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JennGM
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I've got a few questions or observations I was hoping someone could help answer for me. They are just random and basic, but I want to know! Maybe even one of the kids could answer these for me! 
1) Why do the birds seem to sing louder and more frequently (almost frantic) right at sundown (and I guess at sunrise, although I'm not up to observe lately  It gets REALLY loud at sunset time.
2) If a fan, either ceiling or upright, is constantly in motion, how does it attract more dust? How does the dust stay on if it's moving?
3) This is just a silly ponderance about the birds that migrate all the way to the Southern hemisphere during winter. If we are saying they migrate in the winter from our hemisphere, but we call this "home" for these birds, what do the people in the Southern hemisphere say? Do they "claim" the birds as their own and say they migrate north for the winter? Or do they view them as "visitors"?
4) When I cook beef soup or chicken soup, different recipes say put chicken or beef in water, bring to a boil and skim off scum. Scum seems to be the technical term... Now what is this scum from (I know it's from meat somehow) and how does it happen?
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Dawn
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| Posted: April 08 2006 at 8:26pm | IP Logged
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Wow, Jenn great questions! I don't have the answers, but I'll be eager to hear from those who do! 
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: April 08 2006 at 9:12pm | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| 2) If a fan, either ceiling or upright, is constantly in motion, how does it attract more dust? How does the dust stay on if it's moving? |
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 Eh...Jenn, have you been peeping into my home? Namely at my kitchen ceiling fan.
Great questions.  I've wondered about this fan question myself. Never thought to ask. I'm eager to see some answers.
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Cay Gibson
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lapazfarm
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Ok. I think can answer the bird ones. Their "home" grounds are where they breed and raise their young.
As far as singing at dawn and dusk, this is called crepuscular behavior -as opposed to nocturnal (night active), or diurnal (day active) and is a common activity pattern. I believe it has to do with prey avoidance, among other factors.
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MaryM
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OK, I'll take a stab at a couple:
JennGM wrote:
| 1) Why do the birds seem to sing louder and more frequently (almost frantic) right at sundown (and I guess at sunrise, although I'm not up to observe lately It gets REALLY loud at sunset time. |
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"For centuries, the question of why birds sing and what their songs mean has captured the imagination of scientists, naturalists, and poets."
So you are in good company with your ponderings. Sunrise is really when birds are most vocal - the sounds at dawn are beyond the evening sounds and it's referred to as "The Dawn Chorus." For the most part bird songs are thought to be territorial and protective and in the morning/dawn it makes sense that the males would be vocally marking their area. So maybe the same could be said for evening - letting everyone know what is what before they settle for the night. I have heard that there may be something to do with temperature, humidity, wind speed that could play into it as well. That would also make dawn and dusk similar.
JennGM wrote:
| 3) If we are saying they migrate in the winter from our hemisphere, but we call this "home" for these birds, what do the people in the Southern hemisphere say? Do they "claim" the birds as their own and say they migrate north for the winter? Or do they view them as "visitors"? |
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Migration is by nature movement of populations away from and back to their place of origin, so where the birds are hatched would be "home", whether that be north or south.
JennGM wrote:
| 4) Now what is this scum from (I know it's from meat somehow) and how does it happen? |
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It's the albumen (protein) in the blood. As the meat is cooked the juices are released and enter the water where they cook - it discolors and rises to the top. Many homemaking help sources indicate that you can minimize by blanching the meat first which seals in the juices before simmering it. It seems worse if the meat is placed in cold water and and then brought to boil.
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JennGM
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| Posted: April 09 2006 at 8:15am | IP Logged
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Thanks, Mary!
So if I lived in South America, I'd say "The ___ birds are back for a visit."?
Is there migration of birds from the Southern Hemisphere? I guess I'm asking if the bird study notebooks and science books are written opposite of ours.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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saintanneshs
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JennGM wrote:
If we are saying they migrate in the winter from our hemisphere, but we call this "home" for these birds, what do the people in the Southern hemisphere say? Do they "claim" the birds as their own and say they migrate north for the winter? Or do they view them as "visitors"?
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I've noticed this with our geese. A few years ago dh nearly fell over laughing at me when I asked him why the geese in our fields weren't migrating south for the winter. He said, "Honey, we LIVE in the SOUTH."
Now I'd read all those great picture books about birds migrating to warmer climates in the winter (my boys especially love Goodbye Geese) and I couldn't believe that we were supposed to say "hello" instead. How could that be? So I waited and watched and they never left our fields all winter (lots of dried corn there). I don't know about other birds, but when we see the geese flying in the fall, we say "Welcome back!"
On a side note, I also almost killed my FIL when I asked him (just before dh and I were married about 10 years ago), "Don't ALL cows make milk?"
Good questions, Jenn!
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MaryM
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JennGM wrote:
So if I lived in South America, I'd say "The ___ birds are back for a visit."? |
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Here is a book I think you'll like - Welcome, Brown Bird because it addresses your ponderings. Two different boys living in different hemispheres eagerly await the arrival of "their" bird - a wood thrush. We read it last year and I thought of it when this thread came up, but just had time to post a link.
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JennGM
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MaryM wrote:
JennGM wrote:
So if I lived in South America, I'd say "The ___ birds are back for a visit."? |
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Here is a book I think you'll like - Welcome, Brown Bird because it addresses your ponderings. Two different boys living in different hemispheres eagerly await the arrival of "their" bird - a wood thrush. We read it last year and I thought of it when this thread came up, but just had time to post a link. |
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Thanks, Mary! I'll be looking for it.
Nobody can answer #2 about the fan? It seems to go against the old saying "A rolling stone gathers no moss." I have to say "A moving fan gathers all the dust!"
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momwise
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JennGM wrote:
| Nobody can answer #2 about the fan? |
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I'm taking a real wild guess here but I'd have to say (at least here where the humidity is about 10% most days) static attracts the dust and holds it in place. It certainly attracts dust everywhere else in my home as well as holds my skirts to my legs 
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JennGM
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momwise wrote:
JennGM wrote:
| Nobody can answer #2 about the fan? |
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I'm taking a real wild guess here but I'd have to say (at least here where the humidity is about 10% most days) static attracts the dust and holds it in place. It certainly attracts dust everywhere else in my home as well as holds my skirts to my legs |
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STATIC would be a factor, I would say. That helps. But we have humid days and still dust on the fan. I'd wager to say Cay has high humidity most of the time and yet...
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amyable
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JennGM wrote:
| I'd wager to say Cay has high humidity most of the time and yet... |
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Are you saying Cay has a dusty fan?
How about centrifugal force? The fan blades are tilted and they smack into the air with enough force to hold dust on? At least in my kitchen (where our ceiling fan is) grease in the air contributes to the "sticktoitiveness factor".
Let me ask my engineer dh who I'm sure will want to do a whole power point presentation for me on it tonight.
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amyable
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| Posted: April 12 2006 at 10:11am | IP Logged
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Look what I found:
Why does dust stick to a fan in motion?
I don't think this answers all your questions but it's something...
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amyable
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| Posted: April 12 2006 at 10:16am | IP Logged
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Here's a clearer explanation:Why does dust settle on the moving blades of a fan?
Glad I found something. I wasn't really keen on watching a Power Point presentation on it tonight!
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Cay Gibson
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amyable wrote:
Are you saying Cay has a dusty fan?
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Oh, I do. 
Look at the second post under Jenn's question.
Don't all of you have dust on your fan blades?
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Cay Gibson
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amyable
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Cay Gibson wrote:
amyable wrote:
Are you saying Cay has a dusty fan?
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Oh, I do.
Look at the second post under Jenn's question.
Don't all of you have dust on your fan blades?
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Whoops! Missed that. And here I was trying to be funny! 
Dust on my fan blades? Never!
It's a new look...trying to bring the rustic outside look indoors...
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Cay Gibson
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amyable wrote:
It's a new look...trying to bring the rustic outside look indoors...
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Exactly...
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Cay Gibson
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JennGM
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Thanks, Amy. I'll have to spend my time reading this. My dh is a CPA, so I get the spreadsheet analysis and presentation for everything.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Various Science Ponderings...
