Star Map
Draw a star map of the constellations that circle around the North
What you will need
Circle of cardboard
Flashlight
Red cellophane and tape
The Sky as
Compass
If you are ever lost in a
forest at night, you can
use the sky to find your
way. Face the North Star,
which is the brightest
star in the northern sky,
and you are facing north.
Look 180° across the sky
to the horizon. That is
south. East is 90° to the
right and west is 90° to
the left.
On a clear night, ask
an adult to help you
practice finding the
North Star.
164 Fruit of the Vine and Other Places
Star and use it to note the changes in the sky from hour to hour.
What to do:   To make your star map, copy the illustration below onto
your circle of cardboard. Then tape the cellophane over your
flashlight. (The red covering will prevent it from being too bright for
you to see the stars.)
At 9 o’clock on a dry moonless night, take your star map and the
flashlight outdoors. Turn the chart so that the month in which you are
observing is on the top. Hold the chart above your head and look for
the same pattern in the sky.
On another night, go out at 7 o’clock or at 10 o’clock and match the
star map with the sky.
What happens:   At 7 o’clock you have to turn the chart one month
clockwise to match the sky. At 10 o’clock you have to turn it a half-
month counterclockwise.
Why? The North Star remains at approximately the same place in the
sky—far, far away, but directly above the North Pole. This is because
the Earth’s axis points to it throughout the year. All the other stars
and constellations, however, seem to wander around the North Star
once a day, moving counterclockwise. As the Earth rotates, it looks as
if the entire sky is rotating, although the stars do not change position
relative to each other. Since one turn of the Earth takes only 23 hours
and 56 minutes, a star seems to rise and set about four minutes earlier
than the day before. This adds up to two hours (30 x 4 = 120 minutes)
in a month and, of course, one hour in half a month.
Some
Timetelling
Stars
A constellation is a group of stars that long ago
people named for heroes and gods and animals that
they thought the patterns looked like. There are
88 constellations. We still use many of these names
in Latin and in the English translation. And we still
use the stars as a calendar and a direction finder.
The equator is the only place from which all 88
constellations can be seen during the course of a
year. In other latitudes, you can see perhaps 60 at
different times, and about 24 at any one time.
In the United States, Canada, the United
Kingdom, and Europe, you can see the
constellation of Leo, the Lion, with the bright star
Regulus high up in the sky in the middle of April
at about 9 p.m.
In August, as it gets dark, high in the southeast
section of the sky you will see three bright stars—
the Summer Triangle. Directly overhead are Vega,
in the constellation Lyra, the Harp; Deneb of the
constellation Cygnus, the Swan; the Altair of the
constellation Aquila, the Eagle.
In the evening skies of October, just below the
W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia, you will find
four bright stars arranged in a square making up
the body of an upside-down horse with wings,
the constellation Pegasus, the flying horse.
In the Southern Hemisphere, the Southern
Cross (the Crux) is the easiest constellation to
recognize. You can see it in the evening skies of
Miami and the Florida Keys in May and June, but
its four stars are always visible below the
equator. Looking south, observers in Australia,
southern Africa, and South America can see the
Crux just below the two bright stars Alpha and
Beta Centauri. Some think it looks more like a
kite than a cross.
Get a book from the library about stars and
constellations and on a clear night, ask an adult to
help you practice finding constellations in the sky.

Fruit of the Vine and Other Places 165

 The Collapsing Bottle
The following experiment will help your recycling
What you will need efforts by giving you more room in the collecting bin.
Plastic 2-liter bottle
with cap What to do: Pour hot water into the bottle until it is about
Very hot tap water half-full and swish it around for about a minute. Then pour
the water out and, quickly, put the cap on and twist it tightly.

What happens:   The sides of the bottle suddenly collapse inward!

Why?   The hot water heats the air inside the bottle and, with the cap
left off, it fills to the brim with warm air. When the hot water is
poured out and the cap is replaced, the air inside of the bottle quickly
starts to cool. Since cooler air takes up less space than the same
amount of warmer air, there’s now extra room in the bottle!

To fill that extra space, the sides of the bottle are pushed in by the
force of the air pressure outside the bottle, which is constantly
pressing in every direction.

The Talking Coin

You may have heard somebody say that money talks, but until you
What you will need do this experiment you have probably never actually seen it speak.
Plastic 2-liter bottle
Quarter What to do:   Put the quarter in the cup of water and place the empty
Cup of water bottle in the freezer for five minutes.
Freezer
When the time is up, remove the bottle from the freezer and,
Kitchen timer or watch
immediately, cover the mouth of the bottle with the wet coin. (It is
important to completely cover the bottle’s mouth with the coin.)

What happens:   The quarter becomes a tongue for the bottle and
begins to chatter at you.

Why?   When the bottle was put into the freezer, the air molecules
inside of it cooled and moved closer together. Since the air in the bottle
then took up less space, it left room for extra air to flow in—so it did.

When the bottle was removed from the freezer, however, the air
molecules inside of it began to warm up and spread out again. It’s a
great example of, “There was enough room for everyone to sit
comfortably in the car until we all put on coats and it was crowded.”
Suddenly there was no room for the extra air molecules.

It is that “extra air” that is being pushed out of the bottle as the air
12 Why Is There Air? warms that makes the coin move up and down as if it were talking.
The Wonderful Whistle-Stick
Can you turn a piece of wood into a whistle? Sure you can.
What you will need It’s a great experiment, and fun, too.
Wooden paint stirrer or
small paddle What to do:   Use the hammer and nail to make a hole in the narrow
Hammer end of the stirrer or paddle. Put one end of the string through the
Large-size nail hole and tie a tight knot. Now, make two or three holes in the wider
Long piece of string end of the wood. You can put the holes all in a row, or make up your
own pattern.

To hear your whistle-stick, go outside or find

a large open area where you can swing the Be careful
stick without breaking anything. Hold NOT to do this
tightly onto the loose end of the string and experiment where
whirl the paddle around in front of you or people are
passing by.
over your head.

What happens:   You hear an unusual

whistling sound over and over again.

Why?   As you whirl the paddle around, the air passes through the
holes in it at a higher speed than the air going around the paddle.
When this happens, the paddle whistles.

What next:   Different numbers and sizes of holes make different

whistle sounds. You might want to make several whistle-sticks—
some with only a few small holes to catch the air and others with
larger or a lot of holes. Then you can compare the whistle sounds
that each one makes.

Why Is There Air? 13