No, Infrared is not a crayola crayon color

If you're anything like me you'd probably not know what infrared is at all. When I started this project and was told my topic name, I was like "ina red what?" As I started reading more on infrared I learned more how it's throughout our daily life even if we can't see it.

Infrared is used in many different technologies ranging from a T.V. remote to a camera. They can detect heat leaks in house and even forest fires! Believe it or not, infrared is even used in damaged muscles to speed up healing and in thermography to detect pathological tissue growths.

Now that I've told you what infrared is used in, maybe I should tell you what it is. Infrared is one part of the electromagnetic spectrum and it's wave length is about the size of a grain of sand. Infrared is mainly heat or thermal radiation and that's mainly what we feel it as. Infrared affects matter in the form of heat. When infrared hits your skin, your skin warms up and that's how it affects any matter. Infrared is taken in and sent out by atoms or groups of atoms being vibrated and rotated. This means that when an infrared wave hits your skin, the atom in the wave is being vibrated or rotated and that's why you feel the heat.

A really big thing for infrared that a lot of people know about is infrared photography. In infrared photography you use a special type of film and camera that can sense the heat of an object. In infrared photos there are different colors used to show the hottest and coldest spots. In this cat photo below the hottest spots are in red and the lightest in white. This is just on of the ways they can use the colors. In some infrared photos they used the ROYGBV color skem, red being hottest and violet being coldest. These photos are not only used to just show the hottest part of a cat, they can be used to find people in a fire, and defects in electronic systems.

What's really interesting with Infrared is that it can show you things that aren't there. For example infrared can show you things at night that you can't see with night vision goggles. Why? because night vision goggles can't see behind a tree, but with an infrared device you can see the person because the person shows up red because of the heat he emits and the tree doesn't emit heat. Infrared Photos can also go beyond and show you things that aren't there. For some cool examples of infrared to regular photos click here.

For some cool infrared labs that you can try at home click here.

So I hoped you learned a lot and next time someone asks you or you hear about infrared you won't think it's a crayola color. I hope you'll be able to explain to them everything you read about from this blog.



Photos: from NASA

Works Cited:

"Electromagnetic Radiation." Encyclopædia Britannica. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Apr.
2010. .

"The Infrared." NASA. N.p., 27 Mar. 2007. Web. 1 Apr. 2010.
.

"Infrared Light." Newton's Apple. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.
infrared.html>.

The Animal Lovers Study

Would you call it work if you loved animals and had a career as a zoologist? Why do you ask? Because zoology is the study of animals.

Zoology is a very broad study of science. It can include anything from studying the eating habits of a shark, to the interaction between a horse and a human. It is a branch of biology and studies the development, behavior, and interaction of animals. Zoologists are sometimes known as animal scientists or animal biologists. Since zoology is such a broad study, the jobs it includes can vary also. Most zoologist do lab work and have to dissect animals as part of their job. And although the jobs can vary, most zoologist focus only on one group of animal. By focusing on one animal you're not only a zoologist, you could also be called an

ornithologist, a scientist who studies birds. Being a zoologist doesn't stop with just birds, cats and sharks. With zoology there are infinite job options.

You may think that most zoologist work at zoos or museum, a Jack Hanna type of job. This is not necessarily true, only some work for zoos and museums and even fewer work for small companies. Most zoologist work for government agencies.

This type of scientific job appeals to me in many different way. If this job is for animal lovers, then I have it made. I love animals of all kinds and have always been interested in them. Another reason this job appeals to me is because I'm a very hands-on kind of person, I don't like sitting down for very long and doing "boring work." This job is a very physically and mentally challenging. You get to do experiments, work with animals, perform studies on their habits, interactions among their fellow species and more. I don't find working with animals boring nor work.

If I were to become a zoologist, I believe it will suit me in many different ways. I believe it will help me reach one of my goals in life, which is to help others, even if it isn't a human. By being a Zoologist there are many different ways I can help animals, such as working with a wildlife conservation group. A conservation group helps animals have enough room to live and helps them survive in their native habitat when many are becoming endangered from having their living areas becoming reduced, destroyed, or completely altered in a way that can't support that animal.

Overall, the outlook of this profession is looking very good for future generations to become employed as zoologists because as more animals are being neglected and becoming endangered, there's going to be a growing need for professionals who can help these endangered animals survive and keep wildlife living areas available for their habitat as our world gets more populated and we and they compete for space.

1st Image taken by Natalie Bayer

2nd Image: Google Images

Tags: zoology, scientist, wildlife, Jack Hanna

Tired of waiting for water to boil? You should try cold water!

Have you ever heard the saying "cold water boils faster than warm water?" Well I know I have, but I could never get myself to believe it because, is that physically possible? Well once you're done reading you will know whether warm water boils fast than cold water.

What makes cold water boil faster than warm is called the Mpemba effect. One may think that if you start boiling warm 70 degrees water, it would take less time then cold 30 degrees water because the warm water has a head start. This is untrue however. How can that be?

Here is a site by Monwhea Jeng who explains a detailed explanation of the Science

Well how it works is when you put cold water on a lit or turned on stove burner, the stove makes the cold water molecules move faster to get warmer. This makes the cold water warmer faster because its molecules are moving faster. As you know, friction creates heat and the water molecules are creating friction as they move against each other. If warm water was put on stove, the molecules wouldn’t move as fast, making it not warm up faster than the cold water. Even though this seems impossible it is very true. Another example of the Mpemba effect is when warm water freezes faster than cold water.

Over all sometimes what you think is what is not nessecary true. One example of this is the Mpemba effect. And maybe you’re even willing to try this for yourself at home, and if you do be careful, stoves are hot. Also, if you have any questions, concerns, or comments please post them below.

http://www.usa-gymnastics.org/

Random Video

Random Video I found. Don't ask.

Hilton Head Photo

Just one of the many pictures I took in Hilton Head Island last spring break. This is my by far one of my favorite photos I've taken.