PETRONAS Streetsmart Road Safety Exhibition is Back in Petrosains, KLCC!

The PETRONAS StreetSmart road safety exhibition is now at Petrosains, The Discovery Centre, Level 4, Suria KLCC, PETRONAS Twin Towers, 50088 Kuala Lumpur, from 22 November 2014 to 31 May 2015. 

There are lot's of activities on offer!

• Road safety science shows
• Quizzes on road safety and a variety of games
• Workshops on road safety
• Interactive activities for the whole family

and also, a special appearance by the PETRONAS StreetSmart Mascots!

Here are some photos of the exhibition!

So don't wait because admission is FREE!
Come visit PETRONAS StreetSmart, learn something about road safety and celebrate the wonders of science in a hands-on, and interactive way that's fun for the whole family!


Operations hours:
Tuesday - Friday = 9.30am until 5.30pm
Saturday, Sunday & Public Holiday = 9.30am until 6.30pm

Closed on Mondays except during School Holidays & Public Holidays

Find out more at http://www.petronasstreetsmart.com.my/ 


#petronasstreetsmart

VISIT US TODAY!

Bernoulli's Dancing Skirt!

Let's watch this video!

The skirt rises as the girl in the video spins. This happens because when the girl dances & spins with high velocity, the speed of the moving air on top of the skirt increases which will create a low pressure area and the speed of moving air below the skirt decreases which creates a high pressure area. Thus, according to Bernoulli's Principle, the difference in pressure makes the skirt rise up.

That is why it is called 'Bernoulli's Dancing Skirt'!

Posted by Ayu
Petrosains

Super-duper Computers!

Supercomputers!  We know it’s a combination of super + computer.  You get it, but what is it?  What does it do?  What’s so super about it?  Can it perform fantastic stuff just like Superman but of course not in the same vein? 

According to the 43rd edition (June 2014) of the twice-yearly TOP 500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, the Tianhe-2 is the world's most powerful supercomputer - third time in a row!  Developed by China’s National University of Defense Technology, it has a performance of 33.86 petaflop/s and is used as a "research and educational" tool.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

But hey, what’s a petaflop?  It’s a measure of a computer's processing speed and is expressed as a thousand trillion operations per second. 
[Check out: http://www.petaflop.info/].

How fast is fast? Supercomputers have the ability to process massive and complex data, so it needs to be extremely fast.  Imagine a supercomputer with a top speed of 27 petaflops or 27,000 trillion calculations per second, this means it is hundreds of thousands times faster than our top-of-the-line PC.  It won't fit on a desktop as it occupies a space the size of a basketball court [Source: How Stuff Works]!

IBM Blue Gene P Supercomputer
Image credit: Argonne National Laboratory

So, what does it do?  

• Predict the weather. 

• Research on the climate and global warming. 

• Molecular modeling - to compute the structures and properties of biological compounds. 

• Simulations – e.g. the effect of wind and turbulence on an airplane; and the simulation of the effect of a nuclear weapon if it were to be detonated. 

• In the US, the military uses supercomputers for: 

         - Testing new vehicles being engineered & to see how they will function in combat. 

       - To give soldiers a simulation of how it will be in the new vehicle & how they need to react in certain situations.

      - Used for military pilots who go into a simulator to see how to react during combat situation. 

There’s much more stuff it could do and they are used by different people for a variety of reasons. How much does one cost?  It may cost between USD100 million - USD250 million for design and assembly.  This does not include maintenance costs.  Electricity bills to run it may cost about USD9 million a year!  Functional-wise it lasts for about 2-3 years. Yes, not cost effective but the reason it is built is altruistic - to save the world!

Shared by Azni

Learning Specialist, Petrosains

Celup Tangan Dalam Minyak Panas Tapi Tidak Melecur!

Betulkah? Apa kata 'sains' mengenainya

Demonstrasi sains ini seolah-olah seperti 'silap mata' tetapi sebenarnya tidak!

Jom lihat video ini! 

Apa yang diperlukan?
Kita perlukan sebuah bekas kaca yang tahan panas (seperti bikar), sumber api, minyak masak, dietil eter dan cermin mata keselamatan. Sebagai langkah berjaga-jaga, pastikan aktiviti ini dilakukan di tempat yang berdekatan dengan sinki ataupun sediakan sebaldi air di sebelah anda.  


