Whizz Pop Bang Science Magazine for Kids! Issue 110: Epic Engineering by Whizz Pop Bang

ISSN 2399 -2840

THE AWESOME SCIENCE MAGAZINE FOR KIDS!

al s s o l o c How s work crane

EPIC ENGINEERING Build marshmallow bridges!

Meet some animal engineers

e a nd k a M cle y upc ncil pe e cas WHIZZPOPBANG.COM ISSUE 110

EXPERIMENTS PUZZLES AMAZING FACTS SCIENCE NEWS

WELCOME!

We’re designing, creating and innovating! Riley

Ge t re ady for an enginee rin g ex travaganza! In this epic edition of Whizz Pop Bang, you’ll be building bridges from all sort s of mate rials, from pape r and LE ® GO to sponge s and marshm allows. Investigat e why some st ructu re s are st ronge r than ot he rs and discove r how crane s can lift such he avy we ights. And it’ s not just humans who are great bu ilders – me et some amazing animals that enginee r spectacular st ructure s. Plus, ge t back-tosc hool re ady wit h an awesome upcy cled pe ncil case!

WHIZZ POP BANG is made by:

Editor-in-Chief: Jenny Inglis Editor: Tammy Osborne Designer: Rachael Fisher Illustrator: Clive Goodyer Contributors: Nick Arnold, Joe Inglis, Tara Pardo, Isabel Thomas and Joanna Tubbs

EXPERT SCIENCE ADVISERS

As well as our writers, we also have a team of science advisers who help to ensure that our content is accurate, up-to-date and relevant. Our advisers include: palaeontologist Steve Brusatte; molecular microbiologist Matt Hutchings; robotics engineer Abbie Hutty; mechanical engineer Aimee Morgans; GP Dr Cathy Scott; astronomer Mark Thompson; physicist Dr Jess Wade; child psychologist Dr Naira Wilson. To find out more, go to whizzpopbang.com/about

I’ve been testing different bridge designs! Where you see this symbol, use a QR code reader on a phone or tablet to visit a relevant web page.

Emmi

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Welcome to WHIZZ POP BANG – the magazine bursting with enticing articles, mind-boggling facts and hands-on experiments to get your child hooked on science! Whizz Pop Bang is a gender-neutral magazine with plenty of inspirational male and female scientists and content that appeals to all children.

The magazine is ideal for home educators and it’s linked to the National Curriculum too, for use in schools. Whizz Pop Bang will help with literacy development as well. Transform science teaching in your school with our hands-on science and reading resources. Our downloadable lesson packs link fun science experiments and reading with key curriculum topics for years 2-6. Subscribe at whizzpopbang.com/schools

All experiments have been tried and tested by our team. The activities should be done under close adult supervision and are done at your own risk. Launchpad Publishing Ltd cannot accept liability for damage done.

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CONTENTS

AWESOME NEWS AND AMAZING FACTS

LEGO® made from space dust, robot guide dogs, ant surgeons and a plant that could survive on Mars!

BUILDING BRIDGES

com ck.

ANIMAL ANTICS

Meet Europe’s smallest rodent, the teeny-tiny harvest mouse.

SILLY SCIENCE

Head into the city to test your brain power with some awesome puzzles and riddles.

HOW STUFF WORKS

Tower cranes are an impressive sight, but how do they lift such enormous weights?

EMMI’S ECO CLUB

Make a one-of-a-kind pencil case, ready for the new school year.

PULLOUT

Cut out and make your own paper bridges and test which is the strongest.

Atom

ANIMAL ENGINEERS

Meet the champion builders of the animal world and have a go at making your own weaver bird nest.

TEN AWESOMELY AMAZING…

…bizarre buildings, from a toilet-shaped theme park to an upside-down museum!

MY AMAZING LIFE

inte © Marcus W

Meet the world-famous engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

30 I’d love to see pictures of your experiments! Send them to Y@whizzpopbang.com and ask an adult to tag us on social media @whizzpopbangmag

o rst te

Sh ut

Hard hats on! We’re making bridges using marshmallows and LEGO®!

om k.c oc r s r e © Shutt

Y’S WONDER CLUB

Ask our robot, Y, your burning science questions and share all of your adventures in science with the club.

32 34

QUIZ POP BANG AND COMPETITION

Test your knowledge with our super-duper science quiz and win a Craft + Code kit!

JOKES AND ANSWERS

Laugh out loud at some awesome jokes and find the answers to all of our quizzes, puzzles and riddles.

SPECTACULAR SCIENCE

Marvel at the funnel-shaped construction of this wonder web!

FIND THE SCIENCE EQUIPMENT Hidden on each double page is a piece of science equipment. Tick each one to find the complete kit!

s Awesome New cts and Amazing Fa

Scientists have discovered a plant that could grow on Mars! Syntrichia caninervis, also known as steppe screw moss, thrives in conditions that would kill most other plants. It is found in extreme environments like the Mojave desert and Antarctica. The researchers tried drying the moss out – and it survived! Then they tried freezing it at −80 °C for five years then at −196 °C for a month – and it still survived! Then they blasted it with high doses of gamma radiation – and it still survived! Finally, they tested it in Martian conditions, with extreme fluctuating temperatures, low pressure and high radiation – and it STILL survived! Next, they’re hoping to take the moss to the Moon or even Mars to see how it grows in space.

