QUESTION YOUR WORLD - What's Pi all about?...or..Pi-nailly, Pi-day has pi-rrived!!

We're ready to get a little irrational about Pi in hopes to make your knowledge of this tasty number a bit more well rounded.

π = Pi

So, what is Pi? Well, for starters Pi is an irrational number in that it cannot be expressed as a ratio of integers. Pi is an infinite number because it is without end – it keeps going…and going and going….so pi is both an irrational and an infinite number! The most commonly known digits of Pi are 3.14 (hence the March 14th as the celebration of Pi-Day!), but in 2011 the calculated digits of Pi went to ten trillion digits!! I know, you may be saying to yourself "Pi can' believe it!!", but its true. Remember, its an irrational number...it never ends!

So, why Pi? Why fill our March 14th with tons and tons of Pi stuff? What's Pi ever done for us?
Well, Pi is known best for finding Diameter and Circumference of circles, but think about what that really means...
Where would wrist watches be without Pi? Pi helps determine the amount of space between the symbols on your clocks and wrist watches!! Okay okay, we're going digital and time is easily told on your mobile phones, so perhaps the wrist watch has not convinced you on how important Pi is, but would your mobile phones be able to receive a signal without that satellite floating in the right place in orbit around the Earth? No! Pi is a very important portion of getting the info needed to put the satellite in orbit around the Earth. The Earth's curve is a sphere so we do need Pi to calculate the position of our mobile phone satellites. We would not want to send it to a part of the world that is too far for your signals to reach right?

There sure is a lot of cool stuff happening in the world of basketball these days right? Well, again, Pi is a big behind-the-scenes player in the game of basketball. Those hoops, those basketballs, and even the lids to all the beverages people drink at basketball games are all created and manufactured by folks that have to factor in Pi to get their exact shape! A square hoop, an oddly shaped basketball, and a lid that does not match the container of soda would make for a pretty lousy experience. Be sure to thank Pi the next time you're watching the game in person or on TV!

Speaking of TV, if you've ever watched a DVD you should be grateful for Pi. Ever thought about what would be needed to not only manufacture the disc, but also the way that data is put onto the disc in circular form?...yep, you guessed it, Pi!!

For science to explain things like rainbows, ripples in a pond, waves, geometry, the DNA double helix strands, and much more we have to employ our amazing and irrational mathematical friend, Pi.

We hope you guys have an awesome Pi day!

Oh and yes, to create the circular pan that all your tasty pie's are made on, you're going to need π

OMP!!...100,000 digits of Pi!!!

QUESTION YOUR WORLD - Leap Day Science!

What's going on in February this year? Why is the month of March one whole day further back than I'm used to??

Well, for the answer to that we'll have to turn to our old friend, Math!

The Earth's orbit around the sun is 365 days, kinda. Though we count it as 365 in reality each year yields a little extra time. The actual time it takes the Earth to orbit the sun is 365.25 days a year (yielding a surplus quarter of a day at the end of the year). So, the Gregorian calendar, the one we use, came up with a very simple but effective solution...everytime we hit the 4th quarter day (every 4 years) we add a 'Leap Day'! 4 quarter days = 1 full day, right?

There's some other pretty amazing math that goes into Leap Day too!

For example:
Years that are divisible by 100 can NOT be leap years, however years divisible by 400 CAN be leap years...So, 2100, 2200, 2300 will not be leap years, however 2400 and 2800 will be leap years!

Also, in the span of 2 millennia we will only have a total of 485 leap years! Which makes this year pretty special.
So, be sure to enjoy the extra day...after all, its the hoppiest day of the year!

For more leap day info check this out Leap Day Wiki page
Anything ever happen on a Leap Day? Leap Day history
Are you born on a leap day? Well, you're in good company! Leap Day B-Days!

Question Your World - Megacities!! Happy New Year!!

Question Your World - Megacities! by ScienceMuseumofVA



In 1950 there was only one city on the planet that held 10 million (plus) people. Now there are several more. As the population of our planet grows, as do the amount of megacities. Tokyo is high a top the list with almost 34 MILLION people!! Talk about a MEGA-city! These cities also happen to be some of the most watched places for New Years fun! So, this year when you're watching the ball drop, be sure to consider the amazing amount of people that are in New York, Paris, Tokyo, Delhi, and various other megacities all around the world! Happy New Year everyone!!

