Science Corner!Day 3

Scientist of the Day

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla was born in Smijlan in Croatia in 1856. A brilliant child prodigy with a phenomenal memory he could speak six languages before he was 10.

He would grow up to be the greatest inventor ever.

But very few people even know his name!!

Tesla’s Inventions

• He discovered how to transmit radio signals.

• He discovered how to harness electricity to be used in homes and everyday businesses cheaply (AC power).

• It was Tesla who created the first flourescent light bulb (NOT Edison!)

• It was Tesla who suggested that we could use different forms of energy to take pictures of organs from inside the body (e.g. xrays, CAT scans, MRIs).

• He invented remote controls!• He was able to create lasers and

balls of lightening in his laboratory.

Tesla is now known as the ‘Wizard of Electricity’ as he invented so many important electrical devices that we still use today.

However, lots of other scientists stole his idea – like Marconi (who everyone thinks invented the radio) and Edison (who everyone thinks invented the light bulb and AC electricity).

Tell everyone about Tesla to make sure he gets the proper credit he deserves!

Human Body Facts• The smallest bone found in the

human body is located in the middle ear. The staples (or stirrup) bone is only 2.8 millimetres long.

• As well as having unique fingerprints, humans also have unique tongue and toe prints.

• The brain uses over a quarter of the oxygen used by the human body.• The left side of your body is controlled by the right side of your brain while the right side of your body is controlled by the left side of your brain.• All babies are colour blind when they are born ,so they only see black & white.

• It takes food only seven seconds to go from the mouth to the stomach via the esophagus,

Science Picture of the Day

These are the honey bees in their hives. The bee surrounded in red is doing a ‘waggle dance’. The ‘scout’ bee performs the waggle dance for a hive when they have found a good source of food for the hive.

This ‘dance’ is done in a figure of 8. If the dance is fast, the food is nearby; a slow dance means far away!

During the dance, the scout bee will direct its stinger in different directions. The direction of its stinger indicates the direction of the food source. Watch a waggle dance at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nga4Z_HRUsU.