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This is
Volume 1, Issue
2----- February, 1997
of The KIDS MONTHLY Newsletter
Table of Contents:
HEADLINE: Time
INTRODUCTION TO TIME
Have you ever thought what it would be like if we did not use time? All the modern cultures of today use time in almost all the things they do. Most people never commit to anything without a calendar in front of them so they can mark the time and date. If you have ever read Gulliver's Travels he gets shipwrecked and lands on an island with very small people on it. They inspected all of his things and among them there was a pocket watch. Since he consulted it so much they thought that it was it's God. All I can say is I don't know where we would be without using time.
HOW LONG A SECOND IS
The old way to measure time was to take a whole day and to divide it up into hours, minutes, seconds, even fractions of a second! The earth's movement is constant enough that if you invite some friend's over at five thirty you know that it won't be really sunny outside or pitch black. When they come over the sun will probably be setting. On the other hand military time has to be accurate to the split second because they use that to send signals to satellites for things like the Super Bowl and if you don't get it right, the advertisers, the fans, and everyone else will be very mad at you.
HOW THEY MEASURE SECONDS NOW
A man named Isidor Rabio at Columbia University found that some atoms vibrate. He suggested that they would make terrific clocks. Counting the atoms vibrations electronically, American and British scientists that Cesium atoms vibrate exactly 9,192,631,770 times in one second. They concluded that the atom Cesium would be the one of the easiest to measure and the most accurate making it the best atoms to use for now. Enter the atomic clock. Now instead of dividing up the days into hours, seconds, and so on, an atomic clock is used. A normal quartz watch will be off approximately 278 hours in 300,000 years while atomic clocks will be off one second in the same stretch of time. The size of an atomic clock is about the same as the base of a computer.
STANDARD TIME ZONES
The standard time zone for your area depends on what time zone you are in. There are 24 time zones on the earth divided into 15 degrees each. Each degree you go over the time increases by four minutes. The United States does not go over four minutes by each degree but makes it into a larger stretch of like 1 hour or an hour and a half. The center degree is in Greenwich, England, it is zero. The time in Greenwich is called the universal time.
PULSAR TIME
A new star called a pulsar was discovered in 1967. Instead of giving out
vibrations like the Cesium atoms, pulsar stars give out a continual radiation.
It is a possibility that scientists could find a good way to measure pulsar
radiation's and then make Pulsar clocks. It looks like they will be a lot
more accurate at counting than atomic clocks are. They may even replace atomic
clocks. Who knows. By: David Proctor. III
Edited by David Szpunar,
Editor-in-Chief of The KIDS MONTHLY Newsletter
Jokes and Riddles
How much does it cost for a pirate to get his ears pierced?
A buccaneer!
(Marie Franks, Indianapolis, Indiana,
attitude@iquest.net)
What is King Kong's favorite cookie?
Chocolate Chimps!
(Marie Franks, Indianapolis, Indiana,
attitude@iquest.net)
Why did the elephant wear sunglasses?
With all the silly elephant riddles around, he didn't want to be
recognized.
What do people do in China when it rains?
They let it rain.
What insect is like the top of a house?
A tick (attic).
What is an easy way to make your money bigger?
Put it under a magnifying glass.
What is the best way to raise strawberries?
With a spoon.
What is a hot and noisy duck?
A firequacker.
Why do gardeners hate weeds?
Give weeds an inch and they'll take a yard.
Facts and Figures
Did you know that:
Now you know!
Staff for KIDS MONTHLY
Editor-in-Chief: David A. Szpunar
Editor and Writer:
David I. Proctor, III
Contributing Editors:
Andy Proctor
Bryan Szpunar
Helen Szpunar
Casey Szpunar
Click here for a list of sources and references used in publishing this Newsletter
Last Revised: Monday, February 2, 1998
This issue first on the web: Thursday, February 06, 1997
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The KIDS MONTHLY Newsletter
Published monthly by: David
Szpunar
Please E-mail Comments and Letters, along with your Name, E-mail address, City, and State, to KidMonth@aol.com, and Jokes and Riddles you would like to see included in the newsletter, along with your Name, E-mail address, City, and State, to KidMonth@aol.com.
© 1997-98 David Szpunar