MARS MOSS © Bob Castle / Wikimedia Commons

BIRD POO BRIDGE

The Tyne Bridge in Newcastle is a popular bird hangout – so popular in fact that workers repairing the bridge have had to remove nine tonnes of bird poo from it. That’s the same weight as a delivery truck or an African elephant! While that sounds like a lot of poo, this through arch bridge is made of steel and granite and is strong enough to hold a lot more weight than that. The bridge is home to a colony of kittiwakes – seabirds that nest there each year. Because the repairs are disturbing their usual nesting sites, special ‘bird hotels’ have been built temporarily on the tops of the bridge’s granite towers.

The surface of Mars © NASA

rew Steppe ssc mos

SPACE LEGO

ANT SURGEONS

ROBOT GUIDE DOG This not-so-furry friend has been designed to help blind people to get safely out and about. In China, there are more than 17 million blind people, but only 400 trained guide dogs. Mechanical engineers from Shanghai designed a six-legged robot that can navigate using cameras and sensors that allow it to respond to voice commands and recognise traffic light signals. It can even plan its route using maps and choose the best path to avoid obstacles.

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You might have read about orangutans making natural plasters to treat wounds (in Issue 108), well now there’s new evidence of ants performing life-saving surgery on their nest mates! Scientists watching colonies of carpenter ants were surprised to see them chewing off their nest mates’ wounded legs. When they investigated further, the researchers found that the ants were able to tell which injuries were infected and needed amputating. Injured ants whose legs had been amputated were less likely to die from their wounds. This is the first time that any non-human animal has been seen doing this.

How do you build structures on the Moon? Scientists at the European Space Agency have been using space dust to 3D-print LEGO® bricks. Because it is so expensive to ship building materials from Earth to the Moon, it’s better to use lunar regolith – the rocks and dust that cover the Moon’s surface. As there wasn’t any lunar regolith available, the scientists have used dust from a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite that fell to Earth. They used a 3D printer to turn this dust into LEGO-style bricks which snap together just like plastic ones. You can see the bricks for yourself at the LEGO store in London until the 20th of September 2024.

u B

B g r n i i d d ge li From arches to triangles, shapes are the key to building bridges that won’t collapse.

Truss Bridges

A squash and a stretch

The triangles in a truss spread the forces along the whole beam. This means it can span a longer distance. Jap

an’s Ikitsuki Bridge is a tru ss bridge. The triangle shape s als

o gh easily.

COMPRESSION T E

allow wind to pass throu

N S I O N

Make a simple beam bridge with a sponge. Press on the middle. The columns and the top of the beam are being squashed. At the same time, the bottom edge of the beam is being stretched. Every bridge has to deal with these forces – known as tension (stretching) and compression (squashing).

Beam Bridges The further apart the columns are, the stronger the beam has to be. But even steel and concrete can only be stretched or compressed a certain amount before they break. This means beam bridges can’t cross wide gaps. r put lots of smalle One solution is to row. The Lake beam bridges in a A has useway in the US Pontchartrain Ca km! d spans almost 40 9,500 columns an

BUILD A TRUSS BRIDGE

Arch bridges Arch bridges deal with

forces in a different way. The material in an arch is being squashed, but there is almost no tension (stretching force). The load is carried out to the supports (called abutments) at each end. The abutments push on the ground, and the ground pushes back.

Yo u will need

Small jelly sweets or marshmallows Cocktail sticks (or short pieces of spaghetti) 2 cups or glasses

What you do

Higher arches can support more weight, but they also span smaller distances. This is why viaducts that cross deep valleys are made up of lots of narrow arches. Stone is weak under tension, but super strong under compression. This stone arch bridge in Rome, Italy, has been carrying people over the Tiber River for 2,086 years!

1. First make a simple beam bridge by connecting cocktail sticks with sweets. 2. Bridge the gap between your two cup columns. How long can you make the bridge before it starts to sag?

s bridge

briciu The Pons Fa © Pascal Reusch

mons

/ Wikimedia Com

Different materials have different strengths and weaknesses. Stone is excellent for arch bridges, whilst metal is better for thin triangular trusses.

3. Now turn the bridge into a truss bridge by adding triangle shapes. Can you cross a wider gap?

You should find Changing the shape of a material can make it stronger. Triangles are one of the strongest shapes because they are hard to push or pull out of shape.

Island hopping Starting from any island you like, can you visit each of the islands, crossing every bridge only once? Check your answer on page 34.

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Extreme bridges China is home to the world’s most extreme bridges.

LONGEST

Take a high-speed train from Beijing to Shanghai, and you’ll cross the world’s longest bridge: the 164-km

Danyang-Kunshan Grand Bridge.

