BB4 iss1 2000.p65Jose C. Calderon, Victoria V. Cervantes,
Juanita M. Cruz, Belen P. Dayauon
CONSULTANT
Amada J. Javellana Executive Vice President
Enrique A. Caballero,Reynaldo M. de la Cruz,
Carlo F. De Leon,William S. Fernando,
Jose Maria T. Policarpio, Elma L. Ropeta,
Lourdes F. Lozano Vice Presidents
EDITORIAL BOARD
Jose Valeriano P. Linay Layout Design
Jun Mediavillo Illustrator
C O N T E N T S
BATO BALANI RO for Science and Technology is published bimonthly by Diwa Scholastic Press, Inc. Bato Balani is one of Diwa’s Scholastics Enhancement Materials (SEM RO). The SEM RO
trademark refers to a new genre of scholastic publication, comprising a selection of premium - quality magazines for greater learning. All rights reserved. All articles in this publication may be reprinted provided due acknowledgement is given. All communications should be addressed to THE PRODUCT MANAGER, G/F Star Centrum, Gil Puyat Ave., Makati City,Philippines, Telephone numbers 843-4761 to 66.
REACHING FOR THE STARS Can we possibly visit our neighboring galaxies?
THE SPACE SHUTTLE: DEPLOYING A SATELLITE PAYLOAD The U.S. Space Shuttle happens to be an intrepid space truck.
ON TARGET: THE STEALTH AIRPLANE How do you turn an entire plane invisible?
TWISTING IRON Riding in a roller coaster is exciting. And understanding the forces that governs its travel as it glides along the rail may create more excitement.
Dear BB subscribers,
some changes to your favorite magazine.
Among the changes is a new section called
“Pseudoscience.” It deals with scientific
notions, myths, and misconceptions that
were popular at one time. Also, we have
expanded our “Cyberworld” section to
include a web-linked activity section.
We hope that these changes will help
make your science studies more relevant
and more fun! Enjoy!
The Editor
S Y 2000 - 2 0 0 1 V o l . 20 N o . 1
R E G U L A R F E AT U R E S 3 Science & Technology News
5 Filipino Scientists and Inventors
Medical Facts and Fallacies
10 Cyber World
14 Earth Care
16 Investigatory Projects
24 Mind Games
3SENIOR
I T’S NOT QUITE Jurassic Park, but it’s getting there.
Engineers on a Europe-wide project are developing life-size robotic dinosaurs that will walk around museums, chew on plants and interact with visitors as if they had just stepped off the prehistoric plains. The designers want each 3.5-metre-long, 80-kilogram robotic iguanodon to be autonomous, making its own decisions about where to go and what to do. It will approach inquisitive visitors, stare at them, and even rear up on its back legs to browse on the nearest potted palm tree.
“Usually you have to walk to museum exhibits. In this case the exhibit walks to you,” says designer Vassilios Papantoniou, who works for the European Association for Research in Legged Robots in Lamia, Greece.
The robot will be built from composite resins and aviation-grade
aluminum. Its movements are based on what is known from iguanodon fossils and studies of modern animals. “A real dinosaur has hundreds of muscles,” says zoologist R. McNeill Alexander of Leeds University, a scientific adviser to the project. “So we’ve had to compromise.” The major muscles are replicated using battery-powered actuators.
Jurassic Spark: Electronic wizardry to bring dinosaurs back to life
A TLANTA—A team of astronomers conducting a systematic search for supermassive black holes has discovered three more of the mysterious objects lurking in the centers of nearby elliptical galaxies. This brings the total number of
supermassive black holes definitively identified so far to 20. The discovery was announced at a news conference held during the American Astronomical Society Meeting.
“The formation and evolution of galaxies is intimately connected to the presence of a central massive black hole,” said
Douglas Richstone, leader of the research team and a University of Michigan professor of astronomy. “Radiation and high- energy particles released by the formation and growth
Black Hole Or Galaxy? of black holes are the dominant sources of heat and kinetic energy for star-forming gas in protogalaxies.”
Richstone says the team’s conclusions are inferred from two pieces of evidence. First, all or nearly all galaxies with spheroidal distributions of stars (bulges in spirals) seem to have massive black holes. The mass of these objects seems to correlate with the mass of the central part of the host galaxy. “The ubiquity of this association, as well as the correlation, points to a connection between the massive black hole and the galaxy, and poses a ‘chicken and egg’ dilemma of which came first,” Richstone said.
Second, comparisons of the history of star formation in the universe with the history of quasars, conducted by other scientists, reveal that quasars developed well before most star formation in galaxies. Quasars are extremely powerful bright objects capable of generating the luminosity of one trillion suns within a region the size of Mars’ orbit.
University of Michigan
Which Came First:
European Association for Research in Legged Robots
“We’ve got three in each leg,” he says. The actuators are controlled by their own microprocessors, which are linked to the central processor that controls the beast. A two-metre-long prototype has already been completed.
The robot is being funded by the European Union as part of a
project to liven up museums. The designers hope to
complete a full-size version by 2001.
4 SENIOR
Tracking Weather from the Sky
P ITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University’s Nomad robot, which conducted an autonomous search for meteorites in Antarctica from
Jan. 20-30, has successfully completed its mission, examining more than 100 indigenous rocks, studying about 50 in detail and classifying seven specimens as meteorites.
An expert from the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic Search for Meteorites (ANSMET) program, who collected the specimens after Nomad identified them in
the field, has concluded that five of the seven are meteorites. The other two raise enough questions about their composition to merit further study. ANSMET is housed at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Meteorites are curated at the Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston and made available to scientists around the world.
