How To Make Glowing Bubbles

Lightning being frozen in what’s known as a Lichtenberg figure

(Source)

Today’s Illustrated Women in History is a written submission by James Purvis.

Caroline Herschel 1750 - 1848

Caroline Herschel was an astronomer and singer, and was the first woman to be paid for her contribution to science.

At the age of 22 Herschel, who had received training in music against the wishes of her mother, left her home in Hanover to join her brother William, who had established himself as an Organist in Bath, England. Herschel soon distinguished herself by becoming the principal singer in her brother’s Oratorio concerts, and received offers to perform across the country.

Alongside his musical career, William Herschel’s interest in astronomy grew, and with the assistance of Herschel he was eventually offered the position of court astronomer to King George III. At this time, Herschel chose to leave her singing career and become her brother’s scientific assistant, although some of her later writings suggest that this was perhaps not an easy decision.

Her skill as an astronomer was formidable, and in her obituary, the Royal Astronomical Society praised her ‘indefatigable zeal, diligence and singular accuracy of calculation’ as being significant contributors to her brother’s astronomical success. Herschel was awarded a salary by the court as an assistant astronomer, becoming the first woman to be paid as a scientist.

Her work included the grinding of mirrors for reflecting telescopes, taking observations of stretches of the sky, and detailing the precise timings and positions of the observed astronomical objects, as well as a great deal of calculation in order to translate these times and positions into usable data.

Between the assistance that she rendered to her brother’s work, Herschel found time for her own research, discovering a number of comets, as well as previously unobserved nebulae and star clusters, and compiling catalogues of the stars.

Herschel was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, and was later made an honorary member. Today, she is commemorated by a crater on the moon which is named after her.

If you would like to submit a biography of a woman in history to be illustrated and featured, please send me a message!

The Effect of Music, Prayer & Words on Water by Dr. Masaru Emoto:

Keeping in mind our bodies are 65% water. You are what you tell yourself you are. You are what you tell others they are. Thoughts truly become things… choose good ones!

Materials: 1. A wooden skewer 2. A clothespin 3. 1 cup of water 4. 2-3 cups of sugar 5. A tall narrow glass

Steps: 1. First, clip the skewer into the clothespin so that it hangs down inside the glass and is 1 in from the bottom of the glass. 2. Next, remove the skewer and clothespin and put the aside. 3. Then, pour the water into a pan and boil it. 4. Next, pour ¼ cup of sugar into the boiling water and stir till it dissolves. 5. Then, keep adding more sugar, each time stirring until it dissolves. 6. Next, remove the heat and allow it to cool for 20 minutes. 7. Then, ask an adult to pour the mixture into the jar to the top. 8. Next, submerge the skewer into the glass so it is hanging straight down the miss without touching the sides. 9. Finally, put it somewhere where it would not be disturbed and wait for the sugar crystals grow over the next 3-7 days.

Lesson: When you mix water and sugar, you created a saturated mixture, which means that the water could only hold the sugar if it was very hot. As the water cools, the sugar turns into crystals on the skewer.

In a just single teaspoon of soil there are around 5 million single celled organism!

A magnet being sucked into a grinned scrap of metal

Using the classic baking soda and vinegar demo to blow up a balloon.

The new class of NASA astronauts if finally gender-balanced: 50% are women. What’s more — this class might be the one that gets to fly to Mars. (📷: @glamourmag)

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Want to make a rubber egg? Your students do.

http://www.coffeecupsandcrayons.com/make-rubber-egg-science-experiment/ http://ow.ly/i/5haa2

Materials: 1. Brown sugar 2. 2 zipper-lock bags 3. Half and half 4. Adult supervision 5. Vanilla extract 6. Ice 7. Rock salt 8. Large empty container with lid 8. Measuring utensils Steps: 1. First, fill the large container half full with crushed ice. 2. Next, add 6 tablespoons of rock salt to the ice and seal the container and shake the ice and salt for 5 minutes. 3. Then, mix 1/2 a cup of half and half, 1/2 cup tablespoon brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract in the zipper bag. 4. Next, tightly seal the bag and place it inside the other zipper bag. 5. Then, place the bag inside the container with the salt and ice. 6. Next, shake the container and the ice cream will be ready in 17 minutes. 7. Finally, remove the bags from the jar and rinse them with water and enjoy! Lesson: Salt causes ice to melt. When salt comes in contact with ice, the freezing point is lowered. Heat must be absorbed by the ice to melt, which means the heat that causes the melting comes from its surroundings. By lowering the temperature at which ice is frozen, you are able to create an environment where the cream could freeze at a freezing temperature to make ice cream.