America's Cup - Team New Zealand

Das war der Moment in dem rund 600.000 Neuseelaender den Atem angehalten haben: Emirates Team New Zealands Boot steht auf 44.8 Grad und ist kurz davor umzukippen. But we were lucky: We got back to our feet (sorry,....hull).



OMG - Diesen Moment warden wir nicht so schnell vergessen.

Zur Zeit ist America's Cup Time in San Francisco. Ein aeussert spannendes Rennen zwischen Ttitelverteidiger USA und Herausforderer Neuseeland. Neuseeland flippt gerade ein bisschen aus, es steht 7:1 fur NEUSEELAND, und Neuseeland muss nur noch zwei Rennen gewinnen um den Cup nach Neuseeland zu holen, wohingegen USA noch 8 Rennen gewinnen muss!

Und die Rennen haben es wirklich in sich, ich war wirklich bei jedem Rennen total aufgeregt. Es ist spannend ohne Ende, Segeln aller erste Sahne. Und diese neuartigen Katamarane sind extrem schnell und sicherlich nocht einfach zu segeln.

Am Sonntag morgen sind wir frueh aufgestanden,um rechtzeitig im Shed 10 in Auckland zu sein ...

 

... hier konnte man das Rennen verfolgen, und ....ja,
das ist die Szene: 44.8 Grad ! Da hat nicht viel gefehlt!

 

 

Eine Zusammenfassung des letzten Renntages sowie das ganze Rennen koennt Ihr im Internet finden: (ein Rennen dauert ca. 20 Minuten):

 

Start Race #1 um die 8:00, Race #2 um 24:00, bei 32:00 wird's spannend!

Science Fair Orewa College (4)

So I asked in my last post: ”Does Redbull give you wings?”. Surprise, surprise – it DOES! As long as you ar enot used to drink Redbull, it makes a difference!

 

This was our son's poster !

This does not really meet German precision ;-) .. but in NZ the
effort counts as well ... :)

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So, I really enjoyed the science fair. Most students have put a lot of effort into it. And parents have assisted as well, I am quite sure about this.
 

Yes of course, there were tests like “Throw an egg and check if it breaks”. I am sure this student was only allowed to perform this test outside of the house: Let an egg fall from the height of 100cm onto different materials and check if the egg breaks. The material onto the egg would fall were wood, paper and glass. I mean, cooomeeeee’oooonnn, is that so difficult so foresee that all 24 eggs will smash to the ground and just trash the entire “laboratory” called parent's home!

 

 

And we all know what happens when you throw a Mentos into Coca Cola – maybe a new technique the NASA may consider to fly to the Mars? At least the shares of Coca Cola would sky rocket!s still ok

 

Anyway, it was all big fun.
 

Science Fair Orewa College (3)

This experiment certainly took my attention. Not that I am a big fan of popcorn, I actually do not even like the smell of it in particular when you are squeezed into a little cinema and you take deep breaths of popcorn “smell” … but anyway.
This student asked the question, which popcorn pops the best. I reckon that this study is considered as pretty cool, since students love to go to the cinemas and when they’re there they can impress their hot girl or boy with the question “I did some research and believe me, take this brand, that pops best!”

I found the explanation pretty interesting. I took a few pictures, worth to read it ..

 

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I really enjoyed when they picked topics which are of interest for others and address a serious topic such as insulation. New Zealand homes are as you probably know often without any heating. Heat pumps are getting more popular, but often people go with heating by gas or electricity. A not very efficient way to generate heat, and gas heating is even linked to some health issues.

 

So this student investigated which materials gives the best insulation. Bubble paper was one of the front runners: In this experiment the entire window was covered with bubble paper. Not that this is probably the best way to insulate your windows (only since 2012 new houses in NZ must have double glazed windows!), in particular since you cannot really look out of your window (maybe ok for a bathroom, but not for the lounge if you have a beautiful view to the ocean or to a nearby park), but I reckon the learning curve for this student was steep and I hope that this will change the attitude towards energy efficient houses in NZ as well.

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And what about this one here: ”Does Redbull give you wings?” … what do you reckon?

YES or NO ??

 

 

More hot topics and results in two days ….

Science Fair Orewa College (2)

Sometimes these young students were very about their results, quite shocking for us adults!

Look at this experiment comparing the memory capabilities of adults vs kids: “Who can memorize or remember things better?” How SHOCKING, the results were even worse than we adults ever dreamt of … we all know that our memory works less good or efficient the older we get. But look at this conclusion:

”… after the age of 30 people start to have a heavy decline in memory and can only remember little amounts at a time”.

Don't read if you're older than 30!

 

OMG, I am wondering if the jury could even follow the ideas of this experiment – reading the conclusion the jury members have already forgotten what the experiment was about!!

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But here is a study I really like because the students found out on their own how acid a Coca Cola drink is.
So you do not to tell your kids that Coca Cola is unhealthy, since they would not believe you anyway. But if they found out on their own, how amazing, suddenly they prefer just spring water and put the Coke aside! But I reckon, after some time they have forgotten about it (see study above, oh, sorry, I forgot, these students are not 30 yet - but I am), and I am pretty sure, drinking pure spring water is considered as pretty uncool at school!

 

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Another experiment was quite similar: "How many sugar do you find in soft drinks like Mountain Dew?" The student wrote in the conclusion: “Mountain Dew had a shocking 12.4g of sugar in every 100ml”. Yes, this is definitely something you can call “shocking”.

Here comes Mountain Dew .... - a mere sugar bomb!

 

 

More hot topics and results in two days ….

 

 

Science Fair Orewa College (1)

Science Fair is something we do not know at schools in Germany, but it is very common in Intermediate and High Schools here in New Zealand.

This is what students usually do: Pick a topic of your choice, then prepare a paper following a particular structure, which could be like

hypothesis >> background information >> equipment >> experiment >> data and graphs  >> con-clusion.

Once written down you print out your paper and glue each page to a board (see pictures below). They are then presented to a teachers’ board, they vote for the best papers which then will participate in a competition with other schools!

YES, you can certainly learn a lot from these posters, at least from a few! So let’s see what you could learn …

This is how all the posters were lined up....

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Question 1: "Which substance best enhances the longevity of cut flowers?" WOW, that was certainly I was interested in, what a great topic! And the results was a big surprise,… is it:

1. Sugar
2. Vinegar
3. Coffee water

It’s sugar!! So next time, when you give your love a bunch of flowers by and add a little sachet of sugar! I am wondering, if we should ask the flower shop around the corner, if they should or could sell sugar in the future as well ...

Add sugar to flowers ?

 

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Question 2: This is certainly a question which is essential when trying to survive a major disaster: "Does M&Ms or Pebbles melt faster?" As far as I recall I think it was Pebbles melting faster. So if a disaster hits you during a hot summer night you better had bought M&Ms to keep everybody happy.

So what melts faster?

More hot topics and results in two days ….