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BAB 2 : PENINGKATAN TAMADUN

(1) Latar belakang tamadun
a) Apakah peningkatan tamadun.
1. Kemampuan manusia menggunakan pemikiran untuk mengawal dan menggunakan sepenuhnya alam sekitar.

2. Seterusnya ia akan membawa kepada kehidupan yang lebih maju dan kompleks berbanding sebelumnya.

3. Peningkatan ini berkaitan dengan kemahiran menghasilkan idea baru dari aspek sosial, politik dan ekonomi.

b) Tamadun Yunani.


1. Letakan – di Semenanjung Greece dan pulau sekitarnya yang dikelilingi laut Mediterranean dan Aegen.

2. Bermula dengan negara kota (polis) – hasil gabungan beberapa bandar dan kampung.

3. Setiap negara kota mempunyai sebuah kota yang dikelilingi kawasan pertanian.

4. Dalam kota pula terdapat pasar, kubu kuil dan istana.

5. Contoh negara kota terkenal ialah Athens dan Sparta yang terletak berhampiran Laut Mediterranean.

6. Setiap negara kota mempunyai pemerintahan dan undang – undang tersendiri serta mempunyai beberapa tuhan.

7. Masyarakat dalam negara kota sentiasa bersatu padu tetapi perang kerap berlaku antara negara kota.

c) Tamadun Rom


1. Letakan – di Bukit Palatine berhampiran Sg. Tiber di lembah Latium yang didiami oleh masyarakat latin.

2. Ia berkembang ketika diperintah oleh Romulus.

3. Kemudian wujud majlis perbandaran di setiap bandar yang mentadbir tanpa gangguan pentadbiran pusat di Rom.

4. Bandarnya lengkap dengan bekalan air, sistem pemanas, rumah ibadat, teater, sarkas, tempat forum, rumah mandi awam dan istana.

5. Contohnya Bandar Pompei lengkap dengan pejabat, dewan, perpustakaan, makhamah, pintu gerbang, Colloseum, paip bawah tanah, saliran, terusan, industri dan pengangkutan.

6. Penduduknya seramai 50 ribu orang pada tahun 80 M.

d) Tamadun India.


1. Kedatangan orang Aryan membentuk zaman Vedik sempena kelahiran kitab – kitab Veda.

2. Agama Hindu lahir pada zaman Vedik ini.

3. Kemudian tamadun ini berpindah ke Lembah Ganges.

4. Pada masa ini, pemerintah ialah golongan raja.

5. Dua bentuk kerajaan terbentuk – janapada (kerajaan kecil) dan mahajanapada (kerajaan besar).

6. Chandragupta Maurya kemudiannya menyatukan kerajaan – kerajaan kecil, maka muncullah empayar pertama di India di bawah Dinasti Maurya (menyatukan utara India).

7. Kemuncak kegemilangan dinasti ini ketika di zaman Asoka.

e) Tamadun China.


1. Letakan – di Lembah Hwang Ho hingga ke selatan China.

2. Empayar pertama ialah Dinasti Chin.

3. Maharaja Shih Huang Ti memperluaskan empayar hingga ke Sg. Merah di Vietnam.

4. Jajahan yang luas disatukan di bawah pentadbiran pusat.

(2) Pemerintahan dan pentadbiran.
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Bentuknya berubah- ubah seperti monarki, oligarki, aristokrasi, diktator dan akhirnya demokrasi.

2. Di Athens – mulanya mengamalkan sistem beraja. Raja menjadi ketua hakim, tentera dan agama. Beliau dibantu oleh konsul yang terdiri daripada golongan kaya.

3. Kemudian konsul menjadi kuat dan raja merosot – raja dipilih tetapi kuasa terhad. Beberapa orang konsul memerintah, sistem ini dinamakan oligrarki.

4. Kemudian lahir aristokrat dikalangan konsul tadi yang memiliki kuasa besar, sistem ini ialah aristokrasi.

5. Kemudian berlaku ramsapan kuasa kerana rakyat tidak puas hati – maka muncul sistem ditaktor dikalangan golongan kaya atau tentera.

6. Rampasan kuasa ini ditentang oleh aristocrat – maka muncullah demokrasi.

7. Sistem demokrasi di Athens – tersapat Dewan Perhimpunan dan Majlis. Semua warganegara lelaki menjadi anggota Dewan Perhimpunan selama 6 bulan hingga 1 tahun. Dewan ini berhimpun 3 kali setahun, ahli boleh mencadangkan dasar kerajaan, tetapi keputusan di kendalikan oleh Majlis. Ahli Majlis, Majistret dan Juri dilantik oleh dewan, maka dewan berkuasa penuh keatas ketiga – tiganya.

8. Negara kota yang mengamalkan sistem raja berkuasa mutlak tidak mengamalkan sistem demokrasi.

9. Sistem tentera di Sparta pula pertahanan amat penting, anak lelaki dilatih menjadi askar yang handal dan patriotic.

b) Tamadun Rom.
1. Bermula dengan sistem raja berkuasa mutlak iaitu keturunan raja Etrucan (bukan keturunan Latin tempatan).

2. Patrician (bangsawan) mengetuai pemberontakan masyarakat Latin menjatuhkan raja Etruscan.

3. Kemudian dibentuk sistem Republik – dua konsul dilantik oleh Dewan Senat supaya tiada yang lebih kuasa. Konsul dibantu oleh Dewan Senat (bangsawan) bagi membincangkan hal pentadbiran dan perundangan. Konsul dilantik dikalangan ahli Dewan Senat yang biasanya praeotor (pemerintah tentera). Di bawah Dewan Senat ialah Dewan perhimpunan (semua rakyat Rom). Keputusan Dewan Senat disampaikan kepada Dewan Perhimpunan untuk diluluskan.

4. Pemerintahan bercorak empayar ketika Julius Caesar – berlaku selepas perluasan kuasa ke Macedonia, Yunani, Mesir hingga ke Brittania dan Jerman. Wilayah kecil telah disatukan di bawah pentadbiran pusat. Julius bergelar maharaja menjadi diktator dengan menguasai tentera dan Senat.

5. Maharaja Augustus membentuk empayar keamanan Rom (Pax Romana) meliputi benua Asia, Afrika dan Eropah.

c) Tamadun India.
1. Dua bentuk kerajaan – kerajaan kecil ( kepuakan/tiada raja ) dan kerajaan besar ( diketuai raja seperti kerajaan Kashi, kosala ).

2. Raja bekuasa mutlak diperkukuhkan dengan kepercayaan raja suci dan harus dihormati. Brahim menjadi penasihat raja dan Ksyatria menjadi pemerintah tertinggi.

3. Pemerintahan empayar – Raja Maurya menjadi maharaja. Empayar ini meliputi dari Teluk Benggala ke Pergunungan Hindu Kush. Ibu negaranya ialah Pataliputra.

4. Kegemilangan Dinasti Maurya ketika pemerintahan Asoka telah menamatkan perang Kalinga, membentuk kedamaian menakluk melalui penyebaran agama Buddha dan membentuk birokrasi pentadbiran.

d) Tamadun China.
1. Sistem feudal bertukar kepada pentadbiran pusat kerana perluasan kuasa empayar Dinasti Chin.

2. Konsep raja menjadi maharaja.

3. Maharaja membentuk birokrasi awam dan melantik pegawai dikalangan rakyat. Perlantikan dibuat oleh jawatankuasa perhikmatan awam berasaskan peperiksaan awam. Sistem ini diwujudkan oleh Dinasti Han, tokoh pentingnya ialah Shih Huang Ti.

(3) Perundangan.
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Dewan Perhimpunan menggubal undang- undang.

2. Plato dalam bukunya Republik mengatakan negara harus diperintah oleh ahli falsafah.

3. Katanya ahli falsafah berupaya menggubal undang – undang.

b) Tamadun Rom.
1. Hukum kanun 12 ialah undang- undang ynag pertama.

2. Ia dipahat pada kayu papan 12 dan diletakan di tempat awam.

3. Lahir pada zaman Republik, kemudian Maharaja Justinian mengemaskini dan membukukannya.

4. Beliau akhirnya melahirkan Kod Undang – undang Rom yang dikenali sebagai Undang – undang Justinian.

c) Tamadun India.
1. Dharma Sastra ialah kitab undang – undang Hindu tertua.

