Fun School Projects with Magnets and Metal

Science is one of the most interesting and fun subjects for kids.

There are endless opportunities for practical experiments that are sure to surprise and excite children's imaginations. A great way to get into experimenting with science is with the use of magnets. The properties of magnets allow for an “ invisible force ” to move objects seemingly on their own!

If your kids are looking for something a little trickier, why not let them try using magnets to make their own compass (指南针)？

For this experiment, you will need 2 needles, a strong magnet, a pencil, a cup and some string.

Step 1: Rub the pointed end of the needle along one side of the magnet ；this can be either the north or south end. Make sure you are rubbing the needle in one direction, not back and forth. You might need to do this about 30 times to magnetise the needle.

Step 2: Test the now magnetised needle with the spare needle to see if it can pick it up. If it can, the needle is ready to use for the experiment. If it doesn't pick it up, you will need to rub the needle a few more times on the same end of the magnet you were using before.

Step 3 : With a piece of string that is a couple of inches long, get your child to tie this to the middle of the pencil. Then, at the bottom end of the hanging string, tie the magnetised needle.

Step 4: Place the pencil, with the needle hanging down, over the top of a cup so that the needle is hanging inside the cup.

Step 5 : Watch as the needle moves on its own to point north.

Once your kids have got a taste for magnets, you might want to move on to more advanced experiments. Places like RS Components sell high-tech magnetic equipment that will be sure to carry on fuelling your children's passion for science!

Yoga has a well-deserved reputation for helping improve balance and flexibility and for inducing calm and relaxation. 【小题1】 While you might not burn as many calories by practicing yoga as you would by running or doing some other high-intensity activities, yoga can still raise your heart rate and help build muscle. Here’s more about how yoga is a complete body and mind workout.

·Reduce stress and reduce pounds. Yoga helps deal with stress. 【小题2】 Yoga has an impact on the body’s stress response and reduces the production of chemicals linked to weight gain, such as cortisol (皮质醇), a stress hormone.

·Move well and eat well. 【小题3】 Participants involved in yoga practice realize that they tend to notice not only the amount of food they eat, but also what type of foods they eat and the impact of eating those foods. They become aware of the effect of certain foods on their bodies during their yoga practice.

·【小题4】 Doing yoga long term not only can help people lose weight but also can strengthen cognitive skills to help keep it off. A multiyear study examines the possibility of yoga maintaining weight loss. Its findings suggest that yoga may help to improve long-term weight loss outcomes via improvements in distress tolerance, self-compassion and a more positive mood.

Yoga is a very reasonable form of exercise, but you have to choose the right type. A 2021 study found no difference in weight loss totals for participants practicing a gentle, restorative yoga versus a more vigorous type of yoga. 【小题5】 Everybody can benefit from a yoga practice.

Astronomers long thought that an odd star system observed by the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite was a simple case of a star orbiting a black hole. But two astronomers are challenging that claim, finding that the evidence suggests something far stranger: a never-before-seen type of star made of invisible dark matter. The system consists of a sun-like star, and its mysterious dark companion, which is much more massive.

What could that dark companion be? Maybe, as suggested, it’s a clump (团) of dark matter. Dark matter is an invisible form of matter that makes up the vast majority of the mass of every single galaxy (星系). We still don’t have a solid understanding of its identity. Most theoretical models assume that dark matter is smoothly distributed in each galaxy, but there are models that allow it to come together on itself.

One of these models supposes that dark matter in this case is a new kind of boson (玻色子). These bosons would have the ability to form clumps. Some of them could be the size of entire star systems, but some could be much smaller. The smallest ones could be as small as stars, and they get a new name: boson stars. Boson stars would be entirely invisible. Because dark matter doesn’t interact with other substances or light, we could detect them only through the gravitational influence on their surroundings. The researchers pointed out that a simple model of boson dark matter could produce enough boson stars to make the two astronomers’ finding reasonable.

While it’s unlikely that this is actually the discovery of a boson star, follow-up observations are still urged. Most importantly, this unique system gives us a rare opportunity to study the behaviour of strong gravity, allowing us to examine Einstein’s theory of general relativity to see if it holds. Secondly, if it is a boson star, this system is the perfect experimental set-up. We can keep studying our models of boson stars, see how well they can explain the orbital dynamics of this system and use that information to glimpse into the dark corners of the universe.