Public Speaking
High Schools
Who is Joanne?
'Y?' The TV show
Fire,
Air,
Bubbles,
Slime,
Spinning and Balancing.
FIRE |
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This hands-on show is full of demonstrations. It tackles the chemistry of fire as well as issues of fire safety. You can see small fireballs made of icing sugar as well as candles you can light without touching a flame to the wick! These sensational activities are used to illustrate classic points about fire, like how thing expand as they heat up and why smoke is so deadly.
The show looks in detail at why the same material can smoulder under some conditions and explode under others, (without care, the flour in a wheat silo can become explosive). Joanne is careful to explain the most dangerous aspects of fire and graphically describes why smoke detectors are essential at home.
What students will learn:
- Why the rate of reaction is so important
- How hot things expand and cold things shrink
- The three ingredients and conditions necessary for something to burn
- How much energy is stored in flour and sugar for our bodies to use
- Basic fire-safety principles, like why we stay low, install smoke-detectors and why the gases from fire kill more people than the heat
Picture: George Przywolnik (thanks!)
Click on the picture for a bigger image
Details on costs and contacts
Awesome Air |
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This show explores the incredible strength of air. You'll see:
- water sprayers made from straws,
- ping-pong balls that "balance in mid air "
- and a suction pad that sticks with 150 kilograms of pressure!
- a tin that "listens"
- as well as a lot of surprises with balloons, paper and plastic cups
This is a show packed full of surprises. For a finale the audience
even gets sprayed with rice bubbles!
By the end of the show students will have a good understanding of
how fast air affects things all round it. They'll be able to describe several common situations where fast air seems
to 'suck' things into it! Examples are everywhere. People can get sucked into fast moving trains, or buses if they
stand too close (so we paint lines on train platforms to keep people back). Leaves and litter leap off the road behind
trucks. Golf balls have dimples and plane wings are curved to make the most of the fast-air-effect.
Bouncing Bubbles |
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A spectacular show of big bubbles (over 1 metre in diameter!) See things like:
- a square bubble
- a bubble inside a bubble
- a bubble that blows out a candle.
Find out why bubbles are usually round, and see how
bubbles are elastic, just like balloons.
When you discover what destroys bubbles, you can work out how to make bubbles that really last. You'll
find out the recipe for Joanne's amazing bubble mix, and why each ingredient is so important. You'll
also discover why the weather can make or break a bubble experiment!
Slippery Slime |
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Incredible mixtures that defy logic! These fluids don't flow the way you'd expect. One changes instantly from cream-like to rubber-like, then in a flash it's flowing like cream again! Some of these fluids come right out of your kitchen cupboard.
We'll cover some very basic chemistry about the thickness of fluids and consider strange behaviour in lots of common things like toothpaste, creamy soups and ink.
Balancing and Spinning |
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The Spinning and Balancing Shows describe things like riding bikes, juggling tricks (with long poles), tightrope walking, torpedo passes in football and spinning ice scaters.
By the end of the show, students will know the trick behind spinning fast like a ballerina or an ice scater. They'll understand why some juggling tricks actually get easier when you use a long pole rather than a short one. We'll also consider the way spinning objects stay balanced, or fly true. (Things like footballs, gyroscopes and flying bullets all need to spin to work well). We'll find out why it helps to hold your arms out when you are walking and balancing on a thin plank.
Kids will learn how to make some fabulous balancing toys. (Small toys like the executive toys where skiing, cycling or rowing people keep rocking back and forward on two tiny pins.) These make an excellent class activity after the show.
The show is geared towards sporting activities where spinning and balancing are cruicial, but it also discusses basic things like picking up a heavy objects, and how to find the 'balance point' of a broom-stick!
