At a time when it should be the birthright of all students to an education

that allows them to successfully enter the job markets of the 21st century…

At a time when America must inspire its next generation of scientists and

engineers if we as a nation are to compete in the technology markets

of the 21st century…

Are we rising to the challenge?

I have been asked to give the keynote address for the 2011 NSTA National Conference. There is no higher honor for a science educator than to be invited to address one’s peers at NSTA, and share both one’s love of learning and how it can be imparted to the next generation.

I am very aware that I’ve been asked to address possibly 10,000 teachers of science at a sobering time for both U.S. science education and the general education community. There is significant national emphasis being placed on science, and more generally STEM education, due to a recognition that our success is critical to America’s ability to compete in the 21st century marketplace. I agree deeply with this assessment (see , e.g., Troubled About America’s Future). Yet a significant systemic response has been to elevate testing to the point where one has to question whether testing still serves education, or education now serves testing. I am absolutely convinced that denying a joyful classroom to students AND teachers is not the road to success. And at this critical time for American education, there is a perfect storm. Severe budget cuts at the State and local levels have placed great stress on our school systems … and caused deep anxiety for our educators.

I believe the best thing I can do with this keynote, at a conference whose theme is Celebrating the Joy of Science, is to reaffirm that teaching is the noblest profession, that teachers are truly our future, and the joy of learning must always be the wellspring of our childrens’ experiences in our classrooms and our schools. And that the joy of teaching must always be the wellspring for all of our teachers who are so dedicated to passing a piece of themselves to the next generation.

We are a family … a family of educators. And in trying times, families come together so that the moral support of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. An NSTA conference is about family.

Finally, I need to repeat something that I said at the keynote for the NSTA Regional Conference in Kansas City last year. The future of America rests in our ability to train the next generation of scientists and engineers, make sure we open high technology job sectors that embrace graduates with good jobs, and work toward a more scientifically literate public so that we the people can make informed decisions. Science education is key, and the National Science Teachers Association provides coherence and common ground for this nation’s teachers of science. When it comes to America’s Future, I look upon NSTA as a national treasure.

Below is the full description of my keynote address for NSTA in San Francisco. And for anyone that would like to read more, I’ve provided numerous links to essays I have written on teaching, human exploration, and the nature of our existence.

I’ve also provided a link to a raft of posts that were designed to be used as lessons by teachers in the classroom. The aim is science education as conceptual understanding at an emotional level (read About this Blog.) And these essays address a range of topics across the Earth and space strand, including: climate change, solar system studies, history of exploration, and studies of the greater universe.

So … I invite you to grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable, and read some essays that I hope will provide brave new insights into our world, and how to joyfully bring them into the classroom. I also invite you, if you are so moved, to leave a comment below!

(And if you are going to NSTA in SF, come say hello:)

-Jeff

ps- you might want to follow me on Twitter: @doctorjeff and/or subscribe to this Blog on the Universe.

Keynote Address: Science – It’s Not a Book of Knowledge … It’s a Journey

Dr. Jeff Goldstein

Center Director

National Center for Earth and Space Science Education

Every parent remembers that magical time when our children first began to speak, that moment marking the beginning of an unending flow of questions. In our children we can see our humanity — our innate curiosity — and recognize the obvious … that we are born to explore!

Science, in all its seeming complexity, is nothing but a means to organize curiosity. A way to empower one’s self to ask the gift of a question, and to hone the art that allows navigation through the noise of the universe around us in quest of an answer. It is an emotional, joyful, and wondrous journey that hopefully allows the traveler to pull back the veil of nature just a little, see how she operates, and celebrate the accomplishment.

Science education is no different. It is the means by which we immerse our children in the act of journey by letting them do science, and acknowledging it is their journey. As teachers, our sweet reward is seeing the joys of learning wash over them. And as teachers, we are charged with nothing less than patiently and gently launching the explorations of an entire generation.

The journey is written in our genes … the book of knowledge is not.

What should that reveal about both science and science education?

—Dr. Jeff

Links to some relevant essays:

A very personal thank you to teachers everywhere.

The Art of Teaching (at Huffington Post)

Our place in the greater universe and the sacred role of teachers.

The Nature of Our Existence

I’m obviously biased, but here’s an essay I think teachers of science should read.

Do Americans understand what is at risk if we don’t take science and tech education seriously? (At Huffington Post)

Troubled about America’s Future

I come up with some cool stuff with a cup of coffee in hand.

Jeffisms

We need many flavors of heroes, and not just athletes, musicians, and movie stars. How about …

Scientists and Engineers as Heroes

Maybe the human race needs some humility.

The Address of a Self-Important World: Humanity Needs a Reality Check

In my mind, education is the answer to many things.

September 8 and September 11: Joy, Pain , and Hope

Social Media, a powerful tool for education. School districts across America – we need to bring education into the 21st Century.

The Remarkable Power of Twitter: A Water Cooler for the 21st Century

LOTS and LOTS of Dr. Jeff essays on space, space exploration, science, and the universe:

Visit: http://ncesse.org/content/engaging-reading/

Links to the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education:

Home Page

About Us

Core Beliefs

Embraced Pedagogy

Our Learning Community Model

A very good read: Testimonials

A Summary of Our Programs, with links to the individual program web pages and main websites.

NEW - March 15 2011 Critical Deadline

Student Experiments aboard the FINAL FLIGHT OF THE U.S. Space Shuttle Program

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program

You think you might want to bring a program to your community that could change the way students, teachers, and families look at science and human exploration?  Contact us!

info@ncesse.org

Photo caption: Earth as seen by the MESSENGER spacecraft as it flew by our planet on August 2 2005.

This post is a Dr. Jeff Speaks Out.

This is crossposted at the Huffington Post HERE and at the Space Tweep Society Blog HERE.

Don’t let your seemingly vast experience as an inhabitant of this world fool you. It’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of self-importance. Let me explain.

You likely live in a house or apartment on a street, and in a community that’s part of some town, maybe even some major urban area. Your community is likely part of a much larger state or province of one of the nations of Earth—which are themselves nothing more than imaginary constructs of human society. Your country is also likely assigned to one of the continental masses whose sum total of land area is just 29% of the planet’s surface. You are small and the Earth is seemingly vast, as if we humans to Earth are just so many micro-organisms scurrying about each day (each rotation of Earth), and following rules of social engagement that often defy logic.

It’s a story that at a most fundamental level defines your address. It may be all the address you need to ship a package to your friend across the ocean. But it won’t cut it with the intergalactic post office. As I said, don’t let your experience and perception fool you. It’s the rest of the address of which most Earthlings are unaware. For so many reasons it’s also the most important part of the address.

