Christmas Science Quiz

This fun Christmas-themed Science Quiz makes a great end of term activity, but is also good for a bit of fun to test your own knowledge... Answers are provided at the bottom of the post... No cheating!!

The End of Term is Nigh!

As the end of another year draws near children across the country will be expecting to do less and less work, and have more and more fun, while at school. Several years ago, in an effort to appease my students with a fun activity but without resorting to doing something totally non-educational, I produced the following Christmas Science Quiz.

Questions 1 to 15 are based on topics covered in Year 7 (B1, C1, P1) so offer a good re-cap of the basics for Secondary school students, and may also be suitable for Key Stage 2 Primary school pupils.

Questions 16 to 19 are aimed at GCSE students, and are based on the content of OCR 21^st Century Science units B1, C1, P1.

Question 20 is just there for fun!

Feel free to use these questions as you like, and share with others, however it would be lovely if you could acknowledge me as the source! 

www.drdssciencedays.co.uk 

www.facebook.com/drdssciencedays

Christmas Science Quiz Questions

1.   Which of Santa’s reindeer is named after an object in space? 

2.   One of Santa’s reindeer is called Vixen. What animal is a vixen the female of? 

3.   Which metal with the symbol Au did one of the wise men give? 

4.   Some people put a star on the top of their Christmas tree. Put these objects into size order (Big – small): Comet, Galaxy, Star. 

5.   Why is Santa’s sleigh environmentally friendly? 

6.   One of the properties of metals is that they are sonorous. Which sonorous metal objects often appear on Christmas cards? 

7.   Why would you never see penguins and polar bears together in the wild? 

8.   Baby reindeer drink milk from their mothers. Which group of animals do reindeer belong to? 

9.   The three wise men had to cross a desert. Which of these animals would they have been most likely to see: Cow, Elephant, Camel? 

10. Santa’s fed up with drinking sherry, and fancies a glass of water. He tests his water with litmus paper and it turns red. Why can’t Santa drink this water? 

11. Santa’s elves often have to muck out the reindeer stables because of all the reindeer poo. Which life process does this show? 

12. Which group of plants do Christmas trees (Scots pines) belong to? 

13. What item of clothing does Santa wear that stops 50% of the heat loss from his body? 

14. Santa drinks a lot of sherry. Which organ of his body might be damaged by this? 

15. Baubles that are put on Christmas trees are shiny. What do they do to the light? 

16. The gene for having a shiny nose is dominant, and Rudolph is double dominant (homozygous). What percentage of Rudolph’s offspring would have shiny noses? 

17. Santa has to cross the Atlantic to deliver presents to the children in America. Why does his journey get slightly longer each year? 

18. Reindeer have 48 chromosomes. How many chromosomes would there be in a reindeer sperm cell? 

19. Santa lives at the North pole. What effect will global warming have on the amount of space that his reindeer have to exercise in? 

20. A bear walks 1 mile South, 1 mile East, then 1 mile North, and ends up exactly where it started. What colour is the bear? 

Christmas Science Quiz Answers

No cheating...

Answers below...

1. Comet

2. Fox

3. Gold

4. Galaxy - Star - Comet

5. Doesn’t use fossil fuels / no pollution 

6. Bells

7. They live on different poles

8. Mammal

9. Camel

10. It’s acidic

11. Excretion

12. Conifers

13. Hat

14. Liver

15. Reflect

16. 100%

17. Continental drift

18. 24

19. Reduced / Less space

20. White (must be a polar bear staring out at the N pole!)

If you have any feedback about this quiz, or would just like to post your own personal scores, please leave comments below, or on the Dr D's facebook page - Thank you!

Have a very merry and science-y Christmas!!

People Power – Spreading the Word!

Spreading the Word

It’s difficult to build up a business profile when you’re first starting out.

You may have a great product or service, but if nobody knows that it’s out there, then nobody is going to place an order.

You may be the most energetic and enthusiastic person, with fantastic ideas, and a new business model, but it is unlikely that anyone is going to stumble across your business by chance.

It’s vital to spread the word, but advertising costs money, which can be an issue if you haven’t had time to build up your customer base – It’s a chicken and egg situation…

Networking

Since I began “Dr D’s” in February 2011 (a shocking 2 years ago!.. Doesn’t time fly?) I have called on the help and good will of friends, and some of those connections have led on to other things. I have been so pleased that people are willing to support me, and point me in the direction of things that might offer interesting opportunities, or introduce me to people who may be interested in my services.

These networks of personal connections, stemming from some of the fabulously supportive people that I know, have led to some really interesting bookings and work opportunities. Not least of these was my route into working with the BBC, which has established yet more friendships and professional connections, which I hope will branch out further in the future.