2. Raja memelihara kesucian undang – undang.

3. Denda kesalahan bergantung keseriusan kesalahan.

4. Brahmin dominan dalam hal undang – undang kerana mereka mahir berkaitan hal keagamaan.

5. Ketika Dinasti Maurya – undang – undang disampaikan sebagai titah perintah diraja yang diukir pada tiang Asoka yang berpegang kepada kesejahteraan rakyat.

d) Tamadun China.
1. Dua prinsip utama – hukuman berat dan bercorak kolektif.

2. Undang – undang berasaskan falsafah Legalisme yang digubal dan diperkenalkan olek Han Fei Tzu yang menyatakan undang – undang tegas dapat mengawal tingkahlaku manusai.

3. Undang – undang tiada belas kasihan dan penguatkuasaannya perlu dipelihara.

4. Sebaliknya ajaran Confucius menekankan raja berpekerti baik dan menjaga keharmonian.

(4) Perluasan kuasa
a) Tamadun Yunani.


1. Philip II – menyatukan Macedonia dan Yunani.

2. Alexander The Great – menguasai Parsi, Mesir, Turkistan Samarkand dan seluruh kawasan Laut Mediterranean.

3. Beliau menyebarkan kebudayaan Hellenistik (campuran budaya Yunani, Parsi, dan budaya timur yng lain) ke Itali, Iskandariah dan Antioch.

4. Empayar Yunani berakhir dengan kematian Alexander dan munculnya empayar Rom.

b) Tamadun Rom.

1. Augustus Caesar – mengubah sistem republik menjadi sistem empayar yang meliputi Britain, Sepanyol, Sg Rhine, Sg Danube, Laut Hitam, Turki dan Palestin.

c) Tamadun India


1. Chandragupta Maurya mempunyai tentera yang besar untuk menguasai India Utara, Punjab dan sempadan India Barat.

2. Anaknya Bindusara meluaskan ke Mysore di selatan India.

3. Asoka lebih lembut dan menekankan agama Buddha.

4. Ketika Asoka seluruh India berjaya ditakluk hasil kemenangan dalam Perang Kalinga.

d) Tamadun China.



1. Shih Huang Ti menyatukan seluruh kerajaan kecil di China.

2. Beliau memerintah secara automatik ( tegas dan mutlak ).

3. Bangsawan dihapuskan dan gabenor serta panglima tentera dilantik mentadbir wilayah.

4. Beliaumembina Tembok Besar China untuk menghalang serangan orang gasar.

5. Maharaja Han Wu Ti (Dinasti Han ) meluaskan empayar ke Sinkiang, Lembah Tarim, Yang Tze, Kwangsi dan Kwang Tung. Pada masa ini pengaruh China hingga ke Jepun dan Turkistan dan keamanan China diwujudkan.

(5) Peningkatan ekonomi.
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Semua negara kota kecuali Sparta menumpukan perdagangan kerana bumi bergunung – ganang tidak sesuai untuk pertanian. Kesannya perdagangan melalui jalan laut dengan wilayah luar dijalankan. Mulanya perdagangan pesisir pantai seperti dengan Mesir, Syria.

2. Athens dan Corinth kekurangan makanan kerana kurang tanah pertanian, maka mereka mendapatkan makanan dari kawasan selatan dan Laut Hitam.

3. Athens juga menjadi pusat pengumpulan barang dari timur.

4. Cukai yang dikenakan di sini telah menaikkan harga barang, kesannya ramai rakyat Yunani berpindah ke Alexandria pada zaman Gracco – Rom.

b) Tamadun India.
1. Perdagangan dalam kerajaan Maurya seperti di Anga dan Kalinga – barangannya seperti senjata, emas, gading gajah.

2. Perdagangan antarabangsa dengan Macedonia, Sri Langka, Asia Tenggara – pelabuhan terlibat : Tamralipti, Cambay,.

3. Wujud persatuan perdagangan (sresthin) di setiap Bandar – seperti Persatuan Tukang Kayu, tukang Logam.

4. Matlamat persatuan ini, mengawal harga, kualiti barang dan gaji pekerja – persatuan ini dikawal oleh raja.

5. Mata wang emas digunakan ketika zaman Gupta.

6. Perusahaan utama – sutera (di Bengal), kain kapas, emas.

7. Cukai hasil perdagangan buah – buahan dan pertanian dikutip untuk menyara tentera, pentadbir dan raja.

8. Zaman Gupta – memperoleh rempah dari alam Melayu, tembikar dari China.

c) Tamadun China.
1. Kemajuan pertanian menambah hasil petani seperti kolar kuda menarik tenggala untuk membuat batas, penyisir tanah , tanaman bergilir, teres bukit dan terusan.

2. Perusahaan tembikar, logam, sutera (zaman Dinasti Han) – didagang ke alam Melayu, India, Timur Tengah dan Barat.

3. Mula – mula melalui Jalan Sutera (darat), kemudian Jalan Laut (Dinasti Tang).

4. Di China muncul persatuan perdagangan yang melahirkan ramai golongan pertengahan kesan perdagangan dalam negeri, ia turut memajukan pengangkutan di China seperti jalan raya, jambatan, kereta kuda dan kereta lembu.

(6) Pendidikan
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Di Athens – pendidikan bertujuan melahirkan manusia seimbang (rohani dan jasmani) seperti aktiviti pendidikan, sukan, sastera, pidato, muzik, menulis.

2. Di Sparta – pendidikan untuk melahirkan tentera yang gagah dan setia kepada negara kota (kemahiran fizikal dan senjata amat dipentingkan).

3. Banyak sekolah falsafah dibina seperti di Athens, Thebes yang melahirkan sejarawan seperti, Herodotus, pemikir sains seperti Thales, Anaxagoras.

4. Athens menjadi pusat cendiakawan penting ketika pericles.

b) Tamadun Rom.
1. Mereka menyerap unsur Yunani pada peringkat awal.

2. Pendidikan mementingkan aplikasi pratikal ilmu – contohnya membina infrastuktur dan kemudahan awam.

3. Pendidikan ini melahirkan jurutera pengairan, bangunan.

c) Tamadun India.
1. Pendidikan bermula pada zaman Vedik yang mementingkan agama Hindu yang mendominasi oleh kaum lelaki.

2. Mereka menggunakan kitab veda dalam bahasa Sanskrit.

3. Keadah yang digunakan ialah menghafal kitab Veda.

4. Tumpuan pendidikan ialah agama (persediaan selepas mati ).

5. Pendidikan awal terdapat di istana dan rumah.

6. Kemudian lahir sistem pendidikan tinggi di kolej Brahman, universiti agama Buddha di Nalanda.

7. Untuk menjadi Brahmin mereka harus menghafal Veda yang menggandungi peraturan ritual, mentera dan lagu – lagu agama, mempelajari karya saintifik dan falsafah.

8. Zaman seterusnya pendidikan untuk meningkatkan ilmu sains, mengatasi buta huruf dan mendapat jawatan kerajaan.

d) Tamadun China.
1. Matlamat pendidikan untuk lulus peperiksaan awam.

2. Tiga peringkat pendidikan ialah rendah, menengah, tinggi.

3. Peringkat rendah – mengenal/menghafal tulisan ideogram dan 9 buku suci.

4. Peringkat menengah – menumpukan karangan dan sastera.

5. Peringkat tinggi – menterjemah buku suci.

6. Peperiksaan awam 3 tahap – Hsiu Tai (ijazah pertama), Chun – Jen (sarjana) dan Chin Shih (doctor falsafah).

7. Peperiksaan tahap 1 di daerah, tahap 2 di ibu kota daerah dan tahap 3 di ibu kota empayar (di istana / di hadapan Maharaja).

8. Peluang kerjaya – menjadi pegawai kerajaan dan pada tahap 3 mereka akan menjadi pendidik.

9. Waktu peperiksaan – tahap 1(3 tahun 2 kali), tahap 2 dan 3 (3 tahun I kali).

(7) Falsafah
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Ahli falsafah seperti Herodotus, Socrates, Aristotle, Plato.

