Monday Feb 26, 2007
I previously
mentioned that my son Nick and his friend Nate has won the
third grade division of their school science fair. On Saturday,
February 24 they participated in the Austin Energy Regional
Science Festival in Austin, and got another first place ribbon!
For now, though, this is the end. There doesn't appear to be
any place else to go for third graders. If I heard correctly,
fifth graders and beyond can participate in another level of
science fairs, but for third graders this is the end of the
road. Too bad in one way, but on the other hand, I'm not sure
we need another science fair weekend this season.
Monday Feb 26, 2007
On the weekend of February 17 and 18, my son Nick and I attended
Space Camp at Space Center
Houston, which is the visitor's center for the NASA Johnson Space Center.
After we got back, I was poking around Google looking for cool
pictures and information about space exploration, and came
across the New
Horizons mission to Pluto. While the probe is the first
probe to sent to study Pluto, it won't reach Pluto until 2015,
so we have a bit of time to think about that. But on Wednesday
morning (UTC) the probe will make a close approach to Jupiter in
order to gain speed, and of course it will study Jupiter as it
flies by. The probe is already traveling at 43,000 miles per
hour, which, if I remember from what I read some time back, is
the fastest speed of any space probe. Flying by Jupiter will
add another 9,000 miles per hour to bring the probe's speed to
over 52,000 miles per hour!
Monday Feb 12, 2007
Two big congratulations to my son Nick. First, this past
Thursday, he and his friend Nate (they've known each other since
they were less than a year old) entered the school science fair
and place first for third grade! They did a fun project
examining rockets made of water and Alka Seltzer, varying
certain things about the combination, like how much water,
temperature of the water, water vs. vinegar, tablet vs. powder,
etc. Now they get to go on the regional science fair in Austin
on Febuary 24. Very cool!
Second, Nick had his 9th birthday on Saturday, and had a good
time with a few of his friends doing rock climbing, video games
at an arcade, watching movies, eating pizza, cake and ice cream,
having a sleepover, and eating pancakes in the morning. From my
perspective, nine years seems to have gone by awfully quickly,
Nick's only seven years from driving and halfway to being an
adult. Wow!
Congratulations on both of these events, Nick. You're a great
kid!
|
|
|
|
