Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego

During the time of the prophet Daniel the bad king
who ruled over God's people made it against the law to pray to God.

He even made a giant gold statue of himself and told everyone to worship it!

There were three other of God's prophets at that time called Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
They refused to worship the golden statue of the king,
and for that the king demanded that they were thrown into a giant fiery oven!

But when they were thrown in there to be burned up,
they were not harmed at all, God protected them so not even their clothes got burned.

(from: wikipedia - shadrach, meshach and abednego)

Hertzsprung–Russell diagram

Hertzsprung–Russell diagram might be a difficult thing to say or remember,
but it's really just a very useful thing to help you remember
the things we've been learning about stars.

Since the name is so long, some people just call it a H–R diagram or even just HRD.

We learned about stellar classification, absolute magnitude and luminosity class

The HRD is a picture map you can use
to help understand how all of those things fit together.


(from: wikipedia - hertzsprung-russell diagram)

It was invented about a hundred years ago by two scientists,
named Ejnar Hertzsprung and Henry Norris Russell.

French - counting to forty nine

We just learned how to count to 39 in French, let's keep going!


40 quarante - sounds like cah-uh-on-t /?/
41 quarante et un - sounds like cah-uh-on-t ay un /?/
42 quarante-deux - sounds like cah-uh-on doo /?/
43 quarante-trois - sounds like cah-uh-on twah /?/
44 quarante-quatre - sounds like cah-uh-on coo-aht /?/
45 quarante-cinq - sounds like cah-uh-on sah /?/
46 quarante-six - sounds like cah-uh-on see /?/
47 quarante-sept - sounds like cah-uh-on set /?/
48 quarante-huit - sounds like cah-uh-on soo-ee /?/
49 quarante-neuf - sounds like cah-uh-ont nef /?/

Anode and Cathode

We just learned that an electrode is pretty much just a wire
that has electricity going through it.

If you look closely on a battery, you should see a plus (+) and minus (-) sign.
This is for the positive (+) and negative (-) parts of the battery.

When you hook a wire up to both ends of the battery, that wire is an electrode.

The wire touching the negative (-) part of the battery is called the anode,
and the wire touching the positive (+) part of the battery is called the cathode.

Those words really just mean which way the electricity is flowing.


(from: wikipedia - rechargable battery)

Electrons are negatively charged, and the electrical current
flows from the negative (-) anode to the positive (+) cathode.

Armadillo

We just learned a little about the Manatee.

Armadillos are tough little armored animals!

The name armadillo is Spanish for little armored one.
Their armor is made up of bone, covered up in scutes,
like the scutes on a turtle shell.


(from: wikipedia - armadillo)

Some armadillos can roll up in a ball to protect themselves.

(from: wikipedia - southern three banded armadillo)

Armadillos come in all shapes and sizes, from the pink fairy armadillo
which could fit in the palm of your hand:

(from: wikipedia - pink fairy armadillo)

To the giant armadillo, which is the size of a pig!

(from: wikipedia - giant armadillo)

Another interesting thing is that when the nine-banded armadillo has babies,
it always has identical quadruplets!

Four baby armadillos that are exactly the same, every time!

Latissimus Dorsi

Let's keep learning about the muscles in the human body!

Last time we learned about the trapezius

Next up is the latissimus dorsi.

These muscles are sometimes just called lats.

You use your lats when you pull your arms down from the sky like doing a chinup,
when you pull your arms toward your body like opening a door,
and when you pull your arms up from the ground like picking something up.

(from: wikipedia - latissimus dorsi)

Finland

We just learned about the country of Denmark

Finland is a country in Northern Europe, right between to Sweden and Russia on the other side.


(from: wikipedia - finland)

Linus Torvalds is a famous computer genius from Finland

(from: wikipedia - culture of finland)

Finland people love to sit in really hot small houses called saunas
(from: wikipedia - culture of finland)

Suomenlinna is a castle fortress in the sea that is built across six islands
(from: wikipedia - suomenlinna)

Daniel

We've now learned about God's prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel
who all warned of the coming exile and conquer from the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.

During the exile, God chose another prophet named Daniel.

God gave Daniel the ability to understand people's dreams,
and the kings of Babylon liked Daniel because he helped them understand their dreams.

Daniel stayed faithful to God, even when it was against the law for him to do it.
Even though the kings liked Daniel, there were some people that did not like him,
and they got Daniel in trouble for praying to God when it was against the law.

They threw Daniel into a big pit filled with hungry lions, called the lion's den!
But God protected Daniel, and the lions did not eat him.