“Nomad has found and correctly classified three indigenous meteorites in- situ,” said Dimitrios Apostolopolous, a systems scientist at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute and project manager of the Robotic Antarctic Meteorite Search
U sing a technique called neutral atom imaging from a satellite high above the North Pole, researchers at the Department
of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory are developing pictures of the magnetosphere, an invisible magnetic layer around the Earth. These pictures will be essential to a better understanding of the “weather” in space, where a blast of solar wind particles can knock out a multimillion-dollar satellite.
Developing what he calls “weather maps for the radiation belts,” Geoff Reeves
of the Los Alamos Space and Atmospheric Sciences group and Mike Henderson of Los Alamos’ Space and Remote Sensing Sciences group devised a way to take rough, low-resolution satellite data and create more informative composite images of the solar- wind-driven particles trapped in the magnetosphere.
Used as still pictures or animated for time-lapse movies, their pictures show the ebb and flow of these particles as they near the earth and are drawn around and down the magnetic field lines. These images are especially critical for understanding the progress and structure of a space phenomenon called geomagnetic storms.
Geomagnetic storms are the space equivalent of hurricanes in the Atlantic. For years scientists believed that geomagnetic
storms were made up of smaller “substorms” which occur more frequently and in isolation. But more recently scientists have found that storms and substorms are related — but distinctly different — phenomena. This is similar to discovering that hurricanes and thunderstorms are related, but that a hurricane is not just a cluster of thunderstorms or a larger, more intense thunderstorm.
Future missions to the magnetosphere will carry dedicated, Los Alamos-designed, neutral atom imaging instruments. These include NASA’s IMAGE mission and TWINS, which will provide the first stereoscopic images of the magnetosphere.
Los Alamos National Laboratory - University of California
initiative. “The robot correctly classified three other indigenous meteorites and misclassified one as terrestrial rock. Nomad achieved these results autonomously and without any prior knowledge about the samples.”
Most of the chondrites that Nomad found are relatively common types, composed mainly of rock with small metallic infusions that probably originated from asteroids. One achondrite meteorite which Nomad classified as interesting is so rare that the robot didn’t have the data in its base to make a determination.
Carnegie Mellon University
Nomad Robot Finds Meteorites in Antarctica
5SENIOR
himself to the study
he was already a noted professor at the
University of the Philippines in Los Baños. In 1957, he held the position of
chief scientist at the Philippine Atomic
Energy Commission (PAEC). Thereafter, he became the first director of the
Philippine Atomic Research Center
(PARC).
He came back to UPLB in 1963, and stayed there as chairman of the
Department of Agricultural Chemistry for
seven years.
citations that Dr. Banzon received are
testimony to his achievements as a scientist. The books and journal articles he
had written prove his ability as a
researcher and teacher. His active participation in local and international
conferences, as well as his membership in
Fallacy: One needs to submit to rabies vaccination whenever a dog scratches or bites him.
Fact:The common practice whenever a person is scratched or bitten by a dog is to have anti-rabies shots. Actually, the injection is for any animal suspected of being rabid such as cat, fox, rat or even rabbit. A rabid animal is one afflicted with rabies.
An anti-rabies injection is not always given whenever an animal bites a person. The animal is first
sent to a veterinary clinic for observation. The animal is kept in a place where
veterinarians can determine whether or not it develops
rabies. If the animal
attest to his eminent stature as a chemist
and academician.
richer for scientists like Dr. Banzon. The
younger generation is indeed blessed with the research finds and intellectual depth of
Dr. Banzon.
Source : Saplala, Vivas, and Zafaralla. 1984. Profiles: Men and Women of UPLB, College, Laguna: University of
the Philippines-Los Baños, Laguna.
is found to be healthy, no immunization is necessary.
In case the animal cannot be found, then the injection should be given as a safeguard. We cannot take any chances that rabies may develop as it has a very high mortality rate.
The affected area, whether it was broken or not, should be washed thoroughly with soap and water. The washing should last for approximately 10 to 20 minutes.
The rabies immunization vaccine is very effective against rabies. There is no danger of harmful side effects if somebody is given the rabies vaccine even if the animal in question does not develop rabies.
RABIESRABIES
Assuming that the stars you see in the sky
on a clear night were reduced into the size
of the grains of sand, you can actually
hold them all in the palm of your hand.
However, the stars you see with your naked eye is
just a tiny fraction of the stars that are in the universe. Scientists believe that the number of stars in the
Cosmos is more than all the grains of sand on all the
beaches of the world.
The universe is so unimaginably huge beyond
compare that most of it is empty of stars. Because of
the great distances that separate us from neighboring
stars, it will take years, even for light, to cross the interstellar space. For instance, the nearest star
system to our Sun is Alpha Centauri with a distance
of 4.35 light-years (a light-year is the distance light
travels in a year, about 9.5 trillion kilometers). This
means light will take 4.35 years, as measured in our
time, to reach us. For light, however, time stands still.
The great void seems to put a clamp on man’s dream to reach the stars. Moreover, Einstein’s special theory of relativity puts a limit to the speed a material
object can attain — at lightspeed of 299,792,458
meters per second. But we have evolved with a brain
that possesses unlimited capacities to go around
what Nature has imposed upon us.
Travelling at or near the speed of light produces paradoxes that run counter to common sense.
According to the special theory of relativity, light
travels at a constant velocity whether the source
is moving or not. This means you just cannot
add your speed to the speed of light.
