Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Wayne Gretzky, Ice-Hockey Greatest Player of All Time, Was Born

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, (born January 26, 1961 in Brantford, Ontario) is a retired Canadian-American professional ice hockey player. Best known for his NHL records for points (2,857), goals (894), and assists (1,963).

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Slingshot: Improving the Modern Hockey Stick
Subject: Sports Engineering
Grade level: Middle School, Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: The purpose of this project is to investigate the relationship between the weight distributions within a hockey stick’s shaft and the energy that the stick can generate when used. In order to test hockey sticks, in this respect, a pendulum mechanizm was constructed.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/chon8n2/

Monday, January 25, 2010

Robert Boyle, Discoverer of Boyle's law, Was Born

Robert Boyle (1627 – 1691) was a natural philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor. He is best known for the formulation of Boyle's law - one of several gas laws. Although his research and personal philosophy clearly has its roots in the alchemical tradition, he is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the founders of modern chemistry.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Boyle's Law: Pressure vs. Volume of a Gas at Constant Temperature
Subject: Chemistry
Grade level: High School, Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Science Buddies
Description: A simple repetition of Robert Boyle's classic experiment in which he discovered the relationship between pressure and volume of gases; basically using a manometer, a device used to measure pressure.
Link: http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project_ideas/Chem_p011.shtml

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Giuseppe Verdi's Opera ll Trovatore Premiered in Rome in 1853.

ll Trovatore (The Troubadour) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Leone Emanuele Bardare and Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez.

- Wikipedia

Social Science Fair Project Information
Title: The Cantonese Opera
Subject: Performing arts / vocal music
Grade level: Elementary School, Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: Honorable Mention, ThinkQuest International, Spring 2004
Affiliation: ThinkQuest
Year: 2004
Description: Main topics: The origins of Cantonese opera, history, development and change, make-up, costumes, music, Cantonese opera and the local community.

Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/04apr/01272/

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Albert Schweitzer Was Born

Albert Schweitzer (1875 – 1965) was an Alsatian German-French theologian, musician, philosopher, and physician.

He received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of "Reverence for Life", expressed in many ways, but most famously in founding and sustaining the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Lambaréné, now in Gabon, west central Africa (then French Equatorial Africa).

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: What is Leukemia?
Subject: Medicine
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2009)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2009
Description: Main topics: different types of leukemia, symptoms, treatments, future possible treatments, video.
Link: http://www.virtualsciencefair.org/2009/liuv9v2

Friday, January 8, 2010

Stephen Hawking Was Born

Stephen William Hawking (born 8 January 1942) is a renowned British theoretical physicist. Best known for scientific contributions to black hole theory, theoretical cosmology and quantum gravity.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Investigate the Cosmological theory of the Big Bang
Subject: Physics / Astronomy
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2004)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2004
Description: Main topics: The Big Bang theory, Hubble's theories and space telescope, subatomic background information, einstein's relativity, Stephen Hawking's contribution, theories of cosmology, criticism of the Big Bang theory.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2004/khak4a0/public_html/

Elvis Presley Was Born 75 Years Ago

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American popular musician, film actor and an cultural icon. He is widely known as Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King".

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: How has rock and roll impacted today's society?
Subject: Social Studies
Grade level: Middle School Grades 7-9
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, ThinkQuest Narrative (2009)
Affiliation: ThinkQuest
Year: 2009
Description: Main topics: The origins and impact of "rock and roll" music on society - dance, fashions, music, politics, arts, entertainment.

Link: http://library.thinkquest.org/09jan-oracle-n-001/00280/

Monday, January 4, 2010

Sir Isaac Newton (1643- 1727) Was Born

Sir Isaac Newton was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian who is perceived and considered by a substantial number of scholars and the general public as one of the most influential scientists in history.

Best known for His 1687 publication of the Principia which is considered to be among the most influential books in the history of science, laying the groundwork for most of classical mechanics. In this work, Newton described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion which dominated the scientific view of the physical universe for the next three centuries until the work of Albert Einstein. Newton showed that the motions of objects on Earth and of celestial bodies are governed by the same set of natural laws by demonstrating the consistency between Kepler's laws of planetary motion and his theory of gravitation, thus removing the last doubts about heliocentrism and advancing the scientific revolution.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: A computer program that simulates Newtonian physics
Subject: Physics / Computer Science
Grade level: High School Grades 10-12
Academic Level: Advanced
Project Type: Building Type
Cost: Medium
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2003)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2003
Description: This computer program enables a virtually unlimited number of objects, representing bodies of matter can be placed throughout the computer screen. The mass, and initial velocity of each object, as well as the laws of physics, such as universal gravitational constant, and friction levels etcetera, can all be adjusted, making a wide variety of simulated experiments possible. The program itself is available for download.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2003/krame3r/public_html/

 

The Tallest Man-Made Structure Ever Built Was Inaugurated - January 4, 2010

Burj Khalifa (Arabic: "Khalifa Tower"), is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is currently the tallest man-made structure ever built, at 828 m (2,717 ft) with 206 floors. Construction began in 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed in October 2009. The building officially opened on 4 January 2010. The total cost for the Burj Khalifa project was about US$1.5 billion. The price of office space at Burj Khalifa had reached over US$43,000 per m2.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Determine the effect of height to width ratio on the wind load of a building.
Subject: Engineering
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Awards: 2nd place, Washington State Science and Engineering Fair
Affiliation: Selah Intermediate School
Year: 2006
Description: A wind tunnel is used to apply wind on miniature plywood structures with different height to width ratio; drag force is measured.
Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2006/BenM.html