2. Isu utama – nilai individualisme, kehidupan manusia, demokrasi.

3. Herodotus ialah bapa sejarah, karyanya ialah „ History of Persian War?.

4. Thucydides seorang pengasas sejarah saintifik, karyanya ialah „ History of the Peloponnesia War?.

5. Falsafah Yunani mengajar manusia berfikir secara rasional dan sikap ingin tahu.

6. Plato dalam buku republik menyatakan masyarakat dan negara yang baik di perintah oleh ilmuan dan ahli falsafah.

7. Aristotle (guru Alexander the Great) – membincangkan cara berfikir yang teratur.

b) Tamadun Rom.
1. Mengambil falsafah Yunani contohnya falsafah Rom (stoisisme) diasaskan oleh Zeno (ahli Yunani).

2. Falsafah ini mengajar kebahagian dan nasib manusia bergantung kepada alam, penekanan kepada keadilan, tanggungjawab, keberanian dan perikemanusiaan.

c) Tamadun India.
1. Falsafah terawal di dunia direkod ialah falsafah India.

2. falsafah mereka bersumberkan kitab Veda seperti Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Upanishad.

3. Falsafah bukan aliran Veda bersumberkan ajaran seperti Carvaka, Buddhisme.

d) Tamadun China.
1. Falsafah China menekan hubungan manusia dengan manusia. Sumber utama – Confucianisme, Taoisme, Mo Tzu, tetapi Mo Tzu (Mencius) menolak Confucianisme.

2. Mo Tzu menekankan hubungan manusia dengan alam sekitar.

3. Falsafah Legalisme pula berasaskan fahaman „?hanya undang – undang akan memberi nilai baik??.

(8) Sains dan Teknologi.
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Thales telah mengembangkan ilmu geometri Mesir Purba.

2. Pythagoras – memperkenalkan Teorem Pythagoras dan mengembangkan ilmu geometri Mesir Purba dan Babylon.

3. Hippocrates – Bapa Perubatan.

4. Archimedes – ahli matematik dan fizik, teorinya ialah isipadu air dan gravity.

5. Ptolemy – ahli astronomi Yunani.

6. Sistem angka Yunani ialah herodianic dan ionic.

b) Tamadun Rom.
1. Boethius – mendapat pengaruh matematik Yunani, beliau mengaitkan matematik dengan muzik, geometri, astronomi.

2. Ilmu pelayaran (ciptaan perahu layar) – memajukan perdagangan dengan Yunani, India dan China.

c) Tamadun India.
1. Ilmu astronomi diambil daripada kitab Rig Veda.

2. Ilmu matematik India seperti konsep geometri, angka Brahmin, angka Kharosti.

3. Ilmu perubatan – berkaitan dengan fisiologi (yoga).

d) Tamadun China.
1. China menganggap astronomi ialah ilmu sains negara.

2. Ilmu perubatan – berkaitan konsep Yin Yang (keseimbangan membolehkan manusia sihat).

(9) Seni Bina.
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Aeropolis oleh Pericles – atas tujuan keagamaan dan pusat kegiatan.

b) Tamadun Rom.
1. Aqueduct – bekalan air.

2. Colloseum – pahlawan bertarung dan teater.

c) Tamadun India.
1. Stupa Besar di Sanchi – tujuan keagamaan.

2. Great Bath – binaanya baik dan lengkap.

3. Kompleks kuil di Gua Ajantha dan Gua Ellora – bercirikan agama Buddha/Hindu.

4. Menara pelbagai bentuk – kon, kubah dan pagoda.

d) Tamadun China.
1. Tembok Besar China – kubu pertahanan sepanjang 1500 batu dari Kansu ke Peking.

2. Bandar purba tembok batu – Changan, anyang, Peking.

3. Mereka turut menggunakan tanah liat, batu – bata, pintu gerbang, parit besar, menara.

4. Kota Larangan – istana maharaja yang banyak dewan. (balai penghadapan, temapt hukuman, keraian) dan taman.

5. Kuil dan Pagoda – temapt tinggal, ruang tamu, pemujaan.

(10) Bahasa dan Kesusasteraan.
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Hesiod – penyair dan penulis puisi Theology dan Works and Days.

2. Homer – menghasilkan Lliad dan Odyssey.

3. Tulisan orang Phoenecia tersebar di Yunani ( ditambah huruf vokal ), kemudian ko Rom dan Asia Tenggara (huruf rumi).

b) Tamadun Rom.
1. Penulis dan penyajak patriotisme – Cicero dan Virgil

c) Tamadun India.
1. Masyarakat Dravidia – bahasa Telegu, Malayalam.

2. Masyarakat Indon – Arya – bahasa Sanskrit yang melahirkan bahsa Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi.

3. Sastera India terbahagi 3 iaitu vedik, epik dan sajak.

4. Epik Mahabharata dan Ramayana – mengenai tentera baik dan tentera jahat.

d) Tamadun China .
1. Wujud dialek – Mandarin, Wu, Hakka, Kantonis.

2. Ssu – ma Chien mencipta karya sastera prosa „?Shih Chi??

3. Tokoh puisi – Tu Fu, Li Po (semasa Dinasti Tang).

4. Ketika Dinasti Han – terpelajar perlu mampu bersajak.

(11) Sistem Sosial.
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Di Athens terbahagi 3 kumpulan – warganegara (ada hak politik), bukan warganegara dan hamba (tiada hak politik).

2. Di Sparta 3 kelas – warganegara tulen, pekerja/artisan/pedagang, helot (penguasaha tanah / majoriti).

b) Tamadun Rom.
1. Terbahagi tiga – warganegara (orang Rom), bukan warganegara (penduduk taklukan) dan hamba.

c) Tamadun India.
1. Sistem 4 kasta utama – Brahmin, Ksyatria, Vaisya, Sudra.

2. Perkahwinan lelaki/wanita dan bercampur gaul kasta berbeza tidak dibenarkan.

d) Tamadun China.
1. Terbahagi 3 kelas utama – atasan (pentadbir seperti maharaja dan keluarganya, bangsawan dan sida – sida ), rakyat bawahan (petani, artisan), dan hamba.Kumpulan dua dan tiga ialah kumpulan sokongan.

2. Confiucius membahagikan 4kelas – teratas (sarjana/pegawai), ke-2(petani), ke-3(tukang), terbawah(pedagang).

3. Setiap individu boleh bertukar kelas.

(12) Sumbangan tamadun kepada dunia hari ini
a) Tamadun Yunani.
1. Demokrasi – rakyat terlibat secara langsung.

2. Kesan di Malaysia – demokrasi berparlimen.

3. Aristotle, Socrates, Plato menjadi rujukan falsafah moden.

4. Karya Iliad masih dirujuk.

5. Teknologi matematik dan sains masih diterima pakai.

b) Tamadun Rom.
1. Republik- sistem 2 konsul.

2. Zaman kini di India, Perancis dan Afrika Selatan – mempunyai unsure demokrasi memilih president.

3. Aqueduct, Collosium menjadi sumber pelancongan.

4. Bahasa Latin digunakan agama Kristian.

5. Sukan Olimpik terus diadakan 4 tahun sekali hingga kini.

c) Tamadun India.
1. Agama Buddha dan Hindu hingga kini.

2. Stupa, candi dan pagoda menjadi sumber pelancongan.

3. Bahasa Sanskrit digunakan agama Hindu/Buddha.

4. Karya Ramayana Mahabharata masih dirujuk.

d) Tamadun China.
1. Confucianisme dan Taoisme menjadi amalan hingga kini.

2. Tembok Besar China menjadi sumber pelancongan.

3. Mewariskan teknologi kertas dan tembikar.

4. Sistem peperiksaan awam diteruskan dan diubahsuia.

(13) Kemunculan Agama dan Ajaran Utama Dunia.
a) Agama Hindu
1. Perkataan Hindu mulanya merujuk penduduk di Sg Sindhu (Indus).

2. Kemunculan agama ini tidak dapat dikenalpasti. Dikatakan muncul ketika tamadun Indus dan kian jelas pada zaman Vedik dengan adanya kitab Veda (pegangan Hindu ).

3. Percaya tuhan 3fungsi – Brahman (mencipta), Vishnu ( memelihara) dan Siva (membinasa).

4. Enam aliran agama ini ialah Saivisme, Vaishnavisme, Saktham, Ganapathyam, Kaumaram dan Saura.

5. Hindu didominasi golongan Brahmin.

6. Zaman Gupta ialah zaman kegemilangan Hindu, zaman Maurya dan Asoka pula Buddha menjadi saingan Hindu.

7. Hukum Karma – berkaitan kelakuan manusia semasa hidup dan kelahiran semula selepas mati, kelahiran ini bergantung Karma (kelakuan baik/buruk ketika hidup).

