In the previous blog post we read about some of the satellites that have re entered the Earth’s atmosphere. It may seem like a waste of the science project for it to end up in little broken down fragments all over the Earth. However what we are trying to ascertain is if the fiery end of these monuments of science is dangerous to the denizens of earth.

Saturn S-II-13 was not exactly a satellite but the second stage used on the massive Saturn V rocket, famous for launching Apollo astronauts to the moon. This 49 metric ton projectile had a free fall, uncontrolled re entry into the atmosphere of the Earth on January 11, 1975 over the Atlantic Ocean. There were no known casualties.

The Cosmos 1402 was a nuclear spy satellite. The 4 metric ton satellite fell to the earth on January 23, 1983 in an uncontrolled re entry. It broke up over the Indian Ocean. Satellite nuclear reactors are usually jettisoned to a safe parking orbit when the satellites re enter the atmosphere but this did not happen in this case.

Mars 96 was a Russian Mars probe that was meant to send four probes to Mars. The science project mission was a disaster and the satellite fell to earth in an uncontrolled re entry on November 17, 1996. The 7 metric ton weight of the satellite was demolished as it entered over South America. Parts of the fragmented satellite fell in Bolivia, Chile, and the Pacific Ocean. No parts of the spacecraft, including its 200 grams of plutonium-238 fuel was recovered.

The International Space Station or ISS is probably the largest artificial satellite of the earth right now. There are plans to have the ISS crash in to the Pacific ocean soon. Many people are worried about the big satellite’s re entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Do they have cause to?

Not if you go by historic data on falling satellites. The Skylab re entered the atmosphere over the South West Australian region on July 11, 1979. It was a 79 metric ton weighing satellite which had an uncontrolled re entry and managed not to kill or injure anyone when it fell burning to Earth.

Salyut 7 was a Russian satellite which re entered the atmosphere on February 7, 1991. The entry point into the atmosphere was over Capitán Bermúdez, Argentina. It weighed 40 metric tons and yes the residents in a small town in Argentina did get some shower of debris. But the large satellite was an uncontrolled re entry which again did not represent a danger to human life.

The Russian Mir satellite was the first of the controlled re entries of a satellite in to the Earth’s atmosphere. This science project is interesting as despite wanting to save the 120 metric ton satellite it broke down into fragments over the Pacific Ocean. It re entered the atmosphere over Fiji in the South Pacific Ocean on March 23, 2001.

The rather tragic end of a grand science project such as a space satellite is the re entry which practically demolishes it. We heard a lot of noise about the recent satellite crash to earth. People were searing that parts of it fell near a small town in Canada, while Forbes (dot) com insisted that the satellite fell in the Pacific ocean and no where near Canada.

The natural preoccupation that we have with space includes the fascination of something akin to the “sky falling on our heads” rather like Chicken Little. Of course in that story it really was a piece of an alien ship. Wonder what the Canadian would have to say if that happened.

Any how, to get back to the point in question. Is there any real danger when we hear of satellites falling to the earth? Not much. As with any science project you have a number of people working out the data of the orbit and crash landing site well before the satellite is allowed to re enter the atmosphere.

However as with all science projects there is also the element of risk. Something that has not been thought up of can often go wrong and often does. Still there no grave physical danger in most such cases as most of the large satellites that have fallen to earth have managed to do so without any major incident.

This has to be one of the more bizarre science projects undertaken. At the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Skara a research team headed by Patrick Zimmerman is studying the meaning of true bliss for chickens. They are doing this with an experiment where they prepare the chickens for a pleasant and an unpleasant event using a particular acoustic signal.

In one case the sound is followed by the chickens being released into a yard where meal worms are waiting for them. In case of the second sound the chickens are hosed down with water. The research team has observed that the chickens who know that they will get the meal worms begin to flap their wings and clean their feathers while clucking.

While the ones anticipating a cold shower were more subdued and hardly clucked. The research team feels that the chickens don’t just want to be fed but also want to actively participate in the worm hunt. They look forward to the process and find it a pleasurable one which they do not mind repeating.

Of course the chickens may not be all that keen on getting fed if the meal worms keep showing up even before they have a chance to digest the last one, but that may be the makings of another science project altogether. Would you be interested in conducting this one about over feeding chickens?

We have never been closer to finding out about interplanetary biodiversity than at the present date. With the planet Mars being part of an important, ongoing science project there is a lot we are learning about our closest planet. Thanks to data being collected over the last few years by the twin Mars rovers we know a lot more about the planet conditions today than we did a decade ago.

The collected information by the Mars rovers has been studied by scientists across the globe and many have come to the conclusion that there may be life on Mars. Not the little green men kinds that we see in science fiction comics or movies, but some kind of water based primeval life is a definite possibility.

Mars may have also supported terrestrial life of extremophiles or creatures which could adapt to extreme ranges of temperature, low level of oxygen and next to no supply of water. Life on Mars or any other planet in the galaxy would definitely not have followed the same rules as the ones it followed on Earth.