This seemingly vast Earth is but a tiny planet. (By comparison, over 1,000 Earths fit inside Jupiter.) Earth is one of eight planets orbiting the Sun—a tiny star by star standards—as part of a planetary System called the Solar System. The Sun resides in the Solar Neighborhood of stars, a small smattering of stars found in the Orion Spur—a nondescript little corner of the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way is a vast city of stars, with enough stars to give 50 to every human on Earth. Right now, you, your family, and the rest of your race are orbiting just one of those stars.

The Milky Way is one of two large galaxies in the Local Group of 25-30 galaxies. The other large one, Andromeda, is on a collision course with ours. And the cosmic debris-field that is the Local Group of galaxies resides not too far cosmically speaking from the Virgo Cluster of 1,300 to 2,000 galaxies. The Local Group and Virgo Cluster are just two of the 100 to 200 or so groups and clusters of galaxies making up the Local Supercluster of more than 50,000 galaxies. The Local Supercluster—a small supercluster—is one of MILLIONS of superclusters that are woven together to form the largest structures ever seen—Galactic Filaments. And all this comprises the Observable Universe—what we believe is a remarkably insignificant portion of the Universe that nature, by law, allows us to see. Beyond what is observable, the Universe may truly be infinite.

So using myself to summarize—

I live in a house on a street in a town in the State of Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC, in the USA, in North America, on Earth, in the Solar System, in the Solar Neighborhood, in the Orion Spur of the Milky Way Galaxy, in the Local Group of Galaxies, near the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, in the Local Supercluster of galaxies in the tiny corner of the Universe we like to call the Observable Universe.

That is our address. It makes the often human perception of our reality as the center of cosmic activity …. just laughable. You always know the most about your own neighborhood. But that also leads you to conclude your neighborhood is somehow important. In truth, it is only important because YOU live there. And YOU obviously think YOU are important. So please think about this … for vast numbers of humans, our perception, our daily life, is driven by self-importance, a remarkable lack of humility, ignorance of—even disinterest in—a greater context of existence which our machines of exploration have brought into crisp focus, and for many, a sense that embracing God is the righteous and comforting thing to do—but does not require taking time to look at the majesty beyond Earth. And while we burn precious, non-renewable calories watching “reality” television, following the lives of the rich and famous, acquiring lots of things, deciding which of us is better or more deserving or more moral, and buying into the distorted views of what our societies have our children embrace as heroes and role models, our world—the spaceship that affords us the view of majesty—is coming under attack.

The microbes called human kill one another because each group, each (bacterial) culture, thinks they are more important than the other. It is self-importance taken to the extreme. Their self-serving technology is modifying the environment of the planet, not only threatening their existence for generations to come (how do they do that to their children?), but puts at grave risk countless species that don’t have the gift of recognizing the majesty of the cosmos. Isn’t it ironic that the only species on Earth that does possess the gifts of intelligence and tool-making, does not collectively care about its world, and collectively squanders these gifts?

So watch the movie above, taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft as it flew by in 2005. Watch as the Earth recedes into the cold, black void of space. Imagine the nearly 7 billion humans scurrying around on its surface. How many of them recognize that the remarkable spaceship they are on is NOT owned by them? It never was. But because of their technology, they are now, by natural decree, stewards of this spaceship for good or ill. Do they understand their responsibilities to the spaceship, to all its occupants, and to themselves? For if this tiny blue world is laid to waste, the geologic Age of Self-Importance will be over, the rest of the Universe will surely not care … and I fear God will not come to the rescue.

A penny for your thoughts …..

Photo and movie credit: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington. For more information about the photo and movie visit the MESSENGER web site.

This is a Teachable Moment in the News and a Dr. Jeff Speaks Out.

This is crossposted at the Huffington Post HERE.

I had a day of meetings yesterday, with no connection to the outside world. When I got home a good friend stopped over and asked if I heard what Al Gore had said in Copenhagen, and the firestorm it created in the world media. I had not. So I made a beeline for the computer and sought out the circus-sphere passing for journalism these days. Here is what I found.

A Timesonline story titled “Inconvenient truth for Al Gore as his north pole sums don’t add up”, may have been the focal point. Apparently Mr. Gore said, as reported by the Timesonline—

“These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.”

However, the climatologist whose work Mr Gore was relying upon dropped the former Vice-President in the water with an icy blast.

“It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at,” Dr Maslowski said. “I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this.”

This led the Timesonline to conclude, that—

The embarrassing error cast another shadow over the conference after the controversy over the hacked e-mails from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit, which appeared to suggest that scientists had manipulated data to strengthen their argument that human activities were causing global warming.

But this story did not add up to me. My problem was two-fold. First, Mr. Gore stated a dire prediction about the Arctic and attributed the prediction to Dr. Wieslaw Maslowski. Given Gore is not a climate scientist, citing his source was the right and prudent thing to do. Maslowski was apparently contacted by some organization or individual (I should assume the Timesonline but I won’t) and the Timesonline then quoted Maslowski’s denial. So here we have two individuals with differing stories, but with a distinction—Mr. Gore was attributing his statement to Dr. Maslowski. But Maslowski was not attributing anything to Gore. Clearly someone was wrong, whether by mistake or by design. But based on the story, I didn’t know which one. Which brings me to my second problem—Timesonline immediately assumed the problem was with Gore, the story was picked up globally, and quickly turned into “there goes Al Gore again, and this time we got ‘em!”

But the pesky distinction between the two was an obvious pathway for me to explore—Gore cited Maslowski, so was there any formal record of Maslowski’s past statements about Arctic sea ice coverage? I found no evidence that anyone reporting the story had bothered to look.

Is this what journalism passes for these days? No need to check sources carefully? Forget due diligence? Gore caught twisting the truth—even lying—is good for sales and readership? And it doesn’t matter whether he did or not, because perception is reality today, not truth?

Earth to journalists. Let me clue you in. I’m not a journalist but I’ll do your due diligence for you. It’s REALLY easy in the age of the internet. Here, let me show you how it’s done.

Dr. Wieslaw Maslowski is a Research Professor in the Department of Oceanography at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California. All this is from his bio on the NPS website. His research includes: arctic oceanography, numerical ocean and sea ice modeling, and climate change—again from the NPS website. He sounds like a qualified expert to me. Apparently the media has thought so too. Here is what Dr. Maslowski told the New York Times, October 2, 2007 (just 2 years ago)—

“Experts say the ice retreat is likely to be even bigger next summer because this winter’s freeze is starting from such a huge ice deficit. At least one researcher, Wieslaw Maslowski of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., projects a blue Arctic Ocean in summers by 2013.”

Want him in his own words? Here, at Beyond Zero Emissions, is Dr. Maslowski interviewed by Matthew Wright, with a post date of March 24, 2008 (less than 2 years ago.) Read the transcript of the interview, and by all means download the podcast.

“We speak to Wieslaw Maslowski about his prediction that by the summer of 2013, we will have completely lost ice cover in the Arctic. Dr. Maslowski says that the complete loss of summer ice may actually happen sooner.”

