Belon Boleh Mengembang Tanpa Ditiup! Bagaimana Caranya?

Apabila ada perayaan seperti hari jadi, salah satu hiasan yang selalu ada ialah belon dengan pelbagai warna dan bentuk.

Belon boleh mengembang apabila diisi dengan udara. Ia boleh dilakukan dengan mengepam belon menggunakan alat pengepam belon, mengisinya dengan gas helium atau meniupnya dengan mulut anda sendiri. 

Udara yang diisi ke dalam belon dapat membuatkan belon itu mengembang kerana belon itu diperbuat daripada getah iatu bahan yang elastik. Apabila udara memasuki belon, udara akan mengisi ruang kosong di dalam belon dan udara itu akan memberi tekanan pada belon itu sehingga belon mengembang. Walaupun ianya elastik, belon juga boleh meletup jika terlalu banyak udara yang dimasukkan ke dalamnya. Ini disebabkan oleh daya keanjalannya yang telah mencapai had maksimum.

Selain daripada tiga kaedah ini, anda juga boleh membuat belon mengembang tanpa perlu meniupnya, mengepamnya atau mengisinya dengan gas helium. Kita hanya perlu memegang belon yang masih kempis itu untuk sementara waktu, kemudian lihat belon itu mengembang.

Wah hebat sekali, ya! Bagaimana cara untuk melakukannya ?

Rahsia bagaimana belon dapat berkembang walaupun kita tidak meniupnya adalah dengan menggunakan dua bahan yang boleh diperoleh di dapur. Dua bahan itu adalah sodium bikarbonat dan cuka yang sering digunakan oleh ibu untuk memasak.

Rakan-rakan, adakah bahan itu ada di dapur anda? Sekirannya ada jom kita sediakan bahan seterusnya! Selain cuka dan sodium bikarbonat, anda juga harus menyediakan belon. Kemudian, sediakan juga sebuah botol plastik dan corong yang diperbuat daripada kertas. 

Ayuh, jom mulakan! Saksikan video ini untuk megetahui bagaimana caranya!

Wah, belon sudah mengembang! Mudah saja, kan? Cuka dan sodium bikarbonat ini tidak merbahaya tetapi memerlukan pengawasan. Cubalah bersama keluarga anda ... pasti akan teruja!

Posted by Ayu

Petrosains Blogger 

Are There Dinosaurs in Malaysia?

What are dinosaurs?

Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles that lived from about 243 million years ago to 65 million years ago, during a time on earth we call the Mesozoic era. The clade Dinosauria consists of non-avian dinosaurs and avian (feathered)-dinosaurs that are birds that continued to exist past the K-T extinction event, but for this science fact, we will be referring to the non-avian dinosaurs only.

How do we know they existed?

Fossils of dinosaurs had been discovered around the globe, to an extent that a dinosaur discovery revolution started in the 70’s. In February 2014, a 145-75 m.y.o. spinosaurid tooth fossil was found in an undisclosed dig site in Pahang by a team of University Malaya and Japanese scientists.

Paleontology teams from UM, UKM, University Malaya Kelantan and Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS had discovered dinosaur tooth fossil of a dinosaur from the Ornithischian order, dinosaur tracks (of possible sauropods) and bone fossils from Sungai Cicir, Gunung Gagau and Tasik Kenyir in Terengganu.

Which period is significant in Malaysia?

Rocks from the Mesozoic era, which spanned 252 to 66 million years ago and cover the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods are all available in Malaysia, though not in all states. It is easier to discover fossils from the Cretaceous periods because newer fossils are more well-preserved.

Why is This Science Important / Relevant to Us

The science of dinosaurs is a worldwide cultural phenomenon. It is a field of study that intrigues a lot of public interest towards certain sciences. Its popularity allowed the awareness of dinosaur sciences be raised among the public and can be used in movies, theme parks, museums and many other forms of public attractions and entertainment. 

The study of dinosaurs helps us to understand the history of our planet earth: allowing us to predict the circumstances of future events on the planet in comparison to past events. This study allows us to understand living things in the present better. For example, the study of dinosaurs allows us to question the function of feathers on modern-day birds, because most feathered dinosaurs did not have their feathers functioned for flight. The study of dinosaurs also allows us to compare the magnitude of today’s extinctions (whereby every year some species of animals go extinct) with that of the dinosaurs’ since the dinosaurs were involved in the K-T extinction event.