Otherwise, you could attain any speed you want by hitchhiking on a fast-moving mother vehicle.
Another rule codified by Einstein in his special
theory of relativity is that the laws of Nature must be
applicable to everybody anywhere in the universe.
This means that there is no fixed frame of reference
7SENIOR
from which to view the universe. Everything is
relative, depending on his position with respect to
another. Hence, the name relativity. No one can
travel at, or faster than, the speed of light. Nothing in
physics, however, prevents you from traveling as
close to the speed of light as you like, say at 99.99 percent lightspeed.
Can we travel close to lightspeed? Let’s make
a Gedanken experiment (a thought experiment, like
what scientists do, including Einstein, when trying to
explain the consequences of the relativity theory).
Imagine that you hitch a ride in a futuristic spaceship
that could accelerate up to lightspeed. As the spaceship gains speed, you begin to see around the
corners of passing objects. You are facing forward in
the direction of motion but things behind you appear
within your forward field of vision.
From the standpoint of a stationary observer,
you appear red when you depart because light
reflected off you is shifted to the red portion of the spectrum, and you appear blue when you return, a
process that could be explained by the Doppler effect. If you approach the observer at almost the
speed of light, you will return shining brightly — your
invisible infrared spectrum will be shifted to the
visible wavelengths. The observer will see that you become compressed in the direction of motion, that
your mass increases, and that your time slows down
— a consequence called time dilation. But from the
standpoint of the persons you are travelling with
inside the spaceship, neither of these effects occurs
to you.
But really, how close can we accelerate up to lightspeed in practical terms? Dr. Charles Pellegrino
has an answer. In his book “Flying to Valhalla,” Dr.
Pellegrino proposed a 92 percent lightspeed for his
particular spaceship. Why 92 percent lightspeed?
According to him, 92 percent lightspeed is a realistic
velocity to aim for.
At 92 percent lightspeed, you will age at a rate
only one-third of the rest of the universe. To an
outside observer, the spaceship would appear to have
shrunk to less than half of its original length, and
would seem three times as massive, meaning three
times as resistant to acceleration. And from your point of view, the entire universe is being compressed
ahead of the spaceship into a dome that occupies
only one-third of the sky.
Now as the spaceship accelerates further up to
lightspeed, to outside observers, the spaceship
appears to have no length at all (infinite compression). Of course, the power required demands infinite energy, which the spaceship could
never have. At lightspeed, you and your companion
including the spaceship, cease aging altogether. You
will traverse the length and width and breadth of the
universe in an instant.
These strange things happen because our
familiar ideas of space and time are no longer valid when you approach lightspeed. Speed is distance
divided by time and since you cannot simply add
speeds near the velocity of light, space and time
must change. That is why you shrink and you hardly
age at all.
But in terms of practical engineering, is it
possible to travel close to the speed of light? Can we build a kind of ‘lightship’ based on theories and
principles we have today?
advanced for technology to catch up to. For instance,
in 1939, the British Interplanetary Society designed a
rocketship whose objective was to take people to the
Moon — using the technology of the 40s. However, it was only three decades later that the Moon mission
was accomplished by Apollo 11 in 1969.
Today, we have preliminary designs for
starships whose ultimate design objective is to take
8 SENIOR

us to the stars. One of these is Orion, a design that
calls for explosions of hydrogen bombs against an
inertial plate as a means of propulsion. The Orion
spacecraft seems practical from an engineering point
of view, but will produce vast quantities of radioactive
debris. Another design is Daedalus, using a nuclear fusion reactor, assuming we could develop a fusion
engine in the next few decades. Orion and Daedalus
might travel at 10 percent light speed. A trip to Alpha
Centauri then would take 43 years, less than a human
lifetime. Such designs, however, could not travel close
enough to lightspeed for time dilation to become important.
For voyages beyond the nearest stars,
starships with velocity approaching the speed of light
are in principle possible, though it would take our
technology thousands of years to catch up with the
ideas. An example of an interstellar starship is the
Bussard ramjet. The Bussard spaceship will have a gigantic scoop to collect diffused matter in space
(mostly hydrogen atoms), and accelerate it into a
fusion engine, then eject it out.
Dr. Pellegrino has made feasibility studies for
a starship that could reach 92 percent lightspeed. His
design is an antimatter spaceship (he calls it the
Valkyrie) that uses antihydrogen as a propellant. Antimatter is so far the ultimate fuel for propulsion
because one hundred percent of the mass of matter
and antimatter is converted to pure energy. (In
contrast, only one percent of the matter in a hydrogen
bomb is converted to energy during explosion.)
Ninety-two percent lightspeed is chosen
because, according to Dr. Pellegrino, at speeds higher than this, particles of dust impacting against
the spaceship will explode like large hand grenades.
Furthermore, the amount of fuel required to accelerate
from 92 to a higher speed, say 95 percent lightspeed,
is twice as much as the acceleration from 0 to 92
percent.
1. Why is an antimatter spaceship suitable for travelling close to lightspeed?
2. From your own perspective, what happens to the universe if you can travel at lightspeed?
3. Why is 92 percent lightspeed significant from an engineering point of view?
REFERENCES
If you travel with the Valkyrie, the long space
voyage from the Solar System to Alpha Centauri will
take less than two years. With the Bussard spacecraft, a trip to the center of the Milky Way
would take you 21 years. Of course, people on Earth
would measure an elapsed time of 30,000 years.