Wright: “Ok. So now, it was reported in The New York Times that you said that 2013 was a possibility, and perhaps you’d actually projected this some years ago, that we could lose the summer sea ice extent – that’s in the summer solstice is it?”

Maslowski: “That is correct.”

Maslowski (later in the interview): “There are some model simulations, single model simulations, that are suggesting that it could possibly occur as early as 2050 or maybe even as early as 2030. Comparing those models simulations predictions with the satellite observations of the Arctic sea ice extent actually shows that most of those models are too conservative predicting the current and the past ice extent changes in the Arctic as has been observed. So the idea is that the climate models – they’re underestimating, they are too conservative in their prediction.”

Maslowski is on the record stating he thought it possible that we’d lose all summer ice cover in the Arctic by 2013. Let’s do some math. That is 3.5 years from now.  Gore said 75% chance in 5 to 7 years based apparently on personal conversations with Maslowski. You know what? Gore’s statement was a CONSERVATIVE estimate relative to what I found Maslowski has said on the record.

Does anybody care that journalistic integrity is important in the midst of a contentious debate? Will ‘journalists’ like Hannah Devlin, Ben Webster, and Philippe Naughton (see Timesonline) apologize to Mr. Gore for not doing their jobs? Will anyone give the guy any credit for standing up for what he believes in? Mr. Vice President, hang in there. I know you know how Galileo felt.

And a note to the Timesonline. Should I believe your quote from Dr. Maslowski? If so, then shouldn’t someone ask Dr. Maslowski why his quote is inconsistent with what he has said on the record? Dr. Maslowski, your credibility as a researcher is on the line.

Let’s debate the quality of the data and the interpretation of the data. Let’s do it in the context of science. As a planet, let’s explore and debate the global courses of action that can and should be considered based on what these data are telling us. And let’s do it with journalists recognizing the important role they play in keeping us all informed, and the sacred trust that that entails.

Finally, aside from the spitting back and forth on who said what (which could have been avoided if journalists did their jobs) does anybody care that complete loss of sea ice coverage in the Arctic, even if by 2050, would represent a dramatic climatic change in a geological instant in time?

For an understanding of rapid climatic change in the context of geologic time, and the correlation to human activity, see A Day in the Life of the Earth, here at Blog on the Universe.

Photo caption: CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere in parts per million over the last 400,000 years. Credit: NOAA.

This post is a Teachable Moment in the News and a Dr. Jeff Speaks Out.

This is crossposted at the Huffington Post HERE.

Here’s how the argument goes—and do it justice by reading it out loud, and kinda yelling whenever you see words in CAPS.

“Hey, you’re worried about CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere going up because of human activity and causing an increase in global temperature?! GIVE ME A BREAK! It’s only a TRACE gas, currently making up only 0.038% of the atmosphere, or 380 parts per MILLION!!  SO WHAT if we increase it to a WHOPPING 1,000 parts per million (ppm) by 2100. Then it would ONLY comprise 0.1% of the atmosphere. BIG DEAL!! There is NO CONCEIVABLE WAY that changes in such a miniscule amount of CO₂ could have any significant impact on the global environment. You’re preaching the sky is falling, and ANYONE WITH HALF A BRAIN can see that this is just SILLY! YOU must be part of some Scientists-in-Need-of-Federal-Funds—Green Business—Government (SiNoFF-GB-G) conspiracy that’s bent on destroying everything that is good. TAKE A WALK YOU ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVIST IN NEED OF A CAUSE. Why … you’re likely a paid operative of the SINoFF-GB-G machine!”

Ummm.. has anybody else heard this argument, or is it just me? Here’s my rebuttal (and you’re still using the CAPS-means-shouting thing.)

The point of the VAST MAJORITY of climate scientists is that the trace level of CO₂ in the atmosphere DOES play a critical role in the global environment. But before addressing why such a concept IS NOT PREPOSTEROUS, let’s get the obvious out of the way first. The myth makers and myth propagators use the word TRACE to belittle poor CO₂—to render its level WHOLLY INSIGNIFICANT. But anyone with just a touch of basic science education knows that—CO₂ IS VITALLY IMPORTANT FOR LIFE ON EARTH. It is both used and produced by life. If its level were so small to be a worthless consideration, then, hey—let’s take it ALL away, drop it to 0%, AND WATCH THE MAJORITY OF LIFE ACROSS THE PLANET CEASE TO EXIST. That TRACE gas seems pretty important to me. It powers a little thing we like to call PHOTOSYNTHESIS which is fundamental to the food chain. For all those that do not want to pay homage to CO₂, I say—STOP EATING. Or at least STOP throwing around the expression TRACE GAS so loosely.

Now for those that espouse the mythical view at the top of this post that “a little more of nothing amounts to nothing” is a rational argument for why CO₂ cannot dramatically alter the environment, my first tendency is to go into a discussion of climate change modeling and the importance of even trace gases held within acceptable ranges. A complex biological system like THE ENTIRE PLANET EARTH reflects a finely tuned balance, with regulating systems that keep conditions within acceptable limits for life—EVEN AT THE LEVEL OF TRACE GASES (barring catastrophic events like an asteroid impact, or super volcano, or say humans popping up in an instant and burning everything they can find in just 150 years). If specific trace gas concentrations are pushed beyond narrow limits the entire global system goes out of balance—even past a tipping point where it moves to a new equilibrium position not conducive for vast numbers of species currently inhabiting the planet.

You could also point out that in fact life operates within narrow acceptable regimes for, e.g., temperature. Absolute zero is -460 °F (-273 °C). The surface of the Sun (exceedingly cold by cosmic standards) is 10,300 °F (5,700 °C). That’s a temperature range of 10,800 °F (6,000 °C)!  But a human—YOU—has to exist within a temperature range of just 100 °F (55 °C). Here’s a way to look at it. If you represent the range in temperature from absolute zero to that of the solar surface as a 10-foot ruler, you’re existence is constrained to the width of 1-inch (for you metric types, if the larger range is represented by one meter, then you’re assigned just one centimeter of living space.) YOU LIVE ON THE HAIRY EDGE. YOU JUST AREN’T AWARE YOU LIVE ON THE HAIRY EDGE. You depend on Earth’s regulatory systems to keep you in the happy place.

But alas, I can’t use these arguments, because folks often can’t get past the it’s just a trace gas thing. Detailed global observations over time, careful analysis of the geological record, sophisticated climate models projecting into the future, and still you hear—”it’s all voodoo, it’s just THEORY, it’s a [VERY LARGE] percentage of [CLIMATE] scientists that don’t know what they are talking about. And there’s a [VERY SMALL] percentage of scientists that AGREE WITH ME so THEY must be right.”

Ok, fine. So let’s do this far closer to home. And see if there isn’t something strangely familiar about this.

