Ginormous+and+Tiny

toc The sections on this page explore large things and small things and build on the work you are doing as part of this project. They are included here for your interest - feel free to pick a section and talk / think about it. You can post your wonderings on the G&T Wonderings page.

One - a trillion
[|Talking about a trillion.] This online article looks at the very large numbers that we are starting to use when talking about finances and the world. It has some very interesting facts about BIG numbers at the end of the article. Check it out and write your thoughts on the G&T wonderings page.

Two - us and the ants.
It has been estimated (no-one has counted them) that there are 168000 ants for every human being living on the earth. That's more than a few living things. How many is that for your class / school? What is the most abundant life form on the Earth right now? No it is not ants. Why is it important to us?

Three - a very large bucket.
How big is that? The biggest ship ever built is an oil tanker. Find out about it and check its measurements out - you might mark them on the field or the road. Go back to your swimming pool challenge. How many swimming pools will it take to fill this ship? Think about your findings.

Four - the flu.
Check out the speed of a sneeze, how it happens and what happens when we do. While most viruses are harmless some can make us sick. The flu (like the recent swine flu) is caused by a virus. Viruses are really tiny - do a bit of research. In ideal conditions some viruses can double every ten minutes. Use the spreadsheet to work out numbers of viruses in an hour? 10 hours? a day??? One bug can quickly become lots of bugs - the population can increase until there are 10 billion viral cells in one millilitre (you could make one). Sneezes and coughs spread viruses - how can we minimise risks? Luckily our body can usually fight against viruses and bacteria - find out about it? Some bacteria help us?

Five - the air we breathe
A child who takes in a deep breath takes in more molecules of gas (mainly oxygen and nitrogen) than there are stars in all the visible universe (that's using telescopes!). That's about 50,000,000,000,000 molecules for every one of us every time we breathe!! When you breathe out all the molecules get mixed up and eventually spread right through the atmosphere. As the earth's supply of oxygen is largely recycled (check ut how this happens) what does this mean for all of us?

Six - a weight on my shoulders
Find out about air pressure. What is it? What is its effect? Have you flown in a plane or been in a car going up a hill (quite a big one!)? What happen to your ears? Why? You could start by looking at the following [] work with your teacher for the following [] Write up your wonderings.

Seven - exploring small
Thinking about how small is small? Explore [] Investigate small things. Think about our wonderings about molecules. Each of the things you see on this site is made up of millions of molecules - just like our hair. If you were that tiny some things would be gigantic but other things would be tiny. I wonder what our world would be like if we were 1mm tall?? Check out nano machines?

Eight - the weight of water
Think about one litre of water. Is it heavier in its solid, liquid, or gaseous state? Put your thoughts up. How can you check this out? What did you find out?

Nine - something to think with!
The Brain. Everyone has one! Check out a few measurement facts about this amazing organ. [|One] [|Two] [|Three] [|Four] Check out the weight of a goldfish brain (find something of that weight!) Also on this site are some interesting facts about measuring sound - see Sensory Apparatus [|Five] Make a note of the things you find interesting.

Ten - In a heart beat
Check out statistics about the human heart, number of beats, amount pumped per beat, per lifetime (averages may be needed here) Is the total closer to the swimming pool or the supertanker (challenge 3)? In an average lifetime a person's heart beats the same number of times as a mouse (they don't live long but their heart rate is high!), a cat and an elephant. Have a bit of a talk about what this might mean.