Hi Folks,
I’m sure you’ve all seen the You Tube video by now: Amanda dancing on that bar in Panama City Beach. Amanda doing body shots off of the 18 year old bartender. And how about Amanda totally rockin’ out the front row of the LMFAO/Katy Perry concert on the pool deck of Club LaVela?
Look really closely at the picture below and you can find me. This is moments before I was crowned the “2012 Panama City Spring Break Bikini Contest” Winner (in the Middle-Aged Mom Full Coverage Bathing Suits with Skirts Division). I’m the one slathering SPF 50+ on the back of an unsuspecting FSU freshman. Oy, vey. Kids these days just think they are impervious to the sun’s rays. Why, if their mothers only knew...
Wha? Where was I...oh, yeah...
Dude. It was TOTALLY EPIC!*
I kid, I kid. I was really right here in good old Decatur, Georgia the whole time. No bikini contests or body shots. There was some dancing, but it was in my living room to “Off the Wall” with a 9 and 6 year old. Epic, indeed.
But not as epic as YOUR spring break! Our class was positively bursting with excitement on Tuesday. Mexico! LegoLand! Astronauts! Dolphins! Wow, you folks sure know how to have fun.
And so do we! To keep the good times rolling, we kicked off the week with a prank. A science prank. This is an easy, fun and harmless one. Try it at home:
What you need:
An empty 2 liter soda bottle, with cap
A sharpie pen
a thumbtack
water
What you do:
Write “Do Not Open” in big letters on the bottle. Use the tack to poke tiny holes around the sides of the bottom half of the bottle. Fill the bottle with water and put the cap on. Don’t squeeze! Leave the bottle sitting out where you think curious hands will get a hold of it.
What happens when those curious hands ignore the “Do Not Open” warning and twist the cap? (As one student said, “I know I would probably do it. I’m like Pandora; I just have to know what’s going to happen!”)
This!!
Hahahahaha! Gotcha!!!
How does it work?
Some of our pranksters were even able to explain how this happened. Here’s how Steve Spangler explains it on his website:
Let's start by examining an empty soda bottle. Is the bottle really empty? No. The bottle is filled with air (gotcha!). When you pour water into the bottle, the molecules of air that once occupied the bottle come rushing out of the top. You don't notice this because molecules of air are invisible. When you turn a bottle filled with water upside down, the water pours out (thanks to gravity) and air rushes into the bottle. Think of it as an even exchange of water for air.
You might think that poking a tiny hole in the bottom of a bottle would cause it to leak, and it does if air molecules can sneak into the bottle. When the lid is on the soda bottle, air pressure can't get into the bottle to push on the surface of the water. The tiny holes in the bottom or sides of the bottle are not big enough for the air to sneak in. Believe it or not, the water molecules work together to form a kind of skin to seal the holes - it's called surface tension. When the lid is uncapped, air sneaks in through the top of the bottle and pushes down on the water (along with the force of gravity) and the water squirts through the holes in the bottle.
It's kind of a tag team combo between gravity and air pressure. Gravity is pushing downward on the water whether the lid is on the bottle or not. Air pressure can't do anything until it somehow gets into the bottle. When the lid is on, air pressure can't get into the bottle to push on the surface of the water. It does, however, push against the outside of the bottle on all sides. Since the outside atmospheric pressure is greater than the force of gravity, most of the water stays in the bottle. When the lid is uncapped though, the outside atmospheric pressure (14.7 pounds per square inch at sea level) and the force of gravity push down on the water at the same time. The water shoots out and the nosy person gets a scientific (but well-deserved) soaking.
The students were excited to get back into the Greek myths, especially the new comic versions I collected over the break. Several were inspired to illustrate their own versions of “Pandora’s Box”. We also enjoyed a mythical math game, “Medusa’s Cave”, which relied on a little luck, some strategy, and a whole lot of patience.
Yeah...it’s homemade (by yours truly), but I’m pretty darn proud of it. Ask your child if they can explain the rules to you. What do you need to do to win? How do you decide which way to move your piece? What do you have to do when you are playing on a team?
Have a great weekend!
Amanda and Erin
*According to Gabriel after dodgeball on Tuesday, “Dude, that game was EPIC!”
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