1. The amount of alcohol in the blood is defined by the Blood Alcohol Level (BAC.) If someone has just a little to drink, and they’re BAC is between 0.01% and 0.029%, they will appear outwardly normal. What does this mean? It means that the alcohol content in the blood is between 95 and 270 PARTS PER MILLION. It is a TRACE chemical in the blood.

Now you increase the BAC to 0.11% to 0.20% and this person looses gross motor control, staggers when walking, and their speech is slurred. What does that mean? You’ve increased the alcohol concentration to at least 1,050 PARTS PER MILLION. Just by increasing this TRACE chemical by a factor of 4 (THAT’S FOUR) leads to system-wide imbalance in a human being—A COMPLEX BIOLOGICAL SYSTEM.

What? The alcohol shouldn’t have been there in the first place? That’s different than CO₂? Well this is a ROCK-SOLID example of systemic imbalance due to a 4-fold increase in a TRACE chemical. But fine, let’s go to example 2.

2. Say … hypoglycemia. We should all be able to agree that glucose is absolutely essential for body function. A normal glucose level averages about 1,500 PARTS PER MILLION in the blood. Now this one is really dramatic. If you DECREASE blood glucose by a factor of 10 to about 150 PARTS PER MILLION—then … COMA, and possibly …. well you get the picture.

ANYONE who thinks that changes in TRACE chemicals cannot impact complex biological systems—after just these 2 of TRULY COUNTLESS examples—is not reachable through reason and logic.

Now—BY LOGICAL EXTENSION—back to Earth. JUST BECAUSE CO₂ IS A TRACE GAS DOES NOT IMPLY IT CAN’T CAUSE A GLOBAL-SCALE IMBALANCE IN CLIMATE. This myth is busted.

Take a look at the graph at the top. It tracks CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere. Over the last 400,000 YEARS, CO₂ concentration never went above the dotted line. It was typically 230 parts per million, and maximally 300 parts per million (ppm). But just since 1950, it has gone from about 280 to 380 ppm!

In the graph below, climate models indicate by the year 2100 the concentration will increase to 550 to 1,000 ppm! If we assume the average climate model projection, the Industrial Age (Age of Fossil Fuels) by 2100 will have increased CO₂ concentration by a factor of 2.5 over the highest levels seen in the last 400,000 years, and by a factor of 3.5 over what was typical over the last 400,000 years!

Surely worry is warranted. We know we are changing the atmospheric composition, we know that global warming is real, and the vast consensus of scientists that specialize in this field feel that it is highly likely the global warming is due to how we are changing the atmosphere.

I’ve finished my rant. I hope many reading this have some new ammunition. But those that don’t want to accept global warming as human induced will now take the argument to the next level—increased CO₂ does not lead to increased global temperature. Sounds like I’ve got the topic for a new post. Stay tuned to this same Bat Channel. Alfred … have you been standing over my shoulder the whole time?

-dj

ps- You want more PERCEPTION-CHANGING posts on Climate Change and Global Warming? Your wish is my command: HERE

Photo Credit: Past and future CO2 atmospheric concentrations, United Nations Environmental Programme, cartographer/designer Philippe Rekacewicz, Emmanuelle Bournay, UNEP/GRID-Arendal

This post is a Dr. Jeff’s Weekly Challenge and a Driving with Jordi.

Photo caption: the Hawaiian Islands, with the Big Island of Hawai’i at lower right. The Big Island was formed from five volcanoes including Mauna Kea. True color from the NASA Terra satellite, May 27, 2003.

The solution to this Challenge will be posted Monday, October 26, 2009.

It’s a new school year, and I couldn’t wait to get back into the routine of my morning drive with Jordi. I missed our daily conversations about Earth, space and everything else in his known universe while we navigate the fabled Washington, DC, Beltway to his school. Sure, we spent lots of great family time together over the summer at the pool club, and in New York. But there was something magical about taking 30 minutes of dull driving each morning and turning it into a free-for-all ‘Jordi where do you want to take the conversation today?’

To help you picture it, I’m always driving with my cup of coffee, glancing in the rear view mirror—waiting. He’s usually staring forward, transfixed. You’d almost think that my now 7-year-old is just zoning—except that he’s got that slight squint which tells me wheels are turning furiously inside. Then BOOM! He launches our great morning adventure with a simple, elegant, deep thought.

So last week, like always, just out of the blue—

“Daddy, how many Empire State Buildings tall is the tallest mountain?”

Today he wanted daddy to help him conceptualize the height of a really tall mountain. He wanted to use a familiar ruler.

Whenever we take a family a drive to New York (my Mom and sister are an hour north of the City) we always take time to go into Manhattan. We bike the Park or along the Hudson, eat in Little Italy making sure to get a box of the best pastries in the City at La Bella Ferrara—and then drive up 34th Street where we stop the car and let Jordi look straight up to the top of the Empire State Building. He LOVES that building. To him, it just touches the sky. I know exactly how he feels. For me it was always the World Trade Center.

So for Jordi, if one wanted to measure the size of the tallest mountain, using the Empire State Building as a ruler was surely the way to go. Cool kid. (Proud daddy.)

Not too long ago, I actually wrote a Post that used the height of the Empire State Building, so I remembered it was about 1,500 feet tall. I also know something about the height of mountains. My planetary atmospheres research took me to the telescopes on the summit of Mauna Kea so many times that I could be a tour guide for the Big Island of Hawai’i. On the summit I liked walking over to the U.S. Geological Survey marker identifying the highest point on Earth in the Pacific. But the short walk at 13,803 feet (4,207 meters) above sea level always left me out of breath. On one trip to the marker I had a friend take a picture of me next to it, with the clouds in the background a mile below us. I love to show that photo when I talk to kids and families and tell them that’s Jeff on top of the World (it is!)

But before going ‘UP’ with Jordi (something I suspect that’s much like what Carl Fredricksen felt flying off with Russell the wilderness explorer), I decided to go ‘down’ (because good stories have to build to a crescendo.) So we first talked about the Grand Canyon in Arizona, a hole in the ground that left me awestruck when I visited many years ago. At its deepest, the Grand Canyon is 6,000 ft (1,830 m) measured vertically from the rim of the Canyon to the Colorado River below. “Jordi, imagine you’re walking toward the rim and see this really large spike sticking up 100 feet above you. That’s about the height of a 10-story building. As you get closer to the rim and start to look down, you see the spike extends another 100 feet below you, and it’s attached to the top of a BIG building sitting in the Canyon. It’s the antenna mast …. of the Empire State Building.” He thought that was just so cool! Then shock set in when I told him this was just the top of a stack of FOUR Empire State Buildings with the base of the first sitting in the Colorado River! BIG canyon.