From the point of view of the travellers,
relativistic flight is surely a one-way ticket to eternity.
Doppler Effect – an apparent change in the frequency of sound, light, or radio waves reaching an observer when the wave source and the observer are in motion relative to one another.
Interstellar space – the space between stars.
Thought experiment – a fictitious story used to illustrate a scientific principle.
Pellegrino, Charles. 1993. Flying to Valhalla. New York: Avon Books.
Sagan, Carl. 1980. Cosmos. New York: Ballantine Books, Random House, Inc.
P H Y S I C S
9SENIOR
G ulaman Bars are processed substance from agar dhiella seaweeds. Used in different recipes, they are especially prepared for delightful desserts. People who live by the sea process gulaman bars as a small- or medium-scale industry. You can
prepare your own gulaman bars just like the experts by following this simple procedure.
Ingredients:
seaweeds
Glisa F. Sanchez Angeles University Foundation Angeles City
Imagine yourself travelling faster than the speed of sound. That is how fast supersonic transport is!
Travelling at speeds faster than sound is referred to as
supersonic flight, from the terms super (meaning “over” or
“above”) and sonic (relating to sound waves). As compared to
sound waves that travels at about 1,220 kilometres per hour through air
at sea level, supersonic aircrafts can travel from one to five times the
speed of sound!
A:
Procedure: 1. Gather the seaweeds and rinse them in clean water. 2. Dry them under the sun and soak overnight in clean water. 3. Add three litres of water and one teaspoon of acetic acid or
vinegar for every 100 grams of seaweeds. 4. Boil the mixture for one hour and filter it through a cheesecloth. 5. Boil again and repeat the same procedure to maximize gelatin
extraction. 6. Pour the collected substance called agar on aluminum molds
20 cm long and four cm deep. Allow the agar to solidify at room temperature.
7. Cut into four cm wide bars and put inside a freezer for five days. 8. Thaw the bars in running water and dry them under the sun.
Gulaman Bars
10 SENIOR
a good design. One way of designing
a program is by using a method
called flowcharting. Flowcharting is a
method of showing the flow of a
program using symbols. If the flowchart is designed
properly, then it becomes very easy to create the
program code. Below are some conventional symbols
used for flowcharting.
The rectangle represents an action, computation or process that needs to take place.
The parallelogram is used when a value has to be entered or something has to be displayed on screen.
The diamond is used to signify that a decision has to be made. Each decision can have only two possible outcomes, true or false.
These arrows point in the direction of the next action to be performed. Think of these as directional signs that point you in the right way.
These circles indicate a “jump” in the program. Sometimes your program needs to jump to another part of the flowchart.
These ovals will signify the beginning or end of the program. Simply write START or END inside the oval.
Process Box
As a convention, a flowchart begins on top
of the page and the end of the program is placed
at the bottom of the page. You need not know
programming code to flowchart. Simply use
ordinary language first and as you grow into
programming you will learn to use actual
computer codes in your flowchart. For now it is
sufficient to use simple words (See the sample
flowcharts).
11SENIOR
the same program. The flowchart on
the left uses plain English to
explain what the program will do.
The flowchart on the right uses
actual programming code from
program does?
*Beginners All-purpose
END
Batobalani magazine is now on the internet. In the Batobalani website are archives of current and past issues as well as a variety of activities and additional topics for the inquisitive student of science. In
subsequent issues of the magazine, we will discuss the different activities we have prepared for you.
One useful feature in the website is a feedback or response page. This allows you to send us your comments and even contribute your own article. By simply typing it in or pasting it on the dialogue box.
You will need to have a computer unit with a modem and a valid account with any authorized internet service provider (ISP) such as Mozcom, Infocom, Philonline, or any other ISPs.
To write us, simply follow these steps: 1). On your computer, open up an internet browser
program. For most of you, this would be Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Netscape’ Navigator’s program. Make sure you are connected to your Internet Service Provider.
2). On the address window of your browser program, type www.batobalani.com, then hit the “enter” key.
3). You will see Batobalani’s homepage on your screen. Also, you will see a menu of sections you can go to on the lower right side of the screen. Choose “Feedback” and click the left button of your mouse.
4). The feedback page will show you different boxes for you to fill in. Go ahead and fill the information. You may skip the items that you cannot fill up. Then on the Message box, type in your message or your opinion or even a simple “hello.”
5). Once you’re finished with your message, hit the “send” button by clicking the left button of your mouse. Presto! You’ve sent us your message.
There are many other interesting things you can do inside Batobalani’s website. Feel free to explore. If you have questions or need further instructions, why don’t you try sending it to us using the feedback page. We hope to hear from you soon!
WSF
www.batobalani.comwww.batobalani.com
12 SENIOR
A n artificial satellite is any object placed into orbit around the earth and used for a variety of scientific and technological purposes. The former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) launched the first artificial
satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957. The first United States satellite, Explorer 1, was launched on January 31, 1958, and was instrumental in the discovery of the radiation belts around the earth.
In the years that followed, several thousand satellites were launched, monopolized by the United States and the former USSR in a battle for space supremacy until 1983, when the European Space Agency began launching from a space center in French Guiana. On August 27, 1989, for the first time in aerospace history, a privately owned rocket was used to launch a satellite. The rocket, built and launched by a U.S. company, placed a British television broadcasting satellite into geosynchronous orbit.
Satellites are usually placed into orbit by multistage rockets. In part to reduce satellite launching costs, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) uses the space shuttle to carry satellites in its cargo bay and launch them into orbit.
