STEM
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF
With Raybot & Faybot
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ST FACTSIMAENNDTS
EXPER
JOURNEy
INTO THE UNKNOWN
Our world is an amazing place, filled with all kinds of mysteries and
wonders. Like spaceships and skyscrapers and oceans and invisible
Wi-Fi waves. And for every single one of these mysteries and wonders,
there are loads of people trying to unlock its secrets. People whose job
it is to look at the world we live in, and try to make it better.
If you want to be one of these people – and help create the world
around us – the best place to start is STEM. STEM stands for Science,
Technology, Engineering and Maths. Studying these subjects will allow
you to explore our universe in a whole new way. The more you do,
the more you’ll realise that by studying STEM, you can:
DO ANYTHING. MAKE ANYTHING. BE ANYTHING.
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SCIENCE
How important is science? Well without it we
wouldn’t have fuel to heat our homes or clean
water to drink. We wouldn’t be able to turn
on the lights at night or watch our favourite
TV programmes. We wouldn’t be able to treat
illnesses, fight climate change, fly to other
countries on holiday – or predict the
weather once we arrived!
TECHNOLOGY
Technology is everywhere. Think about it.
Without technology we wouldn’t have tablets
or smartphones or Wi-Fi or the internet itself.
We wouldn’t be able to listen to music or tell
the time or microwave popcorn. What’s more,
we wouldn’t be able to see into the far reaches
of the universe, or the deepest depths of our
own planet.
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MATHS
Life without maths would be pretty tricky.
We wouldn’t have banks, or buildings that
stood straight. We wouldn’t be able to
measure how tall we are or who can run
the fastest or how much sugar you need to
make the perfect chocolate chip cookies.
Space travel would be out of the question,
fairground rides would be off limits and
robots like Ray and Fay would be no more
than a dream.
ENGINEERING
What would the world be like without
engineering? It’s hard to imagine. We
wouldn’t have bridges, or cars to drive
across them. We wouldn’t have planes in
the sky or boats in the water. There wouldn’t
be trainers on your feet or traffic lights on
the street. And computers wouldn’t exist,
so there’d be no video games either!
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STEP INTO ANY INDUSTRY
STEM affects almost every aspect of our
lives. And almost every industry too. In fact,
studying STEM subjects can help you get
a job in practically any industry you can
think of. Like fashion, music, media, sports
and healthcare. Not to mention energy,
transportation, architecture and space.
The possibilities are endless!
To get the job you want in the future, it’s
important to think carefully about which STEM
subjects you choose now. Everyone should
do maths and science, but if you can pick
separate sciences then physics, biology and
chemistry are really useful too. Other subjects
that can give your career a big boost include
design & technology, ICT, computing – even
art and geography! It all depends on what
you want to do.
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YOU COULD BECOME AN
ENGINEER
Study STEM and the world is your oyster.
You could work in any industry, doing any
number of roles. One of the most popular
roles is an engineer.
What’s an engineer?
An engineer is someone who designs, creates
and improves the places and things in our
everyday lives. Anyone can be one. Remember
the last time you got on a train? Well an
engineer helped design that train. And all the
tunnels it went through along the way.
Or how about your last visit to the cinema?
An engineer designed the acoustics so you
could hear every word. And another engineer
designed the lighting within the film so you
could see every actor’s face.
There are renewable energy engineers who
power homes and aerospace engineers who
make planes safe. There are manufacturing
engineers who design food packaging and
sonar engineers who help submarines talk to
each other.
There are so many different engineers doing
so many different things. They make cities
greener and Formula 1 cars faster. They
protect people from landslides and volcanic
eruptions. They even build machines that
smash high-speed particles into each other
so that we can unravel the mysteries of
the universe!
Being an engineer is serious business. But it’s
really exciting too.
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HOW MANY ENGINEERS DOES IT
TAKE TO BUILD A SMARTPHONE?
Engineers work together on all kinds of projects. Take smartphones, for instance. They wouldn’t
exist without the expertise of LOTS of different engineers. Here are just a few of them!
PRODUCT ENGINEERS
They analyse the smartphone’s design so
that it’s easy to manufacture. They also test
the smartphone to ensure it’s reliable and
won’t break easily.
Computer hardware
ENGINEERS
They design, develop and test computer
hardware such as the motherboard. This allows
the smartphone’s memory, battery and keyboard
to work together.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS AND
RADIO FREQUENCY ENGINEERS
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They enable the smartphone to connect to
wireless networks and develop antenna
systems so that you can make telephone
calls. They also ensure the smartphone can
be powered and charged by electricity.
That’s STEMRRIFIC!
SOFTWARE ENGINEERS
They develop the software that makes apps
work and that allows you to send texts and
take photos.
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EXPERIMENT 1: blobs in a bottle
Want to experience the world
of STEM right now?
What you’ll need: a 1-litre plastic bottle, 200ml of water, 700ml of vegetable oil,
fizzy tablets (e.g. Alka Seltzer) and one adult for supervision!
CHECK OUT THESE FUN-FILLED EXPERIMENTS!