Then we went ‘up’, going back to his mountain question. Everybody thinks the tallest mountain on Earth is Mt. Everest and so did Jordi. So I went with the flow. “Jordi, Mt. Everest is about 29,000 feet above sea level. The Empire State Building is about 1,500 feet tall so, you’d need (daddy calculating in his head while driving) nearly …. TWENTY of them, one on top of the other, to get to the top of Everest.”  Then … Jordi says, “20?!!  20?!!!  … (5 second delay)…. 20?!!!!!” He was jaw—dropping stunned. In his mind that Building was huge! But How Big is Big? is all relative.

Now that I’ve got the internet and a calculator right here, I can do it more precisely. The summit of Everest is 29,029 feet (8,848 m) above sea level, and the Empire State Building is 1,472 feet (449 m) to the top of the antenna mast. So Everest is 19.7 Empire State Buildings Tall.

Ok, just getting you primed for your challenge. You didn’t think I’d give everything away did you?

Here now the challenge—

1. How many Empire State Buildings tall is the tallest mountain on Earth (Jordi’s original question)?

Hint: when is a mountain not just a mountain.

And by the way, my 210 mile high (340 km) mountain pictured in THIS Post, a photo presumably taken from the space shuttle, WASN’T REAL (the power of Photoshop). The fact that it was located “south of the Land of Make-Believe” was supposed to be the clue.

2. You’re on a cruise ship in the Pacific, 1,700 miles south of Tokyo and 200 miles south west of Guam (get out your maps.) You’ve slipped the captain a big wad of bills to stop the ship so you can go swimming. The crew lowers the inflatable zodiac, you jump into the water, but realize you left your spiffy waterproof, gold-encrusted watch in the dingy. The captain’s only given you 30 minutes of frolic time. “Hey crew member guy, can you toss me my watch?” Oops … he did and you missed. You do a quick dive and …. almost catch up to it as it gently descends. But you needed to stop ’cause you felt you were going too deep. There goes your watch on its way to the bottom. But come on, how deep could it really go? You figure if you slip the captain another wad of bills he’ll send in a diver to fetch it. Does he? How far is the bottom?

Hint: I want the answer using a (now) familiar ruler.

3. How many Empire State Buildings do you need to stack on top of one another to go from sea level to ‘outer space’?

Hint: read my Post The Business Trip for a clue.

Use a familiar ruler:

There’s a good chance you’re not familiar with the Empire State Building, so you might choose to use a different ruler for the heights and depths we’re considering above. Here are some tall structures in other parts of the USA and around the world you might want to use instead—

Statue of Liberty, New York City, USA: 305 ft (93 m) above ground level
Washington Monument, Washington, DC, USA:  555 ft (169 m)
Space Needle, Seattle, USA:  605 ft (184 m)
Eiffel Tower, Paris, France:  1,063 ft (324 m)

Tokyo Tower, Tokyo, Japan: 1,092 feet, (333 m)
Kiev TV Tower, Kiev, Ukraine: 1,263 feet (385 m)

Empire State Building, New York City, USA: 1,472 feet (449 m)

Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:  1,482 feet (452 m)

Shanghai World Financial Center, Shanghai, China: 1,614 feet (492 m)

Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan: 1,671 feet (509 m)

Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), tallest building in US, Chicago, USA: 1,730 feet (527 m)

CN Tower, Toronto, Canada:  1,815 ft (553 m)

Guangzhou TV and Sightseeing Tower, Guangzhou, China:  2,001 ft (610 m)

KVLY-TV mast, Blanchard, USA:  2,063 feet (818 m)
World’s tallest building—Burj Dubai (Dubai Tower) , Dubai, UAR:  2,684 feet (818 m)

Photo credit: NASA

Photo Caption:

This is a Teachable Moments in the News QuickLinks Post. It connects a news story with this Blog’s existing powerful library of Posts and Resource Pages. The cited Posts and Pages provide a deep understanding of concepts in the earth and space sciences relevant to the news story. Teachers—the Posts and Pages are also designed for use as lessons, allowing you to easily bring current science into the classroom as a teachable moment. Each cited Post is outlined in the Teachers Lesson Planner, which includes the Post’s essential questions, concepts, objectives, and math skills.

Earth Science Week takes on a rather unique importance in 2009. This year’s theme is Understanding Climate. On December 7-18. 2009, the entire world will meet in Copenhagen for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to hammer out the next international agreement on climate change and put in place new targets for greenhouse gas emissions. It may be humanity’s last opportunity to craft an agreement—AND get it ratified by the world’s nations—before the Kyoto Protocol of 1997 (and in force in 2005) expires in 2012. This seems to me to be a very big deal for the future of this planet, particularly in light of the latest projections for the impact of global warming—which indicate we need to act NOW or face irreversible consequences (see CNN, March 12, 2009)—and Copenhagen is the venue for that action.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has now issued 4 Reports, the last issued February 2, 2007:

On Feb. 2, 2007, the United Nations scientific panel studying climate change declared that the evidence of a warming trend is “unequivocal,” and that human activity has “very likely” been the driving force in that change over the last 50 years.

—New York Times, October 11, 2009

If we allow things to continue unchanged and we don’t take action today, it would destabilize human society.

—Rajendra Pachaurihead, Head of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), “Climate chief warns against ‘Tragic’ inaction”, CNN, August 21, 2008

Here are some relevant links:

Findings of the UN IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, see Union of Concerned Scientists, February 16, 2007

June 16, 2009 White  House Report Global Climate Change Impacts the United States: coverage by USAToday (‘Game Changer’),  CBS (White House Sounds Alarm), CNN (Report Warns of Cimate Change Effects), ABC (US Climate Report Dire)

Assessment by U.S. Department of Defense on U.S. National Security, and on the grave scenarios that can play out from global warming: New York Times (August 8, 2009)

My point is that over the next few months, the world faces a unique and seminally important moment in time, and Earth Science Week 2009 should serve as a timely catalyst for education in the US. HERE is the countdown clock to Copenhagen.

To date I’ve created 5 Posts at Blog on the Universe—5 powerful lessons—on climate change and global warming that I’d like to share with you as resources to use in classrooms and in discussions at home this coming week.

First, what is Earth Science Week?

From the American Geological Institute website:

Since October 1998, the American Geological Institute has organized this national and international event to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the Earth Sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. This year’s Earth Science Week will be held from October 11-17 and will celebrate the theme “Understanding Climate.”

From the Geological Society of America website:

Earth Science Week, the second full week in October, is an annual celebration of the contribution geoscience makes to society. The resolution to establish Earth Science Week was initiated by the Association of American State Geologists and was read into the Congressional Record in July 1998 by Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon.

GSA urges each of you to set aside at least one day during Earth Science Week to reach out to your community and promote the creation of a conscientious society committed to the responsible use of Earth and its resources.

From the NASA website:

The theme of this year’s Earth Science Week — “Understanding Climate” — promotes scientific understanding of a timely and vital topic: Earth’s climate.

