What would happen if Dwayne (that’s me!) made a new kind of lava lamp with a light on the top as well as one on the bottom?

A) When the lamp was on, the lava stuff would move twice as fast.

B) When the lamp was on, the lava stuff wouldn’t move at all.

C) When the lamp was on, the lava stuff would go to the top and stop.

D) The lava stuff would keep moving even when the lamp was off.

E) The lamp would overheat.

The answer is… drumroll please…… C! The lava would go to the top of the lamp, then stop. How come?

Well, as we figured out, the lava rises up because the lamp at the bottom get hotter, kind of like how a hot-air balloon rises because the air is hotter, and hotter stuff is lighter.

So, if there was a lamp on both top and bottom, the stuff would still get hot, and it would rise to the top… but it wouldn’t ever cool down, because the lamp at the top would keep it hot. So it would go up to the top and stay there!

Make sense to you? Ask me if you don’t get it. And I promise, next time I’ll talk about something new! Even though lava lamps are really kewl…

So, last time, I told you how a lava lamp works. Basically, the light at the bottom makes the waxy stuff get hot. When it’s hotter, it’s less dense than the liquid, so it floats up. When it gets to the top, it cools down, gets more dense, and sinks down… makin’ kewl psychedelic lava lamps.

Here’s the extrapolation:

What would happen if Dwayne (that’s me!) made a new kind of lava lamp with a light on the top as well as one on the bottom?

A) When the lamp was on, the lava stuff would move twice as fast.

B) When the lamp was on, the lava stuff wouldn’t move at all.

C) When the lamp was on, the lava stuff would go to the top and stop.

D) The lava stuff would keep moving even when the lamp was off.

E) The lamp would overheat.

Hehehehe… I’m turning lava lamps into GED preparation! Good luck on this one! Let me know what you think…

Seems like, lava lamps is really science! Who knew? Here’s how it works. So, the lava lamp’s got two things in it, right? There’s the liquid, and then there’s the thicker stuff that goes up and down. How’s it move? It looks like magic! But it’s really science, see?

Here’s the physics: Heavy things sink, and light things float. Sounds really non-scientific, right? Cuz like a rock will sink, but a leaf will float. Science guys say, “Dense things sink, and less dense things float.” That’s cuz a really tiny rock and a really gigantic, humongous leaf might weigh the same… but the rock is smaller. It’s got more weight for its size. So it’s dense.

Anyway, heat makes things expand… they get bigger. So when the thick stuff in the lava lamp gets hot, cuz of the bulb at the bottom of the lamp heats it up, it expands. That means it’s less dense. So it goes up…. then it gets to the top, cools off, gets more dense again, and falls down. Up and down, up and down, as it gets hotter and colder. Kewl!

You can even make your own lava lamp at home. That’s one thing I like about science, is you can build things with it. Here’s a link that shows you how: http://www.oozinggoo.com/howto.html

And if you want to know some cool non-science stuff about lava lamps, here some info about the guy who invented them! He sounds like a bit of a wacko…. like me! http://inventors.about.com/library/weekly/aa092297.htm

Friction is the force resisting the relative lateral (tangential) motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, or material elements in contact. It is usually subdivided into several varieties.

Already I’m like, WHOAH, what does THAT mean? I have no idea! That’s why sometimes I feel stupid, ’cause I read stuff on the internet when I just wanna find out a simple answer to a simple question like, “Why is ice slippery” and I get this sentence about relatives and ladders and tangerines. I don’t get it! But I really wanted to know, ’cause I been tryin’ to look things up like Mr. W says, so I tried the next link down at fearofphysics.com and that definition made WAY more sense:

Friction is the “evil” of all motion. No matter which direction something moves in, friction pulls it the other way. Move something left, friction pulls right. Move something up, friction pulls down.