Question Your World - What's NASA ever done for me?

20111130 NASAinventions by ScienceMuseumofVA

Other than blasting people into space and taking photos of far off distant worlds, NASA has contributed a lot to our day-to-day lives also. Check out this page for more info on what NASA's done to help you sleep, clean, and live a little easier. NASA Inventions!

Thank you NASA!

QUESTION YOUR WORLD: What's auto racing ever done for my life?

Racecar Inventions by ScienceMuseumofVA

In the early days of auto racing a second person was used as a spotter to look for other vehicles and check the gauges. All that changed when Ray Houron won the inaugural Indy 500 in great part to his stunning new invention, the rear view mirror. This eleminated the weight of the extra person and began a tradition that is still used to this day.

Also, in 1922 Barney Oldfield installed a major safety device in his car, the seat belt. About a quarter century later the factories in Detroit took notice and started to instal them their vehicles.

Fuel additives, tire technology, disc brakes? Yep, you guessed it! All invented to make race cars run smoother and safer. Thanks to these speed hungry technichians many of these inventions can be found in your driveway!!

Want more car facts? Look no more http://waw.wardsauto.com/ar/auto_rearview_mirror/!

Drive safely everyone!

Their Final 4th of July...

On July 4, 1826, our nation celebrated its 50th birthday. Two old patriots, former arch rivals and now close friends, began the day but did not finish it. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day in their own homes hundreds of miles apart on the 50th anniversary of their signing the Declaration of Independence. What could explain this strange occurrence?


1. Coincidence – well, it could be a coincidence, but what a significant one! They died on the same day, a momentous date and historic anniversary, especially for them. Both had lived much longer than the average male of the time (Adams was 90); Jefferson’s health had been failing for some time. It would be an incredible coincidence; the odds are mind-boggling.

2. Conspiracy – did someone else cause their deaths? In that time, it was unlikely due to communication problems over long distances, but it could have happened...

3. Divine intervention – well, that is possible…

4. Waiting for the day – do you suppose each of them wanted to see the nation turn 50 and willed themselves to live until that day? Perhaps…

The last words John Adams uttered were “Thomas Jefferson survives,” but Jefferson had passed away a few hours earlier.

What do you think?

Question of the Week

Friday, February 11, is Thomas Edison's birthday.  Probably the greatest inventor of modern time, Edison accumulated over 1000 patents, over twice that of other prolific inventors.  His inventions include the light bulb, motion picture camera, phonograph, stock ticker, mechanical vote recorder, electric car battery, and electrical power.  Edison's ingenuity has profoundly influenced people's everyday lives and serves as inspiration to aspiring engineers and inventors.


What was Thomas Edison's favorite invention?

Answer:  Of all the wonderful things Thomas Edison invented, his favorite was the phonograph.  Edison had profound hearing loss at an early age and was technically deaf by his teen years, so that makes the phonograph an interesting choice.

The Anti-G Suit

During World War II, aviators were able to fly their aircraft higher and faster than ever before. But this was not without problems. There were accidents that could not be accounted for: pilots were not shot down, there were no malfunctions in the aircraft and yet they were crashing. What was happening was that when pilots were performing high-speed maneuvers such as pulling up hard out of a dive or making fast and tight turns to evade the enemy, they were creating strong centrifugal forces on the lower parts of their bodies.

So what does this mean? It means that as a result of G-forces (or gravitational force), blood pools in the lower part of the body, mainly the legs and abdomen. It’s kinda like when you eat a lot of food and feel sleepy after the meal: some of the blood from your head has gone to your stomach to help the digestion process. But in this case, so much blood has left the head that a pilot begins to feel some physical affects.

Let’s look at some stats. The force that is exerted by earth’s gravity on your body when you are on the ground (or your weight) is 1 G. If you were moving at 3 G’s you would weigh three times your normal weight and at 7 G’s your blood is as heavy as iron.

So without proper protection, the average person would “greyout” at 4 G’s, meaning that he or she would be unable to see color; “blackout” at 5 G’s and at 6 G’s the pilot would be unconscious.

The pilots of WWII that were crashing were experiencing G forces so great that they became unconscious and did not have control over their aircraft. This is called orthostatic intolerance.

To stop this from happening, in the 1940s Wilbur Franks of the University of Toronto was able to create a version of the G suit that you can see me wearing in the photo above.