8. Tujuan hidup untuk mencapai Moksya (kebebasan mutlak ), sesiapa mencapai Moksya akan bersatu dengan tuhan dan tidak akan lahir ke dunia.

9. Syarat mencapai Moksya perlu berbuat bsik semasa hidup.

b) Agama Buddha
1. Diasaskan oleh Siddharta Gautama (dikenali Buddha).

2. Kemunculannya kesan penentangan golongan Ksyatria terhadap Brahmin dalam hal agama.

3. Sistem kasta yng ketat menyebabkan Gautama mencari kebenaran dengan bertapa di bawah pokok bodhi di Uruveda. Kebenaran yang di temuinya dipercayai akan melepaskan diri manusia daripada kesengsaraan.

4. Asas ajarannya ialah empat kebenaran mulia (kesengsaraan dan kepehitan hidup adalah lumra, kesengsaraan berpunca daripada nafsu memperoleh kekayaan, cara mengelak kesengsaraan dengan mengatasi nafsu, cara menamatkan kesengsaraan dengan “Jalan Lapan Lapis Mulia”).

5. Empat kebenaran dapat dicapai melalui lapan jalan, antaranya pengetahuan yang baik, membuat amalan suci seperti bersedekah.

6. Kegemilangan agama ini ketika zaman Asoka, ia menjadi agama rasmi kerajaan Maurya dan berkembang ke Tibet, Sri Lanka, Asia Tenggara dan China.

7. Agama ini menggunakan bahasa Pali dan kitab Tripitaka.

c) Agama Kristian.
1. Diasaskan oleh Jesus Crist yang berasal dari Jerusalem.

2. 25 Disember tarikh lahir Jesus (Hari Natal ).

3. Dua kitab suci (Old Testament dan New Testament) dikenali sebagai Bible.

4. Pada mulanya agama ini mendapat tentagan orang Eropah termasuk pemerintah Rom. Sebelum kedatangan Kristian orang Eropah majoritinya adalah pagan (tiada agama).

5. Kristian diterima pada zaman Rom semasa pemerintahan Constantine. Beliau mengecualikan kerja berat kepada mereka yang menjalankan aktiviti agama ini.

6. Hari Ahad dikhaskan kepada aktiviti agama.

7. Agama ini terus berkembang dari Zaman Rom dikenali Empayar Kristian, kejatuhan Rom tidak meruntuhkan Kristian malah terus kukuh ketika Zaman Pertengahan.

d) Agama Islam.
1. Islam diwahyukan kepada Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. melalui malaikat Jibril di Gua Hira.

2. Islam ditentang oleh kaum Quraisy Makkah dan nabi pun berhijrah ke Madinah. Islam bertapak kuat bermula di sini.

3. Dua teras agama ini ialah akidah (keyakinan seluruh jiwa terhadap keesaan Allah) dan syariah (undang – undang yang terkandung dalam Al-Quran dan as – sunnah).

4. Orang Islam wajib yakin Rukun Iman dan Rukun Islam.

e) Confucianisme.
1. Diasaskan oleh Confucius yang lahir di Lu.

2. Beliau menjadi pegawai kerajaan di Lu, tetapi meletakkan jawatan – mengembara menyebar idea kepada orang China.

3. Beliau di sembah sebagai salah satu dewa orang China.

4. Ajarannya menekankan prinsip moral tinggi yang didapati daripada pendidikan seperti perimanusiaan (ren), kesusilaan (li), taat ibubapa (xiao).

f) Taoisme.
1. Pengasasnya Lao Tze yang lahir di Chu.

2. Bekerja di Chou kemudian mengembara menyebar idea.

3. Bukunya Tao Te Ching – mengandungi falsafah Taoisme.

4. Ajarannya seperti konsep Tao (jalan) – setiap tindakan ditentukan oleh Tao, maka manusia tidak boleh bertindak terhadap apa- apa yang berlaku pada alam (wu – wei ), jika bertindak manusia akan merosakkan dunia.
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Make Your Own Microscope




What you'll need:

A piece of fuse wire
Some water
Objects to look at (newspaper or a magazine with fine print works well


Instructions:

Make a loop at the end of the fuse wire about 2mm wide.
Dip it into some water to get a drop formed in the loop.
Hold it close to your eye and look closely at an object such as a magazine.
You may have to experiment to get the right distance but you should see a magnified image, especially if you have the drop as close to your eye as possible.


What's happening?

Pioneers of early microscopes originally used tiny glass globes filled with water to magnify objects, this is similar to what you are doing in this experiment. The water droplet forms the shape of a convex lens, which refracts the light and converges it at the point where you see the image clearly. It was later that the method of grinding glass to make lenses was perfected. Modern microscopes have many lenses in them and allow us to see extremely small objects.
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Steel Wool & Vinegar Reaction





What you'll need:

Steel Wool
Vinegar
Two beakers
Paper or a lid (something to cover the beaker to keep the heat in)
Thermometer


Instructions:

Place the steel wool in a beaker.
Pour vinegar on to the steel wool and allow it to soak in the vinegar for around one minute.
Remove the steel wool and drain any excess vinegar.
Wrap the steel wool around the base of the thermometer and place them both in the second beaker.
Cover the beaker with paper or a lid to keep the heat in (make sure you can still read the temperature on the thermometer, having a small hole in the paper or lid for the thermometer to go through is a good idea).
Check the initial temperature and then monitor it for around five minutes.


What's happening?

The temperature inside the beaker should gradually rise, you might even notice the beaker getting foggy. When you soak the steel wool in vinegar it removes the protective coating of the steel wool and allows the iron in the steel to rust. Rusting (or oxidation) is a chemical reaction between iron and oxygen, this chemical reaction creates heat energy which increases the temperature inside the beaker. This experiment is an example of an exothermic reaction, a chemical reaction that releases energy in the form of heat.
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Bending Water with Static





What you'll need:

A plastic comb (or an inflated balloon)
A narrow stream of water from a tap
Dry hair


Instructions:

Turn on the water so it is falling from the tap in a narrow stream (just a few millimetres across but not droplets).
Run the comb through your hair just as you normally would when brushing it (do this around 10 times). If you are using a balloon then rub it back and forth against your hair for a few seconds.
Slowly move the comb or balloon towards the stream of water (without touching it) while watching closely to see what happens.


What's happening?

The static electricity you built up by combing your hair or rubbing it against the balloon attracts the stream of water, bending it towards the comb or balloon like magic!

Negatively charged particles called electrons jump from your hair to the comb as they rub together, the comb now has extra electrons and is negatively charged. The water features both positive and negatively charged particles and is neutral. Positive and negative charges are attracted to each other so when you move the negatively charged comb (or balloon) towards the stream, it attracts the water's positively charged particles and the stream bends!
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Make Your Own Rainbow





What you'll need:

A glass of water (about three quarters full)
White paper
A sunny day


Instructions:

Take the glass of water and paper to a part of the room with sunlight (near a window is good).
Hold the glass of water (being careful not to spill it) above the paper and watch as sunlight passes through the glass of water, refracts (bends) and forms a rainbow of colors on your sheet of paper.
Try holding the glass of water at different heights and angles to see if it has a different effect.


What's happening?

While you normally see a rainbow as an arc of color in the sky, they can also form in other situations. You may have seen a rainbow in a water fountain or in the mist of a waterfall and you can even make your own such as you did in this experiment.

Rainbows form in the sky when sunlight refracts (bends) as it passes through raindrops, it acts in the same way when it passes through your glass of water. The sunlight refracts, separating it into the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
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Microscopic Creatures in Water




What you'll need:

A concave slide
A dropper
A microscope
Different samples of water (tap water, pond water, muddy water etc). Near plants or in the mud are good places to take samples as they usually contain more microorganisms.


Instructions:

Set up you microscope, preferably using its highest setting.

Use the dropper to take some water from one of your samples and put it on the concave slide. Focus the microscope, what can you see? Be patient if you can't see anything. If you still can't see anything and have checked that you are in focus, try a different water sample.

Look at how the creatures move. After observing their movements you might like to record their behaviors and draw them.



