What Does the Moon Smell Like?: 151 Astounding Science Quizzes (20 page)

When Swedish scientists found acrylamide in the MA

blood of workers who handled chemicals, they

TERIAL

weren’t surprised, but when it showed up in lots of other people who didn’t work with chemicals, their WORLD

alarm bells went off. How could this chemical be contaminating so many people? They devised an

experiment that soon revealed the answer to the puzzling evidence.

What did they do? They . . .

a) analyzed the emissions of a disposable diaper factory b) checked the soil in potato farmers’ fields

c) fed fried chow to lab rats

d) tested tap water that had been in a glass overnight 265

Chemicals of Mass Deduction

What did they do? They . . .

A

a) analyzed the emissions of a disposable diaper factory b) checked the soil in potato farmers’ fields

c) fed fried chow to lab rats

MA

TERIAL

d) tested tap water that had been in a glass overnight WORLD

CORRECT ANSWER:

c) fed fried chow to lab rats

The lab rats fed fried chow for two months had acrylamide levels 10 times higher than rats fed regular chow. The scientists had suspected that high cooking temperatures were the problem, and the rats proved it. Food scientists all over the world began to test various foods for acrylamide. Potato chips had the highest levels, followed by french fries, crisp breads, baked goods, and some cereals, but it was found in cooked meats too. Should you be worried? If you’re eating a healthy diet, acrylamide-heavy foods are OK

occasionally. If you prefer a 100% acrylamide-free diet, the options are raw, boiled, or steamed foods.

Boiling water is hot, but not hot enough for acrylamide to form.

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 266

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 267

The Space Pen

Have you heard that NASA scientists spent 10 years Q

and $12 million dollars developing a space pen that could write in zero gravity, underwater, on most surfaces, and in extreme temperatures? The story often MA

ends with the punchline “and the Russians used a TERIAL

pencil.” The story is, of course, an urban legend. The truth is that the space pen was invented by Paul WORLD

Fisher, a pen-maker, at his own expense. NASA tested it for two years and paid just $2.95 per pen. First used in space on Apollo 7 in 1968, they were the first ballpoint pens that could actually write in zero gravity. Among the technological innovations that made the space pen a success was the ink.

What flows like the ink in the space pen?

a) ketchup

b) lava

c) mercury

d) motor oil

267

The Space Pen

What flows like the ink in the space pen?

A

a) ketchup

b) lava

c) mercury

MA

TERIAL

d) motor oil

WORLD

CORRECT ANSWER:

a) ketchup

The ink in the space pen has a property called

thixotropy, and it behaves a lot like thick ketchup that doesn’t want to flow out of the bottle. One way to get the ketchup going is to rap the end of the bottle. The force of the blow temporarily makes the ketchup runny, and it flows more easily. The ink works in a similar way. It’s inside a pressurized cartridge that has a plug of nitrogen gas. The gas pressure feeds the ink to the ball in the point, which shears the ink when it rolls. The shearing action liquifies the thixotropic ink, and it flows like ketchup flows out of a bottle that’s just been rapped.

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 268

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 269

The World’s Lightest Solid

What’s 99.8% empty space, and weighs just a little Q

more than the air you breathe? It’s 1,000 times less dense than glass, and very spongy but, in space, it easily absorbed the impact of dust particles shearing MA

into it at six times the speed of a rifle bullet. Have TERIAL

you figured out what this remarkable material is? It’s the world lightest solid: aerogel. You might think this WORLD

space age material is a recent innovation, but the great grandaddy of all aerogels was invented in 1931.

What was aerogel first used for?

a) fashion jewellery

b) picnic cooler insulation

c) thickening agent in napalm bombs

d) water filtration

269

The World’s Lightest Solid

What was aerogel first used for?

A

a) fashion jewellery

b) picnic cooler insulation

c) thickening agent in napalm bombs

MA

TERIAL

d) water filtration

WORLD

CORRECT ANSWERS:

b) picnic cooler insulation, and c) thickening agent in napalm bombs

If you picked both correct answers, give yourself a virtual bonus point. After aerogel was invented, it was used for a few things, but it didn’t really take off until space scientists got involved. They modified and improved the silicon-based material over the years, and made it incredibly lightweight, just 1.9 milligrams per cubic centimetre (0.06 cubic inches). Aerogel has gone from insulating picnic coolers to insulating the machines we send to explore other worlds, like Mars, not to mention the solar system. It was used to capture interplanetary stardust, and dust from the tail of Comet Wild 2. The dust turned out to be from about 4.5 billion years ago, when the solar system was forming. It may look like pale blue sponge toffee, but aerogel has provided scientists with insights into how our solar system, and the objects in it, formed.

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 270

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 271

Packaging Pollution

Who in the world isn’t aware of the problems with Q

the environment? Air, water, and land pollution have touched every corner of the globe, and then there’s garbage. Most countries have more than they know MA

what to do with, and much of that trash is packaging.

TERIAL

Cutting down, or eliminating, packaging is the no-brainer solution to reducing the mountains of waste WORLD

we generate. Most of the packaging materials we use are not truly biodegradable, but there are some. If you were to bury it . . .

Which packaging material would break down com-

pletely in one to two months?

a) cellophane

b) plastic

c) styrofoam

d) vinyl

271

Packaging Pollution

Which packaging material would break down

A

completely in one to two months?

a) cellophane

b) plastic

MA

TERIAL

c) styrofoam

d) vinyl

WORLD

CORRECT ANSWER:

a) cellophane

Cellophane is made of cellulose fibres from wood, cotton, or hemp, and it breaks down faster than most paper. Uncoated cellophane film breaks down in a month or two, while the coated kinds take about twice as long. In lake water, cellulose breaks down even faster — about 10 days for uncoated, and a month for coated film. Even though it’s completely biodegradable, cellophane still has a downside. The process used to make it creates pollutants. Budding inventors, this is your challenge: come up with a biodegradable packaging material with an earth-friendly manufacturing process.