Bagaimana cara melakukannya?
Masukkan secawan minyak masak ke dalam bekas kaca. Kemudian masukkan 3 sudu cecair dietil eter ke dalam bekas yang sama. Panaskan di bawah nyalaan api. Perhatikan bekas kaca. Apabila buih-buih udara kelihatan, ini bermaksud ia sudah mendidih. Alihkan sumber nyalaan api. Celupkan tangan ke dalam bekas sehingga paras minyak sahaja. Elakkan dari mencelup tangan hingga ke dasar bekas kaca!

Apa yang berlaku?
Tangan tidak melecur! Ini adalah kerana yang dilihat 'mendidih' itu sebenarnya ialah cecair dietil eter yang berada di bahagian dasar bekas kaca kerana takat didihnya rendah iaitu 24.6 darjah Celcius (maksudnya baru sahaja dipanaskan, ia terus mendidih). Manakala takat didih minyak masak adalah 350 darjah Celcius. 

Pada ketika cecair dietil eter sudah mendidih, minyak masak belum lagi mencapai takat didihnya. Jadi kerana itu apabila kita celupkan tangan, ia tidak melecur! Minyak masak berada di atas bekas kaca kerana ia adalah kurang tumpat berbanding cecair dietil eter. Cecair dietil eter pula adalah lebih tumpat berbanding minyak masak dan kerana itulah ia berada pada bahagian bawah bekas kaca!





Posted by Ayu
Petrosains

'Pressure' Walking On Eggs!

What do you need?

To try this, all you need to prepare are several large cartons of eggs.

What to do?
Place cartons of eggs on the floor. Then carefully walk on them. What do you think will happen to the eggs? Will they break?

Watch this video! 

What happens?
This activity proves that 'pressure' is 'force' acting on one unit of surface area. As surface area increases, pressure decreases if the force is kept constant. As you walk on the eggs, they will not break as the surface area of the sole is bigger compared to if you apply force with an object that has a smaller surface area,  such as pressing on an egg with a nail.



Posted by Ayu
Petrosains

Tali Ber'geser', Kumbang Berlumba!

Yang Mana Lebih Pantas?

Geseran wujud apabila dua permukaan bersentuhan dan bergerak pada arah yang bertentangan. Contohnya seperti tayar yang bergerak di atas jalan raya dan ketika kita menggerakkan duit syiling di atas meja.   

Daya gesaran pula adalah daya yang wujud untuk menentang pergerakan. Daya geseran boleh ditambah dan dikurangkan. Di antara faktor yang mempengaruhi daya geseran adalah keadaan permukaan, jisim objek dan jenis permukaan. Sebagai contoh permuakaan kasar mempunyai daya geseran yang lebih  besar berbanding dengan permukaan yang licin.

Mari cuba aktiviti sains ini untuk memahami dengan lebih mendalam tentang konsep geseran. 

Apa yang perlu dilakukan?

Ambil sekeping kadbod dan lukis bentuk kumbang. Satu diwarnakan dengan warna hitam dan satu lagi diwarnakan dengan warna jingga (boleh juga melukis imej lain mengikut kreativiti masing-masing). Kemudian, lekatkan dua batang penyedut minuman (yang sama jenis) di belakang setiap kumbang. Seterusnya masukkan tali  ke dalam penyedut minuman pada kedua-dua kumbang hitam dan kumbang jingga. Kedua-dua kumbang sudahpun bersedia untuk berlumba! Jom lihat video di bawah:-

Apa yang berlaku?

Apabila tali ditarik secara berulang-ulang (kiri dan kanan), kumbang jingga akan bergerak menuju ke depan dengan lebih pantas. Tetapi kumbang hitam sukar untuk bergerak ke hadapan. Ini adalah kerana penyedut minuman dilekatkan secara condong di bahagian belakang kumbang jingga manakala penyedut minuman dilekatkan secara selari di bahagian belakang kumbang hitam. 

Permukaan tali bersentuhan dengan permukaan penyedut. Apabila tali ditarik, geseran antara tali dan penyedut terhasil. Penyedut minuman dilekatkan secara condong untuk menambahkan daya geseran di antara tali dan penyedut. Daya geseran yang terhasil semasa ditarik membolehkan kumbang bergerak cepat ke hadapan. 

Posted by Ayu
Petrosains