Welcome to the Triple S web site for 2008! We hope you find the information on this site useful, and hope to see you at one of the two Triple S Science Fairs for this year:
Tues 13th May 2008, 5.30pm - 8.30pm
Hosted by Swan Christian College
Wed 24th September 2008, 5.30pm - 8.30pm
Hosted by Newman College, Churchlands
Enter your Year 10 team in our bridge building competition to win cash prizes!
Downloads: Registration Form | Bridge Building Rules
Why do fridge magnets ‘ripple’ when you rub them together?
Hint: Try taking another magnet and moving it slowly over the fridge magnet. Is it all magnetic? What pattern do the ‘magnetic bits’ form?
Solution: The magnetic sections are arranged in strips, with non-magnetic sections in between. When you line up a magnetic section of one magnet with a non-magnetic section on another magnet, the magnetic sections pull together, creating the force you can feel.
Interestingly, fridges are not magnetic if they have no magnets on them. The magnet induces a magnetic field in the fridge, by lining up the magnetic moments in the metal of the fridge wall. This is why fridge magnets are never repelled by any fridges (as you would expect if fridges were naturally magnetic, as eventually you’d be bound to find a magnet that had the same polarity as the fridge, and poles that are alike will repel each other).
Butterflies on a south pacific island are teaching scientists new things about evolution.
The Blue Moon butterfly population on the island had been devastated by a bacterial parasite - in 2001, males of the species made up just 1% of the specimens studied. A gene protecting against the bacteria was developed naturally by the species, and as of 2006 the male population was back up to 40%.
Scientists are astonished at the speed of the organism’s response - rather than thousands of years, the change came about in only 5.
A baby woolly mammoth, found perfectly preserved in icy ground in Russia, will provide scientists their best chance yet at studying the genetic makeup of the extinct species.
Uncovered in May after nearly 40,000 years, the female mammoth weighs 50kg and is the size of a large dog. It is believed the specimen was about 6 months old at the time of death.
Scientists are puzzled over the discovery of a rare giant squid specimen found washed up on a beach in Tasmania’s west coast.
When alive, the squid would have been over seven metres long, weighing around 200 kilograms.
The squid will be taken to Hobart for more investigation.
Solar powered public rubbish bins are being trialled by the Brisbane City council.
The smart bins compact the rubbish in them using solar power, and will send an email or text message to the council when they are full.
An island off the coast of Japan is literally crumbling into the sea, thanks to the burrowing of millions of tiny crustaceans.
The creatures - a type of crustacean known as an isopod - are burrowing into the soft soil and volcanic rock of the island to lay their eggs. The island itself is getting smaller and smaller as every time a typhoon comes through, the loosened soil is washed away.
The highest peak of the island has disappeared completely, as can be seen in the photographs that accompany the article.
Crustaceans eating away island off Hiroshima - Mainichi Daily News via MSN