It really is empowering to know that there are people out there who feel that what I have to offer is worth talking about with their friends and work contacts, but I didn’t want to be a burden to those important people in my life by continually nagging them.

Facebook Friends and Social Networking

I didn’t want to become one of those ‘friends’ who is always on the ask, always wanting something for their own benefit, so I had made it a policy not to fill peoples’ timelines on Facebook with constant requests for support.

This weekend I decided to take the the drastic step of breaking with that policy, and sending out invites for my personal friends to ‘like’ my business page for “Dr D’s”.

I have seen a huge increase in the number of people seeing my posts on the Dr D’s facebook page through a ‘viral’ rather than ‘organic’ source (as a Biologist, I find these terms a little disconcerting!). This means that friends of friends are seeing my page as a result of those extra ‘likes’!

A Big Thank-you to People Power!

I would like to take this opportunity to say a huge “THANK YOU” to the friends who accepted the invitation… ‘Likes’ on my business page have jumped from 69 to 90 this weekend, and nearly 400 people have seen the page!

Your continued support and faith in me is very much appreciated, and I promise not to keep pestering you… too much!

Scientific Wanderings 2012 - A Poetic Review!

A bit late posting this, but it was written a couple of weeks ago, and then the usual start of term madness kicked in... Enjoy!

January was cold and frosty.

The weather wasn’t kind,

but with so much to look forward to

I really didn’t mind

Big Bang Fair, Birmingham 

February saw the lab coat parade

by Alice and her mates

at her science themed birthday party which,

though I say so myself, was great!

In March I joined the BBC

at the Birmingham Big Bang Fair.

Assisting the Bang Goes the Theory team

I did science with gusto and flair!

Bang Live, Edinburgh

In April I travelled to Edinburgh

for more science with a Bang!

Re-united with Dallas and Dr Yan,

and the rest of the BBC gang.

May saw me travel to Sheffield

For yet more science based fun

A city I’m very fond of,

and where my science career begun.

BBC Science Cheltenham Science Festival

Then June, the height of Summer –

It p*ssed it down with rain

but I worked at the Cheltenham Sci Fest

so I wasn’t about to complain.

More festivals and summer fetes

saw July pass in a flash.

Bailgate Busking Festival, Lincoln

Science busking in the Bailgate

Even generated some cash!

In August it was One Show Live

Back to Sheffield once again

for more work with BBC Science

in a muddy field in torrential rain.

Back to college in September

To lecture in science – OK…

and MATHS! Out of my comfort zone!

Not done maths since my own school days!

Molecular Jewellery
Ethanol earrings and pendant

October – a Hallowe’en pumpkin day

Spooky science was in the air.

The ideal day out for a skeleton.

Me and ‘My Mate Bert’ were there!

In November – a moment of genius,

an idea that came out of the blue –

Molecular jewellery – what everyone wants

It’s the next big thing – it’s true!

Bert gets festive
Santa Skeleton!

Then back to the festive season

December came round far too fast!

Christmas quizzes and secret Santas

Then New Year, and 2013 at last…

So once again I look to the future,

And what the next 12 months will bring.

I’m hoping for fun and adventure

And more wonderful sciencey things!

As a Busy Summer Turns Into a Busy Autumn…

Wow! I’ve only just realised that I haven’t posted anything since mid-July… It’s been a busy few months!

The road along which my freelancing adventure has taken me has had several twists and turns and, as I expected, has not been anything near the route I expected!

When I left full time paid employment I made sure that, despite my dissatisfaction with my job, I left on good terms with my colleagues. It was my good relationship with these wonderful people which led to me having the opportunity to work with the BBC’s Bang GoesThe Theory team, and it was also the reason for my incredibly busy summer.

I was contacted out of the blue by a former colleague to ask if I could help them out with a project. They needed someone who had the appropriate experience and CRB checks to assist on a residential course working with young people from across Lincolnshire as part of the National Citizen Service. They wanted me to start that very day… and so my relaxing summer break, along with my free time for writing and being creative, evaporated before my eyes!

I spent a week staying in the student accommodation at the University of Lincoln with several hundred teenagers, 12 of whom became ‘my’ group to work with for the next 3 weeks undertaking a social action project in the market town of Boston, Lincolnshire. I may have been nominally the group leader, but the young people made their own choices about what they wanted to do and how they wanted to contribute to their local community. They decided that they would like to help out a local charity, The Boston Woods Trust.

We met some wonderfully dedicated people who were extremely supportive and encouraging to the young people, helping them to gain new skills and confidence and giving them the chance to work with people of different ages and backgrounds as equals.

We weeded, uprooting tons of Ragwort.

We mulched, helping young trees to grow.