The Beipanjiang Bridge soars over a river 565 metres below. You could stack Big Ben five times under the bridge. (Well, you could try…)

HIGHEST

The glass-bottomed Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon Bridge gives pedestrians a dizzying view of the canyon almost 300 metres below!

SCARIEST Isn’t glass too brittle for bridge building?

erstock.com

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It’s extra-strong tempered glass. Anyway, it makes it easier to spot trolls!

MAKE A SUSPENSION BRIDGE

Have you read the book about fixing metal girders together? It’s riveting!

Yo u will need LEGO® Wool or string Plastic pot Coins Two chairs or stools

I’d love to see more buildings and bridges made from timber (wood). There are new products coming out which can allow us to build taller buildings and longer bridges with timber, and it’s a sustainable material if farmed in the right way.

What you do 1. Build a beam with the flat LEGO pieces (we used 15 pieces) then add a tower at each end. 2. Bridge the gap between two chairs or stools. 3. Hang the pot from the centre of the beam. How many coins can you add before the bridge bows or breaks? © Nicola Lyn Evans

Roma Agrawa l Structural en gineer

Bridge puzzle Emmi, Riley and Gakk want to cross the river using this transporter bridge. It can only carry 100 kg. Gakk weighs 80 kg, Emmi weighs 50 kg and Riley weighs 45 kg. The bridge can only cross the river when there is someone on board to operate it. How can they all get to the other side? Check your answer on page 34.

4. Now turn your beam bridge into a suspension bridge: loop a long piece of wool or string around the centre of the beam, and over each tower. 5. Anchor the ends by tying them around the chair or stool legs. How many coins can you add to the pot this time?

You should find The cables of a suspension bridge are strong under tension. They transfer some of the load to the towers, which are strong under compression. Suspension bridges are useful for spanning long distances without pillars.

AL ANIM S TIC

Harvest Mice This month our vet Joe Inglis tracks down the smallest rodent in Europe, the tiny harvest mouse.

Weighing as little as 4 grams (about the same as a 20p piece) and only 5 or 6 cm long, the harvest mouse is just over half the size of a typical house mouse. These mini-mice are found across Europe and Asia, and usually live in fields of cereal crops, such as wheat or oats, or areas of long grass and hedgerows. Their fur is a rich orange colour on top, with a white tummy underneath. Their coats are brightest in the summer months, becoming darker in the winter.

TAIL TRICKS Harvest mice are the only animals in Britain with prehensile tails. This means they can use their tails like an extra limb to help them climb, allowing them to use their front feet for gathering food.

GNAW-SOME GNASHERS Harvest mice have prominent front incisor teeth, two top and two bottom. Their teeth keep growing throughout their lives as they get worn down by chewing hard food, such as seeds. If you have a pet hamster, rat or mouse, don’t worry that their teeth are yellow because all rodents, including harvest mice, have yellow enamel covering their teeth.

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BEST NESTS Harvest mice make hollow nests about the size of tennis balls by weaving together strips of shredded grass. They are secured to grass stems, usually about 50 cm off the ground.

As part of a conservation effort, old footballs from Wembley Stadium have been used to make houses for harvest mice. Answer on page 34

UNFUSSY EATERS Harvest mice are omnivorous – able to survive on a varied diet depending on where they live and what food is available. Their favourite foods include seeds, fruit, grain and insects, such as flies, grasshoppers and even moths.

Tell me if you spot an owl…

STRANGER DANGER With lots of predators to watch out for, harvest mice tend to be very cautious, always alert for signs of danger, such as birds of prey swooping down from the sky. In summer, they tend to be more active at night, but in winter they come out more in the daytime.

BABY BOOMERS

1.5 million

Best estimates suggest this is the current population of harvest mice in the UK.

MISSING MICE? There is concern that harvest mice numbers are in decline, but counting such small and well-hidden animals is not easy, so it is hard to know for sure how endangered they are.

All photographs © Shutterstock.com

Like other mouse species, harvest mice produce a lot of babies! They can have their first litter of 3-8 pups (or pinkies, as they are also called) when they are just 45 days old. Very few harvest mice make it to their first birthday. Most of the rest either become dinner for predators, such as barn owls, cats, weasels, stoats, crows and hawks, or die from cold weather in the autumn and winter.

Check your answers on page 34.

urban escapades Can you solve these city puzzles? Missing Pieces Can you work out where to place the missing pieces (A-F) to complete the city scene? Write your answers in the boxes.

DYYN E

Signpost Scramble Each of these signs contains the scrambled-up name of a famous city from around the world. Can you unscramble them and help Emmi on her way?

IRAPS

Y KOOT

LN NDOO

AGAINSHH

Car Park Conundrum Parking can be difficult in busy cities. These lucky cars have all found a place to park but how many different colour combinations can the three cars form when parked?