The minimum initial velocity required for an object to escape the gravitational pull of an astronomical body, and to continue traveling away from it without the use of propulsive machinery is called escape velocity. The escape velocity is usually given in terms of the
surface-launch velocity, disregarding aerodynamic friction. Objects traveling at less than 0.71 × 11.2 km/s (the escape velocity of Earth) cannot achieve a stable
orbit. At such velocity, the orbit becomes circular, and at higher velocities, the orbit becomes elliptical until escape velocity is reached. Then, the orbit becomes parabolic. (Escape velocity is thus also known as parabolic velocity).
The escape velocity of an object from a spherical astronomical body (like the Earth) is proportional to the square root of the mass of the body divided by the distance between the object and the center of the body.
A space shuttle designed to leave the earth as a vertically launched rocket must weigh at least 2 million kg with 3 million kg of thrust from its multiple propulsion systems.
The two solid rocket boosters (SRBs), with a combined thrust of some 2.6 million kg, will provide most of the power for the first two minutes of flight. The SRBs will take the space shuttle to an altitude of 45 km and a speed of 4973 km/hr before they separate and fall back
13SENIOR
into the ocean to be retrieved, refurbished, and prepared for another flight.
After the boosters fall away, the three main engines continue to provide thrust. These engines are clustered at the rear end of the orbiter and will have a combined thrust of almost 540,000 kg. The space shuttle’s liquid-propellant engines will be the world’s first reusable rocket engines. They fire for only eight minutes for each flight, just until the shuttle reaches orbit, and are designed to operate for 55 flights. The engines are very large—4.2 m long and 2.4 m in diameter at the wide end of the cone-shaped
nozzle at the rear of the orbiter. Another propulsion system takes over once the
space shuttle’s main engines shut down as the ship approaches the altitude at which it will begin orbiting around the earth, known as the orbital insertion point. Two orbital maneuvering system (OMS) engines, mounted on either side of the aft fuselage, provide thrust for major orbital changes. For more exacting maneuvers in orbit, 44 small rocket engines (known as the reaction control system), clustered on the shuttle’s nose and on either side of the tail, are used. They have proven indispensable in performing the shuttle’s important work of retrieving, launching, and repairing satellites in orbit.
The giant, cylindrical, external fuel tank, with a length of 47 m and a diameter of 8.4 m, is the largest single piece of the space shuttle. It fuels the orbiter’s
three main engines. During launch, the external tank also acts as a support for the orbiter and SRBs to which it is attached. Made from aluminum alloys, the space shuttle’s external fuel tank is the only part of the launch vehicle that currently is not reused. After its 1.99 million liters of fuel are consumed during the first 8.5 minutes of the flight, the external tank is jettisoned from the orbiter and breaks up in the upper atmosphere, its pieces falling into remote ocean waters.
After placing the satellite in orbit, the orbiter segment returns from space—withstanding the intense heat when entering the earth’s atmosphere. Flown by the shuttle crew much like an aircraft, the shuttle lands horizontally on a conventional airport runway.
Jerard F. Beltran
1). What are the benefits of satellites?
Orbit — the path an object takes as it travels around another object.
"Satellite, Artificial,” Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
"Escape Velocity,” Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
"Space Shuttle,” Microsoft® Encarta® 97 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
14 SENIOR
hurricane swept through Hawaii’s
island of Kauai. Surprised that such
destruction could happen in such a
short time, three people got together and organized a
truly dynamic group whose main purpose was to
protect and preserve the fragile marine ecosystem.
These three were Carl Stepath, the owner and
operator of Nawiliwili Marine and Sailboards Kauai;
Teresa Tico, a lawyer who was into bodysurfing, yacht
racing and windsurfing; and Nicholas Barran, a
computer programmer who also loved yacht racing.
Through the efforts
Hawaii within the next
year, and with much
during the 1993 Trans Pac Yacht Race, a racing
competition where yachts ran from the coast of Los
Angeles to Honolulu. The board of directors who held
the contest were thrilled with their proposed project,
Mary Ann Aleli V. Barbieto
Save Our Seas: A Crusade for Coral Reefs
15SENIOR
and immediately decided that recycling should not
only be a part of a program, but a requirement for
those who were competing in the race. They added a
new regulation that all trash must be kept on board,
and all recyclable materials - paper, aluminum and
glass - were the responsibility of the racers and must
be recycled before they reached the finish line. At
the end of the race, the project proved to be so
successful that it was adopted by yacht clubs in
Japan and Australia.
aim is to educate the community about our coral
reef’s complex ecology though direct interaction with
the living, breathing corals that surround our
archipelago. This project involves students from all
over the country and began in their native Hawaii,
where they enlisted the help of seventh and eighth
graders whose schools have volunteered to create
databases for Save Our Seas. Schools who
Our
students survey corals, marine life, and measure
water quality, then report back to SOS via the
Internet. These results are then compiled and used
for future reference in finding ways to save our
speedily vanishing coral reefs.
and are then called “reef keepers.” SOS hopes that
these children will realize how important it is to care
for our coral reefs and our entire ocean ecosystem.
Through their hands-on experience, they learn how to
be more careful in dealing with nature.
Do you want to become a part of SOS and
contribute to the preservation and care of our oceans?
You can visit their website at:
http://hookomo.aloha.net/~sos~/ . You can also
write to them at sos@aloha.net.
