Let’s explore the nature of the Universe with five fun and fascinating fast facts about the four fundamental forces, an interview with Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith, an astrophysicist who knows a lot about the Universe, and a surprising paper folding activity for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: https://www.creativescience.com.au

Facebook: @creativescienceaustralia

Instagram: @creative_science_australia

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

05:11 Interview with Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith

11:29 Paper folding activity

Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith: www.lisaharveysmith.com

Future You: www.futureyouaustralia.com.au

Paper folding activity

How many times do you think you can fold a piece of paper in half?

You will need: a long piece of toilet paper.

1. Lay the toilet paper out on the floor and fold it in half lengthways. That’s one fold.
2. Keep folding the toilet paper in half over and over again and remember to count each fold. After 4 or 5 folds, the bundle of paper will be getting fairly thick. Can you keep folding?
3. Keep folding until you cannot fold the paper in half anymore.

What’s happening?

The toilet paper is pretty thin, but every time you fold it in half, the thickness of the bundle of paper doubles. After one fold, it is twice as thick as the original toilet paper. After the second fold, the bundle is 4 times as thick. After the third fold, the bundle is 8 times as thick, then 16 times, and then 32 times, and after the sixth fold, the bundle is 64 times thicker than a single sheet of toilet paper.

The current world record for folding a piece of paper is 12 times and the record was set in 2002 by Britney Gallivan, a high school student in the United States. Britney used mathematical equations to work out the size and thickness of the paper she needed to achieve the record, and the tissue paper she used was over one kilometre long! After the 12th fold, the bundle of paper was 4,096 times as thick as a single layer of tissue paper.

It’s time to get sustainable with five fun and fascinating fast facts about plastic, an interview with Dr Charlotte Beloe, a scientist who knows a lot about microplastics in the ocean, and a cornflour bioplastic activity for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: https://www.creativescience.com.au

Facebook: @creativescienceaustralia

Instagram: @creative_science_australia

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

03:26 Recycling plastic

05:14 Interview with Dr Charlotte Beloe

10:29 Bioplastic activity

Bioplastic activity instructions

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon of cornflour, 4 tablespoons of water, 1 teaspoon of vinegar, ½ teaspoon of glycerine, and a few drops of food colouring.

Kitchen equipment: a small saucepan, stove or hotplate, metal spoon for stirring, and a baking tray on a heat-proof surface.

1. Add all of the ingredients to the small saucepan and stir with the metal spoon until everything is well mixed.

NOTE: An adult must assist with the next steps that involve heating the mixture on a stove or hotplate.

1. Stir the mixture over a medium heat and keep stirring with the metal spoon until the mixture starts to boil.
2. Reduce the heat and keep heating and stirring for 2 or 3 minutes.
3. Pour the hot mixture onto the baking tray and spread it out to make a thin sheet.
4. Leave the sheet of bioplastic film to cool and dry for 1-2 days. The finished bioplastic film should be see-through and flexible.

This recipe can also be used to make moulded bioplastic shapes by pouring the hot mixture into silicone moulds (e.g. silicone ice-cube trays). The bioplastic in this activity is ‘compostable’, which means it will break down in a compost heap or if it is buried in the ground.

Corn flour contains starch which is made up of ‘amylose’ and ‘amylopectin’ molecules which are both made up of glucose molecules. Heating corn flour with water causes some of the starch to form long chains. Vinegar affects the formation of the long chains. The glycerine acts as a ‘plasticiser’ which is a chemical that can change the softness and pliability of a plastic. Changing the amount of glycerine in the recipe will change the properties of the bioplastic film.

It’s time to take a splash in the sea with five fun and fascinating fast facts about marine mammals, an interview with Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a wildlife scientist who knows a lot about whales, and there’s a warm-blooded blubber activity for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: https://www.creativescience.com.au

Facebook: @creativescienceaustralia

Instagram: @creative_science_australia

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

03:49 Dugongs and manatees

04:31 Interview with Dr Vanessa Pirotta

11:06 Blubber fingers activity

Dr Vanessa Pirotta: https://www.vanessapirotta.com/

Books by Dr Vanessa Pirotta: ‘The Voyage of Whale and Calf’, ‘Oceans at Night’, ‘Humpback Highway’

Blubber fingers activity instructions:

Marine mammals have lots of special adaptations to help them survive in the sea. One of these adaptations is whale blubber, which is a layer of fat that keeps warm-blooded whales warm in cold ocean water.

You will need: a bowl, cold water from the fridge, ice cubes, two disposable gloves, a spoon, and some soft butter or margarine. If you don’t have any disposable gloves, try using two small plastic bags instead.

This activity is pretty messy, so do it next to a sink, with soap and warm water ready for washing your hands at the end.

1. Fill the bowl with cold water and add some ice cubes to the water to make it really cold.
2. Scoop 2 big spoonfuls of soft butter or margarine into one of the disposable gloves and squeeze the butter or margarine down into the fingers of the glove, pushing any air bubbles out of the fingers.
3. Put the other glove on one of your hands first.
4. Put the glove filled with butter or margarine on your other hand and make sure your fingers are covered with the butter or margarine.
5. Carefully place the fingers of both of your hands into the ice-cold water. Try to keep your fingers in the water for at least 2-minutes, but take them out of the water if they feel too cold. What do you notice?

Your buttery fingers should last longer in the water because the butter is protecting your fingers from the icy cold water. Heat energy always moves from a warm object to a colder object and the butter is acting as an ‘insulator’ because it slows down the movement of heat energy out of your fingers.

A lot of cold-climate animals have blubber. Seals, whales, and polar bears, all have a layer of blubber to stop them losing too much heat from their bodies.