What are you looking at?

Some of the creatures and microorganisms you might be able to see include:

Euglenas - These are between a plant and an animal, they have a long tail called a flagellum which allows them to move.

Protozoa - They have a flagella (tail) which can be hard to see, the difference between protozoa and algae is often hard to define.

Amoebas - These microorganisms swim by wobbling. They also surround their food like a blob in order to eat it.

Algae - Not considered to be plants by most scientists, these organisms might be colored yellowish, greenish or reddish. They may also be found by themselves or in chains.

There might even my larger creatures such as worms or brine shrimp in your water samples, depending on where you took them from.
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Static Electricity Experiment




What you'll need:

2 inflated balloons with string attached
Your hair
Aluminium can
Woolen fabric


Instructions:

Rub the 2 balloons one by one against the woolen fabric, then try moving the balloons together, do they want to or are they unattracted to each other?
Rub 1 of the balloons back and forth on your hair then slowly it pull it away, ask someone nearby what they can see or if there's nobody else around try looking in a mirror.
Put the aluminium can on its side on a table, after rubbing the balloon on your hair again hold the balloon close to the can and watch as it rolls towards it, slowly move the balloon away from the can and it will follow.


What's happening?

Rubbing the balloons against the woolen fabric or your hair creates static electricity. This involves negatively charged particles (electrons) jumping to positively charged objects. When you rub the balloons against your hair or the fabric they become negatively charged, they have taken some of the electrons from the hair/fabric and left them positively charged.

They say opposites attract and that is certainly the case in these experiments, your positively charged hair is attracted to the negatively charged balloon and starts to rise up to meet it. This is similar to the aluminium can which is drawn to the negatively charged balloon as the area near it becomes positively charged, once again opposites attract.

In the first experiment both the balloons were negatively charged after rubbing them against the woolen fabric, because of this they were unattracted to each other.
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Make Your Own Fake Snot




What you'll need:

Boiling water (be careful with this)
A cup
Gelatin
Corn syrup
A teaspoon
A fork


Instructions:

Fill half a cup with boiling water.
Add three teaspoons of gelatin to the boiling water.
Let it soften before stirring with a fork.
Add a quarter of a cup of corn syrup.
Stir the mixture again with your fork and look at the long strands of gunk that have formed.
As the mixture cools slowly add more water, small amounts at a time.


What's happening?

Mucus is made mostly of sugars and protein. Although different than the ones found in the real thing, this is exactly what you used to make your fake snot. The long, fine strings you could see inside your fake snot when you moved it around are protein strands. These protein strands make snot sticky and capable of stretching.
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Diet Coke and Mentos Eruption





What you'll need:

Large bottle of Diet Coke
About half a pack of Mentos
Geyser tube (optional but makes things much easier)


Instructions:

Make sure you are doing this experiment in a place where you won't get in trouble for getting Diet Coke everywhere. Outside on some grass is perfect, please don't try this one in your family lounge!!
Stand the Diet Coke upright and unscrew the lid. Put some sort of funnel or tube on top of it so you can drop the Mentos in at the same time (about half the pack is a good amount). Doing this part can be tricky if you don't have a specially designed geyser tube, I recommend buying one from a local store such as Natures Discoveries (NZ) or online.
Time for the fun part, drop the Mentos into the Diet Coke and run like mad! If you've done it properly a huge geyser of Diet Coke should come flying out of the bottle, it's a very impressive sight. The record is about 9 metres (29 feet) high!


What's happening?

Although there are a few different theories around about how this experiment works, the most favoured reason is because of the combination of carbon dioxide in the Diet Coke and the little dimples found on Mentos candy pieces.

The thing that makes soda drinks bubbly is the carbon dioxide that is pumped in when they bottle the drink at the factory. It doesn't get released from the liquid until you pour it into a glass and drink it, some also gets released when you open the lid (more if you shake it up beforehand). This means that there is a whole lot of carbon dioxide gas just waiting to escape the liquid in the form of bubbles.

Dropping something into the Diet Coke speeds up this process by both breaking the surface tension of the liquid and also allowing bubbles to form on the surface area of the Mentos. Mentos candy pieces are covered in tiny dimples (a bit like a golf ball), which dramatically increases the surface area and allows a huge amount of bubbles to form.

The experiment works better with Diet Coke than other sodas due to its slightly different ingredients and the fact that it isn't so sticky. I also found that Diet Coke that had been bottled more recently worked better than older bottles that might have lost some of their fizz sitting on shop shelves for too long, just check the bottle for the date.
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Make a Big Dry Ice Bubble




What you'll need:

Water
A large bowl with a lip around the top (a smaller bowl or cup will work too)
A strip of material or cloth
Soapy mixture for making bubbles (water and some dishwashing liquid should do the trick)
Dry ice - one piece for a cup, more for a bowl. Places where adults can buy dry ice include large grocery stores and Walmart. Butchers and ice cream stores might have some too.
Safety first! Be careful with dry ice as it can cause skin damage if not used safely. Adults should handle dry ice with gloves and avoid directly breathing in the vapor.



Instructions:

Place your dry ice in the bowl and add some water (it should start looking like a spooky cauldron).
Soak the material in your soapy mixture and run it around the lip of the bowl before dragging it across the top of the bowl to form a bubble layer over the dry ice.
Stand back and watch your bubble grow!


What's happening?

Dry ice is carbon dioxide (CO2) in its solid form. At temperatures above -56.4 °C (-69.5 °F), dry ice changes directly from a solid to a gas, without ever being a liquid. This process is called sublimation. When dry ice is put in water it accelerates the sublimation process, creating clouds of fog that fill up your dry ice bubble until the pressure becomes too much and the bubble explodes, spilling fog over the edge of the bowl. Dry ice is sometimes used as part of theater productions and performances to create a dense foggy effect. It is also used to preserve food, freeze lab samples and even to make ice cream!
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Design and Test a Parachute





What you'll need:

A plastic bag or light material
Scissors
String
A small object to act as the weight, a little action figure would be perfect


Instructions:

Cut out a large square from your plastic bag or material.
Trim the edges so it looks like an octagon (an eight sided shape).
Cut a small whole near the edge of each side.
Attach 8 pieces of string of the same length to each of the holes.
Tie the pieces of string to the object you are using as a weight.
Use a chair or find a high spot to drop your parachute and test how well it worked, remember that you want it to drop as slow as possible.


What's happening?

Hopefully your parachute will descend slowly to the ground, giving your weight a comfortable landing. When you release the parachute the weight pulls down on the strings and opens up a large surface area of material that uses air resistance to slow it down. The larger the surface area the more air resistance and the slower the parachute will drop.

Cutting a small hole in the middle of the parachute will allow air to slowly pass through it rather than spilling out over one side, this should help the parachute fall straighter.
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Test Your Dominant Side


What you'll need:

A pen or pencil
Paper or a notepad to write your findings on
An empty tube (an old paper towel tube is good)
A cup of water
A small ball (or something soft you can throw)


Instructions:

Write ‘left’ or ‘right’ next to each task depending on what side you used/favored.
When you’ve finished all the challenges review your results and make your own conclusions about which is your dominant eye, hand and foot.


Eye tests:

Which eye do you use to wink?
Which eye do you use to look through the empty tube?
Extend your arms in front of your body. Make a triangle shape using your fore fingers and thumbs. Bring your hands together, making the triangle smaller (about the size of a coin is good). Find a small object in the room and focus on it through the hole in your hands (using both eyes). Try closing just your left eye and then just your right, if your view of the object changed when you closed your left eye mark down ‘left’, if it changed when you closed your right eye mark down ‘right’.


Hand/Arm tests:

Which hand do you use to write?
Pick up the cup of water, which hand did you use?
Throw the ball, which arm did you use?





Foot/Leg tests:

Run forward and jump off one leg, which did you jump off?
Drop the ball on the ground and kick it, which foot did you use?


What's happening?

So what side do you favor? Are you left handed or right handed? Left footed or right footed? Is your right eye dominant or is it your left?

Around 90% of the world’s population is right handed. Why most people favor the right side is not completely understood by scientists. Some think that the reason is related to which side of your brain you use for language. The right side of your body is controlled by the left side of your brain, and in around 90% of people the left side of the brain also controls language.

