Hydraulic Brake

We just learned about the Hydraulic Cylinder.

Another type of a machine is a Hydraulic Brake.

In a machine like a car, the brakes that stop the car work by closing tightly and squeezing the wheel to try and slow it down.
The pieces that close are called pistons, and in a hydraulic brake system they are pushed closed by liquids.

There is a tube that is hooked up to the brake, and when a liquid called brake fluid is pushed in, it pushes on the pistons which push on the wheel and close it.
The brake fluid is pushed into the tube from another place, where a metal pole is pushed into the the liquid to push it down into the tube.

So in a hydraulic brake system in a car, when you push your foot down on the brake, it pushes the liquid into the tube which pushes the brakes closed and stops the car.


(from: wikipedia - hydraulic brake)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Falcon

Cheetah

We just learned about the Clouded Leopard.

We learned a long time ago about how the Cheetah can run 75 miles per hour and has marks on its face to help block the sun.

The Cheetah is also called the acinonyx jubatus, and there are four different types of cheetahs in the world.

- The Southeast African cheetah lives in the countries in the southeast part of Africa like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, and is the one most people think of when talking about cheetahs. There are only about 5,000 of these cheetahs left in the world.
Some of these Cheetahs have long black stripes going down their back, and these are called "King Cheetahs". They are still Southeast African cheetahs, but they are different colored, kind of like the black panther.

- The Asiatic cheetah lives in the country of Iran, and there are only about 50 of them left in the world. Its fur is shorter than the African cheetahs.

- The Northeast African cheetah lives in countries in the Northeast part of Africa like Ethiopia, and there are about 950 left of them in the world. It looks a lot like the southeast African cheetah, but has darker fur and no spots on its back feet.

- The Northwest African cheetah lives in the Sahara desert, and looks very different from the other cheetahs. It has lighter fur almost white, and very few spots on its back and legs. There are only about 250 of them left in the world.

The cheetahs are amazing fast animals, but there are so few left of them in the world because of people hunting them.
Cheetahs only have a few babies per year, and sometimes they don't have babies at all so bringing back this wild cat takes a long time.
Lots of zoos and parks are trying to bring back cheetahs but it is a lot of work and takes years to try and save this cat from going extinct!

Southeast African Cheetah:




Southeast African King Cheetah:

Asiatic Cheetah:

Northeast African Cheetah:

Northwest African Cheetah:

(from: wikipedia - cheetah)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blue Blubber Jellyfish

Lacrimal Gland

We just learned about the Depth Perception.

Another part of the eye is the Lacrimal Gland, also called the caruncula lacrimalis.

The word lacrimal comes from the latin word for tears like when you cry.
This gland is up above your eye, right behind the bone where your eyebrow is.

When you cry, this gland makes the tears that flow into your eyeball and make it all wet.


(from: wikipedia - lacrimal gland)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Median Sulcus

Robert Falcon Scott

We just learned about the Roald Amundsen.

Another famous Antarctic explorer was Robert Falcon Scott.

He was a British sailor who joined up with a man named Ernest Shackleton for the "Discovery" mission to get to the south pole in 1901.

They landed in Antarctica and did some exploring, but did not make it to the south pole.

Scott went again in 1909 on the "Terra Nova Expedition" and was famous for using motor sleighs for a lot of the work, and also horses as well as dogs.

He was going to the south pole at the same time as Roald Amundsen, but Amundsen got there first.

At the very last part of the trip, he chose 4 men to go to the pole, and sent everyone else back.
On the way the motor sleighs stopped working, so the men had to pull the sleds themselves, but they kept going.

After his team of 4 men made it to the south pole, they took pictures as proof, but on the way back they had many troubles.
The temperature dropped a lot lower, the winds that were supposed to push them along stopped, everyone was getting frostbite, and they ran into some terrible storms.

They finally made it to the place where there was supposed to be some food, and also some sled dogs to help them make the trip back.
Because of the bad weather, the people who were supposed to bring the sled dogs did not make it there in time, and so the four men froze and died.

Later on in November of that year they made a trip out into the cold and found Scott and his men.
They made a grave site there, put up a big cross and named the place Observation Hill.

Before those men died, some of them had dug into the ice and found some fossils, and kept them.
There were over 2,100 things found that they collected and sent back to England to study.

With these discoveries, they proved that at one time Antarctica was warm and had trees before it was all frozen over.







(from: wikipedia - robert falcon scott)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Castles and Palaces

Neume

We just learned about the Cyrillic Script.

Another part of early Christianity is the Neume.

In the 900s, there were a lot of monks that were living in France, and they were writing music for things like Gregorian Chant.

They started using marks on their papers to show what kinds of notes to sing, like high or low or how long or short a note should be.

These writings turned into the music notes that we know today like half notes, quarter notes and the musical staff.

The word neume either comes from the Greek word πνεῦμα meaning "breath" or the word νεῦμα meaning "sign".


(from: wikipedia - neume)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Peshitta

Nathan Hale - Frederick William MacMonnies

We just learned about the sculpture of Standing Lincoln by Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Another famous American statue is the sculpture of Nathan Hale by Frederick William MacMonnies in 1893.

MacMonnies was born in New York in 1863, and when he was 17 he started working with the famous artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens and became friends with him.

After a few years he went to Paris to study sculpture, and even opened his own art studio there.
He was one of the few American artists who was famous both in America and Paris.

When he was 30 years old he got a job in New York to make a big statue of Nathan Hale, who was a famous hero from the American Revolution.

It is about eight feet tall and made of Bronze, made in France and then brought over to America.


(from: wikipedia - nathan hale (statue))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mukteshvara Temple

Russian - This house is big

We just learned that in Russian we are surprised is Мы удивлены (My udivleny).

Let's learn about some of the things we see every day.

To say this house is big in Russian you say Этот дом большой (Etot dom bol'shoy).

This - Этот (Etot) - sounds like eh-tuh-t 文A
house - дом (dom) - sounds like doh-m 文A
big - большой (bol'shoy) - sounds like boh-l-show-ee 文A


(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Dette huset er stort

Greek: Αυτό το σπίτι είναι μεγάλο

ASL: This house is big

Italian: Questa casa è grande

German: Das Haus ist groß

Spanish: Esta casa es grande

French: Cette maison est grande