We dug trenches and laid slabs, helping in the construction of a ‘compass’ in ‘Jenny’s Wood’.

We all learned a great deal.

Some of the young ‘men’ in the group learned that running through a patch of waist high nettles bare chested as a show of ‘manliness’ can be very uncomfortable! Maybe… hopefully… one day, they will realise what it takes to really be a man!

Almost as soon as my adventures in Boston were over, it was back to work as a part time lecturer at Lincoln College, with hugely increased hours compared to last year. Not only am I teching GCSE Science, and Biology as part of the Access to Higher Education for Health Care Practitioners (Access HE HCP) course, but I have also been asked to teach Maths… Aaaarrrggghh!! (Oops, Sorry!!).

That was my initial reaction though…

I have to say that I’m actually really enjoying teaching Maths. The course that I’ve been charged with teaching is ‘Maths for Nursing’, which means that all of the Mathematical principles which I have to cover have practical applications, and aren’t the really scary kind of Maths (I dropped A-Level Maths after a term!). Having worked as a research scientist for several years I understand what it’s like to have to use Maths. Thankfully, I have always been pretty confident when it comes to the basics, thanks to a great start from my parents and some really good teachers when I got to school, so making the jump to any actual application of the Maths seems fairly logical for me.

The feedback from my Maths students so far has been encouragingly positive. I think they appreciate the fact that I’ve openly admitted that Maths isn’t what I chose to do… It’s something that I see as a ‘necessary evil’ if you will, but I equally make sure that I put across the message that it isn’t something to be scared of. It is, in fact, something that all of my students use every day, even if they don’t realise it. Sometimes it really is a case of fear of the unknown, and once you point out that, actually, these are all simple mathematical things that they do know, everything falls into place!

More busy times are ahead with long days lecturing at College, several bookings through Dr D’s ScienceDays, and some GCSE exam marking coming up in November… When you’re a freelancer you have to take the work as and when it’s available… 

Science Busking Transcends Language Barriers

This weekend my wanderings took me back to a familiar stomping ground, but as part of a larger event. I returned to Castle Square, in the heart of uphill Lincoln, to contribute to the Bailgate Busking Festival.

Traditionally, the festival has been a showcase for acoustic musicians of varying styles, playing all manner of instruments from medieval to modern. This year saw the range of acts extended to include the Earth Bound Misfits (well, one of them at least) entertaining the crowds by juggling an assortment of items including a rubber chicken, and myself – Lincoln’s only science busker.

The weather was kind, and the crowds came out in force…

Some were locals –  it was great to see so many familiar faces among both the ‘audiences’ and the other busking acts.

Some were tourists – of various nationalities – some Brits visiting from elsewhere in the UK, some European, some from farther afield.

The whole event had an almost continental atmosphere with people enjoying a drink in the sun while being entertained by the various acts.

The first people to come and see what I had brought along to entertain the masses were a group of Italian students. At first I had a sense of mild panic… Which of the assorted demonstrations lurking in my rucksack could I show them that wouldn’t need too much of an explanation?

I started by showing them the ‘Vanishing penny’… A great little demonstration that “does exactly what it says on the tin”…  Even without a scientific explanation it’s a crowd pleaser! As it happened, I think the gist of my explanation was understood by them anyway… I say I think… My Italian isn’t great, but one of the girls had clearly got the main point about light changing direction between passing through water compared to air, and explained it to the others… Brilliant!

Clearly any bits that were lost in translation did not detract from the over all experience, as my new found Italian friends stuck around to see another couple of demonstrations, smiling as they watched, and even put a few coins in my collecting bucket as they left, to which I gave them a big friendly smile and a hearty “Grazie!” in my best Dolmio advert / ‘Allo ‘Allo Italian accent!

Later in the day I assisted a group of French students in their British cultural experience by letting them have a smell (and even a taste if they were brave enough) of the Marmite I was using to do a really cool experiment which I ‘borrowed’ from the Bang Goes the Theory team (Thanks guys!).

Did you know that it’s possible to turn Marmite white?... No??... You’ll have to come along and see it for yourself next time I’m out doing a spot of science busking – or better still, book me to come and do a science party for you!

Close Encounters of the Science Kind at Cheltenham Science Festival

I can’t believe that it’s almost a week since my first experience of Cheltenham Science Festival. It was a week ago today that I got on a train and began my journey to Cheltenham, full of anticipation and excitement… and I wasn’t disappointed!

Working as a Science Communicator with The BBC

Once again, I had the pleasure of working with the BBC’s Bang Goes the Theory team in order to share the joy of science with members of the public. I love this kind of ‘work’… It’s so much fun that it seems like play!