The king saw how powerful God was and how faithful Daniel was,
and he told the whole kingdom that they should worship God!


(from: wikipedia - prophet daniel (michelangelo))

Luminosity Class

We just learned that when scientists want to measure how hot a star is,
they use something called stellar classification.

When they want to measure how bright a star is,
they use something called absolute magnitude.

Looking at both a star's temperature (heat) and it's luminosity (brightness),
scientists also come up with something called luminosity class or spectral classification.

Luminosity classes are named with both a number (roman numerals like you might see on a fancy clock)
and also a name, like a supergiant or subdwarf.

The luminosity classes from biggest to smallest are:
0 - hypergiants
I - supergiants
II - bright giants
III - normal giants
IV - subgiants
V - main-sequence stars (dwarfs)
VI - subdwarfs
VII - white dwarfs


(from: wikimedia - hertzsprung-russel diagram)

French - counting to thirty nine

We just learned how to count to 29 in French, let's keep going!

30 trente - sounds like tuh-ah-nt /?/
31 trente et un - sounds like tuh-ah-nt ay un /?/
32 trente-deux - sounds like tuh-ah-nt doo /?/
33 trente-trois - sounds like tuh-ah-nt twah /?/
34 trente-quatre - sounds like tuh-ah-nt cat /?/
35 trente-cinq - sounds like tuh-ah-nt sunk /?/
36 trente-six - sounds like tuh-ah-nt see /?/
37 trente-sept - sounds like tuh-ah-nt set /?/
38 trente-huit - sounds like tuh-ah-nt soo-ee /?/
39 trente-neuf - sounds like tuh-ah-nt nef /?/

Electrodes

Remember that an electrical conductor is something that electricity goes through very well, and a SuperConductor is really super at handling electricity.

And a semiconductor is something that electricity goes through, but not very well.

Sometimes you want to connect a power source like a machine at a doctor's office,
to a semiconductor (like a person!) for some medical tests.

When you hook a good conducting wire up from a power source to a semiconductor,
that wire is called an electrode.

We use electrodes in all types of places from doctor's offices, to car batteries, to science labs.


(from: wikipedia - electroencephalography)

Manatee

We just learned about Hippo Sunscreen.

The manatee is a large animal that lives in the water.

Some people also call it a sea cow because it is so big,
and there are legends that people used to think they were mermaids.

When a manatee blinks, it doesn't an eyelid like a human does,
it just has muscles around it's eye that close.

Try making a small circle with your fingers, and then close it up tight.
That's sort of how their eyelids work!

(from: wikipedia - manatee)

Trapezius

Let's keep learning about the muscles in the human body!

Last time we learned about the pectorals

Next up is the trapezius.

The trapezius, which are sometimes just called traps
are used when you lift your arms over your head,
when you try to touch your elbows together behind your back,
or when you fold your hands behind your back.

(from: wikipedia - trapezius muscle)

Denmark

Let's keep learning about the countries in Europe!

We've learned about Norway and Sweden, the two other Scandinavian countries.

The third and last Scandinavian country is Denmark.
It is not on the peninsula, but is actually connected to Germany.

Denmark is the oldest kingdom in Europe, and the people there are called Danes or Danish.


(from: wikipedia - denmark)

Famous author Hans Christian Andersen was from Denmark.
He was the original writer for famous stories like Thumbelina and The Little Mermaid

(from: wikipedia - hans christian anderson)
Danish scientist Niels Bohr helped us understand how the atom works.

(from: wikipedia - niels bohr)

The famous Kronborg Castle is in Denmark

(from: wikipedia - kronborg castle)

Ezekiel

Like Isaiah and Jeremiah, another prophet Ezekiel
also told people God's warnings about their coming exile and destruction.

During his life the Babylonian army came and took over their land
and kicked God's people out of their country!

He later told people about some day in the future when God would save them
and bring them back to their home land.

(from: wikipedia - ezekiel)

Star absolute magnitude

We just learned that when scientists want to measure how hot a star is,
they use something called stellar classification.

Another thing they measure for stars is how bright they are.
They call this absolute magnitude.

We can't just measure how bright stars look to us in our sky,
because some are close (like our sun) and some are very very far away.

So we measure how bright a star would be if we were looking at it from 32.6 light years away.

They go from -15 which is very very bright, to 20 which is not very bright at all.
Our sun has an absolute magnitude of 5, so it's about in the middle of the brightness levels.

(from: wikipedia - stellar classification)

French - Counting to twenty nine

We just learned how to count to 20 in French, let's keep going!