Already I can tell a little more about Friction! It’s some kinda force that keeps you from moving one way ’cause it’s pushing the other way. That’s not so hard to understand. And when I read the rest of the definition, I could already kind of guess what the answer to my question was! Look, I made a practice question out of it:

Friction is the “evil” of all motion. No matter which direction something moves in, friction pulls it the other way. Move something left, friction pulls right. Move something up, friction pulls down. It appears as if nature has given us friction to stop us from moving anything. Friction is actually a force that appears whenever two things rub against each other. Although two objects might look smooth, microscopically, they’re very rough and jagged… As they slide against each other, their contact is anything BUT smooth. They both kind of grind and drag against each other. This is where friction comes from. — fearofphysics.com

Why can you slide on ice more easily than on concrete?

1. Concrete is evil.

2. Ice has more friction than concrete.

3. Concrete has more friction than ice.

4. Ice has no friction at all.

5. It’s impossible to know from this passage.

Since this is my practice question, I’ll let you guys figure it out! But I wanted to also say that, well, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! I mean, when I first tried to look up friction, I just didn’t get it. I think that if I was lookin’ this stuff up before I started studying for the GED, I woulda given up after the first try. I woulda thought I was an idiot! But I’m not! Even if I have to go to a site that’s meant for kids in middle school or something, I’d rather understand something that was explained really simplistically than not get it at all!

So everyone out there, keep trying and searching for answers to your questions! Eventually, you’ll find something that makes sense to you!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Check out this practice question I found about the GRAVITRON!

A man stands on a ride at an amusement park that spins around. As the ride spins faster, the man is pushed back against the outer wall and finds it very difficult to pull himself away from it.

Which statement best explains this event?

1. There is glue on the wall holding him on.

2. The ride is creating a magnetic force that pulls the man toward the metal in the walls.

3. The ride is creating a new center of gravity inside the walls.

4. The spinning of the ride creates a centrifugal force that pushes the man outward from the center.

5. The ride creates an optical illusion the makes the man think he is falling backward into the wall.

Haha, well unless he’s a metal man, I don’t think 2 is right! Magnetics only work on metal, and only some kinds of metal. Maybe if he had a lot of metal in his pockets? But the question doesn’t say he does, so I’m gonna guess not. Especially ’cause I don’t think spinning around creates magnetic forces, that has something to do with the north and south pole I think?

Anyway, 1 is always wrong, there’s no glue in theme park rides unless some kind puts it there. That leaves me with 3, which says it’s gravity; 4, which says it’s centrifugal force; and 5, which says it’s all an optical illusion. Well, I guess there are some optical illusions that make you think you might be moving when you’re not. They got this other ride at Universal Studios that has a long tunnel that spins, and when you get out of the tunnel, you realize that everyone on the ride is leaning to their left ’cause of the spinning! I don’t know how that works, but I don’t think it’s true here. When you spin something around, like if you had a cup filled with water and spun it really fast, the water would stick to the sides too! So that’s not it.

I don’t think it’s 3 either, ’cause gravity is something that big things do. The sun, the Earth, the moon, they all have gravity, but they’re big masses… I mean HUGE masses of rock and stuff, and they only create a little bit of gravity. I mean, we can still jump and fly in planes. But when you’re on the Gravitron, you couldn’t jump. It says that in the question too. “The man finds it very difficult to pull himself away.” So if the Earth creates a little bit of gravity, I really doubt the Gravitron could creation even MORE gravity (as much as its name wants it to).

I think the answer’s number 4. I’m not even entirely sure what centrifugal force is, but it sounds about right. Like isn’t a centrifuge something the put blood in and spin REALLY fast? Even if you don’t know about that, all the other answers just don’t make as much sense. Like 3 says it’s making gravity IN the walls, which doesn’t work, but 4 says that it’s creating a force that just pushes the man out from the center. That makes more sense.

Hope everyone has a good new year! 2010!! Keep studying for the GED! Make a resolution to pass! You can totally do it!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit the GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

The Nobel prize winners are out there… and here’s some of the stuff that’s winning…

The Nobel prize for medicine is split up between Harald zur Hausen, a scientist who discovered that a virus called HPV causes a kind of cervical cancer in women. That means that now, years later, there’s a vaccine that can help keep women from getting cervical cancer… totally weird! And the other winners are Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, two scientists who discovered the HIV virus that causes AIDS. So, the medicine prize is all about viruses!

