LFPL Teens

Science is Elemental at the Highlands/Shelby Park Branch

You - yes you - are cordially invited to join us on June 21 and 28 and July 12, 19 and 26, 2 - 4 pm at the Teen Outpost at the Highlands-Shelby Park Library to witness the fun side of Science. Yes, I said fun and science in the same sentence!

As one of my all-time favorite science heroes, Steve Spangler, can prove, science can be (not just a little, but a whole huge amount of) fun. If you have never heard of Steve Spangler, I recommend that you hop over to his YouTube page right now, and watch at least one video. Go ahead, I�ll wait.

See fun and science. Together. If you liked Steve�s videos, you should check out his book Naked Eggs and Flying Potatoes, which you can, of course, find at the Outpost.

But wait, the fun doesn�t stop there!

For our first Friday, we will be looking at building catapults and testing how far we can make a marshmallow fly. For our last Friday in July, we will look at non-Newtonian fluids. Katherine will be on hand to talk about Sir Isaac Newton�s lesser known quirks. And what about in between? Well, I guess you�ll just have to stop by and see for yourself.

TTFN �Stephani, Young Adult Services Aficionado, Teen Outpost at the Highlands-Shelby Park Library

Teen Survivor Night: Science Edition a Success!

Approximately 90 teens roamed the halls of the Main Library for the Library's 3rd annual Teen Survivor Night. In conjunction with the Library's Teen Summer Reading theme, 'Reading is Elemental,' components of the event revolved around a science motif. Highlights from Survivor Night include mad science experiments, chain reactions, catapults & tower building, scary stories, and Michael Jackson�s Thriller.

Book Dominoes

Check out this video of a 'chain reaction' of books in the Main Lobby:

We hope that you were able to join in on the fun!

Haunting Mysteries for Summer Reading

Do you like mysteries? Do you like ghost stories? Do you like mysteries that have ghosts in them? Then I have two perfect books for you: Paper Valentine by Brenna Yovanoff and The Dead and Buried by Kim Harrington.

Paper Valentine is about a girl named Hannah who is living through one of the hottest Julys on record. And her best friend Lillian died six months before from anorexia. Plus there is a serial killer, a.k.a. the Valentine Killer, on the loose in town. Last, but not least, Lillian is now haunting Hannah and bugging her to investigate the mysterious deaths of the girls who are the serial killer's victims. Creepy in a dead-best-friend-haunting-you-while-a-serial-killer's-on-the-loose kind of way.

The Dead and Buried is about Jade, whose family has just moved into a new house in a new town. Jade is happy about the new house and about the fresh start for her and her family. Unfortunately, the house is haunted by the ghost of a girl who died there and wants to know who killed her--and who doesn't care what she has to do to get the truth and to get her revenge.

-Emily Mauldin, Middletown Branch

Teen Tech Tip of the Week #28: Carbon, Hydrogen, and Oxygen make Photosynthesis Elemental

Welcome Back to the blog for the next round in our Summer Reading series: Reading is Elemental. This week we will be looking at photosynthesis, an extremely important chemical reaction to all life on Earth.

(source: Wikimedia Commons)

Last week in our discussion on energy, we briefly mentioned that plants are able to convert the sun's energy into plant mass, now let's look at that process, called photosynthesis, in better detail.

Photosynthesis: a Chemical Reaction

The illustration above shows a simplification of what is happening in the natural world involving photosynthesis. We see that the energy from the sun's light (photons) creates a chemical reaction that combines (synthesizes) Carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H20) to create some form of carbohydrate sugar (CH2O)n and leftover Oxygen (O2).

We list the equation out below, so that you can see the overall process. In our balanced reaction, we see that glucose (C6H12O6) is our representative of a carbohydrate. The important thing here is that the byproducts of this process are extremely important for life on Earth. We have to ingest carbohydrates and oxygen to have energy to live. When our bodies metabolize carbohydrates like glucose, we oxidize sugars to release energy for physiological movement (putting our bodies in motion). The byproduct of this process is CO2 which can then be stored again during photosynthesis.

For a more in depth look at the various types of chemical reactions, check out the Khan Academy video series.

Bringing It All Back Home

Again, what does this have to do with technology? Last time, we saw that when fossilized carbohydrates (hyrdocarbons--CnH(2n+2)) are burned, stored energy is released in the form of heat. That energy is converted into electricity that powers our electrical devices. The photosynthesis of hydrocarbons is the foundation for our electrical power.

