Day: June 17, 2018

The Material That Exposes Hidden Messages Just By Adding Water

By Kiran Jayasinghe

Monali Moiraganthem and Albertus Schenning from Eindhoven University of Technology created a new blue polymer film (a material that is made of long molecular chains). Their film swells when it contacts water, exposing other chemicals or details in it. Using this information, the two scientists used calcium nitrate dissolved in water to create an ink. They printed this ink onto their polymer in a design they would recognize. Then, when they added water to their film, it swelled and showed the chemical lines – in the design printed!

Moiraganthem and Schenning were able to create simple designs and artwork on their film, using a sequence of ink. One layer would show up orange on the film, two layers would become green, and three would become blue, and so on. When water touched the film, these colors showed up and unmasked the hidden message printed on the polymer.

Schenning has many ideas for the film. The polymer could be used to camouflage items, once pre-printed. Tags for items or clothing could be exposed to moisture to show a secret design, so that thieves or crooks could not create fake tags! A more interesting idea would be to have cars that turn color in the rain…

Monali’s and Albertus’ new material would be useful and fun to experiment! The polymer film could hide secret codes on clothing, or reveal a miniature picture for a child. Whatever it will be used for, this new material is  definitely interesting – all you have to do is add water!

Learn more at www.sciencenewsforstudents.org!

 

Can We Predict Earthquakes?

There have been many major earthquakes this year. There was a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake in February, in Papua New Guinea, as well as a magnitude 6.7 and 6.0 earthquake in the same country. There was also a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in January in the United States, a 7.5 in Honduras, a 7.2 in Mexico in February, and a 7.1 in Peru in January. These earthquakes leads to a common question,: Can we predict Earthquakes? Scientists have tried to predict them over the years, to help lessen the damage they cause, but this is not that easy.

For scientists to be able to correctly predict an earthquake, they will need to know the date and time the earthquake will happen, the location, and the magnitude. Over time, people have tried using signs such as unusual behavior in animals, aches and pains, clouds, and more, to tell when an earthquake might be coming. Animals are able to eel earthquakes much better than humans do, and sometimes, they can sense it before humans, but animal behavior is not a reliable source. These signs are not scientific ways to determine if an earthquake is coming, and they are also not correct. USGS stated, “… if there is a scientific basis, a forecast may be made in probabilistic terms.” This means that sometimes we can make a prediction that has a probability, or chance, but not a guarantee of coming true when it comes to earthquakes.

But even though studies have showed that with our knowledge and technology at the moment, we cannot always correctly, or reliably, predict earthquakes, scientists keep working at that goal because, as stated by BBCUK, “If we give up now, we will never be able to answer the question as to wether or not earthquakes are predictable.”

Here are links to the two articles mentioned in the article.

For the article mentioned above by USGS, click here.

For the article mentioned above by BBCUK, click here.