YEAR 8 EARTH AND SPACE

Mining cookies takes a lot of concentration. The trick is to maximize gold recovery (chocolate chips) by careful extraction from the waste (cookie) in the shortest time possible. Haste makes waste, as our geologists discovered: trying to go too fast loses chip mass to waste. An interesting way to experience the small margin for error in real ore extraction processes.

Also shown: growing crystals in the test tube environment. A good result in this image, but more time (and super-concentration of solute) means bigger and better crystal formation. Adding food colouring to simple sugar solution enhances the effect without altering the crystal shape.

SCIENCE CREATURES

Can you spot the stick insect hiding in the image? It is resting after shedding (and then eating) its exoskeleton after a growth spurt. Available for actual viewing in Sc 3 with Ms. Maritz.