The Nobel prize for physics is also split… dudes! There’s just too many great science guys out there, I guess. Yoichiro Nambu, a scientist at the University of Chicago, and Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa, two scientists in Japan, study really tiny particles that make up matter. They try to figure out why the universe isn’t symmetrical… like, the same on both sides. Like, trippy, dudes.

Nobel prize for chemistry is getting announced tomorrow… but I don’t think I’m gonna win. Hey, someday I could win a Nobel prize, I guess! How about you?

Start with that GED, and who knows?

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Don’t believe me? Here’s a link to the science article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7553061.stm

See, here’s what it says:

Scientists in the US say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people invisible.

Researchers at the University of California in Berkeley have developed a material that can bend light around 3D objects making them “disappear”.

Dude! It’s stuff that bends light. Weird. Wait, it’s kinda like a mirror, right? See, light hits the mirror and bounces off at the same angle… so looking in a mirror is like looking out of the mirror at yourself… weird.

So, you know that light can be  bent, right? It can hit a mirror and bounce off… cuz it bounces off at just the right angle, all the light rays stay together and you can see what’s behind you.

Same thing with this invisibility stuff… light rays hit you and usually they bounce off of you in different directions. But this stuff reflects the light rays AROUND you… not back where they came from, but back on track the same direction they were already going… so that no one sees you. Kinda like the Predator, right? You’re invisible because the light rays are the same when they leave you as when they hit you. Weird.

Light off a mirror is REFLECTED…bounced off. Light that’s moved around you like that invisiblity cloak stuff is REFRACTED… it passes through something… and it gets bent while it’s going through. Like, light gets refracted when it goes through water or stained glass or a prism. The trick is to refract the light just right so it ends up going out the same direction it goes in. Then, it’d be just like you were a piece of glass…invisible!

So, here’s your GED  science practice question…

Which of the following kinds of technology uses REFRACTED light?

1) A telescopic gun sight

2) A camera

3) Contact lenses

4) A microscope

5) All of the above

Do you know the answer… think about it…

I bet you got it… the answer is 5… all these things use refracted light, and soon the INVISIBILITY CLOAK will be on the list, too! Refracted light passes through something and gets bent as it goes on through…, so a telescopic gun sight bends the light so things look closer, just like a regular telescope or binoculars. And, a camera bends the light so that it gets on the film in the right size, so you can take a picture. And your contact lenses bend light so it puts everything in focus for your eyes, even tho your eyes are messed up, like mine. And, a microscope bends light to make little, tiny stuff look big so you can see it! So, bending light changes the way you see things.

And an invisibility cloak could bend light so you don’t see something at all!!! Kewl.

So, now you learned some GED science! Keep studyin’… that GED is pretty close, I bet!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Which one’s gonna be easier? Cuz, that’s the important thing. No one wants to work too hard, right? So, work smarter! Pick the easiest lever! Do it!

Answers:

A)    Lever A

B)    Lever B

C)    Both are the same.

You got your answer? Choose one now! Cuz I’m gonna explain it in a minute….

I’m waiting. You answered the question yet?

Oh, okay. Here’s the answer… it’s…  Lever B!!! Yes, answer B is correct. Did you get it right? Here’s why… and it’s pretty important to know for the test…

The amount of work you’re doin’ is equal to the amount of force you put on the lever (how hard you push down) times the distance from the fulcrum (that’s the triangle in the center!). So, the further away you are from the fulcrum, the more you’re adding to your force to do more work! Cuz you multiply it by the distance, the farther away you get from the fulcrum, the more distance you got, and the more work you do.

Same thing with the other side. You want to put your happy face as close to the fulcrum as possible, because it’s like you multiply how heavy it is by the distance from the fulcrum to figure out how much you gotta lift. It’s pushing down on the lever, right? You gotta push down harder to lift it. So you want its “pushing down”ness to be as small as possible (as close as you can get it to the fulcrum.) And, you want your “pushing down”ness to be as big as possible (as far as you can get  from the fulcrum). Get it?