The BotU Posts on Global Warming, Climate Change, and the Earth Environment

Below are the 5 powerful climate change lessons at Blog on the Universe. For each, I’ve provided the title, the essential question(s), and the conclusion relative to climate change and global warming. The information below is excerpted directly from the BotU Teachers Lesson Planner, which also includes for each Post, the key concepts addressed, lesson objectives, math skills required, and any special features of the Post. I invite you to get a cup of coffee or tea, go to the Lesson Planner, and from their explore these lessons.

The Business Trip 2009-05-19

Essential questions: How far is ‘Outer Space’? What does this imply for the thickness of Earth’s atmosphere?

Climate change point: we do not live under an ocean of air, but rather a slender fragile veil of atmosphere.

Apples and You 2009-05-21

Essential question: How thick is Earth’s atmosphere?

Climate change point: you can make a simple model that shows how thin the atmospheric layer is surrounding Earth, and it is shockingly thin. This model provides a new perspective on rhe atmosphere’s fragility, and the need to protect it.

Weekly Challenge 1: A Pound of Ants and the Capabilities of Intelligent Biomass 2009-05-26

Essential question: If humans are changing the environment on a global scale, then you might think the planet is overrun with people, and the human race must take up a lot of space. Does it? What can we learn from the answer?

Climate change point: the total volume of the human race is shockingly small. It is human technology that is changing the environment, which is the fundamental argument for a scientifically literate public that can make informed decisions about technology use.

Weekly Challenge 2: People People Everywhere 2009-06-02

Essential questions: How fast is the human population growing? What are the consequences?

Climate change point: world population is growing at a stunning rate, and the needs of increasing populations put severe stress on available resouces and services—particularly in the age of global warming.

A Day in the Life of the Earth: Understanding Human-Induced Climate Change 2009-06-13

Essential Question: What is the basic argument for Global Warming due to human activity?

Climate change point: global warming has the signature of a catastrophic event, and the introduction of  human technology on a global scale appears to be the source in plain sight.

From Dr. James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies concerning this post—

Public understanding of climate change depends on an understanding of time scales. Goldstein [Dr. Jeff] does a brilliant job of making clear the rapidity of the human-made intervention in the climate system, and the correlation of global warming with the appearance of technology powered by fossil fuels.

Photocredit: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center.

Teachers and Parents: make sure to read about The Teacher’s Toolbox which is designed to help you put this Blog to work for your class and your children. If you’re new to Blog on the Universe read About this Blog.

Photo caption: Computer-generated image of the Milky Way galaxy based on real data.

This post is a Dr. Jeff’s Weekly Challenge. It was requested by (teacher extraordinaire) Jami Lupold and her class in the great city of Houston, Texas, USA.

If you’re a teacher and your class has an idea for a blog post, slip me a note!

Last week I gave you a scare. It happened when I told you that you’re really on a spaceship hurtling through space. I was in the midst of describing all of Earth’s motions—it spins, it orbits the Sun, the Sun orbits the center of our galaxy carrying Earth and the Solar System along for the ride—and that’s when I saw panic on your face. You started to get a bit dizzy, so I turned on the “fasten seat belt sign” in light of all the conceptual turbulence ahead. To keep your mind off all the spinnin’ and revolvin’ I gave you an assignment to calculate Earth’s speed—your speed—due to these three motions. Does this all ring a bell? No? Why don’t you go and re-read the original challenge from last week, so you can refocus.

Good. Now that you’re back. Let’s get to the answers. Did I mention this week’s challenge was in our in-flight magazine in the seat pocket in front of you? By the way, I see you dug your fingernails into your seat, and your fingertips seem a bit blue. (Hope the answers don’t send you into a panic.)

And now the answers—

1. The Effect of Earth’s rotation: say you’re just standin’ there on Earth’s equator, all peaceful-like (a shout-out to my favorite class in Texas), minding your own business. How fast are you moving due to Earth’s rotation?

Hint: the Earth rotates once in 24 hours, and think “circumference of Earth.”

Answer: Just STANDING on the equator you are moving about 1,000 mph (nearly 1,700 km/hr)! You’re moving 1 mile every 3 seconds (1 km every 2 seconds)!

See the “How did I come up with those Answers” section below.

2. The Effect of Earth’s revolution (it’s orbit around the Sun):

Now you’re standing on the North Pole. Why? Well it’s a place where we can forget about the speed you’re carried due to Earth’s rotation. Up here (excuse me for a moment …. brrrrr) Earth’s rotation just gently rotates you once in 24 hours on the spin axis you’re standing on. But you’re still movin’ through space, yes you are … ’cause the entire Earth is zipping along in its orbit around the Sun. Your assignment #2 if you choose to accept it: how fast are you moving due to Earth’s motion around the Sun?

Hint: the Sun is 93,000,000 miles or 149,600,000 km (on average) from Earth, and it takes 1 year to go around once. This time think “circumference = 2 x pi x r”

Answer:

STANDING on spaceship Earth, you are being carried around the Sun at a speed of 19 MILES PER SECOND (30 KM PER SECOND)!! Say “one mississippi” …. there, you just moved 19 miles (30 km)!  That’s the same as 67,000 miles/hour (107,000 km/hour)!!  (Maybe you should keep your seat belt on.)

See the “How did I come up with those Answers” section below.

3. The effect of Earth’s revolution around the center of the Milky Way galaxy:

Your assignment #3 is to figure out how fast the Sun (carrying the entire Solar System along for the ride) is moving in its orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Hint: assume the Sun is 28,000 light years from the center, and completes 1 orbit in 240 million years

Oh, other needed Hint: 1 light year = 5.9 trillion miles or 9.5 trillion km

And yeah: think “circumference = 2 x pi x r” (again)

Answer:

For you to orbit the center of the Milky Way once in even the unfathomable time of 240 million years still requires you to be moving very, exceedingly, incredibly, *unbelievably* fast. Right now you are cruising through the galaxy at 495,000 MILES/HOUR (795,000 km/hr)!! That’s 140 MILES/SECOND (220 km/second)! Count out 17 seconds. Cool. You just moved the length of the continental United States, from New York to San Francisco. REALLY!

What? You’d like to travel the entire diameter of planet Earth? Wait 1 minute (actually 57 seconds). Done.

See the “How did I come up with those Answers” section below.

Look up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s superman!  … big deal. Just sittin’ there, [insert your name here] is WAY faster than a speeding bullet.

Teachers and Parents:

You don’t need to do the calculation with your class (or child at home) to use this post as a powerful lesson. The speeds described above are remarkable, and are sure to impress. Some points:

1. The first calculation is the easiest because you don’t need scientific notation, and you don’t need to convert units. So you might want to do this one to demonstrate the geometry of a circle (the path traveled), and the relation: speed = distance / time.

2. Show some examples of speed = distance / time,  e.g., if you travel 100 miles in a car at 50 mph, how long did it take?