Aside from that, a lot of fresh discoveries were carried out in untapped locations. For example, the some largest dinosaurs to ever walked the earth (such as Argentinosaurus) were uncovered in South America. Discoveries in India helped us understand the hazardous environmental conditions and natural disasters during the Cretaceous period. Madagascar’s discoveries helped us understand cannibalistic dinosaurs. Antarctica was where dinosaurs that could survive extreme cold were discovered. In China, dinosaurs with feathers were abundantly discovered. Who knows what kind of new discoveries we can get in Malaysia.

Dinosaur discovery in Malaysia is yet to be classified, therefore here are some pictures of dinosaurs from similar groups to get a rough idea what kinds of dinosaurs had been discovered in Malaysia.

 Spinosaurid tooth found in Pahang in 2014.

 Example of a fish-eating spinosaur: Suchomimus from Africa.

Ornithischian tooth found in Terengganu in late 2014.

 Example of a plant-eating dinosaur from the Ornithischian order: Zalmoxes from Romania

 (Possibly) Sauropod track fossil found in Terengganu in 2014.

 Example of a plant-eating sauropod: Argentinosaurus from Argentina.

Map of Late Cretaceous (~66 mya).

Similar dinosaurs were distributed in the southern regions i.e. South America, Africa, Europe and Southeast Asia such as sauropods, spinosaurids, and abelisaurs. Ornithischians were widely distributed around the globe, though the crested hadrosaurs, thick-headed pachycephalosaurs, and ceratopsians were more commonly distributed around the northern regions i.e. China, Russia and North America, along with the famous tyrannosaurs.

Today, distribution in animal species can be seen around the globe, e.g. marsupials can only be found in Australia.

References

1. SBS News (2014, February 19): A team of Malaysian and Japanese paleontologists has found a darkened tooth fossil after a nearly two-year dig in the central state of Pahang. Retrieved from http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/02/19/first-malaysian-dinosaur-fossil-found

2. Dusty Drawers (2014, November 15): Dinosaur fossils from Terengganu. Retrieved from https://malayanoplia.wordpress.com/2014/11/15/dinosaur-fossils-from-terengganu/

Shared by Rizal Lai

Guest Blogger

Showers of Blessing

That feeling after drinking a glass of ice cold water on a hot day doesn’t just hit the spot but it also keeps you alive and allows your body to function regularly. With 70% of our body is made up of water, ensuring that one is hydrated all the time is important, especially in hot and humid countries. This fact is further emphasized by how a man can survive three weeks without food but only three days without water.

Much like us, plants need water to survive as well. But who gives them a drink? How do plants and crops which can grow in an area as big as twenty football fields acquire water without really moving? The answer to that is that it comes to them. 

When the sun warms up the waters from the lowliest puddles by the roadsides to the massive rivers, lakes, and oceans; it turns the water; which is in liquid form, into water vapor that rises into the air. That water vapour then forms clouds, which contain small drops of water or ice crystals. The clouds are formed way up in the sky which can stretch be as high as three thousand meters (which is the distance between KLCC and KL Tower) up to eighteen thousand meters.


As clouds rise higher and higher, the air gets colder and colder. This causes the water vapor to condense into liquid form. When the water in the cloud becomes too heavy, gravity causes it to fall back to the ground as rain or snow. This entire process is known as precipitation. Rain is important to keep our farmlands, jungles, and flora healthy and It also cleans the air of dust and keeps the air cool.

Experiment: 
See how precipitation forms.

Materials: 
funnel, plastic bag, glass jar or container, hot and cold water, ice cubes.

Steps: 
1. Pour one cup of hot water into the jar or container.
2. Place the funnel in the jar or container and make sure the contact point between the rim of the jar and the funnel is airtight. You can use tape or Plasticine for this.
3. Put the plastic bag into the funnel.
4. Pour the cold water into the plastic bag and add the ice cubes.

5. Observe what is happening in the jar.

Fact: 
The world’s water cycle is never ending. It travels on a journey from the sky to the land or sea and travels back up to the clouds again!

Glossary of terms:

Hydrate [hahy-dreyt] anything that is chemically combined with water

Crops [krop] products from the ground that is consumed by humans

Vapour [vey-per] gas that is suspended in the air

Liquid [lik-wid] molecules that move freely but are not separated

Precipitation [pri-sip-i-tey-shuhn] the process of water vapor condensing into liquid form and falling to Earth

Flora [flohr-uh] plant

Shared by Surain A. Victor

Guest Blogger