Resources: SOS homepage
16 SENIOR
I N C O O P E R A T I O N W I T H T H E
DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLGY
ABSTRACT:
of controlling the growth of Aspergills
flavus in copra with ultraviolet (UV)
radiation.
to UV radiation (quartz tube-mercury
vapor source, wavelength approximately
was observed in three replications. Among
the five treatments, UV radiation of 15
minutes controlled the growth of the
fungus to the greatest extent. This could
be due to the damage on the DNA which
led to abnormal physiological functions
and death of the cell.
The effectivity of UV radiation to
control. A. flavus growth in copra was
then determined. Previously dried copra
(‘kokum”) were moistened, inoculated
UV irradiation. The growth of the fungus
was observed after five days. 15-minutes
irradiation inhibited up to 92% of the
fungal growth.
lost much of the United States market for
copra because it took very little notice of
the restrictions imposed on copra
contaminated with aflatoxin. Last
percent of the country’s coconut oil export
and 30 percent of copra— implemented a
policy to standardize aflatoxin (Lorito,
1990). This regulation imposes an
alfatoxin tolerance level of 0.2 parts per
million (ppm) for copra meal and 20 parts
per billion (ppb) for coconut oil.
Aflatoxin is produced by the
fungus, Aspergillus fluvus. It has been
found to cause cancer in animals ingesting
it. It is very potent in this respect with no
more than 0.05 ppm capable of inducing
illness. Aflatoxin is also a natural
mutagen.
the inhibition of the growth of A. flavus.
Growth of A. flavus is enhanced by
factors such as high relative humidity,
high moisture content and warm
temperature.
relative sensitivity of A. flavus to high-
energy radiation. Specifically it
growth rate of A. flavus.
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
fungus classified under Division
Eumycophuta, Class Ascomycetes. It
environments where carbohydrate is
agricultural products is difficult to control.
Moreover, the spores of the fungus are all
around so that the possibility of
contamination is great (Gloria, 1989). The
presence of A. flavus is undesirable
especially in copra, peanuts, corn,
soybeans and potatoes.
after harvest when the nut is broken on the
ground and the coconut meat scooped
from the shell. Placing the copra in sacks
which may be laden with. A flavus spores
further increases the chances of
contamination.
“tapahan” is usually favored over sun
drying because it reduces the moisture
content to about 10-15 percent in a short
time. If the copra is properly dried, the
possibility of contamination is nil. But
again, the chances of contamination
increases during storage, when the
humidity inside the storehouse is high and
air circulation is inadequate (Gloria,1989).
A. flavus could be susceptible to
high-energy radiation such as ultraviolet
rays, X-rays and gamma rays. Radiation
causes dimerizations (linking) and
causing metabolic abnormalities. This
fungi in copra.
from 280nm – 380 nm did not begin to
bud as early as the controls – in some
cases they never budded. A small
percentage of spores which survive
exposure to UV radiation may produce
mutants.
hydrogen bond-interaction between bases
radiation on living tissues is a
consequence of its effect on the bases of
DNA and RNA (Sylianco, 1981)
Changes produced by radiation
where the energy has been absorbed, or
indirect effects in which molecular
changes are bought about by the chemical
reactions of free redicals produced as
primary effect radiations (Lea, 1955).
Calculations shows that radiation
in a million can have profound biological
consequence and can kill the cell
(Sylianco, 1983).
depends on the stage at which protein
synthesis is proceeding. Increasing the
dose of UV light both increases the
probability of mutation per unit of time
(Fincham, 1965).
pure culture derived from the RP-UK
Aflatoxin Research Project of the
Philippine Coconut Authority, Mintal,
University with wavelength ranging from
240nm to 270nm was used. Treatment
was done on A. flavus for 1 min. (T1), 3
mins. (T2), 6 mins. (T3), 10 mins. (T4)
and 15 mins. (T5)
The other materials were:
10 mL coconut extract
18 SENIOR
of about 2mm. The dishes were covered
and sterilized for about 15 minutes. They
were then placed in an inoculating box and
were allowed to cool and solidify.
The coconut-agar media were
the disc method and were placed in a dark
chamber with 29 to 30oC temperature for
five days.
determined in sq. cm. Counting was
performed using a graphing paper with a 1
sq. cm. grid placed underneath.
Growth rate was determined by the
formula:
d is the time in days
s is the rate in sq. cm/day
Microscopic examinations of the
hours.
dried copra were soaked in water for 5
minutes, then drained and placed in petri
dishes. The dishes were labelled A1, A2,
A3, B1, B2, and B3. The copra samples
were all inoculated with A. flavus spores.
A 15 minute irradiation was given
to the A1, A2, and A3 setups. B1, B2 and
B3 were made as control.
Observations were made on the
fifth day, after which the mass of the copra
contaminated with A. flavus was
determined. The percentage contamination
the percentage inhibition was determined.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
flavus in the control and in treated
medium are as follows:
the controlled setup covered a very much
bigger area as compared with those in T1,
T2, T3, T4 and T5. However, its growth
tapered off after the second day. The
fungus in T1, T2, T3 and T4 covered a
smaller area during the first two days. It
then accelerated after the second until the
fifth day. The setups in T5 showed least
growth of the fungus.
duration caused little damage to A. flavus.
10 min. exposures caused greater damage
to A. flavus. 15 min. exposures actually
inhibited the growth of A flavus on
experimental copra samples, by about
91.8%.
observed in the control, 8.3 ± 0.6 sq. cm/
day, followed by those exposed for 1 min,
3 min, then 6 min. and 10 min. Those
treated for 15 min. showed only a total of
12.5 ± 3.1 sq. cm or a growth rate of 0.83
Growth rate (sq. cm/day)
8.3 ± 0.6 5.4 ± 0.5 4.8 ± 0.6 4.5 ± 0.6 2.7 ± 0.6 0.83 ± 0.5
UV Treatment Control 1 min. 3 min. 6 min.