3. Have them guess what speeds might be associated with each motion before you tell them the answer.

4. With the answers above in hand, have them calculate how long it would take to travel distances that are familiar to them, e.g., the distance between two cities. Calculate separately the time it would take due to Earth’s rotation, Earth’s orbit around the Sun, and the Solar System’s orbit around the center of the galaxy.

And now—how did I come up with those answers?

Note that calculating answers 2 and 3 below requires an understanding of scientific notation.

There are two key relationships you need for all three questions. In each case the motion you’re investigating carries you once around a circle in a given period of time:

The first is the relationship between a circle’s diameter (d) or radius (r) and the circle’s circumference (c):

circumference = pi x diameter

or

circumference = 2 x pi x radius

where  pi = 3.14

The second relationship provides your speed if you know the distance you’ve traveled in a given time:

speed = distance / time

1. The Effect of Earth’s rotation

The important point: you travel around the circumference of Earth once in 24 hours.

Earth’s equatorial diameter: 7,926 miles (12,756 km)

Earth’s circumference = pi x diameter:  24,888 miles (40,054 km)

speed = distance / time  =  circumference / time

English units: speed =  24,888 / 24  = 1,037 miles/hr   Or: 0.29 miles/sec

Metric units: speed = 40,054 / 24 = 1,670 km/hr   Or: 0.46 km/sec

2. The Effect of Earth’s revolution (it’s orbit around the Sun):

The important point: you travel the path of Earth’s orbit around the Sun once in 1 year. You can assume the orbit is a circle whose radius is 93,000,000 miles (149,600,000 km), which is the average distance between Earth and the Sun.

Circumference of Earth’s orbit around Sun:

= 2  x pi x radius:  584 million miles (939,5 million km)

Time to orbit Sun once:

= 1 year = 365.25 days = 8,766 hours = 3.16 x 10 ⁷ seconds

speed = distance / time  =  circumference / time

English units: speed =  584 x 10⁶ / 8,766  = 66,600 miles/hr   Or: 18.5 miles/sec

Metric units: speed = 939.5 x 10⁶ / 8,766 = 107,200 km/hr   Or: 29.8 km/sec

3. The effect of Earth’s revolution around the center of the Milky Way galaxy:

The important point: you travel around the center of the Milky Way galaxy once in 240 million years. You can assume the orbit is a circle whose radius is 28,000 light years (each light year is the distance light travels in a year.)

Let’s convert 28,000 light years to meaningful units of miles and km. The hint said that 1 light year = 5.9 trillion miles or 9.5 trillion km

English units: 28,000 light yrs x (5.9 x 10¹² miles /light yr) = 1.65 x 10¹⁷ miles

Metric units: 28,000 light yrs x (9.5 x 10¹² km / light yr) =  2.66 x 10¹⁷ km

Now let’s calculate the circumference of the orbit around the galactic center:

= 2  x pi x radius:

English units: 2 x pi x (1.65 x 10¹⁷ miles) = 1.04 x 10¹⁸ miles

Metric units: 2 x pi x (2.66 x 10¹⁷ km) = 1.67 x 10¹⁸ km

Time to orbit the center of Milky Way once:

240 x 10⁶ years = 8.8 x 10¹⁰ days = 2.1 x 10¹² hours = 7.6 x 10¹⁵ seconds

speed = distance / time  =  circumference / time

English units: speed =  1.04 x 10¹⁸/ 2.1 x 10¹² =  x 495,000 miles/hr

Or: 140 miles/sec

Metric units: speed = 1.67 x 10¹⁸ / 2.1 x10¹² = 795,000 km/hr

Or: 220 km/sec

Photo Credit: National Geographic Society Image Collection, 1999.

Photo caption: Computer-generated image of the Milky Way galaxy based on real data.

This post is a Dr. Jeff’s Weekly Challenge. It was requested by (teacher extraordinaire) Jami Lupold and her class in the great city of Houston, Texas, USA.

If you’re a teacher and your class has an idea for a blog post, slip me a note!

You wanted to be an astronaut? Poof. Done.

You and your friends are on a spaceship called Earth—with all known life aboard. With you sitting there calmly reading this, and no obvious need to hold on to something for dear life, it might seem that the spaceship under your feet is carrying you on a nice steady trajectory through space. Uh … Nope. Right now you’re being carried along on something more akin to a cosmic-sized amusement park ride. Earth is rotating on its axis, it’s orbiting the Sun, and the whole Solar System (the Sun and its planets, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, and Trans-Neptunian Objects) is orbiting the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way itself is moving relative to other nearby galaxies, the local group of galaxies is moving through a greater space, and all this is set against a backdrop of an expanding fabric of space and time across the entire universe. I know!!!! (© Craig Ferguson) Dizzy?

[Pleasant Ding] The captain has just turned on the seat belt sign. There may be some conceptual turbulence up ahead. But I’ll make the ride as smooth as possible.

OK, I think a Weekly Challenge requesting that you calculate all the spinning, and revolving, and free-flying is a bit much, so let’s concentrate on three things:

Here now the Challenge—

1. The Effect of Earth’s rotation: say you’re just standin’ there on Earth’s equator, all peaceful-like (a shout-out to my favorite class in Texas), minding your own business. How fast are you moving due to Earth’s rotation?

Hint: the Earth rotates once in 24 hours, and think “circumference of Earth.”

2. The Effect of Earth’s revolution (it’s orbit around the Sun):

Now you’re standing on the North Pole. Why? Well it’s a place where we can forget about the speed you’re carried due to Earth’s rotation. Up here (excuse me for a moment …. brrrrr) Earth’s rotation just gently rotates you once in 24 hours on the spin axis you’re standing on. But you’re still movin’ through space, yes you are … ’cause the entire Earth is zipping along in its orbit around the Sun. Your assignment #2 if you choose to accept it: how fast are you moving due to Earth’s motion around the Sun?

Hint: the Sun is 93,000,000 miles or 149,600,000 km (on average) from Earth, and it takes 1 year to go around once. This time think “circumference = 2 x pi x r”

3. The effect of Earth’s revolution around the center of the Milky Way galaxy:

This one is the toughest ’cause now I’ve relocated you to the north pole of … the SUN. Here, you don’t experience effects 1 and 2 above. From here you can just watch the spinning Earth as it orbits you. (Excuse me a minute …. hot, hot, hot!) What? Why did I put you on the NORTH POLE of the Sun? So I would not confuse you with your motion due to the Sun’s ROTATION.  (Hey, get with the program …. everything is in motion.)

Your assignment #3 is to figure out how fast the Sun (carrying the entire Solar System along for the ride) is moving in its orbit around the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Hint: assume the Sun is 28,000 light years from the center, and completes 1 orbit in 240 million years

Oh, other needed Hint: 1 light year = 5.9 trillion miles or 9.5 trillion km

And yeah: think “circumference = 2 x pi x r” (again)

So get to figurin’, and remember that while you’re sittin’ there, you’re ZOOMING THROUGH SPACE due to those three effects you’re figurin’!

Thanks Jami and Jami’s class! Have a great school year!

—Doctor Jeff (Honorary Texan)

Answer now posted here!

Photo Credit: National Geographic Society Image Collection, 1999.

This post is a Dr. Jeff’s Weekly Challenge.

Welcome humans nice folks. We have assumed you are here for the answer to Weekly Challenge 6. Men in black team #26,342 is therefore now en route to your home. If you don’t know why, before reading any further we recommend (with great strength) that you read Weekly Challenge 6. Our team is rolling (very fast).

And now the answer—

Last week in the Cosmic Kitchen, Chef Jeff pushed the green button on the pasta press, and a single strand of Earth spaghetti was created that just stretched across the 93 billion light-year diameter of the observable universe.

What was the diameter of the spaghetti required?  1 millimeter (0.04 inches)

It is not microscopically thin. It is not the diameter of a fire hose. It is precisely the diameter of—angel hair pasta, a thin spaghetti. Go to your local store buy a box and measure it for yourself. By the way, help support us by purchasing our sponsor’s brand of angel hair. Look for Cosmic Kitchen Pasta #42 available in most supermarkets.

We also submit for your consideration that this was not magic, or some remarkable coincidence. In the Cosmic Kitchen we have the ability to realign the laws of nature. In this case, we have ensured that the Earth, when squeezed into a single strand of Earth spaghetti capable of spanning the observable universe, has the thickness of  … spaghetti. We hope you humans nice folks appreciate the effort. We wanted your planet to still be recognizable to you, at least as today’s special entree.

We also hope you have enjoyed your visit to the Cosmic Kitchen. Its existence is a closely guarded secret, and we are honored to have shared it with you. The men in black will be knocking on your door at any moment. Won’t you please help them fill out our survey? And remember that you can receive a special gift if you answer their final question correctly. Since we have spent this last week together, I now consider us friends, and I want to see you receive your special gift. So remember I gave you the answer to the question last week. Just say “cheese.”

How did Chef Jeff come up with the answer?

The volume of the Earth, a sphere, is to be transformed into the volume of a strand of spaghetti, a cylinder. Recognizing that the volumes are equal, here is how it is done:

1. The volume of a sphere is: 4/3 x pi  x R³ where:

pi = 3.14

R is the radius of the sphere, in this case the radius of Earth:

6,378 km = 6.378 x 10⁶ meters

2. The volume of a cylinder is: pi x r² x h   where:

r is the radius of the cylinder, here the radius of the spaghetti, which is to be calculated

h is the height of the cylinder, here the length of the spaghetti:

93 billion light-years  = 9.3 x 10¹⁰ light-years

converting to meters (see hint last week):

9.3 x 10¹⁰ light-years  x  9.46 x 10¹⁵ meters / light-year  =  8.8 x 10²⁶ meters

3. Setting the two volumes equal yields the equation (note the pi cancels out):

4/3 x R³ =  r² x h

4. Now enter the following data into the equation and solve for r, the radius of the spaghetti:

R = 6.378 x 10⁶ meters

h = 8.8 x 10 ²⁶ meters

You will find r =  0.00063 meters = 0.63 millimeters

Thus the diameter of the spaghetti =  2 x r  =  1.2 millimeters, which is the diameter of angel hair pasta.

This post is a Dr. Jeff’s Weekly Challenge.

On a recent tour of CBS, I got separated from my group, got pretty lost, and ended up in a dusty storage room filled with nightmarish props that really creeped me out. In the corner I found an old envelope marked “Rod Serling’ with a script inside. Wow. I decided to turn it into a BotU Weekly Challenge and introduce a new character kinda like, well, me. (It is my Blog.)

First a word from our Sponsor—

Come back Monday, August 24. for the solution to this Weekly Challenge.

Come back Friday, August 21, for a new post “The Scale of the Solar System—A Voyage in Corpus Christi”

Submitted for your consideration, I invite you to accompany me to a Cosmic Kitchen where each entree is of galactic proportions, and ingredients are folded together with forces both unimaginable and seemingly limitless. As we enter the infinite spaces allocated for baking, a solar-system-sized pasta press has just been loaded with planet Earth, and an ejector plate has been inserted which has but a single hole in the center with an adjustable diameter. Chef Jeff has closed the massive door behind the planet, and now the only way out for Earth is through that small opening—for today’s special in the Cosmic Kitchen is Earth spaghetti.

Before pushing the unassumingly small green start button on the pasta press, the diameter of the spaghetti must be set. Once the hydraulics are engaged no adjustments can be made—for the forces at work could result in a catastrophic accident. It has happened in the past. 350,550 years ago the pasta press exploded, planet was everywhere, and the kitchen had to be closed down for cleaning by precisely 10,000,042 workers. (Note that in the Cosmic Kitchen, 42 must be included in the solution to everything).

Given the potential consequences, setting the diameter of the spaghetti required Chef Jeff to consult Cosmic Kitchen’s head chef. Her reply—adjust the diameter so that the single strand of Earth spaghetti could just stretch across the entire observable universe.

Back in the Cosmic Kitchen’s research library, with rows of workstations extending to the horizon, Chef Jeff goes on line to determine the size of the observable universe. He’s come across this before. It came up when he was asked to keep folding a humongous sheet of paper until its thickness could extend to the edge of the observable universe. He remembered the link to the web site with the answer. The diameter of the observable universe is 93 billion light-years.

Chef Jeff (originally trained as an astrophysicist, but thought cooking was more lucrative) now knows that the entire volume of Earth is to be stretched into the volume of a single strand of spaghetti that just spans the 93 billion light-year diameter of the observable universe. A quick calculation gives him the required diameter for the spaghetti.

Back at the pasta press, he transports to the ejector plate, sets the spaghetti’s diameter, and transports back to the control room where he stands ready to push the green button.

Here now the challenge—

By reading this, you have accepted an invitation to be one of the spectators in the Cosmic Kitchen’s gallery. Before Chef Jeff pushes the button, you are asked to submit your guess for the diameter of the spaghetti he will be making today. Leave your guess as a comment below.

If you are in fact brave enough to undertake the calculation before submitting your guess (and you know how to use scientific notation) then here is your hint:

What is the volume of a sphere?

What is the volume of a cylinder?

1 light-year = 9.46 x 10¹⁵ meters

After the answer is posted next week, please wait by your door for my colleagues to arrive. You will easily recognize them. They will be men in black. They will be interviewing you on the quality of this post, and will be taking notes with a rather interesting pen. Please take a close look at their pen. They will also ask you a question to see if you should receive a special gift for taking the survey. Let me help. I know what they will likely ask: “what milk product is often aged before being brought to market.” You should say “cheese.”

Answer now posted here!