Canby High School Science
Learning the Skills of Life
November 2015
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Gizmos & Gadgets
Predicting the Unpredictable
Here in Minnesota we base everything we do on the
weather. We listen to the forecast on the radio and
television. We check the apps on our phone and then
grumble when WeatherBug and Accuweather tell two
different stories. So why is it that we can put a person
on the moon but not predict what the weather will be
next Saturday? The answer is simple: math gets in the
way.
Growing up with siblings always sparked an adventure. One time I
remember building stilts with my brother and walking around the
yard until our mom spotted us. We thought it was an engineering
feat, but she was more concerned about a hospital bill. For a safer
form of entertainment, build a triangle slinger!
What You Need:

9 skewers or popsicle sticks

1 straw

3 rubberbands

1 cup

Projectiles of your choice

Tape
Did you know?
Chewing gum while peeling
onions will keep you from
crying.
The complete step-by-step directions with pictures can be found by
clicking here: Instructables.com.
What’s the Difference?
Veggies vs Fruits
In seventh grade we touch on botany basics. It can be a very
interesting subject for everyone, as most of us have some
connection to agriculture or gardening. So what’s the real
difference between a vegetable and a fruit? That depends
on who you ask. Some items are listed as a culinary
vegetable when really they are scientifically classified as a
fruit. According to the Mayo Clinic, a fruit is the part of the
plant that develops from the flower. The fruit of an apple is
really the ovary protecting the seed. Vegetables come from
other parts of a plant, such as the stems, roots and leaves. I
strongly recommend reading the short article from the
Mayo Clinic regarding the debate. Some of the information
may surprise you!
Did you know?
In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy
than all the world’s nuclear weapons combined?
Picture 1: They make it look so easy
Many people don’t know that meteorologists are
basically mathematicians. They rely on
supercomputers that create models and are
constantly calculating a variety of scenarios, including
where air masses move, how fast they move, and what
will happen if/when they collide. The information
meteorologists need is provided by thousands of
weather stations across the world. They rely on people
(like Darold Snortum, of Canby, who collected data
every day for over 50 years), airports, airplanes,
balloons, and buoys in the ocean. To their credit, a 3
day forecast is substantially better than a 1 day
forecast 20 years ago.
Picture 2: Launching a weather balloon
In the 1960s a scientist named Edward Lorenz coined
the term the Butterfly Effect also known as the Chaos
Theory. The theory is that a small disturbance, such as a
butterfly flapping its wings in Asia could affect the
weather in New York. He proved this by altering one
little number in a supercomputer and let it run for a
couple hours. What resulted was a weather model that
looked different from many of the other models. He
proved that the limit to forecasting is two weeks.
Luckily for us, scientists are able to get a pretty good
grasp by combining multiple models to cross check
their work. For more information, visit
HowStuffWorks.com