Mercury - Mariner 10, Messenger

We just learned about the space travel to Venus on the space crafts Venera 7-16, Mariner 10, Pioneer Venus

We have sent space crafts to study Mercury through the years, but it's difficult because it is closer to the sun.

The first space craft that was sent up was Mariner 10 on November 2nd, 1973.
It was sent mostly just to fly by Mercury and study the sky and look at the land.

The next space craft was called Messenger, launched August 3rd, 2004.
The letters in the name stand for: MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, Ranging.

It took almost 7 years for it to get to Mercury, and it orbited the planet for 2 years taking pictures.
It took close to 100,000 pictures of the whole planet!

(from: wikipedia - messenger)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Yellow Dwarf

Spanish - Counting to thirty nine

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

31 treinta y uno - sounds like t-day-n-tah ee oo-n-oh /?/
32 treinta y dos - sounds like t-day-n-tah ee doh-ss /?/
33 treinta y tres - sounds like t-day-n-tah ee t-day-ss /?/
34 treinta y cuatro - sounds like t-day-n-tah ee koo-ah-t-doh /?/
35 treinta y cinco - sounds like t-day-n-tah ee see-n-koh /?/
36 treinta y seis - sounds like t-day-n-tah ee say-ss /?/
37 treinta y siete - sounds like t-day-n-tah ee see-ay-tay /?/
38 treinta y ocho - sounds like t-day-n-tah ee oh-choh /?/
39 treinta y nueve - sounds like t-day-n-tah ee noo-ay-vay /?/


(from: wikipedia - Association of Spanish Language Academies)

Do you remember how to say it in French?
French - trente et un, trente-deux, trente-trois, trente-quatre, trente-cinq, trente-six, trente-sept, trente-huit, trente-neuf

Calcium

We just learned about the element of Magnesium.

Another chemical element is Calcium, called "Ca" for short on the Periodic Table.

When you drink milk, did you know that you're also drinking some metal?
Calcium is a healthy ingredient found in milk, that helps us have strong bones and teeth.
You can't tell that it's metal because there's only a tiny bit of calcium in there, so little you can't even see it.

Calcium all by itself is a shiny gray colored metal.

(from: wikipedia - calcium)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Doping Semiconductors

Koala

The Koala bear is a fuzzy little animal from Australia, that is not actually a bear.
It is from a family of animals known as marsupials like the kangaroo.

Just like the kangaroo, koalas carry their babies in pouches on their bellies until they are older.

Koalas mostly only eat eucalyptus leaves, and they don't eat very much or drink very much.
Because they don't get much energy, they sleep about 20 hours a day, and are only active and moving around for about 4 minutes a day!


(from: wikipedia - koala)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Squirrel

Jejunum

After the food goes through the duodenum, it continues down into the jejunum.

It is a very long twisting and turning tube that your food slowly goes through over several hours, and your body soaks up good things from your food while it is going through your jejunum.

(from: wikipedia - jejunum)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rectus Abdominis

Mali

We just learned about the country of Niger.

Mali is a country in the north west part of Africa.


(from: wikipedia - mali)

The flag of Mali is green, gold and red.
The green is for the plants growing in the country.
The gold is for purity and the precious metals in the ground like gold.
The red is for the blood of the Mali people who fought for freedom.


(from: wikipedia - flag of mali)

To eat in Mali you might have millet, which is a type of grain.

(from: wikipedia - millet)

The city of Timbuktu is in the country of Mali.
Since it has a silly sounding name, and was part of many stories written by a famous person named Leo Africanus, many people thought it was just a made up name and not a real place!

(from: wikipedia - timbuktu)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Netherlands

Wise man built his house on a rock

We just learned about Jesus telling people to Do unto others in the sermon on the mount.

In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount he told his followers that if they heard his words and follow his ways they are like a wise man who built his house on a rock, and even though there were great storms it did not fall because it was built on a safe place.

He also said that if his followers did not follow his ways they were like foolish men who built their houses on sand, and the storms destroyed the houses because they were not built on a safe place.

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

(from: wikipedia - parable of the wise and foolish builders)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Shadrach Meshach Abednego