YES-2-Tech

Hello,

So for the past 2weeks I been at Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly Rolla). I really like college it's just alot of work that I have to do. I'm seriously missing working for Yes-2-Tech. Being at the Science Center for these past four years have been the best experience ever. I can't wait until I get home so I can be back with my "family". Plus, they give my alot of insight on science and I'm really going to need help on chemistry.

Yes, it's summer time again for the Youth Exploring Science teens. And with a new season comes new teens and there are many new teens all over the Science Center and the Taylor Buliding. Many of our new teens are fun, happy, excited, and full of energy. That's what we need while we are taching many kids all over the St. Louis area. Personally I have an internship this summer and I'm not with the new teens :(. But this week I am working with the new teens and this experience has been just that an experience. They are full of energy and they are working very hard to learn how to teach just as well as the older teens. So we're half way through the summer so let's see what the rest of it brings to us.

Hello my name is Darrell What I did was first I walked into the science center and then after coming in I was greeted by Lady Gywanna. She told me that I would be working at Table Tops, what was focused on at the Table Tops booth was constructing tower like structures out of marshmellows and tooth picks. Some of the younger the visitors were focusing on eating the marshmellows more than building with them. After we closed up the booth I started as a greeter and did that for the rest of the afternoon. In all I was volenteering for 4 hours.

In Yes -2- Tech we wanted to figure out how we can make a pump to go outside to pump the 200 gallon tank. So first i took apart a hand soap despenser.There were so many parts in it, to make the soap come out. It actually had a ball bearing something i didnt know was in a pump, also it was a spring in there too. Nao asked us the question, what is used to make the soap go up through the pump? So we had to fiqure you out what each part do an order to make the soap come out of the pump. Then next Me and KiOntey took apart a water gun, it took us a minute because, we had to unscrew alot of screws. When we finally got it open it had a  tube connected to a piston and it also had a spring; like the soap despenser. After looking a both types of pumps, now we know what we need to make our own pump.

This week we have done several things like work with the fish in the fish tank and worked with trying to figure out how to make a pump work and what inside it makes it work the way that it does. So first Frank, Josh, Robert, and myself took twenty five percent of the water out of the tank and refilled it back with tap water. And the reason that we took only twenty five percent of the water out was because if we took more than that out then the fish could most likely die because of the sudden change so we decided to change the water only once a month so the fish can get used to the changing of the water. Then after that I tested the level of the ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite levels in the water and so far the levels of nitrate and nitrite are very low at 0ppm and the ammonia levels are still pretty high at 0.25ppm. But we have to find a way to lower the level of ammonia in the water and raise the level of nitrate and nitrite in the water so the fish can survive for a long period of time.

Then after we got done experimenting with the fish we saw that the hand pumps that we use everyday are connected to the electric water pumps that we have in fish tanks. And the way that they are all connected is because they each have a piston that builds up the air pressure in for example a water gun so you can have a long shooting range from the water. And then we also learned that the way that the electric pump is different is because when it is plugged up and started then it runs on its own. But when we took these hand pumps apart we saw all to the parts of the pump that makes it go and work for anything that you want to work like a soap dispenser and a trigger spray. So go home and take apart anything that you can use that is a pump....but ask your parents before taking things apart or just completely breaking things.