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 272

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 273

MUSICAL REVOLUTIONS

The World’s First

Electronic Instrument

The world’s first electronic instrument was invented Q

by a Russian physicist and professional musician, in 1918. He called it the etherphone because the sounds it made were unearthly. He started out touring the Soviet Union giving etherphone music concerts, and it wasn’t long before he was wowing the crowds at sold-out shows in Europe. Maybe America wasn’t

ready for electronic music in 1928, because when he made his concert debut in New York City, some

people walked out. Others loved the etherphone

experience and raved about it. Albert Einstein, who was a scientist and violin player, went to a concert and was intrigued.

How was the etherphone played? By . . .

a) breath control

b) moving levers up and down

c) turning knobs

d) waving the hands through the air

273

The World’s First Electronic

Instrument

How was the etherphone played? By . . .

A

a) breath control

b) moving levers up and down

c) turning knobs

MUSICAL

d) waving the hands through the air

REVOLUTIONS

CORRECT ANSWER:

d) waving the hands through the air

Léon Theremin wanted to pull music straight out of the air in the same way as orchestra conductors, who wave their hands around to control the output of the instruments. Once Theremin started waving his

hands around on American stages, the etherphone was identified with him and became known as the Theremin. It’s the only instrument that’s played without being touched by the player. Musicians wave their hands around two antennas attached to a small box that generates radio waves. Their movements interfere with the radio waves, and that interference produces the sounds. Players control pitch with a hand over one antenna, and volume with a hand over the other. The way the theremin is played looks like magic, but the ethereal sounds are firmly grounded in science.

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 274

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 275

Crank It Up to 11!

How about a little time travel back to 1931? Your Q

favourite big band is playing live. You can see the guitarist’s hand moving rhythmically, but you can’t hear the guitar over the horns and strings. No problem, MUSICAL

you say? Just crank up the volume on the guitar?

Well, you can’t. Electric guitars, as we know them, haven’t been invented yet. Early “electrified” guitars REVOLUTIONS

had hollow bodies, which made for feedback and resonance problems when players cranked up the

volume. The electric guitar needed to be reinvented.

Enter Les Paul, guitarist and inventor. He knew that Thomas Edison had once made a solid body violin, and he thought a solid body would fix the problems.

So, he spent his Sundays working on it, and by 1941, he’d made the first solid body guitar with electric pickups.

What did he call it?

a) Blackie

b) The Broadcaster

c) The Les Paul

d) The Log

275

Crank It Up to 11!

What did he call it?

A

a) Blackie

b) The Broadcaster

c) The Les Paul

MUSICAL

d) The Log

REVOLUTIONS

CORRECT ANSWER:

d) The Log

Les Paul made The Log out of a 10 centimetre by 10

centimetre (4 in by 4 in) block of pine, some phone parts (for the electric pickup), and the neck and bridge of a guitar. The first time he played it at a gig, people were so distracted by its weirdness, they couldn’t focus on his music. So, he cut a hollow body Epiphone guitar in half lengthwise, and sandwiched The Log between the two halves. Thanks to the cosmetic makeover, The Log didn’t distract from his music anymore, and the audiences raved about his sound. Leo Fender was also developing a solid body around the same time, and managed to get his

Broadcaster on the market ahead of the Les Paul, the guitar based on The Log. Finally, guitarists could crank up the volume to the max.

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 276

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 277

Musical Objects of Desire

Adventurous musical artists are the force that drives Q

music into the future. Pushing the envelope as far as they can, they explore the creative, and technological, possibilities of musical expression. When they work MUSICAL

with brilliant scientists, they can alter the sound of popular music, or even revolutionize it. During a stellar musical explosion in the 1960s, some artists REVOLUTIONS

started to use a new technology, available for the first time. It’s a common instrument now, but in the late

’60s, it was expensive, hard to get, and at the fore-front of a musical revolution. With that in mind . . .

Which recording does not belong?

a) Bee Gees’
Ideas

b) The Beatles’
Abbey Road

c) The Monkees’
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones
d) Walter (Wendy) Carlos’
Switched-On Bach

277

Musical Objects of Desire

Which recording does not belong?

A

a) Bee Gees’
Ideas

b) The Beatles’
Abbey Road

c) The Monkees’
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones
MUSICAL

d) Walter (Wendy) Carlos’
Switched-On Bach

REVOLUTIONS

CORRECT ANSWER:

a) Bee Gees’
Ideas

W. Carlos’
Switched-On Bach
blazed the trail as the first music album played entirely on the first keyboard-triggered music synthesizer, the Moog (rhymes with vogue). Carlos worked closely with the synth’s inventor, physicist Robert Moog, to make it more musician-friendly. Moog wasn’t a musician himself, but enjoyed hanging out with them, and developing instruments for them. His company made theremins, and they inspired the synthesizer’s sound generating components. The Monkees and The Beatles used

Moogs in the late 1960s, but not the Bee Gees (yet).

In 1965, a Moog cost about US$10,000 — that’s

around $65,000 today! We take synthesizers for

granted now, but back then, they truly were musical objects of desire.

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 278

SmellyMoon_Final 4/21/08 10:32 AM Page 279

Music from Space

Not only do astronauts listen to music while they’re Q

in space, many of them make music too. After a long, hard day’s work, astronaut-musicians like to unwind with their favourite instrument. Ed Lu played his MUSICAL