Others think the reason might have more to do with culture. The word ‘right’ is associated being correct and doing the right thing while the word ‘left’ originally meant ‘weak’. Favoring the right hand may have become a social development as more children were taught important skills by right handed people and various tools were designed to be used with the right hand.

Around 80% of people are right footed and 70% favor their right eye. These percentages are lower than those who are right handed and this could be because your body has more freedom of choice in choosing its favored foot and eye than that of its favored hand. In other words you are more likely to be trained to use your right hand than your right foot and even more so than your right eye.

It’s not strange to find people who favor the opposite hand and foot (e.g. left hand and right foot), and some people are lucky enough to be ambidextrous, meaning they can use their left and right sides with equal skill.

Try testing others and coming to your on conclusions about what side the human body favors and why.

Extra: Are you more likely to be left handed if one of your parents is left handed? What are some of the possible disadvantages for left handed people? (Tools, writing materials etc) Do left handed people have an advantage in sports?

Interesting fact: In 2009, only 7% of the players in the NBA were left handed while in 2008 around 26% of MLB pitchers were left handed.

Is it better to be left handed in some sports than others? What do you think?
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Will the Ice Melt and Overflow?





What you'll need:

A clear glass
Warm water
An ice cube


Instructions:

Fill the glass to the top with warm water.
Gently lower in the ice cube, making sure you don’t bump the table or spill any water over the edge of the glass.
Watch the water level carefully as the ice cube melts, what happens?


What's happening?

Even though the ice cube melted the water doesn’t overflow. When water freezes to make ice it expands and takes up more space than it does as liquid water (that’s why water pipes sometimes burst during cold winters). The water from the ice takes up less space than the ice itself. When the ice cube melts, the level of the water stays about the same.
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Make an Easy Lava Lamp





What you'll need:

Water
A clear plastic bottle
Vegetable oil
Food coloring
Alka-Seltzer (or other tablets that fizz)


Instructions:

Pour water into the plastic bottle until it is around one quarter full (you might want to use a funnel when filling the bottle so you don't spill anything).
Pour in vegetable oil until the bottle is nearly full.
Wait until the oil and water have separated.
Add around a dozen drops of food coloring to the bottle (choose any color you like).
Watch as the food coloring falls through the oil and mixes with the water.
Cut an Alka-Seltzer tablet into smaller pieces (around 5 or 6) and drop one of them into the bottle, things should start getting a little crazy, just like a real lava lamp!
When the bubbling stops, add another piece of Alka-Seltzer and enjoy the show!


What's happening?

If you've tried our oil and water experiment you'll know that the two don't mix very well. The oil and water you added to the bottle separate from each other, with oil on top because it has a lower density than water. The food coloring falls through the oil and mixes with the water at the bottom. The piece of Alka-Seltzer tablet you drop in after releases small bubbles of carbon dioxide gas that rise to the top and take some of the colored water along for the ride. The gas escapes when it reaches the top and the colored water falls back down. The reason Alka-Seltzer fizzes in such a way is because it contains citric acid and baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), the two react with water to form sodium citrate and carbon dioxide gas (those are the bubbles that carry the colored water to the top of the bottle).

Adding more Alka-Seltzer to the bottle keeps the reaction going so you can enjoy your funky lava lamp for longer. If you want to show someone later you can simply screw on a bottle cap and add more Alka-Seltzer when you need to. When you've finished all your Alka-Seltzer, you can take the experiment a step further by tightly screwing on a bottle cap and tipping the bottle back and forth, what happens then?
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Invisible Ink with Lemon Juice




What you'll need:

Half a lemon
Water
Spoon
Bowl
Cotton bud
White paper
Lamp or other light bulb


Instructions:

Squeeze some lemon juice into the bowl and add a few drops of water.
Mix the water and lemon juice with the spoon.
Dip the cotton bud into the mixture and write a message onto the white paper.
Wait for the juice to dry so it becomes completely invisible.
When you are ready to read your secret message or show it to someone else, heat the paper by holding it close to a light bulb.


What's happening?

Lemon juice is an organic substance that oxidizes and turns brown when heated. Diluting the lemon juice in water makes it very hard to notice when you apply it the paper, no one will be aware of its presence until it is heated and the secret message is revealed. Other substances which work in the same way include orange juice, honey, milk, onion juice, vinegar and wine. Invisible ink can also be made using chemical reactions or by viewing certain liquids under ultraviolet (UV) light.
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Make a Crystal Snowflake!

What you'll need:

String
Wide mouth jar
White pipe cleaners
Blue food coloring (optional)
Boiling water (take care or better still get an adult to help)
Borax
Small wooden rod or pencil


Instructions:

Grab a white pipe cleaner and cut it into three sections of the same size. Twist these sections together in the center so that you now have a shape that looks something like a six-sided star. Make sure the points of your shape are even by trimming them to the same length.

Take the top of one of the pipe cleaners and attach another piece of string to it. Tie the opposite end to your small wooden rod or pencil. You will use this to hang your completed snowflake.

Carefully fill the jar with boiling water (you might want to get an adult to help with this part).

For each cup of water add three tablespoons of borax, adding one tablespoon at a time. Stir until the mixture is dissolved but don’t worry if some of the borax settles at the base of the jar.

Add some of the optional blue food coloring if you'd like to give your snowflake a nice bluish tinge.

Put the pipe cleaner snowflake into the jar so that the small wooden rod or pencil is resting on the edge of the jar and the snowflake is sitting freely in the borax solution.

Leave the snowflake overnight and when you return in the morning you will find the snowflake covered in crystals! It makes a great decoration that you can show your friends or hang somewhere in your house.


What's happening?

Crystals are made up of molecules arranged in a repeating pattern that extends in all three dimensions. Borax is also known as sodium borate, it is usually found in the form of a white powder made up of colorless crystals that are easily dissolved in water.

When you add the borax to the boiling water you can dissolve more than you could if you were adding it to cold water, this is because warmer water molecules move around faster and are more spread apart, allowing more room for the borax crystals to dissolve.

When the solution cools, the water molecules move closer together and it can't hold as much of the borax solution. Crystals begin to form on top of each other and before you know it you have your completed crystal snow flake!
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What is Your Lung Volume?







What you'll need:

Clean plastic tubing
A large plastic bottle
Water
Kitchen sink or large water basin


Instructions:

Make sure the plastic tubing is clean
Put about 10cm of water into your kitchen sink.
Fill the plastic bottle right to the top with water.
Put your hand over the top of the bottle to stop water escaping when you turn it upside down.
Turn the bottle upside down. Place the top of the bottle under the water in the sink before removing your hand.
Push one end of the plastic tube into the bottle.
Take a big breath in.
Breathe out as much air as you can through the tube.
Measure the volume of air your lungs had in them.
Make sure you clean up the area to finish.


What's happening?

As you breathe out through the tube, the air from your lungs takes the place of the water in the bottle. If you made sure you took a big breath in and breathed out fully then the resulting volume of water you pushed out is equivalent to how much air your lungs can hold. Having a big air capacity in your lungs means you can distribute oxygen around your body at a faster rate. The air capacity of lungs (or VO2 max) increases naturally as children grow up but can also be increased with regular exercise.
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Experience Gravity Free Water







What you'll need:

A glass filled right to the top with water
A piece of cardboard


Instructions:

Put the cardboard over the mouth of the glass, making sure that no air bubbles enter the glass as you hold onto the cardboard.
Turn the glass upside down (over a sink or outside until you get good).
Take away your hand holding the cardboard.


What's happening?

If all goes to plan then the cardboard and water should stay put. Even though the cup of water is upside down the water stays in place, defying gravity! So why is this happening? With no air inside the glass, the air pressure from outside the glass is greater than the pressure of the water inside the glass. The extra air pressure manages to hold the cardboard in place, keeping you dry and your water where it should be, inside the glass.
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Crazy Putty






What you'll need:

2 containers (1 smaller than the other, preferably a film canister)
Water
Food colouring
PVA glue
Borax solution (ratio of about 1 Tbsp of borax to a cup of water)


Instructions:

Fill the bottom of the larger container with PVA glue.
Add a few squirts of water and stir.
Add 2 or 3 drops of food colouring and stir.
Add a squirt of borax (possibly a bit more depending on how much PVA glue you used).
Stir the mixture up and put it into the smaller container. By now the mixture should be joining together, acting like putty, crazy putty!