21 vingt et un - sounds like vah-n-tay-un /?/
22 vingt-deux - sounds like vah-n-doo /?/
23 vingt-trois - sounds like vah-n-twah /?/
24 vingt-quatre - sounds like vah-n-cah-tuh-ah /?/
25 vingt-cinc - sounds like vah-n-sunk /?/
26 vingt-six - sounds like vah-n-see /?/
27 vingt-sept - sounds like vah-n-set /?/
28 vingt-huit - sounds like vah-n-oo-ee /?/
29 vingt-neuf - sounds like vah-n-nef /?/

Notice that for 22-29, it's always the word for 20 vingt (vah-n)
and then the word for the number by itself.

So 25 is 20 vingt (vah-n) and 5 cinc (sunk)
so it's vingt-cinc (vah-n-sunk).

It's pretty much the same way for all the numbers up to 79!

Superconductor

We've learned that if something is kind of a good conductor but not really good,
we call it a semiconductor.

What about something that's a really super awesome conductor?

That's called a superconductor!

Superconductors don't work like good conductors or semiconductors do,
they're usually something normal like metal, but made really super freezing cold.

Not cold like when you go sledding in the snow, (about -10 degrees fahrenheit)
but so cold that you couldn't survive outside. (-300 degrees!).
Colder even than Antarctica, the coldest place in the world!

When the superconducting metal is that cold, it pushes out a magnetic field
that is so strong it can even push other magnets up off the ground!

(from: wikipedia - superconductivity)

Hippo Sunscreen

We just learned about how frogs breathe with their cheeks

Hippos live in the hot Southern part of the African continent.

With all that sun out there, they've got to keep from getting a sunburn,
and their bodies have a pretty cool way to do it.

From underneath a hippo's skin comes a type of gooey stuff called mucus,
and it comes out through their skin like sweat.

It's red colored, and it looks like sweat, so people sometimes call it blood sweat,
but it's really two kinds of acid that mix together in the hippo's body
and then come out through their skin like sweat.

This red gooey mucus acid stuff (called hipposudoric and norhipposudoric acid)
is the hippo's natural sunscreen!

It turns hard and it stays on their body even if they go in and out of the water.

(from: wikipedia - hippopotamus)

Wouldn't it be great if our body could make it's own sunscreen?

Pectorals

Let's keep learning about the muscles in the human body!

Last time we learned about the deltoids

Next up is the pectorals.

The pectorals, which are sometimes just called pecs
are used when you do pushups, when you clap your hands together, or flap your arms like wings.


(from: wikipedia - pectoralis major muscle)

Sweden

Let's keep learning about the countries in Europe!

Last time we learned about Norway,
and how Norway, Denmark and Sweden are all Scandinavian countries.
Sweden is also part of the Scandinavian Peninsula.


(from: wikipedia - sweden)

Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, and started the Nobel peace prizes.

(from: wikipedia - alfred nobel)

Every year Sweden builds a hotel made of ice, big enough for 100 people.

(from: wikipedia - tourism in sweden)

The type of meal where you have a table full of food to choose from
is very often called a smorgasbord, which comes from the Swedish word Smörgåsbord.

(from: wikipedia - smörgåsbord

Jeremiah

Let's keep learning about the books of prophecy in the Old Testament.

Last time we learned about the prophet Isaiah.

Another prophet was named Jeremiah.
He is sometimes called the weeping prophet because he was so sad
that he had to tell God's people that because of their sins they were going
to have some difficult days ahead when their temples would be destroyed and they would be captured.


(from: wikipedia - jeremiah)

Stellar Classification

We just learned about Canopus.

Remember that stars in the sky like our Sun
are just giant balls of burning gas floating in outer space.

When scientists want to measure how hot a star is,
they use something called stellar classification.

The letters for stellar classification from hottest to coldest are:
O, B, A, F, G, K, M.

That can be tough to remember, so you can think of it with this sentence:
Oh Be A Fine Girl Kiss Me since those first letters all match up.

A stars heat usually makes it burn a type of color,
so each of the letters has a color that goes with it.

O - blue
B - blue white
A - white
F - yellow white
G - yellow
K - orange,
M - red

Scientists like to use the letters for how hot the star is,
but sometimes it's more fun to talk about a star by it's color!


(from: wikipedia - stellar classification)

French - Counting to Twenty

We just learned how to count to 15 in French, let's keep going!
16 seize - sounds like sez /?/
17 dix-sept - sounds like dee-set /?/
18 dix-huit - sounds like dee-zoo-ee /?/
19 dix-neuf - sounds like dee-nef /?/
20 vingt - sounds like vah-un/?/

Semiconductor

We've learned about how conductivity means how fast electricity goes through something,
and that metal is a good conductor, but rubber is a bad one, also known as a resistor.