So how does it work? There are bladders inside the suit at the legs and the abdomen. The tube on the suit receives air from the engine which had a valve that had a spring-mounted weight that would send air into the suit only if the G force was higher than 2 G’s. When the valve was engaged, air would go through the suit, inflate the bladders on the legs and abdomen which would push against the muscles of these body parts. The muscles would then squeeze the blood back up to the heart and up to the head, thus avoiding unconsciousness.

The suit I am wearing in the photograph is a modern issue Anti-G Suit like the ones that pilots in the US Air Force wear today. They wear it with a flight suit underneath, gloves, boots and of course, a helmet with oxygen mask.

Odd Science 2010

Besides highly publicized science stories of 2010 (Gulf oil spill, Chilean miner rescue, bedbugs, etc.), there were some intriguing and somewhat odd science stories:

1. You think like a worm – The human brain’s center of deep thought is curiously similar to a clump of neurons inside the head of the lowly ragworm. So similar, in fact, that ragworms, which evolved 600 million years ago, probably share a common ancestor with us humans. Hmmm…

2. The shrinking moon – Lunar geologists have found cliff-like scarps on the moon that they believe formed as the moon lost heat and contracted. But don’t panic – the moon’s radius has only shrunk a few hundred feet in the last billion years. Considering its small size, though (its diameter is less than the distance from Washington, DC to San Francisco), let’s hope it doesn’t shrink too much more…

3. Dinosaurs in color – Sinosauropteryx, a chicken-size dinosaur, and was covered with spiny hair, ate meat and walked on its hind legs. Scientists examining the hair bristles under a powerful microscope discovered its tail contained melanosomes, color-bearing cell parts found in modern birds. And what color was it? Sinosauropteryx sported a chestnut and white striped tail! Cool!

4. Bowerbirds exaggerate – Male bowerbirds lure their mates with large collections of stones, shells, bones and other trinkets, even some man-made ones. Their display is usually arranged from largest to smallest, creating an optical illusion. As the female approaches, the display area appears smaller, making the male in the center appear bigger. Clever guy!

5. Rubik’s Cube decoded – Have you ever tried to solve a Rubik’s Cube? How many moves did it take you? Mathematicians have discovered that out of the 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible starting positions, you should never have to make more than 20 moves to solve the puzzle. Can you do it?

These 5 are just a taste; Discover magazine's current issue includes the 100 Top Stories of 2010.

http://discovermagazine.com/photos/100-top-science-stories-of-2010

Scotch tape + 2 researchers = Nobel Prize

So… here’s a good one - two guys used Scotch tape and won a Nobel Prize. Hmmm…


Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov won the Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for their pioneering work with a revolutionary new material called graphene. Basically a one-atom-thick layer of carbon, graphene could change the world as we know it.

Graphene is a flat single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a tight honeycomb pattern. It is stronger than steel and conducts electricity better than any other material. According to researchers at Columbia University, “It would take an elephant, balanced on a pencil, to break through a sheet of graphene the thickness of Saran Wrap.”

So where does the tape come in? Graphene comes from graphite, good old fashioned pencil lead. At one atom thick, it is the thinnest of all materials. After its discovery in 2004, scientists were having trouble extracting a one-atom-thick layer. According to Novoselov, “The way you clean graphite is just cover it with tape and pull the tape off, and then throw it away. So once, I just picked it up out of the trash and we analyzed it.”

In all fairness, the contribution that won them the Nobel Prize was not the tape but their way of spotting the single layer of graphene in thicker flakes of graphite. A layer one atom thick is essentially invisible even with the most powerful microscope. The two researchers discovered that putting the graphene on a silicon wafer changes the color of the wafer, like the colors oil makes on water.

And why is this material so revolutionary? Graphene could replace silicon semi-conductors with smaller and faster chips. Since graphene performs well at room temperature, it might solve heat issues, as well. According to Michio Kaku at bigthink.com, other applications might include embedding the material in plastics so they conduct electricity, replacing carbon fibers in materials to make planes and satellites lighter, increasing efficiency of batteries with graphene powder, plus stiffer-stronger-lighter plastics, better touchscreens, and better sports equipment.

Graphene appears to be a supermaterial. Geim “would compare this situation with the one 100 years ago when people discovered polymers. It took some time before polymers went into use in plastics and became so important in our lives.” Revolutionary, indeed!

Photo courtesy of University of Manchester