What's happening?

The PVA glue you use is a type of polymer called polyvinyl acetate (PVA for short), while the borax is made of a chemical called sodium borate. When you combine the two in a water solution, the borax reacts with the glue molecules, joining them together into one giant molecule. This new compound is able to absorb large amounts of water, producing a putty like substance which you can squish in your hands or even bounce.
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Make a Ping Pong Ball Float





What you'll need:

At least 1 ping pong ball (2 or 3 would be great)
A hair dryer


Instructions:

Plug in the hair dryer and turn it on.
Put it on the highest setting and point it straight up.
Place your ping pong ball above the hair dryer and watch what happens.


What's happening?

Your ping pong ball floats gently above the hair dryer without shifting sideways or flying across the other side of the room. The airflow from the hair dryer pushes the ping pong ball upwards until its upward force equals the force of gravity pushing down on it. When it reaches this point it gently bounces around, floating where the upward and downward forces are equal.

The reason the ping pong ball stays nicely inside the column of air produced by the hair dryer without shifting sideways is due to air pressure. The fast moving air from the hair dryer creates a column of lower air pressure, the surrounding higher air pressure forces the ping pong ball to stay inside this column, making it easy to move the hair dryer around without losing control of the ping pong ball.

See if you can float 2 or even 3 ping pong balls as an extra challenge.
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Use a Balloon to Amplify Sound




What you'll need:

Balloon


Instructions:

Blow up the balloon.
Hold the balloon close to your ear while you tap lightly on the other side.


What's happening?

Despite you only tapping lightly on the balloon your ears can hear the noise loudly. When you blew up the balloon you forced the air molecules inside the balloon closer to each other. Because the air molecules inside the balloon are closer together, they become a better conductor of sound waves than the ordinary air around you.
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Making Music with Water




What you'll need:

5 or more drinking glasses or glass bottles
Water
Wooden stick such as a pencil


Instructions:

Line the glasses up next to each other and fill them with different amounts of water. The first should have just a little water while the last should almost full, the ones in between should have slightly more than the last.
Hit the glass with the least amount of water and observe the sound, then hit the glass with the most water, which makes the higher sound?
Hit the other glasses and see what noise they make, see if you can get a tune going by hitting the glasses in a certain order.


What's happening?

Each of the glasses will have a different tone when hit with the pencil, the glass with the most water will have the lowest tone while the glass with the least water will have the highest. Small vibrations are made when you hit the glass, this creates sound waves which travel through the water. More water means slower vibrations and a deeper tone.
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Grow Your Own Bacteria




What you'll need:

Petrie dish of agar
Cotton buds
Some old newspaper (to wrap petrie dish when disposing)


Instructions:

Prepare your petrie dish of agar.
Using your cotton bud, swab a certain area of your house (i.e. collect a sample by rubbing the cotton bud on a surface of your choice).
Rub the swab over the agar with a few gentle strokes before putting the lid back on and sealing the petrie dish.
Allow the dish to sit in a warm area for 2 or 3 days.
Check the growth of the bacteria each day by making an observational drawing and describing the changes.
Try repeating the process with a new petrie dish and swab from under your finger nails or between your toes.
Dispose of the bacteria by wrapping up the petrie dish in old newspaper and placing in the rubbish (don't open the lid).


What's happening?

The agar plate and warm conditions provide the ideal place for bacteria to grow. The microorganisms on the plate will grow into individual colonies, each a clone of the original. The bacteria you obtained with the cotton bud grows steadily, becoming visible with the naked eye in a relatively short time. Different samples produce different results, what happened when you took a swab sample from your own body?

You will find bacteria throughout the Earth, it grows in soil, radioactive waste, water, on plants and even animals too (humans included). Thankfully for us, our immune system usually does a great job of making bacteria harmless.
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Relax with Beautiful Bath Salts






What you'll need:

1 cup of washing soda
A plastic bag
A rolling pin (or something similar that can crush lumps)
A bowl
A spoon for stirring
Essential oil
Food coloring


Instructions:

Take the cup of washing soda and put it into a plastic bag. Crush the lumps with a rolling pin or similar object.
Empty the bag into a bowl and stir in 5 or 6 drops of your favorite essential oil such as rosemary, lavender or mint.
Stir in a few drops of food coloring until the mixture is evenly colored.
Put the mixture into clean dry containers and enjoy as you please.


What's happening?

Bath Salts are typically made from Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate), table salt (sodium chloride) or washing soda (sodium carbonate). The chemical make up of the mixture makes it easy to form a lather. Bath salts are said to improve cleaning and deliver an appealing fragrance when bathing.
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Make Glowing Water





What you'll need:

A black light (you can find them at places like Walmart and hardware stores, as well as online stores like Amazon).
Tonic water or a highlighter pen.
A dark room to do the experiment.


Instructions:

If you are using a highlighter pen carefully break it open, remove the felt and soak it in a small amount of water for a few minutes.
Find a dark room.
Turn on the black light near your water, how does it look?


What's happening?

Simple explanation:

The ultra violet (UV) light coming from your black light lamp excites things called phosphors. Tonic water and the dye from highlighter pens contain phosphors that turn UV light (light we can’t see) into visible light (light we can see). That’s why your water glows in the dark when you shine a black light on it.

Black lights are used in forensic science, artistic performances, photography, authentication of banknotes and antiques, and in many other areas.

Detailed explanation:

Black light (also known as UV or ultra violet light) is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum also includes infrared, X-rays, visible light (what the human eye can see) and other types of electromagnetic radiation. A black light lamp such as the one you used emits a UV light that can illuminate objects and materials that contain phosphors. Phosphors are special substances that emit light (luminescence) when excited by radiation. Your water glowed under the black light because it contained phosphors. If you used a highlighter pen then the UV light reacted with phosphors in the dye. If you used tonic water then the UV light reacted with phosphors in a chemical used in tonic water called quinine.

There are different types of luminescence, they include fluorescence (used in this experiment, it glows only when the black light is on), phosphorescence (similar to fluorescence but with a glow that can last even after the black light is turned off), chemiluminescence (used to create glow sticks), bioluminescence (from living organisms) and many others.
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Raw or Boiled Egg?




What you'll need:

Two eggs, one hard boiled and one raw. Make sure the hard boiled egg has been in the fridge long enough to be the same temperature as the raw egg.


Instructions:

Spin the eggs and watch what happens, one egg should spin while the other wobbles.
You can also lightly touch each of the eggs while they are spinning, one should stop quickly while the other keeps moving after you have touched it.


What's happening?

The raw egg's centre of gravity changes as the white and yolk move around inside the shell, causing the wobbling motion. Even after you touch the shell it continues moving. This is because of inertia, the same type of force you feel when you change direction or stop suddenly in a car, your body wants to move one way while the car wants to do something different. Inertia causes the raw egg to spin even after you have stopped it, this contrasts with the solid white and yolk of the hard boiled egg, it responds much quicker if you touch it.

This is a good experiment to test a friend or someone in your family with, see if they can figure out how to tell the difference between the eggs (without smashing them of course) before showing them your nifty trick.
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Make Your Own Quick Sand





What you'll need:

1 cup of maize cornflour
Half a cup of water
A large plastic container
A spoon


Instructions:

This one is simple, just mix the cornflour and water thoroughly in the container to make your own instant quick sand.
When showing other people how it works, stir slowly and drip the quick sand to show it is a liquid.
Stirring it quickly will make it hard and allow you to punch or poke it quickly (this works better if you do it fast rather than hard).
Remember that quick sand is messy, try to play with it outside and don’t forget to stir just before you use it.
Always stir instant quicksand just before you use it!


What's happening?

If you add just the right amount of water to cornflour it becomes very thick when you stir it quickly. This happens because the cornflour grains are mixed up and can’t slide over each other due to the lack of water between them. Stirring slowly allows more water between the cornflour grains, letting them slide over each other much easier.

Poking it quickly has the same effect, making the substance very hard. If you poke it slowly it doesn’t mix up the mixture in the same way, leaving it runny. It works in much the same way as real quick sand.
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Baking Soda & Vinegar Volcano




What you'll need:

Baking Soda (make sure it's not baking powder)
Vinegar
A container to hold everything and avoid a big mess!
Paper towels or a cloth (just in case)


Instructions:

Place some of the baking soda into your container.
Pour in some of the vinegar
Watch as the reaction takes place!


