!
P La N K C
15
7
57
19
6
www.planck-magazine.it
I’m going to be a little scientist!
Y T I C I R T C E L E ! g n i z a m a w Ho
RESEARCH TODAY Europe explores
JUPITER p4
EXPERIMENTS Let’s build THE ELECTRIC QUIZ! p 32
The adventures of Marie and Max
A... SHOCKING adventure!
P5
WE ASK YOU! ur life you For sure, at least once in yo the car door, have “felt a shock”: touching or simply by putting a wool sweater on... touching a friend. But...
... WHY DO WE GET A SHOCK?
TO HELP Y OU... there are s
ome clues!
Send your answer to redazione@planck-magazine.it Your answer will be posted on the PLaNCK website and it will be published in the next PLaNCK Issue!
1. Dry air and good w eather... tr notice: we y to feel a sho ck when th sun is shin e ing and the air is dry, s when it is o not very h umid. 2. Pay att ention to t h e clothes yo wear! We u get a shoc k if we wear wool swea ters, plast ic or rubb shoes... er 3. Sparks around us! When the is very str shock ong, we als o see sma sparks... ll
7
! E R U T N E V D A G IN K C O H S . A.. DO YOU THINK THAT RAIN IS BORING? YOU DON’T FEEL THAT WAY , IF YOUR GRANDMOTHER IS A SCIENTIST! MARIE AND MAX KNOW THAT VERY WELL...
SH
AA
AA
ZZ
Z
OH OH, THERE IS A BLACKOUT… IT’S SO DARK!
PARIS, ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, NOVEMBER 1801...
LET’S PUT ON OUR LAB COATS...
DON’T WORRY, GRANDCHILDREN! I HAVE A FLASHLIGHT!
FLASHLIGHTS ARE POWERED BY A BATTERY OR “PILE”! BUT WHY DON’T YOU FIND OUT YOURSELF? WEAR THESE!
THESE EXPERIMENTS ARE SO EXCITING!
YEAH!!
LET’S GO!
FORTUNATELY, THERE ARE FLASHLIGHTS! BY THE WAY, GRANDMA... HOW DO THEY WORK?
WELL, MR. NAPOLEON, THIS IS MY INVENTION: I CALLED IT PILE, BECAUSE IT IS MADE FROM DISCS OF TWO DIFFERENT METALS WHICH ARE… PILED UP ONE ON TOP OF THE OTHER! THANKS TO THIS INVENTION YOU CAN GENERATE A CONTINUOUS FLOW OF ELECTRICITY… JUST LIKE THE CURRENT OF A RIVER!
REALLY INTERESTING, DEAR VOLTA, REALLY INTERESTING. HOW DOES IT...
TZAAAANG
Y T I C I R T ELEC ! S E I R O T C FA lants p r e w o p f o s r e d n The wo We use a lot of electricity every day. Where does it all come from? Unless your house has solar panels mounted on its roof, all the energy you use comes from power plants and is then transported through a network of cables called electroducts to reach each city, and each house!
How power plants work Each power plant is based on the rotation of an alternator (with the exception of solar panels installations). An alternator is similar to a dynamo (see page 27) and it is able to generate an electric current. What discriminates power plants is the energy used to allow the alternator to rotate. You will learn that the human mind can use almost everything our planet gives us! Although, every type of energy has some pros and cons.
Cons
Solar energy
There are two types of power plants employing sunlight to produce electrical energy: Photovoltaic solar systems These solar panels can directly convert light into electrical energy through the photovoltaic effect. You can see them on the roofs of many houses.
Pros
Solar collectors Using a set of mirrors they reflect the sunlight toward a container, where they heat special liquids until they evaporate. The pressure of the steam makes an alternator spin, thus generating electricity.
th e so la r Th e co st of bo th oltaic panels collectors and photov in the future is very high, although thanks to it will likely decrease , this energy research. In addition ring the day is only produced du ys. and not on cloudy da
28
Solar energy is a “clean� and renewable energy , and it can be produced di rectly in the place where it is used.
CE! READ SCIEN
SHOCKING ELECTRICITY Written by Nick Arnold Illustrated by Tony De Saulles Series: Horrible Science Edited by Scholastic London A review by Pamela Pergolini Who said that electricity is boring? On the contrary, electricity is... shocking! “Shocking Electricity” - written by Nick Arnold and illustrated by Tony De Saulles - is an exciting book about electricity and it is part of “Horrible Science”, a series edited by Scholastic London. An extra-terrestrial scientist with funny antennas stimulates the curiosity of readers through humor and funny cartoons, emphatically describing the wonders of Science and its protagonists: the secret diary of William Crookes, with his scientific observations (1832-1919); the story of Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta, first friends and then bitter enemies; Joseph John Thomson (1856 -1940), Stephen Gray (16661736), Charles Dufay (1698 -1739), Benjamin Franklin (1706 -1790), only to mention some of the scientists involved in the history of electricity. The “Dare you discover” section proposes some experiments, while in “Test your teacher” you can test your teachers with witty questions; in the “Shocking quiz” section you can find fanciful questions about the inventions and the scientists who have studied electricity, and in “Bet you never knew” you can discover interesting facts and anecdotes. Finally, in “Could you be a scientist?” the author speaks directly to the reader, asking the same questions that scientists asked themselves. To discover all the books of the “Horrible Science” series, visit: www.horrible-science.co.uk
34
34
ON JANUARY 2015
TIME
To subscribe, to read the blog and to find more contents visit our website: www.planck-magazine.it