SCWO

Answer:

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Route Master A Towering Job This skyscraper has 18 floors and four sides. Each floor has four windows on each side. If each window cleaner can clean six windows an hour, how many hours will it take the team of four window cleaners to complete their cleaning?

Help this city courier map out the shortest route around the city. She starts from her office (marked X) and has to visit all the places marked A to E in any order before returning to her office. The numbers show the length of each route, measured in city blocks. Can you work out the courier’s shortest route?

Answer:

View From Above Which of the following aerial maps (A, B, C or D) describes this 3D city scene?

Answer:

Riddles

1) I am a city building th at not in ‘no’. My first is in ‘yes’ but starts with a P, ends wi ) 2 th d also in ‘go’. My second’s in ‘stop’ an t in ‘see’. an E and has thousands of no My third is in ‘hear’ but also in ‘key’. letters in it. What am I? d My fourth is in ‘whelk’ an ? I be Which English city shall

Cranes

HOW STUFF

WORKS 7 6

Whether you’re building skyscrapers, bridges or ships, cranes are essential bits of kit. The biggest ones are the massive tower cranes used in building sites – here’s how they work…

The hoist unit houses the motor, pulleys and electronics used to operate the crane.

A counterweight balances the crane so that it doesn’t topple over when it is lifting heavy objects.

5 4

Taisun, the world’s strongest crane, can lift 20,000 tonnes. This super-sized crane works in a shipyard in China.

The cab is where the driver operates the crane from. You need to have a good head for heights for this job!

The slewing bearing is a large ring that allows the whole top section of the crane to turn around.

Tower cranes build themselves by using a special climbing frame that lifts the top of the crane up using hydraulic rams, so that a new section of tower can be inserted. The process is reversed when the crane is taken down.

2 © Haakman / Wikimedia Commons

1 14 whizzpopbang.com

The height of the crane comes from the tower section, which is made up of many six-metre sections bolted together.

The base of most tower cranes is anchored to the ground or to the building they are working on. Mobile cranes (on wheels) use heavy weights to keep them stable.

Metal pendant bars help to support the long jib arms and transfer the weight into the tower section.

The horizontal jib section allows the crane to reach out and move objects sideways.

Running on wheels, the trolley moves the crane hook along the jib section.

Hanging down from the trolley on super-strong steel ropes is the hook block, which picks up the objects the crane needs to lift.

The first known cranes were made by the ancient Greeks around 2,500 years ago. The Romans developed the technology and could lift stones weighing around 100 tonnes, using several cranes working together.

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b... clu O C E

Emmi’s

I love that back-to-school feeling. Instead of rushing out to buy a new pencil case, try my upcycling project!

PENCIL CASE Yo u will need

Scissors Stapler An old tough plastic shopping bag or sports bag An old zip (we unpicked ours from a cushion that had a big hole in it)

1 Cut out a square of plastic about 22 cm long and 22 cm wide. Turn it over so the decorated side (the outside) is face down. Fold over 1 cm of one of the long edges. Fix it in place with staples.

Open the zip and carefull y staple one side to the folded edge of the plastic with the zip’s pull tab on the ou tside. Repeat steps two and three with the opposite edge of the rectangle.

Fold the plastic in half so you can do up the zip. At this point, the decorated side should be hidden.

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Put a line of staples along both short edges to create seams.

Continued on page 21 ➜

PULL OUT pages 17-20 and get making!

PAPER ENGINEERING

Engineers use all sorts of techniques to make materials stronger. Become a budding engineer yourself by building these five paper bridges. Take a look at the bridge illustrations below. Which one do you think will hold the most weight? Put a tick (or a question mark if you’re not sure!) next to your prediction and then experiment to see if you were right.

Yo u will need

What yo u do 1. Cut out the three sections (brick, metal and wood) from page 19. Cut along the solid lines and neatly fold along the dotted lines. 2. Place the books 14 cm apart. 3. First stack the three ‘wooden planks’ on top of each other and rest them across the gap between the books. 4. Count how many pennies or weights you can balance on this flat plank structure before it collapses. Record your results in the table on page 18. 5. Next, strengthen your planks by gluing the three pieces of paper together. This process is called laminating. Once dry, place the laminated planks on the books as before and count how many pennies your bridge holds now.

The templates from page 19 Scissors Glue Two books of the same thickness A ruler Lots of pennies or other small weights

6. Now use the flaps at the end of the laminated plank to wedge it between the two books, forming an arched bridge. Test how many pennies this bridge can hold (if you can get them to balance!). 7. Fold the brick design into a U-shaped beam and test this bridge. 8. Fold the metal design into a concertina shape and find out how many pennies this one will hold.

Find a printable version of the pullout here: bit.ly/3zDnQfy

9. Fill in the conclusion when you’ve discovered which bridge was the strongest.

Flat planks

Laminated flat planks

Beam

Laminated arch

Concertina

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Results Bridge shape

Number of pennies or weights

Conclusion

was the

Flat planks

The bridge that held the most weight

Laminated flat planks

____________________________________ ______________________________ shape.

Laminated arch

________

I think this was because _________

____________________________________ ____________________________________

Beam Concertina

I-SPY BRIDGES

____________________________________ ____________________________________

After you’ve finished the paper engineering, cut out these cards and take them on your next car journey for some bridge-spotting I-spy fun! Cross them off as you go.