What's happening?

The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a base while the vinegar (acetic acid) is an acid. When they react together they form carbonic acid which is very unstable, it instantly breaks apart into water and carbon dioxide, which creates all the fizzing as it escapes the solution.

For extra effect you can make a realistic looking volcano. It takes some craft skills but it will make your vinegar and baking soda eruptions will look even more impressive!
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Make an Egg Float in Salt Water




What you'll need:

One egg
Water
Salt
A tall drinking glass


Instructions:

Pour water into the glass until it is about half full.
Stir in lots of salt (about 6 tablespoons).
Carefully pour in plain water until the glass is nearly full (be careful to not disturb or mix the salty water with the plain water).
Gently lower the egg into the water and watch what happens.


What's happening?

Salt water is denser than ordinary tap water, the denser the liquid the easier it is for an object to float in it. When you lower the egg into the liquid it drops through the normal tap water until it reaches the salty water, at this point the water is dense enough for the egg to float. If you were careful when you added the tap water to the salt water, they will not have mixed, enabling the egg to amazingly float in the middle of the glass.
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Asteroid belt





The asteroid belt is the region of the Solar System located roughly between the orbits of the planets Mars and Jupiter. It is occupied by numerous irregularly shaped bodies called asteroids or minor planets. The asteroid belt is also termed the main asteroid belt or main belt because there are other asteroids in the Solar System such as near-Earth asteroids and trojan asteroids. Maybe half the mass of the belt is contained in the four largest asteroids: Ceres, 4 Vesta, 2 Pallas, and 10 Hygiea. These have mean diameters of more than 400 km, while Ceres, the asteroid belt's only identified dwarf planet, is about 950 km in diameter The remaining bodies range down to the size of a dust particle. The asteroid material is so thinly distributed that multiple unmanned spacecraft have traversed it without incident. Nonetheless, collisions between large asteroids do occur, and these can form an asteroid family whose members have similar orbital characteristics and compositions. Collisions also produce a fine dust that forms a major component of the zodiacal light. Individual asteroids within the main belt are categorized by their spectra, with most falling into three basic groups: carbonaceous (C-type), silicate (S-type), and metal-rich (M-type).
The asteroid belt formed from the primordial solar nebula as a group of planetesimals, the smaller precursors of the planets, which in turn formed protoplanets. Between Mars and Jupiter, however, gravitational perturbations from the giant planet imbued the protoplanets with too much orbital energy for them to accrete into a planet. Collisions became too violent, and instead of sticking together, the planetesimals and most of the protoplanets shattered. As a result, most of the asteroid belt's mass has been lost since the formation of the Solar System. Some fragments can eventually find their way into the inner Solar System, leading to meteorite impacts with the inner planets. Asteroid orbits continue to be appreciably perturbed whenever their period of revolution about the Sun forms an orbital resonance with Jupiter. At these orbital distances, a Kirkwood gap occurs as they are swept into other orbits.
Other regions of small Solar System bodies include the centaurs, the Kuiper belt and scattered disk, and the Oort cloud.
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Olympus Mons





The largest volcano in the Solar System and the largest mountain in the Solar System are one in the same: Olympus Mons on Mars.

Olympus Mons is a shield volcano that towers to an amazing 26 km. That makes it 3 times the height of Mt. Everest. Unlike Everest, Olympus Mons has a very gentle slope. It is up to 550 km at its base. The edge of the volcano’s base is marked by a basal cliff that is 6 km high in some places, but has been eradicated by the overflow of lava in the Martian past.

Olympus Mons is the result of many thousands of basaltic lava flows. The extraordinary size of the volcano has been attributed to the lack of tectonic plate movement on the planet. The lack of movement allows the Martian crust to remain fixed in place over a magma hotspot allowing repeated, large lava flows. Many of these flows have levees along their edges. The cooler, outer margins of the flow solidify, forming the levees and leaving a central trough of molten, flowing lava. In images of the volcano you can see partially collapsed lava tubes seen as chains of pit craters. Broad lava fans formed by lava emerging from intact, subsurface tubes are easily visible as well. Some areas along the volcano’s base show lava flows spilling out into the surrounding plains, forming broad aprons, which are burying the basal escarpment. Crater counts taken by the high resolution images returned by the Mars Express spacecraft in 2004 seem to show that flows on the northwestern flank range in age from 2 million years old to 115 million years old. Since these flows are geologically young, it may indicate that the volcano is still active.

The Olympus Mons caldera complex is made up of at least six overlapping calderas and segments of caldera. Each caldera formed when the roof collapsed following depletion and retreat of the subsurface magma chamber, so each caldera represents a separate eruption. A ‘lake of lava’ seems to have formed the the largest and oldest caldera segment. Using geometric relationships based on caldera dimensions, scientists estimate that the magma chamber associated with this caldera lies about 32 km below the floor of the caldera. Crater size/frequency distributions indicate the calderas range in age from 350 million years ago to about 150 million years ago and may have all formed within 100 million years of each other.

As the largest volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons has been extensively studied. Those studies have been helped by the closeness of Mars. Those studies will continue into the future as will the exploration of the entire planet.

We’ve had many stories about Olympus Mons on Universe Today. Here’s an article about landslides on the side of Olympus Mons, and anther about how Olympus Mons might have been active recently.

Here’s a website all about Olympus Mons, and more information from Exploring Mars.

We have recorded a whole series of podcasts about the Solar System at Astronomy Cast. Check them out here.
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Pistol Star






The Pistol Star is a blue hypergiant and is one of the most luminous known stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. It is one of many massive young stars in the Quintuplet cluster in the Galactic Center region. The star owes its name to the shape of the Pistol Nebula, which it illuminates. It is located approximately 25,000 light years from Earth in the direction of Sagittarius. It would be visible to the naked eye as a fourth magnitude star, if it were not for the interstellar dust that completely hides it from view in visible light.

The Pistol Star was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in the early 1990s. The star is thought to have ejected almost 10 solar masses of material in giant outbursts perhaps 4,000 to 6,000 years ago (as observed from Earth). Its stellar wind is over 10 billion times stronger than the Sun's. Its exact age and future are not known, but it is expected to end in a brilliant supernova or hypernova in 1 to 3 million years. Some astronomers conjecture that its large mass may be related to its location near the Galactic Center, since the star formation process there may favor massive objects. Early reports suggested that it might be the most luminous star known, producing almost 100 million times as much power as the Sun. Later studies, however, have reduced its estimated luminosity to roughly 4 million times that of the Sun, making it a luminous blue variable about one-third as luminous as the binary star system Eta Carinae. Even so, it radiates about as much energy in 20 seconds as does the Sun in a year.

Objects in this class have 80 to 150 times the mass of the Sun and lifetimes of only a few million years. Unlike ordinary stars, they are strongly affected by the outward pressure of the light that they emit, which blows off massive winds from their outer atmospheres. Besides the Pistol Star, several other objects have been cited as the "most luminous star" in recent years. Almost all of them have been demoted by later, improved studies. Among the most famous is Eta Carinae, now confirmed to be a system of at least two stars. Our galaxy probably has 10 to 100 stars surpassing Eta Carinae, but their visible light is hidden by interstellar dust, hindering their immediate identification and detailed study. Most should eventually be observable in infrared light.
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Afro-Eurasia




Afro-Eurasia or less commonly Afrasia or Eurafrasia is the term used to describe the largest landmass on earth. It may be defined as a supercontinent, consisting of Africa and Eurasia (further divided into Asia and Europe). The constituent landmasses encompass 84,980,532 square kilometers and have a population of approximately 5.7 billion people, or roughly 85% of the world population. It is also known as the Old World, as opposed to the Americas, which are known as the New World.
The mainland of Afro-Eurasia has been referred to as the World Island, a term coined by Sir Halford John Mackinder in The Geographical Pivot of History. The term excludes non-mainland islands and archipelagos.

In geological terms, Afro-Eurasia is expected to become a supercontinent when Africa collides with Europe. This is estimated to happen over 600,000 years from now, when the southern tip of Spain reaches Africa. When this happens, the Mediterranean Sea will be isolated from the Atlantic Ocean. Africa is expected to collide with Europe completely over 50 million years from now, closing the Mediterranean and creating new, future mountain ranges.
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