Speaking of weird stuff, and changing the world… Back to today’s GED stuff. I totally want a water monster. I mean, it’s like a monster, right? But you know what’s not kewl? Water monsters are goin’ extinct. That’s right. Gettin’ wiped off the face of the Earth. Here’s part of an article on it:

Mexico City’s ‘water monster’ nears extinction

…The axolotl, also known as the “water monster” and the “Mexican walking fish,” was a key part of Aztec legend and diet. Against all odds, it survived until now amid Mexico City’s urban sprawl in the polluted canals of Lake Xochimilco, now a Venice-style destination for revelers poled along by Mexican gondoliers, or trajineros, in brightly painted party boats.

But scientists are racing to save the foot-long salamander from extinction, a victim of the draining of its lake habitat and deteriorating water quality. In what may be the final blow, nonnative fish introduced into the canals are eating its lunch — and its babies….

Dudes! Doodzz!!! Their babies are getting EATEN! Huh, law of the jungle, right? I mean, water monsters really are kewl. They’re like these lizards with funny-lookin gills on the side of their head. I totally want one, dude. So, here’s the GED science question…

Based on the article, which factors are causing the kewl water monster to go extinct?

A) human hunting and pollution

B) gondolliers and being part of the Aztec diet

C) loss of habitat and competition from nonnative fish

D) competition from nonnative fish and human hunting

E) human hunting and loss of habitat

Hey, dudes, this is a comprehension question… that means, do you GET IT? That’s all… can you figure out what it’s sayin. And there’s lots of these on the GED science test. So, did you get it?

The answer’s C. Human hunting’s out…sure, the Aztecs ate water monsters (kewl, monster stew!), but that’s not when they started goin’ extinct! Here’s the part that’s important…I mean, the part where you can find the answer:

a victim of the draining of its lake habitat and deteriorating water quality. In what may be the final blow, nonnative fish introduced into the canals are eating its lunch — and its babies….

Ewww! Eating babies!!! Gross. Okay. Well, so, you got that the lake is losing water, and the water that’s left ain’t that great… that’s what ‘the draining of its lake habitat (where it lives) and deteriorating (worse!) water quality’ means. You can kinda put that together into ‘loss of habitat.’ There’s less place for it to live, and what there is ain’t too good to live in no more.

Then it says ‘nonnative fish introduced into the canals are eating its lunch — and its babies…’ Eating babies! Eating MONSTER babies! Sorry, dudes, got distracted. The point is, that’s competition. The fish are competing with the WATER MONSTERS for food… so ‘competition from nonnative fish’ is pretty much what it’s sayin’. So, answer C’s gotta be right.

An’ the one about the gondaliers is just silly. Study hard, dudes! Get that GED!

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

Well, some scientists found a place with lots and lots and LOTS of dinosaur footprints in the ground, and they’re calling it a “dinosaur dance floor“! Kewl. That rocks. They say that dinosaurs came there from all around, and they even thing they found marks of dino-tails dragging on the ground

So, here’s your GED question… scientists found an area with hundreds and hundreds of dinosaur footprints! What is the most likely reason dinosaurs all came to that area?

1) They came to dance!

2) There was a water source there.

3) The dinosaurs were just passing by the area.

4) The dinosaurs came there for sunlight.

5) The dinosaurs came there to make footprints.

D’ya get it? Come on! Dancing dinosaurs! That’s not really why the dinosaurs came there, dudes… but it looks like a dance floor, right? With all the footprints. So why would they really go there? What do animals want? Why do animals all get together in one place? It’s prolly  not for sun, cuz there’s sun in lots of places… and it’s prolly not just to make footprints. And just passing by… that’s not a reason. The most likely answer is a watering hole! Cuz animals come to water, it’s something they all need, and it’s not always easy to find. I’d go with that, answer 2.

Have fun with your GED!

And don’t forget to do a dinosaur dance when you pass!

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.

Kewl, right? I mean, if I could totally surf while taking the GED, I bet I’d do lots better. Only my answers’d be all wet.