Try this at home. Like, you can make a scale by tying a string in the center of a stick and hanging it from the ceiling. It’s just like a lever, but the fulcrum’s holding it up instead of on the bottom. Get it? Now, you can tie different things to each side to see which one’s heaviest. Try tying two identical things (like matching earrings) to the scale. If they’re the same distance from the center (fulcrum) the scale should balance.

If one’s farther away than the other, it pulls its side down. It’s like it’s heavier! That’s cuz the distance, not just the weight, is part of how it affects the lever. Kewl. Play around with it… that’s the best way to understand it, I think.

Happy GED learning!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passged.com or call 1-888-880-2164.

Here’s a link with a bunch of info on Van de Graaff Generators… http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/electric/vandeg.html …

Well, it’s, like, a machine for taking electrons out of a metal ball at the top… and since electrons are NEGATIVELY charged, the ball at the top gets POSITIVELY charged. And if you touch that Van de Graaff generator thing… you can make your hair stand on end. Because the ball is positively charged, it wants some ELECTRONS! It gotta have them!!! So, when you touch it… it’ll take ELECTRONS from you. An’ what happens? You give up a bunch of electrons… an’ your hair is all POSITIVELY CHARGED now. So…

You know all about static electricity an’ all that. Here’s your question… why’s your hair stand on end?

1) the positively charged hairs are repelled from each other and your head

2) the positively charged hairs are attracted to the ceiling

3) the ball now has no charge because of the extra electrons, and pushes your positively charged hair away

4) the positively charged hair is lighter because it has fewer electrons and so it floats upward

Okay. Now, I’ll give you some time to answer. Dum, da…dum, da….dum, da, dum. Dum-da-dum-dum-dahhh–dadadadada… Times up!!! Did you get it? What did you think was the answer?

Drumroll please…. The correct answer… is… answer 1!!! Remember… OPPOSITES ATTRACT. And that means, SAMES PUSH EACH OTHER AWAY. If all your hair is positively charged, it all wants to get away from each other! So your pieces of hair push each other as far away as possible…and they stand up on end!!! Kewl.

Now for the fun part. You can build a  Van de Graaff Generator at home! Yes, you can! And weird out all your friends. Here’s instructions…. http://web.singnet.com.sg/~sengam/construction.htm

Have some kewl GED science fun!!!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Hahahaha!!! Did I SHOCK you? Because that’s what you probably got doin’ my experiment…an electric SHOCK. Yeah, it’s called static electricity. And don’t get mad…cuz it really is SCIENCE. That’s right…same kinda science that’s on the GED test.

So, what is static electricity? What’s the science behind the electric shock you get?

Here’s the deal: it’s all about attraction!!!

You’ve heard the saying, “Opposites attract.” Well, that comes from science. See, things like doorknobs and carpet and shoes and you are made up of atoms, and atoms are made up of electrons, protons, and neutrons.

Electrons are negative… they’ve got a “negative” charge.

Protons are positive… they’ve got a “positive” charge.

Neutrons are neutral. They stay out of it! They’ve got a “neutral” charge.

Well, the electrons are on the outside of atoms, and they’re movin’ around, all fast-like, goin’ here and there… and guess what? When you rub two things together, like your shoes and carpet, the electrons from one rub off on another! So, one ends up with too many electrons, and gets negatively charged. The other one ends up with two few electrons and gets positively charged. (Electrons are what puts the ‘electricity’ in static electricity.)

The extra electrons on something want to ‘jump’ over to something with fewer electrons, to sort of balance out all the electrons. So…when your hand gets near the doorknob…electrons start ‘jumping’ over the gap…and it makes a spark! Kewl, right?!? There’s a lot more to learn about static electricity, and it’s all kewl GED science….so read up at these websites:

http://www.school-for-champions.com/science/static.htm 

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/static.html 

Next time, I’ll have a GED practice question about static electricity!! So study hard, GED-people!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.