Bill Bryson - The Measure of Things

The measure of things:

Triangulation is a popular method for working out distance and dimensions based on the principles that interior angles of a triangle sum 180°. For example:  if there was one person in Paris and one person in  Moscow and you knew the distance between the two people and you could connect an imaginary line between the two people and then two more lines to the moon you have a triangle. From there you can work out all the angles and the distance to the moon.

In 1684 Dr Halley visits Isaac Newton, he asked him to produce a paper on an unrelated matter, Newton did that and much more. He ended up developing, over the period of two years, his three laws of motion, which states simply that that an object will keep moving in a straight line until something some other force acts to slow or deflected it, that every action has an opposite an equal reaction and his universal law of gravitation that states every object in the universe extracts a tug on every other.

In 1769 a large number of the scientific community had set off to remote places in the world to observe the transit of Venus, their reason, to be able to calculate the distance from Earth to the sun and there find earths position in the solar system. All of the scientists that set out to watch the transit of Venus failed.  But a little-known Yorkshire born sea captain named James Cook successfully charted the Venusian transit. He watched the transit from a sunny hilltop in Tahiti and then went on to chart and claim Australia. Upon Captain Cooks return the French astronomer Joseph Lalande had enough information to calculate that the mean distance from the earth to the sun was little over 150,000,000 km. Later transits in the 19^th century astronomers came up with a figure of 149.5,000,000 km which has remained ever since.

In 1669 after many others had attempted, astronomer Jean Picard was able to devise a method of triangulation, he used it to make the most accurate measurement of a degree of Arc at 110.46 km. Which is the information needed to work out the circumference of the earth. Isaac Newton had a theory that the earth wasn’t a complete sphere and that there was a slight flattening at the polls, his theory was proven correct by Jean Picard.

The mass of the Earth was calculated in the summer of 1774 by Maskelyne on a mountain in Scotland. That summer he was able to calculate the mass of the Earth at 5,000 million million tons. From that calculation we can now calculate the mass of all the other major bodies in the solar system. Like the Sun. So from this one experiment we learnt the mass of the Earth, the Sun, the moon, other planets and there moons. Contour lines were invented in the process. They are the lines that are used to judge the altitude on a map, which we still used today.

In in 1769 Cavendish conducted an experiment with equipment made from a deceased scientist. The aim was to discover the weight of the earth. After a year when he had finished his calculations and experiments he was able to establish that the earths weight was 6 billion trillion metric tons.

So in conclusion by the late 18^th century scientists knew very precisely the shape, dimensions and weight of earth and its distance from the Sun and planets. Even with all the modern-day technology we’ve only been able to confirm these discoveries.

Ryan Gardner

Meteorologist

Meteorologist:

Meteorology is the study of the atmosphere and the cause of the weather. Meteorology has been around for thousands of years dating back when people looked at could formations and the season cycle to predict the weather. Meteorologists predict the weather today by finding the daily high and low temperature, the humidity, air pressure and the speed and what direction the wind is coming from. They then use computer generated maps to track the weather patterns. Meteorologists usually work in: The media (like the news) and transport services like shipping or air. The Word Meteorology has nothing to do with meteors it comes from the Greek word “metéōros” which means “high in the air”.

Qualifications:

To be an Meteorologist you usually need a Masters or Doctorate in physics, chemistry, maths, geography and meteorology as well as: Good problem solving , Writing ( for reports) , communicating and be able to work in a team. Also it requires some geographical skills. 3-6 years of training is required. If you wanted to work at Met service you would just need a bachelor of science and maths or physics.

You can get these qualifications at:

Victoria University of wellington is the only university that does a masters degree in Meteorology.

Also you can work or get experience at NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) they pretty much do  everything to do with environment.

Bill Bryson - The Reverend Evans's Universe

You will most definitely know that the universe is massive - for example if you look at the night sky you can see over two thousand stars without moving your eyes or head - and I doubt that if you there was one small extra star one night, you would notice it. One man, though, can. And with his 16-inch telescope situated in his crowded little store room off the kitchen. Obviously he can see much more than the naked eye with his telescope, but another thing is that he has speed. A 16-inch telescope is not so large - which means that where a large professional telescope would be lucky to do fifty or sixty, this man can observe about four hundred galaxies an evening!