For plants to continue to grow, they need balanced access to the key components of photosynthesis: water, sunlight, and Carbon dioxide (other elements like Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium are crucial as well as you shall see later this summer). That balance is the basis of all gardening and agriculture. There are quite a few resources out there to help people find that balance and make their garden the most productive.

Check out these tech resources to balance light and watering in a garden and experience photosynthesis with a deeper understanding:

Join us next week as we look a little closer how Nitrogen plays an essential role in plant growth.

Teen Survivor Night is Going to be a Blast!

Friday, June 14, 6-9 p.m. Main Library, 301 York St.

Join us for the 3rd annual Survivor Night at the Library, featuring: Mad Science, Chain Reactions, Catapults & Tower Building, Scary Stories, Kitchen Science, Michael Jackson�s Thriller... and a whole lot more!

The event is free - click here to register. Ages 12-19.

Tired of Reading Books by the Same Author?!

Congratulations to those who have begun the library�s Teen Summer Reading program! You are one step closer to completing the program and earning the snazzy messenger bag and other great prizes. Now, you may come to a time when you have either read all the books by one particular author or finished reading the entire popular series such as The Hunger Games or House of Night.

Where do you go to try something different? These two sites show you where you can find similar titles and authors of your interest:

Fantastic Fiction
Novelist (login with your library card number and password)

With Fantastic Fiction, you can find where a particular title falls in a series, an entire bibliography of what the author has published, similar authors to a particular genre, and even upcoming titles soon to be released.

NoveList offers reviews and is able to filter books/authors similar to your taste. You can even narrow down what genre of literature you enjoy. Broaden your horizons by exploring these two websites.

- Micah Followay, Shively Branch

Teen Tech Tip of the Week #27: Hydrogen and Helium make Energy Elemental

Welcome back to the Tech Tips blog! As you may have noticed, we are really excited about the library's Teen Summer Reading program. Our theme this summer is 'Reading is Elemental,' and here at the blog we are going to be giving you a weekly dose of posts relating periodic elements and technology all summer long. Join us this week as we look at our first topic: Hydrogen and Helium and the genesis of all the Earth's energy.

The Genesis of Energy on the Sun

Constant complex atomic reactions (nuclear fusion reactions, for extra credit ) are taking place on our sun called Proton-Proton chain reactions. During these reactions, Hydrogen (H) atoms are combined together to create isotopes of Helium (He). See the image below (note: MeV denotes megaelectron volts, a measure of electric energy). The result generates electricity that radiates all the way to Earth. The resulting He isotopes undergo more atomic reactions that involve Beryllium and Lithium, further resulting in a release of energy. The sun's energy is radiated to Earth in the form of electro-magnetism.

Earth's Energy

In one form or another, the energy that you use comes from the sun's electro-magnetic ray. The food that you eat transforms the sun's energy during photosynthesis and uses it to create mass (e.g. glucose sugar in plants) storing energy that your body uses when you consume and digest your food. The stored energy is also passed to your body when you consume fish and animals that eat plants.

So What Does this Have to do with Technology?

The energy that you use to power devices like your phone, TV, and computer also originates in the sun. Depending upon where you live in the world, your main source of electrical power varies. The main sources of fuel that we use in KY are coal power and natural gas (to power our homes and charge battery powered devices) and petroleum-based gasoline (to power our transportation).

Coal and oil are fossilized versions of plant and animal matter that have undergone extreme heat and pressure for millions of years. Energy in the form of heat is generated when we burn those substances, and we use that to generate electrical energy (for more on this, stay tuned for the post on Copper). So when you use your computer to update your status or play a video game, the energy that is needed to power the device originates in the Hydrogen and Helium reactions on the sun.

Alternative Ways to Harness the Sun's Energy

Since there is a limited amount of fossil fuels left on Earth, scientists have been designing alternative ways to harvest energy from the sun's rays.

The most direct way is through solar-powered energy which can be divided into two categories. First, passive solar energy harnesses just the heat given off from the sun's rays and concentrates that energy to heat water or a greenhouse, etc. Second, scientists use photovoltaic panels to actively transform the energy in the sun's rays into electricity that can be used to power batteries.

Biofuels, like bio diesel are made from low-cost, mass produced sugary plant substances like sugar cane, corn and soy. The sun's energy is stored in the plant's sugars and is distilled into a purified ethanol and used to power machines and automobiles.