The usual suspects were on hand to demonstrate a range of really cool experiments and, despite the rain on Saturday, the good folk of Cheltenham (and much further afield) turned out in force.

Dr Yan and Dallas joined in on several occasions, showing off their favourite demonstrations, and chatting to people about science and presenting. Dr Yan is a true inspiration, as there is no question that thows him – He’s able to explain even the most complex science on a level that people can relate to, and has a story, anecdote or example for pretty much everything!

Close Encounters with Some of Science’s Most Famous Faces

Anyone who follows me on Facebook will know that one of my first thoughts when I found out that I would be going to Cheltenham was ‘Ooh, I hope I get to meet Brian Cox!’… Well, I nearly did…

The events in the BBC tent included a sneak preview of the forthcoming Wonders of Life series. It was billed as an opportunity to see preview footage of clips from the series, and to put questions to the Head of BBC Science and the series Producer… So what a fantastic treat it was for the audience (myself included) when Professor Cox himself arrived to join the panel!

I resisted the urge to make a total idiot of myself by going up and asking if I could have a photo taken with him while the sound engineer was fitting his mic… Although I kind of regret it now! The poor man seemed to be being hounded by autograph hunters everywhere he went – I guess that’s the price you pay for being probably the best known scientist in the UK! (Brian, if you read this, I hope you appreciate my restraint, and the small contribution that it made to reducing the number of people pestering you!).

The next session in the BBC tent also featured some famous faces, and turned out to be one of the most hilarious things I have witnessed in a while! Adam Rutherford, Kevin Fong, Mark Miodownik and Bang’s own Dallas Campbell battled it out playing ‘Unsung Science Heroes Top Trumps’ (although Mark’s choice of Nikola Tesla was considered to be pretty much sung rather than unsung by the rest of the panel and the audience alike!). Each member of the panel vehemently defended their choice, and made the case for their particular unsung science hero to score points within a range of categories including height (Dallas’ choice of Joseph Kittinger scored well here), geek factor and, bizarrely, grumpiness… It turns out that a lot of talented scientists are actually very, very grumpy!

Close Encounters with an Iconic Piece of Technology – Enigma!

The closest encounter that I had over the weekend, and to my mind the most memorable, was actually getting hands-on and using a genuine Enigma machine. The ability to decrypt coded messages sent using this icon of the world of technology and computing was instrumental in the allies’ victory during World War II.

I actually had the opportunity to set the dials, and use the machine to encrypt a message. In a wonderful meeting of old and new technologies, this coded message was then sent to the code breakers at Bletchley Park via Twitter! The code breakers then used Turing bombes to crack the code, working out the settings on the Enigma machine and the day codes for the encryption, and Tweeted the decrypted message back.

I sent “FUG VLD YED XGWAO RVSEU ECPKQ –AQFF YKQKD RYQ”

Within 3 hours the Bombe Team Tweeted back “LAST DAY AT CHELT S-I FEST WITH BBC”

Brilliant!

What a weekend!

Wandering in Sheffield with Bang LIVE

This weekend saw my wanderings take me back to my old stomping ground of Sheffield, where I lived and studied for seven years, to join the Bang Goes the Theory team again for the latest stop on the Bang LIVE tour.

It was a pleasure to catch up with some familiar faces, and to meet some new ones, as everyone involved shared their love of science with the good folk of Sheffield.

One of the highlights of the weekend for me was that I finally got to see the live show. Dallas, Jem and Dr Yan were on top form, and the lovely and talented Fran did a brilliant job standing in for Liz Bonnin (who was away filming for another project). The dry ice bomb was particularly impressive, and I finally saw the giant hamster wheels in action! The show even helped me with planning my lessons for this week, as I ‘borrowed’ the demonstration to measure the speed of a nerve impulse to use with one of my classes.

The interactive area was as popular as ever and, despite the rain, people queued up outside to get in and have a go at the demonstrations and experiments on offer. Being hardy types, some of the science buskers got out there with them to do some portable demonstrations, and keep them entertained while they waited. My personal favourite for entertaining the queue was the lowest budget 3D movie in the world “Cork on a String”!

Besides the bonus that a trip to Sheffield allowed me to revisit some of my old haunts (i.e Pubs!) in my free time in the evenings, it was also close enough to mean that my hubby, Glenn, could come along… armed with a camera! Thanks to him I now have some great photos to add to the gallery page of the DrD’s Science Days website, including this one, where he managed to catch me being upstaged by Dr Yan again!

Sadly, Sheffield was the last Bang LIVE event for me… Boo! (although the team are visiting Poole, in Dorset, in June).

But… I have just had confirmation that I will be taking to the road again with the BBC for the Chetenham Science Festival… Hurrah!

… and so the Wanderings of the Wandering Scientist continue!