Science - Uses for Human Hair

People laughed when the suggestion was made to use human hair to soak up the oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year, but that idea is not so offbeat. It was also suggested to help with the cleanup of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989.

Try this experiment after your next haircut:
Fill a bucket with water. Add enough cooking oil so that you can see the oil floating in the water. Next, cut the foot off an old pair of nylon stockings (pantyhose), stuff it with hair, and tie the end shut. Put the bundle into the bucket of water and watch it collect the oil. It really works!

Woman have long known that the oil from human hair keeps sewing needles sharp and rust-free. They used to keep the hair from their hairbrushes in "hair catchers," and when they had enough, they would use it to stuff a pincushion.

Human hair has been woven to produce fabric for clothing, and twisted to make rope.

Recently, it has also been used as a substitute for silicon in solar panels.

It also has applications in agriculture and the food industry. It is being woven into mats and uses to keep moisture in and weeds out in gardens and fields around the world. In some countries, because food is scarce and hair is high in protein, oil is separated from hair and processed to become a substitute for soybean oil.

Of course, we can't forget the more obvious uses for human hair. It is still used in wigmaking, and cosmetic testing.

Can you think of any other ways to recycle human hair?

Fun Science Facts

• There are 206 bones in the adult human body and there are 300 in a child's body. As we grow, some of the bones fuse together.


• Fleas can jump 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms, this is equal to a 6 foot person jumping 780 feet into the air.


• Velcro was invented 50 years ago.


• The human eye blinks an average of 4,200,000 times a year.


• It takes approximately 12 hours for food to entirely digest.


• An inch of rain water is equal to 15 inches of dry, powdery snow.


• 40% to 50% of body heat can be lost through the head as a result of its extensive circulatory network.


• The ears of a cricket are located on its front legs, just below the knee.


• Sound travels about 4 times faster in water than in air.


• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

Tip of the Week -- Science

Marie Curie (1867-1934) was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity. She did not actually discover radioactivity, but she did give it the name, and she created the theory of radioactivity. She also developed techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes, and she discovered two elements, polonium and radium.

Marie was the first scientist to explore oncology. Today, when we hear of people undergoing radiation treatments for cancer, we can thank Marie Curie. The Marie Sklodowska-Curie Institute of Oncology in Warsaw, Poland, grew out of the Radium Institute, which Marie founded in 1932.

Although Marie was Polish, she was the first female professor at the University of Paris. Her husband, Pierre, was also a professor and a scientist. Together, they won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903. Their daughter, Irene, carried on the family tradition, winning a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935. Irene's children are prominent scientists as well.

Marie also won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911. She was the first person ever to be awarded two Nobel Prizes.

Today in Science History

On September 23, 1846, the planet Neptune was discovered by Johann Galle, a German astronomer at the Berlin Obervatory. Galle discovered the planet, not by directly observing it, but through mathematical calculations based on variations in gravity on its neighboring planet, Uranus. Italian astronomer Galileo observed Neptune as early as 1612, but he thought it was a star.

Neptune, the 8th planet from the Sun, is named after the Roman god of the sea, because of its blue color. It is 4 times bigger than Earth. Neptune rotates on its axis faster then Earth does; a day on Neptune is 16 hours long, whereas a day on Earth is 24 hours long. Neptune takes longer to orbit the sun than Earth does, though, so a year on Neptune is the same as 165 Earth years. Neptune has eight known moons, while Earth only has one.

Neptune is a gas giant, meaning that it is made up mostly of gases, as opposed to rock and other solid matter. Neptune is made up mostly of hydrogen, helium, ammonia and methane.

Tip of the Week -- Science

On this day in history, September 16, 1978, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near the town of Tabas, Iran. More than 25, 000 people were killed. The quake was felt up to 400 miles away. The town of Tabas was destroyed. Of the 17, 000 people who lived there, only about 2000 survived. The only buildings left standing were the school and the bank. They were the only buildings that had been constructed with steel frames.

Earthquakes result when energy is suddenly released along faultlines. Think of pushing two cardboard boxes together. Sooner or later, one of them will collapse, causing the other to suddenly move forward, backward, or sideways, depending upon which way the collapsed box fell.

The tectonic plates on our planet move just like those cardboard boxes. They constantly grind against each other until one of them gives up and the other one moves suddenly, releasing energy in the form of an earthquake.

This illustration shows the types of faults and how they work:

Science Tip of the Week -- Symbiosis of Plants and Animals

Plants and animals have a symbiotic relationship. This means that they are different from each other, but they each have something the other needs to survive.

Animals and people breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen.

Plants also provide food for animals, and animals fertilize the plants in return.

Animals - even carnivores (meat eaters) - would not be able to survive without plants, and plants would not be able to survive without animals.

Science Tip of the Week -- Hurricanes

I thought this would be a good time to talk about hurricanes, with Earl threatening the east coast and Fiona right behind him!

Hurricanes are a category of tropical cyclone. Tropical cyclones are divided into three types: tropical depressions, tropical storms and hurricanes. Storms fall into these catagories according to the intensity of storm.

A tropical depression is a storm system with winds of up to 38 miles per hour.

A tropical storm is a storm system with winds between 39 and 73 miles per hour.

A hurricane is a storm system with winds above 73 miles per hour. Hurricanes are further divided on a scale from 1 (weakest) to 5 (strongest). Hurricanes that you may remember that have reached Category 5 include Hugo (1989), Andrew (1992), Mitch (1998), Ivan (2004), and Katrina (2005). This is only a partial list. You may want to read more about this at the link below.

Tropical cyclones are caused by a combination of warm tropical waters, light winds, and moisture. When those elements come together under the right conditions, they begin to swirl and move across the ocean, bringing strong winds, high waves, and intense thunderstorms, often resulting in heavy wind damage and flooding.

For more information about hurricanes, check out the National Hurricane Center's website:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

Science Tip of the Week -- States of Matter

All matter has three states: solids, liquids, and gases.


If we take a look at H2O, for example. In its solid form, we call it ice. In its liquid form, it is water. In it's gaseous form, it is steam.






The freezing point of H2O is 32 degrees Fahrenheit. This is the point at which it turns from a liquid (water) to a solid (ice).









The boiling point, or the point at which it turns from a liquid (water) to a gas (steam), is 212 degrees Fahrenheit.









H2O is in it's liquid form at between 32 and 212 degrees F.









Think about these things the next time you reach for the ice cubes, drink a glass of water, or boil water on the stove.

Science Tip of the Week

Our solar system is fascinating! Did you know that our sun is really a star? It takes 8 minutes 17 seconds for light to travel from the Sun to Earth?

Here are some more interesting facts about the solar system:

Uranus rolls on its side like a barrel, while the other planets spin upright like a top.

Venus spins in the opposite direction of the other planets.

The most volcanic activity in our Solar System takes place on Io, one of Jupiter's moons.

Pluto lost its planet status in 2006. It is now considered a dwarf planet because the ratio of its mass to that of everything else within its orbit is not big enough.

Science Tip of the Week

There is more water on Earth than there is land. About 70% of our planet's surface is covered by oceans. The Pacific Ocean alone covers about 30% of the planet.