Here’s what the article has to say:

The glorious sunshine and the Pacific Ocean provide the perfect conditions for Robert Liu and colleagues’ photochemical reactions, which use the sun’s rays to make variants of vitamin A.

The excess heat from the reaction is then effortlessly dissipated by the sea, presumably as the highly skilled chemist completes the reaction by riding a huge wave back to the beach.

Pop GED Practice Question!!!

A photochemical reaction creates a chemical reaction using….

A)  heat

B)  surfboards

C)  light

D)  water

E)  wind

Did you get the answer? You gotta look in the first paragraph of text up there… “photochemical reactions, which use the sun’s rays…” What are the sun’s rays? Wind? Water? Surfboards? Highly dubious, dude! You might think it’s heat, cuz the sun heats us up. But the sun’s rays are really light. Think about the word “photo…” like, a photograph uses light to make a picture, right? Well, a photochemical reaction uses light to make a chemical reaction. You might get a clue where it says “glorious SUNSHINE.” Dude, that’s definitely light.

Keep watching the science news for kewl stuff, and good luck on your GED studyin’!

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

Well,  you know about sea monkey, right? You had them as a kid, didn’t you? You can, like, order them from the back of magazines, and they come all dried out. But you drop ‘em in water and they come right to life. Like, they shut themselves off. Sort of like hybernation… they just stop. That’s why they can send you them. Sea monkeys are really a kind of little shrimp. Dude, I thought they were really gonna be monkeys. Bummer.

You see, tardigrades, or water bears, are like sea monkeys. They live where it’s wet, but when it’s dry, they shut off and close themselves up and protect themselves. When they get wet, they come alive again. Well, some scientists put the 6-legged critters in space. And they survived! They even survived deadly solar radiation… mysterious!

Here’s the totally kewl article: Creature Survives Naked in Space

And here’s a website all about those little guys: http://www.tardigrades.com/

So, here’s a GED question…

Why do tardigrades turn into a dry, protective state when out of water?

A) so they can survive in outer space

B) to help them survive until they get to water

C) in case they are targeted by solar radiation

D) because they have six legs

Did you get it? Tardigrades protect themselves by “drying out” to help them survive until they get to water again. It doesn’t have anything to do with six legs… and though they can survive solar radiation, that’s not the only reason to protect themselves! The whole idea is survival, and not necessarily in outer space. They just need to get through the dry periods on Earth, mostly. That make sense?

Good luck with all your GED studying… if you can get this one, you can get a lot of GED questions!

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.

Check out these articles about corpse flowers:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008080135_webcorpseflower29m.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/7559690.stm

Yes, it’s a 7-foot-tall stinking flower! Kewl. What if it came to life and really was a zombie flower? Like, rampaging through the city… It only blooms for a couple of days, but when it does, it’s s’posed to smell like rotting flesh. Gross, Dudes! Okay… here’s your GED science question about CORPSE FLOWERS….

What is the best explanation for why corpse flowers have a very pungent odor? (That means a strong smell!)

A)    To attract insects to pollinate the flowers

B)    To kill other plants that are nearby

C)    To attract more sunlight
D)   To attract a mate

Okay… you got an answer? If you’re not sure, try lookin’ at this article…

http://www.sarracenia.com/faq/faq5950.html 

Now you’ve definitely got the answer, right? It’s answer A… the corpse flower pretends to be, like, a big pile of rotting stinking meat… so that flies and stuff, well maybe not flies, but insects that buzz around meat will come to it… and they pollinate, which is how flowers make more flowers! Kewl, right? So, how would you guess the answer?

You gotta think it through, you know? Like, what do flowers need? They don’t really need to kill other plants, you know.  And they don’t need a mate… that’s animals! And, a smell wouldn’t attract sunlight. Like, I don’t think the sun can really smell… So you can use process of elimination… to get rid of the wrong answers, and ta-da! You know why the corpse flower stinks!

Kewl science.

Good GED studyin!

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.