So we should be prepared to find some form of life that we may recognize exactly as being alive. Think of the intelligent rock crystals in Star Trek? Still it would be quite a thrill to actually find life on Mars. It would be a science project whose mission was well achieved.

As part of an interesting science project physicists in Britain are working on bending time in such a manner that events that occurred during a specific period would become invisible. A blackout is experienced quite commonly by a person who gets drunk and loses time. The scientists are taking this time loss and refining it with a more sophisticated method.

The normally continuous beam of light which illustrates the progress of an event is interrupted by this experimental device. Think of the curtain coming down in between acts in a theater performance. It prevents you from seeing the set being changed. Similarly this device prevents you from seeing how one event melted into another.

This light gap which is created by the device makes the events which occurred during the light gap invisible. To mask the light gap the two ends of the events are connected afterward. There is a cloaked event between the ends which stays invisible. This gives the visual image continuously while hiding the missing event perfectly.

Sounds like science fiction but it may not be impossible for long. Who knows when the scientists will perfect the technique of diverting the light around an event and making it disappear from your existence forever. An interesting science experiment to follow indeed.

When you sit down thinking about what you should base your science fair project on, you can be inspired by the strangest sources. The brush you use on your coat, the honey bee outside the window or even the pet dog sleeping at your feet. In fact it was a wet Labrador who inspired a project spin cycle for a washing machine.

At the Georgia Institute of Atlanta the researcher Andrew Dickerson derived a formula to improve the performances of washing machines and spin dryers based on the frequency at which the Labrador shook itself dry. The frequency is 4.3 Hertz in case you were wondering.

The course of the study revealed that a cold and wet animal had to dry off fast to avoid hypothermia. Thus they used the shaking mechanism to pull the water out of their fur and down using gravity to the floor. The research also found that the smaller the animal the faster it needed to shake. Also the more loose the skin of the animal was the more effective the shaking pattern was.

All this may seem irrelevant and useless information but it was used by mechanical engineers and designers to come up with a better and improved design for washing machines. So pick out a strange source for your science fair project and believe me the research may just have unique applications you have not yet through about.

It may sound like science fiction but today it is a viable science project. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the California Institute of Technology have come up with a solar reactor that can convert water and carbon dioxide into hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

This is known as synthesis gas.Thanks to the Fischer – Tropsch synthesis process you can convert the synthesis gas or syngas into liquid fuels like petrol or kerosene. The fuel produced in this manner will have absolutely no carbon footprint. It will be the more environmentally friendly production of fuel.

The process could be used to fuel the current breed of electric cars that run on solar power. The solar power would be used for making the solar reactor work and then the Fischer – Tropsch synthesis process would take over to form fuel for the car. The scientists working on the project say that the first solar fuel production facility may be just about 10 years away.

They hope that the solar fuel production facility will be able to produce 16,000 liters of petrol in a period of 8 hours. Such an output capacity will sure help solve the fuel crisis. Here’s looking forward to more interesting developments in this particular science project in the future.

The developments in the field of biophysics has led to many a handicapped person living with ease. These science projects can actually restore hope to those who have been injured beyond help of a normal life. As humans and machines merge like never before the transition helps people live life after crippling injuries.

What all can be replaced for the human being today? The robotic foot and arm have been long associated with helping the handicapped people. Now we have a retina implant that can help the blind see. A Cochlea implant that can help amplify sound so that the deaf can hear. We have hear of more than one person who has had a pace maker fitted to regulate his heart beat.

There are now prosthetic vertebral discs available in the market to replace damaged or herniated vertebral discs. And guess what even the magnificent human brain is no longer excluded from robotic intervention. Electrodes are implanted in the brain to help fight diseases such as Parkinson or depression.

The bionic man of the future is a close step to the cyborg which is half human and half robotic. The way science experiments are progressing in the field of biophysics it will be no surprise that almost everyone in the world manages to get at least one machine part before they die.

Here is an interesting science project that may make you want to drink your milk to strengthen those bones. Milk has calcium which makes bones strong. Calcium is the lightest of alkaline metals having a density of only 1.55 g/cm. It is the fifth most abundant metal in the human body, as it is a part of the structure of your bones.

So is calcium really all that important to your bones? What would happen if the calcium was leached away from the bones and your body? Let us use this simulated bone experiment to find out. You will need to use some chicken bones. Use the leg bone or drumstick as it is amongst the stronger bones in the bird.

Was your chicken bones and dry them off. This is just to make sure that you get all the meat off the bones. Flex the bones to see if they bend easily or break. Now get a large jar which has a good fitting lid. Add the chicken bones Pour some vinegar into the jar. Make sure its enough to cover the bones. Now leave the jar with the bones and the vinegar in a place where they will not be disturbed for about 5 days.

Then open the jar and drain out the vinegar. Take a look at the bones. The mild acid of the vinegar has broken down the calcium in the bones. Now that the bones have been leached of the calcium they are no longer strong. They are in fact as soft as rubber and just as flexible. So the next time your mother asks you to drink your milk, remember this science experiment and down that glass.