His name is Reverend Robert Evans.

The extra star I mentioned earlier, is a supernova. This is what Evans hunts for. Supernovae happen when stars bigger than our own sun collapses… And then explodes, instantly releasing the energy of a hundred billion suns. This makes it for a time burn brighter than any other star in its galaxy.

Evans began looking for these supernovae in 1980, about fifty years after the first idea of supernovae was suggested by an almost mad-man obsessed with push-ups named Fritz Zwicky, and by 2003 he had found thirty-six of these stars. That’s a lot. Because, to put it in perspective for you, and this is in Bill Bryson’s words; “imagine a standard dining room table covered in a black table cloth and throwing a handful of salt across it. The scattered grains can be thought of as a galaxy. Now imagine fifteen hundred more tables like the first one - enough to make a single line two miles long - each with a random array of salt across it. Now add one grain of salt to any table and let Evans walk among them. At a glance he will spot it. This grain of salt is the supernova.”

Not many people can find them, and sometimes Evans beats machines at it. Reverend Robert Evans is an extraordinary man.

Monique

Marine Biologist

Marine Biology

Is the scientific study of plants and animals. Marine biologist study vast amounts of sea life from inspecting tiny plankton under a microscope to observing a one hundred foot long whales. Marine biologist even look at many different plants under water to see how they survive and break down.  They also inspect if they could be used in human survival. Research with these orgasms include how they adapt to the salt water environment and how they interact with other organisms. Marine biologists work in different areas which revolve around different jobs.

Where they could work and what they do-

Marine biologists can work in the ocean, salt marshes, beaches, estuary’s, aquariums, zoos, universities and colleges. Marine biologist can also work for private businesses or non-profit organisations. Marine biologists that work in aquariums and zoos work with animals such as Whales, Dolphins and Pinnipeds which are a kind of animal that are fin footed or have wings such as seals. They scuba dive and collect animals that they bring them back to aquariums or zoos and observe and care for them. Some Marine biologists work in laboratories where they study and examine organisms such as sponges and research them for compounds that could be used in medicine. Other look at tiny creatures where they examine them and sequence their DNA (determining the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule).  Other biologists work in the ocean where the study the behaviour of a marine species and the best way to raise animals such as Oysters and Mussels in an aquaculture environment.

What qualifications and training you would need to become a Marine biologists?

Qualifications and knowledge you need-

To become a Marine biologist you must have an understanding and skills in subjects such as chemistry, biology, geology, physics and ecology. Entry-level jobs in Marine biology need a Bachelor degree in biology. A marine biology Ph.D. is needed for most of the marine biology specific careers in independent research and college level teaching.

Training-

Some marine biologist offer training for people at young ages. They offer summer camps at marine biology and study centres from age twelve up. They offer summer programs for colleges where they teach students sailing, scuba diving and marine explorations. You can also do volunteer work in aquariums to gain experience working with marine life in the display tanks. Internships are also available when you get to college. Many internships focus on studies and research.

Subjects you should take in college

If you’d like to become a Marine biologist then you need to have a general understanding in maths, science and computers. Subjects you should take are Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Calculus, general maths and science and digital tech. You would need to take maths and science to year thirteen and then carry on with them to university because they are the most important subjects.

Where in NZ can you receive training and qualifications?

Victoria University Wellington marine biology

University of Otago marine science

Marine science university of Auckland

AUT University (Auckland University of technology) marine science    

Welcome To The Solar System ~ A Short History Of Nearly Everything

Our solar system; such a vast, enormous, almost magical place to reside in. Many theories about our solar system still lie unconfirmed, but humans have already developed a reasonably complex understanding of the way it works and behaves.

It was only in 1978 when scientists first discovered that Pluto had a moon. A young Astronomer named James Christy was making routine inspections on Pluto, when he noticed something strange and blurry. He consulted a colleague about this, and they came to the conclusion that what they were looking at was a moon. This brought much concern to the validity of Pluto being a real planet, as the moon happened to be the largest in the solar system.

