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Learn more about how to determine the maximum payload on a rocket:

Learn more about how rockets are launched – Link to National Geographic
How do rockets work?
Rockets don’t work by “pushing against the air,” since they also function in the vacuum of space. Instead, rockets take advantage of momentum, or how much power a moving object has.

If no outside forces act on a group of objects, the group’s combined momentum must stay constant over time. Imagine yourself standing on a skateboard with a basketball in your hands. If you throw the basketball in one direction, you and the skateboard will roll in the opposite direction to conserve momentum. The faster you throw the ball, the faster you roll backward.

Rockets work by expelling hot exhaust that acts in the same way as the basketball. The exhaust’s gas molecules don’t weigh much individually, but they exit the rocket’s nozzle very fast, giving them a lot of momentum. As a result, the rocket moves in the opposite direction of the exhaust with the same total oomph.

Student Tutorial Part 3 – Learn the rocket equation

Learn more about the unique protocols around using moon rocks for science research…

(How does this relate to tools of the astronomer?)

Have a Happy Summer Vacation:

60 Starlinked satellites launched by Space X and photographed by Marco Langbrock.

Link to Marco Langbrocks Vimeo webpage

Link to Marco Langbrocks webpage

Link to Video of the launch of the 60 satellites

last week, SpaceX launched 60 satellites into space atop its Falcon 9 rocket. Less than a day later, astronomers captured their amazing trail of lights as they crossed the sky.

The 60 satellites launched by Space X are part of a project called Starlink.  These new satellites will be part of a 12,000 satellite network whose goal is to provide much-improved internet access to every part of the world.

Marco Langbroek, an archeologist and spy satellite consultant based in the Netherlands, was stunned when he managed to record the satellites’ path using a low-light surveillance camera on May 24, 22 hours after their launch.

Astronomers are concerned about light pollution caused by the satellites.

How to see the satellites:
The satellites were at roughly 440 kilometres in altitude — slightly higher than the International Space Station. Over the coming days, as they orbit, they will rise to 550 kilometres.

There’s still a chance you could spot them, too. The keys are dark skies, patience and binoculars.

How to see them

First, you need to understand about visual magnitude. Astronomers have come up with a way of measuring the brightness of objects in the night sky.

The brightness of celestial objects is on a scale that goes from the very brightest — the sun — to the dimmest. And the lower the number (negative values), the brighter the object.

As you can see by the chart above, the visual magnitude limitation for the human eye is an object with a magnitude of +6, and that’s in dark-sky locations, away from the pollution of city lights. Within a city, that drops to +3.

The brightness of the Starlink satellites over Toronto, for example, range from roughly +6 to +3, right on the visual limit in light-polluted skies.

So, if you want to see the satellites — which will have spread out a bit more by now — get to a dark-sky location, away from city lights. They won’t be as bright as in Langbroek’s video, since he captured them with a low-light camera.

Learn more about neutron stars

LIGO – Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory 

Learn more about the early work that allowed astronomers to take pictures of Black Holes.

All single-use plastics have been banned in science class – 

If you don’t even try what will it be!

Learn more what a warming climate looks like NASA LINK:

Marie Curie – earned Nobel Prizes in both Chemistry and Physics: 

Marie Curie was the first female  Nobel Laureate.  

In 1911 Marie Curie won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Her research showed that atoms could be divided into further sub-particles –

in 1898 two new elements were described by the Curies.

 
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was born in Warsaw to parents who were both teachers. Although she was a brilliant student, the University of Warsaw accepted only men, so she continued her education by reading on her own and attending classes in secret. At last, she was able to join her sister in Paris and attend the Sorbonne. Though she found learning French difficult at first, she graduated at the top of her class with a master’s degree in Physics, then got a degree in Mathematics the following year.

It was a lucky thing – for her and for us – that many people realized Marie’s genius and helped her along despite the fact that at in her time, women’s talent and hard work went virtually unacknowledged. She met and married French physicist Pierre Curie, who recognized in her a capable colleague, and her father-in-law took care of their daughter so Marie and Pierre could work during the day.

Marie and Pierre received a joint Nobel Prize in Physics along with Henri Becquerel. Then in 1911, she became the first person to win two Nobel Prizes (the second was in Chemistry) for discovering two new radioactive elements: polonium (named after Marie’s native Poland) and radium. In her acceptance speech, Marie shared the award with her husband, who in 1906 had been killed in an accident.

In 1944, in honor of Marie and Pierre, the team discovering number 96 (Cm) on the Periodic Chart of Elements named the new element curium.

Periodic Table Of Videos:

Learn more about the Lewis structures and how carbon forms bonds: