Whizz Pop Bang Science Magazine for Kids! Issue 95: MONSTER MACHINES

ISSN 2399 -2840

THE AWESOME SCIENCE MAGAZINE FOR KIDS!

PUT S P U L L EHYE TO T TEST

ard o b b a ine m i Cl mb er o c a est v r ha

Experiment with monster trucks!

Make y own graou r bb e r

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E M E R T X E ES N I H C A M

WHIZZPOPBANG.COM ISSUE 95

EXPERIMENTS PUZZLES AMAZING FACTS SCIENCE NEWS

WELCOME!

A MONSTER welcome to this issue, which is jam-packed with MASSIVE MACHINES! Riley

WHIZZ POP BANG is made by:

Ve nture inside some of the wo this monste r edition of Whiz rld’s craziest machine s in z Po bigge r than buildings, cranes p Bang! Disc over ve hicles th two Eiffel Towe rs and a re co at can lift the we ight of rd-b There are also monste r mach re ak ing popc orn machine. ine home – enginee r a pulle y syst s for you to make at em for yo ex te nding grabbe r, a turning ur teddies, an crankshaft and much more!

Editor-in-Chief: Jenny Inglis Editor: Tammy Osborne Assistant Editor: Tara Pardo Designers: Rachael Fisher and Simon Oliver Illustrator: Clive Goodyer Staff writer: Joanna Tubbs Contributors: Sarah Bearchell, Joe Inglis, Owen Inglis and Isabel Thomas

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 Amiee Morgans; GP Dr Cathy Scott; astronomer Mark Thompson; physicist Dr Jess Wade; child psychologist Dr Naira Wilson.

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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

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CONTENTS 6

AWESOME NEWS AND AMAZING FACTS

4

Read about a CO2-gobbling microbe, a beetle that drinks through its bottom and a mind-reading machine!

MONSTER MACHINES

Find out why we need big vehicles, put monster trucks to the test, experiment with pulleys and more!

ANIMAL ANTICS

12

Discover how soaring albatrosses have inspired engineers to make flying machines more efficient. © ar

ren /

SILLY SCIENCE

14

Shutterstock.com

Fill in the blanks to create a one-of-a-kind story, then read a ridiculous robot tale.

EMMI’S ECO CLUB

16 17

Make an upcycled frame from cardboard and pressed flowers.

PULLOUT

Create a moving cranking machine and make your own grabber that really works!

INTERVIEW WITH A SCIENCE HERO

22

Josh Geating is a mechanical engineer who makes robots.

24 26 28

Atom

HOW STUFF WORKS

Climb aboard a combine harvester and find out about this mega farming machine.

TEN AWESOMELY AMAZING…

…extreme machines, machines from the largest crane to a popcorn machine the size of a house!

SENSATIONAL SCIENTISTS

Meet Enedina Alves Marques, the first Black woman to earn an engineering degree in Brazil. © te ur Co

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

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QUIZ POP BANG AND COMPETITION I’d love to see pictures of your knowledge with our super-duper 32 Test your experiments! Send them to science quiz and win a fun machines kit!

Y@whizzpopbang.com and ask an JOKES AND ANSWERS adult to tag us on social media out loud at some awesome jokes and find the 34 Laugh @whizzpopbangmag answers to all of our quizzes, puzzles and riddles.

SPECTACULAR SCIENCE

Take a look at a massive offshore oil-drilling machine.

35

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

MYTHBUSTER

EYE IN THE SKY

MOTHS AREN’T ATTRACTED TO LIGHTS…

© Shutterstock.com

© NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI. Image processing: J. DePasquale (STScI)

Don’t worry, this isn’t a gigantic eye staring down at you from space – it’s the planet Uranus and its rings! All four giant planets in our solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) have rings, but Uranus’s are very difficult to see. Because they are made of extremely dark particles of rock and dust, very little sunlight is reflected off them. But using infrared sensors, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured them in this spectacular image. The large bright patch on the right is the planet’s north pole (Uranus is the only planet that spins on its side). It takes 84 years to orbit the Sun, so the poles experience many years of darkness followed by many years of constant sunlight.

So why do they seem to gather around them?

Scientists previously thought that insects use the light of the Moon to navigate, and they mistake artificial lights for moonlight. But daytime insects also seem drawn to lights.

Researchers at Imperial College London filmed insects flying around lights using a high-speed camera. They found that the insects tried to keep their backs to the lights, causing them to circle around them, and sometimes turn upside down and fall onto them. This is because of an instinct insects have evolved to help them to stay the right way up – in nature, the brightest light source usually comes from above. Insect numbers are decreasing across the world, but the researchers hope their study will help find ways to limit the damaging impact of artificial lights on flying insect populations.

‘MIND-READING’ MACHINE INVENTED

e brain In fM R I scans, areas of th e ‘light up’ when they are activ © John Graner, Neuroimaging Department, National Intrepid Center of Excellence, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, 8901 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20889, USA

This beetle drinks water using its bottom!

Red flour beetles crawl into flour and other stored grains, where they can survive in an incredibly dry environment.

Scientists weren’t sure how they managed without water, until researchers in Denmark and Scotland teamed up to investigate. They found that during humid weather, the beetles open their bottoms, allowing water vapour from the air to condense on their poo. They then use specialised gut cells to draw the water from the poo into their bodies. This clever mechanism allows the beetles to go through their entire lives without ever drinking liquid water.

CO2-GOBBLING MICROBE DISCOVERED

© Shutterstock.com

Next to the Italian island of Vulcano, carbon dioxide (CO2) seeps into the sea.

It was in this rare ecosystem that an extraordinary microbe was discovered.

Like plants, cyanobacteria make energy using sunlight and CO2, producing oxygen as a waste product. The cyanobacterium discovered in the carbon-rich waters off

Vulcano consumes CO2 at the fastest rate ever seen. The scientists who found it hope to use these microbes to remove CO2 from the air, helping to reduce global warming.

This idea is called carbon capture, and it’s likely to be one of the tools used to tackle the effects of the climate crisis – along with reducing the amount of carbon we produce.

© Carsten Steger / Wikimedia Commons

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© Udo Schmidt / Wikimedia Commons

Scientists have invented an artificial intelligence (AI) decoder that can turn thoughts into text. Volunteers had their brains scanned while they listened to a story, and the decoder was able to reconstruct the story they were listening to using only the images in the brain scan. This new technology uses the same kind of AI as chatbots like ChatGTP to work out how patterns of brain activity correspond to words that the person is hearing or thinking about.

BOTTOMS UP!

When you want to move a monster load, you need a monster machine! Let’s jump behind the wheels of the world’s biggest vehicles, on and off the road.

By Isabel Thom

as

Monster trucks are the pop stars of the machine world. They have shiny good looks and famous names. They even perform to packed arenas at their own shows and festivals.

A monster truck is a special version of a road vehicle, with boosted suspension, powerful engines and supersized tyres. These features turn them into off-road vehicles that can tackle almost ANY terrain – from a line of cars to carrying out a 360° back flip!

Watch Brianna Mahon perform a wheelie and flip in her monster truck ‘Whiplash’. bit.ly/3MkdwNG

Most monster trucks are based on pick-up trucks, but any vehicle can be turned into a monster truck, from a limousine to a school bus.

The largest monster truck ever built was called Bigfoot 5.

Its tyres are each three metres tall, one and a half times the height of a door!

Which part of a monster truck is the sleepiest?

The wheels – they are always tyred!

MAKE A MUNCH-STER TRUCK!

Mighty machines look complicated, but they are made up of just SIX simple machines. Simple machines are devices that make work easier. They do this by changing the direction or size of a force, or the amount of effort needed to do a job. Machines that combine two or more simple machines are known as

To an engineer, everything is a potential machine.

Try making a monster truck usin g sliced vegetables for wheels. How big can the wheels get?

Send your photos to Y@whizzp opbang.com to join our monster truck parade.

compound machines.

Yo u will need

mall cardboard box S Scissors Sticky tape Paper drinking straws Wooden skewers

couple of different A fruits or vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, aubergines or apples

What you do 1. Cut two pieces of drinking straw, each a little shorter than the width of your box, and stick them underneath the box.

2. Cut two lengths of wooden skewer, 2 cm longer than the drinking straws. Feed the skewers through the drinking straws to make axles.

3. Ask an adult to cut four thick slices of carrot (or a similarly shaped vegetable). Push them on to the ends of the wooden skewers to make wheels.

4. Try rolling your monster truck down a slope (or inclined plane in engineering-speak!).

Make and test your vehicle in a clean kitchen, and you can cook the vegetables afterwards for a monster snack!

Find the names of the six simple machines in the grid. Check your answers on page 34.

Lever Wheel and axle Inclined plane

Wedge Pulley Screw

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5. Swap the carrots for slices of a larger fruit or vegetable. How does changing the size of the wheels change the movement of the truck?

A wheel and axle is a simple machine. The wheel turns at the same speed as the axle speed, but it has a much bigger diameter.

This means the outside of the wheel rolls across the ground. It is much easier to roll something than to drag it. Larger wheels multiply the pushing or pulling force, making a vehicle even easier to roll. Larger wheels also make a vehicle more stable.

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WHY DO WE NEED BIG VEHICLES? Massive vehicles can look impressive, but they are practical too. Monster vehicles can carry monster loads. This means fewer trips are needed, saving time and energy.

BIGGER

BIG Crawler dumpers haul heavy loads around building sites. The operator tips the skip to dump the load quickly. This one can haul up to 10 tonnes!

Articulated dumper trucks like Gravel Charlie carry huge loads over long distances. The wheels mean they can travel on public roads. The join between the tractor and the trailer makes it easier to steer. This one can carry up to 96 tonnes!

These crawler tracks spread the weight of a heavy vehicle over a large area.

B I G G E ST V E H I CL E S

Passenger tr ain Freight train

I N T H E W O R LD

Road train Container sh

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RAIL The longest passenger train travelled through the Swiss Alps in October 2022. It was a whopping 2 km long, with 100 carriages!

Imagine the wait for the snack trolley!

The record for the longest and heaviest freight train was set in 2001. The Australian BHP Iron Ore train was more than 7.25 km long, with a total weight of almost 100,000 tonnes. Most of this weight was the rock loaded into its 682 wagons.

Today, Australia’s massive iron ore trains operate without drivers! See them in action at bit.ly/3me8fgc

ROAD Australia is so large that it even has road trains! Trucks are joined together to create monster vehicles that move cargo to places without railways. The longest was almost 1.5 km long and made up of 113 trailers linked together (as long as 156 London buses!).

BIGGEST!

Heavy hauler dumper trucks are the world’s biggest.

They can be spotted at mines and quarries, where they shift huge loads of heavy rock.

SPREAD THE WEIGHT Crawler tracks stop vehicles from sinking int o snow, mud or sand, and getting stuck. See for yourself how this works…

Yo u will need

heavy toy vehicle A A tray or dish Flour Two strips of cardboard (wider than the wheels of your vehicle and longer than its length)

I have to climb a ladder just to get in!

What you do 1. Fill the tray or dish with a few centimetres of flour.

2. Place the toy vehicle gently onto the surface of the flour.

Does it leave marks?

The Caterpillar 797F is one of the world’s biggest dumper trucks. It can carry 363 tonnes of freshly mined rock, making its total loaded weight an incredible 688 tonnes!

WATER

AIR

Compared to rail and road trains, the longest container ship is short – at just 400 metres. But with the support of water, the Ever Ace can carry an incredible load of 23,992

The largest freight plane ever built was the Antonov An-225 Myria (Ukrainian for ‘dream’). The Ukrainian plane was like a flying cargo ship, with six engines, 32 wheels and a cargo hold big enough to fit 50 cars! It could carry even bigger cargo fixed on top, on a special aeroplane ‘roof rack’.

6-metre-long shipping containers. On a road or rail train, each of these containers would need its own trailer or carriage!

3. Try again, but this time place the wheels on top of two cardboard ‘tracks’.

You should find: The vehicle should sink into the flour less when it’s on the tracks.

This is because its weight is spread over a larger area.

Visit Vessel Finder to see where the Ever Ace is right now! bit.ly/3JBnvfV

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MOVING WHILE STAYING STILL

What is a crane operator’s favourite type of music?

Heavy metal!

Not all monster machines move from place to place.

These machines make sure their load does all the moving.

Simple machines make the lifting easier.

Construction cranes are used to lift parts of buildings, and even help build other monster machines! The Taisun construction crane at Yantai Raffles Shipyard in China can lift more than 20,000 tonnes, which is about the weight of two Eiffel Towers. A heavy counterweight stops the crane from tipping over.

Hey, I'm up here!

Construction cranes use simple machines called pulleys to help them lift objects using less effort.

With enough pulleys, a person could lift a car!

Answer on page 34

WOW, that’s big!

A pulley is a simple machine made up of a rope wrapped around a wheel that is fixed in place. One end of the rope is attached to an object that needs lifting. A motor (or person) pulls on the other end.

Screws use spiralling

threads to change spinning movements into linear ones. Auger drills are enormous screws turned by motors. They have a wedge at the bottom to cut into the ground. The material that is broken off by the wedge travels up the spiralling inclined plane. When the auger is full of soil it is lifted out of the hole and cleaned. © Shutterstock.com

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A screw is an inclined plane (a ramp) wrapped around a rod. You can see how it works by wrapping a pipe cleaner around a pencil. The pipe cleaner is like the thread of the screw. If the gap between each turn is wide, the ramp is steeper.

The screw will be harder to turn, but you won’t have to turn it very many times to reach the top. If the gap between each turn is narrow, the ramp is less steep. The screw will be easier to turn, but you will have to turn it more times to reach the top.

PULLEY POWER INVESTIGATION Yo u will need

hree smooth, round pencils T (without flattened sides) Two identical cardboard boxes Three empty plastic bottles Two identical chairs or stools

eavy weights (e.g. two tins of beans) H String A heavy soft toy A paper clip or keyring

What you do

1.

Make a simple pulley. Push a pencil into the

side of each box at the same height.

2. Ask an adult to help you cut the top off a plastic bottle, just below the neck.

3. Put the bottle neck onto the pencil, then push the ends of the pencil into the holes of the boxes to make a bridge between them.

4. Place each box on a stool or chair. Put something heavy inside the bottom of each box to keep them steady.

5. Tie a long length of string to the soft toy. Put the toy on the floor between the two stools.

6. Pass the end of the string over the bottle neck. Pull down on the string. How easy is it to lift the toy?

7.

Make a pulley system.

Make two more pencil ‘bridges’ between the two boxes. One should be at the same height as the first. The other should be lower. Place a bottle neck on each one.

9.

Make a block and tackle. Remove the long string from the toy, then attach the paper clip or keyring to the toy.

10. S et up two pencil bridges at the same height. Place a bottle neck on one pencil.

Tie the end of the long string to the other pencil.

11. P ass the string through the keyring or paper clip, then up and over the bottle neck. Pull down on the string. How easy is it to lift the toy? What else do you notice?

Make it a

fair test by

lifting the same toy each time.

8. Wind the string over the first pulley, under the second and over the third. Pull down on the string. Do multiple pulleys make it easier to lift the toy?

Try different combinations.

You should find:

A single pulley does not change the size of the effort that you need to lift the toy, but it does change the direction. Just like a crane, you pulled down to make the toy move up. Pulling down is easier than pushing up because gravity helps you out.

Using two or more pulleys together is called a pulley system. This makes it even easier to lift the load. Different pulley systems work in different ways. A block and tackle system reduces the effort needed to lift the toy, but it increases the length of rope used.

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AL ANIM S TIC

AN

Albatrosses Nature has inspired many machines over the centuries, and one group of birds is still revealing the secrets of their awesome powers of flight to help us develop more efficient flying machines. Our vet Joe Inglis finds out more…

Fish dinners Super seabirds Albatrosses are large seabirds that soar across the vast expanses of the southern and northern Pacific Oceans.

They have the longest wingspans of any living bird species, at up to 3.4 metres (that’s nearly as long as a car!).

© Imogen Warren / Shutterstock.com

70 years

The age of the oldest known albatross, Wisdom, which had a tag fitted in the 1950s and is still raising chicks to this day!

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Squid, fish, shrimps and zooplankton make up most of an albatross’s diet. They scoop up their food while bobbing on the surface of the sea or dive underwater to grab it. Unlike most birds, which use their eyesight to hunt their food, albatrosses rely mainly on their excellent sense of smell to track down their dinner.

Long-distance fishing trips With their food spread over thousands of kilometres of ocean, albatrosses have to travel enormous distances to find enough to eat. They often clock up 800 km (500 miles) or more in a single day as they track down schools of fish or blooms of plankton and shrimp. To do this, they have evolved some awesome flying skills that allow them to soar huge distances using almost no energy – something that human engineers are keen to try and copy.

Surfing the wind

Don’t get in a flap

Strong winds sweep across oceans and albatrosses have learnt to harness this natural energy through a technique called dynamic soaring. This is where they fly into the wind to gain height before turning downwind and accelerating as they glide gradually back down to sea level – a bit like a surfer riding waves.

Albatrosses also gain extra lift from air currents rising behind large waves, which is called slope soaring.

With their amazing soaring skills, plus super-efficient wings that allow them to glide 22 metres forward for every metre they lose in height, albatrosses can cover incredible distances without even flapping their wings.

Why is it hard to spot an albatross?

Because they’re in de skies!

Albatrosses can fly a complete circuit around the planet Answer on page 34

Designer drones

15,000 km

The distance an albatross can travel without landing.

Designers working on drones and gliders are studying how albatrosses soar to help them design computer-controlled flying machines that can ride the wind and stay aloft for hours, or even days, at a time.

Unscramble the letters to find words related to albatrosses.

All the words can be found elsewhere on these pages!

Check your answers on page 34.

1. SINGOAR

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

2. HSPRIM

_ _ _ _ _ _

3. PANNWIGS

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

4. ELIDG

_ _ _ _ _

6. CIKCH

_ _ _ _ _

5. STOLBARSA _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 7. LUTINPOOL 8. PLONKTAN

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Read the letters in the shaded spaces from top to bottom to discover which sense an albatross uses to find its food.

_ _ _ _ _

Under threat Sadly, these masters of the air are facing lots of challenges from human activities.

These include longline fishing, plastic pollution and introduced predators, such as feral cats which attack albatross chicks in their nests on remote islands. These threats mean that three quarters of the 22 species of albatross are endangered and at risk of extinction.

Factory fright!

Fill in the blanks to finish this assembly line story!

Without peeking at the story, fill in the word list. Now write the words from your list into the numbered spaces in the story and have a giggle as you read it out!

1

Your first name ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������

2

Another word for big ����������������������������������������������������������������������

3

A moving verb (past tense) ���������������������������������������������������������

4

A body part (plural) ������������������������������������������������������������������������

5

Another moving verb (past tense) �������������������������������������������

6

Another body part (singular) �����������������������������������������������������

7

An item from a lunchbox ��������������������������������������������������������������

Why are assembly line robots never lonely? They are always making new friends!

How do you stop a robot dog?

Press the paws button!

Which of the piles of boxes would look like this from above?

a

b

c

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f

(1) ……………………………………………

and Y’s assembly line surprise!

“What are we doing at a factory, Y?” I asked. “I thought we were going for a fun day out.”

“This is fun, (1) ………………………!” said Y. “What could be more fun than seeing robots make robots?!”

“Oh, it’s a toy factory,” I said.

“Yes, and we’ve got permission to look around.”

Y pointed at a (2) ……………………… robot arm. “Look, this robot is attaching heads…”

We (3) ……………………… along beside the assembly line.

“And this one is attaching (4) ………………………!”

“Y, I don’t think you should get so close,” I shouted. Suddenly, a robot arm grabbed Y. It lay Y on the conveyor belt and started attaching toy robot legs.

“Aargh, let me go! I don’t need legs, I have a very sophisticated flight system.” Y was whisked away along the conveyor belt and I (5) ……………………… to keep up.

A box was being folded around Y, but one arm was sticking out.

I couldn’t help laughing at the sight of Y in the box. I was laughing so hard my (6) ……………………… hurt, but Y didn’t look amused!

The robot slapped a sticker on the front of the box. It said ‘REJECT’. “Oh no!”

Y’s box was pushed onto another conveyer belt heading towards a big machine labelled ‘CRUSHER’. Y’s free hand was pointing and I turned to look. Aha! There was a big red button on the wall marked ‘EMERGENCY STOP’.

I saw a (7) ……………………… lying on a bench, picked it up and threw it. It hit the button just as Y’s box reached the crusher. “Let’s get you unboxed, Y!” I said.

“Phew! Thanks (1) ……………………….. I didn’t fancy getting crushed. The repairs would have taken me ages!”

“Those robots are armed and dangerous!” I said.

“I think I’ll keep them at arm’s length from now on!” chuckled Y. whizzpopbang.com 15

b... clu O C E

Emmi’s

Turn spring flowers into a fab picture frame!

PRESSED FLOWER FRAME Yo u will need

pring flowers and leaves S e.g. daisies, clover leaves, buttercups, blossom At least two pieces of white

A4 paper A stack of large, heav y books Cardboard packaging Pencil Ruler Scissors

1

Place a sheet of paper on top of a book, then lay some flowers face down on top of it. Place another piece of paper on top, then put a book on top of the paper. Repeat if you have any flowers left over. Leave in place for two weeks – by this time, they should be flat and dry.

3

craft knife (optional) A Hole punch Tissue paper, kitchen towel, crepe paper, tissues or loo roll Glue (PVA or homemade – see panel on page 21) Paint (we used yellow and orange) Ribbon, string or wool measuring about 20 cm

2

Draw your frame shape twice on cardboard, then draw an inner window on one of them.

We drew rectangles of 10 x 15 cm and made our frame 3 cm wide. Ask an adult to help you cut them out using a craft knife or scissors.

Punch holes in the top of the backing piece using a hole punch.

4

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Decorate the front of the frame by covering it with scraps of paper or tissue. You could add colour with paint, if you like.

Carefully glue pressed flowers around your frame, then leave it to dry.

Continued on page 21 ➜

5

Tie ribbon, string or yarn through the holes in the backing piece, as shown.

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

6

Kitten photograph © Superstar / Shutterstock.com

Put glue along both long edges and the bottom of the back of the frame, then place it onto the backing piece and leave to dry. You may need to put it underneath a book, or use pegs to keep it together while it dries.

ECO

More

We can all help to save the planet. Lots of small actions ideas... can make a BIG difference!

PVA glue is often used in crafts but it’s made from petrochemicals, the production of which is bad for the environment.

Here’s a recipe for glue made from natural materials that works just as well!

Yo u will need

5 g plain flour 4 15 g sugar 5 ml (1 teaspoon) vinegar 100 ml warm water

Bowls Spoon Jug Jar or tub with lid

Continued from page 16

W h a t y o u do

the 1. Put 50 ml of warm water into a jug and add sugar. Stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.

2. Add the vinegar.

3. Put the flour into a bowl and slowly add the liquid, stirring all the time until it is combined together and there are no lumps. .

4. Add the rest of the water and stir thoroughly 5. Store the mixture in a jar or tub with the lid closed in the fridge for up to two weeks.

whizzpopbang.com 21

➜

Yo u should find

You can pick up objects with your grabber! This mechanical tool helps you to grab objects that are out of reach. It uses a series of joints and levers to transfer the effort (you pushing the handles together) to move the jaws further away, while also closing them around the object.

How could you improve your grabber? Maybe you could add something to the jaws to make them grip better. You could make your grabber stronger by cutting out twice as many cardboard strips and gluing two of each strip together before assembling your grabber.

The maximum load this crane can lift is 10 tonnes.

Which box must be taken away to leave that weight exactly? A tonne is equal in weight to 1,000 kg.

Check your answer on page 34.

20 whizzpopbang.com

CRANKING MACHINE!

PULL OUT pages 17-20 and get making!

Have you ever ridden a bicycle or used a fishing reel? If you have, then you have used a crank! The bicycle pedals and the fishing reel handle are both examples of these super-useful machines. Make your own magnificent cranking machine!

Yo u will need The template

A sharp point, such as an awl

A cork (one from a fizzy wine bottle is best)

A strong rubber band or hairband

A large paper clip

Glue stick

Two lolly sticks

Sticky tack

What yo u do 1. Cut out the template below. With the blue side facing you, fold along lines A and B (valley folds) and unfold.

2. Fold along lines C and D (mountain folds) and unfold.

3. Add glue to the blue areas, but leave the white part without glue.

4. Refold along line A to stick the front and back of Emmi’s arms together, then refold along line B to stick the two sides together.

Valley fold

5. With the front of Emmi facing you, mountain fold along the dashed line on her waist and valley fold along the dashed lines on her feet.

6. Ask an adult to make a small hole near one end of both lolly sticks wide enough to push paper clip wire through.

Mountain fold

7. Use the rubber band to secure the other ends of the lolly sticks to the cork.

8. Straighten out the paper clip and then bend it like this – you can place it on this page and use the picture as a template.

Continued on p19 ➜

whizzpopbang.com 17

9.

S lide the straight end of the paper clip through the hole in one lolly stick, then through Emmi’s hands and finally through the other lolly stick.

Find a printable version of the pullout here: bit.ly/3Lr2V2P

10. F old the straight end like this.

11. S tick Emmi’s feet to the cork with sticky tack and your cranking machine is finished. Turn the handle to see it in action!

Yo u should find

2.8cm

Emmi is holding onto the crankshaft (or axle). The handle is the crank arm, which is at a right angle to the crankshaft. When you turn it, it spins the crankshaft. Cranks are useful for all sorts of things, including paddle boats, sewing machines, hand winches on sailing boats and even inside car engines. This hand drill uses a crank handle. Turning the handle through a large circle makes drilling easier.

Don’t forget to send in a photo of your cranking machine and cardboard grabber to be featured in Y’s Wonder Club page!

Send it to y@whizzpopbang.com

In the 19th century, some prisoners were made to use a crank machine as part of their punishment. It was a box with a hand-turned crank that forced four large cups through sand.

The prisoner would have to turn the handle for hours every day, doing nothing useful.

Riddles

Check your answers on page 34.

1. I’m wet inside, dry outside and I’m often very busy, I turn this way and that, I spin and spin, and yet I’m never dizzy.

What am I? 2. A truck was carrying a huge load of rocks. Suddenly the rocks began to fall out. A lot of people saw, but no one rushed to tell the driver. Why not?

3. A truck is stuck under a bridge and the driver can’t get it out. A woman walks by and stops to help. She easily gets the truck unstuck. How did she do it?

18 whizzpopbang.com

Template B

CARDBOARD GRABBER

What yo u do

1. Cut out template A, then place it onto some cardboard and draw around it. Press the sharp pencil through the black dots and into the cardboard. Repeat until you have drawn eight of these shapes.

2. Cut out the eight pieces you have drawn, then use the pencil to make sure the holes go all the way through the cardboard. (Try not to bend the cardboard.)

3. Roughly cut around the four B templates, then glue them onto cardboard and cut them out accurately.

4. To make the grabber’s ‘jaws’, glue two B pieces onto two A pieces. Then turn them over and glue on the other two B pieces.

5. Arrange the rest of the pieces like this, with the jaws at one end, and fix them all together with split pins. Make sure the pins can spin around easily.

6. Now squeeze the handles in and out to use your grabber! Try grabbing objects of different sizes and shapes.

Template A

Make an extending machine to help you grab things that are out of reach!

Yo u will need Templates A and B Scissors Strong cardboard Glue

Sharp pencil Split pins

Interview with a SCIENCE HERO

In my job I get to... design and build robots!

Josh is a mechanical engineer at robotics company Boston Dynamics. If you have any questions of your own for him, you can contact him on joshgeating@gmail.com

“

As a child, I loved building and taking things apart.

Josh Geating, Mechanical Engi neer

“

My father encouraged me to be creative and my mother encouraged me to work hard.

”

Both of these are essential skills when you design complex robots. I studied mechanical engineering at university. The classes were great and the things I learned were essential to my job, but we also had to work on projects as part of our learning, and it was these that really cultivated my passion for robotics.

“

”

Later, when I was trying to take my projects to the next level, I discovered robotics. I started with LEGO, then went on to build potato cannons, hovercrafts, remote control planes, small robotics projects – and then finally, professional robotics. A high-power swerve drive robot and a tiny hydraulic robot are two of my favourite creations.

My job is to design the next generation of robots at Boston Dynamics.

”

One of our well known robots is Atlas, which has roughly the proportions of a human with fully articulated arms and legs.

It is primarily used as a research and development platform – we’re learning a lot about mobility and manipulation as we work on it.

Josh installing an upgrade onto Atlas 22 whizzpopbang.com

© Boston Dynamics

Interview with a SCIENCE HERO

“

I’ve had more failures than I can remember!

”

I fried thousands of dollars of sensors when plugging in the wrong voltage, I drove my brother-in-law into a fence when a rideable remote control robot lost communication and I was injured when a lawnmower-enginedriven-hovercraft fan blew up. Any professional engineer could tell you countless failure stories – these experiences are lifelong lessons.

nt workshop

his baseme Josh casting robot wheels in

“

Critical thinking is the most important part of my job.

”

“

”

Robotics is a team sport.

No single person is an expert in everything that goes into building a robot. The engineering jobs are divided into three different fields: software, electrical and mechanical. Loads of other people are involved in creating a robot, including technicians, manufacturers, sales and marketing teams, reliability and testing teams, customer support – too many others to list.

I have to make a lot of decisions – from tiny technical details to choices abo ut programing.

I spend a lot of time modelling ideas using computer aided design (CAD) sof tware, which eventually get turned into real-lif e parts. I use maths and analysis to convinc e myself something will work.

pot

Josh with quadruped robot S

“

If you want to be a roboticist, I have three pieces of advice…

1. Let your passions guide you.

2. Be humble and ask for other people’s advice.

It can lead to a better product and be fun, too!

3. Never stop making things! Learning is important, but getting your hands dirty teaches you so much. Ask for information about robotics clubs at your school library, at your Findorout morevolunteer about xxxxxx local repair café or try taking apart and putting together gadgets to see how they work!

”

HOW STUFF

WORKS

1

Some of the biggest monster machines are found on farms, and they don’t get much bigger than these crop-guzzling beasts.

Here’s how they work…

At the front of the combine harvester is the header bar, which gathers and cuts the crops. These units are super-wide – up to 20 metres on the biggest machines – and have to be detached from the combine harvester and towed behind when moving between fields as they are too wide to go down most roads.

2

As the combine harvester drives through the field, the PICKUP REEL on the header rotates.

3 4

Combine Harvesters

Horizontal bars called BATS push the crops down.

Below the pickup reel is the cutter bar. This row of sharp blades moves from side to side and cuts off the stems of the crops near the ground (a bit like a super-powerful hedge trimmer).

24 whizzpopbang.com

5 6

The cut crops are fed in towards the centre of the header bar by rotating screws or augers, which pull the stems along as the spiral blades turn around.

When they reach the centre, the cut crops are fed onto a conveyor system called the strand feederhouse, which lifts them up and into the main body of the combine harvester.

10

In the final stage of cleaning the grain, powerful fans blow air through the sieves to remove any dust and fine particles.

11

Using another rotating screw, the clean grain is lifted up and into the grain tank where it is stored. The largest combine harvesters can store more than 10 tonnes of grain before they need to unload it.

12

When the grain tank is full, the combine harvester drives along next to a tractor and trailer and the grain is lifted out of the tank and into the trailer using the grain elevator.

30 acres The area of corn fields a modern combine harvester can process in one hour. That’s about 15 football pitches!

9

7

The crops then enter the threshing drum where a spinning cylinder with steel bars attached breaks the crops apart, separating the grains from the stems or straw.

8

The grain is separated from the chaff (the inedible seed casing that protects the grain) and any remaining bits of straw by a series of giant sieves which only allow the grain to pass through. This process is known as winnowing.

The straw carries on through the machine, pushed along by mechanical straw walkers which also shake out the last bits of grain before the straw is fired out the back of the combine harvester.

whizzpopbang.com 25

.

g.. in z a m A ly e m o s e w A 0 1

A M E M E XTR E

er the the strongest, discov to t es gh hi e th om Fr ilities! ith awe-inspiring ab massive machines w

1

The Falkirk Wheel is the world’s only rotating boat lift. Each of its two arms holds a huge tub of water large enough for four canal boats. As the wheel turns, the boats on one arm are lifted up, while those on the other go down, using only a tiny amount of energy.

2

The Large Hadron Collider is the

largest machine in the world!

It is a 27-km ring built 100 metres underground. It uses electric fields and powerful magnets to smash tiny particles together at incredible high speeds. These experiments help us learn more about what the universe is made of.

3

5

Sarens SGC-250 (also known as Big Carl) is the largest crane in the world. It will be based in Somerset until around 2025 and can lift the equivalent of about 50 blue whales (5,000 tonnes)!

4

This is the world’s largest popcorn machine, which can be found at Carnival

Magic theme park in Thailand. It’s 7.89 metres high – taller than a two-storey house – and can produce four flavours of popcorn at the same time!

The BelAZ 75710 is thought to be the biggest dumper truck in the world and is used in mining. It can move up to 450 tonnes of rocks at once, is longer than two buses parked end-to-end and each of its eight tyres is more than twice the height of a fully grown person!

!

S E N I M ACH

6

8

Find out when the massive ISS will next pass over your house! go.nasa.gov/42s2zzp or use an app on a smartphone, such as ISS spotter.

The owners of Big Bud 747 claim that it is the

world’s largest tractor!

It’s over 4 metres tall, over 6 metres wide and its engine is about twice as powerful as other large tractors (830 kW)!

7

Check out the mega machine that orbits Earth 16 times a day – it’s the International Space Station! This massive space laboratory is longer than a football pitch and heavier than a fully loaded jumbo jet!

Powered by 1.5 wheelchair motors, the world’s largest claw machine was filled with mystery prizes (including stinky perfume and leather trousers!) and controlled over the internet. Over 100,000 people had a go within a few months in 2011.

9

Enormous crawler transporters

are used to transport mobile launcher platforms and rockets to launch pads before they take off. Designed to travel at a careful 2 mph, NASA’s two crawler transporters have been doing this job for over 50 years!

10

Fanny the dragon is the biggest four-legged walking robot in the

world! This 15.72 m long beast is remote controlled, breathes real fire and stars in a German play called Drachenstich (dragon slaying). © 2. Maximilien Brice (CERN) / Wikimedia Commons, 3. Sarens, 4. Courtesy of Carnival Magic, the Magical Kingdom of Lights, Phuket, Thailand, 5. Hasan Hüseyin Kulak / Wikimedia Commons, 6. Myron Reynard / Wikimedia Commons, 7. Dima Zel / Shutterstock.com, 8. Real Art, 9. NASA/Kim Shiflett, 10. Andreas Mühlbauer / Wikimedia CC 3.0

whizzpopbang.com 27

Sensational Scientists

By Joanna Tubbs

Enedina Alves Marques

© Xandi / Wikimedia Commons

Meet hard-working, determined Enedina, who became the first Black woman to earn an engineering degree in Brazil.

M ARQU ES EN EDINA ALVE S 13 IN 19 WA S BORN IN BR AZ IL . , NÀ RA PA , CU RI TI BA

Enedina was born just 25 years after slavery was abolished in Brazil, and there was still a lot of discrimination against Black people. But Enedina let nothing get in the way of her dream of becoming an engineer.

When Enedina was a child, she lived with her mother and siblings in the home of police officer Major Domingos Nascimento Sobrinho.

Her mother looked after the Sobrinho family’s home for more than 30 years. She taught Enedina the skills she would need to become a housekeeper too (including washing, sewing and knitting).

Major Domingos had a daughter, Isabel, who was the same age as Enedina, and he paid for them to go to school together. At this time, it was very difficult for Black people to go to school in Brazil, but Enedina and Isabel learned to read side by side. Later, Enedina trained to become a teacher and also worked as a housekeeper.

But she had a bigger dream: to become an engineer.

She took some entrance exams and, in 1940, she enrolled on a course to become a civil engineer at the Federal University of Paranà. There were 33 people in her class: 32 men and one woman – Enedina! She continued working as a teacher and housekeeper, studying late at night. Some of the students and teachers thought she couldn’t, or shouldn’t, take the course – but she wouldn’t give up. In 1945, when she was 32, Enedina became the first Black female engineer in Brazil.

Once she was fully trained, Enedina was able to give up her teaching and housekeeping jobs and focus on using her new skills as an engineer. She first worked as an engineering assistant at the State Department of Transportation and Public Works, then moved on to some challenging and exciting projects for the Brazilian government’s hydroelectric power system. Her biggest achievement was the construction of a huge underground hydroelectric power plant, now called the Governador Pedro Viriato Parigot de Souza Plant.

A hydroelectric power plant uses the power of moving water to generate electricity.

Enedina had to work very hard to earn the respect of other engineers and construction workers. But thanks to her excellent engineering skills and determination to succeed, she had a long and successful career.

Capybaras are giant semi-aquatic rodents native to South America.

How many capybaras can you spot?

Check your answer on page 34.

When Enedina retired in 1962, she was guaranteed a large pension to reward her for her fantastic engineering work. After she died, a street and an institute for Black women were named in her honour. Her name was included on the Memorial à Mulher (Women's Memorial), a memorial to 54 pioneering Brazilian women.

whizzpopbang.com 29

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

whizzpopbang.com/shop

F oR

CURIoUS K I DS Thank you for sharing all your brilliant marble mazes from the Eco Club in Issue 91.

Dear Y, When you blow a candle, it goes out. When you blow a bonfire, it gets bigger. Why is that?

From Iona, aged 8

Fire needs three things: fuel, heat and oxygen. When you light a candle, the heat from the match causes some of the wax (the fuel) to heat up and vaporise (turn into gas). The hot wax vapour reacts with oxygen in the air to produce a flame around the candle wick. When you blow on the candle, you’re diluting the wax vapour with air (taking away the fuel) and you’re also cooling it, so the candle goes out. A bonfire is much bigger – there’s plenty of heat and plenty of fuel, so your breath doesn’t make much difference to these. Bonfires use up a lot of oxygen, however. When you blow on a bonfire, you’re adding more oxygen, making the flames bigger.

Violet, aged 7, 8, aged and Jasmine, their g in loved mak marble maze.

Junje, age added a h d 7, an to his ma dle ze.

Sam built e m a arble maz d an ls ve with two le u yo ll te to drums has le b ar m r u if yo trap. fallen down a

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.

E

Dear Y, Why don’t sound waves travel underwater?

It looks like you really enjoyed building the Greek theatre featured in Issue 91.

George, aged 10

Evren, d ed ag 7, enjoye h it playing w the figures.

Surprisingly, George, sound waves do travel underwate r and they travel much faster in water than they do in air! Whale song can be heard thousands of miles away, so long as you have the right listening equipment.

Unfortunately, that’s not the human ear because we evolved to hear in air. Try clanging two spoons together under the water when you’re in the bath. The sound waves are reflected by the water surface, so few reach your ears. But if you put your ears underwater, you’ll notice the clanging spoons are louder than before, showing that sound waves can indeed travel underwate r.

8, Anabel, aged er fe d ed made this bir dlife il W to earn her ge. ad b er Watch

Hi Y, How high does an egg have to be dropped from to burn up before it hits the ground?

Connie, aged 10

Amelie, aged 10

Meteors burn up in Earth’s atmosphere because they are travelling at speeds of tens of thousands of miles per hour. The friction from the meteors pushing past gas molecules causes them to heat up. If you simply dropped an egg from space, the egg would accelerate until it reached a terminal velocity of about 120 km/hr (75 mph). That’s when it can’t speed up further because the pull of gravity (due to its mass) equals the push of air resistance (due to its shape). That’s much slower than a meteor but it might just be enough to warm the egg a little bit!

Check out these space egg drops! bit.ly/3Z0f42k

Get problem solving to earn your Epic Engineer badge.

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

Pheobe, aged 7 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

um/ Test your m ver dad/bus dri

How much can you remember from this issue?

at they know! to see wh

1

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.

How long does it ta ke a combine harvester to process 30 acres of corn fie lds?

2

a) One minute

c) O ne day

Bigfoot 5 was…

4 mper

a) a gigantic crawler du

rld’s

ever built

How far can an albatross fly without landing?

b) A bike pedal c) A pulley

6

a) 15,000 km

a) The hairiest dog in the world

he largest crane in c) T the world

c) 500 km

erica a) South Am

What is Big Carl?

b) The heaviest ship in the world

b) 15,000 m

7

hey don’t need c) T water to survive

a) A doorbell

ck c) t he largest monster tru

wild Where can be found? capybaras

a) Through their bottoms

Which of the following is an example of a crank?

b) t he person with the wo longest feet

5

How do red flour beetles drink water?

b) Through a straw

b) One hour

3

8

Answers on page 34.

Which of these has Josh Geating designed?

glia b) South An

a) A nit blaster

outh An c) S

b) A potato cannon

tarctica

What kind of bird works on a building site?

A crane!

c) A bogey flicker

Need a hint? Find the answers by reading these pages…

1) Page 25 2) Page 5 3) Page 6 4) Page 17 5) Page 13 6) Page 26 7) Page 29 8) Page 22

I scored: ..........

1-3: Getting in gear!

4-6: Revving the engine!

7-8: Full speed ahead!

W !

IN

y z a r C ! s n o i t p a r cont ar vellous m e e r h t We’ve got its to give away. g k in machine e of winn n c n a h c a fu ith To be in w ant you to design a s of e one, we w at performs a seri ple m th machine ns to complete a si … silly actio ething like these task, som

Simple Machines Kit

Design and build models and machines using wheels and axles, levers, pulleys, inclined planes, screws and wedges, as well as gears. This fun kit from thamesandkosmos.co.uk also includes a spring scale so that you can measure how the machines change the direction and magnitude of forces.

