the sea. The project gave him a chance to collaborate with lots of different departments and they solved a big problem of one boat’s secondary motor  which kept turning itself on and off by mistake.

Do you have any advice for students thinking about studying engineering?

Their advice is to have confidence in what you do and pick something you enjoy.

Pearson Engineering

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Rosie is a graduate engineer for Pearson Engineering, who’s job involves looking at mine clearance vehicles, some of which can defuse bombs by lifting them in the air.

Where/what did you study at university?

Undergraduate in Chemistry and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering at Newcastle University.

Why did you choose to study engineering?

Rosie initially became a primary school teacher after her undergraduate degree in chemistry but missed being challenged intellectually so decided to become an engineer.

What is the best thing you have done as an engineer?

Rosie has really enjoyed working with the students at EES, as she likes working with young people.

GE Oil and Gas

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Joshua and Charlie are both in their second year of studying Mechanical Engineering at Newcastle University. They work as interns at GE Oil and Gas alongside their studies.

Why did you choose to study engineering?types-of-engineering

Joshua always liked physics and did some work experience in engineering when he was at school that he really enjoyed. He decided to go to university rather than be an apprentice as you get more hands on experience.

Charlie enjoyed studying maths and physics at school and wanted to apply it in a practical way.

What do you do at your job?

Both of them are interns but have the opportunities to do lots of different jobs.

Joshua is currently looking at the clamps, fixtures and fittings for pipes. This is really important for transporting things such as gas and oil. He carries out analysis and design using computer programmes and lots of maths.

Charlie is also working on pipes. Lots of what she does is communicating with customers to design pipes and talk about things such as price too, showing there is lots more to engineering than just being an engineer.

What is the best thing you have done as an engineer?

Joshua has really enjoyed doing an internship as its allowed him to link the real world with what he is doing at university.

Charlie had been working as a STEM ambassador to encourage girls into engineering. She wants everyone to know that engineering is much more than just fixing things and anyone can be an engineer.

Do you have any advice for students thinking about studying engineering?

Joshua’s advice is try and do some work experience, but be prepared to work hard.

Charlie says that you shouldn’t be put off by what you think engineering is, try and find out more about it as it spans many areas.

 

 

#TryThisTuesday: Valentine’s Day Optical Illusion

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Happy Valentine’s Day! Love can confuse your brain, and so does this week’s Try This Tuesday.

You don’t need any equipment to try this experiment at home – you just need to stare at your screen, or more specifically the + in the middle of the picture below. You can blink but don’t look away.

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If you stare long enough the pink dots should disappear!

The Science

It looks like the pink dots have disappeared due to a visual phenomenon called Troxler’s fading or Troxler’s effect. if you fix your eyes on a certain point, then anything in your peripheral vision will fade away and disappear after about 20 seconds. In this experiment our sight was focused on the + in the middle of the screen and the the pink dots in your periphery slowly fade and finally disappear. It works especially well in this experiment at there is such low contrast between the light pink dots and the grey background.

This is a type of optical illusion. If you want to see another, have a look at our spinning disk Try This Tuesday.

 

#TryThisTuesday: The Peg Game

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This week we will show you how to play a game that you will never lose! For this you will need 12 pegs and a piece of material. Clip all 12 of these pegs in a line along the material.

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The rules of the game are simple:

  • There may only be 2 players.
  • Each player takes it in turns to remove 1, 2 or 3 pegs from the material.
  • The winner is person who removes the last peg.

If you follow 2 key steps then you can ensure victory every time. Firstly always let your opponent go first. The second step is to remove enough pegs so that the combined total of the pegs you remove and the pegs your opponent removed on their last turn adds up to 4.

For example if your opponent removes 1 peg then you will remove 3 but if your opponent removes 3 pegs then you should only remove 1 peg.

If you do this then no matter what happens the most pegs you will ever have on your last go will be 3 so you will always win!

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The Science

This game is actually based on good old times tables and more specifically the 4 times table. If each round adds up to 4 then the 12th peg will always be removed by the person finishing the round as 12 is a multiple of 4.

This means the game could be played with even more pegs as long as the total number of pegs is a multiple of 4.