10 min. 15 min.
SELECTED REFERENCES:
Southern News Scope. August 1989. Vol.
2 p.8
University Press.
Aflatoxin Scare”. Mindano Farmers
Experiment Philadelphia
T he movie was based on an alleged United States Navy experiment(Project Rainbow) done on October 28, 1943. According to legend, the destroyer USS Eldridge was made invisible, dematerialized, and
teleported from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Norfolk, Virginia, and back again to the Philadelphia Naval Yard.
The experiment allegedly had such terrible side- effects, such as making sailors invisible and eventually going mad, that the Navy quit exploring this exciting new technology. The experiment was allegedly done by Dr. Franklin Reno as an application of Einstein’s unified field theory. The experiment supposedly demonstrated a successful connection between gravity and electromagnetism: electromagnetic space-time warping.
One Carlos Allende, or Carl Allen, claimed that he witnessed the experiment. In fact, he was one major source of stories about the experiment, who, as further writings and probings into his background surfaced, later proved to be a con- man who weaved the hoax.
Surprisingly, one retired military man, Alfred Bielek, picked up where Allen left the story. Bielek’s memories apparently came back to him after watching the 1984 film, coming up with more detailed explanations of the experiment. He co-authored a book, The Philadelphia Experiment and Other Conspiracies, which merely rehashes the usual stories of CIA plots, government conspiracies, secret meetings with aliens, trips to Mars, visits from the Men in Black, etc. He also came out with a video in which he
Remember the 1984 film The Philadelphia Experiment?
presented himself as someone who was part of the team that conducted the experiment, time-traveled in 1943 to 1983 during the experiment and lived to tell the story, only to be harassed by the U.S. government for his troubles.
But in the face of these myths, the Navy came out with its official documents that take note of the story’s salient points, such as: (1)there was no such project as the Philadelphia Experiment, no experiments into invisibility. There were projects code- named Rainbow, but they were warplans to defeat Italy, Germany, and Japan; (2) The Office of Naval Research, under which the experiment was supposedly conducted, did not even exist until 1946; (3) The U.S.S. Eldridge was never even in Philadelphia during the fall of 1943, and the deck log that proves this is available on microfilm via the web.
What the Navy documents do add, moreover, are some valid points on the subject of degaussing, which is a process, and when correctly done, makes a ship “invisible” to the sensors of magnetic mines, but remains
visible to the human eye, radar, and underwater listening devices.
They also note that while experimenting with 1,000 hz generators in the 1950s, “the higher frequency generator produced corona discharges, and other well-known phenomena associated with high frequency generators,” which can be exciting when viewed.
This sounds plausibly like the genuine seed for the story, which people like Jessup, Carl Allen, and Bielek weaved stories from. Such is the stuff urban legends are made of.
The Joe Bert G. LazarteExperiment
Philadelphia
R adar, or radio directing and ranging, is
one of the most vital devices needed by
the defense department of any country.
It is very valuable in tracing the position
of enemy ships and airplanes during wars and conflicts.
But since its invention however, a lot of research and
technology has been developed to counter-attack it. One
of this is stealth technology.
The main purpose of this system study is for anti-
detection. This technology had already begun
development in
other ways radar detection can be avoided or at least
minimized. Special attention was given to aircrafts.
In the early 1970s, The US Department of Defense
and US Air Force collaborated for this work. Studies
were conducted and bore fruitful results. These studies
TheOn Target: Stealth AirplaneStealth Airplane
21SENIOR
delivery and surveillance systems used in air warfare.
With this quality, any type of aircraft will have a higher
chance of survival in the battle arena.
The first process in making a stealth
airplane is to create a special design for
the aircraft. One may notice the unique
geometry of a Northrop B-2, for example. To
understand this better, it is necessary to know
how radar works. Regardless of whether it is
airborne or ground-based, the radar ‘sees’ its
target object within a range of 30 degrees around
its own horizontal plane by emitting radio beams
and waiting for them to bounce back upon contact
with the object. It can then measure the length that
the beams had traveled and equate it as the
distance of the object from the radar source, thus
determining the target’s position.
This suggests that a stealth aircraft’s design needs
to be as flat as a straight line as possible when viewed
horizontally. If it did need to curve however, it ought to
be the double-curvature type so that reflection can be
minimized. Known as reflective faceting, the plane is
designed to have slabs or facets having angular relativity
so as to divert the radio beams away from the source.
Another process in anti-radar detection is coating
the stealth with radar-absorbing materials, namely
pyroceramics, polyurethanes, silicones, and rubber and
carbon compounds. Several corner reflectors designed
to catch, trap and scatter radio frequency energy are
likewise strategically placed all over the plane.
Suggested paint color is black in order to elude visual
detection since a the stealth airplane is designed to
operate by night. However, further research is made
concerning visibility in order to make the plane invisible
even during daytime.
this keen focus. Since the engine emits
infrared or heat-source radiation, the
stealth’s exhaust sections are
flattened into thin, long slots that
are layered with cold air. Direct
injections of powerful chemical
gases, so that they would mix with the
outside air unnoticeably.
comes a great price: Both in dollars and performance-
wise. Each of the first fifteen Northrop B-2 costs $776
million, making it the most expensive warplane built in
the last few years. The stealth program has amassed a
total of $43 billion expenditures to date, just by making
an aircraft that cannot be detected by radar. Other
problems encountered aside from the high cost is its
lower acceleration rate compared to ordinary fighter
planes because it had to use turbofan engines with no
afterburners. Add to that is the plane’s need of a
repainting job after every mission.
Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia Deluxe 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft
Corporation.
22 SENIOR
In many theme parks around the globe, one of the most sought-after ride is the roller coaster. In Laguna, the Enchanted Kingdom theme park offers the mind-numbing “Space Shuttle,” a 1-
minute ride that takes you through two 360 degree loops and varying side-twists and turns. Then you go through the whole thing again, this time backwards! Most kids find the ride fun and enervating. The serpentine iron rail gleams like some giant torture instrument in the daytime. And the shrieks and screams from those in the hurtling train seems to confirm that.
But roller coasters are governed by natural laws that permit its riders to have fun while seemingly courting disaster with its neck-breaking speed and jaw-breaking twists and turns.
As the shuttle’s wheels clamp down against the rail in a sharp sideways turn, the friction between the tires and the rail must sustain sufficient sideways force to provide the necessary centripetal force for curved motion. Centripetal (“center-seeking”) force is the radial force required to keep an object continually diverted in its path so that it travels in a circle. In this instance, centripetal force keeps the shuttle along a curved path as it travels along the rail.
Centrifugal (“center-fleeing”) force refers to the same phenomenon as centripetal force but may be considered the equal but opposite reaction to the action of the centripetal force. The roller coaster shuttle hurtling along the 360 degree vertical loop of the rail, for instance, will manifest centrifugal force by
TWISTING IRON
“wanting” to break out of the loop. Many brave kids try to lift their arms above their heads as they turn upside down going through the 360 degree loop. They are trying to resist the action of the centrifugal force.
Centrifugal force is proportional to the mass of the object it is
exerting upon. It can simulate earth’s gravitational force. That is why, in sharp turns and the full vertical loop, the rider feels weighed down and feels his head and arms being drawn towards the
floor of the shuttle.
There are other roller coaster rides in the Philippines. The next time
you try one, try to observe the various forces that act on your body as it turns, twists and turns upside down. It is best to remember to keep your sunglasses, hat and other paraphernalia tucked in securely in your pockets before they are wrested from you by the various natural forces that govern the movement of the roller coaster.
TWISTING IRON
23SENIOR
Throughout a liquid, the molecules are attracted to one another. At the surface of the liquid, the forces of attraction lead to an effect called surface tension. The two soap-film tricks shown here demonstrate surface tension action.
Procedure
The jumping wire
1. Put some liquid soap in a glass and add water to make a strong, soapy solution.
2. Bend a piece of wire to form a rectangular frame and handle, as shown above. The frame should be small enough to fit into the glass.
3. Dip the frame into the solution and then remove it. The frame should now be covered with a soap film.
4. Hold the frame horizontally and place a straight piece of wire across it.
Materials liquid soap glass water wire thread
Surface TensionSurface Tension
5. Break the soap film on one side of the wire with your finger. Forces of surface tension on the other side will pull on the wire, causing it to jump from the frame.
The magic loop
1. Tie a short piece of thread to form a loop.
2. Form a soap film on a wire frame, as previously described. Carefully place the thread on the film.
3. Now break the film inside the loop. Surface tension forces around the loop will put it into a neat circle.
24 SENIOR
Look for all the hidden words listed below from the letter box that are related to the study of thermodynamics.
CONVECTION ISOBARIC
ENTROPY POWER
TEMPERATURE WORK
Across 1 Not bottom 3 Where bees live 4 House 7 E x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l
(abbr.) 9 _ _ _ic_e, small
bones in the ear 10 _ _us, presiding
Greek god 12 Unit of power 13 Charged particles 14 Refers to ear 17 Oxygen (symbol) 19 _ _ _ _zoic, a
geologic era 21 Small opening 22 milli_ _ _ _ , a crawling
organism with a thousand “limbs”
24 Po_ _ , to transfer a liquid
25 Not right (direction) 28 Electromagnetic 29 Story 30 Uranium (symbol) 31 Self-fulfilling love 32 Stiff stick
Down 2 Source of energy which
are triggered off by light 3 Airbone vehicle, capable
of vertical take off 5 Osmium (symbol) 6 Miss/Mrs (abbr.) 7 Female sheep 8 Tantalum (symbol) 10 Zinc (symbol) 11 _ _ _phagus, food tube 15 Tellurium (symbol) 16 Not out 18 Address of respect to a
nun (Sp.) 20 Fermented drink 21 Free from contaminants 23 Electromagnetic unit
(abbr.) 26 Indicates early period of
time 27 From (abbr.)
C A H I C H E N O I T C E V N O C O X I S O B A R I C T U I T A L U N B Z S M Y T C D S E L O A N X M Y D E O B D R U E H W K R X D Y E C R T S U O A I A E P A R Q C P R A A I G S W R S L U R D K O F O U R N R P T Y P O G R V I L J W R T N K E N I G N E A O Y A C V X T A B I R N O S A C S Z L B P B K N R E N K G N T J P O W E A R W C E E A E H V X S C K X L M T E A W G P H K H E T S Y Y M A O I S O D B M A R A N D U D A C T C C P L N I E E R U S S E R P W L E K R F O H T A M O X D R E L A T E N T H E A T
THERMODYNAMICS BOX
1