Saturday, November 24, 2007

Mythbusters Extra Credit

Mythbusters is an interesting and educational TV show on Discovery which deals with past, and even present, myths. The episode I watched starred co-hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman and were assisted by Karry, Tory, Scottie and Christine. This time, Adam wanted to try something different, such as deal with "old adages or homilies" as he said, which basically means finding out more about old familiar sayings. An example of this is the well-known "needle in a haystack" saying, which is usually used when talking about finding something in a big clutter. Adam and Jamie decided to investigate. Instead of the usual experiment, the producer wanted them to have a competition, of which the object was obviously to see who could find needles in a haystack first. The general rules for the competition were that each team had to build their own mechanical device and find four needles, one bone and three steel, from the hay pile, and of course before the opposing team. Adam's mechanism was a simple water tank with three paddles. When the mixed hay went through, it stayed above the surface (as hay floats) and the needles fell to the bottom. Good thing Adam used gloves and safety goggles while putting together his "Needle Finder 2000". Jamie's contraption was more complex, it was a long rotating tube with holes so that the needles would fall through. Underneath there were magnets so the needles would be separated. At the end, there was a burner to burn all the hay and if any of the needles made it through, they would manually go through the pile. Before the competition began, one of the helpers (I'm not sure exactly who) used their bare hands to divide out the hay...it would have been safer using gloves. The race was fast-paced and both teams had no needles until... after an exhausting four hours, Jamie found one steel needle!! He found it by putting his bare hand into the tube. Shouldn't he be wearing gloves? Well, now we know how long it actually takes to find only one needle in a haystack! A while later, when the water in Adams tank was starting to run out, he decided to modify the tank, so he stuck magnets at the very beginning of the tank so that maybe the needles would stick to it before the hay made it through. Thanks to that, Adam's team found all the three steel needles after six continuous hours. Only one more to go for Adam! But unfortunately he confessed that he had never checked if bone really floats...will he be able to make it? Jamie's team found another needle "the old fashioned way"-- It was just sitting at the very top of a pile...talk about good luck! The competition was neck-in-neck with Adam's team having only one needle to go. After Adam's team finished the entire haystack, they manually searched for the bone needle and finally, they won the challenge by finding it at the bottom of the tank. They should have been wearing gloves when searching though! The episode used science because it involves the trial-and-error process (while making machines) and since it also involves magnetism and combustion, it is related to science. You need a science background for a career in special effects because having knowledge about the different types of science like physics, biology and chemistry is extremely vital when dealing with a career similar to Adam and Jamie's. This is because while experimenting, the right procedure, materials and safety rules have to be used so that no one gets injured. Being a Mythbuster is not as easy as it looks!



Watch the show online at:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4415313083196714200

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Omega Meme

1. My favorite TV show is Kid Nation as it is entertaining and is about kids our age.

2. My favorite meal is pizza or pasta because I can cook it myself!! I also like dumpling soup.

3. My favorite nonschool activity is playing tennis because it is my favorite sport. I'm not very good, but I like running around and having fun!

4. Someone I look up to is my dad because he is always encouraging and optimistic.

5. My goal for the future is to go to medical school and become a good doctor.

6. In the first hour after school I usually eat a snack and then go on the computer or watch TV.

I have only tagged livexlaughxlovexlife...everyone else is tagged =[