Beam

ARCH

For cars

For pedestrians

truss

suspension

For trains

For water (aqueduct)

cantilever

cable-stay

Moveable

Double-decked

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I’d love to see your pencil cases! Take a photo and ask an adult to tag us on social media @whizzpopbangmag and email it to Y@whizzpopbang.com

Undo the zip. Carefully ide turn the pencil case ins s. out to hide the seam

ECO

ideas...

Don’t start new school exercise books until last years’ are completely used up. Old pens can't normally be recycled in kerbside collections. Instead, check if there’s a drop-off point near you: bit.ly /42V4 USs

A zip longer than the pencil case makes a great handle!

We can all help to save the planet. Lots of small actions can make a BIG difference! Upcycling is all about finding creative ways to remake old objects into something ‘new to you’. It keeps materials out of landfill AND reduces our need to buy new things. It’s a win-win situation for you and the planet!

Try to buy ‘nearly new’ PE kits and uniform before heading for the shops.

Continued from page 16

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➜

l a m i n A

Humans have built some amazing structures, but how do we measure up to the best animal engineers?

s r e e n i g n E INSECT CHAMPION Termite

The highest human-made tower is the 828-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai. It’s 479 times higher than a human. African termites build nests up to 5 metres high – that’s over 833 times longer than a termite.

Termites are farmers too. They eat leaves and wood and use their poo to grow fungi.

The tower ventilates the underground nest where the termites live. Termites control the moisture in their nest by transferring mouthfuls of water. In the centre of the nest is a queen that lays an egg every three seconds! © thinboyfatter

An im al En gi ne er Ch al

le ng e

mite nest. Can you Here’s a cross-section of a ter rance A to B via the help the termite get from ent swer on page 34. fungus farm? Check your an

T / Wikimedia Com

mons

TO P T H R E E T E R M IT E FA CT S

1. There are over 3,000 species of te rmites. They mostly South America and live in Africa. 2. A nest of termite s shifts about 250 kg of soil per year the weight of three – that’s adult humans. 3. A nest can take 4-5 years to build an d needs constant re pairs.

WEAVE A WEAVER BIRD NEST

BIRD CHAMPION

Weaver Bird Most birds build nests, but weaver birds build BIG nests. Some African weaver birds build structures of woven twigs or leaves containing up to 300 nests – like a giant apartment block. The birds prefer the cooler outside nests in the day and the warmer central nests at night.

Yo u will need

A ball of string (not too thick) The inner rolls from two rolls of sticky tape A clear plastic bottle with an opening about 3 cm wide Grass or hay

What you do 1. Ask an adult to cut through the neck of the bottle, about 6 cm below the top. 2. Put the two sticky tape rolls together at right angles, as shown.

3. Start wrapping the string around the rolls to form a string ball. Don’t worry if it looks untidy! 4. Insert the bottleneck so that the top sticks out under the ball. 5. Continue wrapping string around the ball and bottleneck. 6. Decorate with dried grass, woven into the outer layers of string, and hang the ball from a tree.

You should find You’ve made a weaver bird nest. The bottleneck is the nest entrance. It’s under the nest to make it harder for other creatures to get in.

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MAMMAL CHAMPION BEaver

MAMMAL RUNNER-UP PRAIRIE Dog

Prairie dogs aren’t dogs at all – they’re rodents that live on North American plains. Each family lives in a burrow up to 10 metres long. Groups of burrows form ‘towns’ and some towns cover hundreds of hectares. Mounds at the burrow entrances are lookout posts and the prairie dogs warn each other of danger. The plains are hot in summer and cold in winter. The burrows are a comfortable temperature all year round and even have a ventilation system.

Beavers in North America and Northern Europe are famous for building dams. They raise the water level to protect their homes from other creatures. One 850-metre dam in Canada can be seen from space! The ponds and marshes created by the dams provide homes to many other creatures.

Rodents have constantly growing front teeth. Well-known rodents include rats and hamsters.

A n im a l E n g in eer Challenge Could you build a be aver dam? The answers are on page 34. 1. What are the be st trees to use? a) Big ones b) Small ones 2. What do you do first? a) Stick branches ve rtically into the river b) Dump mud in th e river

3. You add horizon tal branches. How do you fill in th e gaps? a) With concrete b) Mud and weed

VENTILATION SYSTEM Discover how a prairie do g ventilation system works

Yo u will need

A roll of paper at least 60 cm wide A hairdryer A tissue paper strip 1.5 cm wide and 12 cm long

What you do 1. Hold the roll of paper at an angle so one end is higher. 2. Hold the strip of paper close to the lower end of the roll. 3. Ask an adult to hold the hairdryer and blow air past the higher end of the roll (and not into it).