Onyx Photovoltaic Estimation is a cool, free app that uses your phone's screen to estimate the amount of power that a photovoltaic panel would generate at any location.

iOS
Android

There is a diverse world of alternative energy that is constantly changing due to technological improvements. Here's a cool app to keep you up to date from Renewable Energy World:

iOS
Android

(Montage of alternative sources of energy: wind, hydropower, and photovoltaic cells)

Here's an extra credit question for your Teen Summer Reading activity point: how are wind-powered and geothermal electricity also forms of the Sun's energy?

Maggot Moon: a Book Review

Here's a great title for a chilling, dazzling, and perfect first teen read for the summer of 2013. If you enjoyed The Book Thief or dystopian teen lit, then you'll love Maggot Moon.

Meet Standish Treadwell. He has two different colored eyes. He can�t read well. He can�t write well. He isn�t considered to be very bright. But after his parents were taken from him, Standish starts seeing things in a whole new way. With help from his friend Hector, his world begins to brighten. Although it may not be much, Standish finds hope in his grandfather and the Moon Man for the future. In hopes of discovering what�s being hidden by the Motherland, Standish and Hector venture to the other side of wall. What they find will blow you away.

An absolutely stunning read. I defy anyone to read this and finish with dry eyes.

If you read Maggot Moon let us know what you think. Hate it? Love it? Ambivalent? Weirded out? I would love to hear a teen�s point of view of this book.

- Heather Lee
Children's Librarian - St Matthews Branch

Announcing Teen Summer Reading 2013: Reading is Elemental

From June 1st through August 10th, 2013, teens grade 6 through 12 can participate in the library's summer reading program.

All participants who complete the program will receive the following:

Free Messenger Bag
Free passes to the KY Science Center, Locust Grove, Rauch Planetarium, Lousville Bats Baseball game, Squire Boone Caverns
Free class at Hwang's Martial Arts
Free Frosty from Wendy's
Free Lemon Ice from Fazoli's
Free passes to select UofL sporting events

All completed participants will be entered into our grand prize drawing for a chance to win:

$100 gift card to Barnes & Noble Book Store
Netbook Computer
UofL Football Tickets

To complete the summer reading program, teens need to fill out and return the summer reading form after reading 6 books,eBooks, magazines, or graphic novels and completing 1 activity (such as attending a library program or commenting on our Teen Blog). Forms may be picked up and dropped off at any LFPL location during our normal operating hours. Click here to find a branch near you.

For a full list of teen programs, click here .

Teen Tech Tip of the Week #26: Explore the Night Sky

Welcome back to the blog after a bit of a break. We wanted to give you a little extra time for the past two topics, since they are rather difficult to digest. This week we are getting far out and are looking beyond our own planet into the sky and beyond.

(Source: NASA)

Next week (June 1) marks the beginning of LFPL's summer reading for kids and teens and the themes for each are science-related: 'Build Your Brain' and 'Reading is Elemental' (respectively). For the entirety of summer reading we are going to look at a variety of science subjects on the teen blog.

For this post we are going as far out as we can possibly go: outer space! Below are several free resources to explore the entire universe:

Resources for Viewing the Night Sky

Google Earth (View>Explore>Sky, Mars, Moon) is a great place to start finding your place in our universe. Users can view pictures and find links to educational resources directly from a 3D map. Look at terrain features for Mars and take a virtual tour of the Apollo landing mission on the moon.

Stellarium will create a realistic view of the night sky in real time for any location on Earth. View constellations from all over the world including many different cultures.

Celestia is a 3D space travel simulator that allows you to travel through their extensive collection of astronomical bodies. View close ups of planets from our solar system and see the interactions of all objects at any point in the universe's history. Both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) utilize Celestia for outreach and public education.

WorldWide Telescope was developed by Microsoft and displays a 3D map of the universe taken from the Hubble telescope and nearly a dozen Earth-bound scopes. Download the Windows client or use the browser-based viewer.

Skychart (Cartes du Ciel) lets you turn your computer into a planetarium by mapping and labeling planets, stars and constellations. Overlap photographs to get a closer look at each object.

Aladin is a great tool for researchers that lets you browse through maps, images and dozens of databases of scientific research.

Louisville Astronomical Society - Since 1931, the LAS has been gazing and educating Louisville on our solar system and beyond. They offer monthly public star viewing at their Urban Astronomy Center located at E.P. Tom Saywer Park.