WINNERS

Issue 93 competition winners Thank you to all of you who sent in your entries to our Dinosaur competition. We loved all of your colourful dino dig pictures.

These six lucky winners will each receive a model T. rex kit from buildyourownkits.com

Laurence Harrahill, 8 Sebastian Di Pietro, 12

Chloe Driver, 10

Send your entry to win@whizzpopbang.com with ‘Monster Machines competition’ as the subject of your email.

Alternatively, post it to Monster Machines 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.

Sorry, we are unable to return any post.

Deadline: July 8th 2023. UK residents only. Full terms and conditions available at whizzpopbang.com.

Andrew Rich, 6

Grace Maxwell, 7

Anya Boszczyk, 9

whizzpopbang.com 33

JOKES

wnie delivery Why did the bro down? truck break cky road! ro e h t of e s u a c Be

Did you he massive sh ar about the ip full of de ntists?

It’s called t he tooth fe rry!

bot Why did the ro p? sho go to the shoe It needed to be rebooted!

Why was the sewing machine so funny?

It kept everyone in stitches!

e What happened to th e th woman who fell into upholstery machine? d!

She’s fully recovere

Page 7 – Wordsearch

Answers

Page 13 – Scrambled words

G

X

W

D

T

M

L

D

E

E

Y

R

P

The shaded letters spell SMELL.

R

V

E

J

F

Q

E

M

G

O

U

U

U

P

Z

R

J

E

X

V

D

J

F

L

I

B

I

N

C

L

I

N

E

D

P

L

A

N

E

O

T

S

C

M W

R

U

E

H

A

I

Z

N

T

L

K

R

A

Z

Y

W

F

Q

A

H

E

L

X

A

D

N

A

L

E

E

H

W

Y

1) SOARING 2) SHRIMP 3) WINGSPAN 4) GLIDE 5) ALBATROSS 6) CHICK 7) POLLUTION 8) PLANKTON

TRUE: Combining several pulleys to make a pulley system called a ‘block and tackle’ reduces the effort needed to lift an object. A block and tackle makes it possible for one person to lift a car engine out of a car.

D is the stack of boxes seen from above.

Page 13 – True/Untrue TRUE: Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey tracked several greyheaded albatrosses as they circled the southern hemisphere, one of them in just 46 days.

Page 18 – Riddles 1) A washing machine.

2) Because it was a dumper truck and it was tipping out its load.

3) S he let some air out of the tyres, which lowered the truck.

Page 29 – Capybara puzzle There are 10 capybaras in the scene.

Sensational Scientists

By Joanna Tubbs

Enedina Alves Marques Meet hard-working, determined Enedina, who became the first Black woman to earn an engineering degree in Brazil.

Commons

Page 14 – Boxes from above

The box that must be left behind is the one weighing 750 g.

© Xandi / Wikimedia

Page 10 – True/Untrue

Page 20 – Crane puzzle

MARQUES ENEDINA ALVES IN WAS BORN IN 1913 BRAZIL. CURITIBA, PARANÀ,

Enedina was born just 25 years after slavery was abolished in Brazil, and there was still a lot of discrimination against Black people. But Enedina let nothing get in the way of her dream of becoming an engineer.

When Enedina was a child, she lived with her mother and siblings in the home of police officer Major Domingos Nascimento Sobrinho.

Her mother looked after the Sobrinho family’s home for more than 30 years. She taught Enedina the skills she would need to become a housekeeper too (including washing, sewing and knitting).

Major Domingos had a daughter, Isabel, who was the same age as Enedina, and he paid for them to go to school together. At this time, it was very difficult for Black people to go to school in Brazil, but Enedina and Isabel learned to read side by side. Later, Enedina trained to become a teacher and also worked as a housekeeper.

But she had a bigger dream: to become an engineer.

She took some entrance exams and, in 1940, she enrolled on a course to become a civil engineer at the Federal University of Paranà. There were 33 people in her class: 32 men and one woman – Enedina! She continued working as a teacher and housekeeper, studying late at night. Some of the students and teachers thought she couldn’t, or shouldn’t, take the course – but she wouldn’t give up. In 1945, when she was 32, Enedina became the first Black female engineer in Brazil.

Once she was fully trained, Enedina was able to give up her teaching and housekeeping jobs and focus on using her new skills as an engineer. She first worked as an engineering assistant at the State Department of Transportation and Public Works, then moved on to some challenging and exciting projects for the Brazilian government’s hydroelectric power system. Her biggest achievement was the construction of a huge underground hydroelectric power plant, now called the Governador Pedro Viriato Parigot de Souza Plant.

A hydroelectric power plant uses the power of moving water to generate electricity.

Enedina had to work very hard to earn the respect of other engineers and construction workers. But thanks to her excellent engineering skills and determination to succeed, she had a long and successful career.

Capybaras are giant semi-aquatic rodents native to South America.

How many capybaras can you spot?

Check your answer on page 34.

When Enedina retired in 1962, she was guaranteed a large pension to reward her for her fantastic engineering work. After she died, a street and an institute for Black women were named in her honour. Her name was included on the Memorial à Mulher (Women's Memorial), a memorial to 54 pioneering Brazilian women.

whizzpopbang.com 29

Page 32 – Quiz 1) b 2) a 3) c 4) b 5) a 6) c 7) a 8) b

Oil rig This offshore oil platform off the coast of Thailand is a massive machine that drills into rocks beneath the seabed. It pumps out oil and natural gas and then processes it, ready to be sent to refineries on land. Once the oil at a site runs out, most kinds of oil rigs can be moved to a new area. The largest structure ever moved to another position is the enormous ‘Troll A’ platform off the coast of Norway.

R A L U C A T C E SP

e c n e i c s

Gigantic oil rigs are remarkable feats of engineering. However, burning oil and gas for energy produces greenhouse gases.

These absorb energy from the Sun and trap it in Earth’s atmosphere, causing climate change and extreme weather events. We need to stop using fossil fuels and switch to using renewable sources instead, such as wind, solar and wave power.

© Oil and Gas Photographer/ Shutterstock.com

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