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Friday 18th July 2008 Issue: 97

Happy Haywire! This is the last Haywire before the summer break. We hope you have a fantastic holiday and we’ll see you again on Friday 5 September!

  1. Planet Picks – The SciCast Quiz, science centres, colouring and Spotto!
  2. Crash Bang! – Boomerang
  3. Up for Grabs – Robotic Bird
  4. Winners – Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London
  5. Tummy Ticklers – jokes to make you groan

1. Planet Picks – News from the world of Planet Science…

Here are a few ideas for things to do over the summer holidays:

First of all, have a go at the Planet Science Summer SciCast Quiz. All you need is an observant eye. The answers are all found in the SciCast films or experiments on the SciCast site. If you get them all right you could be in with the chance to win a video camera of your own! Wow! And then of course you can film your very own SciCast film!

Next, got a long car journey ahead of you? Then what about a game of Spotto (PDF)?'Spotto!' is an Australian game. It was probably invented because car journeys would be very, very long over there! The idea is simple, if you're the first to spot one of a list of particular items, eg. a wind turbine, a pub sign with an animal name in it, or a pylon, you yell "Spotto!" and the appropriate number of points are marked up on the scoreboard under your name.

Or if you like colouring in, what about printing off some Perfectly Printable Puzzles for Children under 7 and get your felt-tips out.

Finally, if you’d like a trip out, how about suggesting a visit to one of the science centres in the UK? Checkout which one is closest to you by looking at Intute.

Oh and before we forget, we also found these colouring pages on another site Kung Fu Panda colouring pages

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2. Crash Bang! – Exciting experiments for you to try at home…

Boomerang Experiment

Three pieces of cardboard, three lolly sticks, three blobs of Blutack, and a flick of the wrist. That’s all you need to make your own boomerang.

You will need:

  • A biggish blob of BluTack or similar.
  • Three lolly sticks, or craft lolly sticks.
  • Three pieces of thin card about 8cm x 4.5cm

What to do:

You may want to look at the photos of this experiment before you start. It will help you build your boomerang.

  1. Place a small blob of BluTack at the end of each stick, Stick A, Stick B and Stick C.
  2. With the blob of BluTack on Stick A facing down, attach the tip of stick B (also facing down) to the Stick A, just over a quarter of the way down the stick. These sticks start to form two sides of a triangle.
  3. Add Stick C to Stick B in exactly the same way. Then finally take the tip of A and attach it a quarter of the way down on top of C so the three sticks are woven together and make a small triangle between them.
  4. Attach the oblongs of card to the ends of the sticks, with the sticks in the middle of each card and the long sides along the sticks.
  5. Hold the boomerang nearly vertically and throw with a flick of the wrist to get the boomerang spinning!

What's happening?

Each card has a certain amount of lift as it slices through the air, rather like a paper aeroplane. The amount of lift each card receives depends on the speed of air flowing over it. Because the boomerang is spinning, the top card is going forward through the air while the lower cards are going backwards, giving the cards an uneven lift. This difference in lift, combined with the different angle of the cards changes the direction of the boomerang.

With the right amount of twist and a semi-professional throw the boomerang will return.

This activity came from the SciCast site. There are some fantastic films on there – why don’t you have a go and make one yourself?

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3. Up for Grabs – You’ve got to be in it to win it...

This week we’ve got a ‘Robotic Bird’ science kit to give away. Make your own exciting robot and understand the basics of robotic science.

If you want to win it, send us your name, age and address to: Hay-wire.Clubhouse@nesta.org.uk with ‘ROBO-TWEETER’ as the subject. The winner will be picked at random at 5pm, on Wednesday 23rd July 2008.

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4. Winners – Has your name been picked out of the bag?

Remember Issue 96 when we were giving away a copy of Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London by Keith Mansfield? The lucky winner is Poppy Tomkinson (10) of Chesterfield. Well done Poppy!

So remember – keep entering ‘cos next time it could be you!

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5. TUMMY TICKLERS – It’s the way you tell them…

Jokes to make you think…

What runs but never walks?
Water!

What is white when it’s dirty and black when it’s clean?
A blackboard!

What kind of coat you can put on which doesn't have buttons, a zipper, or sleeves?
A coat of paint.

What do you throw out when you need it and take in when you don't need it?
An anchor!

What belongs to you, other people use it a lot, but you hardly ever use it?
Your name!

What starts with a T, ends with a T, and is full of T?
A teapot!

What's a quick way to double your money?
YOU FOLD IT!

INFORMATION OVERLOAD

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INFORMATION OVERLOAD

Planet Science has gone Hay-Wire and now you have too!

That’s all for this issue. The next issue of Hay-Wire will be with you in two weeks time so until then, why not ask your friends to join the Hay-Wire Club?

They can visit the Clubhouse for more details (the password is Sciwoof )

Bye for now!