What about things that are kind of good conductors?
We call those semiconductors.

One of the most common semiconductors out there is a chemical called silicon.

(from: wikipedia - semiconductor)

Frog breathing

We just learned that the red thing on a rooster's head is called the Comb

Let's learn more fun stuff!

How can frogs stay so long underwater?
Because they can breathe air right through their skin!

When they are in the water, the oxygen they need to breathe
can go right into their body through their skin.

Their skin is permeable which means it allows things like water to get through it.

(from: wikipedia - frog)

When they are above water, they don't have very strong lungs to breathe with,
so they do something called buccal pumping. Buccal means cheeks or mouth.

This means they use their mouth to suck air in and out of their lungs.
If you watch underneath a frog's mouth, you can usually see their throat area puffing out and sucking in.
That's them breathing using buccal pumping!


(from: wikipedia - buccal pumping)

Deltoids

Let's keep learning about the muscles in the human body!

Last time we learned about the triceps

Next up is the deltoid.

The deltoid is the muscle on the corner of your shoulder, right above where your arm is.

(from: wikipedia - deltoid muscle)

You are using your deltoid when you move your arm around at the shoulder.

Norway

Let's keep learning about the countries in Europe!

Last time we learned about Greece.

Next up is Norway.

Norway is part of what is called the Scandinavian countries,
along with Denmark and Sweden
It makes up part of the Scandinavian Peninsula.


(from: wikipedia - norway)

Vikings played a very strong part in Norwegian history,
sailing their large ships in the seas and attacking the villages.


The icy northern coast of Norway has over 50,000 small islands!



Norway also has fjords, (sounds like fee-or-ds)
which are long thin areas of water with high cliffs on either side.

(from: wikipedia - fjord)

Isaiah

We just learned about the Bible Books of Poetry

Isaiah was a prophet who lived 700 years before the birth of Jesus.

A prophet is someone who speaks to God and then tells other people what God said.

Isaiah told God's people that they were in trouble for not listening to him,
and that they were going to be taken over by some other people that would not treat them nicely.

He also talked about a savior that would come one day to save everyone,
and this was 700 years before Jesus was born!


(from: wikipedia - isaiah)

Canopus

We've learned about the stars Alpha Centauri, Sirius and Betelguese.

The second brightest star in the sky is called Canopus

It can be seen in the Southern part of the night sky.

(from: wikipedia - canopus)

French - Counting to Fifteen

We counted to 10 in French, now let's learn some bigger numbers!
11 onze - sounds like owns /?/
12 douze - sounds like dooze /?/
13 treize - sounds like tuh-ayz /?/
14 quatorze - sounds like kay-toh-z /?/
15 quinze - sounds like kay-uh-nz /?/

Electrical Conductivity

We just learned about what Capacitors are!

Let's learn about Electrical conductivity.

Electrical conductivity sounds like a couple of big words,
but really it's not all that hard to understand.

We know about electricity from things like lightning, batteries or plugs.

Conductivity just means how easy or hard it is for electricity to go through something.

Things like metals are very conductive, but things like rubber or plastic are not very conductive.
This is why plugs and wires for your electronics are all made out of metal,
and the metal wires are usually wrapped in rubber because then the electricity can't get out!


(from: wikipedia - electrical wiring)

Things like rubber that are not very conductive, can also be called resistive.

Rooster Comb

We just learned about the mouth of a mosquito called a Proboscis

Let's learn about more weird things!

The bright red skin you see on top of a rooster's head is called a comb.


(from: wikipedia - chicken)

Triceps

Let's keep learning about the muscles in the human body!

Last time we learned about the biceps

Next up is the triceps.

The tricep is the muscle on the back side of your upper arm between the shoulder and elbow,
right along your humerus bone, and on the opposite side of the bicep.

You are using your tricep when you push your arms out from your body.

(from: wikipedia - triceps)

Greece

Let's keep learning about the countries in Europe!

Last time we learned about Poland.

Next up is Greece.

Greece is home to some great foods like moussaka, pastitsio and a cheese called saganaki that they light on fire and say OPAH!

(from: wikipedia - greece)

Many famous big thinkers called philosophers were from Greece, one was named Socrates


There are many famous buildings in Greece, like the Parthenon


And Greece is where the Olympic Games were first invented.

Books of Poetry

The bible has lots of poetry in it, and a lot of it was written
by the kings we learned about, David and Solomon

Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs are all
books full of poetry and songs written in praise of God.

(from: wikipedia - psalms)