At this free exhibition learn about the exciting Fireballs in the Sky science research project and find out how you can get involved in tracking meteors as well as see some real life meteorites!
Knowing where a meteorite came from, and what it is made of, will help us to address some of the biggest questions in planetary science: how our planetary system came into being, and how dust and gas produced a planet capable of supporting life – our Earth.
The Desert Fireball Network (DFN) is a network of digital cameras in the outback desert of Australia which capture photographs of the night sky.
The exhibition runs Wednesday 8 April to Sunday 3 May during regular opening hours.
In celebration of the Mythbusters tour of Australia this week, we thought we’d put to the test one of the simple experiments featured on the show. Back in 2008 the Mythbusters team demonstrated the power of friction using a couple of phone books. We set up our own version with a pair of debited books.
1. We grabbed a pair of debited books destined for recycling, enabling them to contribute to library science one more time prior to retirement.
2. Placing them next to each other, we interfiled the pages by fanning, similar to shuffling a deck of cards.
3. We ensured every page, or close to every page, was interfiled.
4. The books are totally interfiled. You can already feel the power of science radiating from them.
5. Benjamin and Hannah each grabbed a book by the spine.
6. Check out the tug-of-war that ensues:
So what’s actually happening here?
Pages of books are not perfectly smooth, like all surfaces there are minute imperfections. Rubbing two surfaces together produces friction due to these tiny imperfections. In this case we are demonstrating static friction, which causes two bodies resistant to sliding past each other. A pair of single pages will not generate much friction at all, however the combined total of hundreds of pages interlocked will create huge amounts of friction. The books are impossible to pull apart!
If you want to see the Mythbusters version they used two phone books, which produced so much friction they could tow a car with it!
The Library has recently added a couple of new online resources to our collection, which are accessible 24/7 from our website. Both are great for students for research and project information.
Simply login with your library barcode to use:
Facts on File – Ancient and Medieval History Online – provides thorough coverage of eight civilisations, including ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome and medieval Europe. Features include biographies, events and topics, primary sources, timelines, maps and charts, videos and images plus much more.
Facts on File – Science Online – covers a broad range of topics from subjects including Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Space and Astronomy and more, and features resources such as experiments, biographies, timelines, videos, diagrams to name just a few.
Off the Shelf 