One of the things I am most looking forward to on my trip to Antarctica is communicating with students, my own and other classrooms across the country. To encourage this, I have been soliciting ideas for experiments to try while I am down there, so I can report results back to curious students through journals and e-mails. Here are a few that have been suggested, and which I am considering. The ideas for these experiments test the difference between your "usual" conditions, compared to the conditions at the south pole: temperatures on the order of -30 degrees F, humidity on the order of the Sahara Desert, altitude on the order of California's highest peak, not to mention 24 hours of sunlight.1) homeostasis. How will the body adjust to these extreme conditions? I will be tracking my temperature, heart rate and blood pressure each day to see how long before my body adjusts those back to "normal". I also plan to compare my reaction time (using a simple test of someone dropping a ruler through my fingers; gravity's acceleration will make it fall a certain distance before my fingers grab it; from that I can calculate reaction time) and problem solving time (by solving simple sudoku puzzles - hopefully they won't make me go crazy).
2)** ice cream**. I have been asked by Mrs. Ratliff's class to make ice cream outside, and see how it compares to the "standard" method... I can just see myself, standing outside shaking a can of cream and sugar and looking like an idiot.
3)** beard growth rate**. Mrs. Ratliff's class also asked me to compare how fast my beard grows at home vs at the south pole. I've been taking measurements for about 4 weeks now, so hey class, check out the data at the end of the e-mail. This is my "baseline" for California growth. What is your hypothesis?
4)** how fast can a drop of water freeze?** I will drip water outside and see if it freezes before it hits the ground. I might also try hot water vs cold water to see if there is a difference... I have my own hypothesis on that one.
If you have other ideas, post them on the "ask the team" forum and we'll see what we can do!
In preparation for one of my south pole experiments, I am growing out my facial hair to get a baseline of how fast it grows here at home. This is 4 weeks of growth, it is still itchy. I am trying to figure out the best way to use it for my Halloween costume... suggestions?
OK, the moment you've been waiting for: my beard growth data! Every few days I cut off three or so hairs off my jawline and measure them. I pull the hairs straight with tweezers and clip them off at the skin level.
9/27: day 0, clean shaven! 10/4: 3.5, 3.0, 3.0 10/6: 5.0, 5.0, 4.5 10/8: 5.5, 6.0, 6.0 10/12: 5/16", 11/32", 1/4" (didn't have my metric ruler) 10/15: 7.0, 8.0, 8.5 10/18: 9.0, 9.0, 10.0 10/20: 14.0, 13.0, 12.0 10/23: 10.0, 12.0, 13.0, 14.0
A free penguin to the first person to post my average beard growth rate on the Ask the Team forum! Also include a description of how you calculated it. Note: not a real penguin... that would be illegal but very cute.