You should find The tissue paper moves towards the lower end of the roll. Prairie dog burrows have one entrance higher than the other. Since the wind blows faster higher off the ground, the air pressure is lower at the higher end. This draws air from the lower end along the tunnel.

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g.. in z a m A ly e m o s e w A 0 1 All architects try to be original, but some of these creations are completely bonkers!

B E R R BIZA

It’s not a trick photo – the walls of this Polish shopping centre really are wonky and wavy. The building was inspired by the fairy tale drawings of a famous Polish illustrator.

The Crooked House, Poland

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, USA

Life-sized alamosaurs burst through the walls of the largest children’s museum in the world! They transform an old cinema into an exciting dinosphere.

This toilet theme park was once the home of the president of the World Toilet Association, and comes complete with a giant golden poo sculpture!

The Ga te Singap way, ore

M irrorcube Hotel, Sweden

Reflective glass walls camouflage this treetop hotel. Guests get a great view through windows on all sides. Each trapezoid tower of this skyscraper looks two-dimensional when you stand in a certain place.

Mr. Toilet House , Suwon, South Kor ea

S G N I D L I E BU

ay, e

Tower I nf South K inity, orea

Cappadocia, Turkey

How do you make a skyscraper disappear? A giant LED screen on each side of this tower will display the view from the opposite side. This will make it look like you can see right through the tower!

Would you dare to use this swing? The Balancing Barn seems to defy gravity, but it’s cleverly cantilevered. A glass floor lets guests see the children playing below!

This science museum park was designed to look like a lab swept away by an experiment that went wrong!

These homes and churches were carved out of soft rock made from the volcanic ash and lava of volcanoes that erupted millions of years ago.

Balancing Barn, Suffolk, UK

The ‘big basket building’ Ohio, US , A

Wonderworks, Florida, USA

The former headquarters of the Longaberger Company, which manufactured maple wood baskets, is modelled on their best-selling basket.

© 1. Abhijeet Rane, 2. HSTRYQT, 3. Shutterstock.com, 4. Detlef Schobert, 5. Forgemind ArchiMedia, 6. Forgemind ArchiMedia, 7. Shutterstock.com, 8. William M. Connolley, 9. Marcus Winter, 10. Derek Jensen.

whizzpopbang.com 27

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Meet a brilliant engineer who designed and built many of the railways, bridges, tunnels, ships, docks and stations that transformed Victorian England. I was born in 1806, just as the very first public railways were opening. My father was an engineer and loved to teach me about maths and drawing. Steam locomotives were beginning to catch on, and the world was changing quickly. It didn’t take me long to decide to become an engineer too. My father was the first person I worked for. He was in charge of building the Thames Tunnel, described as the Eighth Wonder of the World! It was the very first tunnel to be built under a river. When I took over, conditions were grim – workers could barely breathe down there and got showered with sewage as they dug. It was dangerous too. I was almost killed when the roof collapsed and the tunnel flooded. While I was recovering, I heard about an interesting competition to design a bridge across the River Avon near Bristol. This was quite a task – the gorge was more than 200 metres wide, with a 76-metre drop to the river below!

28 whizzpopbang.com

My AmaZ ing Life

ISAMB ARD KINGD OM BRUN EL WAS BORN IN PORTS MOUT H, ENGL AND, IN 1806.

I convinced the judges that my design was the best – an elegant suspension bridge. At the time, many people thought the gorge was too wide for a suspension bridge, but the brilliant inventor Sarah Guppy had shown it was possible. She came up with a way to build foundations strong enough to support the huge towers needed to hang a bridge from iron chains. Her designs had been used to help build the world’s first suspension bridge, between Anglesey and mainland Wales. Sarah loved thinking up solutions for problems. She helped me to model my new designs for two 26-metre towers joined by chains with 4,200 links! Construction started immediately, but I didn’t need to be on site all the time. When I was 26, I took a job as chief engineer for the Great Western Railway. I’d never worked on railways before, but I just got stuck in, designing and building a network of rails, tunnels, viaducts, bridges and stations to link London and Bristol.

Clifton Suspension Bridge

The gorge was thought to be too wide for a suspension bridge, but Sarah Guppy came up with a solution. © Andrew Mathewson

I wanted the railway to be faster and smoother than anything that had come before. I worked with other brilliant engineers including George Thomas Clark and Sarah’s son Thomas Guppy. It was Sarah’s clever idea to plant trees on the embankments as we went, to stop the steep banks from collapsing.

The Great Western Railway opened in 1841, cutting the journey time from London to Bristol from 2.5 days to 2.5 hours. It beat the Thames Tunnel, which finally opened in 1843!

Railways, tunnels… what have I forgotten? Ah yes, water transport! Thomas and I came up with a plan to improve transport links between the UK and the USA. We built huge docks in Bristol and Cardiff, and I designed steamships that could carry passengers and cargo across the Atlantic in just two weeks, including The Great Western and The Great Britain. Another project that they said couldn’t be done!

