Our Trip to the Planetarium!

We had such an amazing time at Wayne State's Planetarium!  Even the weather was perfect for a walk through WSU's campus! 

We watched a great demonstration about the our solar system including the planets, the sun and moon, and the stars.  Even the teachers learned new things!  Did you know that the Big Dipper is not a constellation?  It is a star pattern inside the constellation Ursa Major (The Great Bear)!  A constellation is actually a mapped out area of the sky, similar to a county map of Michigan!  Each section is called a constellation, and inside those are the familiar shapes most people (including me!) mistakenly call constellations!

Next, we watched a physics demonstration by one of the WSU professors!  He was able to show us some really cool machines and experiments that related to electricity, magnets, angles, centrifugal force and temperature!

First, we watched as he filled a container with liquid nitrogen.  He then demonstrated how cold it was by dipping objects into the liquid and freezing them in seconds!  The coolest was the balloon.  When he pulled it out of the container, the cold air molecules inside the balloon, and the balloon itself, had shrunk. As it warmed up, the molecules expanded and the balloon inflated back to normal! He also froze a rubber tube and a rose that broke when he tapped it on the table!

Here he is using tools that real scientists use to demonstrate electricity and static.

The children really liked learning about motion and centrifugal force.  The professor explained that weight distribution can alter the speed at which you spin.  He used ice skaters as examples - they spin slowly with their arms and legs out, and faster when they pull them closer to their bodies.  The children and some of the grown-ups got a chance to try this out using hand-weights and a spinning stool.  Everyone kept falling off when they spun faster! 

The children also used a spinning bike tire to make them spin on the stool!  When they tilted the tire to the side, they would spin one way.  When they tilted it to the other side, the stool would start to spin the other way! 

We had such a great trip!  Thank you Ms. Dawn and all the staff at Wayne State's Physics Outreach Program!