The First Manned Hot-Air Balloon Flight Was Made 227 Years Ago

On Nov 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air balloon created on Dec 14, 1782 by the Montgolfier brothers.

King Louis XVI had originally decreed that condemned criminals would be the first pilots, but de Rozier, along with Marquis François d'Arlandes, successfully petitioned for the honor.

The first military use of a hot air balloon happened during the battle of Fleurus where the French used the balloon l'Entreprenant as an observation post.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Which Material Is Best For Hot Air Balloons: Nylon Or Polyester?
Subject: Aviation
Grade level: Elementary School Grades 4-6
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Low
Affiliation: Selah Junior High School
Year: 2000
Description: A countersink was dropped on the stretched tested materials, nylon or polyester, and the number of impacts it took to tear the fabric were counted. Then the samples of the same materials were heated in an oven and the tests were run again.

Link: http://www.selah.k12.wa.us/SOAR/SciProj2000/HeatherK.html

 

Johannes Kepler, the Astronomer Who Discovered "Kepler's Laws", Died 380 Years Ago

Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630) was a German mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, and key figure in the 17th century scientific revolution. He is best known for his three laws of planetary motion, codified by later astronomers, based on his works that also provided one of the foundations for Isaac Newton's theory of universal gravitation.

Kepler's laws give a description of the motion of planets around the Sun.

Kepler's laws are:

1. The orbit of every planet is an ellipse with the Sun at one of the two foci.
2. A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time.
3. The square of the orbital period of a planet is directly proportional to the cube of the semi-major axis of its orbit.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Stars And What They Can Become
Subject: Aviation
Grade level: Primary School, Grades K-3
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Descriptive
Cost: Low
Awards: 1st place, Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (2008)
Affiliation: Canada Wide Virtual Science Fair (VSF)
Year: 2008
Description: Main topics: How are stars born? What different types of stars are there? How do stars die? What are binary stars? All about our sun.

Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2008/lafl8s2/

 

115th Anniversary of the Discovery of X-Rays

On November 8, 1895, German physics professor Wilhelm Röntgen stumbled on X-rays while experimenting with Lenard and Crookes tubes and began studying them. He wrote an initial report "On a new kind of ray: A preliminary communication" and on December 28, 1895 submitted it to the Würzburg's Physical-Medical Society journal. This was the first paper written on X-rays. Röntgen referred to the radiation as "X", to indicate that it was an unknown type of radiation. The name stuck, although (over Röntgen's great objections) many of his colleagues suggested calling them Röntgen rays. They are still referred to as such in many languages, including German and Russian. Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Research the technology and applications of today's modern forms of diagnostic imaging (X-Rays, CAT Scans, and MRIs).
Subject: Medicine
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: X-rays: discovery, physics, protection; CAT scan: invention, technology, procedure, applications; MRI: procedure, compared to X-rays and CAT scans, safety and risks, applications.
Link: http://www.odec.ca/projects/2004/sitt4b0/public_html/

 

George Boole, the Founder of Boolean Algebra, Was Born

George Boole (1815 – 1864) was an English mathematician and philosopher. As the inventor of Boolean logic—the basis of modern digital computer logic—Boole is regarded in hindsight as a founder of the field of computer science.

Boole proposed that logical propositions should be expressed as algebraic equations - logic is reduced to algebra. Boole replaced the operation of multiplication by the word and and addition by the word or. For example, if x is the set of all brown cows and y is the set of all fat cows, then x+y is the set of all cows that are brown or fat, and xy is the set of all cows that are brown and fat.

Let z = the set of all Irish cows. Then z(x+y) = zx+zy; in other words 'the set of Irish cows that are either brown or fat is the same as the collection of cows that are Irish and brown or Irish and fat'.

- Wikipedia

Science Fair Project Information
Title: Implementing Logic Gates With Relays
Subject: Mathematics / Electronics
Grade level: Middle and High School, Grades 7-12
Academic Level: Ordinary
Project Type: Experimental
Cost: Medium
Affiliation: Science Fair Projects and Experiments
Description: For beginners: Build from relays common logic gates and demonstrate their truth tables with LEDs or suitable bulbs connected at the input and output.
For advanced students: Construct from relay logic gates half or full adders and demonstrate their truth tables. Adders are central components in any modern computer's ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit - the main part of CPU). Build from relays alarms, counters etc.
Link: http://www.juliantrubin.com/bigten/zusecomputer.html