I loved to work, and took on dozens of smaller projects too – like designing one of the world’s first pre-fabricated hospitals. In just a few days, I designed a building that could be transported to a war zone in pieces and assembled quickly where it was needed. No matter how busy and chaotic life got, I was always very careful with the maths. If you want a bridge to stay up, or a boat to reach its destination, you need to get the sums right! My calculations were so good that many of my structures are still standing today.

148806

Isambard Kingdom Brunel died in 1859 aged just 53. The Clifton Suspension Bridge opened in 1864. Despite having been designed to carry horse-drawn-traffic, the bridge now carries around three million cars each year!

Email me at Y@whizzpopbang.com

der Club!

Welcome to Y’s Won to share your This page is for you with our robot, adventures in science p Bang readers! Y, and other Whizz Po ce question Everyone whose scien is page gets answered on th ng wins a Whizz Pop Ba Science Joke Book, ome available in our awes at online science shop

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F oR

Hi Y, Why can you not tickle yourself?

CURIoUS K I DS

From Phia, aged 10

To keep you safe, your body needs to know if the touch on your leg was done by your hand… or a hungry crocodile! Some touches need to be acted on quickly, so a part of your brain called the cerebellum monitors your movements. This means that when you tickle yourself, your brain is expecting the touch, so it cancels it out. You can’t even tickle yourself in a dream! Your body can’t predict how it will feel if someone else tickles you – or if you use a tickle robot (that’s a real thing!). That’s why those tickles are so much more tickly!

Lots of you had fun making edible candles from the Fuel Up edition (Issue 106)... Elliot, aged 7, tried the experiment with a brazil nut. It worked really well, and it was delicious too!

Clover, ag loved ma ed 8, kin paper pla g her n t p ot s . She plan pots of b ted two ro one of dw ad beans, ar beans an f French d on salad leav e of es. Elise, aged 8, said the banana was a bit warm when she ate it! Billie, aged 7, wrote up his almond experiment like a true scientist!

enamel badges Y’s Wonder Club Badges Collectable for you to earn! Help local wildlife to earn your Wildlife Watcher badge.

Investigate scientific questions to earn your Super Scientist badge.

Help save the planet to earn your Eco Hero badge.

Dear Y, How come when you’re out of water, there is a lot of gravity, but when you’re in water, there isn’t much gravity?

The ‘fill your plate’ game from the pullout section of the Fuel Up edition was a big success! Lucy, aged 8

Thank you, Max, aged 6

Gravity pulls you towards the ground with the same force whether you’re in or out of the water. The reason you feel lighter in water is because there is another force acting in the opposite direction to gravity – buoyancy. The water pushes you up, making it easier to move and making it feel like there is less gravity, but actually it’s just because you float more in water than you do on land. Emily, aged 9 Dorabella, aged 8

Joe, aged 8, made the paper plant pots from Emmi’s Eco Club using his Whizz Pop Bang envelope. He planted tomato seeds which he harvested from last summer’s tomatoes.

Matthew, aged 7, has been testing different fluids on apple slices (experiment in the Fuel Up edition, Issue 106).

8, her ts. o ns, ch f

Why can you see yourself in the clear glass in your window when the window is clear and not reflective like a mirror? Thank you, Morgan, aged 12

Jiaqi enjoyed making the water wheel (from the Super Swimmers edition, Issue 84) and the flea catapult (from the Pesky Parasites edition, Issue 68) and also drew a great picture of me, Y!

Get problem solving to earn your Epic Engineer badge.

Write a report or a review to earn your Science Reporter badge.

The glass in a window is not perfectly transparent and it reflects a small amount of the light that hits it. This light bounces back to your eyes, allowing you to see a faint reflection of yourself. The rest of the light passes through the window, allowing you to see outside. At night, there is less light coming into the window from outside, making it even easier to see the light from inside that is reflected off the window.

Send your experiments, ideas, photos, reviews and questions to Y@whizzpopbang.com or Y, Whizz Pop Bang, Unit 7, Global Business Park, 14 Wilkinson Road, Cirencester, GL7 1YZ. Don’t forget to include your name, age and address. We can’t return any post, sorry.

To find out how to earn your badges, go to whizzpopbang.com/wonder-club. Schools can get involved too! Find out how here: bit.ly/39xNQ Q qV

whizzpopbang.com 31

Test your mum/ dad/builde r to

see what they know !

1 3 5

How much can you remember from this issue? Test your knowledge with our super-duper quiz. Just tick the answers you think are correct, mark them using the answers on page 34 and then add up your score. If you need some help, check out the hints at the bottom of the page.