If Pluto is a real planet, it is definitely considered to be an odd one. Pluto’s orbital path is tipped out of alignment at a 17 degree angle. It orbits in such a strange manner that for a substantial amount of time Pluto is closer to us than Neptune is.

The universe is a humongous place; its size larger than our human minds could possibly imagine. Even if humans managed to travel to Pluto, our life-giving sun would be the size of a pin-head in the sky. When you look up into space, the bright stars that shimmer in the darkness are approximately 30 million, million kilometers apart. Because of the vast enormity of our universe as a whole, it is very likely that some sort of conscious, self aware aliens are living in our universe somewhere. Many scientists have considered all factors required for life, it calculates to the possibility of other alien life and civilizations being in the millions. With these factors considered, it still seems highly unlikely that aliens travel billions of kilometers to plant crop circles in fields and kidnap unsuspecting humans!

Bill Bryson 'How to Build a Universe' chapter summary

Cosmologists still debate on how our universe ‘happened’ and there are many theories put forward by many scientists. One of them is the ‘Big Bang Theory’, which was proposed in the 1920^s by Goerges Lemaître, a Belgian priest, astronomer and professor. Although the Big Bang theory was proposed in the 1920^s, it didn’t really become an active notion in cosmology until the mid-1960^s when two young scientists made an extraordinary discovery.

Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson wanted to use a telecommunications antenna, owned by Hills Laboratories, to have some scientific experiments take place. There was one problem though, a steady hiss that came from everywhere in the sky. They tried everything to eliminate that noise, from dusting plugs to replacing electronic equipment but whatever they did, the noise wouldn’t go away. What they didn’t know is that what they were trying so hard to get rid of, a team of scientists led by Robet Dicke at Princeton University just 50 kilometers away were trying to get ahold of that noise.

George Gamow, a Russian-born astrophysist wrote a book in the 1940^s, The Inflationary Universe, in which he put forward the idea that there is still some left over radiation, which was produced by the Big Bang, and that by the time it crosses the universe and reaches us it will be in the form of microwaves. The noise that Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson were hearing were those micro-waves being caught by the antenna.

The Inflation Theory, introduced by Alan Guth in 1979, said that the universe is expanding, but not filling up an empty space, it is growing and creating space as it grows. Alan said that there is no past for the universe to come from. In fact, to the universe there is no such thing as time. Whether it has been here forever or has just recently popped up like a good idea, we will never know.

There is another theory put forward by Martin Rees that there are many universes and that there were many Big Bangs, perhaps trillions of them. He said that the universe we live in is just a thing that happens sometimes and that this exact one just happened to have all of the necessities that we require for life. Edward P. Tryon added to Martin’s theory that ‘no one had counted the failed attempts’.

Welcome

Welcome to our class blog for Mr Monk's 10 Science class 2015.  We will be using this space to publish blog posts about chapters we have read in Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything and science careers that we have researched.  Make sure that you read the blog posts that other members of the class publish. You may also want to make comments or ask questions about posts. Keep an eye on posts that you have published in case there are questions for you to answer.

Give your blog post a title in the following format: Bill Bryson Chapter 1 - How to Build a Universe; Science Careers - Entomologist.  For Bill Bryson posts use the label 'Bill Bryson' and for science careers posts use the label 'Science Careers'.

Happy reading, researching and blogging.

Ecologist

An ecologist is a scientist that works with ecosystems as a whole. There are lots of types of ecologists ranging from marine (oceans) to terrestrial (land). Common things ecologists do no matter where they work are: surveys, classifying organisms, habitat construction and organization, researching, and can sometimes teach.

To become an ecologist in New Zealand you need one year studying: Cellular Biology and Biochemistry, Ecology Evolution and Conservation, Diversity of life, and Introductory Statistics. If you want an endorsement in ecology then in your next year you need to take: Ecology, Evolution, and Introduction to Biological Data Analysis. You can get these qualifications at the following universities Victoria, Otago, Auckland, Canterbury, and Massey.

Some subjects recommended for school are Biology, Statistics, and Calculus. Chemistry and knowledge in geography or earth science can be appreciated. Also satisfactory English skills are a must