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Friday, February 11, 2011
Do you know what planet in our solar system is not named after an ancient Greek or Roman god?
Earth!
Mercury is the Greek god that is the messenger of Zeus. The god Mercury is often shown with wings on his shoes so he can fly fast. If you saw the movie Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief, Percy used a pair of Mercury’s hightops with wings to fly.
Venus is the Roman goddess of beauty. Venus is easy planet to see in the sky - it is very bright.
Mars is the Roman god of war.
Jupiter is the Roman name for the Greek god Zeus. Zeus was the king of all the Greek gods. The biggest planet in our solar system is named after the most powerful god.
Saturn is the Roman god of time....
Friday, February 11, 2011
How to Name an Element After Yourself
Here on the SuperSmart Carbon blog, I will talk about the elements a lot because "Carbon" is an element. SuperSmart Carbon is a blue guy with a green hat and in this blog, he looks like he is 1 1/2 inches high. He has two rings around him with six yellow spheres. Although cute, SuperSmart Carbon does not exactly look like elements in the real world. Elements are really, really, small. You cannot see them with the naked eye, or even with a microscope. Although you can't see elements, they are all around you. Everything is made up of elements: the computer you are reading this blog on, the table the computer sits on, the air you...
Monday, February 7, 2011
Why SuperSmart Carbon?
In our family, we talk about science a lot. Not as frequently as we discuss the Cubs, Blackhawks or Star Wars, but still quite a bit. We whip out the IPad and check out the sun bursts on the 3D Sun App. We visit NASA.gov to get the latest discoveries by the Kepler mission. We read books together like “The Disappearing Spoon” by Sam Kean. As parents, we try to introduce science into everyday conversations with our third grader. I have created this blog to fuel conversations in families like ours about science.
But why the name SuperSmart Carbon? Quick answer – “Smart Carbon” was taken by a green energy company....