FAY CREATES
HER VERY OWN
MAGIC LAMP
STEMAZING!
STEP 1:
Pour the water into the bottle.
IT
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’
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H
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K
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STEP 2:
Pour the vegetable oil into the
bottle until it’s almost full. Wait for
the water and oil to separate.
STEP 4:
Break the fizzy tablets up into small
pieces and add to the bottle. Make
sure you don’t close the lid on the
bottle or it could explode!
STEP 3:
Add ten drops of food colouring.
STEP 5:
Shine a torch through the bottle to
turn it into a lava lamp.
First off, oil is less dense than water, so it stays on top. The reason oil and water don’t mix is
because water molecules are drawn to each other like magnets. The same goes for oil molecules.
This is called intermolecular polarity. When you add the fizzy tablets, they release gas bubbles in
the water, which rise up through the oil, taking the coloured water with them. When the bubbles
reach the top, they burst, allowing the gas to escape and the water to sink back down.
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RAY DISCOVERS
THE SECRET TO
EXPERIMENT 2: BALLoON HOVERCRAFT
What you’ll need: a balloon, an old CD or DVD, super glue and a pop-up cap from a water bottle.
Adult supervision is a must!
LEVITATION
STEP1:
With an adult to help you, glue
the bottom of the pop-up cap to
the CD, making sure it completely
covers the hole. Wait for it to dry.
STEP 2:
Blow up the balloon, pinching the
end so it doesn’t deflate.
STEP 3:
Without letting any air escape,
stretch the balloon over the closed
pop-up cap.
STEP 4:
Open the pop-up cap and give
your hovercraft a push.
STEP 5:
For extra fun, make a few hovercraft
and race them with your friends. And
don’t forget to decorate them!
THAT’S STEMCREDIBLE!
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When you open the pop-up cap, air flows through the CD and creates a cushion
of air between the CD and the surface below. This reduces friction, which is what
happens when two things rub against each other, causing the moving object or
objects to slow down. Due to the cushion of air, the CD no longer rubs against the
surface, thus allowing it to glide easily away when pushed.
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FAY COMES FACE-TO-FACE
WITH TIME ITSELF
LATER
EXPERIMENT 3: POTATO CLOCK
What you’ll need: two potatoes, two short pieces of heavy copper wire, two galvanised nails,
three jumper wires with alligator clips on each end and one low-voltage LED clock that uses a 1-2 volt battery.
Adult supervision is a must!
1
-
TATERS!
STEP 1:
Remove the battery from the clock.
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12:38
STEP 2:
Number the potatoes ‘1’ and ‘2’.
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2
STEP 4:
Insert a copper wire into each potato,
as far from the nail as possible.
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2
12:38
STEP 7:
Use the remaining alligator clip to
connect the nail in potato 1 to the copper
wire in potato 2 – then set the clock!
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2
STEP 5:
Use alligator clips to connect the
copper wire in potato 1 to the
positive (+) point in the clock’s
battery compartment.
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1
2
STEP 3:
Insert a nail into each potato.
1
2
STEP 6:
Use more alligator clips to connect
the nail in potato 2 to the negative
(­-) point in the clock’s battery
compartment.
A potato clock is an electrochemical cell. This means it
changes chemical energy to electric energy via spontaneous
electron transfer (when electrons move from one atom or
molecule to another atom or molecule). Here, the zinc in the
nail reacts with the copper wire, and the potato acts as a buffer
between the zinc ions and the copper ions. Since the ions are
kept apart, the electron transfer happens over the copper wires
of the circuit, which channels the energy into the clock.
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STEM isn’t just fun. It’s also incredibly useful. In fact,
here are three reasons why you should learn everything you
can about science, technology, engineering and maths:
1. You’ll get more job offers.
2. They’re behind almost everything
we use and access every day.
3. They’ll enable you to create and
change the world we live in.
As you can see, STEM is really important. And we should know. Our name is Thales
(rhymes with Alice) and our job is to build the most imaginative, mind-bending engineering and
technology solutions the world has ever seen. But without people who have studied STEM, we
wouldn’t have been able to do any of these incredible things:
400+
We employ thousands of
engineers and technicians
across the UK.
2 out of every 3 aircraft in
the world use our equipment.
We’re leading
Iridium Next, the
world’s largest
constellation
of satellites.
We’ve built over 110
helicopter simulators for
customers in 25 countries.
Every day
over 130,000
people enjoy
our in-flight
entertainment
systems.
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1,000s
Every year we register over
400 new inventions.
19/20
We protect private data
for 19 of the world’s 20
biggest banks.
ID
T
E
TICK
Our satellites are #1 worldwide
for studying oceans.
We’ve helped
over 25
countries
make 300
million identity
documents.
We helped create
the National Rail
Enquiries Online
Journey Planner
and the Rail Planner
Live app.
Our fare collection
systems handle
over 50 million
transactions daily.
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SEE YA!
Usefusl
link
To find out more about becoming an engineer and
other fun activities, visit:
www.tomorrowsengineers.org.uk
And for great careers support and guidance, visit:
www.plotr.co.uk
www.futuremorph.org