The Sound of Friction

Another cool song:

The Sound of Friction

This one is the tune of the 60's classic, The Sound of Silence. The link above takes you to an MP3 file of the audio which is clearer than the video. You may want to listen first before sharing with the kids. I loved it but they do throw in the H word.

Homeschool Science: Cohesion and Adhesion

Update: Kris' webinar went great! You can watch and listen to the recorded webinar at: Science at Home: Adhesion & Cohesion. Make sure to click on the video and chat icons at the top right to get the full effect.

Kris Correira's second free webinar in her At-Home Science series is scheduled and ready for you to register. And it's a pretty exciting subject too:

Cohesion, adhesion, surface tension, capillary action--this webinar will explore them all through a variety of experiments put together with whatever I can manage to find around the house.

So who is this Kris Correira you ask? Oh my, how could you not know Kris! Well, here's your opportunity to meet a lovely as well as dedicated homeschool mom:

Kris Correira is a homeschooling mom to 3 boys. She works part time as a physician assistant in an busy emergency department and a paramedic instructor at a community college; she is also a volunteer science teacher for her local homeschool co-op. She has inspired a love of science in her children through lots of hands-on learning and science books without any textbook or curriculum. See what experiments she has for fun hands-on science homeschooling.

Kris also has a great blog you really should check out: Science At Home.

Homeschool Connections is able to bring this webinar to you for free thanks to our oh-so-generous sponsors:

Emmanuel Books

Love 2 Learn

Please visit their websites and thank them for their sponsorship.

I look forward to see ya'all on Tuesday, June 30th at 8:30 PM Eastern time. And, hey, bring the kids. We had fun at Kris' last webinar watching the live static experiments so I'm looking forward to seeing what cool experiments Kris does for my family on cohesion and adhesion.

Free Math and Physics Videos

More free stuff online.

Khan Academy

The Khan Academy is a not-for-profit organization with the mission of providing a high quality education to anyone, anywhere.

We have 700+ videos on YouTube covering everything from basic arithmetic and algebra to differential equations, physics, and finance which have been recorded by Salman Khan. He has also developed a free, adaptive math program available here.

To keep abreast of new videos as we add them, subscribe to the Khan Academy channel on YouTube.

The entire video library is shown below. Just click on a category or video title to start learning from the Khan Academy!

Very cool periodic table showing electron shells

Two teens in our local homeschool group are teaching a science class for kids aged 9-12. Last time, they handed out this very cool periodic table:


Instead of element symbols, electron configuration diagrams occupy the center of each element box. Running your finger (or eye) along row 5, for example, you can see why the palladium atom is smaller than the rhodium even though it has one more electron. I love it!

You can also find larger electron configuration diagrams for each element; they are indexed here.

This periodic table would make a great accompaniment to Mary Daly's Chemsitry 001 or other chemistry course. Also helpful when studying the physics of elementary particles.

Click on the Chemistry label below for a couple of other intriguing periodic tables.

The Science of Fairy Tales

Could Rapunzel's hair actually have borne the weight of the prince? Could Aladdin fly on a carpet? Could the witch have "stolen" the Little Mermaid's voice without using any magical powers?

The answers to these questions can be found at this entertaining article The Science of Fairy Tales

Hat-tip to Amanda at http://wittingshire.blogspot.com/

Grand Unified Theory?

Four fundamental forces have long been recognized in physics: the electromagnetic force, the strong nuclear force (that keeps atomic nuclei together), the weak nuclear force (that is behind radioactivity), and gravity. So far, physicists have managed to produce a "Standard Model" that unifies the electromagnetic and weak forces into the electroweak force. But so far, gravity has eluded all attempts to fit into the theory. The elusive search for a means to unify all four forces into a "Grand Unified Theory" is often called the "Holy Grail" of theoretical physics.

Now, a physicist-turned-surfer thinks he may have hit upon an elegant solution based on a complex but highly symmetrical mathematical pattern. Read more here. I recommend watching the animation of the pattern's rotation even if the math eludes you (as it does me!).

Physics and the Incorruptibles

The physics website PysOrg.com writes: Dead Greek Orthodox monk baffles scientists 15 years after burial.

Hat tip: Catholic Light