Which bridge crosses the Avon Gorge in Bristol? a) Bridgey McBridgeface

2 4

A harvest mouse weighs about the same as… a) a football

b) The Clapton Suspension Bridge

b) a 20p coin

c) The Clifton Suspension Bridge

capybara c) a

a Where would you find ? jib a d slewing bearing an et a) In a picnic bask b) In an electron

What railway network was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel?

microscope e

n a tower cran c) O

What unusual feature does The Gateway building in Singapore have? a) It is shaped like a duck b) It looks two-dimensional from certain angles

c) It disguises its appearance

What’s an engineer’s favourite type of music? Heavy metal!

by having another building’s

a) The Good Western Railway b) T he Great Western Railway c) The Rubbish Western Railway

Why was stone a good material for building the Pons Fabricius bridge in Italy? a) It is strong under compression

b) It is strong under tension c) It has good flexibility

image projected onto it

Why do beavers build dams? a) To ensure that their home stays dry o make sure they’ve b) T got a safe place to store their food c) To protect their home from other creatures

Which of the following is a type of bridge?

I scored...

a) Cross-lever nilever b) U antilever c) C

Need a hint? Find the answers by reading these pages… 1) Page 29 2) Page 10 3) Page 14 4) Page 28 5) Page 26 6) Page 7 7) Page 24 8) Page 6

1-3: Revving up 4-6: Running smoothly 7-8: F iring on all cylinders

Code crackers

! IN

We’ve got two fantastic ‘Craft and Code’ kit bundles to give away! To be in with a chance of winning one, use the code below to spell out the name of an animal with awesome engineering skills, then send us your answer.

L et te r 1: 26 -6 = = L et te r 2: 10 ÷2

L et te r 3: 6x 3= = L et te r 4 : 20 -7

= L et te r 5: 27 ÷3 L et te r 6: 5x 4 =

Answer:

L et te r 7: 3+ 2=

Craft + Code Design and build your own toys and robots with this ‘Craft and Code’ kit bundle from sniffandsnails.com. The kits contain step-by-step instructions to make eight crafty code creations that will sparkle, spin and whizz around your home. When you’ve finished the projects in the kits, head to sniffandsnails.com/make for more fun. Computer with USB port required.

WINNER Issue 108 competition winner Thank you to everyone who sent in entries to our Olympics competition. The answer to the joke ‘Why did the swimming judge jump into the pool?’ was ‘Because she wanted to test the water!’. This lucky winner will receive an Orboot Earth Augmented Reality Globe: Amelia Keith, aged 9

Send your entry to win@whizzpopbang.com with ‘Engineering competition’ as the subject of your email. Alternatively, post it to Engineering competition, Whizz Pop Bang, Unit 7, Global Business Park, 14 Wilkinson Road, Cirencester, GL7 1YZ. Please don’t forget to include your name, age and address. Deadline: October 8th 2024. UK residents only. Full terms and conditions available at whizzpopbang.com.

whizzpopbang.com 33

S E K O J

What goes up and down but never moves? Stairs!

I really hate broken bridges. I just can’t get over them!

Why was the builder acquitt ed? There wasn’t a concrete evide ny nce!

What kind of bird works on a construction site? A crane!

Page 6 – Island hopping puzzle

Page 9 – Bridge puzzle First Riley and Emmi cross, then Riley comes back. Then Gakk crosses alone, then Emmi comes back. Finally Riley and Emmi cross together. Page 11 – True/Untrue UNTRUE: Footballs would be enormous to harvest mice, but tennis balls used at Wimbledon have been recycled to create artificial nests for harvest mice. Page 12 – Missing pieces puzzle 1 = F, 2 = E, 3 = C, 4 = A, 5 = D, 6 = B

What do you call someone standing between ? two tall buildings Ali!

Page 12 – Signpost scramble

Answers

DYYNES = SYDNEY NDOOLN = LONDON IRAPS = PARIS AGAINSHH = SHANGHAI KOOTY = TOKYO SCWOOM = MOSCOW

Page 13 – View from above puzzle

Page 12 – Car park conundrum

Map B describes the city scene.

There are six different colour combinations that the cars can be parked in: blue yellow red, blue red yellow, yellow red blue, yellow blue red, red blue yellow, red yellow blue.

Page 13 – Riddles

Page 13 – A towering job

1) Post office 2) York Pages 22 and 23 – Animal Engineer Challenge

12 hours. The tower has 18 floors x 4 sides x 4 windows = 288 windows. To find the number of hours it takes to clean them, divide 288 by 6 (the number that can be cleaned in an hour) and then divide by 4 (the number of window cleaners) = 12 hours. Page 13 – Route master puzzle

B C A D E Page 32 – Quiz 1) c 2) b 3) c 4) b 5) b 6) a 7) c 8) c

R A L U C A T C E SP

e c n e i c s

WEB DESIGN Some species of spiders spin awesome funnel-shaped webs. These spiders patiently hide inside the safety of their funnels, waiting for lunch to arrive. The funnelled web isn’t sticky, so as soon as an insect touches the funnel, the spider darts out at lightning speed to catch its prey. If you see a funnel-shaped web in the UK it’s probably home to a labyrinth spider.

Some spider silk is more durable and elastic than any other fibre, including Kevlar, which is used to make bulletproof vests! By weight, spider silk can be up to six times stronger than high-grade steel. © Shutterstock.com

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